Episode 27: Karupin's Adventure
As Ryoma prepared for another school day, he accidentally threw inside his bag Karupin's toy. The Himalayan cat saw this and tried to follow his master. Ryoma shooed him back as he raced to school with Momoshiro. However, when he opened his bag, he found his cat's toy and realized what it wanted all along. As Ryoma was taking his English test, he saw through the window Karupin passing by. However, since it only happened for a moment, he was unsure if it was really his pet. Nonetheless, this bothered Ryoma for the rest of the day.
Karupin really visited Seigaku that day and searched for Ryoma. He passed by the rooms of the Seigaku players, which allowed a view of how these guys spend a typical day. The cat was even spotted climbing a tree by
After eating his lunch, the worried Ryoma searched for his pet narrowly missing him as he raced down the stairs from the deck. The ochibi still had Karupin in mind as he sat inside the tennis club's locker room holding the cat's toy. Momoshiro asked him what was wrong and then he told Ryoma that his classmates saw a "raccoon" on the rooftop. As Ryoma rushed to see for himself, Momoshiro stopped him saying that it happened during lunchtime and it had already left the place. Besides, if it were actually his cat, it could have gone home already. Nevertheless, Ryoma was not appeased by his senpai's words so Momoshiro lent him his bike so that he can go home, check on the cat, and return to school. Momoshiro even promised to make an excuse for his favorite kohai for being late for practice. As it turned out, their practice was cut short due to the next day's competition.
Karupin never left Seigaku. In fact, he had been sleeping on the tennis club's roof and even ventured inside the room where he found his toy lying on top of Ryoma's bag. Karupin was discovered by Kaidoh, who happened to like cats. Kaidoh took the toy and played with Karupin. This put the Viper in a good mood. After tennis practice, Karupin was seen by the other club members sleeping on a bench clutching his toy. Momoshiro, together with Tezuka (who was asked by Ryusaki-sensei to deliver a note to Ryoma), Oishi and Kikumaru eventually brought the cat home. The relief in Ryoma's face upon seeing his cat was so obvious. To express his gratitude to Momoshiro, he challenged his senpai to a match. While playing on the temple court, each of them vowed to create a commotion during the next tournament (Spoiler: they both will!).
Whereas this episode highlighted the importance of Karupin to Ryoma that perhaps, Sakuno would like to trade places with him, and the growing closeness between Ryoma and Momoshiro, Karupin's adventure revealed interesting bits of information about the people in Seigaku such as:
- Ryoma chronically oversleeps. He prefers Japanese breakfast to the Western style. English is his favorite subject.
- Eiji likes variety in the toothpaste he uses.
- Momoshiro has a monstrous appetite and even eats during class hours. He has rowdy younger siblings.
- Kaidoh jogs to school every morning as part of his training program. He likes home cooked meals and often brings food to school.
- Inui, when not gathering and analyzing data, spends his break time experimenting on his juices.
- Kawamura incorporates helping out his father in their sushi store in his daily physical fitness regiment.
- Oishi always goes to school early and appears to be also an officer in his class. He likes to watch the fish in his aquarium.
- Tezuka is also formidable inside the classroom that even his Geometry teacher looked scared when he pointed out an incorrect formula used in a problem.
- Sakuno taught was how to bake by her grandmother.
Episode 28: A New Regular Appears!?
When the eagerly awaited prefectural tournament arrived, the players and spectators alike were excited. Shiba, the lady reporter, even bought a new video camera recorder while Tomoka had a new cheer for Ryoma. Unfortunately, it was also on this day that Ryoma woke extremely late and missed the assembly time. He made up an unbelievable alibi that he had to bring a pregnant woman to the hospital. As the team would be disqualified if they did not register at 10 am, they dressed up Horio to look like Ryoma. Presto, Horio's dream of becoming a Seigaku regular comes to life, albeit only temporarily! However, this "Echizen" immediately got into trouble when he started bragging and criticized others. A furious player from another school challenged him to a match wherein "Echizen" can demonstrate the Twist Serve he had been talking about. Fortunately, the real Echizen arrived in time to take the fake one's place.
Seigaku easily won in their initial round wherein they had to play the entire set of five matches. This was one of the rare moments where Tezuka was seen in action and everyone, including the other seeded players, watched with interest. While the others thought that this was already a demonstration of the buchou's power, Ryoma corrected them by saying that he is merely warming up. Fuji commented that very few could make Tezuka go all out.
In this tournament, one of the schools that Seigaku would be going up against is St. Rudolph Academy, which Syusuke Fuji's younger brother, Yuuta, attends. Yuuta also plays tennis but had been living in the shadow of his famous brother for a long time. He hates being compared to Seigaku's tennis tensai and would like a chance to defeat him. The contrast between the brothers is striking: Syusuke is always smiling while Yuuta is always scowling. However, the biggest threat to Seigaku is Mizuki, St. Rudolph's manager and a regular player. Mizuki had been gathering data on their competitors and developing strategies to defeat them. Based on the information obtained, he makes forecasts of the matches. Sadly, he also resorts to dirty tactics but Inui had immediately caught up with this.
Whereas Seigaku won over Akiyama Third Junior High School, Inui noticed that his teammates encountered difficulties in their matches. It was as if the Akiyama players knew Seigaku's weaknesses and targeted hard places to return. Inui confronted Mizuki to confirm his suspicions. He told Mizuki that to be able to predict the outcome of a match based on data alone can be a double-edged sword. Inui correctly guessed that Mizuki approached Akiyama to give them tips about Seigaku's weak areas in the pretext of helping them. In reality, Mizuki wanted to know how the Seigaku players would react if their opponents knew their weaknesses so he can gather more data. Subsequently, Inui warned his team to be careful of St. Rudolph because they would do anything to win.
Episode 29: Momo and the Viper
Fudomine, which was virtually an unknown team, was likewise winning matches and would go to the quarterfinals to meet Hyotei Gakuen. Meanwhile, Yamabuki's Lucky Sengoku approached Echizen but as expected, he was not recognized. Momoshiro, however, was familiar with him. Lucky Sengoku took the place of Tezuka in the previous Junior Tennis Camp when Tezuka declined the offer to participate.
Seigaku will be meeting St. Rudolph in the quarterfinals. If they win, they will definitely go to the Kantou Tournament. Given that objective, the line-up announced by Ryusaki-sensei was surprising and disturbing: Singles 1 – Tezuka; Singles 2 – Fuji; Singles 3 – Echizen; Doubles 1 – Kikumaru and Oishi; Doubles 2 – Kaidoh and Momoshiro. KAIDOH and MOMOSHIRO!? How can one play with one's bitter rival? Ever since their freshman year, they have always been at odds with each other. They are both competitive and neither one would like to lose.
According to Inui, St. Rudolph had been recruiting players and the current line-up is better that last year's. Their captain, Akaza, beat one of the Seigaku senpais last time. Yuuta, dubbed as the Left-Handed Killer, had been trained to attack left-handed players like Tezuka and Echizen, but is after his famous brother, Syusuke Fuji. The new manager, Mizuki, had been controlling the team well. He is also a member of St Rudolph's reinforcement group that is supposedly so strong that they only practice once or twice a week.
Yuuta got furious when he earned that he would not be facing his anaki (older brother) after all and instead, would be playing against Echizen. Mizuki pretended that he was misled by the information from Inui but in reality, Mizuki never intended the brothers to meet on the tennis court. Captain Akaza realized the deception but Mizuki justified his action by stating that based on his investigation, Ryoma has not yet played against a fellow left-handed player, and Yuuta would surely win. Of course, Mizuki did not know about the match between Tezuka and Echizen.
Mizuki made elaborate scenarios by scouting out their opponents. He realized that if they relied on beating Tezuka, St. Rudolph would be at a disadvantage. However, if they target other players, they stand a better chance and he planned to sweep the first three matches.
The tandem of Momoshiro and Kaidoh faced Yanagisawa and Kisaratsu. Yanagisawa had this irritating habit of punctuating his sentences with "dane" (loosely translated as "right'). Mizuki predicted a 6-2 victory over Seigaku. His scenario may happen considering that even when they were already inside the court, Momoshiro and Kaidoh continued quarrelling. On the bright side, as Inui noted, the two had been observing each other for over a year and they are familiar with each other's moves. Because each one refuses to lose to the other, this might be advantageous. Initially, the partnership seemed to be working as they bring out each other's strong points. Being rivals probably increased their energy levels, too. Nonetheless, Mizuki's plan of targeting Kaidoh (a.k.a. Mr. Bandana) was soon executed. The opponents were ready to seal Kaidoh's moves and aimed shots at his weak side.
Episode 30: Mizuki's Scenario
Yanagisawa and Kisaratsu continued to play as planned. As Kaidoh prepared to use his Snake Shot, he noticed that the two were seemingly anticipating his move. He lost his concentration and hit a net ball. St. Rudolph, courtesy of Mizuki, had details on all the Seigaku players' playing habits and special moves. The Snake Shot had been studied and Mizuki asked their coach to develop a strategy and training program that will neutralize it. As a result, St. Rudolph continued to aim shots at places that were difficult to return. They avoided lobs so Momoshiro cannot use his Dunk Smash. Unfortunately, the only one who can take advantage of the opponents not hitting lobs is Kaidoh's Snake but this move had been sealed as well. Hence, Momoshiro and Kaidoh were limited to returning their shots. This was stressful to both. As the match dragged on under the hot, humid weather, the Seigaku rivals were not in good condition.
Despite the other team's better technique and combination, Momoshiro and Kaidoh vowed to counter them with their strength and determination. Yanagisawa provoked them saying that it is all working as Mizuki planned but Momoshiro simply pointed that in tennis, there is no such thing a scenario. To make matters worse, Mizuki once more resorted to his dirty tactics. On the guise that dirt blurred the lines on Seigaku's side, he asked permission from the umpire to sweep the area. What he really wanted was to destroy the momentum building up on Seigaku as well as to be able to goad Inui that it is too bad that he is not a regular player and cannot enter the court to provide advice. Inui coolly replied that there is no advice to give. Nobody in Seigaku would listen to advice during a match like a puppet.
As the freshman trio panicked, Ryoma remained calm saying that people are not data alone. He was right. Momoshiro and Kaidoh soon increased their speed and geared up. With support from Momoshiro, Kaidoh managed to execute his Boomerang Snake instead of the anticipated plain Snake, which surprised their opponents. Ryoma, ever the party pooper, stated that the Boomerang Snake is not yet perfect because it would have been out in a singles court. Then Team Seigaku realized the reason why Kaidoh was used in doubles. The others said that Momoshiro would not be content on being a bystander and would be heated up because of Kaidoh's display. Fuji, however, opined that Momoshiro would not be so simple as to get affected that way. Nevertheless, Momoshiro did get heated up! Tezuka correctly observed that Momoshiro is that simple-minded.
As the momentum swung to Seigaku, Yanagisawa and Kisaratsu panicked. They started to make mistakes and even lobbed enabling Momoshiro to use his Dunk Smash. Mizuki watched in disbelief as the rivals evolved during the match itself. Would this be enough for Seigaku to win?