Listen Up! My Name Is Keigo Atobe!

Hyotei Academy's auditorium.

During spring break, the Atobe Group had renovated Hyotei Academy's auditorium. In addition to the auditorium, several classrooms, the cafeteria, and the tennis equipment had also been refurbished to some extent.

Even though those things had already been replaced two or three years ago...

This was a perfect display of just how deep their pockets were.

All the new students were seated in the auditorium, waiting for the principal's speech.

"Is that Keigo Atobe?!"

Kamikawa looked at a boy in a Hyotei Academy uniform. His purple-gray bangs parted down the middle and swept to either side, with the ends curling up slightly. Though he looked young, he carried himself with a bold, confident air. He strode toward the podium and snatched up the microphone at center stage. (In the manga he has blond hair; this translation follows the anime.)

Everyone in the audience turned their attention to him. Even the second- and third-year students watched the boy onstage, whose every word and gesture was the very picture of nobility.

"Listen up. My name is Keigo Atobe, and starting today, I am the emperor of Hyotei Academy."

"Hyotei Academy has first-rate teachers and a first-rate environment. How you make use of them and what you create are up to you. Seize the opportunity with your own hands, make the most of your school life, and enjoy every day at Hyotei Academy."

If any other new student representative had spoken so arrogantly, they would have been reprimanded and sent off the stage long ago.

But Atobe wasn't. The school officials seated in the front row glanced at one another. No matter how displeased they looked, not one of them interrupted his speech.

They knew better than anyone how important Atobe was to Hyotei Academy. As long as he didn't do anything too outrageous, they could let him carry on with this little performance.

After all, a large part of the reason Hyotei Academy had received such a substantial investment this year was that the young master of the Atobe family wanted to study there.

With the Atobe Group's financial resources, any school he attended would instantly become a true academy for the elite. You should never underestimate the Atobe family's wealth.

"Keigo Atobe really is a captivating person."

Kamikawa turned to Tezuka beside him and asked, "What do you think, Tezuka?"

"Mm."

Tezuka was taken aback. Clearly, he wasn't the sort of person who liked to show off.

But he didn't dislike people like that, either.

In other words, having someone like him around would make Tezuka's time at Hyotei more comfortable, wouldn't it?

The opening ceremony soon came to an end.

The same old speeches that followed nearly put Kamikawa to sleep.

The new students were then given time to explore freely. It was also when the older students handed out flyers to promote their clubs.

Clubs were an essential part of any junior high school, and Japan took them seriously. There were so many different clubs that Kamikawa could hardly take them all in.

There were photography, anime, badminton, volleyball, table tennis, and more. Kamikawa even spotted the table tennis club and took Tezuka to check out the room.

The facilities were pretty good. There were five tables, and the older students who hadn't gone out to hand out flyers were already hard at work practicing.

"You..."

Tezuka looked at Kamikawa in surprise. "Since when did you like table tennis?"

"Table tennis is also called 'tennis on a table.' I watch it from time to time."

Kamikawa shrugged. He'd been interested in table tennis in his previous life, but his lack of feel for the ball meant he wasn't particularly talented at racket sports.

Even after studying it diligently for five years, he still wasn't as good as the kid next door after just one month.

"Shouldn't we go sign up for the tennis club, too?"

Aside from tennis, Tezuka wasn't very interested in other clubs.

He would sometimes linger for a couple of extra seconds at the history-related clubs, though. Tezuka was mature for his age and enjoyed reading books about world history. In his free time, apart from tennis, nothing could distract him except the countless books he loved.

Now and then, his grandfather would also take him fishing. That was one of Tezuka's few other hobbies.

Thanks to Gekko Ochi last year, the Hyotei tennis club was especially popular this year. After all, Hyotei was one of the few prestigious tennis schools that could make it to the National Tournament.

During the two years Gekko Ochi had served as captain, he'd led Hyotei to the National Tournament both times: once to the quarterfinals and once to the semifinals. Last year, he'd even carried Hyotei to the semifinals almost single-handedly.

Hyotei's other sports clubs, such as soccer, basketball, track and field, and volleyball, had also achieved some good results. Still, they fell a little short compared to the tennis club.

"Wow, so many people are signing up for the tennis club at Hyotei!"

Kamikawa glanced around and estimated there were one or two hundred of them. The school had only taken in around a thousand students this year, which meant the club had already attracted a tenth, or even a fifth, of the entire incoming class.

Some clubs couldn't even recruit a fraction as many students as the tennis club.

"Yeah."

Tezuka nodded, also startled by the turnout.

Even at Seishun Daiichi Elementary School, he'd never seen so many tennis enthusiasts. The well-known local clubs there didn't get anywhere near this many sign-ups each year.

Even if Tezuka went to Seigaku, its tennis club wouldn't attract more applicants than the group he was looking at now.

"At this scale, the only schools that could compare are Rikkai Dai Fuzhong in Kanagawa Prefecture, Shishiraku Junior High in Kyushu, and Makino Fuji Academy in Kansai."

Rikkai Dai, Shishiraku Junior High, and Makino Fuji had all been among the four semifinalists in last year's National Tournament.

This year, they were bound to attract even more tennis enthusiasts.

Even beginners would be drawn to their tennis clubs by the schools' reputations.

That was the so-called strong-get-stronger effect.

"That's..."

Tezuka suddenly spotted something.

Kamikawa followed his gaze.

A group of second- and third-year students in the official uniforms of Hyotei's tennis team were walking toward them. Their lips curled slightly upward, and their air of arrogance was impossible to miss.

"They're the upperclassmen who made it to the National Tournament semifinals last year!"

"They're so strong. Just looking at their presence is enough to make them seem terrifying!"

"Yeah, especially the one in the middle. Could he be Senior Ochi, who led Hyotei Academy to the National Tournament semifinals last year?"

"...Idiot. Senior Ochi's in high school this year. That senior can't be him..."

"..."

The first-years waiting in line to register outside the tennis club murmured among themselves.

They'd signed up for the tennis club with dreams of conquering the nation.

"Senior Ochi! I'll definitely carry on your legacy and lead Hyotei to the National Tournament again."

The boy at the front was named Mitsuya Genko.

A label reading "Vice Captain" was clearly pinned to his chest. He'd been the vice captain of Hyotei Academy's tennis club last year. After Gekko Ochi moved on to high school, he should have become the captain, but he still hadn't replaced his label with one that said "Captain."

It wasn't so much that he hadn't replaced it as that he'd never received Gekko Ochi's approval—or the tennis coach's. That was why he still wore the "Vice Captain" label.

He'd even dyed his black hair gray to follow in the former captain's footsteps, and copied him down to a small streak of red at the tips.