For this overseas expedition, following the suggestion of the three coaches, Tezuka, Yukimura, and Akutsu were brought along so that Oni could let them play when appropriate to gain experience.
After the Japan Team met up with Akashi in Canada, they began their expedition. Over the span of more than half a month, the Japan Team faced off against five countries. Unknowingly, they accumulated enough points to raise their world ranking to 24th.
Tezuka and the other two all got a chance to play and didn't lose a single match. This made Oni increasingly satisfied with them. Ironically, it also meant that in five matches, neither Oni nor Akashi had even stepped onto the court.
Meanwhile, the first-year junior high players were training hard back at the training estate, hoping to catch up with their upperclassmen. But that goal might be out of reach for now.
Time passed, and the National Junior High Tennis Tournament was drawing near. All the first-years returned to their schools. The second- and third-years still training at U-17 also started leaving to prepare for the national tournament.
At Fudomine's tennis club, after the latest selection round, the main lineup remained unchanged. There was a change in the second string, though—thanks to the Wave Ball, Ishida Tetsu finally made it into the second string.
Also, Fuji Yūta started practicing the half volley during the training camp. Apparently, after seeing Shishido Ryō's playstyle, he thought it looked great and started training it himself. Akashi didn't intervene, since he remembered that in the original storyline, Yūta was naturally good at half volleys.
One week before the tournament began, Fudomine once again hosted 23 schools. This time, the guests came from all over the country. At Shitenhōji, Shiraishi had taken over as captain after Oji handed the role to him a short while ago, so Shitenhōji sent Shiraishi and Koishikawa as their representatives.
Over at Makinofuji, the captain role had already gone to Monkyōgo. Makinofuji had completely lost its shine this year—not even making it to the Kansai finals. The Kansai final was between Shitenhōji and Nagoya, with Shitenhōji winning the championship.
Interestingly, according to Shiraishi, Nagoya wouldn't let their international students compete before the national tournament. Instead, they fielded their second team made up of local players.
No one knew what the higher-ups at that school were thinking. It was like they were putting those international students on a pedestal.
The draw ceremony started quickly. The seeded schools this time were mostly the same as last year, with just Aoharu and Maikozaka swapped out for Seigaku and Shitenhōji. Maikozaka performed even worse than last year.
Yamabuki still had to play in the first round, but their opponent was a background team. They'd likely win easily, especially since Sengoku's current level far surpassed where he was in the original story.
A week flew by, and this year's national tournament was held in Saitama, located in the central region. It's a city with deep historical roots and many ancient cultural sites. The location was ideal, with convenient transportation and well-developed infrastructure in industry, culture, and the arts.
On the day of the tournament's opening, a majority of tennis fans had already arrived in Saitama. Many students on summer vacation came together in groups to watch the national junior high tournament.
Fuji Yumiko even took a few days off to watch the matches in person—after all, both of her brothers were playing this year.
The first round wrapped up quickly. Most of the background schools were eliminated, and schools with real strength either had byes or easily beat their opponents.
In the second round, Fudomine's opponent was Takashiro Academy. Since Fudomine had a bye in the first round, this match required playing all five matches.
For Doubles Two and Doubles One, Akashi sent in all first-years. Doubles Two featured Fuji Yūta and Ishida Tetsu. Doubles One was Ibu Shinji and Kamio Akira.
And honestly, ever since Yūta started training half volleys, his defense shot up significantly. He could effectively cover for the slower-moving Ishida Tetsu. Once Ishida launched a Wave Ball, their opponents practically wanted to surrender.
Yumiko was pretty busy that day—after watching Yūta's match, she quickly rushed to Seigaku's court. After all, she cared about both brothers.
In the end, Fudomine handed Takashiro Academy a clean 5-0 sweep. Their opponents didn't complain or feel bitter. They knew they were facing last year's national champions and had mentally prepared themselves.
With that, the top eight schools in this year's nationals were set. Same as last year, mostly the usual names. The only change was that Yamabuki made it in while Shishigaku didn't.
That's right—this year, Shishigaku didn't even reach the quarterfinals. And if the original story held true, next year they'd lose their Kyushu champion status to Higa. But without Kite, no one knew if Higa could still rise.
Fudomine's next opponent was Makinofuji. Shitenhōji, however, had the worst luck—they were matched up directly against Rikkai. Yamabuki would face Seigaku, and Nagoya went up against Hyōtei.
Seeing this top-eight bracket left spectators speechless. It was even crazier than last year. The Kanto and Kansai regions had completely dominated the national quarterfinals.
The next day, the quarterfinals officially began. Fudomine's players arrived at the venue only to find that Makinofuji hadn't shown up yet. So they started prepping on their own.
Just before the match was about to begin, Makinofuji's team rushed in last minute. Whatever had happened to them didn't concern Akashi at all.
Singles Three began quickly. Makinofuji sent out Hagi, a third-year player. Fudomine responded with Krauser. The final result: 6-0, Hagi lost miserably.
In the Doubles Two match, Makinofuji's pair had basically no game experience when facing Tachibana Kippei and Chitose Senri, getting crushed 6-0. Watching from the sidelines after warming up, Monkyōgo kept a calm face—not because he didn't care, but because Akashi was sitting just a short distance away. He didn't dare show any extra expression. Last year's incident still haunted his mind.
For Singles Three, Monkyōgo went up against Tezuka. Akashi still remembered how, during the national tournament draw in the original timeline, Monkyōgo arrogantly claimed that his Super Tennis could beat Tezuka. Atobe had immediately said Monkyōgo wouldn't last 15 minutes if he went up against Tezuka.
Now that the two finally faced each other, the result was exactly as Atobe predicted. The match ended just a little over 14 minutes. Tezuka only used a few Zero-Shiki Drop Shots—he didn't even need to activate his Zone.
Makinofuji exited this year's national tournament with three straight 6-0 losses. And because of Akashi's presence, Monkyōgo didn't even dare to mutter something like "I'll beat you next year."
In the match between Shitenhōji and Rikkai, Yukimura actually sent Kirihara Akaya out for Singles Three, while his opponent was Oshitari Kenya. Training Kirihara in a national match—Yukimura sure was ruthless.
Young Kirihara Akaya
After the match began, Kirihara struggled to respond to Kenya's high-speed game. It was hard to make effective returns, though his strength had improved significantly thanks to Akashi's training methods.
This match clearly showed Kirihara's incredible talent—maybe even surpassing some second-years, including the very one he was playing: Oshitari Kenya.
Even though Kenya had been to U-17 training, he still couldn't completely overwhelm Kirihara. At most, he held the upper hand. But Kirihara wasn't the type to give up easily.
While lunging to return a ball, Kirihara tripped hard. When he got up, his eyes instantly turned bloodshot. A surge of violent emotion hit his brain, and a twisted smile crept up on his face. Just then, a loud scolding rang out from the sidelines.
"Kirihara Akaya! Did all that calligraphy practice go to waste? Calm down! You're slacking too much!" Sanada stood by the court, face full of fury.
Hearing Sanada's voice, Kirihara instinctively flinched. The blood-colored eyes slowly faded, and that overwhelming pressure he had become conditioned to feel came crashing back.
Ever since Yukimura took Akashi's advice, he had banned Kirihara from entering Red-Eye Mode. He even arranged for Sanada to watch over him, and Sanada went all out—dumping a mountain of calligraphy practice books on Kirihara to train his discipline through writing.
Though Kirihara managed to rein in his emotions, he still lost the match 6-3. No one on Rikkai seemed to care, though. The match was meant to help Kirihara grow, and the outcome didn't matter.
In Doubles Two, Konjiki Koharu and Hitōji Yūji were no match for Marui Bunta and Kuwahara Jackal. Even with their high IQ, they couldn't make up for the gap in raw strength. The final score was 6-1—and that one game was only because Marui was grossed out and lost focus for a moment.
Singles Two was Oji versus Yukimura. The result was obvious—Oji was completely lost in the world of Five-Sense Nullification. He didn't recover until the match ended. The experience left him shaken.
In Doubles One, Niō and Yagyū had developed great synergy. Their opponents, Ishida Gin and Koishikawa Kenjirō, couldn't handle it. Ishida's Wave Ball was completely sealed by Niō, who didn't give him a single chance to unleash it. Meanwhile, Yagyū had already unlocked the Laser Beam, scoring several direct points with it.
Shitenhōji ended up losing to Rikkai, falling short of the national semifinals. On the other side, Seigaku smoothly defeated Yamabuki, while the Hyōtei versus Nagoya match had some drama.
Mainly because the foreign players on Nagoya's team stirred up trouble, which made Atobe seriously angry. Back when he lived in the UK, there was a time when he wasn't treated well. That deep-seated feeling of being looked down on had never left him.
So in the match, Atobe didn't hold back. He used his Rondo and broke the opponent's right arm. Bad luck for Nagoya—this made it two years in a row that an international student got injured during a match. Fortunately, only one player was hurt this time.
With all the matches concluded, this year's national semifinalists were confirmed: Fudomine, Rikkai, Hyōtei, and Seigaku. All Kanto schools—three of them from Tokyo. A fact that left people speechless.
The next day, the semifinals officially kicked off. Fudomine faced Seigaku, and Hyōtei met Rikkai again—for the second year in a row. Whether that was good luck or bad, who could say?
For Singles Three, Seigaku sent out Kawamura Takashi, while Fudomine fielded Akutsu Jin. Though Akashi had changed Akutsu's fate, his connection with Kawamura was already set before Akashi stepped in.
Akutsu was a bit more approachable than in the original timeline, so the two actually got along well. At the very least, Akutsu never showed any disdain or impatience toward Kawamura.
But no amount of friendship could change the outcome. Akutsu won the match easily 6-0, not cutting Kawamura any slack. Because in Akutsu's mind, this was the proper way to show respect.
In Doubles Two, Seigaku sent out Inui Sadaharu and Kaidō Kaoru, who had already formed a proper doubles team. On Fudomine's side, it was Krauser and Kite—their veteran duo.
After the match began, Akashi immediately noticed a change in Inui Sadaharu—his physical ability had improved a lot. He'd even developed Waterfall early, catching Krauser and Kite off guard and scoring the first point.
Unfortunately, that only worked once. After that, both Krauser and Kite easily returned the serve that exceeded 210 km/h. Later in the match, Kaidō could barely track the ball's path and had to rely entirely on Inui's instructions.
The match soon ended. Inui's data tennis didn't help them control the game at all. The score was 6-0—a crushing defeat.
Next was Singles Two—Fuji Shūsuke versus Tezuka Kunimitsu. Since last year's Kanto Tournament, this was their first official match again. Both had grown stronger since then.
Fuji used his evolved Kyoshiki Kūrei to crack both the Tezuka Zone and Hyaku Ren Jitoku no Kiwami. Combining that with his other Five Counters and Aoi Fubuki, he managed to hold his ground against Tezuka.
But he still had no answer for the Zero-Shiki Serve. He tried again to scoop up the return, but failed every time. The two were evenly matched until Tezuka activated Ten'i Muhō no Kiwami.
Under the brilliance of Ten'i no Hikari, Fuji's strength was gradually suppressed. He lost all resistance. In the end, Tezuka won 6-2—same as last year's Kanto match. It was almost ironic.
On the other side, Rikkai faced Hyōtei. This time, Yukimura didn't even play, and the match still ended early. Final score: 3-1. Except for Atobe Keigo versus Yanagi Renji, Hyōtei lost all the others.
In Singles Three, Jirō was once again crushed by Mōri. Most of Jirō's skills now came from what Mōri had taught him. In Doubles Two, Shishido Ryō and Ōtori Chōtarō were completely outclassed by Niō and Yagyū.
As for Doubles One, Mukahi Gakuto and Oshitari Yūshi did hold their own at first against Marui and Jackal. But as the match wore on, Gakuto began falling behind. His playstyle naturally drained stamina, especially against stronger opponents.
Oshitari tried to stall for time to help Gakuto recover, but Marui and Jackal weren't dumb. They went full offense and took the win.
With both matches done, the national finals were set—Fudomine versus Rikkai again, just like last year. The audience wasn't surprised, but they did wonder if the two team captains would face off again.
Then, something unexpected crushed those hopes—Yukimura showed signs of a relapse. Thankfully, he'd kept up regular checkups. Just before the finals, he went to the hospital for his usual tests.
When the results came back, the doctor found something abnormal. Sanada immediately contacted Akashi and Dr. Takahashi. After all, Dr. Takahashi only agreed to treat Yukimura because of Akashi. Sanada wouldn't take chances with something this serious.
Akashi took it seriously, too. He rushed to the hospital, sent the report to Dr. Takahashi, and got a reply that it wasn't too bad. The doctor said Yukimura just needed to rest mentally and physically and keep taking his medication for a few more days to recover completely.
After Akashi pressed him for details, Yukimura explained everything. He had been rigorously training his left hand and trying to develop new techniques. He'd even repeatedly used Five-Sense Nullification to test himself. The strain was too much and caused the relapse symptoms.
Since Dr. Takahashi said it wasn't serious, Akashi relaxed. He left after asking Sanada to take good care of Yukimura. He knew Yukimura could handle himself.
The next day, at the national finals, Yukimura's name wasn't on the player list. Some spectators were confused, but Yukimura still showed up at the venue. He just sat on the coach's bench and didn't play.
In Singles Three, Mōri was completely overpowered by Krauser. With Wirbel Taufe added to the mix, Mōri struggled to his limit and still lost 6-1.
In Doubles Two, Marui and Jackal managed to trigger Synchronization under the massive pressure from Tachibana and Chitose. But it still wasn't enough. Being junior high's No. 1 doubles team wasn't just for show.
Then came Singles Two—Sanada versus Akashi. The outcome was obvious. Sanada's Lightning Strike didn't work at all. Akashi used nothing flashy—just raw five-dimensional stats to completely crush Sanada.
Because of Yukimura's condition, the finals didn't meet the audience's expectations. Still, they cheered loudly as Fudomine claimed their second straight national title.
Meanwhile, back at the U-17 training camp, Byoudouin finally returned to Japan—but he wasn't alone. Following behind him was a former French national team member, the King of Destruction—Duke Watanabe!
A few days later, when the junior high players returned to camp and heard the news, Akashi wasn't surprised at all. Looks like Duke had really joined Team Japan. He was a powerful force—on a weaker country's team, Duke would be the captain-level player.
Also, the International Tennis Federation leaked a bit of news: next year's world tournament might require junior high players to participate. And it wouldn't be optional—every country would have to comply.
That made Mifune's eyes light up instantly. He even told Akashi to skip the expedition matches for now. He hoped Akashi could be Japan's secret trump card.