Prince of Tennis: The Emperor's Eye

Chapter 22: Chapter 22: Lost Dogs

The new tennis club members standing below had all kinds of expressions after seeing Akashi—some skeptical, some excited, but most just curious.

”I know some of you are probably wondering—since we’re all first-years, why am I the captain? If you’re thinking that, good. I’m announcing the first rule of our tennis club right now—strength above all! No matter who you are, no matter your grade, as long as you have the ability, you can become a regular. If you can beat me, you become the new captain!”

As soon as he said this, the club members below looked at each other in shock. No one could believe it. After all, Japan was all about seniority and clear hierarchy.

Even though the tennis club was newly formed and didn’t have any upperclassmen, Akashi was the freshman representative and now the club captain. In their minds, that made him their superior.

So hearing that anyone who beat Akashi could take his place as captain, most couldn’t accept it. Their worldview was being shaken. Even Tezuka and the others were surprised at Akashi’s words.

Akashi watched the crowd whispering and clapped his hands to get their attention, then spoke again: ”Alright! Quiet down! Don’t doubt what I just said. I always keep my word. But until someone beats me, I’m the captain—and in this club, my orders are absolute. Understood?”

Just as the members below were about to answer, a loud laugh interrupted. Four or five students who were clearly upperclassmen came onto the court with a middle-aged man leading them. The laugh had come from the man.

”Hahaha, this is hilarious! I was wondering what kind of person the new tennis club captain would be, but it turns out he’s just some naive brat. Saying anyone can be a regular—do you think he’s crazy?” The man kept laughing, turning to the older students with him.

”Yeah, seriously, what a joke. He thinks being a regular is child’s play or something? But you can’t blame him, coach—now the tennis club is just full of useless first-years,” one of the older students with a big slicked-back hairstyle chimed in mockingly.

The other upperclassmen laughed loudly too, completely arrogant. They made people want to go up and slap them. Akutsu in the crowd was furious and almost rushed forward to teach them a lesson, but when he glanced at Akashi on stage, he held back after seeing Akashi’s look—though he spat angrily in annoyance.

Akashi’s face was calm, but his sharp eyes looked like they could cut through steel. Staring at the middle-aged man, he spoke coldly to the girl handling the new registrations nearby: ”Senpai, since when can a bunch of stray dogs just wander into the tennis club?”

”You little brat! I don’t know what you did to trick the principal into disbanding the old tennis club and starting a new one, but as the coach, I order you to step down as captain right now!” The man’s voice turned vicious when he heard Akashi call them dogs.

That man was the previous tennis club coach, named Nishioda. The truth was, he didn’t know much about tennis. He’d just been a PE teacher. When the school first made a tennis club, there wasn’t a real coach, so they just gave him the job.

At first, Nishioda worried that not knowing tennis would be a problem, but soon he realized the school didn’t care about results. He settled into the role. In this tennis-crazy world, even if the team didn’t do well, the school still handed out lots of funds—which meant extra money for him.

A month ago, the principal called Nishioda in and told him the school would rebuild the tennis club from scratch—new courts, new facilities—and that he’d have to disband the current club and go back to being a PE teacher.

When Nishioda asked why, the principal didn’t say much—just that it was the board’s decision, and new people would be joining the club, so he should do as told.

Nishioda was furious, since losing the job would cut his income by more than half. On the surface, he agreed, but secretly he got together with the old club members, who were also angry, planning to cause trouble at the new club as soon as the new term started.

This was exactly why Nishioda brought a few upperclassmen to Akashi’s tennis club. He planned to threaten this first-year into giving up the captain spot, then have his group rejoin so he could go back to skimming money off the club.

Unfortunately, he had no idea what kind of nightmare was waiting for him. Akashi finally realized who these people were. Listening to Nishioda’s clueless rant, he nearly laughed out loud in anger, but his voice just got even colder: ”You want me to step down as captain? You’re nothing but a bunch of lost dogs, and you still dare bark here!”

”You! Fine! Very fine! You arrogant brat, you don’t know your place, huh? Just wait and see!” Nishioda glared at Akashi, seeing that he didn’t care about them at all, and spat out a bitter threat.

”Yeah, brat, you’re in real trouble. Watch your back after school. If something bad happens, don’t forget to run home crying to your mommy, hahahaha!” another upperclassman sneered, full of arrogance.

With that, Nishioda and his group turned to leave, planning to find a spot to talk about how to deal with this annoying kid.

Tezuka and the others watching nearby were furious, and Akutsu completely lost it. As he tensed his legs, ready to rush up and smash those guys, suddenly a blinding golden light burst from the stage behind him!

Akutsu instinctively froze. Then he heard that terrifying roar again—the same sound that had once filled him with fear. A blazing gold light, full of unstoppable force, crashed straight into Nishioda, who’d just turned to look.

In a split second, Nishioda lost consciousness. His body was sent flying by the powerful impact, knocking over a few upperclassmen, then slammed hard into the wall beside the court. The wall looked like it had been hit by a cannonball—a huge, deep crater appeared.

Nishioda, covered in blood, was embedded in the wall. His arms and legs were twisted at odd angles, his chest collapsed inward—a sure sign his ribs and limbs were broken. A deformed tennis ball slowly rolled off his body and hit the ground.

This hellish scene sent chills through everyone there. Many people were dazed, feeling like they were dreaming.

Except for Akutsu and Krauser, who’d seen the Light Strike before, Tezuka and the others were shaken to their core! They never imagined tennis could have this kind of power. It totally changed how they saw the game.

Everyone soon snapped out of it and turned to look at Akashi, who was still holding his follow-through pose on stage. They couldn’t help swallowing hard—Akashi’s image was burned into everyone’s mind.

Akashi lowered his racket, turned to Krauser, and said calmly, ”Liliadent, call an ambulance. And let Tanaka know to bring people to fix that wall.”

”Got it,” Krauser answered coldly, pulling out his phone to make the call.

”As for these other idiots, senpai, can you let the principal know? Let him handle it.” Akashi turned to the two club managers beside him.

”O-okay, we’ll go right now!” The two girls had never seen anything like this—they were clearly scared, but still forced themselves to go tell the principal.

Once everything was taken care of, Akashi let out a slow breath. He hadn’t expected to face something like this on his first day as club captain. He’d lost his temper and gone overboard, but honestly, for trash like Nishioda, this ending was only what he deserved.

The principal rushed over with a few teachers from the infirmary after hearing the girls’ report. Seeing the mess, he shuddered, but wasted no time—he quickly ordered the unconscious upperclassmen carried away. As for Nishioda, who was still stuck in the wall, no one dared touch him—they had to wait for the ambulance.

The principal came to Akashi’s side. On the way, he’d already learned what happened, so he apologized: ”I’m really sorry, Akashi-kun. This was my mistake. I didn’t expect Nishioda to do something like this. Don’t worry, the school will handle everything and make sure you’re satisfied.”