Prince of Tennis Fraudster

While Niou's attire was somewhat unconventional, Sanada, Yukimura, and the others nearby didn't react excessively. Presumably, it wasn't the latter, as he had guessed.

Then, he looked at the woman and said, "Saori, I'm going to interview Sanada and Yukimura later, remember to take lots of photos."

"Understood!" the woman nodded.

The two followed the road down to the vicinity of the stadium, and soon arrived in front of Sanada and Yukimura.

Inoue held up his name tag and nodded to the two of them, saying, "Good morning, you two. We're from a professional tennis monthly magazine. I'm Mamoru Inoue, and this is Saori Shiba."

"Hello." Sanada nodded to Inoue. Yukimura smiled gently at Shiba Saori.

"My God!"

The woman's hand holding the camera trembled slightly, her eyes filled with hearts as she looked at Yukimura. At first, she thought the school's uniform was ugly, but now she felt that this jacket was the coolest uniform she had ever seen, bar none.

Click! Click!

Without Inoue's prompting, the woman immediately and skillfully took several close-up shots of Yukimura, while Sanada, standing to the side, was automatically ignored.

"Ah... I'm sorry."

Inoue gave an awkward smile, while Sanada, as if he were already used to it, shook his head at him.

Having worked as a journalist for many years, Inoue skillfully changed the subject, asking, "Rikkai's main players are all from the last national tournament. Defending their title shouldn't be too difficult, right?"

Sanada shook his head. As the person who truly took charge of Rikkai after Yukimura fell ill, he knew he had to restrain his personality in this situation.

"I have confidence in Rikkai, but other teams are also very strong, such as Shitenhoji in Osaka and Hyotei Gakuen in Tokyo."

These two schools faced Rikkai in the semifinals and finals of last year's national tournament, respectively. Sanada, who had played against them, knew very well that Makinofuji, the runner-up, and Shishigaku, the semifinalist, were not as threatening as these two schools.

His words reached Inoue's ears, and the latter couldn't help but nod. Although his strength was unparalleled, Sanada remained humble and composed, which explained Rikkai's steady development and rapid progress.

Inoue couldn't help but look at this rumored tennis emperor of junior high school tennis with even greater respect.

However, he changed the subject and said, "What about Seishun Gakuen in Tokyo? Their captain, Tezuka, is no ordinary person!"

"Ok?"

Sanada's imposing aura momentarily slipped through his fingers, causing Inoue's heart to skip a beat. Meanwhile, Yukimura, who was taking a photo with Shiba Saori, had a glint of shrewdness flash in his azure eyes upon hearing the name Tezuka.

Having toned down his imposing manner, Sanada nodded and said, "Tezuka is indeed a very outstanding player. However, tennis tournaments are team events; no matter how strong an individual is, it is ultimately difficult to carry the team forward."

The implication was that he was not optimistic about Seigaku's performance in this year's tournament.

"oh, I understand now."

After writing down Sanada's words in his notebook, Inoue glanced at the doubles practice taking place not far away and chuckled, "As expected of Rikkai, even their ordinary players are quite strong!"

This wasn't flattery, but a genuine expression of feeling.

Any one of these players could easily dominate a regional tournament. Even in the prefectural tournament, Rikkai's ordinary players could give other seeded schools a tough fight.

This is the elite policy that Rikkai adheres to.

"Barely acceptable."

Although Sanada was criticizing his team members, the smile in his tone indicated that he was still satisfied with the team's performance.

"That's right!"

Inoue, who was observing the players' match, gradually turned his gaze to Niou, who was calmly and gracefully returning the ball not far away.

"Vice-Captain Sanada, who is that person?"

He recalled that this person did not seem to be part of Rikkai's roster last year.

Sanada calmly replied, "A newbie, just a regular team member!"

Is it?

Inoue narrowed his eyes. Based on his more than 20 years of journalistic intuition, this person did not seem to be simple.

Meanwhile, the starting players finished their twenty laps. They had only worked up a sweat, and walked over to Liu on the other side. Under Liu's guidance, they began practicing returning the ball to a fixed point.

Swish!

The tennis ball flew in, and a dark shadow flashed by quickly—it was a jackal lurking near the baseline.

"So fast!"

Seeing the jackal moving with incredible speed, Inoue couldn't help but sigh. He had interviewed Ryo Shishido of Hyotei, who was known for his incredible speed, but it seemed he wasn't quite as fast as him.

boom!

The jackal swung his racket, sending the tennis ball flying. With a whoosh, it bypassed the target and hit it from behind. The resulting gust of wind knocked the target down.

Completed!

Inoue's gaze darkened again: "Precise ball control technique."

tread!

At that moment, Marui on the other side also moved, using one hand to support himself as he sprang up, sweeping his racket with what appeared to be a casual and elegant motion.

Snapped!

The tennis ball, propelled by the force of the impact, flew past the target, but upon landing, it began to spin rapidly.

"This?" Inoue frowned.

With a whoosh, the spinning tennis ball suddenly bounced back and hit its target.

"Bingo!"

Marui flashed a peace sign while blowing bubble gum, looking completely relaxed.

"hiss……"

Inoue gasped. Such exquisite tennis skills must belong to Marui Bunta, who is known as the genius of Rikkai University.

Snapped!Snapped!

Just then, the sound of tennis balls being hit from not far away caught his attention.

"That is?"

After he saw the person's appearance clearly, his eyes lit up.

"Tachikai University's only second-year candidate, Kirihara Akaiya!"

Chapter Sixteen: Kirihara Akaya

Kirihara Akaya.

The rising star of Rikkai University managed to snatch a starting spot from the strong third-year players, demonstrating his formidable strength. In fact, some outside observers are even considering him a potential leader for Rikkai University in the next generation.

On the other side, Niou also saw Kirihara's actions.

"Ok?"

The other party seemed to have noticed, and gave him a half-smile, a smile that was not friendly, which made Renwang feel a bad premonition.

call!

Kirihara flicked his left hand, tossing the tennis ball into the air. At the same time, he tilted his body slightly, extended his arm, and swirled the racket around, hitting the ball over his head.

With the racket tilted slightly, it slams down onto the tennis ball.

boom!

With a loud thud, the tennis ball flew diagonally toward the target, but Kirihara's aim seemed to be off, and the ball hit the side of the target.

Something's not right...

Inoue keenly sensed that this ball was not so simple.

chi chi...

Sure enough, the tennis ball did not bounce immediately after landing, but instead spun rapidly.

Whoosh!

The tennis ball, hovering on the ground, suddenly bounced up, but at a much steeper angle, shooting straight at its target.

boom!

The tennis ball slammed into the target, sending the red and white safety barrel, which was pointed at the top and rounded at the bottom, flying four or five meters.

"Hiss..." Inoue took a deep breath, looking at the second-year student's figure with some shock: "...Spin...Serve!"

This is no ordinary serve; it demands a high level of skill from the player. Beginners will find it difficult to learn and are prone to arm injuries, making it a losing proposition.

"Hey!"

Kirihara retracted his hitting stance, a smirk playing on his lips, and glanced intentionally or unintentionally in the direction of Niou.

A thought immediately flashed through Niou's mind - provocation!

In his memory, Kirihara was arrogant and belonged to the same type of person as Echizen. He was arrogant enough, and had the confidence to be so, but at the same time, he would not attack strangers or those he considered weak.

Of course, there's also a touch of adorable awkwardness.

It now seems highly likely that Kirihara's provocative actions were due to yesterday's match.

"Does he think I've challenged Rikkai's authority?" Niou pondered. If it were anyone else, he might not bother with such a thing, but Kirihara... The corners of his mouth curled up slightly, and he opened his mouth to utter a soft word: "Puri!"

"Forehead?"

Nakajo, who was closest to him, felt a sudden tremor in his heart upon hearing the voice. "This guy..."

He followed Niou's gaze and immediately saw Kirihara staring at him, causing his heart to skip a beat. "Could it be that he..."

Nakajo suddenly shuddered and immediately lowered his head. In Rikkai, even if you offended Sanada, it wouldn't matter, but if you offended that kid Kirihara, you would definitely have no peace.

"hey-hey."

Thinking of this, he chuckled, glanced at the somewhat surprised-looking King Ren, and thought to himself, "Regret it now? Too late!"

He began to look forward to the scene of Kirihara giving Nioh a sound beating.

On the other side, Niou was indeed somewhat surprised, but not in the way Nakajo thought; rather, it stemmed from the task the system had just given him.

"Mission: The Tragic Demon [Blue] - Successfully prank Kirihara once without him noticing. Note: The higher the score, the greater the reward!"

Fraudulent mission!

Besides system tasks and competition tasks, there are even fraud tasks. And judging from the content, it seems to be just about teasing Kirihara, and there's no need to compete with him.