Prince of Tennis: The Emperor's Eye

After the entrance ceremony ended, all the new students followed the teachers' directions and went to their assigned classes. Worth mentioning, Akashi and everyone he'd recruited were all placed in Class One of the first year—obviously Akashi's doing. He wanted the future core of the tennis club to build their friendships and teamwork faster.

During the self-introductions, Krauser's foreign looks sparked a lot of discussion, but he didn't care at all—he was long used to it. Once everyone finished their introductions, the homeroom teacher announced the entrance exam scores. The students of Class One were shocked to find out that there were five perfect scores in their class: Akashi, Tezuka, Krauser, Kite, and Akutsu.

For the first four, the classmates were surprised but mostly envious. But Akutsu was a different story—when he introduced himself, his menacing aura and dangerous words made him come off as a total delinquent. Nobody could believe a guy like that also scored full marks, and many had trouble accepting it.

There was also a little side story here. Akashi always had a strong impression of Akutsu's original appearance in the story, and he really couldn't stand Akutsu's current mushroom haircut—it just looked too out of place. So before school started, Akashi had Akutsu change his hairstyle. Akutsu didn't care about how he looked, but while complaining, "Don't order me!" he still went along with Akashi's suggestion and went to the barber for the signature spiked look from the original story.

Sure enough, once he changed his hair, that fierce, bad-boy vibe came out right away. That was also why everyone in class immediately pegged Akutsu as a delinquent, but Akutsu himself didn't care at all, and Akashi thought this version of Akutsu was much more pleasing to the eye.

Speaking of hair, Akashi suddenly realized that, apart from Chitose and Kite, none of the tennis club members had black hair. Thinking ahead to the next year, with Kamio Akira and Ibu Shinji possibly joining, was the Fudomine tennis team about to become a rainbow squad in the Prince of Tennis world?

Time flew by, and the first day of classes ended quickly. Led by Akashi, everyone slung their tennis bags and headed for the new tennis club facility. When they arrived, they found the principal and two girls waiting at the gate.

The principal of Fudomine spotted Akashi's group right away and hurried over, greeting Akashi with a fawning smile. "Director, you're here! Are you satisfied with the newly built courts and tennis club facilities?"

"They're great. By the way, Principal, you can just call me by my name from now on. You know I'm only a nominal board director, not interested in school management and not planning to interfere. All I need is the school's full support for the tennis club, no conditions," Akashi replied politely with a slight smile.

"Of course, Akashi-kun! Let me introduce the two behind me—they're members of the student council. They'll handle new student registration and recruiting for now, and can also act as tennis club managers. Of course, if you ever have someone else in mind for manager, just tell them to return to the student council," the principal said, stepping aside to let the two girls come forward.

The two girls stepped up confidently, held out their hands, and shook hands with Akashi, introducing themselves briefly.

Akashi nodded, satisfied. He was actually surprised—the principal had arranged everything so thoroughly, even finding managers for the tennis club. But Akashi kept his face neutral and just gave a faint smile, saying, "With the school's support and new facilities, plus my speech at the entrance ceremony, I think there'll be a lot of curious students coming by soon to watch and sign up. Sorry to trouble you two senpai."

"No problem, just leave it to us!" one of the girls answered, full of confidence.

Seeing that his arrangements weren't wasted, the principal was pleased. He exchanged a few more words with Akashi's group and then left to handle other work—he couldn't stay all day.

The two student council girls got busy right away, helping Akashi's group register, then calling other students over to set up a registration table and print the forms.

Once they finished registering, Akashi and his group headed to the new tennis club meeting room. By now, more students were gathering around the tennis club, some new, some old. The freshmen were full of curiosity, while the upperclassmen looked shocked and uneasy—they all knew exactly what the old Fudomine tennis club and its members used to be like.

Some freshmen interested in tennis were already arriving at the registration desk, ready to sign up. In the meeting room, everyone watched this scene on the big screen, all looking curious.

Speaking of this, Akashi had put a lot into building the tennis club. He'd supplied tons of training equipment, the new courts were made with top materials, and there were lots of modern features, like surveillance cameras covering every corner of the tennis club and courts. This idea was inspired by the U-17 training camp.

Inside the meeting room, everyone looked each other over. Even though Akashi had introduced everyone before school started, this was their first time meeting in person.

Akashi sat at the head of the table, looking at the team he'd assembled. He couldn't help feeling a little proud inside—these were all top junior high players in the original story. Tezuka and Akutsu even had highlights at the U-17 World Cup.

He tapped his fingers lightly on the table, drawing everyone's attention. Looking around the room, Akashi spoke with a hint of authority: "Everyone, welcome to the Fudomine tennis club. You should all know each other already, so I'll skip introductions. Today is our club's first regulars' meeting. With your skills, you should all have no problem passing the regulars' selection matches."

Everyone nodded in agreement, waiting for Akashi to go on. Seeing this, Akashi continued at a steady pace: "When I invited you, I said our tennis club has a simple goal: national three-peat. No surprises. No failures allowed! I'll announce the club rules after everyone's signed up, but right now, let's talk about regular selection."

"We won't have a faculty advisor or a coach. I'll have someone handle all pre-match arrangements, so don't worry about that. There will be someone in charge of gathering and organizing intel on other schools too. As for daily training, I'll personally supervise and coach everyone. Any objections?" Akashi looked calmly at everyone.

Tezuka and the others shook their heads, showing they had no problem with it. Akutsu just clicked his tongue and looked away but didn't say anything.

Akashi ignored Akutsu's reaction—he was used to it. Seeing no one object, Akashi took out a rectangular box from his bag. He opened it, revealing seven finely crafted badges.

The badges were upside-down triangles, mainly black with gold trim, and decorated with small black-and-gold wings on each side. In the center, golden letters and numbers read No1 to No7.

Akashi had these custom-made, inspired by the U-17 camp. There were ten in total, but for now, he thought only the people here qualified to wear them, so he only brought the first seven today.

"These are ranking badges I had made just for the club's core members. Only those who wear one are considered the true core of the team. After the regulars' selection, I'll arrange a ranking match. Once your rank is decided, you'll wear the badge that matches it."

"The minimum requirement for a badge is Kanto-level strength. That's why I'm only taking out seven now—think of it as my recognition of your abilities. That's it for now. I'll announce more detailed rules once everyone is here." Akashi finished and looked up at the big screen.

The others couldn't take their eyes off the badge box, their expressions burning with excitement. Of course, nobody was thinking about fighting for the No1 badge—everyone knew that one belonged to Akashi. But in the future? Who knows. At least, that's what they thought.

After a while, the senpai handling new member registration came to the meeting room to report that all the students had finished signing up and were now gathered in the club's main area.

Akashi nodded, thanked her, then signaled everyone to grab their rackets. Together, they headed to the meeting spot. Akashi had set aside this area specifically to announce important things.

When Tezuka and the others arrived, they lined up on their own. Akashi walked up to the front, stepped onto the platform, and looked down at nearly fifty or sixty people. With a commanding and noble air, he spoke loudly:

"Welcome to the Fudomine tennis club. I am the captain, Akashi Seijurō!"