Akashi's gaze swept over each of the regulars one by one, constantly thinking about how to arrange the lineup. Rikkai was completely different from any school they had faced before; overall, they were the closest in strength to them.
Especially after the strengthening training during the training camp. Of course, Akashi didn't regret holding the camp, but he had to be careful now, not casually sending just anyone up to play like before.
Finally, Akashi made his decision and announced tomorrow's lineup to everyone on the bus.
Doubles Two: Tachibana Kippei, Chitose Senri
Doubles One: Akashi Seijurō, Tezuka Kunimitsu
Singles Three: Akutsu Jin
Singles Two: Liliadent Krauser
Singles One: Kite Eishirō
This setup would maximize the chances of winning both doubles matches. After that, as long as Akutsu or Krauser won one match, it would be enough. He figured that with the current strength of Marui and Jackal, they couldn't possibly overcome Tachibana and Chitose. As for himself and Tezuka, taking on Niō and his partner shouldn't be a problem either.
While Akashi was arranging the lineup for tomorrow's match, Yukimura was having a conversation with Sanada. Sanada's expression looked extremely conflicted, his thoughts clearly in turmoil. Yukimura stood there draped in his jacket, staring at Sanada with a serious expression.
"Yukimura, I understand everything you're saying, but that move was developed specifically to deal with Tezuka. I don't want to use it against anyone else, at least not until I face Tezuka head-on!" Sanada still clung to his resolve.
"Genichirō! I know everything about you and Tezuka, but if you keep holding back in matches because of that, it's an insult to tennis itself!" Yukimura's tone showed uncharacteristic sternness.
"And most importantly, our opponent tomorrow is Fudomine! I can't guarantee you'll get to face Tezuka. If you go up against someone else and keep this attitude, you'll have no chance of winning!" Yukimura's words shattered Sanada's defenses completely.
"I understand… but I still hope I'll get to face Tezuka tomorrow! I have to defeat him head-on!" Sanada finally relented.
"I'll discuss it with Renji and adjust based on the situation~" Yukimura's smile returned, but his tone carried a subtle, meaningful edge.
Arranging tomorrow's lineup wasn't a simple matter for Yukimura either; one misstep could lead to Rikkai's total defeat, which showed just how strong Fudomine was.
The next day, Midorimori Tennis Park bustled with excitement once again. Today was the Kanto Regional Tournament finals for middle schoolers, which would determine the final champion, runner-up, and third-place team. Today's matches represented the pinnacle of Kanto's tennis talent.
Akashi and the others arrived at the venue early as usual. Since they didn't need to bring every club member, the bus picked up each regular directly from their homes, saving a lot of time.
After submitting their lineup to the staff, Akashi and his team found today's court and waited outside for Hyōtei and Seigaku to arrive.
Before long, Rikkai's players also arrived outside the venue. Since Midorimori was in Tokyo, a fair distance from Rikkai's home in Kanagawa, Akashi had arranged for them to stay at a hotel near his family's company headquarters for convenience.
Akashi greeted Yukimura with a smile as he approached. Yukimura also smiled and thanked Akashi for arranging the hotel stay, and soon they launched into their usual exchange of polite flattery.
The Rikkai players also started chatting with the Fudomine team. After all, they had spent a month together at the training camp, and were very familiar with each other. There wasn't the slightest tension despite the imminent matches.
The organizers had already spent yesterday afternoon preparing everything for the award ceremony, and now they just waited for the final results.
Before long, Seigaku and Hyōtei also arrived at the venue. Compared to Hyōtei's massive cheering squad, Seigaku's few supporters looked completely insignificant.
Once the regulars from both teams entered, Hyōtei's familiar cheer rang out around the court. The hundred-plus voices were so loud that nearby spectators covered their ears, eyes wide with shock.
"Victory to Hyōtei, defeat to Seigaku!"
"Victory to Hyōtei, defeat to Seigaku!"
The unified chant made Seigaku's players look uncomfortable, even though they had already experienced it once before. The intense atmosphere felt like playing on hostile turf and was deeply unsettling.
Watching the scene, Akashi couldn't help thinking that his own tennis club had a lot of members too—should he come up with a cheer of their own? But he quickly shook his head, chasing away that dangerous idea. He'd never do something like that.
The match started quickly, but today Seigaku's lineup looked a bit different. The first to play in Doubles Two were two third-year players, both such unknown extras that no one even remembered their names.
This made Hyōtei's Hiyoshi and Oshitari very annoyed. What was Seigaku trying to do? Looking down on them? Or had they already given up on today's match?
However, Akashi thought for a moment and immediately understood Seigaku's plan. This must have been arranged by Inui Sadaharu—he was giving up Doubles Two entirely, saving their strength for Singles, which gave them a slightly better chance of winning.
Moreover, compared to Hiyoshi and Oshitari, it was more likely that Kikumaru and Oishi could beat third-years Honshū Yūji and Kurokawa Masao. There was no other choice; Hiyoshi and Oshitari had grown rapidly, their abilities now vaguely surpassing the third-year pair.
But since the opponents were third-year seniors, and it was a doubles match, no one minded whether it was Doubles Two or Doubles One. Even Hyōtei had to consider seniority and appearances.
The Doubles Two match ended quickly, and the result was obvious: Hyōtei 6-0 Seigaku. Oshitari and Hiyoshi were venting all their irritation, and the two Seigaku third-years had terrible luck, getting completely crushed the whole time.
As Doubles One began, Honshū and Kurokawa understood Seigaku's intentions through Sakaki Tarō's guidance: Seigaku wanted to use them as the breakthrough point. But they weren't going to make it that easy. They might lack talent, but they still carried the final pride of Hyōtei's third-years.
The match started with Kikumaru and Oishi setting up the Australian Formation. Although their abilities hadn't improved since yesterday's match with Fudomine, their horizons had expanded, and they were no longer rigidly stuck to predictable patterns.
However, Kurokawa and Honshū were no pushovers. They had seen the Australian Formation before, so they weren't surprised, and they fought back against Kikumaru and Oishi with all they had.
The points rose alternately, the match very tight. Because of Hiyoshi's influence, Honshū and Kurokawa were familiar with special trick shots, so it wasn't easy for Kikumaru to score by surprise.
On the sidelines, Hiyoshi watched Kikumaru with a frustrated expression. Although his jumping ability far exceeded Kikumaru's, Kikumaru's speed was superior. During training camp, the two had secretly competed many times, with mixed outcomes.
As the score reached 5-4 with Seigaku leading, Honshū and Kurokawa suddenly noticed afterimages appearing around Kikumaru as he moved left and right at the net, seriously interfering with their sight and causing repeated return mistakes.
In the end, Seigaku won 6-4 against Hyōtei. Because of his final burst, Kikumaru completely collapsed from exhaustion and needed Oishi to carry him off the court, with Kawamura Takashi hurrying up to help.
The overall score was now tied 1-1. The upcoming Singles Three was crucial. Seigaku sent out Inui Sadaharu, but Hyōtei shocked everyone by sending Atobe Keigo instead—delivering a devastating blow to Seigaku. Even if Fuji could win Singles Two, Kawamura probably couldn't handle either Shishido Ryō or Akutagawa Jirō.
Inui had planned to finish Hyōtei before Atobe appeared in Singles One. He felt confident against either Jirō or Shishido, but he hadn't expected Atobe to show up as Singles Three.
When the match began, both players tried to drag things out, resulting in an extremely slow pace for the first few games. Atobe wasn't bothered at all by Inui collecting his data and even cooperated happily, treating it like a cat playing with a mouse.
Having mastered World of Ice and defeated Sanada, Atobe had become arrogant. Akashi watched him on the court and thought he still needed a good beating; if they met Hyōtei at Nationals, he'd give Atobe a lesson he'd never forget!
After a long three games, Atobe took them all, but by then Inui had almost finished collecting his data. Even though he knew Atobe had broken through yesterday and defeated Sanada, he still believed in his data.
As the match restarted, Inui indeed caused Atobe quite a bit of trouble with his analysis, even taking the fourth game. This made the always-proud Atobe's face darken completely.
In the fifth game, Atobe used his Tannhauser Serve, leaving Inui helpless. Although Inui knew how to counter the serve theoretically, his technique simply couldn't keep up.
After that, Atobe unleashed World of Ice, making Inui utterly immobile—truly unable to take a single step! No matter how perfect Inui's data was, it couldn't overcome the issue of blind spots, unless he could reach Mitsuya Akuto's level.
In the end, Singles Three finished 6-1, with Atobe winning easily. Losing that one game annoyed him, while Akashi laughed coldly in his heart: 'That's what you get for getting cocky!'
Next came the Singles Two match, and Seigaku sent out Fuji. But no one on Seigaku's side looked happy, because their strategy had completely failed.
On Hyōtei's side, the player was Shishido Ryō… yes, Shishido Ryō again. His luck was truly terrible, running into Fuji both times.
And this time the gap between them was even bigger. Fuji was already at half-step national level, and he would probably formally reach national level before the National Tournament started. Seigaku finally had a player who could truly carry the team.
Shishido Ryō had improved a lot thanks to the training camp, but he still hadn't fully reached Kanto level, though he was halfway there. After all, he wasn't lacking in talent, so the outcome of this match was already decided.
Akashi knew Shishido Ryō wasn't really suited for singles; he was at his strongest when paired with Ōtori Chōtarō. But right now Hyōtei didn't lack for doubles players. Once Kabaji, Ōtori, and Hiyoshi Wakashi enrolled next year, the situation would improve greatly.
The match ended quickly. Fuji didn't even need to use his evolved techniques; he completely crushed Shishido with just basic tennis and his regular Triple Counters. It felt like a replay of the previous tournament. The score was 6-0. At least Shishido's mental toughness kept him from losing his fighting spirit despite the overwhelming defeat.
Finally, it was time for Singles One. Seigaku's player was Kawamura Takashi. Yamato was still recovering from his arm injury and couldn't play this time. But even if Yamato had been on court, he probably wouldn't have fared much better than Kawamura. Because of his injury, his five attributes were even lower than Kawamura's.
Kawamura had natural talent in power, and in the original Nationals he even beat the Hadokyu's founder Ishida Gin with his Jumping Dash Hadokyu. Before that, he also outlasted Kabaji with sheer stamina. But ultimately, his talent was limited. Even after the intense training camp, the gap between him and Akutagawa Jirō was still huge.
And although Kawamura had impressive power, his movements were a bit sluggish, and his swings were large and slow. Against the nimble Jirō, he was at a natural disadvantage. Even Ryūzaki Sumire and Inui Sadaharu didn't hold out much hope.
But Jirō seemed oddly unmotivated today. He stayed half-asleep the whole time; he didn't actually doze off, but he played lazily, completely opposite of Kawamura's fired-up attitude as he swung his racket.
"Come on baby!"
"Burning!"
Kawamura's shouts echoed across the court. Anyone just listening might have thought he was winning. But the score showed a different story entirely.
The match ended 6-2, with Jirō winning. Hyōtei once again took the third-place trophy from Seigaku, though Atobe would probably have rather not taken the medal at all.
Seigaku managing to push Hyōtei to Singles One was partly due to their clever tactics, but it also showed how much their overall strength had grown. The training camp had benefited them far more than other schools.
After the morning matches finished, everyone went to find lunch. Meanwhile, Fudomine and Rikkai were making their final preparations. This match would decide who the true Kanto champion was.
Lunch break passed quickly, and the announcements were already calling Fudomine and Rikkai to the match courts. The players from Hyōtei and Seigaku also gathered at the finals court. Unlike before, the finals venue now had a spectator area, but only a coach's bench by the court, with no player benches.
Other players could wait in the front rows of the stands for their turn to play, but since Hyōtei had so many members, most of them stood outside the chain-link fence to watch.
At that moment, Fudomine and Rikkai's players arrived. Akashi and Yukimura stepped forward to shake hands before each went to sit in their coach's seat. The spectators weren't surprised—they already knew neither school had an actual coach.
One could only imagine what those self-important tennis coaches would think if they saw this scene. Meanwhile, the Doubles Two players had finished warming up before the match.
As the referee announced the start of Doubles Two, Niō Masaharu and Sanada Genichirō stepped onto the court. This left Tachibana Kippei and Chitose Senri staring in surprise.
Niō wasn't surprising; he was always a doubles player. But Sanada? What was going on? Could he really play doubles? Akashi's eyes narrowed as he turned to Yukimura, who smiled calmly back at him and even gave a friendly nod.
"Truly cunning… this lineup isn't Yanagi Renji's doing; it must be Yukimura's idea. Using Niō's versatility to let Sanada show his national-level strength in doubles, huh?" Akashi muttered to himself.
"Now we will begin the Doubles Two match. Players, please come forward and bow!"