"Looks like the high schoolers still hold the edge in overall strength," Tsuge Ryūji said, glancing at Oni after the match.
"If the middle schoolers completely steamrolled the high schoolers, then what's the point of us being here?" Kurobe gave Tsuge a look and replied flatly.
"Alright, alright! That kid Yukimura already did great. This year's world tournament will be the perfect time for Japan to rise!" Mifune waved impatiently, signaling the coaches to quiet down, his eyes gleaming with ambition.
"Seems you've fully regained your strength, Oni. I'm looking forward to your challenge," Byoudouin called from the players' bench, eyeing Oni as he stepped off court with a hint of excitement in his tone.
"Why don't you beat Akashi-kun first before you talk?" Oni answered calmly, barely glancing at him.
"You really trust that kid that much?" Byoudouin frowned. Based on Oni's current level, he was sure Oni was no weaker than him. But even so, Oni still said that—which made Byoudouin start taking things more seriously.
On the middle school bench, Yukimura softly said sorry to the others. But no one blamed him—he had done all he could.
Instead, the team comforted him one after another. Yukimura soon smiled gently, seemingly unbothered by the outcome. But anyone from Rikkai knew—he definitely wasn't as carefree as he looked.
"Not sure who your opponent is, but I don't think you'll lose, Tezuka," Tachibana Kippei suddenly said to Tezuka beside him.
"I'll win," Tezuka replied plainly, without any motivational speech. But that one sentence was enough to show how determined he was.
Soon, Kaji stood up under the coaches' signal and made his way to the coach bench, starting to prep his gear. The middle schoolers all looked a bit curious at the sight.
"Is that Tezuka-senpai's opponent? I think I saw him in the First String yesterday," Kirihara spoke up first.
"Kaji Kazena. Third year. Former First String No. 5. He's got absolute confidence in his speed and was once called the fastest man in high school tennis," Inui Sadaharu flipped open his notebook and explained.
"So he's the one who lost to Oni-senpai, then?" Zaizen Hikaru said, suddenly understanding.
"That means Tezuka's got a good shot at winning this one!" Hiyoshi Wakashi added with a smile.
"Don't get careless. He's still a First Stringer. You saw how strong Oni-senpai is. Losing to him doesn't mean Kaji's weak," Sanada cut in, instantly throwing cold water on the mood.
"Kaji-senpai's speed can't just be called 'fast' anymore. You'll see in the match. Oh, Kenya, make sure you watch carefully~" Shiraishi said, turning to Oshitari Kenya.
"You ready, Tezuka?" Akashi ignored the buzz behind him and looked at Tezuka by the bench.
"Yeah. I'm going to win—no matter who I face," Tezuka answered in his usual serious tone, though his voice held firm confidence.
Seeing that, Akashi didn't say anything more. His eyes shifted to Kaji Kazena across the court. Honestly, that guy was just plain unlucky. In the original story, he was nothing more than a disposable character—barely more relevant than Kirigaya, the classic punching bag.
But from Akashi's perspective, Kaji had it even worse than Kirigaya. At least Kirigaya lost to Ryūga, one of the few players with pro-level strength. Kaji got a little screen time, sure, but it would've been better if he hadn't.
He gave up his No. 5 badge to make room for Oni. Then in the world tournament, after Toranosuke got injured, he barely got a chance to play—and immediately got thrown into the Japan team's internal elimination match.
Worse, he ended up facing Irie and got crushed. Just pure bad luck. Really, his whole role in the original was just to make up the numbers.
Kaji Kazena.
"The second singles match is about to begin! Representing Team Japan: Kaji Kazena! Facing off against Second String Selection: Tezuka Kunimitsu! Players, please enter the court!"
The umpire's voice rang out. Tezuka and Kaji walked onto the court and met at the net for the pre-match handshake. Kaji looked at Tezuka's calm face and couldn't help commenting:
"You're really a middle schooler? You're not as scary as Oni, but man, you look way too old."
Even Tezuka was caught off guard by that. He never thought the first thing his opponent would say was about how mature he looked. Fortunately, Tezuka's natural stone face didn't show any reaction.
"Tch. You're no fun at all~" Kaji muttered in annoyance, clearly irritated by Tezuka's blank stare.
The umpire started reminding them to do the coin toss. Kaji shrugged and ruffled his hair with a frustrated sigh—but it didn't help.
The coin toss ended quickly. No surprise—Kaji won the serve. The middle schoolers were already used to this. If there was anything more memorable about Tezuka and Akashi besides their strength, it was how they almost never won a coin toss. Pretty weird, honestly.
"Best-of-three sets! Team Japan to serve!"
Right after the umpire called the match start, Kaji suddenly glanced at Fuji in the stands, eyes flashing with disdain. Fuji felt a little confused by that look, but didn't dwell on it.
"Let me show you how speed should really be used." Kaji looked away. He'd just heard some details from Tanegashima about Fuji's match and had some resentment toward Fuji's Light Wind.
At the baseline, Kaji steadied himself, then tossed the ball up and smashed it hard. The tennis ball flew at high speed toward the opposite side. It wasn't quite at the level of Ochi or Tanegashima, but it was still really fast.
But Tezuka was used to handling serves like this, having faced Akashi's power countless times. He instantly judged the landing spot and dashed to it. As the ball bounced, he hit a clean forehand return.
Just as the ball crossed the net, a flash of silver shot past. A loud thud came from behind Tezuka. Kaji's figure appeared at the net, trailing fading afterimages behind him.
"15-0!"
"What's wrong? Can't keep up with my speed? You're Tezuka Kunimitsu, right?" Kaji asked with a smug tone after scoring.
"Hey, hey, give me some kind of reaction at least~" he added, annoyed that Tezuka's face stayed unreadable.
"Your speed is impressive, Kaji-senpai. Let's both focus and continue," Tezuka finally replied.
"Ugh, I hate guys like you the most—no fun at all! Argh, my hair!" Kaji grumbled as he ran a hand through his long hair, trying to flatten the strands that had started sticking up again.
"Don't bother. It's natural curl—you can't fix it. Didn't you know that, Kaji?" Tanegashima called out teasingly from the sideline.
"Shut up, bastard!" Kaji snapped, yelling at Tanegashima in the stands like a kicked dog. Then he took a deep breath, calmed himself, and grabbed another tennis ball.
He launched another high-speed serve. Tezuka blinked to the landing point, and this time his return carried the spin of the Tezuka Zone. The ball turned into a yellow streak shooting toward Kaji's side.
"Oh? That was a pretty fast return~ Too bad it's still too slow!" Kaji moved like a silver flash, charging into the ball's path. Using his sprint's momentum, he slammed the ball back with even more speed—far beyond Kamio Akira's Supersonic Bullet.
The ball turned into a blur and zipped over the net, hitting the backcourt hard and looking like it would fly out. But suddenly, a huge white vortex rose around Tezuka and started pulling the ball in.
"Tezuka Zone!"
"No matter how fast it is, as long as I can reach it, I'll return it," Tezuka said, surprisingly taking the initiative to speak. Then he fired a strong return straight back at Kaji.
"So this is the Zone? Interesting. Let's see if you can really catch everything!" Kaji's eyes lit up, excited. He charged again, his figure blurring into afterimages as he reached the incoming ball.
His speed was so fast that almost no one among the middle schoolers—aside from Akashi and Atobe—could follow how he hit the ball. It looked like the tennis ball got swallowed in silver light, then instantly reappeared deep in Tezuka's court.
"Godspeed!"
Tezuka's white vortex reached out again, trying to pull the ball in. But this time, it ripped straight through the spin and flew out of bounds. Even Tezuka didn't have time to react.
"30-0!"
"Speed and power go hand-in-hand! If the force is strong enough, your spin rotation crumbles on its own, doesn't it?" Kaji said with a proud grin.