Chapter 248: The Ranking Matches Begin, the Trio Makes Their Debut 

"What's wrong, Matsudaira?" 

The young man with a bandage on his nose asked, puzzled. 

"Huh?" 

Matsudaira instinctively turned around and quickly shook his head. "I'm fine." 

As if afraid others would notice his unease, he added, "I just figured something out from before, that's all..." 

Wait! 

Suddenly, Matsudaira froze. 

Could the three newcomers the coaches wanted them to face include that guy from earlier? 

"Or maybe I was mistaken?" 

Thinking this, he turned to look again, but the figure was gone. 

"Hey, what's going on with you?" 

The buzz-cut guy wearing sunglasses frowned. "You're acting all jumpy. Are you scheming something again?" 

"No, no, I'm not..." 

Matsudaira shook his head repeatedly. 

He tried to suppress the rising fear in his heart, but the thought of possibly facing that person in the match made it impossible to calm down. 

"Ugh... damn it, my stomach hurts." 

Suddenly, he bent over, clutching his stomach, and hurriedly ran off the court. "I need to get checked out." 

Before anyone could react, he was gone. 

"What's his deal?" 

Suzuki, the bandaged-nose guy and a member of Court 3, frowned. 

"Who knows?" 

Mukai, the blue-haired guy from Kyushu's Rikkai Middle School, shrugged. "Maybe his stomachache will give us a chance to play." 

"Really?" 

Suzuki frowned. "With how cunning he is, there's no way he'd give up an opportunity like this." 

"I think it's possible," said a curly-haired, orange-haired guy with a small ponytail. "I have a feeling Matsudaira isn't really sick. He probably saw something..." 

"Whatever he saw," the black-haired guy, Tsunomori from Court 3, sneered. "Even if he doesn't want to give up his spot in the ranking match, I'll make him give it up!" 

Boom! 

With that, he slammed a powerful serve. 

The ball hit the wall, spinning fiercely and emitting a trail of smoke. 

"Hmm?" 

The others looked at Tsunomori with wary eyes. 

"His power... has improved again?" 

Soon after, a staff member in a black jacket announced that Matsudaira had withdrawn due to gastritis, and the coaches were reopening the sign-ups. 

Tsunomori immediately signed up. 

Confident in his strength, which he believed was no weaker than the No. 20 player in the first string, Akiba Koyo, he was determined to earn a spot in the upcoming overseas expedition. 

"Gastritis?" 

The orange-haired guy's eyes flickered with surprise. "So, Matsudaira was hiding something after all." 

That evening, after finishing his run, yoga, and tennis drills, Riku returned to his dorm. 

"Just as I thought, none of them are here." 

During his run, he had checked every court, but none of the players from the first string, as depicted in the original story, were present. 

Riku guessed they were likely overseas for an expedition and wouldn't be back anytime soon. 

"What a shame. I was hoping to gain some experience points from the first string players." 

Unlike his time at Hyotei, the players in U17's first string were at least at the national level, if not higher. 

For Riku, coming here was like switching to a new game map. 

The experience points from matches here would far exceed what he could gain before, accelerating his leveling speed and accumulating points for his secondary skills. 

Having experienced the additional benefits of maxing out swordsmanship, chess, and ancient martial arts, Riku was even more excited about the potential of yoga. 

"Still, the players from Court 3 and above are all top-tier national-level players. Playing ten matches a day with them should make leveling up fairly easy." 

With this in mind, Riku changed his clothes, took a good soak in the public bath, and had dinner. 

After returning to his room, he spent some time planning his training schedule. 

Later, Mori and Genji returned, looking exhausted. 

Clearly, they had also been training. 

After a brief chat, Riku went to bed. 

The next morning, after his morning workout, Riku headed to U17's central court with Mori and Genji. 

"Riku," Genji said, wiping sweat from his brow. "Your stamina is insane. I can't believe you're not even sweating after running for so long." 

"Probably just my constitution," Riku replied. "Everyone's different. My sweat glands might be below average, so I don't sweat much." 

"Is that so?" 

Genji gave him a thoughtful look. 

Mori, meanwhile, shook his head inwardly. Riku was as elusive with the truth as ever. 

But he didn't call him out. Instead, he looked forward to seeing Genji's reaction when he witnessed Riku's true strength. 

"All players from Courts 16 to 1, report to the central court immediately. The weekly ranking matches are about to begin!" 

A deep voice echoed across the courts. 

"Ranking matches?" 

Mori and Genji frowned. 

"What's that? Daily practice matches?" 

"And... we're not assigned to any court yet, right?" 

"Huh? These guys..." 

They noticed the players who had been chatting and joking around suddenly turn serious and rush to the center of the court. 

"I looked into it and got some information," Riku explained. "The ranking matches are one of the internal rules of this training camp. The coaches assess each player's performance and arrange matches between players of similar skill levels to determine their rankings." 

"In other words," Riku glanced at the players in red and white jackets, "the winners move up, and the losers move down." 

"Strength is everything, huh?" 

Mori and Genji exchanged glances, their expressions serious. 

As they had guessed, the intensity of training and the strictness of matches here were on a completely different level compared to middle and high school tennis clubs. 

"Still," Mori mused, "since it's a match between courts, we probably won't be involved, right?" 

"The first round begins now." 

"Court 16's Mori Suzuhiko vs. Court 3's Mukai Ichacha." 

"Court 13's Gougoro vs. Court 12's Murata Kenjiro." 

"Court 16's Genji vs. Court 3's Suzuki Jun." 

"Court 16?" 

Mori and Genji were stunned, then exchanged surprised looks. "And our opponents are from Court 3?" 

According to U17's rules, the lower the court number, the stronger the players. 

This meant they were facing some of the camp's top players right off the bat. 

However, after the initial shock, their faces lit up with determination. They were confident in their abilities and eager to see how strong the players from Court 3 really were. 

As for Riku, his name wasn't called. 

But he walked to a corner of the platform and quietly observed their matches. 

"Court 16 vs. Court 3?" 

The high schoolers on the court were equally stunned. 

"Are those two from the trio of newcomers yesterday?" 

Someone immediately recalled the three who had appeared the day before and shook his head. "Those guys are really unlucky!" 

"Totally unlucky," another agreed. "Suzuki and Mukai are a doubles pair, but their singles skills are no joke." 

In terms of doubles, these two were easily in the top five in the camp. 

But U17's ranking system focused on singles. The fact that Mukai and Suzuki were in Court 3 spoke volumes about their individual strength. 

"This is interesting." 

Three figures appeared on the platform. One of them, a round-faced guy with curly brown hair and glasses, looked intrigued. "I didn't expect the coaches to take the newcomers so seriously." 

"Yeah," the other two nodded. 

While others might not understand, they knew the U17 coaches didn't make decisions lightly. 

If they were pitting Court 3 players against newcomers, it could only mean one thing: these newcomers were exceptional. 

"Let's go take a look." 

The curly-haired guy led the way to a corner of the platform, the best spot to watch the matches. 

As they approached, Riku turned and saw the three walking toward him. 

On the left was the curly-haired, bespectacled guy. On the right was a fierce-looking, red-haired giant. 

In the middle was a cold-faced guy with an imposing aura. 

Most people would have immediately stepped aside, but Riku simply smiled and nodded. 

"Oh?" 

The bespectacled guy looked surprised. 

"A newcomer?" 

Only a newcomer would react like that. 

He smiled and said, "Hello, mind if we join you?" 

"Feel free." 

Riku nodded calmly. 

This piqued the curiosity of the other two. 

They realized they had never seen this face before. Despite his unremarkable appearance, there was something about him that felt extraordinary. 

"You're a newcomer, right?" 

The curly-haired guy introduced himself. "I'm Inui Jyota from Court 3. This big guy is Oni Juujiro from Court 5, and this is Tokugawa Kazuya from Court 1." 

"Riku Shirasawa," Riku nodded. "As for my court number, it's probably 16." 

As he spoke, he glanced at the three, his gaze lingering on Oni Juujiro from Court 5. 

"Oh?" 

Inui noticed Riku's subtle reaction. 

He clearly saw that Riku was more interested in Oni, the player from the lowest-numbered court among the three. 

Inui didn't think Riku was unaware of U17's rules. 

Nor did he believe Riku could sense that Oni was the strongest of the three. 

Inui assumed Riku was simply intimidated by Oni's imposing physique. After all, Oni's strength was legendary—he could lift a one-ton boulder with ease! 

Boom! 

On the court, the serve sounded. 

Mori and Genji's matches had begun. 

"Riku," Inui smiled. "Who do you think will win?" 

"Who will win?" 

Riku thought for a moment and smiled. "Although the two seniors from Court 3 are strong, I think Mori and Genji will come out on top." 

"Confidence is good," Inui nodded. "But our Court 3 players are no pushovers." 

He carefully observed Riku's expression but saw nothing beyond calm composure. 

On the court, Suzuki and Mukai quickly demonstrated their strength. Their fundamentals, honed at U17, were impeccable. 

They scored points rapidly, while Mori and Genji seemed overwhelmed, failing to mount a defense. 

Boom! Boom! Boom! 

As time passed, the Court 3 players extended their lead to 3-0. 

Mori and Genji appeared to be at a severe disadvantage. 

Inui glanced at Riku again, but to his surprise, Riku remained as calm as ever. 

"This kid's definitely not ordinary," Inui thought, shifting his focus to Mori and Genji. "I bet they're holding back a significant portion of their strength." 

Sure enough, in the fourth game, Mori and Genji launched a counterattack. 

Having adapted to their opponents' playstyles, they quickly turned the tables. 

Mori's technique and Genji's power overwhelmed Suzuki and Mukai, leaving the spectators stunned. 

Boom! Boom! 

Almost simultaneously, their shots landed, and the referee announced, "Game over. Mori Suzuhiko (Genji) wins, 6-3!" 

Following this, the announcement came: 

"Court 3's Suzuki Jun and Mukai Ichacha have been defeated and will be demoted to Court 16." 

"Court 16's Mori Suzuhiko and Genji have won and will be promoted to Court 3." 

The high schoolers looked on with envy, but their earlier mockery had vanished. 

They respected the newcomers' hard-earned victory. 

"Not bad," Saito said in the coaches' room. "Their performances met expectations." 

"Yeah," Kurobe nodded. 

Mori and Genji's skills were indeed impressive, but their victory was also aided by Suzuki and Mukai's focus on doubles. Against other players, the outcome might have been different. 

"Next match..." 

Kurobe's gaze shifted to the corner of the screen, where the black-haired boy stood. 

"Let's see how you perform in a real match." 

There was a big difference between hearing about someone, watching recordings, and seeing them play live. 

Kurobe was eager to see if this middle schooler could deliver the results he hoped for.