Do you wish to dance as well?

Dan Taichi, having caught sight of Akutsu, quietly followed him into the school building. Moving on tiptoe, he trailed behind, occasionally seeking cover behind walls, not daring to make a sound. But at a certain corner, Dan nearly lost track of Akutsu. In a fluster, he quickened his pace and found himself in a completely different corridor. To his astonishment, every classroom on both sides was in session, and Akutsu had vanished as if he had evaporated into thin air.

"Gone... he's gone?!" Dan’s mouth hung open in disbelief. It was just a simple turn—how could he have lost him so suddenly? Could Akutsu actually know some ninja invisibility technique?

Not daring to linger, fearing he might be discovered as an outsider, Dan had no choice but to leave. Just as he was about to depart, a bowl-cut head peeked out from the end of the corridor. Akutsu, his expression cold, gazed at the spot where Dan had disappeared, counted a few heartbeats, then turned and walked away.

With his hands in his pockets, Akutsu walked a little further, glanced up at the sign reading “Club Lounge,” and strode straight in.

“Akutsu...” A short-haired boy who had been sitting on a bench quickly stood up, looking nervously at the pale-faced, cold-eyed Akutsu.

“What’s so urgent that you had to call me out here, Akutsu?” The short-haired boy averted his eyes when they met, his voice betraying a lack of confidence.

“Hand over the money.” Akutsu’s tone was icy. The short-haired boy forced a laugh and said, “Wh-what are you talking about, Akutsu? We’re just first-year students—how could we have any money? Besides, we’ve been friends since kindergarten! You can’t do something like this.”

“Are you telling me how to act?” Akutsu’s expression suddenly twisted into something ferocious and terrifying. He grabbed the short-haired boy by the collar and slammed him into a metal locker. No matter how much the boy struggled, Akutsu remained unmoved.

Staring into Akutsu’s chilling eyes, the short-haired boy broke out in a cold sweat, shaking as if he had seen a ghost. “I’m warning you—don’t tell me what to do!”

On the tennis court.

“Well, who wants to go first?” Matsubara Mei, tennis racket slung over his shoulder, looked at the crowd with a playful glint in his eye. Tsutsumoto, sporting a towel around his head, stepped forward. “Let me show you there’s always someone better out there, you brat!”

“Go for it, Vice Captain Tsutsumoto! Show him what Ginwa’s made of!” The players cheered him on. Tsutsumoto grinned confidently. Of course—he had no intention of holding back.

He tossed the ball up, bent his waist to forty-five degrees, and lunged forward with a powerful swing. The tennis ball shot toward Matsubara Mei like a bullet. The players around gasped in admiration. “Here it comes—Vice Captain Tsutsumoto’s signature Judo serve!”

“Hmph. Besides Captain Yamada, you’re the only one who can return Vice Captain Tsutsumoto’s Judo serve, right, Kiritani?” a player with slicked-back hair and sunglasses said, arms folded.

Kiritani nodded slightly, his eyes narrowed. “That’s right. Vice Captain Tsutsumoto’s Judo serve doubles the speed and power of the ball. I can handle it, but I can’t afford to underestimate it. Only Captain Yamada can return it effortlessly. Watch, Endo—this kid is doomed.”

“Judo tennis, huh? I’ll smash your Judo tennis!” Matsubara Mei faced the incoming ball with calm composure. As the ball hurtled toward him, it abruptly slowed as if hitting an invisible wall.

With a sharp whirr, the ball spun gently in the air. At the same instant it met Mei’s racket, a yellow-green streak of light slashed through the air, sending the ball directly to the back corner on Tsutsumoto’s right.

“You’ve got to be kidding!” Tsutsumoto never imagined Matsubara Mei could return his Judo serve so perfectly. He instinctively reached for it, but the shot was aimed so far to the right, he couldn’t reach it without running. Seeing Mei win the point with ease, the other players were left gaping in astonishment. “That first-year looks really strong!”

“He returned Vice Captain Tsutsumoto’s Judo serve so easily... Unbelievable!”

“Don’t go praising the enemy, you idiots! Tsutsumoto only underestimated him. If he gets serious, that kid is finished!” Kiritani, stung by the loss, barked at the others.

But Tsutsumoto’s nightmare was just beginning. For the next five Judo serves, Matsubara Mei used his mysterious force to return each one swiftly. No matter how Tsutsumoto chased after the ball, when faced with the spinless shots, his efforts were futile.

Ten to zero!

“How can this be... My Judo tennis, with doubled speed and power, can’t break through that kid’s defense?” Endo, the sunglasses-wearing player, was dumbfounded. Eager for a challenge, he stepped forward and helped the kneeling Tsutsumoto up. “Leave the rest to me, Vice Captain. I’ll make sure he’s taken out of the game.”

“Endo...” Tsutsumoto opened his mouth, then flashed a sinister smile. As he walked past, he tossed over his shoulder, “Don’t go too far—just make sure he can’t play anymore.”

“Hmph, I know what I’m doing.” As Tsutsumoto left the court, Endo tossed the ball up. At the moment of impact, he sneered, “Maybe it’s not fair, but there’s no rule in tennis against hitting your opponent!”

Matsubara Mei noticed Endo’s serve didn’t bounce. As the ball hurtled straight toward his face, time seemed to freeze with Mei at its center. Every player on the court became as still as statues, the scene cast in black and white. Mei exhaled in relief, his gaze icy as he looked at the frozen Endo. With a gentle flick of his racket, he sent the ball spinning back into the air.

Leaping up, the world snapped back to normal. As Mei’s racket came down hard, the ball, charged with his mysterious force, shot straight at Endo’s face.

“Waaah!” Endo, petrified, was struck full in the face before he could react. He fell backward, arms and legs flailing, his racket spinning through the air before crashing to the ground.

Blood streamed from both nostrils, a clear imprint of the ball on his nose. Eyes rolled back, limbs twitching, Endo lay sprawled on the court. The players who had been cheering moments before stood in stunned silence, as if their throats had been clamped shut. What on earth had just happened?

Panting, Mei steadied himself on his knees. He’d known from the skill description that his “flash step” would be a huge drain on his stamina, but he didn’t expect it to be this exhausting. With his current strength, a second use might make him collapse—and even at his peak, he could only manage it three or four times.

Seeing Endo knocked out cold, Kiritani backed away in terror. “Is that kid... using magic? He made the ball fly up by itself...” He couldn’t comprehend what had happened. Endo had served straight for the kid’s face, but somehow Mei had jumped up and smashed it back. With a serve that high, how had he managed a smash in midair?

“You think you can scheme against me?” Mei looked indifferently at the unconscious Endo. If not for his unique ability, his right eye would have been ruined by that last shot. The Ginwa Middle School team—no matter when, their hearts were always full of malice!

“You, you, you, and you—the four of you, come at me together.” Mei pointed his racket at the next group, which included Kiritani. Gritting their teeth, the four stepped forward.

In their serves, Mei easily neutralized each shot with his repelling force, slowing the balls to a crawl, then sent them all back in one fluid motion.

Each ball found its mark: one shot zipped through Kiritani’s legs at a wicked angle, two collided in mid-air, sending their owners tumbling face-first into the dirt, and the last ball landed gently at the net after rebounding off the others.

“In just a few minutes, he’s beaten six people...”

“Vice Captain Tsutsumoto, Senior Endo, and Senior Kiritani—three out of four regulars lost...”

As morale plummeted, Captain Yamada stepped forward, face grim as he shed his jacket. “To defeat six in a row—I underestimated you. But this is where you stop!”

Yamada’s entrance reignited hope among his teammates, and they cheered him on. However, his serve had barely cleared the net when Mei smashed it back with force. The ever-composed Yamada stared in disbelief, his mouth agape.

Noting Yamada’s bulging eyes, Mei taunted, “That’s it? I thought a captain would be tougher. Was that a serve or just a staring contest?”

For the next half hour, Mei systematically defeated every non-regular player on the team. After felling the forty-ninth opponent, he wiped the sweat from his brow. “Playing against so many people really is tiring.”

“Is this kid a monster...?” Across the court, a player’s hands shook uncontrollably as he gripped his racket. This was insane—after playing against forty-nine opponents and hitting four hundred ninety balls, Mei was only “a bit tired.” He had no chance at all!

“Hmm?” Noticing the last player hesitating, Mei’s lips curled into a slight smile. “Do you want to dance as well?”

At those words, the player finally dropped the last of his resistance. His racket slipped from his grasp as he turned and fled the court. “I... I’ll never play tennis again!”