41. Regional Qualifiers, Phoenix Blossom Middle School

"Next! Jin Akutsu!"

At Yanagi Renji's call, Jin Akutsu, who had just been frightened by Mei Matsubara's fierce expression, couldn't help but shudder. Immediately, his face grew solemn.

He absolutely refused to drink that concoction!

As someone with extraordinary natural talent in the Prince of Tennis universe, Jin Akutsu's dynamic vision was no less impressive than Ryo Shishido's. The moment Renji served the balls, he had already distinguished their colors.

"Blue! Red! Yellow!"

Akutsu crouched low, his limbs hanging loose for a split second before his body shot upward. His right arm bent slightly, and with a sudden swing, the blue and red tennis balls collided simultaneously with the edges of his racket frame.

Faced with the yellow ball flying behind him, Akutsu's gaze sharpened. He lowered himself, then pushed off on one foot, retreating with a motion as powerful as a great eagle spreading its wings.

"Ha!"

With arms raised high above his head and legs crossed tightly together, he unleashed a forceful, explosive strike.

*Smack! Smack!*

*Bang!*

The blue and red balls hit their respective cones at the same time, while the yellow ball struck its cone last. But because Akutsu's shot was so powerful, he nearly knocked the cone over.

"No wonder he's gifted with such athleticism and physical prowess. Surprisingly capable," Yanagi Renji thought, observing Akutsu's peculiar style.

However, when Renji served the second set of three balls, Akutsu, unaccustomed to the weights on his wrists and ankles, hesitated for just a second, and all three shots missed!

"Ah!"

Seeing that he hadn’t even made it through the second round, Akutsu snatched the green vegetable juice from Sadaharu Inui’s hand without a care and downed it in one gulp.

Not wanting to end up in the same sorry state as Mei Matsubara and Ryo Shishido, he tossed the cup aside with an air of indifference and walked off the court without a word.

"Oh?" Sadaharu Inui watched Akutsu's retreating back in mild surprise. Could someone really withstand the full force of his special vegetable juice?

But before Inui could finish his thought, Akutsu was already reacting violently.

As he walked, Akutsu felt his stomach churn violently, a wave of nausea and dizziness crashing over him. Clenching his fists, he quickened his pace and dashed out of the court without a single word.

*Thud!*

"Vice-Captain Fuji, you just..."

Yanagi Renji looked at Fuji, who had only returned a single red ball, and couldn't help but be at a loss for words.

"Don't tell me that was on purpose?"

"Pretty sure it was," Mei Matsubara said, slowly sitting up after returning from vomiting, twitching at the corners of her mouth as she caught Fuji's expectant smile.

"Yes, I really wanted to taste Inui's latest vegetable juice. The green color just looks so refreshing," Fuji replied.

Inui, holding his glass, stared at Fuji in disbelief. Was he hearing this right?

*Gulp, gulp, gulp!*

Even after finishing the entire glass of juice, Fuji maintained his gentle smile. With great satisfaction, he sighed, "Wow, this tastes much better than I expected. I highly recommend it."

Inui was speechless. Fuji didn't seem to be faking it. For a moment, black lines crawled down his forehead as he began to doubt his own creation. Was this stuff really that good? When he had tried it himself, it had taken eight liters of water before he recovered.

"You must be joking, Vice-Captain Fuji. Is that stuff even fit for human consumption?" Ryo Shishido, still sprawled on the ground with his hair in disarray, propped himself up, letting his hair fall over his eyes as he rested his face in his hands, looking thoroughly unimpressed.

"Everyone did well," Inui said encouragingly, clapping his hands before turning to Shishido. "First, Shishido, you need to work on your ball control. With your energy, you should focus more on strengthening your arm muscles every day. That will greatly improve your accuracy."

"As for Akutsu, your talent is exceptional, but all your movements are purely instinct and reflex. If you train your biceps, triceps, and abs, you'll be able to handle the second set of balls much more easily."

"Mei Matsubara, you don't have any obvious problems, but your stamina is lacking. Even though you managed to return five sets, that's still not enough. I'll double the running regimen that Renji and I set for you before."

"As for Fuji, please be a bit more serious next time."

When he looked at Fuji, who smiled back at him, Inui could only offer a short, helpless remark.

"Of course," Fuji replied with a smile.

"As for Tezuka, there’s nothing to criticize. You not only completed six sets but even handled an extra round. No mistakes at all, but you could improve your flexibility—especially in your facial muscles. I've actually developed a regimen specifically for facial stiffness..."

Inui suddenly broke off, sensing a sharp gaze on him from behind. Adjusting his glasses and clearing his throat, he continued, "By the way, Matsubara, even though your results are second only to Tezuka's, milk is absolutely essential."

*Clink!*

The crisp clatter of glass caught everyone's attention as Inui produced two bottles labeled "milk" and handed them to Matsubara.

"Can't you change it to soy milk or yogurt?" Matsubara protested with a grimace.

"No. The primary nutrient in milk is calcium, while soy milk is mainly protein. For someone like you, still in a developmental stage and a bit underdeveloped, milk's nutritional value is much greater. Even if yogurt has twice the nutritional value of milk, the cost is too high, so milk is a must."

Yanagi Renji came over and said in a deep voice, "You have to drink it."

With a groan, Matsubara flopped back on the ground. "Even if I drink three bottles of milk a day, I won't grow taller overnight. Besides, tennis isn't basketball—what's the point of being so tall? Good things come in small packages!"

Matsubara was clearly resistant; milk was the thing he hated most. The sour, fermented taste that rose from his throat to his nose was simply unbearable.

"You have to drink it!"

At that moment, everyone surrounded Matsubara, all urging him in unison.

"All right, all right..."

Faced with a circle of boys on every side, Matsubara gave a wry smile and raised his hands in surrender.

"If it's Inui and Renji's recommendation, it can't be wrong. Drink every drop," Tezuka said, folding his arms and nodding gently at the boy.

"Oh, and I forgot to tell you," Inui added, "After discussing it with Renji, you can temporarily remove the weights from your waists, but you'll need to add one kilogram to each wrist and ankle."

At this, the faces of the group, Matsubara included, darkened instantly. Inui seemed oblivious to the looming danger. Before he realized it, a barrage of tennis balls, glowing yellow-green, came flying at him from all directions!

"Are you kidding me?!"

"Do you think we learned math from the P.E. teacher?"

"That's just bullying!"

Inui hurriedly shielded his face with his hands, but dozens of tennis balls still managed to find their marks, pelting his head. Where did they even get so many tennis balls?

Three days later.

The regional preliminaries, also known as the district qualifiers, were held at Shiki Forest Sports Park.

If a team wanted to advance to the national tournament, they first had to make it through the regional preliminaries. Only the winners of the prelims could move on to the city tournament, then the Kanto tournament, and finally, nationals.

It wasn’t just Seigaku; every school renowned for tennis was fighting hard with the national tournament as their goal.

However, since Seigaku wasn't a seeded school, their first match would be against a team of similar strength: Hozaki Middle School.