Prince of Tennis: The Emperor's Eye

After a little over an hour of rest, the second round of the ranking matches was about to begin. After those previous 3 matches, everyone in the tennis club now had a clearer understanding of the regulars' strength.

Honestly, they felt like they weren't even on the same level, but now they were even more confident in what Akashi said about winning the national tournament.

Once the matches started, most people didn't really move, since each court had different players from before and nobody bothered to switch courts.

This round, on Court 1, it was Akutsu Jin versus Kite Eishirō. Since Akutsu had just lost to Tachibana Kippei, he was in a pretty foul mood, and seeing Kite's cold face made him even more agitated, smashing the ball again and again into Kite's side of the court.

Kite used Shukuchihō to chase after the ball quickly, but the sheer power behind Akutsu's shots surprised him. Even with his martial artist's physique, he could feel how heavy those shots were.

"GAME! Akutsu Jin! 1-0"

"GAME! Kite Eishirō! 1-1"

"GAME! Akutsu Jin! 2-1 Change sides!"

"GAME! Akutsu Jin! 3-1"

"GAME! Kite Eishirō! 3-2"

Their match got really intense, the score kept going back and forth, but unlike the two actually playing, the other club members watching were just excited. Akutsu's weird but natural movements, Kite's almost teleporting speed—everyone was amazed.

"For real, can a human body even move like Akutsu does? If it were me, my back would've broken already."

"Akutsu is wild, but Kite's speed is even crazier! What, is that some kind of superpower?"

"I just heard, apparently Captain Akashi said so, Kite uses something called Shukuchihō, a type of martial arts from Ryūkyū island."

"Martial arts? That sounds awesome. I wonder if I could learn that someday."

While Akutsu and Kite were going at it, on Court 2, Liliadent Krauser and Chitose Senri were having a pretty great match too. At the start, Chitose used Kamikakushi to catch Lilia off guard and scored a few points, but Lilia was a national-level player after all, and soon figured out how to deal with it.

Once Lilia got going, with the difference in the five attributes, Chitose gradually couldn't keep up and started losing points fast.

"GAME! Chitose Senri! 1-0"

"GAME! Liliadent Krauser! 1-1"

"GAME! Liliadent Krauser! 2-1"

"GAME! Liliadent Krauser! 3-1"

People watching Court 2 had learned during the break about what Muga no Kyōchi was, and the three ultimate techniques, and were all looking forward to seeing Chitose use Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami again.

Meanwhile, over on Court 3, facing Tachibana Kippei's wild, stormy offense, Tezuka Kunimitsu used his Tezuka Zone to defend without letting a drop through. Tezuka's style was actually a direct counter to Tachibana, and since Tachibana hadn't fully crossed into the national level, he quickly fell behind.

"GAME! Tezuka Kunimitsu! 1-0"

"GAME! Tezuka Kunimitsu! 2-0"

"GAME! Tezuka Kunimitsu! 3-0"

Just like the crowd around Court 2, everyone at Court 3 knew how strong Tezuka was. Whether it was the Tezuka Zone or Hyakuren Jitoku no Kiwami, it was just beyond what they could imagine, so they were glued to the game.

With all the lively cheering and commentary from the club members, the matches neared their end. The first results came from Court 3. Once Tezuka activated Hyakuren Jitoku no Kiwami, Tachibana could barely hold on and ended up losing, the score locked at 6-2.

Both of Tezuka's matches today were wins, showing everyone in the tennis club just how strong he was.

Next came the results from Court 2—the winner was Krauser. Even though Chitose activated Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami and took 3 games, Krauser eventually went all out, and with his full power the match info Chitose collected earlier turned out wrong, so his absolute prediction failed. The score was 6-4.

Last was the match on Court 1—Akutsu and Kite actually played 12 games, with Akutsu finally beating Kite 7-5 to pick up a point.

With that, today's two rounds of the regulars' ranking matches were over. All six regulars' points were posted on the notice board: Tezuka and Krauser both had 2 points, Tachibana and Akutsu had 1 point, Chitose and Kite still had 0 points.

Akashi saw the results and gave a small nod. With his Emperor Eye, he could see that everyone's strength had improved. The biggest jumps were from Akutsu and Kite. Akutsu's control had changed completely compared to a month ago, and Kite had developed the Big Bang Serve from Akashi's advice.

Tachibana's Abare Dama had also noticeably improved—the number of ball shadows went up from the original 10 to almost 20, and he'd learned the Jackknife too. If he kept this up, he'd probably hit national level by the time the regional tournament started.

As for Tezuka and Krauser, both were already at the national level, so their improvement wasn't that obvious. Especially Krauser—he was almost at the national peak already. But for some reasons, he couldn't go all out against his own teammates, and lately he'd been putting a lot of effort into learning the secret technique Akashi taught him.

What surprised Akashi the most was Chitose Senri. Stimulated by Tezuka's Muga no Kyōchi aura, Chitose, who had already entered the deeper stage of Muga, finally unlocked the door to Hyaku Ren Jitoku no Kiwami. Now, he was just a hair's breadth away from the national level. As soon as his five stats went up, his strength would rise a lot.

Very soon, club activities for the day ended. The tennis club members left school with excitement, all looking forward to the next day's ranking matches.

The next day, once all the club members had arrived, the ranking matches officially started. Today's matches were also split into two rounds, and the first match on Court 1 was a showdown between friends: Tachibana Kippei vs. Chitose Senri.

Unlike before, this time Akashi stood by the court holding a racket, watching the match from the sidelines. Because of Akashi's presence, a lot of things had changed from the original story. In the original, the Kyushu duo's tragedy came from a practice match, so Akashi wasn't about to let his guard down.

Before this, Tachibana and Chitose had practiced together, but those were just for training. Today was a real match, and it involved the rankings, so both of them took it very seriously.

Once the match started, since they both knew each other so well, the match quickly reached a climax—no testing, just all-out attack. Every time Tachibana used Abare Dama, Akashi stared intently at the court, ready to intercept the ball at any time. Fortunately, what he was worried about didn't happen.

The result came quickly: Chitose Senri won. With the boost from Hyaku Ren Jitoku no Kiwami, every move from Tachibana was predicted by Chitose, and the final score was 6-4.

On Court 2, Tezuka faced Kite. There wasn't really anything to say about the result—no matter which version of Kite, he had no chance against Tezuka's Hyakuren Jitoku no Kiwami. The score was 6-0. Speaking of which, Kite was really having a hard time. Out of this group, it seemed he couldn't beat anyone.

Court 3 was Krauser vs. Akutsu. Akutsu wanted badly to win, but he just hadn't been playing tennis long enough. No matter how much raw talent he had, you still need time to catch up. Beating Kite yesterday was already impressive. In the end, the score was 6-2.

The first round ended. After a break, the second round started soon after.

This time, on Court 1, Akutsu faced Tezuka. The result was obvious—a total wipeout. Akutsu didn't even win a single game, losing 6-0. Now, in Akutsu's mind, Tezuka became the number one target for him to challenge, just behind Akashi.

On Court 2, Krauser played Tachibana. It was their second time playing each other. Last time in Kumamoto, Tachibana lost miserably, so this time he put all his effort into challenging again. He still lost, but it was a lot better than before, and the score was 6-2.

On Court 3, Chitose played Kite. No surprise, Kite lost again. Of course, that's just a joke—knowing Kite, it would just push him to train harder and wait for a chance to give a deadly blow at the right time.

Time quickly reached the third day. There was only one round today—the final matches that would determine the rankings. All the club members were eagerly waiting for the results.

On Court 1, Krauser faced Tezuka. These two hadn't lost a single match the last two days, but today, finally, one of them would lose.

During the match, Tezuka clearly felt Krauser's pressure, and even his Domain got broken through directly, much more easily than when he played against Sanada.

But after Tezuka activated Hyakuren Jitoku no Kiwami, Krauser started losing points. After being scored on again, Krauser looked over to the sidelines at Akashi, eyes asking for permission.

Akashi on the sidelines shook his head strictly, clearly not approving. Seeing Akashi shake his head, Krauser could only grit his teeth and hang on. In the end, he still narrowly lost to Tezuka, with a score of 6-4.

On Court 2, Akutsu played Chitose. Although Akutsu's strange movements gave Chitose some trouble, Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami was the perfect counter, and the score ended 6-2.

Court 3 was Tachibana vs. Kite. Kite lost again—pretty rough. But his expression just got colder. The final score was 6-1.

And so, the ranking matches were over. The six players' points were: Tezuka 5 points, Krauser 4 points, Chitose 3 points, Tachibana 2 points, Akutsu 1 point, Kite 0 points.