In the blink of an eye, another three days passed.
It had already been a week since Shibukawa had arrived in this world.
During that time, he kept up his training every single day, making use of as much of his time as possible.
Although it was exhausting, and he pushed himself close to his limit almost every time, to the point where he could collapse at any moment, seeing his skills and experience visibly improve after each training session made him feel immensely fulfilled.
As time passed, Shibukawa could also clearly feel that his physical condition had improved dramatically compared to when he had first arrived.
The most obvious improvement was undoubtedly his Stamina.
Before, during the group warm-up run before training, even going all out wasn’t enough for him to break into the middle of the pack.
Now, even without deliberately pushing his pace, he could steadily remain among the middle runners.
In addition, through his uninterrupted training, skills such as [Swing], [Running], [Sit-Ups], and [Push-Ups] had all improved to varying degrees.
Every time one of them improved, he could feel his muscle cells becoming active and excited.
At the same time, after several breakthroughs in his mental willpower, his mind had also grown noticeably clearer.
The clearest sign of this was that Shibukawa could now follow the movements of the third-years far more easily while watching their matches.
Before, he had needed to immerse himself fully in the match just to clearly track the trajectories and landing points of their returns.
The moment his attention wandered, he would lose track of the action, and after every observation session, he would feel mentally exhausted.
But now…
He could watch their matches without any strain at all.
And after seeing enough of their playing styles, there were many times when, before his opponent even made a move, Shibukawa had already predicted that player’s next action in his mind.
At first, this feeling had only come as an occasional flash of insight, and its accuracy hadn’t been very high—around fifty percent.
Now, however, his prediction accuracy had already surpassed eighty percent.
Calling it an ability to see through people’s intentions wouldn’t even be much of an exaggeration.
…
Tap, tap, tap!!!
Yamabuki Tennis Club.
Under Minami’s lead, everyone gradually finished their running warm-up before formal practice.
Shibukawa was among them.
He wasn’t running particularly fast, but his form was extremely proper, and his breathing remained at an even rhythm.
He made sure to execute every exertion as correctly as possible, feeling the soreness coming from the key muscle groups while staring sharply ahead.
Finally—
The moment he completed the running warm-up, a notification from the Proficiency System appeared before his eyes.
[Completed an Excellent Run]
[Running EXP +2]
[Current Running Level: Lv.
3 (0/500)]
In an instant, a warm current spread outward from the core of his lower abdomen, circulating through his legs and feet and dispelling more than half the fatigue caused by the run.
Stamina +0.1]
Immediately afterward, the effect of the increase to his five-dimensional stats manifested itself.
Shibukawa could clearly feel the core of his body growing pleasantly warm, as if he’d just downed some ridiculously potent tonic soup, leaving him with seemingly inexhaustible strength.
At the same time, he mentally reviewed the effects of his training and the improvements he’d gained over this period.
‘Not every skill level-up results in an increase to my five-dimensional stats.
It’s more like training accelerates the process of improving my physical condition.’
That shattered Shibukawa’s original idea of learning a massive number of skills so he could rapidly raise his five-dimensional stats.
Thinking about it carefully, though, it made sense.
What he’d awakened, after all, was a Proficiency System based on his own abilities, not one of those cheat systems that could practically evolve a human being into something beyond human.
Although Shibukawa was somewhat disappointed by that, he didn’t dwell on it too much.
As far as he was concerned, being able to personally feel himself improving and grow stronger one steady step at a time was just as satisfying.
At the very least—
After a week of training, the Proficiency System had already cemented his belief that he could catch up to and surpass those tennis prodigies—even the monsters of the tennis world.
“Everyone, assemble!
Get ready for Swing practice.”
The regulars who had gone to Kyushu to watch the Nationals still hadn’t returned, so for the time being, Yamabuki was still being led primarily by vice-captain Minami.
And he took his responsibilities seriously, always leading by example.
Before long, everyone had assembled.
Under Minami’s guidance, they began their Swing practice.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Their synchronized swings produced wave after wave of sharp sounds as they cut through the air.
Seeing everyone completely focused on the exercise, Minami nodded in satisfaction.
At the same time—
A figure appeared outside the chain-link fence separating the courts from the outside.
His shoulders were slightly hunched, giving him a somewhat stooped appearance.
On his round, wrinkled face, his eyes narrowed to slits as he carefully observed the players training on the court.
“Minami’s doing a decent job.”
The newcomer was Yamabuki Tennis Club’s coach, Banda Mikiya.
Seeing the state of the players, he nodded in satisfaction.
With most of the regulars absent, Minami, a second-year and the team’s vice-captain, had still managed to keep the club running in an orderly fashion.
He was clearly quite competent.
But thinking about Yamabuki’s current situation, Banda couldn’t help sighing inwardly.
‘It’s just a shame…
Leaving aside Sengoku, whose talent stood out even within the team, Minami couldn’t even compare to captain Uesugi, who was one year above him.
That was precisely what worried Banda the most.
This year’s national tournament season was essentially over.
What remained would mostly be practice matches arranged through joint training sessions with other schools.
Eventually, Uesugi and the other third-years would have to leave.
But what Yamabuki needed now wasn’t someone like Minami, who was good at maintaining what they already had.
They needed an ambitious, aggressive team leader with the strength to back it up.
By comparison, Sengoku seemed more suitable.
However, after observing him for nearly two years, Banda had dismissed that idea.
Sengoku was exceptionally talented, but he wasn’t steady enough, nor did he possess the commanding presence of the captains from other top-tier teams.
‘If it were that person…’
Banda once again thought of his greatest discovery in recent months.
His eyes opened slightly, a sharp gleam flashing through them.
With that person’s talent, a little proper training would undoubtedly be enough to turn him into one of the team’s core players.
And if Banda could successfully bring him under control and use him as the spearhead of Yamabuki’s offense, the team’s overall strength would undoubtedly undergo a qualitative transformation.
The problem was…
Banda wasn’t confident he could do it.
That’s right.
Even with all his years of coaching experience, he wasn’t confident he could tame that extraordinarily unruly boy.
But Banda had no other choice.
If Yamabuki was going to reach the Nationals next year, then even if it meant putting himself in danger, he would have to take the gamble.
“Hm?”
However—
Just as Banda was about to leave, something caught his eye, and his gaze stopped on the group performing their Swing practice.
‘That person is…’
Banda was somewhat surprised.
He had discovered that there was actually a player on the team he didn’t recognize.
More importantly, the boy’s swinging form was clearly superior to that of Muromachi, whom others called Yamabuki’s prodigy.
Steady.
Powerful.
Fast.
A regular-level player could also perform a swing like that if they settled down and focused.
The problem was that the boy, whose eyes were hidden behind long black bangs, executed every single swing at that same level.
‘Who exactly is this kid?’
‘Yamabuki actually had such an outstanding player all this time?!’
For a moment, Banda found himself intensely curious about him.