I'm Strong! Stronger Than All of You! Very Strong!

"BEEP!!!"

"Time's up. Please have your starting players take their positions on the court."

Horikita Manabu stood at center court holding a basketball, blew his whistle once, and shouted loudly.

"Gojo, time to get on the court."

Sudo Ken walked over to Gojo Satoru, who was resting with his eyes closed, and called out to him. But the answer he got was a bit unexpected.

"I only said I'd play power forward. I didn't say I'd start. You guys go ahead. I'll come in during the second quarter. I'm thinking about something."

Hearing this, the first-years all looked at the second-year senior, but he just spread his hands.

They had no choice but to grit their teeth and go out there.

"Why isn't the main player going in?"

"Could it be he's too stressed to move?"

"Who cares? As long as the third-years win, that's all that matters. I put down a pretty big bet!"

Ignoring the gossip, he quietly pondered who had organized this. If it was Class A of the third-years, they were already stable enough to graduate normally.

Logically, Horikita Manabu shouldn't agree to something that deceives so many students.

Nagumo from the second-years basically ran the show on his own, but he wouldn't dare try to profit off of him—he'd be too busy avoiding him.

First-years? The clues were a bit messy. Knowing he had the ability, or believing he could win—those were two different things.

They'd known about the Basketball Club match right away, but the new members in the club hadn't believed in his ability at first either.

Right! The senior girl!!

It wasn't just the Basketball Club members who could find out early. The senior girl watching the match in the gym would be a bit slower, but not by much.

Someone who believed in his ability, dared to trick the whole school, was a first-year, and could act boldly once she knew the situation—he had a candidate!

Having finished his thoughts, Gojo Satoru scanned the entire gymnasium but didn't spot that person.

Curious about him but not showing up, yet still trusting his ability—no doubt about it.

Once his thinking was done, he glanced at the campus forum on his phone. Betting had stopped. The current odds were:

Third-year victory: 1:0.7

First-year victory: 1:3

Draw: 1:1.2

The first quarter had already ended.

The score was now

7:43

Guess that's what you'd expect from the upperclassmen, huh? Playing the first-years was like child's play. They didn't even seem to be trying.

Two-minute break, but it looked like they were pretty shaken.

Komiya looked furious on the surface, but inside he was happy. After all, the bigger the score gap, the harder it was to catch up, and then he could cash in on the betting pool.

But he couldn't show it too much on the outside. At least he had to pretend.

"There's no way we can win like this, right? With that kind of score gap, and the third-years haven't even gotten serious yet. Even if Gojo's here, still..."

Before Komiya could finish his disheartened speech, Gojo Satoru cut him off loudly.

"No problem."

The scene went dead silent. The sound echoed back and forth through the gym.

Under everyone's stunned gaze, Gojo Satoru slowly pulled off his bandages. His icy eyes locked onto the first-year basketball team members, and a cold voice came from his lips.

"I'm strong!

Stronger than all of you!

Very strong!

So I'll crush every single one of those third-years.

Even if it's just me alone.

You lot have no skill, and you're cowards, every one of you."

As he spoke, he raised his right hand and pointed his index finger at them, then continued.

"I'm terribly sorry, but once you get on the court, just gnaw on your fingers for a bit!"

The entire crowd was stunned by these arrogant words. They couldn't imagine anyone could be so conceited, yet the aura he exuded left them unable to utter a single rebuttal.

The second quarter began, with Komiya substituted out.

Beneath their own basket, just as he received the ball, Yamagami Sawano blocked his path.

But before the opponent could even assume a stance, Gojo Satoru had already broken through from the wing, dribbling at super-high speed straight toward the hoop.

Just as he neared the three-point line, one of the opposing wing players and their captain, Kawashima, stepped in front of him.

Yet Gojo Satoru had no intention of stopping. In the disbelieving eyes of everyone else, he pulled up for a fadeaway jump shot in an inhuman motion.

They tried to leap up and block it, but it was too late—jumping from behind, they simply couldn't keep up with Gojo Satoru's shooting speed.

Bam!

First basket after stepping onto the court.

'Is that something a human can do? To pull up for a fadeaway without slowing down at all while dribbling at that speed!'

As the power forward, Yamagami Sawano once again realized the gap.

This was not an opponent he could face alone.

There was no way to win by himself—he had to rely on team coordination.

"Now, fast break!"

Kawashima, who had gained possession, shouted loudly.

He then passed the ball to the small forward, who ignored Sudo Ken's defense and sent it again to Yamagami Sawano, already under the basket.

Now!

The moment he caught the ball, he jumped immediately, giving no chance for a defensive recovery.

"Take this!"

But Gojo Satoru cut in from behind at an even faster speed and smacked the ball away!

'Too fast!'

With the ball again, Gojo Satoru didn't press for another quick break. Instead, he looked at Yamagami Sawano, who was guarding him seriously, and said with a hint of mockery, "I'm done playing. This isn't for me after all—this proper basketball."

The moment the words left his mouth, Gojo Satoru seemed to transform entirely, a wildness emerging from him.

Yamagami Sawano's expression grew even more grim.

'His aura has completely changed.'

The basketball in Gojo Satoru's hands sped up, dribbling back and forth between his legs.

'Both speed and rhythm have shifted!'

Watching all these changes, Yamagami Sawano locked his gaze tightly on the opponent.

Gojo Satoru drove forward with a fast break. This time, Yamagami Sawano stuck close behind him, pressing his body against the opponent's right side.

But just then, the basketball in Gojo Satoru's hand veered off its normal path, bouncing backward.

Yamagami Sawano couldn't believe the opponent would lose control of the dribble like that, making such a rookie mistake.

Yet before he could react, Gojo Satoru spun around quickly, caught the errant ball, and broke through from the right side.

"Don't even think about it!"

He went for a jump shot under the basket, but three of the third-years leaped simultaneously to block, forming a human wall.

As they jumped out of bounds, everyone thought they had stopped him this time. But just before landing, Gojo Satoru hooked the ball high and backward.

Bam!

Under everyone's stunned gaze, the ball sank into the hoop.

"No way?"

"He can shoot from that position?"

Just two baskets, and the entire third-year team was on high alert, not daring to relax for a second. Even though only Gojo Satoru was attacking for the first-years, they simply couldn't stop him.

Intercepting the opponent's possession, Gojo Satoru moved toward the basket again, but this time Yamagami Sawano stuck close underneath.

"I won't let you through! There's no way you can score from that stance!"

But Gojo Satoru jumped in a completely different direction from the basket, ignoring Yamagami Sawano's closely following leap.

He hooked the ball directly onto the backboard, relying on the rebound to sink it in!

BAM!

Securing the ball again, this time he didn't dribble at high speed but moved forward at a slow pace.

Looking at the small forward ahead and Kawashima, he felt a bit bored.

'They switched who's guarding me?'

Facing Gojo Satoru's relentless pressure, Kawashima felt his entire body trembling.

'Is this the pressure Sawano was just dealing with?!'

But the opponent's ball bounced toward him instead. Seeing the basketball about to land in his hands, he was a little confused.

'What's this guy doing? So full of openings!'

Yet the moment his hand was about to touch it, Gojo Satoru appeared to his left, swiftly hooked the ball back with his left hand, and broke past him in an instant.

'Shit! It's an irregular tempo-changing dribble!'

Realizing what happened, Kawashima spun around in shock, only to find that aside from his line of sight, nothing else could keep up!