The School Sports Festival

"Senpai Kikumaru is amazing! Senpai Oishi too. I never knew the Golden Pair was this good at volleyball."

In the gym, Horio and the other two watched Kikumaru and Oishi play volleyball. Katsuro watched the two of them working together so seamlessly.

On the court, Kikumaru was as active at the net as he was in tennis, while Oishi held down the backcourt.

Kikumaru spotted a ball and prepared to jump for a spike. The opposing team was already braced to defend.

Just as Kikumaru was about to swing down and spike the ball, he let it pass. Then Oishi jumped up behind him.

Oishi let out a shout and spiked the ball with all his strength.

The volleyball shot past everyone on the opposing team. It hit the ground and bounced, scoring a point.

"No wonder they're the Golden Pair. They're not just great at tennis—they're unbeatable in other sports, too."

Fuji suddenly appeared behind the three boys, smiling as he spoke.

"Speaking of which, Aron and Agan's match is about to start, too."

"Oh, right! Senpai Kawamura and Senpai Inui's baseball game! Horio, we'd better hurry or we'll miss it."

At Fuji's reminder, Katsuo hurried off with Katsuro, dragging Horio along to the baseball field.

Caught between the two of them, Horio looked utterly miserable. He really had no interest in sports other than tennis.

"Good thing the game isn't over yet. We can still see Senpai's match."

"What do you mean? It's already the bottom of the ninth!"

When the three of them reached the baseball field, the game was nearly over. Katsuro and Katsuo both blamed themselves for being late.

"Awesome! Great! I'm going to hit a super home run!"

Kawamura gripped the bat, instantly fired up, as if he were holding a tennis racket.

Seeing Kawamura's blazing enthusiasm, Katsuro and Katsuo were both taken aback.

"So Senpai Kawamura gets that fired up when he holds a baseball bat, too—not just a tennis racket."

"Yeah, he looks amazing."

As the game neared its end, it was Kawamura's turn at bat again. By coincidence, Inui was pitching this inning.

"I've collected your batting stats from the first four innings. I'll strike you out for sure."

Inui calmly analyzed Kawamura's previous performance, despite the latter's blazing enthusiasm.

"I don't care what stats you've got. You can't beat me. Your data won't do you any good."

Kawamura was so caught up in the excitement that he couldn't care less about data. All he cared about was the game itself.

Hearing Kawamura's response, Inui said nothing more and prepared to pitch.

Inui's eyes shifted between the inside and outside corners before finally settling on the inside.

Then he snapped his right arm forward, sending the baseball flying.

Kawamura had already picked up on Inui's pitch. He swung the bat with all his might.

The bat struck the ball with a crack, and the baseball shot away at high speed.

"Whoa, that ball's fast! Could it be a home run?"

The students watching from the sidelines couldn't help marveling at the speed of the ball.

Inui remained calm as he watched it fly. Seeing his teammate already running the bases, he called out evenly,

"Second base."

His teammate immediately moved, reaching second base just before Kawamura's teammate could get there.

"Just as I expected, Kawamura. You lose."

Seeing everything unfold as he'd predicted, Inui pushed up his glasses, looking completely composed.

Kawamura had thought he'd hit a perfect ball, but seeing that his teammate hadn't beaten the opposing player to the base, he was terribly frustrated.

"Data baseball... Senpai Inui really is something else..."

Seeing Inui use data even in baseball, Horio found him pretty strange.

Elsewhere, Ryoma sat alone beneath a tree, reading a book about table tennis.

On the basketball court, Momoshiro kept dribbling. Using his powerful build, he charged toward the basket, pushing past one defender after another.

Then he leaped and slammed the ball through the hoop.

Momoshiro had made the basketball court his own. Just as he dribbled again and prepared to shoot,

a shuttlecock suddenly came from behind and smacked him in the face. The basketball slipped from his hand and went out of bounds.

Annoyed at the interruption, Momoshiro looked down at the shuttlecock. A red mark had appeared on his face, and he was getting angry.

As Momoshiro stared at the shuttlecock, a voice rang out, sharp with irritation.

"Sorry about that."

Momoshiro turned toward the voice and saw Kaitou, wearing a headband and holding a badminton racket.

When the two rivals crossed paths, their tempers flared at once.

Just as it looked like they were about to fight, the badminton referee nearby stepped in to stop them. Only then did Kaitou return to the badminton court.

The people who had originally come to watch Momoshiro's match now turned their attention to the badminton court.

Maybe Kaitou wasn't used to badminton, or maybe he thought it was just like tennis. His opponent's shot was clearly going out,

but Kaitou thought he was playing tennis. He went straight for the shuttlecock and swung his badminton racket, sending it back with a Spinning Snake Shot.

This move stunned not only the Seigaku tennis team, but also the badminton referee and Kaitou's opponent.

"O... o... out!"

Watching the shuttlecock fly back across the net in a strange way, the referee stammered as he called it out.

"What... what? Why was it out?"

Hearing the referee, Kaitou, who had been full of confidence, froze in confusion.

"Because it was out, obviously! You think you're playing tennis?"

Watching Kaitou hit the shuttlecock like a tennis ball, Oishi could only shake his head.

Momoshiro saw his rival embarrass himself and jumped at the chance to mock him.

That might have been fine if Momoshiro had left it at that, but his taunting only made Kaitou angrier, and the two started squabbling again.

"Honestly, why do those two always argue wherever they go..."

Horio watched them bicker and shook his head helplessly.

"Let's go. Ryoma's match should be starting soon. We might even get to see him play that guy with glasses."

Then he led Katsuro and Katsuo away from the basketball court. Hearing Horio, the other Seigaku regulars followed them.

By then, Ryoma had already beaten several opponents in the table tennis area and was waiting for his next match to start.

At the temporary spectator stands, Sakuno and Tomoka, along with Ryoma's other fans, kept cheering him on.

Seeing Ryoma sitting calmly in his chair and his cheering squad outside the court, the bespectacled guy grew jealous and approached him again.

"Echizen Ryoma, not bad. I didn't expect you to have a cheering squad, too. Looks like I'd better beat a guy like you as soon as possible."

Ryoma was sitting in his chair, drinking water. When he saw the same guy who'd bothered him earlier coming over again, an impatient look finally appeared on his face.