Teikō Basketball Club's daytime was a furnace of Akashi Seijūrō's Absolute Efficiency. The hellish training intensity was like an invisible grindstone, day after day grinding away at the players' physical and mental limits, trying to forge every unruly genius into a cold, efficient, absolutely obedient weapon of victory. Sweat, panting, the groans of aching muscles, Akashi's precise-to-the-millisecond commands... together formed a suffocating symphony of daily life.
Yet when night fell, the clamor faded, and the enormous gymnasium was enveloped in profound silence, leaving only a few lonely ceiling lights casting dim yellow halos, this place quietly transformed into another battlefield—a silent arena of resistance belonging to Bai Ze You alone.
"Clang!"
The heavy metal door of the locker room slammed shut behind him, cutting off the exhaustion and repression of the day. Bai Ze You did not head home. Instead, he dragged his body, every inch of muscle filled with lead and screaming in protest, back onto the empty court once more. His footsteps echoed through the silence, carrying an almost tragic loneliness.
He reached the edge of the court and set down his bag. His movements were slow, because every bend tugged at his aching muscles. He picked up the basketball. The familiar feel of leather against his fingertips was the only warmth capable of soothing his soul at that moment.
There was no warm-up—the day's training had already wrung his body dry. He simply took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and tried to drive Akashi's cold gaze, his precise data-based demands, and that suffocating "risk threshold" from his mind.
Then he began dribbling.
Very slowly.
Thump, thump... thump, thump...
The sound of the basketball striking the floor echoed through the empty gym, lonely as his heavy yet stubborn heartbeat.
Between the legs... behind the back... spin...
His