Prince of Tennis: A new Hextech Crafting System is refreshed every week.

In November, the summer heat has passed, and the streets are adorned with a tapestry of golden and fiery red autumn colors.

Today, the sun is shining brightly, and the first-year students of Yamabuki Junior High School will face their first major exam in their junior high school career.

The Autumn Rookie Tournament has begun!

Unlike the Metropolitan Tournament, the Kanto Tournament, and the National Tournament, the Autumn Newcomer Tournament places more emphasis on "newcomers" and limits participants to first-year students.

This year's competition format has been further changed, with contestants now competing individually instead of in team battles organized by school.

In other words.

This tournament will not allow players to be carried by their teammates, nor will they need to worry about whether their teammates will drag them down. Players will rely entirely on their own abilities to compete for the title of the strongest freshman in Kanto.

Upon hearing this news, everyone in the tennis club tensed up.

After all, they had teammates to rely on before, especially someone as strong as Kitahara Akira. Although it wasn't explicitly stated, many people harbored the idea of ​​clinging to his coattails.

But now that the competition format has changed, I can only fight alone. If I am eliminated early, I will lose face big time.

As for Kitahara Akira, he was quite satisfied with the new competition format.

"Don't be nervous. As long as you do your best, you won't have any regrets no matter what the final result is."

Seeing that the group seemed a little nervous, the old man comforted them in the most friendly tone, and then nodded to the bus driver.

"Set off."

Three buses drove out of Yamabuki.

......

The Tokyo Metropolitan Park in Ariake 2-chome, Koto-ku, Tokyo, is the venue for the Tokyo leg of this Autumn Rookie Tournament.

By this time, quite a few teams had already arrived at this location.

As soon as Yamabuki's bus entered the parking lot, everyone turned to look at it. After all, it was one of Tokyo's top teams and had made it into this year's national tournament.

In the eyes of most schools, Yamabuki is an absolutely unattainable figure.

However, a very small minority are holding different ideas at this moment.

Yamabuki is known for its doubles, but this tournament format is designed to determine the strongest new singles player, and it's an individual competition.

So in their eyes, Yamabuki suddenly became the easiest target to manipulate.

"In a one-on-one fight, I'm not afraid of even Yamabuki."

......

"This is one of the few chances we can defeat Yamabuki!"

......

"If we can beat Yamabuki, our school will become famous!"

Such voices could be heard from the corners of the crowd. They did not discuss it, but this rookie tournament would set off a wave of hunting Yamabuki.

After getting off the bus.

Kentaro Minami went to draw lots as a representative. According to the tournament rules, only the top 16 in the Tokyo division can advance to the next round in the Kanto division.

The seven of them were assigned to different groups.

Kitahara Akira looked at his group A draw again and sighed that he had a deep connection with group A. But it was good, because competitive sports are all about striving to be the best.

Around nine o'clock.

Kitahara Akira faced his first opponent, a member of Hyotei. Not knowing the strength of the other schools and considering Hyotei's reputation, he deliberately took a little longer to finish the match.

The opponent was much weaker than expected, and the final result was as anticipated.

6-0!

Although each game seemed to be a close and intense contest, Kitahara Akira did not allow his opponent to score a single point. Even after the match ended, the Hyotei players exclaimed that it was a pity, as they were just a little short.

In the audience, Atobe Keigo, with his purplish-gray hair, held his left hand in front of his eyes, his gaze falling on Kitahara Akira, who hadn't broken a sweat, and said with interest, "This first-year student from Yamabuki is quite interesting."

Then he turned to look at his companion, his gaze turning cold.

"As Hyotei's second team, they suffered a crushing 0-6 defeat in the first round. From now on, Ogawa's second team status is revoked."

Hearing Atobe's ruthless and cold words, no one's expression changed. This was Hyotei's style; they adhered to the principle of strength above all else, and even regular players would be immediately eliminated if they lost a match.

Watching Atobe decide the fate of others with a single word, Hiyoshi Wakayoshi's heart surged with excitement, and he made no attempt to hide his ambition for that position.

He clenched his fists, his eyes burning with longing.

One day, he will take the position of captain of Hyotei from Atobe.

"Insubordination!"

The first step will begin with this autumn rookie competition.

......

The second match begins.

Kitahara Akira remained calm and composed, not using much of his strength, while testing the limits of his opponent's power and trying to defeat him using the most basic fighting techniques.

In his view, the pressure from his opponents was far too low.

Instead of easily defeating the opponent, we should take this opportunity to see the different schools' playing styles and hone our own fundamentals.

The two battled fiercely for half an hour, and Kitahara Akira advanced again with a score of 6-0.

"As expected of the first day of the competition, there aren't many strong opponents. I'll probably beat Morimura in the next two matches."

Kitahara Akira once again defeated his opponent 6-0 in a similar manner.

The end of the third match also meant the end of his first day's matches.

Since the other members of the Yamabuki group were in later groups and their matches were expected to be in the afternoon, Kitahara Akira and his friend applied to go out under the guise of observing the other schools' opponents.

......

On the other side of the park.

"Haha, that's not enough of a surge!"

With a loud laugh, Momoshiro leaped into the air amidst the horrified gaze of Kurokawa, the second-ranked player, and slammed his racket down without hesitation.

Bang!

The powerful smash pierced through the opponent's defense, and the tennis ball landed heavily in the T-zone corner of the midcourt, bouncing high into the air with a loud thud.

"Thump!" After landing, Momoshiro Takeshi extended his index finger and confidently pointed it at Kurokawa, the second contestant.

"Match ended! Seishun Gakuen's Takeshi Momoshiro wins, 6-0!"

In the stands outside the stadium.

Kitahara Akira watched the entire match and had to admit that Momoshiro Takeshi's tennis style was very similar to Sengoku's. Both had extremely strong jumping ability and were good at smashing the ball into the bowl.

However, Momoshiro Takeshi's bullet serve is far less powerful than Sengoku's Tiger Roar, and it also lacks strong dynamic vision.

However, according to the anime's plot, Momoshiro Takeshi's mental fortitude is much stronger than Sengoku's, which is probably the real reason why he was able to defeat Sengoku.

Unfortunately, the opponent in this match was too weak, and I didn't get to see Momoshiro Takeshi's full strength.

Soon.

Momoshiro Takeshi's three matches have all ended.

Kitahara Akira was somewhat disappointed that his opponents were all weak and that Kitahara Akira was easily defeated by a single dunk smash.

So he didn't stay long and went to other places to wander around, looking for those familiar faces from his memory.

After going around in circles, I didn't run into a single one. I don't know if the competition hadn't started yet or if it had already ended.

Although I didn't get to watch the match, I did run into a group of people in the stands.

Their faces were covered in duct tape, bruises and welts, and their hands were bandaged, as if they had just been in a fight.

Kitahara Akira recognized them immediately upon seeing their black uniforms.

Fudomine!