Seigaku, Hope You Can Advance to the Kanto Tournament!

"The remaining matches are boring, I'm going out for a walk."

Kamikawa patted his butt and stood up from the grass.

There was no need to continue watching the subsequent matches, nor was he needed to play. He was idle anyway, so he might as well go out for a stroll and perhaps scout for potential "opponents."

In the six central districts, almost every visible court was hosting a match. Kamikawa hadn't even heard of most of these schools; they were obscure junior high tennis clubs.

After wandering for a while, Kamikawa walked up to a vending machine, inserted two coins, took out two cans of soda, and headed in the direction of Hyotei.

Judging by the time, the regional preliminaries should be nearing their end.

Since the regional preliminaries didn't have too many participating teams and were meant to select suitable teams for the Metropolitan Tournament, Hyotei, as last year's champion, only needed to play three matches.

Hyotei's entire team was present for the first match. The second match saw them advance directly to the finals. The third match was naturally the final to decide the winner. Calculating the time, the other schools should also be finishing their second matches by now.

Hyotei's opponent in the second match forfeited. If it weren't for waiting for their finals opponent, they probably would have already returned to the tennis club for intensive training by this time.

"Hm?"

A few steps later, Kamikawa encountered Akutagawa Jiro, who was lazily lying in the shade of a tree, fast asleep.

"Honestly, this guy doesn't try hard at all."

Kamikawa sighed. Jiro's talent was definitely not bad, but he always loved to sleep. Even during training, he would sneak off to a quiet spot to sleep. Even Tezuka couldn't do anything about him.

Jiro had very little desire to win or lose matches. Coupled with the influence of his own talent, over time, he developed lazy and complacent habits. This trait was somewhat similar to a certain senior who had just transferred to Rikkai Dai.

Kamikawa glanced at the iced sodas in his hand, raised an eyebrow, walked up to Jiro, and placed the two cans of iced soda directly on Jiro's face. Almost instantly, Jiro's eyes snapped open, and he jumped up from the ground.

"What's wrong... What's wrong, did something major happen?!"

Jiro frantically looked around, his hands unconsciously touching his face, feeling the slight chill. Then, he noticed the person standing in front of him.

"Oh~ It's Kamikawa~ What's up, is the match over?"

Jiro rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"I'm not sure, but I remember you're supposed to play singles number three in the finals."

Kamikawa raised an eyebrow. He remembered Sakaki Taro specifically placing him in the singles number three position for the finals to ignite the boy's fighting spirit.

Unexpectedly, Jiro heard this and rubbed his hair, chuckling, "Really? I forgot."

"Hurry up and go play. Honestly, everyone is probably looking for you. You're so unreliable every day. If you keep this up, you won't play next time against Marui Bunta either."

Kamikawa was amused by Jiro's actions.

As soon as he heard Marui's name, Jiro's interest was piqued. His eyes widened, blinking rapidly as he stared at Kamikawa. "Kamikawa, I'll go play right now."

"Next time we play Rikkai Dai, make sure to call me. You must!!"

Jiro and Marui's connection stemmed from before Jiro entered Hyotei Academy, during his time at Hyotei Elementary School. He encountered Marui in the finals of a certain tournament.

As both were net-rushing players, coupled with Marui's daring shots, Jiro deeply remembered the opponent and vowed to watch every match Marui played from then on.

"I'll see how you do."

Kamikawa raised an eyebrow and looked at Jiro.

Jiro clenched his fist heavily, showing a determined posture, and walked off in one direction.

"Wait!"

Kamikawa reached out and grabbed Jiro's back collar, then pointed in the opposite direction. "Are you still half-asleep? The finals venue is that way!"

"Oh, oh!!"

Jiro nodded heavily.

Then, he picked up his tennis bag from the ground, turned, and ran towards the finals venue.

Kamikawa sighed, holding his iced soda, and followed Jiro towards the finals venue.

"Excuse me, classmate, are you a member of the Hyotei tennis club?"

Just then, a strange voice came from Kamikawa's ear. Following the sound, he saw the person approaching and showed a hint of surprise.

Wearing black-rimmed glasses, with spiky hair, and holding a notebook, the person didn't look old, about the same age as himself.

"With this uniform, anyone should be able to recognize me, right?"

Kamikawa pointed to the "Hyotei" lettering on his chest, along with the gray and white tennis club uniform. Such a conspicuous uniform would normally prevent such a question.

"Are you also a freshman who just entered junior high this year?!"

The spiky-haired boy with glasses retorted.

Kamikawa nodded. "I just entered the Hyotei junior high division this year."

"I also just entered junior high this year."

A glint flashed by the glasses of the boy holding the notebook. "I'm from Seigaku, my name is Inui Sadaharu. Please take care of me."

Inui Sadaharu, the future strategist of the Seigaku tennis club. It was thanks to his existence that Seigaku could grow rapidly in a very short time. He had detailed training programs for almost all members of the team.

He also specifically left a detailed file for Kaido, the successor after Tezuka, which contributed to Kaido's extraordinary stamina.

"Hyotei Tennis Club, Kamikawa Mutsu, nice to meet you."

Kamikawa had recognized him the moment the other person greeted him.

The standard hedgehog hairstyle, the standard black-rimmed glasses, and the slightly formal way of speaking – it was clearly that guy, Inui Sadaharu.

"As far as I know, Hyotei is currently in the finals of the regional qualifiers. Aren't you going to watch?"

Inui Sadaharu was a little curious. He had already heard that Hyotei was holding its regional qualifiers here.

As the champions of last year's Metropolitan Tournament, runners-up in the Kanto Tournament, and even one of the top four strong teams in last year's National Tournament, Inui Sadaharu had specifically taken the subway from Jonan to the city center to gather firsthand information on Hyotei.

Furthermore, according to the information he had collected, this year's Hyotei was significantly different from previous years. Almost none of the second and third-year students had made it into the regular players; they were all first-year junior high students.

"Watch?"

Kamikawa raised the ice-cold soda in his hand and said with a faint smile, "I think it should be over soon!"

Inui's pupils contracted. Was this guy so confident in his own team?

Before Inui Sadaharu could ask more, Kamikawa waved his hand and walked towards the final court, muttering, "Seigaku! I hope we can meet at the Metropolitan Tournament!"

"This time, don't lose so thoroughly like last year."

Inui Sadaharu didn't reply. What Kamikawa said was the truth. Last year, at the Metropolitan Tournament, they had encountered Hyotei in the quarterfinals, and they had lost completely.

Both doubles matches had ended in a shutout.

The person who was playing singles number three at the time was the current captain of the Seigaku Tennis Club, Yamato Yudai.

Even though he had given his all, even at the cost of an arm, he hadn't managed to score a single point against his opponent, who was the captain of Hyotei at the time. Gekko Ochi!!