In the beginning, no one took Fudomine seriously, thinking Daigoso had an easy win. But the entire match, all five games, were finished in under an hour. The final score was 5-0; Fudomine completely dominated in both singles and doubles. When the Fudomine team left the court, both the crowd and their opponents were in a state of utter shock.
"Senpai, besides Wenren Seiya, the other Fudomine players are also quite good."
Saori, although a novice at tennis, could see that Fudomine had completely crushed their opponents.
"Yes, Fudomine has completely transformed. It looks like this year's regional tournament will be more intense than ever."
After watching the match, Sadaharu Inui closed his notebook and returned to the Seigaku team. Their next match against Tamarin was about to begin.
"Inui, didn't you go to Fudomine's match to gather data? I can understand why Ryoma and Momoshiro are back, but why are you back so soon?" Kikumaru asked curiously.
"The Fudomine match is over."
Upon hearing this, the other Seigaku players asked for the results.
"5-0. Daigoso, a team that made it to the quarterfinals last year, was completely crushed by Fudomine. Their players are very good in both singles and doubles. Their doubles players aside, the two second-year singles players are no weaker than Ryoma and Momoshiro. And the Fudomine captain, who played singles one, finished his match in just 15 minutes without losing a single point. In my opinion, he's on the same level as Tezuka and Fuji. I couldn't see through him at all."
Inui's words left everyone at Seigaku stunned. They knew his personality and that he wouldn't speak without careful thought. The fact that he gave Fudomine such a high rating meant they were a serious threat this year.
"What about the second-year who beat Momoshiro-senpai? Is he as strong as Fuji-senpai?" Horio and Tomoka asked Inui, remembering the important detail.
"Wenren Seiya, a second-year at Fudomine, didn't play. He was a reserve. Their captain is probably trying to keep his ace hidden. But judging from how easily he beat Momoshiro, he might even be stronger than the other two second-year singles players."
The intelligence Inui brought back put a lot of pressure on the Seigaku team. They had expected their main rival to be Kakio Junior High, but now Fudomine had appeared out of nowhere.
And Inui's hunch was correct. In the following matches, Fudomine steamrolled through their opponents. Like a dark horse, they made it to the semifinals and crushed Kakio, the regional runner-up from last year, 3-0. From the semifinals onwards, a team only needed to win three out of the five matches to advance.
In the match against Kakio, Fudomine's Double 2, Ishida and Sakurai, won 6-2. The Double 1 match was played by the ace duo of Seiya and Kippei, who won 6-0. The Singles 3 match was played by Shinji, who went up against Kakio's ace, Kuki, and won 6-2.
When Fudomine made it to the finals, all the schools in the regional tournament were shocked because they had never heard of them before.
"Hey, do you think Seigaku can still win the regional tournament this year?"
"Of course! Seigaku makes it to the Kanto Tournament every year. Fudomine just got lucky. You can't just come out of nowhere and win the whole thing, right?"
"But they beat Kakio. I think the finals will be a close match."
"What are you talking about? Kakio loses to Seigaku every year anyway."
An held a bottle of soda and smiled to herself as she listened to the crowd's chatter. "It seems everyone still thinks Seigaku will win. But they're going to be in for a huge surprise when they see Fudomine's true strength."
Since Fudomine was much stronger than they had anticipated, Sumire Ryuzaki called Tezuka and Inui to discuss the lineup for the final match. Soon after, a roster was distributed to all the Seigaku regulars.
Seigaku's Double 1 was the usual "Golden Pair" of Kikumaru and Oishi. For Double 2, Ryuzaki had a strange idea to pair the clashing personalities of Momoshiro and Kaido to see if they could produce some unexpected chemistry. She had originally planned to have Fuji and Kawamura play doubles, but she felt that Fuji was too valuable to play doubles and would be better suited for singles against Fudomine's strong singles players. After some discussion, Ryuzaki and Tezuka decided to put Fuji in Singles 2. They thought he would most likely be matched against Wenren Seiya, the player who had defeated Momoshiro.
Ryoma wanted to play against Seiya, but Ryuzaki and Tezuka didn't think he could beat him. For the sake of the team's victory, they had to ensure every win, so Ryoma was placed in Singles 3, while Tezuka, as usual, was the anchor at Singles 1. Ryuzaki was the only one who knew about Tezuka's injured elbow, so she wanted to reduce his burden as much as possible.
Honestly, Seigaku's lineup was flawless, but unfortunately for them, Seiya was a transmigrator who could predict their every move. According to the original story, Fudomine lost the match 3-1. Double 2, with Ishida's "Wave Ball," won after Fuji and Kawamura forfeited. Double 1 lost to the Golden Pair. Singles 3, Kamio, lost to Kaido after getting worn down, and Kaido also used his "Snake Shot" by chance. Singles 2, Shinji, used his paralyzing shot and almost blinded Ryoma, but lost in the end due to psychological pressure.