"The rest of these matches aren't interesting, I'm gonna go walk around."
Kamikawa patted his backside and stood up from the grass.
There was no need to keep watching the remaining matches, and he wouldn't be playing anyway. Since he was just lounging around, he might as well go explore and see if he could bump into any "opponents."
In the heart of the six districts, almost every court he could see was holding matches, but Kamikawa had never even heard of these schools—they were obscure middle school tennis clubs.
After wandering for a bit, Kamikawa arrived at a vending machine, put in two coins, got two sodas, and then started walking back toward Hyotei.
By his estimate, the district preliminaries should be wrapping up soon.
Since there weren't many teams in the district preliminaries, and it was primarily to select suitable teams for the upcoming Tokyo Metropolitan Tournament, Hyotei, as last year's champions, only had to play three matches.
The first match had all of Hyotei's members present, the second match sent them directly to the finals, and the third, of course, was the final showdown. By his calculations, the second matches for other schools should be over by now.
Hyotei's opponent in their second match forfeited directly. If it weren't for waiting for their finals opponent, they would have already gone back to the tennis club for intense training by now.
"Huh?"
Kamikawa had barely walked a few steps when he ran into Akutagawa Jiro, who was lazily lying under a tree, fast asleep.
"Honestly, this guy doesn't put in any effort at all."
Kamikawa sighed. Jiro's talent certainly wasn't bad, but he loved to sleep. Even during practice, he'd sneak off somewhere to nap, and even Tezuka couldn't do anything about it.
Jiro had extremely low desire to win matches, and due to his natural talent, he gradually developed lazy, complacent habits. In that regard, he was quite similar to that senior who just transferred to Rikkaidai.
Kamikawa glanced at the cold soda in his hand, raised an eyebrow, walked up to Jiro, and placed both cans directly on Jiro's face. Almost instantly, Jiro's eyes flew open, and he jumped up from the ground.
"What's wrong... what's wrong? Did something big happen?!"
Jiro frantically looked around, his hand unconsciously touching his face, feeling the chilling sensation. Then he noticed the person standing in front of him.
"Oh~ It's Kamikawa~ What's up? Is the match over?"
Jiro rubbed his eyes, yawning as he spoke.
"Not sure, but I remember you're supposed to play as Singles 3 in the finals."
Kamikawa raised an eyebrow. He remembered Sakaki Tarou had specifically placed him in the Singles 3 spot in the finals to ignite his fighting spirit.
However, when Jiro heard this, he rubbed his hair and chuckled, "Is that right? I forgot."
"Hurry up and get to the match, seriously. Everyone's probably looking for you, kid. You're always so out of it. If you keep this up, next time we play Marui Bunta, you won't get to play."
Kamikawa chuckled, exasperated by Jiro's behavior.
As soon as he heard Marui's name, Jiro's interest was piqued. His eyes widened, blinking as he looked at Kamikawa. "Kamikawa, I'm going to the match right now!"
"Next time we play Rikkaidai, you absolutely have to call me. Absolutely!!"
Jiro and Marui's connection goes way back. Before Jiro entered Hyotei Academy, during his time at Hyotei Elementary, he met Marui in the finals of a certain tournament.
Being fellow net players, combined with Marui's bold techniques, left a deep impression on Jiro, who then vowed to watch every single one of Marui's matches from then on.
"It depends on your performance."
Kamikawa raised an eyebrow, looking at Jiro in front of him.
Jiro clenched his fists tightly, radiating fighting spirit, and started walking in one direction.
"Hold on!"
Kamikawa reached out and grabbed the back of Jiro's shirt, then pointed in the opposite direction. "Are you still half-asleep, you rascal? The finals court is over there!"
"Oh, oh!!"
Jiro nodded emphatically.
Then he picked up his tennis bag from the ground and turned to run toward the finals court.
Kamikawa sighed, carrying his cold soda, and followed Jiro toward the finals court.
"Excuse me, are you a member of the Hyotei Tennis Club?"
At that moment, a strange voice reached Kamikawa's ears. He looked toward the sound, and upon seeing who it was, a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
The person wore black-rimmed glasses, had spiky hair, and was holding a notebook. He didn't look much older, probably around the same age as Kamikawa.
"With this outfit, anyone should be able to tell, right?"
Kamikawa pointed to the "Hyotei" characters on his chest, plus the grey and white tennis club uniform. This conspicuous uniform usually wouldn't prompt such a question.
"Are you also a new first-year middle schooler this year?!"
The spiky-haired boy with glasses couldn't help but ask in return.
Kamikawa nodded. "Just started Hyotei Middle School this year."
"I also just started middle school this year."
The boy with the notebook's glasses glinted. "I'm from Seigaku, my name is Inui Sadaharu. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Inui Sadaharu, the future strategist of the Seigaku Tennis Club. It was thanks to his presence that Seigaku was able to grow rapidly in a very short time. He had detailed training regimens for almost every member of the team.
He even specifically left detailed data for Kaido, Tezuka's successor, which helped build Kaido's extraordinary endurance.
"Hyotei Tennis Club, Kamikawa Muzuki. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Kamikawa had already recognized him when he greeted him.
The standard spiky hair, the standard black-rimmed glasses, and a somewhat formal way of speaking—it just had to be Inui Sadaharu.
"From what I understand, Hyotei is currently playing in the district preliminaries finals. Aren't you going to watch?"
Inui Sadaharu was a bit curious. He had already found out that Hyotei would be holding their district preliminaries here.
As last year's Tokyo Metropolitan Tournament champions, Kanto Tournament runners-up, and even a powerhouse team that reached the national semi-finals last year, Inui Sadaharu specifically took the subway from the southern part of the city to the central district just to collect firsthand information on Hyotei.
And, according to the data he had collected, this year's Hyotei was vastly different from previous years. Almost none of the second or third-years had made it into the regulars; it was an all-first-year lineup.
"Watch?"
Kamikawa raised the cold soda in his hand and chuckled softly. "I think it should be over soon!"
Inui's pupils constricted. Was this guy that confident in his team?
Before Inui could ask more questions, Kamikawa waved his hand and walked toward the finals court, muttering, "Seigaku! I hope we can meet at the Tokyo Metropolitan Tournament!"
"This time, don't lose as completely as you did last year."
Inui Sadaharu didn't reply. What Kamikawa said was the truth. Last year at the Tokyo Metropolitan Tournament, they met Hyotei in the quarterfinals, and that match was a complete defeat for them.
Both doubles teams were whitewashed.
At that time, the Singles 3 player was none other than the current Seigaku Tennis Club captain, Oishi Yuudai.
Even after putting in his absolute best, even sacrificing an arm, he couldn't score a single point against his opponent, who was the then-captain of Hyotei.
Ochi Tsukimitsu!!
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