Shishido: Why are you called the Kansai Wolf? Your playstyle isn't as ferocious as a wolf's!

"Huuu..."

On the court, most of the tennis club members were sprawled out, lying on the ground.

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Everyone's stamina had long since reached its limit. The second and third-year students had at least trained for a year or two. Although the intensity far surpassed that of their previous schools, their basic endurance was still there, allowing them to barely persist.

The new students, however, were in a sorry state. Most of them hadn't fully developed physically, and coupled with this training intensity, it was far beyond what they could handle.

But, there are always exceptions. Take Tezuka, Atobe, and the others, for instance. They were merely sweating a little, maintaining excellent condition, with no signs of labored breathing.

Even Shishido and Mukahi, both of them were in much better shape than most of the second and third-year seniors.

"Are... are these guys monsters?"

"Hoo hoo hoo... Don't they get tired?"

Many people hadn't recovered from the high-intensity endurance run they had just completed. Yet, among the crowd, the first-year newcomers were walking towards the court with their rackets.

Judging by their demeanor, they were about to start the next phase of training.

"The difference... how can the gap be this huge?"

Mitsuya Genko gritted his teeth, forcing his body to try and stand up.

His legs, however, refused to obey. He couldn't get up no matter how hard he tried. The high-intensity training had left his body unaccustomed, making it easy for his legs to go weak.

Very few people could manage to get up from the ground.

"You're Kamikawa Mutsu, right!"

At this moment, Atobe, holding his racket, walked over. He pointed his racket at Kamikawa, who was sitting on the ground resting, and said calmly, "Come on! Have a match with me."

"We just finished training, Atobe-kun."

Kamikawa shook his head, flatly refusing. His condition had declined slightly, but it was still within an acceptable range. Even so, he didn't want to get up and continue training.

He had already played the match he needed to play yesterday; there was no need to play this one.

Seeing Kamikawa's refusal, Atobe raised an eyebrow and provoked him again, "Are you scared, or do you just not want to play with me?!"

"It's a bit of both – scared and unwilling. It depends on how you, Atobe-kun, choose to interpret it."

Kamikawa stood up, brushed the grass off his pants, bent down to pick up his racket. He had important matters to attend to today and no time to play around with Atobe.

Yesterday, Kamikawa had already witnessed the strength of this "Atobe-sama."

Honestly, his strength was about the same as Sanada's. Even if he had an epiphany today, he wouldn't have improved much. Rather than playing a meaningless match, it was better to do something worthwhile.

"You..."

Atobe was taken aback. He hadn't expected this guy to be so stubborn.

"Atobe-kun, if you really want to compete with me, you can wait for the match training day."

"Match training day? What's that?!"

"Mmm? It's the schedule listed on the training timetable. Let me think..."

Kamikawa pondered the contents of the training schedule and then said, "It seems to be on Wednesday, which is two days from now. It won't be too late for you to challenge me with a serve then."

"But I still suggest you challenge Tezuka. After all, you're the vice-captain now."

Kamikawa patted Atobe's shoulder, signaling him to challenge Tezuka.

Challenging him wouldn't lead to any promotion, but if Atobe defeated Tezuka, he would be promoted from vice-captain to captain, and then he would have the final say in the tennis club.

As for whether he could achieve that...

Kamikawa wasn't sure. After all, this guy's growth rate was also outrageously fast. He was the minister-level figure with the fastest improvement rate in u-17.

"He..."

Atobe seriously considered it and felt that what Kamikawa said made some sense. Just as he was about to speak, he realized that Kamikawa, who had been standing in front of him, had already moved away. He was starting the next training session.

"That guy's starting another round of training! Is he really a newcomer like us?"

Mukahi, who had just wanted to rest, noticed Kamikawa returning to the wall where he had been earlier, beginning a new round of training.

He had initially had the fighting spirit to surpass Tezuka and Kamikawa soon, but upon seeing Kamikawa's daily training volume, he was simply stunned on the spot.

With this scale of training, he couldn't keep up even if he forced himself.

Furthermore, Mukahi's endurance was originally poor. The five-kilometer endurance run just now had nearly cost him half his life.

Shishido, Mukahi's good friend, was also shocked along with him.

No wonder this guy could maintain such abundant stamina during matches. His daily endurance training far exceeded what an ordinary person could endure.

"Is... is that guy really a newcomer?"

Oshitari was equally shocked. He had only recently integrated into Shishido and Mukahi's small group. Since he had lost to Kamikawa before, he paid more attention to Kamikawa.

Therefore, when Atobe went to provoke Kamikawa and wanted to compete, Oshitari had also been standing by, eager to try.

Oshitari wasn't a player with an overly strong desire to win. He possessed outstanding talent, but his matches were mostly for fun. Even so... he had never been whitewashed before.

A 6-0 score was like a nightmare, driving him to constantly become stronger.

Shishido turned his head to look at Oshitari when he heard that and said, "That guy beat Tezuka a few months ago."

Shishido's words immediately caught Oshitari's attention.

"Really?"

Oshitari knew in his heart that even if he fought against Atobe in that state, he wouldn't have much confidence in winning. Yet Tezuka managed to crush him with ease. Such a person actually lost to Kamikawa before?!

Shishido could see Oshitari's confusion and pouted, saying, "Of course, he's the champion of the JR Tournament, and Tezuka was the runner-up."

"The other two in the top four are also ridiculously strong. I estimate their strength is even above Atobe's."

This time, Oshitari was completely shocked.

If you told him that Kamikawa and Tezuka were stronger than Atobe, he would accept it.

But now two more had appeared. Oshitari refused to believe it. After all, Atobe's strength was undeniable. He could be the captain of the tennis club at any school.

Talent like that wasn't like common cabbage, how could it just keep popping up one after another?

Even among the geniuses Oshitari had heard of in Kansai, very few could rival Atobe in terms of raw strength.

"Don't you believe me... Mukahi and I saw it with our own eyes..." Shishido saw the disbelief in Oshitari's eyes and quickly started to explain.

Before he could finish, a familiar voice reached his ears:

"Are you guys done training?!"

They instinctively looked up. Tezuka, holding his racket, looked at the three of them calmly.

"Heh heh... not yet..."

Tezuka looked at the three of them indifferently and said, "Shishido, Mukahi, Oshitari, run twenty laps around the field."

"Ah?!"

Mukahi's eyes widened. Twenty more laps.

"Mukahi, thirty laps." Tezuka frowned and spoke again.

"I..."

Mukahi was about to retort when Shishido grabbed him, covered his mouth, and started running forward.

As they ran, Shishido said, "If you say one more word, do you believe you'll have to run forty laps later?"

Mukahi fell silent. He thought of Tezuka's attitude and silently nodded.

"This is ridiculous."

Oshitari followed Shishido and Mukahi with a helpless expression. "Why am I running with you guys? I shouldn't have come over."

"Heh heh... Oshitari, just run with us."

"Oshitari, I heard your nickname in Kansai is 'Kansai Wolf,' but your playing style doesn't resemble a wolf at all..."

"That's because..."

Oshitari was about to retort but quickly swallowed his words.

He couldn't exactly say it was because his personality was as cunning as a wolf's, could he?

He preferred the nickname 'fox' over 'Kansai Wolf,' even though they essentially meant the same thing.