Episode 23: Appeared! Inui Juice Deluxe!



It all started one day when Horio, Kachiro and Katsuo were searching for something on the field. Kachiro insisted that they can't find the thing they're searching for but Horio just told them that to be a Seigaku regular, they shouldn't give up. Suddenly they all noticed a person, quite familiar too, was digging something a few meters away from them. They were shocked to see the person's face when the said person sat up with an insect right on front of his face which was what he was digging for. It was Inui-senpai!

The day after, the Seigaku regulars and members were planning to do some practice for the upcoming Provincial tennis meet. The menu practice was done by none other than Inui. Tezuka prepped his team for the practice. Anyway, Inui distinguished the differences of each regulars from the other. He told them that they were divided into 4 groups; the first one is the counter puncher or those who starts by playing on the baseline and waits for the chance to go towards the net. This group's composed of Fuji, Oishi and Kaido. Another division is the aggresive baseliner who just stays on the baseline while attacking profusely, this group is composed of Kawamura and Momoshiro. Next division is solely owned by Kikumaru who's the serve and volley type of player and the last division, All-Rounder whose techniques differ from every situations they're in and this group is composed of Tezuka and Echizen. Now, Inui's practice is to assign those players who will play defense or those who will play with the whole court although, they couldn't attack but only defend themselves against those who will attack with only the half-shaded part of the court for themselves. They should also hit back the balls to the shaded area too (see screencap to understand the 'shaded parts'). Inui was the one who assigned the players who will play defense and those who will go offensive. He also created the rule that each match only consists of 5 rallies, and within these rallies you must score no matter what because if the match became a draw, both of the players will drink the Special Inui Juice.

The first one to go were Kawamura and Kaidoh. Kawamura was position for the offense position while Kaidoh was assigned for the defense which was to his disadvantage since his specialty's Snake and snake's only effective when played with the whole court, but with Kawamura on offense, he could only play with half a court. In the end, Kawamura won and Inui made Kaidoh drink that Special juice which had Kaidoh fainting in the middle of his rush towards the bathroom.

The next pair to play is Oishi against Momoshiro. Oishi will be playing defense while Momoshiro, to his advantage, will be the one on offense. They were both rallying well, when all of a sudden, Oishi was forced to lob the ball which was the chance Momoshiro's waiting for to make his incredible Dunk Smash that even Oishi-senpai couldn't return because of it's sheer power. Inui made Oishi drink that also made Oishi faint. Next match was between Fuji and Tezuka. It ended quickly with Tezuka as the winner. Momoshiro suddenly whispered to Ryoma that it was such a shame that Tezuka won since he was really looking forward to see Tezuka's reaction after drinking Inui's Special Juice. Tezuka overheard them but done nothing. As Inui poured Fuji his punishment, he was baffled that the liquid that came out of his container was pure water! It was then that they realized that Tezuka and Inui's water container got mixed up, and that the supposed to be water Tezuka's currently drinking is really the Inui Special Juice! The Seigaku tennis members were in awe after Tezuka drank and did not look faint in any way. This disappointed Inui terribly but he suddenly took out his brand new Golden Power Remix Inui Juice that he just made. The team members were shocked and the freshmen trio look thoroughly disgusted because they know what's included in that New and Improved Inui Juice! They decided that what their Senpais don't know would keep them happy.

The next match was between Kikumaru and Echizen. Kikumaru will play defense while Echizen goes offense. They rallied well, Echizen even managed to do a very difficult acrobatic trick which is hitting the ball between his legs while his back is towards the net, in the end, Kikumaru won just because it was only on the 6th rally that Ryoma would likely manage to get a point.

After their mock matches, Coach Ryuzaki came and prepped her members. She all told them all about the 108 schools which would be participating in the Provincial and that they should aim for the Championship. It would be a long grueling journey but they should manage.

After Coach Ryuzaki's speech, the members went back to practicing freely which left Tezuka looking intently on Ryoma's practicing form and looking like he's contemplating about something while holding his left arm.