Prince of Tennis: The Emperor's Eye

Chapter 101: Chapter 101: Changes at Each School (Part 2)

The next day, at the finals venue of the Tokyo Metropolitan Tournament between Fudomine and Seigaku, what surprised everyone was that Akashi didn’t show up. Instead, Tachibana Kippei and Chitose Senri returned.

Fuji Shūsuke, curious, asked Tachibana about it and found out that Akashi had been summoned back by U-17 to prepare for an overseas expedition match. Since there was no World Cup this year, the overseas expedition series had become the best way for countries to earn ranking points.

This time, the opponent was the Korean Team, but Akashi and the others didn’t need to travel abroad because the Korean Team had come to Japan for the expedition match. So the Japan Team could just wait at home.

Fuji then walked over to the sidelines to greet Fuji Yūta, who was watching the match, but Yūta turned his head away coldly, clearly not wanting to talk. Fuji could only smile bitterly and shake his head.

Seigaku sent Momoshiro Takeshi and Kaidō Kaoru as their Doubles Two pair. Just like in the original, these two were already butting heads at this stage.

Fudomine sent out Ibu Shinji and Kamio Akira. These two had already started standing out among Fudomine’s second-string players, so this was the right time for them to gain more match experience.

Once the match began, Ibu finally used his hidden move—side spin serve, a technique very similar to an external spin serve. In fact, they were basically the same thing with different names and nearly identical effects.

This move completely shut down Kaidō’s return. However, after getting used to it, as long as one had decent technique, it could be countered.

But Kaidō didn’t hold back either. He fired off a basic form of his Snake shot to score. Unfortunately, Kamio’s speed had improved drastically. He could easily chase down the Snake and use his momentum to launch fast, powerful returns.

Watching from the sidelines, Kikumaru Eiji nodded approvingly at Kamio’s speed. Meanwhile, Momoshiro’s smashes were starting to show real power, scoring him a few points.

Halfway through the match, Ibu pulled out his other move—temporary paralysis. Honestly, it worked great against average players, but any stronger opponent would figure it out quickly.

In the end, Fudomine won 6-3. As Momoshiro and Kaidō walked off the court, they were loudly blaming each other for the loss. If Kawamura Takashi hadn’t stepped in and held them apart, they probably would’ve started fighting.

As for Doubles One, no surprise there—Seigaku sent Oishi Shūichirō and Kikumaru, while Fudomine fielded Tachibana Kippei and Chitose Senri. This match was a real eye-opener for all the first-years watching.

Thanks to the Mutsu brothers’ guidance, Oishi and Kikumaru finally activated Synchronization. It seemed the Mutsu brothers really were Seigaku alumni, and they’d taught Oishi and Kikumaru without holding anything back.

Once Synchronization activated, their doubles strength jumped up a tier. Even Kikumaru’s flashy, unpredictable shots could be perfectly synced with Oishi’s territory-based play.

And Kikumaru didn’t even need to speak—he could follow Oishi’s moves intuitively. Their teamwork became seamless.

Tachibana and Chitose, after losing a few points, got serious and activated Beast Synchronization. A Synchronization vs. Synchronization showdown left everyone around them dazzled.

This legendary doubles skill had actually appeared before their eyes—and both pairs had it. But Fudomine’s Synchronization clearly wasn’t just ordinary.

Some veteran spectators weren’t shocked though. They had seen worse—like last year’s unforgettable Singles Three match at Nationals. Thinking back, it still felt unreal.

In the end, Kikumaru and Oishi lost due to raw strength. Facing two peak national-level players who had also activated Synchronization, they just couldn’t compete no matter how hard they tried. The match ended 6-1.

It was another reminder to Seigaku’s first-years of what national-level dominance looked like. Next up was Singles Three: Kawamura Takashi versus Kite Eishirō. Fuji had already given up hope. It seemed he wouldn’t be facing Tezuka today after all.

As expected, Kawamura’s wide-open, power-based style got completely countered by Kite’s unpredictable techniques. And the difference in skill between them made it worse. The match ended 6-0, Fudomine’s win.

That made Fudomine the Tokyo Metropolitan Tournament champions once again. But no one was surprised this time, and the media didn’t hype it up like they did last year.

Meanwhile, at the U-17 training camp, Head Coach Mifune and three other coaches were receiving the Korean U-17 delegation and Asian Tennis Federation staff. But the Korean Team’s coach had such a smug look on his face that Mifune almost snapped. Luckily, the other coaches held him back.

Honestly, the Korean Team’s world ranking had dropped instead of rising this year. Last year, during the World Cup in France, they were ranked 27th. Now they’d fallen to 28th, and the downward trend didn’t look like it was stopping.

In fact, in the original timeline, when the World Cup in Australia started, the Korean Team had already slipped to 29th, while the Japan Team had climbed to 23rd. Even now, Japan was ranked 25th, and making the World Cup quarterfinals had earned them plenty of points.

That’s why the Korean Team held such a grudge against Japan. In their minds, their country was the center of the universe—how could a tiny place like Japan surpass them? Even if Japan had made the top eight last year, the Korean Team saw that as nothing more than dumb luck.

The Korean Team had come to Japan this time with the clear goal of crushing the Japan Team’s morale and proving who really ruled Asia. They seemed to have conveniently forgotten about that mysterious ancient eastern country, the one symbolized by the divine dragon, which was currently ranked 10 places ahead of Korea.

Led by their three coaches, the Korean players entered the Japan U-17 training camp. Seeing the players training on the courts, all of them wore smug, disdainful expressions.

Once they arrived at the match venue, all of the First Court members were already present—except for Byoudouin. That guy was still off traveling the world and probably wasn’t ready to face the rest of the Japan Team just yet.

Because of the Korean Team’s arrogant attitude, no one bothered with formalities. After giving them a short break to get ready, the expedition match began right away. The rules were the same as the World Cup elimination rounds—best of three, starting with Singles Three.

From the Japan side, Mifune immediately sent Oni Juujirou on court, clearly intending to strike first and intimidate the Koreans. Honestly, even if Oni crippled the opponent, Mifune probably wouldn’t care.

On the Korean side, their player was a third-year named Seo Joon-dae. When Akashi heard that name, he made a weird face—like he wanted to laugh but was forcing himself to hold it in. Irie Kanata glanced at Akashi curiously.

This match turned into Seo Joon-dae’s worst nightmare. In the first set, Oni didn’t even go all out, but his natural monster strength already gave Seo Joon-dae hell. He lost the first set 6-4, and his arms were starting to go numb.

During the break, Seo Joon-dae still had the nerve to mock Oni, then complained to the Asian Tennis Federation staff that the air quality in Japan was too poor and he hadn’t gotten proper rest. He said the match wasn’t fair.

But everyone from the Asian Federation knew exactly what kind of people the Koreans were. They ignored Seo Joon-dae’s whining and simply told him to rest well and get ready for set two.

Honestly, this match being held in Japan was lucky. If it had been in Korea, the real star would’ve been the umpire. It wouldn’t matter how strong your technique was—as long as the ump called it out, it was out.

Akashi looked at Seo Joon-dae acting like he had a death wish and could already picture how bad things were going to get. Oni wasn’t the type to go easy on enemies. He’d happily send someone straight to hell and back.

Sure enough, once the second set began, Oni immediately activated Shura Path. His aura exploded. Facing that state, Seo Joon-dae was completely overwhelmed. His racket kept getting knocked out of his hands.

In the end, Oni didn’t hold back. He used a Black Tomahawk and smashed Seo Joon-dae right out of the court, slamming him into the back wall. Seo Joon-dae passed out on the spot.

The Korean coach exploded in rage, storming over to the Asian Tennis Federation staff to protest. He accused the Japan Team of using violence, violating sportsmanship, and disgracing tennis.

But the Asian Federation wasn’t buying it. They told the coach to back off or they’d revoke his coaching license. The Korean coach was furious but had no choice but to return to his team, grinding his teeth.

Still, he wasn’t ready to let it go. He immediately called over the Doubles Two pair, his eyes full of venom as he swept them across the Japan Team. He whispered a few things to the players, and both nodded with cruel smiles on their faces.

But there was no way their petty tricks could fool Mifune. So for Doubles Two, he sent Tōno Atsukyou and Date Otoko.

It was worth noting that Oni’s match had also given the new first-years a glimpse of First Court’s power. A few familiar to Akashi were among them—like Yamato, Hirayoshi, Sakata, and Fujii. But Hyōtei’s two doubles players hadn’t made it into U-17. Who knew if it was due to lack of talent or quitting tennis altogether.

The current middle schoolers still in the training camp just calmly watched the match. This was nothing to them. Having seen the World Cup, their standards had clearly gone way up.

The Doubles Two match started quickly. From the first set, the Korean pair—named Park Gwang Yeol and Zhao Guo Dou—were already asking for trouble.

No one knew what their coach had told them beforehand, but they immediately started aiming their shots at the Japan players’ bodies. That was exactly what Tōno Atsukyou was hoping for. His face lit up as he began his Execution Technique.

”Hahahaha! Die! Execution No. 2—Firing Squad!”

”Execution No. 7—The Brass Bull of Phalaris!”

”Enjoy the beauty of this art! Execution No. 13—Decapitation!”

After getting nailed by the Decapitation shot, Park Gwang Yeol dropped to his knees, paralyzed and unable to move. That was Tōno’s ultimate Execution Technique—Kaishaku.

Meanwhile, Date Otoko launched his signature move, Summer of Danji, and sent Park flying. Zhao Guo Dou was completely stunned. He’d already taken a few Execution hits himself, but never imagined his partner would go down this brutally.

At that moment, the Korean coach suddenly jumped in and stopped the match, protesting even more aggressively to the Asian Tennis Federation officials. He accused the Japan Team of deliberately ruining his players’ futures and demanded an immediate forfeit win for the Korean Team.

The federation staff just looked at him like he was a complete idiot and coldly rejected the absurd request, motioning for the match to continue. But the Korean coach refused to back down. He tried to lead his team off the court, declaring he would file a complaint with the International Tennis Federation and accusing the Asian Federation of blatantly covering for the Japan Team.

Akashi watched the Korean Team walk off, speechless. ’Seriously... they’re really just walking out like that? What is this? Glass hearts? Sore losers? Pathetic pride?’

The Asian Federation didn’t expect the Koreans to actually pull a stunt like that either. Their expressions turned ugly, and after giving the Japan Team a brief apology, they hurried away. It looked like the Korean side was in for some trouble.

Just like that, the farcical expedition match ended with a whimper. No—”whimper” was giving it too much credit. It was nothing but a joke.

Still, the Japan Team wasn’t bothered at all. It was basically free ranking points for them. As for the Koreans’ threats to complain to the International Federation, Mifune just scoffed and said, ”Let them. Pure nonsense.”

After that, everyone dispersed and went back to doing their own things. No one brought up the match again. Akashi then received a call from Tezuka, who informed him that Fudomine had taken the Tokyo title. Akashi calmly replied, ”Good work,” and hung up.

Now it was time to prepare for the Kanto Regional Tournament. This time, Akashi didn’t plan on letting second-string players compete anymore. The same went for the other schools. All U-17 trainees from middle schools had returned to their respective schools, including those from Shitenhōji.

Speaking of the Kanto Tournament, something about it amused Akashi—Kirihara Akaya. According to Yanagi Renji, Kirihara had originally planned to transfer to Fudomine, but somehow, maybe because of the will of the world, he ended up at Rikkai again without realizing it.

Still, Yukimura Seiichi had seriously begun training Kirihara and even approached Akashi, asking him to visit Rikkai before the Kanto Tournament to help set up a training plan for Kirihara. Akashi thought it over and didn’t refuse. After all, Kirihara’s talent was solid—far above his peers.

When Akashi arrived at Rikkai and observed Kirihara’s training and matches, he gave Yukimura a basic training method. However, he also warned him about Kirihara’s red-eye state and suggested limiting its use, as it caused physical damage.

In the original timeline, Kirihara’s red-eye state eventually evolved into a full demon form, which essentially squeezed out his body’s potential and inflicted internal damage. Over time, it would completely destroy his career.

Even the so-called angel mode probably had slightly less severe side effects than demon mode, but it still wasn’t suited for long-term use. That said, angel mode’s effects were stronger than the boosts from Muga no Kyōchi.

Akashi planned to send Kirihara to learn Shura Path from ”oyaji” when the time was right. That would suit him better. Oyaji clearly had way more experience in that area than Akashi did, and Kirihara’s case was unique. Oyaji might have a different solution.

While at Rikkai, Akashi also saw Yagyū Hiroshi. It seemed Niō Masaharu had successfully pulled him into the tennis club. That was good—Rikkai’s full roster from the original was finally coming together.

Back at Fudomine, in the final selection match before the Kanto Tournament, Fuji Yūta unexpectedly made it into the second string. Of course, ”unexpected” applied only to the regular members—Akashi wasn’t surprised at all.

Ishida Tetsu narrowly missed the cut this time. Still, Akashi gave him a personalized strength training regimen. He also handed over the revised Wave Ball training method that Ishida Gin had asked him to pass along. Akashi believed it wouldn’t be long before Ishida Tetsu mastered the Wave Ball too.

One week before the Kanto Tournament began, all participating schools from the region gathered at Fudomine Middle School. After winning the Kanto title last year, the school had completely renovated its main conference hall in preparation for this year’s event.

Once everyone was seated in the hall, the place quickly turned lively. Some people greeted each other, others bickered the moment they met. It wasn’t until Akashi and Tezuka entered that the room gradually quieted down.

Akashi scanned the crowd and noticed quite a few unfamiliar faces. Many of last year’s third-year captains had graduated, and he didn’t recognize most of the new ones. Not that he cared.

After the staff from the Tennis Federation conducted the draw, the match schedule for this year’s Kanto Tournament was finally revealed. Akashi couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for Yamabuki and Rokkaku—one got matched with Hyōtei, the other with Rikkai.

And just like that, a week passed in a flash. The Kanto Tournament officially kicked off. Except for Shitenhōji, all the strongest middle school teams were gathered here. Whether Rikkai could reclaim the title of Kanto’s top team was something everyone was curious to see.