After that, Akashi started guiding the middle schoolers to get familiar with various matters in the training camp. Honestly, these middle schoolers had a special status in the camp. They weren't recruited through the official process, so they didn't have to go through shuffle matches or anything like that, but they still got to enjoy all the benefits of the camp.
This was actually a joint decision by the three coaches, meant to let them get used to the environment early, since these kids would likely become key players in the next world tournament.
Even though the camp wouldn't arrange shuffle matches for the middle schoolers, Akashi would have them challenge players on Court No. 1 or even members of the first-string team. The first-string players didn't refuse either, since they knew these kids were all quite talented.
Some even proactively sought them out for matches—for example, Oni dragged Akutsu for a match, saying he saw a bit of Byoudouin's shadow in Akutsu and wanted to check him out. But Akashi thought Oni just wanted to teach Akutsu a lesson.
Irie went to Atobe, having noticed Atobe's keen eye during the national tournament, which fit Irie's own style well. Interestingly, Ochi, upon learning that Atobe had led Hyōtei back to the national semifinals, uncharacteristically offered him some words of encouragement.
On Akashi's suggestion, Yukimura sought out Omagari Ryuuji for advice on nitōryū. Meanwhile, Tachibana and Chitose went to play a doubles match against the Mutsu brothers. Their Beast Synchronization actually gave the Mutsu twins some inspiration.
Niō got pulled aside for a private session by Saitō. Even though Niō's abilities were special, his mental strength was far below Yukimura's, let alone Akashi's. Strengthening it was an urgent priority.
Fuji went to Tanegashima because Akashi suggested he experience Tanegashima's "Halt Destruction Nothingness" shot. Akashi believed Fuji's Kagerou Zutsumi still had room for improvement—if he could reach a power close to "Halt Destruction Nothingness," it would be a qualitative leap.
As for Kite, he surprisingly got along well with Kimijima. Akashi mused that maybe it was because in another timeline, those two teamed up to trick Toono.
Tezuka and Krauser, also at Akashi's suggestion, formed a doubles pair and trained with Suzuki and Washio. Akashi's intention was obvious: to see if they could resonate and develop a new technique. Of course, their current level made Infinite Tornado impossible, but if they could resonate, it would help both Tezuka's Ultimate Domain development and Krauser's Wirbel Taufe. It was just a shame for Suzuki and Washio, who had to bear the brunt.
Oni seemed satisfied with Ishida Gin, even helping him correct mistakes in his Wave Ball technique to reduce its side effects.
Oshitari Kenya started working on speed with Kaji Kazena. While Ito and Yamada were the best for advice on power and speed, those two weren't about to care for middle schoolers, even if they'd stopped causing trouble.
Shiraishi trained diligently with Nakagauchi Sotomichi on fundamentals. In the entire camp, only Nakagauchi's precision with movement was top-notch, allowing him to help Shiraishi perfect his basic tennis—no subtle error could escape Nakagauchi's eyes.
One thing surprised Akashi: Akutagawa Jirō. Because of his narcolepsy, he'd never been able to train properly. But at Mifune's place, he suffered terribly, as Mifune assigned two hawks to keep an eye on him—if he even looked like he'd doze off, the hawks would swoop in with a peck. In that environment, Jirō's improvement was the fastest among everyone, now already at half-step national level. This made Atobe realize he'd found a way to deal with Jirō, and Jirō's days back home probably wouldn't be easy.
In this way, the middle schoolers gradually integrated into the training camp, while the date of the French U-17 World Cup drew closer. Tanegashima departed first by boat since he didn't fly, so he'd obviously be slower.
After some time, the entire first-string team also had to leave for France. Since Akashi couldn't participate, Mifune picked a few substitutes from Court No. 1 to fill the numbers.
Regarding Akashi's inability to compete, Mifune was extremely upset. Besides Akashi, he'd found another monster: Akutsu! During back-mountain training, Akutsu had unexpectedly begun to grasp Shura Path on his own, thanks to Akashi's guidance. Even Mifune was stunned. Akutsu's strength surged and now rivaled Krauser's, proving again why he and Krauser were the two most talented players in the original story.
Once the first-string left, Akashi arranged a large private plane to take the middle schoolers to France with him. Even if they couldn't play, seeing the brilliance and brutality of the world stage firsthand would still benefit them greatly.
But Akashi's reasons for going weren't just to watch the tournament. He wanted to try changing Byoudouin's injury incident. Although that might stop Watanabe from joining Japan's team, this time Japan had a real shot at the semifinals or even the final—just not a good chance against Germany.
Currently, Byoudouin definitely wouldn't be a match for philosopher Volk, and Germany's team always had multiple pro players at U-17. Oni alone couldn't handle pros yet.
Whether he could change things or not, Akashi had no idea. The original story never specified the exact day the incident happened, and once the matches began, he couldn't keep watch on Byoudouin 24/7. Plus, Akashi Group didn't have a branch in France, leaving Akashi frustrated—he could only take things one step at a time.
After everyone arrived in France, they headed straight to the hotel to rest. Akashi had arranged the hotel reservation well in advance—during the World Cup, hotels were nearly impossible to book, always fully occupied.
This time, there were no exhibition matches planned for the French U-17 World Cup. In the original story, exhibition matches were arranged only because middle schoolers had been included, so the organizers wanted to showcase their skills.
After a few days of sightseeing in France, the World Cup finally began. On the last night before the tournament started, Tanegashima finally arrived in France, letting Mifune breathe a huge sigh of relief.
Akashi had purchased an entire set of tournament tickets, all front-row seats, allowing them to watch any match. When they arrived in France, Akashi handed out the tickets to everyone.
Maybe it was because Oishi wasn't part of Japan's lineup this time, but the teams drawn into Japan's group were all relatively average—none of them were particularly strong.
Japan's team, just like in the original story, was divided into three squads for the group stage: Matsu, Take, and Ume, each squad responsible for a match against one country. As long as they finished in the top two of the group, they'd advance to the round of sixteen. The three squads were led by Byoudouin, Oni, and Tanegashima.
What made Akashi speechless was seeing one of the Greek team members at the opening ceremony. Originally, he thought Oni's mature appearance was impressive enough, and Byoudouin still looked normal. But when he saw this Greek player—who appeared in the original story too—with a thick beard making him look like a middle-aged man, Akashi could barely hold back a laugh.
This time, the teams drawn into Japan's group were Sweden, Mexico, and Croatia—all countries ranked outside the top twenty. Frankly, Japan's world ranking this year was 31st, just barely earning them a spot in the tournament.
In the group stage, Japan displayed shocking strength, winning all three matches to take first place in their group. Mexico and Croatia were eliminated.
These matches gave the middle schoolers their first taste of the world stage—many techniques used by foreign players were ones they'd never even heard of. Akashi didn't pay much attention to these, though; his focus was entirely on Byoudouin.
When Byoudouin heard that Japan's No. 3 had been beaten by a middle schooler, he wasn't particularly surprised or angry. At this point, Byoudouin hadn't yet gone through his major personality shift. He was only annoyed that the kid couldn't play because of his age.
As Byoudouin himself put it: "If he can beat that useless Ito, then he must have some ability. They should've just lied about his age—these coaches really are too uptight."
But he never considered how impossible it would be to fool the international tennis federation. If caught, Japan's tennis association would be humiliated, and there might even be penalties. A fine would be one thing, but losing ranking points would be a disaster.
Akashi also kept a special eye on the American team, noticing something odd about their lineup: there were almost no third-years, only first-years like Ralph Reinhardt and Alan Hopkins leading the team. Aside from those two, Akashi only recognized Dodo Obando.
It was obvious something big had happened inside the American team—probably similar to the chaos Japan went through before. It seemed the so-called "land of freedom" wasn't so free after all.
After Japan advanced to the top sixteen, they drew Denmark as their first knockout opponent. It's worth noting that while group stage matches were single set, just like in middle school tournaments, the knockout stage switched to best-of-three matches.
Mifune clearly decided to go all out this time: in the first match, singles three, Oni took the court himself. Denmark's player stood no chance and was nearly crushed by Oni.
For doubles two, Tanegashima and Irie were paired up. Even though it was Irie's first World Cup appearance, he didn't mess around; he knew how important this match was. The Danish team wasn't particularly strong, so Irie's true strength remained hidden.
Japan took a 2-0 lead over Denmark, shocking everyone watching. Until now, most people thought Japan's tennis was worthless outside of Echizen Nanjirō.
In singles two, Mifune didn't send out Byoudouin—the ace had to be kept in reserve. Instead, he let Ito play. Ito, already a half-step world-class player on the verge of a breakthrough, secured the win with a 2-1 score.
Thus, Japan swept Denmark 3-0, stunning the crowd. For the first time, other teams started to take Japan seriously. But when they saw Japan's next opponent, everyone relaxed—Japan would face France, a team considered top four in the world!
Historically, four countries stood alone at the top in the World Cup: Germany, Switzerland, France, and Spain, with Germany far above the other three.
No one thought Japan could get past the mountain that was France. Their elimination seemed certain—but reaching the quarterfinals already made them an impressive dark horse.
Akashi was getting anxious now, because Japan's match against France meant Byoudouin was about to be injured saving someone, and the clock was ticking.
With no other choice, Akashi went to find Mifune, made up an excuse, and asked him to tell him Byoudouin's whereabouts. Mifune looked a bit puzzled but didn't think too much about it and agreed.
That day, Mifune informed Akashi that Byoudouin had left the players' rest area, saying he wanted to wander around and buy some rice balls. Akashi immediately began searching—rice balls weren't easy to find in France, and only a few fixed shops sold them.
Soon he found the closest shop to the players' area and hurried over. If he could change the event where Byoudouin got injured, even France's team might end up defeated this time.
But the gears of fate can be strange. On his way to the shop, Akashi was blocked by a group of punks. He had no patience to waste on them.
When talking didn't work, he pulled out his racket and tennis ball and fired a Glowing Shot directly at them. The punks were instantly terrified, wishing they could grow more legs to run faster.
Just as the tennis ball was about to hit them, a racket intercepted it, completely stopping the powerful energy and keeping it from hurting the fleeing punks.
When Akashi saw who had arrived, his eyes narrowed and his expression turned ice-cold, because he realized he might not be able to get away soon.
Standing opposite Akashi were two people. One was the previously mentioned American team member Ralph Reinhardt. The other was the one who blocked Akashi's Glowing Shot—a person Akashi knew very well: Echizen Ryōma's older brother—Echizen Ryōga!
Ralph Reinhardt.
Echizen Ryōga.
Their appearance was completely beyond Akashi's expectations, and from the looks of it, those punks were their people. Akashi stared at them coldly, his voice frosty as he said:
"Move aside. You're in my way."
Reinhardt shrugged and stepped aside immediately, but Ryōga didn't budge. Holding a racket in one hand and an orange in the other, he spoke with a teasing tone:
"That won't do. Those guys might not be good people, but they're my partners. Smashing them with a Glowing Shot is a bit much, don't you think?"
"Your so-called partners were robbing people in the street," Akashi's voice grew even more hostile.
"I'm sorry about that, but judging from your look, you're a Japanese tennis player too. How about we settle this with a match?" Ryōga smiled.
"I don't have time to play with you, Echizen Ryōga!" Akashi actually lost his composure a little and called out Ryōga's name.
Ryōga's expression shifted subtly, and he began to scrutinize the boy in front of him. He was sure he'd never met him, yet the kid knew his name—his curiosity only grew.
"This should be the first time we've met, right? How do you know my name, kid?"
"Because my name is Akashi Seijūrō. If you don't get it, go home and ask your old man, Nanjirō! Now get out of my way!" A wave of dimensional energy began to rise from Akashi's body.
Ryōga froze for a moment when he heard Akashi's words, then sensed the strange aura around him. After hesitating a bit, he stepped aside, and Akashi rushed past him toward his destination without another word.
"Ryōga, what did that boy mean?" Reinhardt asked, clearly confused.
"I don't know either, but it seems to have something to do with the old man. I'll call home and ask later," Ryōga replied casually, then turned with a dark look to glare at the punks.
Meanwhile, just as Akashi was about to reach his destination, a loud crash sounded ahead, followed by a commotion in the crowd. Akashi cursed under his breath and sprinted forward at full speed.
As he pushed through the crowd, he saw a huge billboard collapsed on the ground. Under it were two people: Byoudouin and a little girl who looked about seven or eight years old.
"Still too late? Echizen Ryōga, I'll remember you!" Akashi growled lowly in anger, then quickly called on the crowd to help.
Just then, a big man came running up, shouting "Chloe!" Akashi immediately recognized him as the Destructive King Duke Watanabe and pointed him toward the scene to help.
Destructive King—Duke Watanabe.
With Duke's help, everyone quickly lifted the billboard. Because of Byoudouin's protection, Chloe was completely unharmed, but Byoudouin's back was soaked with blood.
Someone nearby called an ambulance right away. Akashi hurriedly pulled out his phone to report the situation to Mifune. The ambulance arrived soon after, and Byoudouin was loaded onto it, with Duke and Chloe accompanying him to the hospital.
Seeing that there was nothing more he could do, Akashi could only return to the hotel. He wasn't a player, so he couldn't enter the players' rest area. This failure to save Byoudouin made Akashi realize a serious problem.
Even though he knew the story, he was still just an ordinary person—not an all-powerful god who could make everything go his way. His string of easy successes had made him forget that crucial fact.
All he could do now was hope Byoudouin's injuries weren't as bad as in the original story; otherwise, Japan's team might end up following the same old path and get eliminated in the quarterfinals.