Prince of Tennis: The Emperor's Eye

At Kumamoto Airport on Kyūshū Island, a private jet from Tokyo slowly touched down. Akashi and Krauser had now arrived in Kyūshū. After leaving the airport, a chauffeur arranged by the family was already waiting at the gate. Once Akashi and Krauser got in the car, they were driven to a villa in Kumamoto City.

Inside the car, Krauser looked at Akashi with curiosity. Although Akashi had explained the purpose of this trip during the flight, there were still parts he didn't quite understand. He finally couldn't hold back and asked:

"Akashi, how did you know there are two tennis geniuses in Kyūshū?"

"That's a secret. Just trust me. The two of them won't disappoint you. And not only are they good at singles, they also have some special strengths in doubles," Akashi said calmly.

"Is that so? Then I definitely want to see for myself," Krauser replied with interest.

Before long, the car arrived at the villa. After getting out, Akashi and Krauser entered the building and made their way to the main hall. Akashi asked the servants to send their luggage to their rooms, then sat with Krauser on the sofa. He spoke in a relaxed tone:

"Let's just rest for today. I've already asked someone to look into the whereabouts of those two. I should get results by tonight."

"Flying all the way here was kind of tiring. But before I rest, you still haven't told me the names of these two guys," Krauser said, stretching lazily.

"Oh? Well, might as well. We'll see them tomorrow anyway. One is called Tachibana Kippei, the other is Chitose Senri. By the way, that Tachibana guy has blond hair just like you," Akashi said with a teasing tone.

Krauser's eyebrow twitched slightly, but he didn't take it to heart. Still, he asked with curiosity:

"So this Tachibana Kippei… is he also a foreign-born immigrant like me?"

Akashi chuckled and shook his head. "Nope. He's a native of Japan. He just dyed his hair blond because of his bold and expressive personality."

Krauser nodded and didn't ask any more. He stood up and said, "Alright then, I'll check out your so-called tennis geniuses tomorrow. I'm gonna get some rest."

With that, he walked upstairs toward the guest rooms. Akashi remained on the sofa, thinking about tomorrow's approach. His reason for coming to Kyūshū was clear—to recruit the Twin Stars of Kyūshū from the original story into his own tennis club.

Just thinking about what happened to them in the original timeline left Akashi with a sigh. Due to an accident, both of their abilities took a massive hit. One suffered a serious eye injury and lost vision in his right eye. The other sealed away his own strength out of guilt, wasting over a year.

If they hadn't had solid foundations, they might've dropped out of the national level entirely. Even when they appeared at the national tournament, their abilities were only average by national standards. They couldn't compete with the top-tier players at all.

Now that Akashi had arrived in this world, he naturally wanted to change their fates. And more than that, he wanted to see how far the Twin Stars could go at full strength, enhanced with the development of his Emperor Eye.

"Tachibana Kippei, Chitose Senri… I hope you won't let me down," Akashi murmured.

The next morning, Akashi and Krauser finished breakfast, packed their tennis bags, and got in the car. Their destination was a public tennis court near Kumamoto First Elementary School. Honestly, in the world of Prince of Tennis, courts really were everywhere.

According to the family's intel, Tachibana and Chitose had been going to this court near the school every day recently for sparring and to hone their skills.

Soon, the car reached the spot. Akashi and Krauser got out and immediately saw two figures fiercely exchanging rallies on the court. One had long blond hair dancing in the wind, and the other had fluffy black hair.

These two were exactly the targets of Akashi's visit—future Twin Stars of Kyūshū: Tachibana Kippei and Chitose Senri!

Their practice was winding down. As they slowed the pace of their rallies, Tachibana was the first to notice Akashi and Krauser walking toward the court. Though it was a public court, it was still morning, and there weren't many people around. Several courts were unoccupied, so he couldn't help but wonder why those two were walking toward them.

Thinking this, Tachibana stopped mid-swing, letting the ball fly past his feet, and turned to face the approaching pair. Chitose also noticed something was off. He turned around and froze for a moment. After all, seeing someone with Krauser's European face was rare around here.

Once Akashi and Krauser stepped onto the court, the more hot-headed Tachibana Kippei immediately spoke up:

"What do you want? If you're here to play tennis, the next court's free. Don't bother our training, thanks!"

Chitose, seeing that his friend Tachibana had already spoken, stayed quiet and simply stood off to the side, watching. Akashi gave a calm smile and replied:

"Nice to meet you. I'm Akashi Seijurō, and this is Liliadent Krauser. We're from Tokyo. We just saw your training and found it interesting. Would you mind playing a friendly match with us?"

After hearing Akashi's words, Tachibana and Chitose glanced at each other. They hadn't expected these two boys, who looked to be about their age, to actually come here to challenge them.

That's right—in their eyes, this was a challenge. Because of regional mindset, even if Akashi called it a friendly match, they didn't believe it was just that.

"You want to challenge us? You've got guts. But this works out. Playing against Chitose all the time gets boring," Tachibana said, agreeing without hesitation. After all, when it came to tennis, he had never feared anyone.

"Since Tachibana's fine with it, I've got no objections either. Oh, right—forgot to introduce us. I'm Chitose Senri, and he's Tachibana Kippei. Will you be playing singles or doubles?" Chitose's tone was much calmer than Tachibana's.

"Let's stick to singles. That way we can really enjoy ourselves, right?" Akashi replied lightly.

"Singles, huh? Works for me. I'll go first. Which one of you's gonna take me on?" Tachibana asked, eyes gleaming with anticipation as he looked at Akashi and Krauser.

"Oh? You want to start now? Don't need to rest up first?" Akashi was a bit surprised that Tachibana wanted to jump in right away.

"No need. We only just got here with Chitose. That was just our warm-up. You guys sure you don't need to stretch?" Tachibana said casually.

"That so? Alright then. Liliadent, both of you are blond, so this one's yours. Go do your warm-ups," Akashi said with a teasing grin.

Though Krauser's expression didn't change, his eye twitched hard. 'Blond gang'? What the hell is that? He and that guy were not the same. His blond hair was natural, thank you very much.

Still, he didn't object to Akashi's decision. In his eyes, no matter how strong these two looked, they wouldn't be a match for him or Akashi. Especially with the way Akashi had trained him the last few years—his tennis skills had grown rapidly. That kind of meticulous, extreme-level training… Krauser really had no idea how Akashi managed to plan it all.

Thinking of that, Krauser set down his tennis bag, took off his jacket, and moved to the side of the court to start stretching. Tachibana stood with his racket, quietly waiting in the middle of the court.

"Chitose Senri-san, right? How about being the umpire for this match?" Akashi turned to the sidelines with a smile.

"Me, as the umpire? I don't mind. But are you sure? I mean, I'm on Tachibana's side," Chitose asked, surprised.

"Of course I'm sure. With your skill level, I doubt you'd need to cheat a match call. Right?" Akashi replied calmly.

"Heh~ quite the confidence. If Akashi-kun says so, then I guess I've got no reason to say no." With that, Chitose headed to the umpire's chair.

Before long, Krauser finished warming up and stepped onto the court with his racket. Tachibana, full of energy, generously offered him the first serve.

"One-game match. First serve by Liliadent Krauser!" Chitose announced in a clear, umpire-like voice.

Krauser looked at Tachibana, who was already in position to receive. He had no intention of holding back. He pulled a tennis ball from his pocket and tossed it high. With a sharp smack, the ball rocketed over the net and exploded at Tachibana's feet before flying out of bounds.

"15–0"

Tachibana stared at his feet in shock. He hadn't expected that foreign kid's serve to be that fast. In the blink of an eye, he had lost the point. Realizing that, he quickly dropped any trace of arrogance and focused all his attention.