TOKYO METROPOLITAN TOURNAMENT TENNIS GROUNDS
Its the semifinals!
Yup.
Hi ho! Sorry to keep you waiting.
Morning.
Hi! Youre all early.
Dont get too excited!
What? You wanna fight?
Hiss
Cut it out, both of you!
Echizen isnt here yet?
Oh yeah!
Hes late again?!
Morning.
There he is!
Were all here.
Lets go for a win!
Theyre late.
Whats keeping them?!
They said theyd be here after practicing.
But well have to default in five minutes, Brother.
The Fudomine team isnt all here yet, it seems.
Maybe theres some trouble.
If Fudomine Middle School doesnt show, well go straight to the finals! Lucky!
Huh? Another default?
Dont be so disappointed, Muromachi.
I want to play, you know?
When youre around, Sengoku, I dont know if Im lucky or not.
Were almost there!
Thank goodness! It seems well make it!
But you just barely made it
your new combo.
Thanks to you, Akira and Shinji.
Tachibana will be very surprised.
Are we splitting the taxi fare?
Well smash them!
Well beat Yamabuki and go to the finals!
Well have our return match against Seigaku.
Itll be shameful if we lose the return match, too.
Akutsu! Akutsu!
Huh? He was just here.
Geez! Ill just clean up the rubbish, since Im the manager.
Whatre you doing?
Huh?
Dada dadaan! Where were you? This is terrible!
You talk too much. You want me to smack you?
But they only have three players on the Fudomine team!
They wont be able to play because of too few players!
Akutsu?
Where are you going? Akutsu? Akutsu!
That managers only a first-year, and he isnt afraid of Akutsu?
Ill say! Ever since Akutsu came on board,
frankly, I dont feel comfortable on this team.
Why was that troublemaker allowed on the team?
Who cares? Hes good!
Hello, Echizen residence.
Uncle, its Ms. Ryuzaki.
What?
Tell her Im not home. Im too busy.
Come on, answer the phone!
Cripes!
Its been a long time, Nanjiro.
Knowing you,
I caught you reading smut, huh?
You letch!
Whatre you saying? Im as chaste as a priest!
So? What do you want?
Not calling to talk about the state of the world, are you?
About todays opponent. Dont be shocked now
Hah! Thats a laugh.
Me? shocked? Youll have to wait another hundred years for that.
Just speak up.
Really? Well, the school were playing today
Banji is an advisor.
Banji?
Huh?!
What?! Is he still alive?!
Cripes! Ill talk to him! You wait! Ill be right there!
You just wait, Banji!
He never changes.
Youre late! Dont make me so scared!
Stars always arrive late.
Im sorry, Tachibana, for making you worry.
Ill say! Now go and sign in.
Yes! Yes!
Well commence with the first match of the semifinals:
Fudomine Middle vs. Yamabuki Middle.
Aww, they made it in time. Shucks! Too bad.
The semis are going to start!
Huh?
Whats wrong?
Look at that Yamabuki player! His eyes look so mean!
And in contrast, that advisor of theirs is all smiles.
Thats so creepy!
Yamabuki might be a team to worry about.
Y-You know
But we cant write them off, thats for sure.
One set match.
Sakurai of Fudomine to serve.
Hey, hows it going between Fudomine and Yamabuki?
Both are strong. Itll be a long match.
Game and match to Yamabuki Middle School.
Six games to Love.
S-So strong!
Fudomine was shut out!
Yamabuki is just too strong.
Ishida and Sakurai didnt have a chance against them.
Is Yamabuki Middle that strong?
Singles 3, Ibu of Fudomine versus Muromachi of Yamabuki.
FUDOMINE YAMABUKI
Somethings strange. Its too one-sided.
Its not that Yamabuki is too strong
Fudomine cant seem to pull their strength together.
Even that last match with Ishida and Sakurai
Whats going on? What happened?
Thats right That taxi they arrived in earlier had an accident.
Lucky they were all okay.
Huh, guys?
Is that true, Kamio?
Kamio!
But the match
Chair Judge!
Fudomine pulled out. They were getting smashed.
The taxi the team was riding in was in an accident.
Sounds like a lie to me.
But even if it were true,
would you make injured players go through a match?
Talk about a terrible captain!
He sure doesnt shed tears or blood.
Brother, please understand!
Kamio and the others didnt want you to worry.
Whats the sense of forcing yourself into a match in that condition?!
We are in trouble if were even one player short.
We want to advance, right?
Were going straight to the hospital. We have to check you out properly.
Captain
You guys stink.
Youre the one!
Akutsu of Yamabuki.
So patheticgetting all emotional over tennis.
But your reputation is mud, huh, Captain?
If you were gonna forfeit,
you shouldnt have shown up in the first place.
Stupid!
Why that--! Let me tell you!
Stop, Kamio.
What? Wanna fight?
Nothing Id like better. Tennis is too tame.
If we fight here, well fall right into his trap.
Do you want to lose our place in the Kanto Tournament?
Lets go.
Hah Youre pretty sharp, Tachibana.
Sorry, Tezuka.
Youll have to wait until the Kanto matches for a showdown.
Yeah
Welcome, Seigaku.
The fool
Doesnt he make you wanna throw up?
Absolutely.
This is it.
Umm You cannot ride a bike inside.
Im PTA.
Huh? PTA?
Thank you!
Hey! You! Wait!
Are you waiting for someone, Ms. Ryuzaki?
Oh dear, Mr. Banda of Yamabuki Middle.
Youre still the advisor of the tennis team?
Same goes for you.
I see that you have some fine players this year.
You too.
Make tennis fun Thats my motto.
Please go easy on us.
Id like to ask that of you.
There he is!
That old geezer hasnt changed a bit!
All right Ill give im a piece of my mind!
For all the crap back then!
Hey you! You!
Whatre you doing here?
Hmm? Hey wait!
You! Wait!
Stop! Stop!
Shut up! Im PTA!
The time has finally come to defeat Seigaku...
and take our place in the sun!
Yes! Yes!
That nightmarish incident has changed us.
No, that wasnt a bad dream.
Because of him, our passions were ignited.
Hes no ordinary player, thats for sure.
And hell probably turn pro in the future.
We should be grateful to that boy.
Oh, its the Seigaku team.
Thats Kunimitsu Tezuka, captain of the Seigaku team.
Hes skilled enough to play in the high school league.
No! Hes too strong!
Hes at a different level. Hes unbeatable.
Its impossible to think we can beat him.
All right, well beat the others.
Wait
The ones following Shuichiro Oishi. Eiji Kikumaru.
Theyre known as Seigakus Golden Pair.
Calm, shrewd Oishi, and agile and nimble Kikumaru.
They reached the Nationals last year.
What?! Nationals?!
Okay then, forget those two matches.
There are five matches, so we just have to win three.
Forget it! Look whos behind them? Kaoru Kaido
He loves to slowly wear out his opponents.
And plays with you with his Snake shots.
Andsnaps easily.
H-He sounds crazy.
And look, Takeshi Momoshiro!
Hes an eighth grader like Kaido.
I heard at last weeks St. Rudolphs game,
that he killed somebody with his dunk smash.
Sowhyre we hiding?
Quiet!
There are more.
Takashi Kawamura looks meek,
but when he holds his racket, he turns really aggressive,
and his powerful serves are estimated to reach 200 km. per hour,
and has broken many a racket!
And theres also gently smiling Shusuke Fuji
Hes Seigakus number two player!
He toys with his opponents using his triple counters.
Then who can we beat anyway?!
Well now
Huh?
This years Seigaku team has a seventh grader on the team.
And hes a shorty.
Huh? A seventh grade kid? I can beat him!
Give him to me! Let me play him!
No fair, Domoto! Hes my opponent!
That kid is coming!
Huh?! Where?! Where?!
I-Is this for real?
I think so!
Thats!
Oh, came to lose again? Or are you here to get your balls back?
Well, Im not gonna give em back.
GINKA SEIGAKU
The second match of the semifinals will begin: Seigaku versus Ginka.
Ryoma!
Ryoma, do your best!
Its the semifinals!
Im so nervous!
I wonder what kind of team this Ginka is?
They made it to the final four. We cant take them lightly.
All right, lets play, Ginka!
Ginka looks confident.
We cant let down our guard against them.
We forfeitdue to stomach aches!
Huh? What?
Ginka forfeits. The win goes to Seigaku.
Thats great! We won already! We scared them off!
Whatever! Were in the finals!
Hey, you guys!
Whyd you let those punks off so easy?
Punks?
Seigakus nothing much.
Lets go, guys.
Hes got a big mouth.
Hiss
Hes got some nervethat bastard!
Momo.
Stop...
Come on! Lets go at it.
Punk!
Why that--! I cant take it anymore!
Stop!
Enough of this!
I was scared there for a moment!
Captain is amazing. One word and they listen.
Just who is that guy anyway?
Hes scary!
Hes Akutsu of Yamabuki.
Yamabuki Middle School?
Yes, our next opponent.
Yamabuki has exceptional doubles teams.
Last year, both made it to the Nationals.
Wow
So they count on their two doubles win
and rely on Sengoku to win his singles.
Thats the Yamabuki winning pattern.
Nationals? Meaning theyre like our Golden Pair?
Last year, Oishi and his ninth-grader teammate lost.
And the team they lost to is here again this year.
But we beat Yamabuki last year, right?
Yes, we lost both doubles,
but Tezuka beat Sengoku and we came from behind to win.
If they had another good singles player, we mightve lost.
But this year, they do have one.
You dont mean
Yup. That guy just now.
METROPOLITAN TENNIS TOURNAMENT The Metropolitan Tournament finals...
will begin with Yamabuki Middle School versus Seigaku Middle School.
Its gonna start!
Wholl win? Seigaku or Yamabuki?
Seigaku or Yamabuki?
Seigaku or Yamabuki!
YAMABUKI SEIGAKU
Game and match to Yamabuki! Six games to three.
This cant be! Seigaku doubles is!
No way...
This is!
They had a good chance, though.
So even those two couldnt win at doubles.
Theyre all good individual players, but lack synergy.
Thats our weakness.
With the exception of Oishi and Kikumaru,
we dont have any doubles players.
Im Minami from Yamabuki Middle School.
And Im Higashikata.
And together we are called Plain and Simple.
Hey, why are we accepting that name?!
Yeah totally. That Oishi, calling us Plain and Simple.
Oishi didnt call us that. Its Sengoku whos been calling us that.
You just watch, Sengoku.
We are gonna have a grand victory this year!
Oops. Theres a hole in my sock.
Thats just plain
Hey, what did you just say?!
Next on The Prince of Tennis: Oishi is Targeted
Hey, I see a standing tea stalk floating in my tea.