"Your exceptional insight really is impressive. But if your insight is sealed off, you're nothing more than an ordinary player with slightly better fundamentals."
Horio walked up to the net and spoke directly to Atobe, who looked utterly dejected.
But Atobe acted as if he hadn't heard Horio at all, still lost in his own world of despair.
Seeing him like this, Horio left without even shaking hands after the match.
Just as Horio reached the edge of the court, he suddenly stopped and looked up toward a corner outside the court.
"You saw that clearly, right? I hope it puts a little pressure on you. Go back and train hard, or beating you will be so easy it'll be boring."
Following Horio's gaze, three figures in red jackets stood outside the court.
One wore a baseball cap, another had a bowl cut and narrowed eyes, and the last had the seaweed-like hair Horio had seen before.
They were three players from Rikkai Dai. Horio had spotted them from the start of the match.
After all, this was a match between Seigaku and Hyotei, two powerful schools, so it was only natural that the others would come watch.
Rikkai Dai weren't the only ones there. Not far away stood the Yamabuki Middle School team led by Sengoku, while the players from Rokkaku Middle School in Chiba stood on the other side.
Horio had noticed them as soon as they appeared, but Yamabuki had already been defeated, so there was no need to worry about them.
As for Rokkaku Middle School, Horio didn't take them seriously at all.
Caught under Horio's gaze, the three Rikkai players' already furrowed brows drew even tighter.
"I didn't expect Seigaku to be so much stronger than last year, especially with Tezuka absent."
Sanada, wearing a baseball cap, frowned. Beside him, Rikkai's strategist, Yanagi Renji, looked no better.
"I came to see how Hyotei was doing this year, but I didn't expect Atobe to lose so badly. Sanada, if you were in his place, could you win?"
Yanagi voiced his concern. Horio had just given everyone a tremendous shock.
"He's still not good enough. We'll have to step up our training when we get back."
Sanada chose not to answer Yanagi's question, which said plenty on its own.
"Even Vice-Captain Sanada isn't sure he could win? That first-year didn't seem all that strong to me. If I faced him, I wouldn't get beaten as badly as Atobe did."
Kirihara clearly hadn't realized what was going on. He didn't seem to notice the furrowed brows or grave expressions on Sanada and Yanagi's faces.
"Kirihara, train properly when we get back. You know what'll happen if I catch you slacking."
Seeing Kirihara still acting like he had no idea how strong the world was, Sanada's temper flared.
Hearing the chill in Sanada's voice, the carefree Kirihara got scared and immediately straightened up.
"Let's go. For Rikkai Dai's three-peat, we can't afford to have a single weakness."
Feeling the pressure, Sanada didn't linger. He left with Yanagi and Kirihara.
"Seigaku's as strong as ever. They've gotten even stronger since the Tokyo Metropolitan Tournament."
Watching Horio crush Atobe, Sengoku, who was always smiling, couldn't help marveling at Seigaku's progress.
"Hey, Taichi, make sure you collect all the information you can on Seigaku, okay?"
"Yes, I'll make sure to gather all the information."
Dan Taichi, suddenly called on by Sengoku, promptly began taking notes in his notebook.
"Kid, you really are amazing! You give everyone a bagel every time!"
Seeing Horio head back toward the Seigaku players' bench, the exuberant Kikumaru immediately cheered.
"Nice work, Horio! Let's see if Atobe's still so arrogant after this."
"Yeah. The leader of Hyotei was beaten 6–0 by a first-year who'd only just made the starting lineup. I'm sure this will have a huge impact on Atobe, and it'll cause quite a stir throughout the whole Hyotei tennis club."
"Anyway, we won our first match in the Kanto Tournament, and against Hyotei, no less. I bet the matches after this will be a lot easier."
"That may be true, Momo, but don't let it make you slack off."
Horio could understand why the regulars were so happy after winning. After all, Hyotei had beaten Seigaku the previous year.
"This was only the first match. We still have training tomorrow, so don't forget that, Senpai."
"Aw, Horio, why bring that up now? We just won. Don't say something so depressing!"
Seeing Momoshiro look a little awkward made everyone's mood even more cheerful. Once the referee asked all the players to shake hands, the day's matches came to an end.
Amid the doubts from outsiders, Seigaku had won its first match of the Kanto Tournament.
"Really? Great! Oishi, let's choose volleyball."
"Sure, Eiji."
"Yeah! Then I'll choose basketball."
"In that case... I'll choose baseball."
"Then I'll choose the same one as you, Kawamura."
"Can't I opt out? I don't want to play any ball sports other than tennis."
Everyone had gathered at the Seigaku tennis courts after Coach Ryuzaki called them over.
"All right, all right. Honestly, this is just a chance for you to relax today. There's no strict requirement, but all the regulars have to sign up."
It turned out that Seigaku was holding a ball sports festival that day. All students had to sign up for a ball sport other than the one played by their own club.
When Horio heard there was no strict requirement, he was about to slip away, but Coach Ryuzaki stopped him with a single sentence.
"Looks like I'll have to sign up for something random. I can just get knocked out in the first round."
Coach Ryuzaki then dismissed them, and everyone from the tennis club went off to sign up for whichever sport they liked.
"Horio, what are you going to sign up for?"
After they were dismissed, Horio headed to the sign-up area with Katsuro and Katsuo. Katsuro didn't know what to choose either.
"I don't know. I'll just pick something at random. I'm not interested in anything other than tennis anyway."
"That's so like you, Horio. No wonder you're so strong—you put all your energy into practicing tennis."
"It's not that serious..."
"Look, do you know the person next to Ryoma?"
As the three walked along, they suddenly spotted Ryoma waiting in line at the table tennis sign-up desk.
Ryoma was standing in line with his usual cool, blank expression when a boy with glasses and a middle part suddenly came over to talk to him.
The boy looked arrogant, while Ryoma didn't seem to notice anything unusual about him.
"I don't know him. He's not in our class, so he must be from another one."
"He seems like he really doesn't like Ryoma. Look at his expression."
"He probably thinks Ryoma's arrogant. His personality makes it easy for people to get the wrong idea."
Horio hit the nail on the head, clearing up the other two's confusion, and they didn't pay any more attention to what was happening there.
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