"Gasp!"
"Who was that guy?! They nearly started fighting just now."
Kikumaru sucked in a breath. He'd never met anyone like that before.
"Akutsu Jin. A first-year who enrolled at Yamabuki Junior High this year. He played second singles in the semifinals and made Roka Middle School's captain collapse from exhaustion in less than ten minutes."
"Roka Middle School is a regular at the Kanto Tournament. Their captain is a Kanto-level player who could hold his own against Captain Yamato last year."
Inui flipped through his notebook and quickly found the information on Akutsu.
"And from what I understand, Kawamura went to the same school as you before, didn't he?"
Kikumaru and the others turned to Kawamura. He looked honest and gentle as he nodded, then shook his head. "He and I didn't go to the same school. We were just neighbors. He loved getting into fights. He'd beaten up all the delinquents on our street."
"I remember one time when Yuuki called him over to practice karate. The older students who went up to provoke him got a serious beating from Akutsu."
"He wasn't even doing karate. He was just fighting like an ordinary person. Even so, Akutsu... Akutsu beat more than ten middle school students from the karate club."
"Akutsu was only eight years old at the time!"
Kawamura remembered it clearly. It had also been his first week in the karate club, but after Akutsu showed up, Kawamura eventually gave up karate.
"An eight-year-old beat up middle schoolers?!"
Kikumaru's eyes widened. He could hardly believe what he'd heard.
An eight-year-old kid had beaten up middle school students.
"Yeah! And they were all third-year students."
Kawamura nodded firmly. "He did catch them off guard, but Akutsu really was strong. He beat countless delinquents almost entirely by instinct."
"Kawamura,