The air in Teikō Junior High's Basketball Club First Team training gym was denser and heavier than during the freshman trials, carrying an invisible pressure that belonged to kings. The huge space echoed with the dull thuds of basketballs hitting the floor, the sharp squeals of sneakers scraping against it, the short, forceful bark of commands, and the heavy, powerful breaths of exertion. There were no unnecessary sounds here—only the purest, fiercest collisions of basketball. Bai Ze You stood at the sidelines in a brand-new Red and White Training Uniform. Beneath his short silver-gray hair, his amber eyes calmly swept across this battlefield belonging to the strong. He could clearly feel the competitive atmosphere and high spirits filling the air, almost suffocating in their intensity. This was the heart of Teikō, the national powerhouse.
His arrival was like a drop of cold water thrown into boiling oil, instantly disrupting some established balance. Practice seemed to pause for an extremely subtle moment. The First Team members who had been focused on their own drills—whether starters in their second or third year, or capable substitutes—all turned their gazes toward him in unison. Curiosity, scrutiny, investigation, and even a trace of barely perceptible rejection surfaced in their eyes. A freshman who had entered the First Team directly after passing the trials? That was exceedingly rare even in Teikō's history. Silent doubts spread through the air.
"Hey, is that him? The 'Phantom' freshman?"
"He doesn't look like anything special..."
"Hmph. Captain Nijimura personally named him. He'd better not be all hype."
"We'll know once we split into teams..."
Low murmurs surged through the corners of the gym like an undercurrent. Yū acted as though he had heard nothing and simply stretched in silence. His movements were smooth and fluid, every inch of muscle extending with a unique sense of rhythm. Yet, from the corner of his eye, he accurately caught several unusually sharp gazes.
At the other end of the court, Aomine Daiki was lazily stretching his legs against the wall. His deep-blue eyes, however, were like a hawk's fixed on prey, locked onto Yū with undisguised curiosity and almost primitive excitement. That gaze was hot, aggressive, and brimming with the desire for a challenge. Elsewhere, Murasbara occupied an area like a silent mountain. He slowly tore open a new Umaibo wrapper while casting Yū a glance through his half-lidded, languid purple eyes. His expression was flat and emotionless, as though he were looking at an insignificant object, yet the immense pressure within it seemed almost tangible. Farther away, Midōrima Shintarō, wearing glasses and carrying himself with rigid precision, meticulously adjusted his wristbands. His gaze behind the lenses was sharp and composed, like a precision instrument. It seemed he had already finished scanning Yū's basic data—height, wingspan, muscle type, and more—in an instant.
Just then, a cool, calm voice with undeniable penetrating force rang out from the gym entrance, instantly suppressing all the noise:
"Everyone, assemble."
The voice was not loud, but it reached every ear clearly, like cold jade striking jade. Everyone stopped moving at once and turned toward the doorway. A figure with short crimson hair and a tall, well-proportioned build stood there. His handsome face and mismatched eyes—gold on the left, red on the right—resembled unfathomably deep, icy pools. They were calm and still, yet seemed capable of seeing straight through people's hearts. He merely stood there, and an invisible pressure as heavy as a mountain spread through the gym, making the air congeal. Akashi Seijūrō. The future absolute core of Teikō Junior High. Though he was not yet captain, his innate leadership and control had already inspired awe in everyone.
The tall figure of Nijimura Shūzō appeared close behind Akashi. He strode to the center of the court, his gaze sweeping over everyone like a searchlight before pausing on Bai Ze You for a moment with a trace of barely detectable encouragement.
"Before training starts, I have something to announce." Nijimura's voice rang out like a war drum. "First-year freshman Bai Ze You will officially join the First Team training roster starting today."
A suppressed gasp rose through the gym. Though many had expected it, hearing Nijimura announce it personally still caused a considerable shock. One gaze after another focused on Yū again, now carrying even stronger scrutiny.
Nijimura paid no attention to the reactions below and continued, "Bai Ze You, step forward."
Yū calmly walked up and stood before Nijimura, his posture straight and his eyes tranquil as water. He showed none of a newcomer's nervousness.
Nijimura stared directly at him with a sharp gaze and said heavily, "The Teikō First Team isn't a greenhouse. We only look at ability—at what you can do on the court. Prove it to me. Prove it to everyone. Prove that Nijimura Shūzō didn't choose the wrong person!" His voice carried rough encouragement and weighty expectations.
"Yes, Captain." Yū's voice was not loud, but it was exceptionally clear and firm.
"Good." A trace of approval flashed through Nijimura's eyes. "Now, warm-ups are over. Scrimmage—five on five, full court! Starters against substitutes and the freshman!" He quickly read out the teams. As expected, Bai Ze You was placed with the substitutes and freshman—the White Team—while their opponents were the main starters of the Teikō First Team—the Red Team! Aomine Daiki, Akashi Seijūrō, Midōrima Shintarō, Murasaki-bara Atsushi, and a seasoned third-year defensive powerhouse, Takahashi!
The difference between the lineups was obvious at a glance. The White Team players all looked somewhat pale. This was practically an unwinnable practice game, more like a "welcome" intended to put the freshman in his place.
"Hey, kid." Aomine Daiki grinned, revealing a wild smile. Burning battle spirit blazed in his deep-blue eyes as he walked straight up to Yū. His tall body cast an oppressive shadow over him. "Don't disappoint me too much." The provocation was completely undisguised.
Yū raised his head and calmly met that aggressive gaze with his amber eyes. Without the slightest hint of retreat, he replied lightly, "Likewise."
The whistle blew! The battle began!
The Red Team won possession. Akashi Seijūrō advanced steadily with the ball. His movements were not fast, but they carried the composure of someone in complete control of the situation. His mismatched eyes swept over the positions of every teammate like the most precise radar. In his eyes, the White Team's defensive formation was a transparent sandbox.
"Left!" the White Team point guard defending Akashi, Sato, shouted nervously, trying to direct his teammates to cover the possible passing lane.
Yet before Sato had even finished speaking, Akashi's right wrist gave an extremely subtle twitch! The basketball seemed to have been given a life of its own. It cut a low, swift straight line along the floor, passing with surgical precision through the seemingly impossible sliver of space between two White Team defenders!
Target—the left corner!
Almost the instant the ball left Akashi's hand, a deep-blue bolt of lightning had already launched! Like a cheetah smelling blood, Aomine Daiki instantly shook off Yū's tight defense with speed beyond ordinary understanding. After a hard physical clash on a back cut created a little space, he appeared precisely at the end of the passing lane. Man and ball arrived together!
Catch! Without the slightest adjustment, Aomine forcibly launched himself into the air while moving at full speed! The motion was wild, yet filled with powerful beauty! The White Team player responsible for helping on defense, Ishida, gave everything he had to jump and block, but their jumping height and explosive speed belonged to entirely different levels! Aomine's body was like a drawn bowstring in the air. He raised his arm high and slammed the ball into the hoop before his opponent's desperate fingertips could reach it!
"Boom—!"
The rim let out a pained groan! The tremendous impact sent Ishida staggering backward!
"1–0!" the upperclassman serving as referee called, his voice full of admiration for the perfect coordination.
Fast! Precise! Ruthless! The strength of Teikō's starters was revealed in their very first attack! Their overwhelming pressure crashed over the White Team like a tangible tsunami, swallowing them whole.
"Damn it..." Sato gritted his teeth, his expression ugly. He had barely crossed half court when Akashi's seemingly unimposing figure glided up like a phantom. There were no exaggerated movements, but his precise anticipation, perfectly measured physical contact, and clinging pressure made Sato feel as though every dribble was a dance on the edge of a blade. The suffocating pressure nearly left him unable to breathe!
"Here!" The White Team power forward, Kobayashi, secured a position near the free-throw line and reached out for the ball.
Eager to escape Akashi's deadly pressure, Sato attempted a risky bounce pass to Kobayashi! But the instant the basketball left his fingertips, a pale, slender hand shot out like it had been waiting there all along!
Smack!
A clean, decisive steal!
It was Midōrima Shintarō! Somehow, he had precisely predicted the passing lane, intercepting it like the most accurate guided missile!
After stealing the ball, Midōrima did not pause for even a moment. His arm was like a fully drawn bow, and he instantly sent the ball toward Aomine, who had already begun sprinting upcourt! Another textbook fast break! Aomine caught the ball with open space before him. Like a black storm, he swept across the court and performed another vicious dunk!
"2–0!"
Barely ten seconds into the game, the White Team had conceded twice, both times on fast-break counterattacks following direct steals! Their morale plummeted. The substitute players on the sidelines looked ashen, as though they could already see the ending.
"Focus! Don't panic!" Yū's voice was not loud, but it clearly reached every teammate. There was no trace of panic in his amber eyes. Instead, they held an almost frozen calm. "Give me the ball!" He ran back toward the defensive end and held out his hand to the somewhat dazed Sato.
Sato threw him the ball at once, as though he had seized a lifeline.
Yū caught it and firmly controlled the tempo. Instead of rushing forward, he dribbled slowly across half court, his calm gaze sweeping over the opposing defensive formation. Akashi did not come to guard him personally. That task fell to Takahashi, the third-year defensive powerhouse. Takahashi was tall and powerfully built, with solid footwork and extensive experience. His outstretched arms formed a cage, and his fierce eyes fixed on Yū.
"Don't even think about playing tricks in front of me, kid!" Takahashi growled, applying psychological pressure.
Yū did not answer. His dribbling suddenly sped up. He lowered his center of gravity and violently feinted left with his shoulder! The motion was huge and incredibly convincing! Takahashi's eyes narrowed, and his center of gravity instinctively shifted half a step left.
At that instant, Yū's right wrist snapped like a striking snake. In an extremely small space, the ball traced a strange arc and somehow passed from his right hand to his left beneath his own legs! At the same time, using his right foot as a pivot, his swaying body spun backward with such speed that it left only an afterimage! Takahashi's vision blurred. A gust swept past his side, and by the time he tried to adjust his balance, Yū had completely slipped past his right side!
"So fast!"
"Another move like that!"
Gasps rose from the sidelines. But the Red Team's defensive rotation was incredibly fast! The moment Yū escaped Takahashi, Aomine Daiki's deep-blue figure had already arrived like a phantom to cover. His tall body carried the oppressive force of a beast and instantly sealed off Yū's path. Excitement burned in his deep-blue eyes. "Come on! Let me see what you can do!"
Facing the explosive wall that had suddenly risen before him, Yū did not slow down in the slightest! While sprinting at full speed, he took a huge step toward the front right, leaning his entire body sharply in that direction. His eyes stabbed toward the right, and his left hand pushed the ball dramatically forward and right! It was a huge, blatantly obvious fake move toward the right.
Aomine's pupils contracted sharply! His extraordinary physical ability and Wildness First Sense allowed him to instantly catch every detail of the movement—the angle of the lowered shoulder, the focus of Yū's gaze, the telltale sign of his foot starting... It was too convincing! His center of gravity was almost instinctively about to shift right to block him!
Yet, at that critical instant, when Yū's dramatically tilted body was about to shift its center of gravity completely, he forcibly stopped using flexibility and core strength beyond reason! It was as though time froze around him for a moment! That exaggerated push to the right transformed, with an imperceptibly fast inward twist of his wrist, into a high-speed pullback behind his body, tight against him! As though drawn by invisible threads, the ball passed behind his body from the right and returned to his right hand!
At the same time, he used the rebound of his body and the rhythm gap created by that instant of stillness. His left foot slammed into the floor, and he exploded like a cheetah at full charge toward the only opening—the left side, created when Aomine's center of gravity was deceived!
"Wha—?!" A flash of astonishment crossed Aomine's eyes! His proud Wildness First Sense had been deceived for the first time! Yū's momentary pause and Rhythm Change had completely disrupted his prediction! Aomine tried to forcibly twist his center of gravity back, but Yū's burst of speed was just as astonishing!
One step!
With only one step, Yū used the opening created in that flash and his own explosive strength to force half his body past Aomine's side!
"Stop him!" Akashi's calm voice rang out.
Inside the paint, a huge figure like a Wall of Sighs had already taken position! Murasaki-bara Atsushi! His enormous body covered the entire restricted area, his massive palm spread wide like a net waiting for prey! Terrifying pressure descended like a tangible gravity field!
Murasaki-bara's giant palm sealed the sky ahead!
Aomine pursued him from behind like a shadow!
An impasse!
In midair, the reflection of Murasaki's sky-obscuring body filled Yū's pupils. Time seemed to stretch. The tremendous inertia carried him toward that wall of flesh! Just before his body was about to collide violently with Murasaki, Yū's inhuman flexibility and powerful core strength erupted brilliantly for the third time before everyone's eyes!
His body, originally surging forward, forcibly changed posture in midair! His waist and abdomen twisted as though an invisible giant hand had wrenched them, and his entire body bent backward in an unbelievable arc! His tremendous Air Time Ability gave him precious time to adjust in the air! At the same time, with his body extremely twisted and nearly facing away from the basket, his ball-holding right hand relied on muscle memory built through countless repetitions and an astonishing sense of space. His wrist flicked with extreme softness, sending the ball toward the basket in a nearly invisible, tiny, strangely spinning floater!
The basketball traced a low, swift arc with heavy backspin. Like a nimble swallow, it narrowly slipped through the tiny gap that should not have existed at the absolute edge of the area covered by Murasaki's enormous palm!
Swish!
The sound of the ball brushing the backboard and dropping through the net rang out in the suddenly quiet gym, crisp as thunder!
"What a shot—!!!" After a moment of silence, a tremendous wave of cheers erupted! The White Team players on the bench jumped up in excitement! That shot was incredibly uplifting! Under the combined blockade of Teikō's two star players, Aomine and Murasaki, Yū had scored in such an unbelievable way!
"Whoa..." Murasaki landed and looked at the rolling ball. Apparently surprised, he fully opened his usually languid purple eyes for the first time. A trace of confusion and seriousness settled on Yū, who had just landed. "...I didn't block it?"
Aomine also landed steadily. His deep-blue eyes locked onto Yū. The previous contempt and pure desire for a challenge had vanished, replaced by solemnity and a fiercer flame that had been ignited. He bared his teeth in an even wilder, more excited grin. "Interesting! Again!"
At the sidelines, Nijimura Shūzō's clenched fist slowly relaxed, and the corner of his mouth curved into an almost sharp smile. Good job, kid! Under the pressure of Teikō's starting lineup—especially Aomine and Murasaki—he had not only avoided collapsing, but produced such a dazzling performance! The calm mind he maintained under high-speed clashes and extreme pressure, his unbelievable body control, and his skill in pushing deceptive Fake Moves to the limit... These were precisely the rare talents Teikō needed most on the front line! The last trace of doubt in Nijimura's heart vanished completely, replaced by deep admiration and anticipation.
Akashi Seijūrō, who had remained motionless at the sideline, observing like a precision instrument, also showed an extremely subtle ripple deep within his mismatched eyes. His gaze was like invisible threads, firmly binding itself to Bai Ze You. That breakthrough just now... Aomine's center of gravity was deceived? It had lasted only an instant, but this freshman had used a rhythm gap and that strange body control to accomplish it... Akashi's fingers unconsciously tugged at his cuff. He picked up the Shorthand Notebook Momoi Satsuki had prepared at the sideline and quickly recorded something in it. Data... I need more data to analyze this variable named "Bai Ze You." The corner of his mouth seemed to lift into an almost imperceptible, cold, interested curve.
In the shadows of the second-floor stands, a figure appeared again at some unknown point. Kise Ryōta leaned against the railing, his golden eyes sparkling as though he had discovered a priceless treasure. He stared unblinkingly at the silver-haired figure on the court and muttered, "Whoa! That move just now! Amazing! I want to learn it! That spin... and that floater... How did he do that?" His face was filled with pure excitement and a longing for Imitation's.
Momoi Satsuki stood at the sideline, her cherry-pink ponytail swaying slightly with her excitement. Her fair cheeks were flushed. The pen in her hand flew across the Shorthand Notebook as she recorded that breathtaking shot. "That was incredible! The instant Rhythm Change... the Fake Move's Deception Level... the flexibility and core strength in the midair evasion... and the touch on that final floater... Data! The data can't keep up at all!" She lifted her head and looked at Yū on the court with bright, sparkling cherry-pink eyes, filled with wonder and pure enthusiasm for research.
After landing, Yū staggered slightly from the extreme midair evasion and twisted exertion just now, but quickly steadied himself, his chest rising and falling faintly. He glanced at the scoreboard—2–1—and felt Aomine's even hotter gaze, Murasaki's scrutinizing stare, Akashi's cold investigation, Nijimura's expectant look from the sidelines, Momoi's astonishment, and Kise's curiosity from the second floor... He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air. Beneath the stillness in his amber eyes, deep as an ancient well, a flame called fighting spirit was finally kindled completely and began to burn in silence.
The Trial Ground of the Teikō First Team had only just begun its true battle. White Phantom's dance steps would carve out an even more breathtaking rhythm on this stage where strong players were everywhere.
Before you continue