Prince of Tennis: The Emperor's Eye

Chapter 100: Chapter 100: Changes at Each School (Part 1)

The new member registration for the tennis club lasted a full three days to finish, mainly because there were so many applicants that they had to be screened slowly. Those whose physical condition was clearly inadequate couldn’t pass the basic assessment.

Additionally, since the two previous senior managers had already graduated, the student council specially found two reliable new first-year girls to serve as the new managers of the tennis club. One of them was none other than Tachibana Kippei’s younger sister—Tachibana An.

Akashi didn’t have any objections to this. As long as nothing major went wrong, it was fine. Once the final list of new members was compiled, Akashi indeed saw several familiar names on it.

Ibu Shinji, Kamio Akira, Ishida Tetsu, Sakurai Masaya, Uchimura Kyōsuke, and Mori Tatsunori—these six new students were the main members of Fudomine in the original story. In Akashi’s view, though, only Ibu Shinji, Kamio Akira, and Ishida Tetsu showed some real talent; the other three were just a bit stronger than average.

But even this level of talent was enough. With Akashi’s training, they’d easily handle regional-level competitions, and probably the early rounds of the national tournament too.

Akashi had long planned to form a second team. This way, players like Tezuka and the others could focus more on honing their own strength. Akashi even prepared several shuttle buses to take them to the U-17 training camp. Not just Fudomine, but also players from Hyōtei, Rikkai, and others who had been to U-17 could use these buses whenever they had time.

The U-17 coaches were very welcoming of this. Since there was no world tournament this year, it was the perfect time to polish their skills and develop new techniques. By next year’s world tournament, Japan’s team would be unimaginably strong.

Many of the new students joined the tennis club this year because of its national championship reputation, so they were all very excited when they first met Akashi and the others. For them, the regular team members were like idols.

Akashi announced that a second team would be formed so that more people would have a chance to compete, which made the new students even more excited. Even the old members were smiling widely.

Soon, the first ranking matches of the new year began. As expected, there were no changes in the regular lineup. However, the ranking matches among the regulars truly opened the new students’ eyes.

Especially Akutsu’s Glowing Strike and Kite’s Dark Side nearly shattered the new students’ perception of tennis. This time, even Akashi participated in the ranking matches, and unsurprisingly, he firmly held onto the No1 spot, with Tezuka still at No2.

Interestingly, Akutsu finally defeated Krauser, taking the No3 spot, pushing Krauser to No4. Surprisingly, this time Chitose ranked No7, with Kite at No5 and Tachibana Kippei at No6.

Kite’s Dark Side was just too hard to counter, even though he was holding back. This made Chitose even more eager to unlock Ten’i Muhō no Kiwami as soon as possible.

Akashi advised Chitose to keep a calm mind. The worst thing when trying to reach Ten’i Muhō no Kiwami was impatience. Only by staying true to one’s original passion for tennis could it be awakened.

Notably, Tezuka had officially stepped into the half-world-class level, and he was making progress in developing his Ultimate Domain. Krauser and Akutsu were also on the verge of breaking through. Kite, Tachibana, and Chitose were still at the peak national level, but with their talent, it was only a matter of time before they advanced.

Meanwhile, Akashi shared the Shura Path training method with Kite and Krauser. He felt Chitose and Tachibana weren’t suited for Shura Path; Chitose didn’t need it, and Tachibana seemed more focused on further developing his Beast Aura.

After the ranking matches ended, the second team selection began. Ultimately, second-year students took five spots, and among the first-years, only Ibu Shinji and Kamio Akira made it into the second team.

Akashi wasn’t surprised by this. After all, these second-years had already done two training camps with him and had professional trainers’ guidance. Their skills were far above the average.

As for Ishida Tetsu and the other three, Akashi decided to keep observing them a bit longer to fully assess their potential before making other arrangements. For now, the second team was more than enough to handle matches against most weaker schools.

Once the selections for the regulars and second team were done, many new students realized they rarely saw the regulars anymore—only Captain Akashi was consistently around the tennis club.

The older second-year members knew roughly where the regulars were going, but Akashi ordered them not to tell the new students. After all, it wouldn’t be good for ordinary members to learn about U-17 too early.

During this time, Akashi specially made training plans for Ibu Shinji and Kamio Akira. Although their talent didn’t match Tezuka’s level, they were at least on par with Momoshiro Takeshi.

However, Akashi didn’t expect them to appear in next year’s world tournament matches. There were only so many slots, and there were plenty of players stronger than them.

One thing did surprise Akashi, though: he received a call from Echizen Nanjirō recently, who apologized on behalf of Echizen Ryoga. This left Akashi at a rare loss for words.

Actually, Echizen Nanjirō was left with no choice this time. Ryoga didn’t know who Akashi was, but Nanjirō knew perfectly well. If Akashi really decided to go all out against his two sons, even as the God of Tennis, he wouldn’t be able to stop him.

Originally, Akashi had no intention of letting Echizen Ryoga off so easily, but for Nanjirō’s sake, he couldn’t go too far. He only asked Nanjirō to tell Ryoga not to provoke him again, or else he wouldn’t mind crippling Ryoga directly.

With Akashi’s current strength, he wasn’t afraid of Ryoga’s Devouring ability at all. Besides, his King of Heroes dimension wasn’t an ordinary otherworldly space. As Akashi dug deeper into it, he realized that just a trace of divine aura was enough to resist the erosion of Ten’i Muhō no Kiwami’s brilliance.

But right after the call ended, the system notified Akashi that his fusion rate had reached 100%. The virtual personality had been generated, and he could now integrate it at any time, making his Emperor Eye flawless. At the same time, his Zone ability would be enhanced, allowing his physical capabilities to temporarily perform at 120% of their limit.

However, the system also gave a warning: maintaining this state for a long period could cause irreversible damage to the body—it was essentially the same principle as Black Hole.

This surprise came so suddenly that Akashi’s mood improved a lot. Ryoga had narrowly escaped disaster, but if he came to U-17 next year and acted like he did in the original story, Akashi wouldn’t hesitate to give him a painful lesson.

To test his new ability, Akashi even went to U-17 specifically to have a match with Tanegashima. After that match ended, Tanegashima looked at Akashi like he was some kind of alien.

After obtaining the perfect Emperor Eye, Akashi even developed a technique similar to Yukimura’s ability to seize the future, naming it ”Intersection of Future and Reality.”

Just like that, the new regional tournament cycle arrived before anyone realized it. Fudomine’s second team smoothly made it to the finals, where their opponent was, of course, Seigaku.

Since it was the final, Akashi brought Krauser and Akutsu to the match. He wasn’t about to let only the second team deal with Seigaku. This match also let Akashi meet three familiar faces.

They were all Seigaku first-year students: Momoshiro Takeshi, Kaidō Kaoru, and Arai Masashi. That’s right! The same Arai-senpai who was taught a harsh lesson by Ryōma in the original story. There was also another guy who looked vaguely familiar, but Akashi couldn’t remember his name—he was probably some background character from the original.

This year, Seigaku’s new captain was Fuji, with Oishi still as vice-captain. They even added a strategist role, basically a half-coach, filled by Inui Sadaharu.

However, neither Fuji nor Inui appeared at this match, and Akashi guessed they were still staying at U-17. Notably, since returning from France, Inui had been training with frightening intensity, though Akashi had no idea what had triggered it.

It was said that Yanagi Renji from Rikkai was acting the same way. Akashi couldn’t understand what went on in the heads of these data maniacs, but Mitsuya approved of their efforts.

In doubles two, Seigaku sent out Arai Masashi and Ikeda Masaya. That’s right—Ikeda was the one whose name Akashi couldn’t remember, and in the original story, he got knocked out easily by Ryōma during the selection matches.

Fudomine countered with Kawamoto Hisahisa and Takeda Masanori, both second-year players. Needless to say, Fudomine won doubles two.

In doubles one, Seigaku fielded Kikumaru Eiji and Oishi Shūichirō, while Fudomine sent in Ibu Shinji and Kamio Akira. Although they lost 6-1, they impressed Kikumaru and Oishi with their play.

In singles three, Kaidō Kaoru stepped up, but he had no chance against Krauser. Still, at this point he could at least hit a half-finished Snake Shot. Krauser clearly wasn’t taking it seriously, instead treating it like he was amusing a child, letting Kaidō display his full abilities.

Singles two’s Momoshiro Takeshi had it much worse—his opponent was Akutsu. Though Akutsu no longer hurt people at random, he had no patience for letting Momoshiro show his skills. The match was over in less than ten minutes.

Seigaku’s Kawamura Takashi didn’t even get the chance to play singles one. In the end, Fudomine won the regional championship with a total score of 3-1. Ibu Shinji and Kamio Akira were overjoyed—this was their first time winning a tournament.

Meanwhile, the other second-years at Fudomine had matured a lot. A mere regional championship couldn’t stir any excitement in their hearts.

A few days after the regional tournament ended, Akashi suddenly received a call from Fuji. Fuji said he had a favor to ask. After Akashi asked about it, he suddenly realized something.

No wonder something felt off when he saw Seigaku’s lineup during the regional final. It wasn’t until Fuji’s call that he remembered someone—Fuji’s younger brother, Fuji Yūta!

Just like in the original story, everyone only knew Yūta as Fuji’s younger brother. Some even thought he got into the tennis club through favoritism, which led to him arguing with Fuji and shouting about transferring schools. But judging by the timing, this was happening much earlier than in the original.

Akashi didn’t know if this was because of his own influence, but since Fuji was the one asking for help, he had no reason to refuse. To be honest, Yūta’s talent wasn’t bad—it was just ruined by that guy Mizuki Hajime.

However, Akashi did remind Fuji over the phone to keep an eye on some restless people in the tennis club, especially those in the same year as Fuji. It was hard to say if there were others who had been bullied by upperclassmen and ended up with unstable mentalities.

After that, Akashi and Fuji agreed that Fuji’s sister, Fuji Yumiko, would come forward to persuade Yūta to transfer to Fudomine. With Fudomine now the strongest school in middle school tennis, Yūta probably wouldn’t refuse. Once the transfer procedures were done, it would be right around the start of the Tokyo Metropolitan Tournament.

As expected, just before the Tokyo Metropolitan Tournament began, Fuji Yūta transferred to Fudomine. Of course, the first thing he did was go to the tennis club to sign up. Since Akashi had specifically notified the two managers beforehand, Yūta smoothly joined the club.

At Fudomine’s tennis club, no one acted shady or passive-aggressive. After all, no one wanted to experience firsthand what it felt like to get hit by a Glowing Shot. So after joining, Yūta felt great.

But with the Tokyo Metropolitan Tournament starting soon and the second-round second-team selection already finished long ago, there was no chance Yūta would get to play in the tournament. Still, Akashi gave him an individual training plan. This was also giving face to Fuji, since he was ready to train Fuji’s brother properly.

In the early rounds of the Tokyo Metropolitan Tournament, Fudomine’s second team breezed through their matches, once again making everyone marvel at how strong Fudomine was. Even the second team could easily make it to the semifinals. But after that, Akashi and the main team would have to step in—Seigaku, Hyōtei, or Yamabuki wouldn’t be opponents that just the second team could handle.

This time, the semifinal opponent was Yamabuki. As the match began, Akashi went over to Banji’s side and started chatting with him. Banji knew perfectly well that Yamabuki had no chance against Fudomine now, so he simply enjoyed his conversation with Akashi.

This time, the players returning from U-17 were Tezuka and Kite. So there was a bizarre sight: in Fudomine’s coaching area, Tezuka was sitting; in Yamabuki’s coaching area, Akashi was sitting; and Banji was happily chatting with Akashi from his own special chair.

For doubles two, Fudomine sent out Ibu Shinji and Kamio Akira, while Yamabuki fielded Nitobe Inakichi and Kita Ichiuma. The match ended with Fudomine winning 7-6, thanks to Ibu’s Temporary Paralysis technique. Kamio was almost exhausted to the point of collapse and was ordered by Tezuka to train even harder afterward.

Speaking of Temporary Paralysis, under Akashi’s guidance, Ibu mastered this technique in his first year. He even consulted Tezuka about spin, allowing him to activate the skill faster.

For Yamabuki’s doubles one, of course it was Minami Kentarō and Higashikata Masami. Fudomine sent Kawamoto Hisahisa and Takeda Masanori, but they were completely outclassed and lost 6-1. They were sternly criticized by Tezuka afterward for their mistakes and, like Kamio, told to train twice as hard.

Nowadays, Tezuka was increasingly like the stern, unsmiling figure he was in the original, and his authority in the club was already comparable to Akashi’s. But since Tezuka wasn’t around often, the new students still preferred the always-smiling captain Akashi. Meanwhile, the veteran members could only sigh in their hearts: ’These new kids are way too naive.’

In singles three, Kite faced off against Muromachi Tōji. Naturally, there was no suspense—Kite used his Shukuchihō, and his opponent completely lost any hope of winning.

Finally, in singles two, Sengoku Kiyosumi saw that his opponent was Tezuka, and his face fell completely. This was the worst-case scenario for him. Tezuka was now recognized as the strongest middle school player after Akashi, even ahead of Yukimura and Akutsu, thanks to the overwhelming aura of his Ten’i Muhō no Kiwami.

However, in Akashi’s view, Tezuka and Yukimura were probably on par with each other. Their paths were just different, and they hadn’t faced off directly yet, which made Tezuka seem slightly ahead.

Although Sengoku’s strength had improved significantly through Akashi’s training methods, there was still a full level gap between him and Tezuka. At best, Sengoku was now a half-step national-level player who couldn’t even break into Tezuka’s zone. Thankfully, Tezuka showed him some mercy, ending the match 6-1.

What Akashi hadn’t expected was that this time the final opponent wasn’t Hyōtei, but Seigaku. Upon asking around, he learned that Atobe, Oshitari, and Jirō hadn’t come back yet. Meanwhile, Fuji had returned early, probably because of his brother’s situation.

It looked like their trip to France had made them all indifferent to the tournaments before the Kanto event. Akashi could only laugh helplessly, since Fudomine was the same way.

But Akashi noticed something odd this time: Kabaji was present at the tournament, yet he wasn’t with Atobe. That was unusual. Meanwhile, Shishido Ryō had already teamed up with Ōtori Chōtarō in doubles, as if fate had brought them together as partners ahead of schedule.