Although Fudomine didn't have to play in the first round, they still showed up early at the venue—ARINA no Mori Tennis Park—for the opening ceremony of the national tournament. Unlike before, all matches leading up to the semifinals would be played on outdoor courts this year.
Only after the semifinals would matches be moved to the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. Once the ceremony ended, the first round matches kicked off immediately. Since they had nothing else to do, Akashi and the others just wandered around the venue.
Most of the schools Akashi cared about had a bye, so the first round held little interest. The only match that caught his eye was Rokkaku versus Higa.
Akashi was curious—without Kite, where did Higa's strength now stand? It should still be stronger than most schools. Rokkaku would likely get eliminated in the first round this year.
Eventually, they arrived at the court where Higa and Rokkaku were playing. The second doubles match was already underway. Higa had Chinen Hiroshi paired with a player Akashi didn't recognize.
On Rokkaku's side, it was Kurobane Harukaze and Amane Hikaru. But their situation looked pretty grim. The Higa pair were using Shukuchihō. Even though they'd seen it multiple times at Fudomine, that didn't mean they could counter or shut it down completely.
From the start, they'd tried everything to force Higa's players to move laterally, preventing them from using front-to-back Shukuchihō. But in doubles, you can't monitor both opponents at once.
In singles match three, Kisarazu Ryō had already lost 6–3. If they dropped this second doubles match, Rokkaku would be on the edge of elimination.
At that moment, Kai Yūjirō, who was watching the match, casually turned his head—and immediately locked eyes on Kite. Ignoring the game, he walked straight toward the Fudomine group.
Akashi noticed Kai's movement. He figured Kai must be going to talk to Kite. He was curious about what they might say.
"Yōshirō! I can't believe you just ran off to Tokyo without a word!" Kai charged up to Kite, sounding clearly upset.
"I remember calling you right after I got to Tokyo. You're the one who stubbornly ignored my advice~" Kite replied calmly.
"Shut up! Don't forget we made a promise when we were five. You're the one who broke it!" Kai didn't want to hear any excuses.
"Yūjirō, do you know who you're talking to right now? Looks like you've forgotten how to behave around me," Kite said coldly, his tone suddenly sharp.
Kai froze for a second, like some bad memory had suddenly resurfaced. But then he quickly snapped back into anger and growled, "Hmph! Just wait, Yōshirō! This time I'll lead Higa to crush Fudomine! I'll show you that your choice back then was a mistake!"
"Heh~ Try beating Rokkaku first before talking big," Kite said with a smirk.
Kai didn't respond again, just shot a sharp glare at the entire Fudomine team before turning and heading back to his side.
"Was he your childhood friend?" Tachibana Kippei asked curiously.
"Yeah. Seems like he's grown into a decent captain now," Kite replied, his tone unusually approving as he watched Kai's back.
"If Higa makes it to the quarterfinals, we might face them. Want to play against your childhood friend?" Akashi suddenly asked.
"Let's see if they even make it that far. With their current strength, it won't be easy~" Kite said flatly.
And he had a point. Higa's next opponent was Nagoya—one of the schools that consistently made the top eight or even top four nationally. This was Higa's first-ever appearance at nationals, so they weren't guaranteed to win.
But Akashi actually thought Higa had a chance. Even without Kite, their overall level wasn't bad. If they hadn't run into the protagonist school Seigaku in the original timeline, they might have reached the top eight.
Also, if Akashi remembered right, Nagoya wouldn't be using their foreign players before the quarterfinals, so Higa definitely had a shot.
Back on the court, the score was now 5–4, with Higa in the lead. They were also up by two points in the final game—one more and it would be match point. Yet Kurobane and Amane showed no signs of discouragement—just steady determination in their eyes.
During the timeout, their coach had given them some helpful advice, allowing them to claw back two games even while at a disadvantage.
Just then, from the coach's bench, Saotome Harumi raised his hand, gave a thumbs-up—and then turned it upside down in a signal. Chinen Hiroshi saw it and his eyes narrowed, like he'd made up his mind about something.
Everyone was confused by the Higa coach's strange gesture. Only Akashi understood what they were trying to do. He immediately reached behind him for his racket and a tennis ball.
On court, as Chinen returned a serve, he suddenly fumbled on purpose. The ball shot straight toward the bench, flying at their coach. As the Rokkaku team panicked, a faintly glowing tennis ball shot in from off court—and smashed the incoming ball away.
Everyone turned to look and saw Akashi holding his racket. A huge hole had been torn through the chain-link fence in front of him—just one glance made it obvious what had happened.
On the other side, Coach Saotome's face twisted in displeasure. Things clearly hadn't gone the way he wanted, and he didn't like it.
The umpire immediately called a timeout, as Rokkaku's players ran over to check on their coach. Even Kurobane Harukaze and Amane Hikaru, who were still on court, hurried to his side.
But much to everyone's frustration, the coach seemed totally unfazed—sitting calmly on his knees, sipping hot tea like nothing had happened. He even told everyone to calm down.
"Akashi-kun~ That shot just now… was their coach really trying to hit our coach with the ball?" Kite suddenly spoke from beside him.
"Do you even need to ask~" Akashi replied coldly. That coach had helped him a lot. If someone dared to pull a stunt like that, there would be consequences.
Just as Akashi was about to take action and show Saotome what real hell looked like, Saeki Kojirō suddenly stepped forward and bowed deeply to Akashi.
"Thank you so much, Akashi-kun, for saving our coach just now!" Saeki said sincerely.
Akashi gave a calm nod in return. Just then, a faint flash zipped past him and Saeki—and the next moment, a loud, agonized scream rang out from Coach Saotome.
Everyone turned again. The entire bench on Higa's side had been flipped over, and Coach Saotome was kneeling on the ground, clutching his oversized stomach. Blood was dripping from his nose and mouth. He'd clearly taken serious damage.
Kite coldly put away his racket. No one knew why, but he had actually taken the initiative to attack his old team's coach. No one had seen that coming.
The Higa players outside the court glared menacingly at Kite. The situation was starting to spiral out of control, so the umpire quickly blew his whistle, signaling everyone to settle down. He then left his chair and walked over to ask Kite what had just happened.
"Sorry~ Since we've got a match later, I was warming up. Didn't expect to miss so badly and hit something at just the wrong time," Kite said seriously, adjusting his glasses.
If the excuse hadn't been so ridiculous, the umpire might have actually bought it. But even though it sounded absurd, there was no hard evidence that Kite had attacked on purpose. After all, this match had nothing to do with Fudomine.
Seeing that Kite had already used the Dark Side, Akashi also put his racket back into his bag. For the umpire's sake, he decided to let it slide this time.
Under the umpire's warning, Higa's players could only glare at the Fudomine crew in frustration. The umpire had his own take on what had happened. That hand signal from Coach Saotome, followed by Chinen Hiroshi's reaction, clearly pointed to intent.
What surprised everyone, though, was that Higa's regulars didn't seem to care that their coach had been attacked. Their expressions didn't change much—they just stood there quietly, waiting for the umpire to announce the game would continue.
Once Coach Saotome was carried off, the match resumed as if nothing had happened. But the gaping hole in the fence in front of Akashi and the empty coach's bench on Higa's side told the real story.
Doubles two wrapped up quickly. Rokkaku still couldn't pull off a win, losing 6–4. That meant unless they swept the next three matches, their national tournament run would be over.
For singles two, Rokkaku sent out Aoi Kentarō. Higa's player was Kai Yūjirō. Clearly, Higa was aiming to clinch the win in the first three matches.
At the start, Kentarō used his precise control to shut down Kai's Shukuchihō. But it didn't take long for the gap in their abilities to show.
Especially when Kai switched to a backhand grip—Kentaro couldn't adapt fast enough and began losing point after point. Still, he didn't give up, fighting hard to turn the match around.
But because he focused too much on winning, he let his guard down against Shukuchihō. Kai seized the opportunity and quickly took all the remaining games. He won singles two, and just like in the original story, Rokkaku was eliminated in the first round. The final score was 6–2.
Even though they'd lost, the first round required all five matches to be played. For doubles one, Rokkaku sent out Marehiko Itsuki and Shudō Satoshi. Higa countered with Shiranui Tomoya and Aragaki Kōichi.
These two were known in the original story as the endurance duo. Trained in the brutal heat of Ryukyu Island, their bodies had exceptional stamina and lung capacity.
Ironically, they ended up collapsing from heatstroke and lost the match. Losing a stamina battle to Kaidō was one thing—but passing out from heatstroke? Especially since the whole match had basically been two-on-one. Kaidō handled all the defense while Inui stood by collecting data.
Whether Kaidō had some main-character buff is another story. Against Rokkaku's doubles pair, though, the Higa duo showed exactly what "endurance monsters" looked like. The match dragged on for a long time.
Eventually, Shudō ran out of gas and collapsed to his knees, panting heavily. Seeing that, Rokkaku had no choice but to forfeit. Marehiko wasn't in much better shape—he was running on fumes too. Meanwhile, Higa's pair looked perfectly fine.
For singles one, Rokkaku sent out Saeki Kojirō, while Higa's player was Hirakoba Rin. During this match, Hirakoba actually used the Habu—it made everyone from Fudomine turn toward Kite.
Kite calmly explained that he had tried to teach Kai the Habu back when they were still on Ryukyu Island, but Kai hadn't been very into tennis at the time and didn't take it seriously.
Looks like Hirakoba probably learned the Habu from Kai. Still, maybe because it wasn't taught directly by Kite, Hirakoba's version was a little different—Kite's emphasized speed, while Hirakoba's focused more on variation.
Even though Saeki could use his vision to barely read the changes in the Habu, he could only just manage to return it. He didn't have the energy to shut down Hirakoba's Shukuchihō.
No denying it—Shukuchihō is seriously broken. Especially Kite's all-direction version. If there isn't a big gap in skill or some special technique to deal with it, it's almost impossible to counter.
In the end, Saeki lost singles one. The score was 7–5. Higa advanced to the top 16 with a full sweep, which gave them even more confidence. Kai shot a sharp look at Kite, clearly saying, "Just you wait."
After the match, Akashi went over to exchange a few words with the coach, then left with his team. They still had their own match coming up in the afternoon. As for Rokkaku—they were probably used to this by now.
Lunch break ended quickly. Fudomine's round-of-16 opponent was Tsubakikawa Academy. Akashi remembered that in the original story they lost in the first round to Hyōtei, so seeing them here in the top 16 was unexpected. Still, their luck was bad again—this time they were up against Fudomine.
For this match, Fudomine's lineup consisted entirely of second-string players, except for Kintarō. Originally, Akashi didn't plan to let Kintarō play, but the kid kept pestering him non-stop. Since it was Kintarō's first national tournament, Akashi gave in.
Tsubakikawa didn't give up easily, either. They fought hard without any sign of throwing the match. They went all-out on court.
Unfortunately, the difference in ability was too much. Even Fudomine's second-string players were way out of their league. Right now, Ibu Shinji and Fuji Yūta had both reached the national level. Kamio Akira was also half a step into that tier.
Ishida Tetsu was still at the peak of the Kanto level, but his Hadoukyu had reached 100 forms—just 8 more to go before matching his brother.
The rest had all improved, too. Honestly, this second-string squad alone could probably make it to the national top 8 on their own. They were already stronger than Fudomine's original team in the main storyline.
Fudomine's second-string quickly won the first three matches and advanced to the quarterfinals. But since this was their first match of the tournament, they had to play all five.
Against the power-speed combo of Kamio and Ishida in doubles one, Tsubakikawa stood no chance and lost 6–0.
For singles one, Kintarō happily stepped onto the court. But what happened next really let him down—his opponent couldn't even return his basic shots. And that was with him holding back his strength.
Even though the final score was 6–0, Kintarō pouted, clearly unhappy. He'd thought the national tournament would be full of strong players—that's why he'd insisted on playing in the first place.
As Fudomine wrapped up their match, several other schools finished too: Rikkai, Hyōtei, and Shitenhōji. All their opponents had been average schools.
The four matches still going on were Seigaku vs. Heichō, Yamabuki vs. Makinofuji, Higa vs. Nagoya, and Shishigaku vs. Kabuto.
Akashi was a bit curious about why Seigaku's match hadn't finished yet, so he headed over to their court—and was stunned to find out that Seigaku had forfeited doubles two.
At the same time, Yukimura arrived with the Rikkai team. He saw the forfeit notice on the scoreboard and looked just as confused.
The two of them walked around to Seigaku's bench and asked what had happened. Fuji Shūsuke gave them a helpless explanation.
Both Akashi and Yukimura were speechless after hearing the story. Apparently, doubles two was Inui Sadaharu and Kaidō Kaoru. They'd taken the first three games smoothly, but during the break, Kaidō accidentally drank from Inui's bottle—and promptly lost consciousness.
According to Fuji, Inui's expression at the time was painfully awkward. He'd filled his bottle with a special nutrient mix and hadn't adjusted the flavor since it was just for himself.
But Kaidō's taste buds couldn't handle the overpowering mixture. His brain went into self-protective shutdown and he passed out cold. That's why they had to forfeit.
Akashi almost laughed. Stuff like this could only happen to Seigaku. Yukimura even walked over to check in with Yanagi Renji, and only relaxed after seeing him shake his head.
Soon, all the matches neared their end. Akashi heard that the match between Higa and Nagoya was extremely close. But honestly, for Fudomine, it didn't really matter who won—Nagoya or Higa.
Once Higa and Nagoya's singles match wrapped up, the top 8 for this year's national tournament was set: Fudomine, Rikkai, Seigaku, Hyōtei, Shitenhōji, Yamabuki, Higa, and Shishigaku.
Tomorrow, the quarterfinals would begin. Seeing that Higa had made it through, Kite's eyes flickered with a strange light.