Phew..."
On the court, most of the tennis club members lay sprawled out, their bodies exhausted. Their stamina had long reached its limit. The second and third-years had at least trained for a year or two, and while the intensity far exceeded Ochi's era, their basic endurance was still there, allowing them to barely hold on. The new first-years, however, were suffering. Most of their bodies hadn't fully developed, and this training intensity was far beyond their acceptable limits.
But, there were exceptions, such as Tezuka, Atobe, and others, who were only slightly sweating and remained in excellent condition, with no signs of disrupted breathing. Even Shishido and Mukahi were in much better shape than most of the second and third-year senpai (upperclassmen).
"Are... are these guys monsters?"
"Hoo-hoo-hoo... Don't they ever get tired?"
They had just finished a high-intensity endurance run, and many hadn't fully recovered. Yet, amidst the crowd, the first-year new students were already holding their rackets and heading towards the court. From their stance, they were about to begin the next phase of training.
"The gap... can the gap be this huge?"
Gen Hikaru gritted his teeth, trying to force his body to stand up. But his legs simply wouldn't obey; he couldn't get up at all. With such high-intensity training, his body hadn't adapted yet, and his legs easily went soft. Very few people could get up from the ground.
"You're Shinogawa Mutsuki, right?"
At this moment, Atobe, holding his racket, walked over, pointing his racket at Shinogawa, who was sitting on the ground resting. He said calmly, "Come! Play a match with Ore-sama (my magnificent self)."
"We just finished training, Atobe-kun." Shinogawa shook his head, flat-out refusing. His condition had also declined somewhat, but it was within an acceptable range. Even so, he didn't want to get up and continue training. He had already played the necessary match yesterday; there was no need for this one.
Seeing Shinogawa's rejecting attitude, Atobe raised an eyebrow and challenged him again, "Are you scared, or do you just not want to play against Ore-sama?!"
"A bit of both 'scared' and 'don't want to,' depending on how you interpret it, Atobe-kun." Shinogawa stood up, brushed off the grass clippings from his backside, and bent down to pick up his racket. He had important things to do today and no time to play around with Atobe.
Yesterday, Shinogawa had witnessed Atobe-sama's strength. Honestly, his strength was similar to Sanada's. In just one day, even if Atobe had an epiphany, he wouldn't improve much. Instead of playing a meaningless match, it was better to do something productive.
"You..." Atobe was stunned, not expecting this guy to be so unyielding.
"Atobe-kun, if you really want to compete with me, you can wait for the match training day."
"Match training day? What's that?!"
"Hmm? It's listed in the training schedule, let me think..." Shinogawa pondered the training schedule's contents, then said, "It seems to be on Wednesday, which is two days from now. It wouldn't be too late for you to challenge me then."
"However, I still suggest you challenge Tezuka. After all, you're the Vice-部長 now."
Shinogawa patted Atobe's shoulder, signaling him to challenge Tezuka. Challenging Shinogawa wouldn't lead to a promotion, but if Atobe defeated Tezuka, he could go from Vice-部長 to 部長. Then, he'd be the one calling all the shots in the tennis club.
As for whether he could actually do it... Shinogawa wasn't sure. After all, this guy's growth rate was ridiculously fast; he was the fastest-improving 部長-level player in U-17.
"He..." Atobe thought seriously for a moment, finding some truth in what Shinogawa said. Just as he was about to speak, he realized Shinogawa, who had been standing in front of him, had already left and moved on to the next training.
"That guy's starting a new round of training again! Is he really a new student like us?"
Mukahi, who was just about to rest, noticed Shinogawa returning to the wall and starting a new round of training. He originally had the fighting spirit to surpass Tezuka and Shinogawa soon, but seeing Shinogawa's daily training volume, he was instantly dumbfounded. He couldn't even force himself to do that much training. Plus, Mukahi's stamina wasn't good to begin with; that five-kilometer endurance run almost took half his life.
Shishido, Mukahi's good friend, was also shocked along with Mukahi. No wonder this guy could maintain such abundant stamina during matches; his daily endurance training far exceeded what ordinary people could handle.
"Is that... guy really a new student?"
Oshitari was equally surprised. He had just joined Shishido and Mukahi's small group. Since he had lost to Shinogawa earlier, he paid more attention to Shinogawa. Therefore, when Atobe went to provoke Shinogawa and challenged him to a match, Oshitari also stood by, eager to see what would happen.
Oshitari wasn't a player with a strong desire to win; he possessed outstanding talent, but his matches were mostly for fun. Even so... he had never been whitewashed before. That 6-0 score was like a nightmare, driving him to constantly get stronger.
Hearing Oshitari, Shishido immediately turned to him and said, "That guy defeated Tezuka a few months ago." Shishido's comment instantly caught Oshitari's attention.
"Really?" Oshitari knew that even if he played against Atobe in his current state, he wouldn't have much confidence in winning. And Tezuka could easily overwhelm him. Such a formidable player had actually lost to Shinogawa?!
Shishido also noticed Oshitari's doubt and pouted, saying, "Of course. He was the champion of the JR Tournament, and Tezuka was the runner-up."
"The other two in the top four were also ridiculously strong. I estimate their strength is even above Atobe's."
At this, Oshitari was completely shocked. He could accept Shinogawa and Tezuka being stronger than Atobe. But to have two more suddenly appear? Oshitari wouldn't believe it. After all, Atobe's strength was undeniable; he could be the 部長 of any tennis club in any school. This kind of strength wasn't something common, so how could they just pop up one after another? Even the geniuses Oshitari had heard of in Kansai, very few could match Atobe in raw strength.
"Don't you believe me... Mukahi and I saw it with our own eyes..." Shishido also saw the disbelief in Oshitari's eyes and quickly spoke up.
Before he could finish, a familiar voice echoed:
"Are your training sessions over?!"
They instinctively looked up. Tezuka stood holding his racket, quietly looking at the three of them.
"Heh heh... not yet..."
Tezuka calmly looked at the three and said, "Shishido, Mukahi, Oshitari, all three of you run twenty laps around the track."
"Huh?!!" Mukahi's eyes widened. Twenty more laps?!
"Mukahi, thirty laps," Tezuka frowned and spoke again.
"I..." Mukahi was about to retort when Shishido grabbed him by the arm, covering his mouth, and ran forward. As he ran, Shishido said, "If you say one more word, believe me, you'll have to run forty laps."
Mukahi fell silent. Thinking of Tezuka's demeanor, he silently nodded.
"Seriously." Oshitari sighed helplessly, following behind Shishido and Mukahi. "Why do I have to run with you guys? I should have just stayed away."
"Heh heh... Oshitari, just run with us."
"Oshitari, I heard your nickname in Kansai is 'Kansai Wolf,' but your playing style isn't fierce like a wolf at all..."
"That's because..." Oshitari was about to retort but quickly swallowed his words. He couldn't exactly say it was because his personality was as cunning as a wolf, could he? He preferred "fox" over "Kansai Wolf," even if they essentially meant the same thing.
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