Episode 36: Fuji Syusuke, the Big Brother



Before every matc started, both tennis players are to come near the net and shake hands, but this time, Fuji refused to shake hands with Mizuki. This scared the Seigaku members since they've never seen Fuji behave this way. Mizuki however was nonchalant about the way Fuji's acting towards him. The set commenced. Mizuki's hitting the balls to Fuji's supposed to be weak points according to his data. His data seemed to be correct, since not one ball could be hit by Fuji. The Seigaku members were now worried when Mizuki won a love game. 1-0. Mizuki thought that Fuji doesn't deserve being called "Prodigy".

Yuuta's watching his brother play the match, began reminiscing their youthful days. He remembered how his older brother would defend him to those kids older than them who bully him. He remembered how Syusuke's always been there for him even though he got beaten himself. He began appreciating the things his brother did for him.

It was now 5-0 to Mizuki, it's time for a change court. Yuuta followed his brother as he walked towards the other court. As Syusuke passed by Mizuki, he stopped for a second and asked Mizuki a question. Mizuki stopped to humor Syusuke (since Yuuta's also within hearing distance), Syusuke asked him, "Did you teach Yuuta the Twist Spin Shot knowing about the consequences it would do to his shoulder?" Mizuki contemplated for a while before answering that, "In every victory, there would be some casualties". Yuuta was shocked to hear that Mizuki admitted to have known the consequences and yet taught him the move still. Both Fuji and Mizuki walked towards their respective courts and resumed the match. This time, Fuji's got this really serious face once more and even as Mizuki tried hard to hit the ball towards Fuji's supposed to be weak spot, he couldn't gain even a point. Mizuki was surprised when Fuji told him that the spots he's targeting is to his stronger side and not his weakness. Mizuki literally crumbled. Hyotei (Atobe, Kabaji and Shishido) arrived the scene and commented that it's still the same Fuji who doesn't have any sort of weaknesses.

Everything was a breeze after that, Fuji won his game against Mizuki. It was 7-5 to Fuji, Mizuki was enraged to know that Fuji just toyed with him. Fuji just got this real scary look and told Mizuki, "Thank you for taking care of my brother". Seigaku were now ecstatic. They've qualified for the Kantou Regional Matches!

Meanwhile, Hyotei's having a match against Fudoumine. Atobe's having this disgruntled look as his Doubles 1 and Doubles 2 team lost their matches. He wasn't really worried though, since it's already Singles 3 and he's got this trust on one of their regular players, Shishido.It's now Singles 3. Shishido's about to face Fudoumine's captain, Tachibana. Shishido commented that it's still early for a captain to play a match (Since captains are usually playing Singles 1). Tachibana just ignored Shishido's annoying comments. Anyway, as their match goes on, we will now see how big the difference is between their tennis. Tachibana's real good. Inui (who's watching and collecting data), finally recognizes where he saw Tachibana. He now knows that Tachibana's a former blonde and formerly resides in the Kyuushu area and was an ace of Shishigaku. He was a National Player! Atobe was impressed to see such a great player on the match. Inevitably, Shishido lost his game, it was 6-0 to Tachibana.

So the best four schools would be: Seigaku, Ginka, Yamabuki and Fudoumine. The fifth spot for the Kantou Regionals would be the winner between Hyotei and St. Rudolph on their match a week from then. Now, it's time to come home after grueling matches.