Iron Man's Discovery

The next day.

Shohoku High School's teaching building.

Class 1, Section 7.

As usual, Qing Junce was sprawled over his desk, fast asleep.

At the lectern stood a bald teacher with a horseshoe of hair. His brows were twitching so rapidly they could have kept up with a dance club, and the large vein-shaped mark on his forehead looked ready to burst.

If Qing Junce's results on the last mock exam had not been fairly good, he would have lost his temper long ago.

Shohoku High School · Basketball Club.

After school, everyone from the Basketball Club gathered there.

After making a few marks on the schedule with her pen, Ayako said to everyone, "We won the first game by a large margin and advanced successfully. Our opponent in the second game is Kakuno High School."

As soon as she finished speaking, Shimizu Kanon picked up a stack of documents and continued, "Kakuno High School is a team that emphasizes teamwork, but their score in the first game wasn't very high. In other words, they don't have any especially outstanding players on their team. As long as everyone sticks to the plan, we'll be fine."

Upon hearing this, Sakuragi Hanamichi's brows twitched a few times, and a meaningful look began to appear in his eyes. There aren't any especially outstanding players! Doesn't that mean this genius can do whatever he wants? Hehehehe...

Thinking about how he could shine brilliantly during the game, the corners of his mouth began to rise uncontrollably.

Akagi Takenori then said loudly, "All right, everyone, get ready to face Kakuno High School!"

Evening.

After training, Qing Junce and Shimizu Kanon left school together.

They walked along the street, chatting casually.

Shimizu Kanon suddenly asked, "A-Ce, you haven't passed the ball to anyone in a long time, have you?"

Qing Junce shot her a sidelong glance and remained silent.

Shimizu Kanon continued, "Why is that?"

As she spoke, she turned her head to stare at Qing Junce, trying to figure something out.

Qing Junce frowned slightly. After a long while, he finally said, "I just don't think there's any need."

"Is that so?" Shimizu Kanon was somewhat unconvinced. "I still remember that A-Ce used to pass the ball."

"You said it yourself—that was in the past." Qing Junce scratched his head as he spoke.

Shimizu Kanon's lips curled upward. "So it's not that A-Ce doesn't want to pass. You just feel that your strength has improved, so passing is unnecessary now, right?"

Qing Junce said nothing, tacitly acknowledging what she meant.

"Why not try changing things up in the next game?" Shimizu Kanon suggested.

"Huh?"

Qing Junce frowned in confusion. "Change what?"

"Passing!" Shimizu Kanon coaxed. "If you find the game boring, you can try passing the ball. You might get an unexpected surprise!"

"What kind of surprise?" Qing Junce asked, puzzled.

What surprise could passing possibly bring? He wasn't Kuroko Tetsuya.

Was she asking him to stand by and watch other people play?

What a joke.

Bzz... bzz... bzz...

Just then, a buzzing sound came from behind, growing louder as it approached.

Qing Junce and Shimizu Kanon stopped and turned to look.

In the distance, accompanied by the buzzing, a small dot gradually grew larger in their eyes until its true form was revealed.

It was someone riding a motorcycle.

Once the rider drew closer, Qing Junce and Shimizu Kanon realized that he looked somewhat familiar.

The motorcyclist also noticed Qing Junce and Shimizu Kanon.

Screech—

A piercing braking sound suddenly rang out.

The motorcycle stopped in front of Qing Junce and Shimizu Kanon.

"It's you." Shimizu Kanon recognized the newcomer.

He had been one of the people involved in the previous incident where the Basketball Club members were attacked.

She nervously moved closer to Qing Junce, unsure why this person had stopped.

Qing Junce looked calm and did not take the man in front of him seriously at all.

He also remembered who this person was.

This was Iron Man, the helper Mitsui Hisashi had found from the streets when he caused trouble at the Basketball Club.

Iron Man looked at Qing Junce and Shimizu Kanon, narrowing his eyes slightly as if thinking. Then he asked tentatively, "You two are from Shohoku?!"

He had seen the uniforms Qing Junce and Shimizu Kanon were wearing.

He recognized them as Shohoku's uniforms.

"Do you need something?" Qing Junce did not answer him, but asked in return.

Iron Man was taken aback.

He sensed that Qing Junce was distinctly uninterested in him.

He also sensed an inexplicable danger from the other man.

It was an instinctive awareness of danger, as if he were already being watched by a beast and might lose his life the next second.

He had felt this way once before, though it had not been this intense.

That had been when he faced Sakuragi Hanamichi.

Back then, Sakuragi Hanamichi had given him the same sense of danger.

Iron Man was silent for a while before asking, "Do you know a red-haired kid?"

Hearing this, Shimizu Kanon froze and blurted out, "Sakuragi..."

The corners of Iron Man's mouth lifted. "Looks like you do. In that case, you must know Mitsui too!"

Shimizu Kanon covered her mouth, feeling that she had said too much.

Qing Junce said impatiently, "What exactly are you trying to say? If you have nothing to say, then leave."

Iron Man paid no attention to Qing Junce's attitude and instead asked, "How is that guy Mitsui doing now?"

Qing Junce was speechless. "You should ask him yourself."

Whee-oo... whee-oo... whee-oo...

Just then, a series of sirens came from the distance, growing louder as they approached.

Iron Man glanced back and said helplessly, "They caught up? What a hassle."

As he spoke, he started the motorcycle again and said to Qing Junce and Shimizu Kanon, "Please give Mitsui my regards for me! Also..."

He pointed at his head and said, "I really hate wearing a helmet."

As soon as he finished speaking, he accelerated and sped away.

Qing Junce and Shimizu Kanon both wore baffled expressions as they watched Iron Man gradually disappear.

Shimizu Kanon let out a long breath. "Phew, he's finally gone. What a strange person. He should be Senior Mitsui's friend, right?!"

"Who knows? Either way, he has nothing to do with us." Qing Junce spoke indifferently.

"But he asked us to say hello to Senior Mitsui!" Shimizu Kanon reminded him.

Qing Junce dug at his ear and snorted. "I never agreed to it."

"Huh? You can't do that!" Shimizu Kanon scolded him.

Elsewhere.

Mitsui Hisashi walked out of a hospital.

He glanced back at the hospital and muttered, "I don't want to come to a place like this again."

After saying that, he started walking toward the end of the street.

However, he had only taken a few steps when he saw a light appear in the distance across the street, gradually growing larger as it approached.

Accompanied by a buzzing roar, a motorcycle flashed past him.

Mitsui Hisashi stopped, thinking that the figure who had just flashed by looked somewhat familiar.

He turned his head and saw that the motorcycle that had just sped past had also stopped.

Two figures stared at each other from a distance.

Mitsui Hisashi: "Iron Man."

Iron Man: "Oh, it's Mitsui!"

Iron Man looked at Mitsui and then at the hospital beside him. He teased, "Don't tell me you got beaten up again?"

Mitsui Hisashi replied, "I came to have my knee examined. It's completely healed."

After he finished speaking, the two fell silent again.

After a long while, Iron Man finally said, "I just met two people from your Shohoku."

"Hm?"

Mitsui Hisashi was puzzled, not understanding why he was bringing this up. "Two people?"

Iron Man lit a cigarette and took a deep drag. Then he curled his lips and said, "One was a very dangerous person, and the other was a very pretty girl. They knew you, though I don't know what his name was."

"And a girl?" Hearing this, Mitsui Hisashi immediately thought of Qing Junce and Shimizu Kanon.

At school, the only people he knew who were always accompanied by a girl seemed to be those two.

"You..." Mitsui Hisashi opened his mouth, wanting to ask something, but he did not know how to phrase it.

Iron Man chuckled softly. "Don't worry. Nothing happened between us. But that kid is definitely no ordinary person. There's a beast hidden inside him."

Mitsui Hisashi did not understand, but still said, "He's on the basketball team too."

Naturally, he knew that Qing Junce was no ordinary person.

He simply had yet to understand what Iron Man meant.

"So he's on the basketball team!" Thinking of everything that had happened at the Basketball Club last time, Iron Man could not help laughing at himself.

Whee-oo... whee-oo... whee-oo...

Just then, the sirens in the distance reached the two of them.

"They caught up again? I thought they'd already left." Iron Man sighed, then threw his cigarette butt onto the ground and stamped it out.

He climbed back onto the motorcycle, then pointed at his head and said to Mitsui Hisashi, "Why wear a helmet? I hate the damn things."

He gave Mitsui Hisashi one last look and said with a smile, "Goodbye, sports boy."

With that, Iron Man rode away on his motorcycle.

Watching Iron Man gradually vanish into the darkness, Mitsui Hisashi murmured, "A beast hidden inside him?"

Mitsui Hisashi pondered it, but ultimately could not figure out what it meant.