After the interviews concluded, the opening ceremony for the national tournament season began.
Following a series of tedious formalities, the district preliminaries officially kicked off.
Seigaku was exempt from the first round.
Yoru had Tezuka and the others scout around first to get a feel for just how underwhelming the district prelims were—so they wouldn't be too disappointed later.
Truth be told, the competition wouldn't get remotely challenging until the latter stages of the Metropolitan Tournament.
Yoru, QP, and Yamato wandered around the venue, watching the painfully mediocre matches in each division.
"Even Fudomine's fallen off this year," Yamato sighed.
After graduates like Sekine Kishi and Miyamoto Kan left, Fudomine had declined, their players weaker than ever.
Yoru grumbled, "We should change our pre-match pep talks into warnings. No more hyping everyone up just to face garbage opponents—the whiplash is too much, zura~."
He took a big bite out of the baguette in his hand.
QP twitched at the sight, utterly baffled as to how Yoru could stomach it. It wasn't like they were short on money.
Yamato shook his head. "Can't be helped. At least in the Metropolitan Tournament, we'll get to face strong schools like Hyotei and Yamabuki. The district prelims are just like this."
Last year's prelims had been rough to watch too, but this year was even worse.
"Oh, by the way," Yamato added, "the rules changed this year. Instead of playing all five matches in the first round, the entire district prelims will be best-of-five."
"Seriously?"
"You expect these scrubs to last five matches? Yamato, you handle the team. I'm going back to sleep."
After some banter, the first round of the prelims wrapped up in about two hours.
Following a 30-minute break, the second round began.
Seigaku was up against a no-name school—"Nojise Middle School"—that hadn't even been mentioned in the original story.
Yoru and QP sat out.
Yamato and Kaido Ryoma took Doubles 2, while Kikumaru and Oishi played Doubles 1.
Inui was Singles 3, Fuji Singles 2, and Tezuka closed as Singles 1.
Doubles 2 Match Begins
Before stepping onto the court, Kaido Ryoma gulped, his nerves eating at him.
He hadn't expected to play so soon and wasn't mentally prepared. What if he messed up and dragged the team down?
These thoughts swirled in his mind.
Yamato tried reassuring him, but it barely helped.
"Ryoma, the opponents are weak. Don't overthink it," Yamato said patiently.
"I—I know!"
Ryoma snapped to attention like a soldier at drill, his expression a mix of determination and terror.
"Let me handle this~."
A soft voice drifted over.
Then, a racket suddenly appeared in front of Ryoma. The moment his fingers wrapped around the grip—
BURNINGGGG!!!
"LET'S CRUSH THEM! BURNING!!!"
The热血 (hyperactive) switch had been flipped.
"Pfft—" Kikumaru burst out laughing. "Hahaha! Ryoma's personality flip is hilarious, nya~!"
Nojise Middle School's Bench
The team stared in confusion at the loud shouting coming from Seigaku's side.
"Is that guy mentally okay...?"
"They're that excited to play us? Ugh..."
"Quit moping! The match hasn't even started yet!"
"Captain, are you serious right now?"
Before the first serve, Nojise's morale had already crumbled.
The national tournament followed a knockout format.
Who in their right mind wanted to face the final boss right out the gate?
It was like learning boxing for the first time, only to be matched against Mike Tyson—
And then Tyson pulls out a microphone and announces his opponent is Ultraman Taro (the horned superhero in a spandex suit).
"District Preliminaries, Round 2—Seigaku vs. Nojise! Doubles 2 match begins! Players, take your positions!"
The referee's whistle blew.
With Ryoma's aggressive playstyle, Hannah (the coach) had positioned him at the net, while Yamato covered the baseline.
Worth noting:
Aside from Yoru himself, QP, and Yamato, the rune effects for Tezuka and the others had a one-month delay before fully activating.
This was a feature Yoru had casually developed in his free time.
If I'd known about delayed activation earlier, I wouldn't have bothered with all that eye-massage and hand-exercise nonsense last year...
BANG!
The match began.
With Yamato's current Level 9 overall stats (though his base was still Level 8), combined with his rune buffs, his serves were far beyond Nojise's ability to handle.
A blur shot past—
Before the opponents even registered the ball, the point was over.
After scoring, Yamato frowned at the silent referee. "Um, ref? That was an ace. Aren't you gonna call it?"
"Huh? Oh—!"
The ref blinked, then hastily announced, "15–0, Seigaku!"
"Whoaa~!" Kikumaru's eyes sparkled. "So fast! I saw, like, five balls flying over at once!"
His sharp dynamic vision made high-speed objects appear as afterimages.
Oishi tilted his head. "Yamato-senpai's serves feel even faster than during the selection matches..."
Ahem.
"Obviously, he was holding back back then," Yoru said smoothly.
No way I'm telling them I disabled Yamato's rune effects that day.
(Yamato had questioned it at the time, but Yoru brushed it off with "You just weren't warmed up enough.")
The score climbed rapidly.
With Yamato anchoring, Ryoma unleashed his full power, battering Nojise's duo into submission.
The match ended in 15 minutes—
And that was only because Yamato wanted Ryoma to get more real-match experience. Otherwise, it would've been over in 10.
The rest of the matches followed the same pattern.
Though Kikumaru and the others' rune effects weren't fully active yet, the partial boost was enough to dominate.
- Doubles 1: 9 minutes 52 seconds
- Singles 3: 9 minutes 13 seconds
- Singles 2: 8 minutes 57 seconds
- Singles 1: 8 minutes 13 seconds
Final score: 5–0, a clean sweep.
The opponents were that bad.
Just as Kikumaru and the others started hoping for slightly stronger competition...
Before they knew it, Seigaku had already won the district championship—without breaking a sweat.
Two days of matches, and the intensity hadn't even matched their usual training.
Holding the trophy, no one could muster much excitement. The bus ride back was eerily quiet.
"Everyone..." Yamato started, but Yoru cut him off with a wave.
"Let them process it. They'll get used to this 'punching cotton' feeling eventually."
Right now, his focus was on the new rune that had dropped after winning the district title:
[Strength Growth Rune]:
- +100% effectiveness to strength training.
- Skill growth speed boost:
- Regular members: +50%
- Regulars: +100%
- Protagonists: +200%
A brand-new rune type—perfect for daily training, especially for power hitters like Kaido Ryoma.
Too bad his rune slots were full.
Yoru unequipped the Counter Rune and slotted in the Strength Growth Rune instead. He could always swap it back before matches.
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