Why not? Kai lost to Kikumaru, really. And it's mention that Hiyoshi beat Ootori, who beat Shishido. And Shishido does beat Kikumaru in this tournament.
And since when is Kikumaru even close to Echizen? Hiyoshi at his max pacing (that he should be able to keep up now with his most recent match) are about even to Regional! Echizen and he managed to dominated both Inui and Kaidoh, both of which are stronger player than Kikumaru. Hiyoshi should take this one rather comfortably.
I sill dunno how Shishido defeated Kikumaru in this tournament, it was nonesense. Had airgrimes been there to vote, Kikumaru would had won.
Kikumaru was close back in the day, as I said... really, saying that Hiyoshi > Kikumaru just because Echizen let him win some games, is like saying that Yuuta > Kikumaru too... nonesense.
Let's see... Hiyoshi and Gakuto (cause he didn't do it alone) dominated a Kaidoh that only rallied and an Inui that wasn't even trying (he was just collecting data)... again, that ain't a big feat.
You're underestimating Kai just because he lost against Kikumaru (...and that ain't bad at all).
Now, let's use your logic here, just to show how irrelevant those 4 games that Hiyoshi won are.
Kai >> Tanishi.Tanishi won 6 games against Kanto Echizen. So, Kai >> Tanishi >> Hiyoshi , right?