Prince of Tennis: The Emperor's Eye

"Principal, you're being too serious. I believe this was just an accident, but I don't want anything like this to happen again," Akashi said calmly.

"Of course, of course, there's absolutely no way something like this will ever happen again, I promise!" The principal was sweating all over—partly from running, and partly from fear. If he hadn't seen Nishioda stuck in the wall, he'd have kicked him a few more times himself.

The ambulance quickly arrived at the school and came to the tennis club. When the doctors saw Nishioda's condition, even with all their experience, they were shocked. Hearing that it was a tennis ball that did this blew their minds—the world suddenly seemed totally different.

Still, their duty as doctors came first, so they didn't spend time worrying about how it happened. With three doctors and one nurse working together, Nishioda was finally pried off the wall, then carried onto the ambulance and rushed to the nearest hospital.

Once the ambulance left, the principal apologized to Akashi again, then hurried off to handle the aftermath. After some time, the club members calmed down and started to accept reality.

When Akashi saw the group quieting down, he clapped his hands. Instantly, everyone's eyes were on him, all of them looking a bit nervous.

"Alright, everyone, that little incident is over. Don't worry about those people. As I said before, as long as I'm the captain, you follow my orders—no exceptions. If you have any complaints, show it with your strength. If you can beat me, you call the shots. Got it?" Akashi looked at them with a sharp gaze.

"Understood!" Everyone answered quickly, terrified of upsetting the captain and getting hit by a Light Strike.

"Good! Now, about the club's goal—some of you might've heard from the older students that the tennis club used to be a joke. They couldn't even qualify for tournaments. Honestly, I don't get why those losers even existed!"

"Remember this! In this world, victory is everything. Winners get everything, losers get nothing. So we have only one goal—national champions! And we're going to win three years in a row!" Akashi's voice was full of confidence and authority.

Except for Tezuka and a few others, the members below were shocked by Akashi's words. They thought the school rebuilt the club to get results, but they didn't expect the captain to aim straight for the national title, let alone a three-peat. It was way beyond their expectations.

"I don't care what you think—like I said, my orders are absolute. This year's national championship belongs to us. Now I'll explain club member arrangements and the courts!"

"The two senpai behind me will be our club managers from now on. They're also core student council members, so if you have any problems with school or life, go to them." Akashi started the applause himself to welcome them.

"Also, our club won't have an advisor or coach, but there will be dedicated trainers recording your daily data. I'll create training plans for everyone based on actual results. If anyone doubts my skills, feel free to challenge me anytime."

Hearing "challenge me," people below shrank back. 'Yeah right, that's just suicide. No one wants to try beating Akashi for captain—this is just tennis, why risk your life?'

"Right now, the club has twelve courts. The one closest to the meeting room is Court one. Next to it is Court two, and so on. Courts eleven and twelve belonged to the old club, but they've been fully renovated and will now be for beginners."

"Courts one to three are for regulars only. The rest—Courts four to ten—are for regular members. Except for the beginner courts, the other ten will be sorted by player strength."

"For example, unless something unexpected happens, I'll always be at Court one. If you end up at Court ten, that means you really need to work harder." Akashi based this on the U-17 training camp setup.

"Apart from the regulars' courts, the lower the court number, the more support and personalized training you'll get."

"Also, surveillance cameras have been installed at all the tennis club entrances and every court, so the trainers can better monitor and respond to any emergencies!" Akashi announced the staffing and court rules.

Everyone below, even Tezuka and his group, found this setup totally new. They'd never seen or even heard of anything like it. The only exception was Krauser, who grew up in Germany, famous for elite tennis training—he was used to this kind of system.

"Alright, that's it for the court rules. Tomorrow we'll hold the regulars' selection matches. Anyone can sign up. It's a knockout tournament, using six courts. The winner from each court will become a regular, and with me, there'll be seven regulars in total. I don't need substitutes!"

"If you think it's unfair that I get a regular spot without playing, you're free to challenge me. If you win, you'll not only become a regular—you'll be the new captain. I think that's a pretty good deal, so give it a try," Akashi said seriously.

Everyone was secretly complaining, 'Yeah, right! Good deal? Try it and you'll end up dead. Captain is way too black-hearted.'

"Finally, after the regulars are set tomorrow, the day after that we'll have the regulars' ranking matches." Akashi took a black badge with gold No1 from his pocket and showed it to everyone.

"That's right, even among the regulars, there's a ranking. This badge shows your rank—it's a symbol of honor as a regular! If you lose tomorrow, don't feel bad. Every non-regular gets one chance each week to challenge a regular. If you win, you take their spot!"

"But each regular can only accept three challenges per week, so choose your timing wisely. That's all for today—everyone is dismissed. You're free to look around the tennis club. If you want to sign up for the selection matches, go to the manager. Don't forget to come early tomorrow for warmups. That's it!" Akashi finished and turned to leave.

Just as he turned, the system's voice suddenly rang in his head:

"Congratulations, host! Main mission one complete. You've unlocked the skill Absolute Command—use Emperor Eye's super observation and ultra-realistic feints to make your opponent shift their weight onto their pivot foot, then instantly hit in the opposite direction and make them fall. Pro tip: When using this skill, say 'Fall' for extra style points~"

A flood of feint techniques rushed into Akashi's mind, but his strong mental power kept him feeling fine. Still, that system message left him half laughing, half annoyed.

Meanwhile, as soon as Akashi left, the tennis club members let out a sigh of relief and started chattering among themselves.

Akutsu looked bored, walked over, said his name to sign up, then left right away. He didn't think he'd lose to anyone except Akashi.

Tezuka signed up immediately. Tachibana grinned and dragged Chitose along to register too. Krauser walked up with a cold face, grabbed the form, and wrote his name—maybe he thought the manager couldn't spell it.

Kite stood there quietly, not saying a word. No one knew what he was thinking, but before long, he finished signing up and left the club without a word.

None of Tezuka's group was worried about the selection matches, but they were all thinking about the regulars' ranking matches the day after.

The next day, after class, a bunch of tennis club members rushed to the courts with their gear and started warming up. Coincidentally, there were forty-eight people signed up. Each court had eight players in a knockout format.

Soon, Akashi entered the court with twelve staff in tracksuits, each holding a laptop. When everyone finished warming up, he called them together and announced:

"Is everyone here? Each pair of the twelve trainers behind me will be responsible for one court. They'll collect your match data. Now, they'll read off your names, court numbers, and match order. Remember your slot and your court!"

Of course, Tezuka and the others were put on different courts by Akashi's arrangement.

"I declare the first Fudomine tennis club regulars' selection matches open!" With that, Akashi headed toward the club meeting room.