Backyard.
Ryoma walked onto the family court with his tennis bag slung over his shoulder.
At the side of the court, Yoru was lounging leisurely on a sun chair.
Seeing this, Ryoma sighed slightly and called out, "Brother..."
A hint of frustration flickered in his eyes.
No matter how hard he trained every day, he still couldn't catch up to Yoru, who barely practiced at all. In fact, the gap between them only seemed to widen.
Facing Yoru always left Ryoma with a sense of helpless defeat.
A few years ago, Ryoma had once asked Yoru why he never trained.
The answer he got was: "If I trained, you'd never catch up to me."
Those words had crushed him.
And reality proved it true.
Even without training, Yoru was already far beyond his reach. If he did train, Ryoma would probably never stand a chance in his lifetime.
Too bad Ryoma didn't realize he was the "workhorse" in this dynamic—how could a workhorse ever catch up to the one holding the reins?
Yoru lazily sat up, a smile forming as he looked at Ryoma's youthful face. "How was your match today?"
Truthfully, he had wanted to advise Ryoma against participating in these kinds of tournaments from the start.
After all, the current Ryoma was much stronger than his original counterpart in the series, and the players in the U.S. Junior Tennis Championship were really weak.
But Nanjiroh had insisted that matches were good for gaining experience, and since Ryoma was interested, they went ahead and signed him up.
Ryoma nodded. "The opponent was weak. Finals are tomorrow."
Then, a hopeful note crept into his voice. "Will you come watch?"
Even though he knew Yoru wasn't usually interested in these matches, this was his first official tournament final. He wanted his brother there to witness it.
Yoru grinned. "Of course I'll go."
In the original series, Ryoma had participated in the U.S. Junior Tennis Championship four times in a row—winning all four.
That part of the story had been glossed over without much detail.
But since Yoru would soon be leaving for Japan to study, cheering his little brother on one last time felt right.
"Really? That's great!" Ryoma's face lit up.
"Hey, Ryoma," Yoru suddenly said, "after your finals, I'll probably be heading to junior high in Japan."
Japan?
Ryoma blinked, confused. Why would his brother choose to study in Japan? In terms of both education and tennis, the U.S. was the better option.
"Why go back to Japan?" he asked.
Yoru replied calmly, "For years, Mom's been alone in Japan. I want to go to junior high there and keep her company. You know she doesn't want to come to the U.S. We can't just leave her by herself forever."
Not like I can say I'm going back to see the live-action version of the plot and meet the characters.
Using "keeping Mom company" as the reason was the most convincing excuse.
Ryoma's expression dimmed slightly, but he knew there was no arguing with that. "I see."
Yoru chuckled and ruffled Ryoma's hair. "The old man said once you finish elementary school, you'll come back to Japan too. By then, you'll probably have surpassed me."
(Nanjiroh hadn't actually said that, but revealing a bit of future plot wouldn't change much.)
"Surpass you?"
Ryoma gave a bitter smile.
There was a time when he'd been fired up by that idea. But as his own skills improved, he only felt Yoru's overwhelming presence grow stronger—like an endless wall, similar to facing Nanjiroh himself.
That didn't mean he'd given up, though. He just understood that, for now, catching up was impossible.
Right now, he had three goals in tennis:
Defeat Ryoga. Defeat Yoru. Defeat Nanjiroh.
That was what drove him.
Yoru lazily picked up his racket. "Finals are tomorrow, so I'll be your practice partner tonight."
"Okay!"
Ryoma nodded firmly, then removed the weights from his wrists and ankles.
Since the tournament's competition level was so low, he'd been using weights to create some challenge for himself.
This brat...
Yoru shook his head with a grin. "Dinner's soon, so let's make this quick. You serve first."
"Right!"
Ryoma pulled a tennis ball from his bag and walked to the baseline, bouncing it a few times to adjust his rhythm.
Neither of them warmed up.
Ryoma had just finished a match, and with the weights off, his body was already in good condition.
Yoru? He never warmed up.
Warm-ups were mainly to prevent injuries and improve performance, reducing fatigue during play.
But thanks to his system, Yoru had no physical fluctuations—his condition was always at peak performance, whether he warmed up or not.
Thud—!
Thud—!
Thud—!
The rhythmic sound of the ball hitting the ground echoed.
Once his breathing steadied, Ryoma tossed the ball into the air, his playful expression fading.
Against Yoru—even in practice—he took every shot with absolute seriousness.
Thud—!
With a sharp snap of his wrist, Ryoma sent the ball spinning fiercely across the court!
The shot curved mid-air, arcing sharply.
"Twist Serve."
Yoru's voice was calm. "Not enough spin, the curve's too obvious. Anyone with decent experience could predict the rebound zone."
In the original series, this was Ryoma's signature move—one of Nanjiroh's proudest techniques.
But the two versions were worlds apart in power.
Yoru's gaze locked onto Ryoma as data flickered in his vision:
[Name]: Echizen Ryoma
[Age]: 9
[Techniques]:
Base Stats (Lv. 6) Tennis Fundamentals (Lv. 6) Twist Serve (Lv. 6) Two-Sword Style (Lv. 6) Split-Step (Lv. 6) Zone (Lv. 3)
[Talent]: Copy
[Combat Power]: 6 Stars
Techniques were only part of combat power.
Many base stats didn't show up in the data but still contributed to overall strength, and talents were also factored in—though the system didn't explicitly state how much they boosted combat power.
In other words, combat power only represented the minimum of one's ability, not the ceiling.
After his match with Ryoga, Ryoma had begun displaying his Copy talent.
At first, Nanjiroh had worried Ryoma might awaken the same Snatch ability as Ryoga.
But upon realizing it was just Copy, he'd actually been relieved.
According to Nanjiroh, Copy had higher potential than Snatch.
Ryoga's Snatch allowed him to instantly absorb any technique or playstyle he saw, adapting even the rhythm to his own.
On the surface, the copied moves looked identical—but subtle shifts in tempo would subconsciously disrupt the opponent's rhythm. At best, they'd temporarily lose their playstyle; at worst, they'd never pick up a racket again.
But Snatch couldn't unleash 100% of the original user's power.
Copy could.
Ryoma's Copy allowed him to gradually adapt an opponent's techniques into his own arsenal, optimizing them for his use.
Even if his base stats were inferior, he could eventually wield the techniques at the same level as their creators.
But to reach that point, Ryoma needed way more match experience.
Initially, Copy would seem weaker than Snatch.
Just based on talents alone, Yoru could guess how the unseen final showdown in Prince of Tennis would've gone.
Most likely, it would've been Snatch vs. Copy.
Swish—!
By the time Yoru finished that thought, Ryoma's serve had already landed, rebounding straight toward his face!