At first, none of the spectators took Fudomine Middle School seriously. Everyone thought Dai-Gosho Middle School had an easy, guaranteed win ahead of them.
But as the matches unfolded—five rounds in total—Fudomine wrapped up the entire series in less than an hour.
The final score: 5–0.
Whether singles or doubles, every match was a clean sweep, a complete domination.
By the time the Fudomine players left the court, the entire audience, along with their defeated opponents from Dai-Gosho, were left completely dumbfounded.
"Senpai, aside from Wenren Seiya, the other Fudomine players are also really strong!"
Although Shiba Saori was a tennis novice, even she could tell that Fudomine's victory had been overwhelming.
"Yeah… looks like Fudomine has undergone a total transformation. This year's district preliminaries will definitely be more intense than before."
After watching the match, Sadaharu Inui quietly closed his notebook and returned to Seigaku's gathering spot. Their own match against Tamabayashi Middle School was about to start.
"Inui, weren't you supposed to be at Fudomine's match collecting data? I get why Echizen and Momoshiro came back—they've got a match—but why are you back so soon?"
Eiji Kikumaru blinked curiously at the three who had returned.
"The Fudomine match already ended."
"What?! Already?" Everyone from Seigaku looked at him in surprise, curious about the results.
"Five to zero. Last year's top-eight team, Dai-Gosho, was crushed by Fudomine. Whether it was singles or doubles, their players' skill levels were all high.
"As for doubles, I'll skip the details for now. The two second-years playing singles were easily on par with Ryoma and Momoshiro in terms of talent and potential.
"Their captain, the singles number one, finished his match in fifteen minutes—without losing a single point. In my view, his level is comparable to Tezuka or Fuji. I couldn't read him at all."
Inui's calm assessment left everyone in Seigaku stunned. They all knew his personality—he never exaggerated.
If he said Fudomine's players were that strong, then they truly were formidable opponents this year.
"What about that second-year who beat Momoshiro-senpai? Is he also as strong as Fuji-senpai?"
The first-years Horio and Tomoka, realizing something important, turned to Inui expectantly.
"Fudomine's second-year, Wenren Seiya, didn't participate in today's match. He was listed as a substitute. I think their captain deliberately hid him as a secret weapon.
"But considering he defeated Momoshiro so easily, he's probably even stronger than their other singles players."
Inui's report made the Seigaku team feel the pressure immediately.
They had assumed their main rival this year would be last year's powerhouse, Kakigi Middle School.
But out of nowhere, Fudomine had emerged as a dark horse.
And Inui's instincts proved right.
In the following rounds, Fudomine advanced through the preliminaries like an unstoppable force—one crushing victory after another.
They stormed through to the semifinals and then obliterated Kakigi Middle School, last year's district runner-up, 3–0.
From the semifinals onward, matches only required three wins to secure victory instead of playing all five sets.
In the match against Kakigi:
Doubles #2: Ishida and Sakurai won 6–2.
Doubles #1: Seiya and Tachibana Kippei, the ace pair, won effortlessly 6–0.
Singles #3: Shinji faced Kakigi's ace, Kuki—but Kakigi still fell 6–2.
When Fudomine made it to the finals, the entire district was stunned. Hardly anyone had even heard of the school before!
"Hey, you think Seigaku can still win the championship this year?"
"Of course! Seigaku makes it to the Kanto Tournament every year! Compared to them, Fudomine's just lucky. There's no way a dark horse like them can stay undefeated all the way."
"But they beat Kakigi Middle, though… maybe this final won't be so one-sided."
"Come on, Kakigi lost to Seigaku last year too!"
Amid the murmuring crowd, Tachibana An took a sip of her soda and smiled to herself. "Looks like everyone still thinks Seigaku's got this. But once they see Fudomine's true strength… they're going to be shocked."
Because of Fudomine's unexpected rise, Ryuzaki Sumire personally called a strategy meeting with Tezuka and Inui to decide Seigaku's lineup.
Not long after, the official roster for the final match was announced.
Doubles #1: The "Golden Pair," Kikumaru and Oishi—unchanged as always.
Doubles #2: A surprise pairing—Momoshiro and Kaidoh, despite their clashing personalities. Ryuzaki hoped their odd chemistry might yield something special.
Originally, she'd planned to have Fuji and Kawamura take the doubles slot.
But since Fudomine's singles lineup was incredibly strong, assigning Fuji to doubles would've been a waste of power.
After discussion with Tezuka, they decided Fuji would take Singles #2—since that position was likely to face either Wenren Seiya or Fudomine's captain.
Ryoma had wanted to fight Seiya again, but Ryuzaki and Tezuka both agreed: at his current level, Ryoma might not be able to defeat him.
To protect the team's honor, they had to go with the most reliable setup.
So, Ryoma would play Singles #3, while Tezuka, as always, would anchor the team as Singles #1.
Only Ryuzaki knew about Tezuka's elbow injury, so she wanted to minimize his burden if possible.
All in all, Seigaku's lineup was nearly flawless—on paper.
But the problem was… Fudomine had Wenren Seiya, the reincarnator who already knew the "original timeline."
In the original story, Fudomine had lost to Seigaku 1–3.
Doubles #2: Ishida's "Wave Ball" had forced Fuji and Kawamura to forfeit due to injury.
Doubles #1: The Golden Pair had won.
Singles #3: Kamio was exhausted by Kaidoh's stamina game—Kaidoh even discovered the "Snake Shot" mid-match.
Singles #2: Shinji fought Echizen and nearly blinded him with his "temporary paralysis" move, but the mental strain caused Shinji to lose in the end.
(End of Chapter)
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