Chapter 2: Even Hyotei Has to Pick Up Balls?
Hyotei = Beginner Zone?Hyotei Pyers = NPCs?Outside of Hyotei = Wilderness?Tennis pyers outside of Hyotei = Wild Monsters?!!
A thought fshed through Ishikawa's mind. His gaze fell upon a nearby tennis court where a match was taking pce.
[Saburo Shinohara: Lv18][Ryota Suzuki: Lv17]
"Are these their levels?"
At this moment, Ishikawa couldn't help but view the two pyers as NPCs in a game. With that in mind, he moved to the back of the court, silently observing their match, eager to see how strong level 20-ish tennis pyers really were.
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Not far away, several courts were left idle, but one was hosting another match.
However, unlike other courts that were crowded with people, this area had far fewer spectators. Clearly, this was where Hyotei's Regurs were pying.
Thwack!Thwack!
At that moment, on the court, a brown-haired boy was aggressively attacking, pushing back his silver-haired opponent.
"Chotarou!"
Seeing his opponent cornered, the brown-haired boy grinned and shouted:
"Your fundamentals still need a lot of work!"
With that, he leaped into the air, raising his racket high before smashing the ball down forcefully.
BANG!
The ball shot past the silver-haired boy’s feet like a bullet, bouncing away before he could react.
"Match over," the umpire sitting on the high chair announced.
"Shishido Ryou wins, score: 6-3!"
"Whew!"
After executing his smash, Shishido Ryou, a third-year Regur at Hyotei, nded gracefully and stretched his arms with satisfaction. Then, with a smirk, he walked up to his opponent—his second-year teammate Ootori Chotarou—and patted his shoulder with his racket.
"Chotarou, your serve is great, but without it, your skills are only at the Tokyo Tournament level. Work on your fundamentals. Next year, Hyotei will be counting on you."
With that, Shishido whistled and walked off.
Ootori stood still, watching his senior leave. His expression gradually turned determined.
-
"Tch."
Watching this scene from the sidelines, a red-haired boy with bangs scoffed.
"Shishido just loves lecturing Chotarou, huh?"
As he spoke, he stretched his body, resting his hands behind his neck with a look of disinterest.
This was Mukahi Gakuto, a third-year Regur at Hyotei.
"You’re not wrong, but…"
Beside him, a blue-bck-haired boy with gsses shook his head.
"Chotarou’s year only has two Regurs—him and Kabaji. And you know Kabaji; he’s not suited to be captain."
"So next year, if nothing changes, Chotarou will be leading Hyotei."
"In that case, giving him a little extra pressure isn’t necessarily a bad thing."
The one speaking was another third-year Regur—Oshitari Yuushi.
"Captain, huh?"
Mukahi raised an eyebrow before nodding.
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense."
At this point, Hyotei had already dominated the Tokyo Tournament.
For everyone—including their captain, Atobe Keigo—the focus was now on the Kanto Tournament and the National Tournament. To them, qualifying for Nationals was practically a given.
But what about next year? Once this generation graduated, could Hyotei still compete at the National level without a strong captain to lead them?
"If that’s the case…"
Mukahi gnced over at the newcomers assigned to ball retrieval duty and shook his head.
"Looks like we don’t have any standout freshmen this year."
"Yeah… that’s true," Oshitari sighed, rubbing his temple.
He was in charge of this year’s recruitment, yet he hadn’t found anyone particurly talented. Then again, it didn’t really matter for their generation.
In Oshitari’s eyes, no rookie, no matter how talented, could change the massive gap between Hyotei and Rikkai Dai. What happened after they graduated? Well, that wasn’t his problem.
-
Thwack!Thwack!
As Shishido and Ootori’s match ended…
Meanwhile, on the other court, Ishikawa was still observing the two Hyotei pyers' match. Back in his previous life, he only knew the basic rules of tennis—he had zero experience pying.
However… After watching for just a few minutes, he realized something—there was nothing particurly special about these two pyers' match. They were just moving, positioning, and swinging their rackets to return shots. He could even predict their shot pcements and next movements before they happened. But thinking about it, it wasn’t surprising.
After all, his Mental stat had already reached 3 points. According to the Prince of Tennis canon, U-17 training camp's Tactical Coach Kurobe considered 3 points to be the passing grade for middle school pyers.
To put things in perspective—even after going through U-17’s brutal "Hell Training", pyers like Momoshiro, Kaidou, and Shitenhouji’s "Naniwa Star" Oshitari Kenya only reached 3 points.
And right now? It was only the second day of the school year—the very beginning of the storyline. Meaning his 3-point Mental stat already surpassed the vast majority of middle schoolers in the original series.
Not to mention… These two guys weren’t even named characters in the manga!
-
Thwack!
Just then, Saburo Shinohara hit the ball with too much force, sending it out of bounds. Coincidentally, it nded right at Ishikawa’s feet.
"Hey!"
As expected, an impatient voice called out.
"You over there—the one with bck hair! Pick up that ball for me!"
Pick up the ball? Ishikawa froze. He never expected that the cliché situation he had only read about in fanfiction would actually happen to him. But what puzzled him even more was…
"Wait… isn’t this something that only happens at Seigaku?"
"Even Hyotei makes freshmen pick up balls?!"
(End of Chapter 2)
