The Prince of Tennis, Talent Replication

Chapter 113 The U.S. Open?

"Zero...zero shutouts."

Bobby Marx stared in astonishment, his mouth agape and his eyes wide as bulls.

"He... truly is a tyrant who has never been defeated."

Tom Griffith muttered, "It's terrifying that even Kevin couldn't get a single point from him."

"Brother is right."

Terry Griffith nodded repeatedly and said, "Not only did he dominate Kevin the whole game, but he also reached a state of selflessness. We were careless in this game."

Kevin Smith shook his head repeatedly, "No, how could this be? How could I not even score a single point? This is impossible..."

On the coaching bench, Richard Baker had long since abandoned any pretense of composure, his face contorted in a grimace: without sponsorship fees, how were they going to fill the enormous hole left by the misappropriated funds?

"Clap clap clap~"

On the other side, the enchantress Hanamura Aoi stood up, clapped her hands, her eyes brimming with laughter, and said with utmost satisfaction, "As expected of the person I had my eye on, she fought beautifully."

Natsume Tsuki also turned his head and smiled, "If I remember correctly, the coach values Echizen from Seigaku, right?"

"Well..."

Huacun Aoi was taken aback, then said gently, "Echizen certainly has great potential, but Yueye, you are the best candidate to be my closed-door disciple. How about it, are you interested in coming to our Jōse Shōnan? You can name any conditions you want. As long as you can lead our Jōse Shōnan to win the national championship, there is nothing I cannot agree to."

Seeing that the enchantress from Huacun was looking at him with a pink glow, Natsume Tsuki quickly turned to face Kevin Smith.

"Natsume, you're amazing, but one day I will defeat you."

Kevin Smith began.

"Thank you, you're amazing too."

Natsume Tsukiya nodded slightly and said politely, "I'm waiting for you to defeat me."

Kevin Smith looked towards the entrance, feeling a pang of regret that he hadn't been able to fight Echizen Ryoma.

The cheers were still going on outside, and soon the media swarmed in.

Shiba Saori frowned slightly, watching everyone rush towards Natsume Tsukiya, and said in a huff, "Why is everyone going there? Why isn't anyone interviewing the other members of the team?"

Inoue Mamoru, who was standing nearby, said, "It's probably because of his comments about shutting out the tyrant without a single kill."

Shiba Saori was puzzled, but soon heard someone shove a microphone under Natsume Tsukiya's chin and ask, "Natsume-kun, you've strengthened the seal on [Zero Seal Tyrant] again. What are your thoughts on that?"

"That's right, Natsume-kun. The opponent is the captain of the US West Coast team, and they didn't manage to take a single point from you. How do you view your title of 'Tyrant' who shuts out the opponent?"

"Did you bestow this title upon yourself, and what beliefs led to it?"

The flashbulbs of the cameras clicked, and Natsume Tsuki was surrounded by a swarm of chattering mouths, bombarding him with questions: "I heard your girlfriend is the daughter of a conglomerate?"

Have you considered taking on an endorsement deal?

"The National Tournament is just around the corner on August 17th. As the captain of Hyotei, what are your thoughts on this?"

Natsume Tsuki finally heard something he could talk about and said, "We at Hyotei will train even harder."

"So, are you determined to win the national championship as well?"

"Well, Hyotei doesn't want to put too much pressure on other schools, but we can keep an eye on it."

"Natsume-kun, I remember you weren't like this when you were interviewed by a junior tennis pro magazine before. Why are you so composed today?"

Well...

Natsume Tsukiya paused for a moment and then said, "It might be related to the weather."

Everyone looked up at the sky.

Taking advantage of the moment, Shiba Saori pulled Natsume Tsukiya away.

Seeing this slender woman, whose only notable feature was her small granary, sulking like this, Natsume Tsuki found it rather amusing.

"Miss, what are you doing?"

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Shiba Saori pulled her backstage before letting go.

"what?"

Shizusa quickly let go, her face flushed, and said, "I......"

"Who are you?" Natsume Tsuki stared into her eyes.

Shiba Saori's eyes darted away, and after a long while, she mustered her courage and clenched her fist, saying, "I'm saving you, that's right, I'm saving you, understand?"

"Arigato!" Natsume Tsuki lazily bowed as well.

"what?"

Shiba Saori suddenly felt uncomfortable and wondered how Natsume Tsukiya had suddenly become such a different person. How did the slightly unruly guy from before become such a gentle boy?

"I have some explosive news, do you want to hear it?" Natsume Tsuki also held up a finger and waved it.

"Explosive?"

Zhi Shazhi blushed.

"yes."

Natsume Tsuki nodded: "Are you going to listen or not? If not, I'm leaving."

"Go ahead and say it." Shiba Saori was already prepared; even if it was something like that, she could accept it.

"Hurry backstage."

Natsume Tsuki also pointed to the other side of the passage and said, "The secret about this goodwill competition is there."

"The secret to a goodwill competition?"

Shisa was taken aback.

Natsume Tsukiya had already walked away, waving with his back to her: "Exclusive news, it'll be gone if you're late."

"You wretched brat."

Shiba Saori felt a pang of disappointment and immediately turned to walk towards the other end. "I want to see what kind of exclusive scoop I can find."

As soon as Natsume Tsuki stepped out of the passage, he ran into Inoue Mamoru.

"Congratulations, Natsume-kun," Inoue Mamoru greeted him warmly.

"Mr. Inoue."

"Just now, Natsume-kun didn't tell those reporters the truth, did he?"

Inoue Mamoru hesitated for a moment before saying, "I mean the national tournament."

"Oh, you mean that one?"

Natsume Tsuki also scratched his head and laughed.

Inoue Mamoru has started carrying a camera with him at all times now, since sometimes he needs to capture the most exciting moments. He immediately turned on the camera and asked, "So, could you please share your thoughts on the National Tournament?"

"The National Championship is already in Hyotei's pocket."

Natsume Tsuki leaned closer to the camera and said with even more pressure, "Rikkai and Seigaku have both been defeated by Hyotei in the Kanto Tournament. The strongest team in Kansai should be the champion, Shitenhoji."

"That's right, this year's Kansai team champion is Shitenhoji." Inoue Mamoru nodded in agreement. He knew very well that Natsume Tsuki was also giving him a chance.

"Seigaku and Rikkai have no chance of winning this year's championship."

Natsume Tsuki also widened his eyes and said, "Forget about Shitenhoji, Hyotei will definitely take it!!"

Inoue Mamoru smiled with satisfaction.

This is exactly what he needs; now the professional monthly magazine will have excellent sales again.

"There's one more question."

Inoue Mamoru hurriedly asked, "Acquatsu from Yamabuki Junior High said that some of the moves used by the Kanto team members in this goodwill tournament were taught by Natsume-kun. Could you answer this question yourself?"

"Oh, you mean this?"

Natsume Tsuki also said, "As a substitute coach for the youth selection training camp, I naturally have an obligation to improve the technical level of the team members. I don't think that's anything strange..."

"very good."

Inoue Mamoru pressed further: "So, this shutout victory against the US West Coast team, except for Rikkai's Masaharu Oo who played singles, will surely cause a huge sensation both in the Kanto and Kansai regions, and even domestically. Will this shutout continue in the national tournament starting on August 17th?"

"We must live up to the title of 'zero kills against the tyrant'."

Natsume Tsuki also said.

"Wow, that's really exciting!"

After leaving the backstage interview, Saori Shiba's heart was still pounding. "I really didn't expect that Richard Baker would embezzle tennis association funds for publicity. Now that they've found out, he's been expelled from the tennis association..."

Shiba Saori was extremely grateful to Natsume Tsukiya, after all, he was the one who revealed this information to her...

All members of the team attended the celebration banquet, except for Ryoma Echizen.

"Where did that Echizen kid go?" Momoshiro Takeshi asked as he searched for him.

"Bang!"

He quickly found Ryoma Echizen and Kevin Smith on the court where they had just played.

"Hey, Echizen, what are you doing?"

The Seigaku members arrived quickly.

Eiji Kikumaru: "Little one, so you're competing against Kevin Smith?"

Guan Yuechu: "You're late, the match is already over."

"What's wrong?" the Seigaku students asked anxiously.

"Echizen Ryoma vs. Kevin Smith, six to four!" Mizuki said. "But that Kevin is really amazing. He just finished fighting Natsume Tsuki a few hours ago, and he can still fight."

"They still played against each other." Oishi Shuichiro's tone revealed his concern.

Kikumaru Eiji jumped up and said, "Well done! You've really got it."

"Eiji?"

"What's going on? We won!"

The match wasn't watched by a large number of people, but it wasn't a small one either. Everyone was shocked that the Kanto delegation had such a person.

Of course, this was just a minor incident.

Kevin Smith was satisfied, and Ryoma Echizen's resentment was also released.

The day before Hyotei University held its intra-school ranking tournament, a report from a monthly youth tennis professional magazine instantly caused a stir.

Watanabe Osamu, a handsome 27-year-old from the famously playful Shitenhoji family, slowly put down his magazine with a toothpick in his mouth and said to the group of people who walked in, "You all watched the match between the US West Coast team and the Kanto team, right?"

Golden Haru said with a smile, "Yeah, that captain of Hyotei is really handsome."

"Do you want to die?" Ichiji Yuji said angrily.

Kintaro Toyama: "Ash, what are you guys talking about?"

Kuranosuke Shiraishi said elegantly, "We're talking about that man who's known as the strongest in Kanto."

"Ahead of its time?" Kintaro Toyama's eyes lit up. He had already heard about the first-year superstar in Kanto, the same height as him, with terrifying fangs...

Kenya Oshitari said, "That guy said that we Shitenhoji should not even think about the championship. That's so arrogant. Even if we can beat the Misai team, it doesn't mean we can beat us."

"It's not that simple, Kenji."

Kuranosuke Shiraishi tapped the front-page report and said, "Natsume Tsukiya is known as the Zero-Seal Tyrant."

"That's right, that's right."

Jinse Xiaochun nodded and said, "It is said that, excluding those minor tournaments, all the opponents in the main competition of the national tournament were shut out."

"This time, the opponent even used the legendary state of 'no-self' in the goodwill competition," Watanabe Osamu said.

Are you scared?

"Speaking of the state of selflessness."

Yuji Ichiji glanced at Kintaro Toyama, stroked Koharu's chin, and said, "Chitose seems to have already entered the state of 'no-self' as well."

"That's right, that's right," Kintaro Toyama said. "There's absolutely nothing to be afraid of."

Kuranosuke Shiraishi: "Kane, you're really optimistic."

Watanabe Osamu stood up, stretched lazily, and said, "Alright, then let's have Shitenhoji defeat Natsume Tsukiya and take the championship!"

Kuranosuke Shiraishi smiled confidently.

"Oh, you mean, Natsume Tsukiya of Hyotei declined the invitation to the U.S. Open?"

Inoue Mamoru received a call from Shiba Saori.

Saori Shiba is really something now, with one explosive news story after another about tennis. Her editor personally told her to keep a close eye on Tsukuya Natsume. And now, another bombshell news has emerged: Tsukuya Natsume has declined an invitation to the U.S. Open.

"That's right, Inoue-senpai. I really can't understand why he would refuse the invitation to the U.S. Open."

"I'm a little annoyed," said Shiba Saori.

"So what's going on now?" Inoue Mamoru asked, puzzled.

Saori Shiba: "I heard that the other party gave him a day to consider it."

The news spread very quickly.

"Have you heard?" Mizuki asked, tucking his hair back. "Natsume Tsuki also received an invitation to the U.S. Open."

"Is Mizuki real? Where did you get this information?" Fuji Yuuta was the first to disbelieve it.

Guan Yuechu: "Where did this news come from? This needs to be kept secret, but I'm absolutely certain it's true."

Soon, Guan Yuechu spread the word about it everywhere.

"What? Natsume Tsukiya actually received an invitation to the U.S. Open?" Tachibana An was very surprised.

Akira Kamio: "That guy is really lucky."

Kiyosumi Sengoku: "The U.S. Open, wow."

Akutsu: "What's there to envy about a place like that..."

Genichiro Sanada: "The U.S. Open, that guy really is..."

On Seigaku's side, "Don't you guys know?" Satoshi Horio said, "I heard that Natsume Tsuki also received an invitation to the U.S. Open. We'll have one less opponent from now on."

Kato Katsuro: "Horiao, it's true."

Satoshi Horio: "Of course it's true, everyone says so."

"What's true?" Takeshi Momoshiro asked as he approached.

Eiji Kikumaru: "That's really something, but it seems that Seigaku has lost an opponent who can shut out others."

The news spread among the schools.

Almost everyone knew that Natsume Tsuki had also received an invitation to the U.S. Open.

New Wife with Crown: "Senior, are you going?"

Looking at the shimmering sea, Natsume Tsukiya asked, "Do you want me to go?"

"Senior is invincible, so there's no need for a shutout."

New Wife Baoguan said.

"You understand me best."

"Natsume Tsukiya, unparalleled in the world!!"