Prince of Tennis: The Emperor's Eye

The tournament staff took the entry form from Akashi Seijurō and looked up at them, a little surprised—they all looked young, probably all first-years. Looking down again at the entry form, sure enough, every single one was a first-year. But as a staff member, he didn't comment and just helped Akashi-san with the registration.

After finishing the registration, Akashi and the others followed the signs to their match area to wait for the start of the match. Fudomine's first opponent was Ritadanda Middle School, a school even Akashi had never heard of in the original story—in his eyes, just another filler team.

But since this was the first round, no matter the score, all five matches had to be played, so Akashi told everyone to get ready and make sure to win in overwhelming fashion, announcing Fudomine's true strength to the world.

Soon the match was about to begin. At that moment, Ritadanda's tennis regulars also arrived at the court, and when they saw Fudomine was a bunch of first-years, someone couldn't help but secretly feel lucky.

Originally, with their school's level, they were just there to go through the motions—athletics weren't even part of their advancement plan. But if their opponents were even weaker, they wouldn't mind getting a few extra matches.

After both teams shook hands and bowed, Ritadanda's captain smiled at Akashi and said, "I heard your tennis club is new. If you don't have enough people, you could wait until next year to sign up. No need for you first-years to get beaten up here."

"Heh, you'll pay for your ignorance soon enough." Akashi's eyes were cold as he spoke, then turned to leave.

"You little brat, you…" The Ritadanda captain wanted to say more, but when the umpire signaled, he could only sit back down, not happy at all.

The umpire quickly announced the start of the Doubles Two match and called for both sides to enter the court.

"Go on, Liliadent, Kite, bring us back a beautiful win." Akashi sat in the coach's seat, calm as ever.

Kuratose and Kite nodded coldly, didn't say a word, picked up their rackets, and headed out. They'd heard what the other captain said, and decided to give him something to remember.

Meanwhile, Ritadanda's captain Kagawa Daisuke was looking annoyed and said to the members about to play, "Kamijō, Sōji, don't hold back—teach those first-years a lesson, show them what it means to respect upperclassmen!"

"Haha, don't worry, captain. We'll take good 'care' of those cute little underclassmen!" Both of them had mischievous looks on their faces.

"Now starting the Doubles Two match between Fudomine Middle School and Ritadanda Middle School. Single set. Fudomine will serve first!"

As the umpire started the match, Kite took a tennis ball and stood on the baseline, his gaze a little cruel as he glanced at the opponent about to receive. He tossed the ball high, used his waist to drive his arm, and swung his racket down hard.

"Big Bang!"

The tennis ball shot across the net like a missile, flying straight at the opponent. The Ritadanda player just stood there, frozen, and the ball exploded at his feet, flying out of bounds, kicking up dust.

"15-0!"

"Against players like this, Kite actually used Big Bang—guess he's not as calm as he looks," Akashi said with a smile from the sidelines.

From the start, it was totally one-sided. Ritadanda's players, except when they were serving, never got to touch the ball—not even much running, since they simply couldn't react in time.

"Game! Fudomine! 6-0!"

Ritadanda's two players walked off the court, totally crushed. This match made them wonder if they were even fit to play tennis at all.

"No way! They're just first-years! You two got bagelled! You've completely disgraced our tennis club!" Ritadanda captain Kagawa Daisuke yelled at his team.

Kuratose and Kite left the court barely sweating—Kite was even complaining that their opponents were so weak, it didn't even count as a warm-up.

Akashi just grinned at them, his tone light, "Nice job! But Kite, like you said, their level is too low, so don't waste your special moves on them. That's just overkill!"

"I got it, captain, I'll keep that in mind next time!" Kite realized opening with Big Bang really was a waste.

"It's fine! Just a suggestion. How you play is up to you—either way, victory is ours!"

"Looks like we're up next. Let's finish in ten minutes, Chitose!" Tachibana said with a smile.

"No problem, Tachibana!" Chitose answered, just as relaxed.

Soon the Doubles One match began. Even though Ritadanda's captain ordered his players not to lose, reality gave him another slap.

"Game! Fudomine! 6-0!"

Just like the previous match, there was barely any difference—actually, this one ended even faster, taking less than nine minutes. The Ritadanda players could only blame their bad luck, facing off against the Kyūshū Duo—no, maybe they should be called the Tokyo Duo now.

Next up was Singles Three, where the opponent's captain came on court himself. He probably thought that with best-of-three, putting himself as Singles Three would be enough. Unfortunately, his luck was even worse than his teammates—his opponent was Akutsu.

"Next is the Singles Three match. Both players, please enter the court!"

"Brat! Don't think you can act all high and mighty just because you lucked out and won two matches. I'll show you what real strength is," Kagawa Daisuke spat out some tough words at Akutsu before the match.

"Hah? Don't order me around! I'll crush you!" Akutsu looked fierce, making Kagawa Daisuke flinch.

He tried to save face, but before he could get another word in, the umpire stopped the talking and announced the start of the match.

"Game! Fudomine! 6-0!"

As the umpire called the score, Kagawa Daisuke was curled up on the ground, clutching his head, covered in scratches. At that moment, he felt nothing but pure fear for tennis. Those short ten minutes were the worst nightmare of his life.

Still, his injuries were just superficial—Akutsu actually held back. If he hadn't, Kagawa might've needed a stretcher to get off the court.

Although the score was already 3-0, the first round required all five matches to be played. Tezuka cleaned up his match with zero fuss, winning 6-0, and Akashi was even more extreme—he played in his jacket, held his cross-shaped racket, and treated the game like a joke, easily taking the win.

With that, Fudomine finished the first round—those five glaring 6-0 scores spoke for themselves.

News of Fudomine's first-round results spread fast. Tons of people were shocked—in their eyes, a team of only first-years should have been eliminated immediately, but now, this result was hard to accept.

"Did you hear? That all-first-year team, Fudomine, actually won the first round!"

"I heard too. Not only did they win, they got five 6-0 victories. That's insane."

"I checked their opponents—some school called Ritadanda Middle. Looks like a small fry school. They just got lucky. Next round, they're done for."

"Yeah, yeah, at the end of the day, they're just a bunch of first-years. What could they possibly do?"

No matter what people said, Fudomine didn't stop moving forward. In the afternoon's second round, their opponent was another background school. As expected, Fudomine won 3-0, each match a solid 6-0, total domination.

Soon, the next day's matches arrived—Fudomine's final two rounds. If they won the semifinals and finals, they'd take the district tournament title.

The semifinal opponent was Kakinoki Middle, who had a brief cameo in the original, a supposed seed school meant to highlight Fudomine's strength. In this world, they faced an even stronger Fudomine—what a twist of fate. And their so-called ace, Kukki, was still a first-year and not even in the regular lineup.

"Game! Fudomine! 6-0! Total score 3-0! The semifinal winner is Fudomine!"

They won even more decisively and mercilessly than in the original. Under Akashi's leadership, Fudomine marched into the finals, 6-0 every step of the way, shocking everyone who'd been waiting to laugh at them.

Not long after, all morning semifinals ended. Fudomine's opponent in the final was set—it was the well-known Seishun Academy.

Hearing that result, Akashi's lips curled up a little. Even though the current Seigaku only had Yamato Yūdai that he knew, it was still the main school from the original story—always a special feeling.

After the lunch break, everyone gathered at the finals site, waiting for Fudomine and Seigaku's match, all eager to see who would be the final champion.

As the umpire announced the start, Ryūzaki Sumire led Seigaku's regulars onto the court. Akashi and his team entered just as relaxed. During pre-match greetings, except for captain Yamato Yūdai, the rest of Seigaku's players looked obviously contemptuous.

In their minds, first-years should only be picking up balls, not making it to the finals. To them, it meant this year's tournament quality had dropped. But hey, that just made the championship easier for them.

While everyone was getting ready, Ryūzaki Sumire walked over to Fudomine's coaching bench, looking at Akashi's young face, and said with a bit of a patronizing tone, "You're Akashi-kun, right? I heard Fudomine's tennis club is newly formed, and it seems you don't even have a coach. That's not good for your growth. If you need, I can introduce someone, so you first-years don't have to compete like this. What you need is to build your foundation, not rush into matches!"