School Begins

A week later, Miuradai's new semester began.

Already familiar with the place, Wu Yufei's first stop after entering the school was not his classroom, but the basketball gym.

Inside the gym, Murasame Kengo and Naito Tetsuya had already arrived early to practice.

Ever since Wu Yufei joined the basketball team, the two of them had been greatly motivated.

"Yo! Captain Murasame, Iron, you guys came early!"

Wu Yufei walked into the gym, set down his backpack, then picked up a basketball from the sideline and headed onto the court.

"You're not late either. It's not even seven yet, right?"

Murasame Kengo replied as he shot the ball in his hands.

"Well, my routine's gotten too regular. I naturally wake up at six, and then I can't fall back asleep, so I thought I'd come practice a little."

There was still a full hour before school officially began, making it the perfect time to work on basketball.

"Iron, let's practice our pick-and-roll plays again!"

"Okay!"

"Then I'll be your practice opponent."

Over the past week, Wu Yufei had often pulled Murasame and Naito in to run drills with him, all to help the two build chemistry with him as quickly as possible.

According to Wu Yufei's expectations, whether Miuradai could break out of Kanagawa Prefecture this year, enter the National Tournament, and create a new chapter in school history would depend on himself and the two men before him!

Murasame had skill, Naito had the physique, and Wu Yufei could organize the offense. As long as the three of them could coordinate well offensively, the other two teammates only needed to handle the dirty work.

On defense, Naito would be the main anchor under the basket. His height and bulk were right there for all to see; most centers in the prefecture, even in the country, could not shake Naito. If he sharpened his shot-blocking and rebounding, then with the support of Kawasaki Akio, their blue-collar worker, this interior combination would have nothing to fear from Shohoku's Gorilla Brothers. Even against Sanno's strongest Ohwada-and-Nobe pairing, they at least had to make sure they would not get utterly crushed!

If that vision could be perfectly realized, then forget merely reaching the National Tournament—even if they faced Sanno, Wu Yufei would have the confidence to give them a real fight!

An hour seemed like a long time, but once the three threw themselves into practice, it passed in no time.

"Alright, it's the first day of school. Yufei, don't be late. Go to class first. Team practice starts at four this afternoon, so make sure you're not late then. You can come eat lunch with us in the gym."

"Got it. I'll get going, then."

After packing up and picking up his bag, Wu Yufei left the basketball gym and headed toward the school building.

"Hey, isn't that Wu Yufei? That guy from X Middle School last year."

"Yeah, yeah! Our middle school played against them last year, and we got destroyed. Our captain went home and cried for hours."

"He actually came to Miuradai this year? I thought Kainan or Shoyo would definitely recruit him."

"Isn't that great? It means we'll be teammates with him for the next three years!"

On the way to the school building, quite a few freshmen who followed or loved basketball recognized Wu Yufei, who had shone brilliantly in middle school basketball the year before, and began talking among themselves.

After arriving at his class and finding his seat, Wu Yufei sat down and lay across his desk, staring boredly out at the sky.

"Yo! Isn't this Wu Yufei? Long time no see!"

Suddenly, someone Wu Yufei did not recognize at all walked up to him and greeted him excitedly.

"Uh... may I ask who you are?"

Wu Yufei truly did not recognize the person in front of him.

Whenever he had free time lately, Wu Yufei had been digging through the memories in his mind, gradually recovering many memories belonging to this body's original owner.

But he genuinely did not know the person before him.

"That's so harsh!! It's me! Ishiyama Jun! We played each other at last year's middle school Prefectural Tournament! Tōen Middle School!"

Ishiyama Jun's voice was full of grievance.

"We even shook hands after the game!"

[Tōen Middle School...? Hmm...]

Wu Yufei searched his mind as hard as he could for memories related to those words.

"Oh! I remember now! Tōen, the team we beat in the first round last year!"

Wu Yufei finally recalled it vaguely. During his third year of middle school, in the first round of the middle school Prefectural Tournament, the school Wu Yufei attended had faced Tōen Middle School.

At the time, Wu Yufei seemed to have put up a perfect 40+15+15 stat line, while his school had defeated them by a score more than double theirs.

The captain of Tōen Middle School's team back then seemed to have been named Ishiyama Jun.

"You've... really changed a lot over the past year..."

Wu Yufei looked Ishiyama Jun over twice, unable to connect the person before him with the image in his memories.

Compared with the person in his memories, Ishiyama Jun was taller by about five centimeters. His limbs were more muscular, and his skin was darker as well.

It seemed Ishiyama Jun had put in a great deal of hard work over the past year.

"Heh heh! Ever since you beat me last time, Yufei, I reflected deeply on it. I didn't waste a single minute over the next half year! During vacation, I even went to Tokyo to attend a basketball training camp run by a former national player. I'm ten times stronger than before now!"

Ishiyama Jun spoke with great pride.

A smile appeared on Wu Yufei's face. "Really? That's great. We'll be teammates for the next three years, so let's work hard together. My goal is to dominate the nation!"

"Dominate... the nation? That really is an impressive goal..."

Seeing Wu Yufei's outstretched hand, Ishiyama Jun froze for a moment. Then he came back to himself, smiled, and immediately shook it.

"But if it's you, there shouldn't be a problem. Please take care of me!"

Whoosh!

The classroom door slid open, and a middle-aged man walked in.

"Good morning, everyone. I'm very happy to meet you all. For the next three years, I'll be your homeroom teacher. My name is Yamada, and next..."

First came the students' introductions. Everyone was already very familiar with this part, and they stood one by one in order of their seat numbers to introduce their names, hobbies, and so on.

"My name is Wu Yufei. I'm an international student from China. My specialty is singing, dancing, ra... uh, no, no. My specialty is basketball—only basketball! I hope everyone will take care of me over the next three years. Thank you."

Wu Yufei did not mention anything about his goal of dominating the nation. After all, this was just an introduction among classmates, not some basketball team rally. There was no need to talk himself up too much.

Then came the familiar freshman orientation process: gathering in the auditorium and listening to a lecture from an old man with a head full of white hair.

It seemed leaders loved long-winded speeches no matter what country they were in.

Wu Yufei was nearly about to collapse and fall asleep on the spot before the opening ceremony finally ended successfully.

After all, it was the first day of school. Every teacher who came afterward basically just introduced themselves and gave a brief overview of their high school subject.

Soon, the morning came to an end.

"Yufei, let's go eat together!"

Ishiyama Jun approached Wu Yufei with his lunchbox.

"Oh, no thanks. I agreed to have lunch with my basketball team teammates. We can practice a little at noon too..."

Just as Wu Yufei finished refusing him, he suddenly thought of something.

"Right! Ishiyama, aren't you joining the basketball team too? Why don't you come with me now?"

"Really?! I thought I'd have to wait until this afternoon to go to the gym! I didn't expect you to have already gotten on such good terms with the basketball team upperclassmen, Yufei! I'm going, I'm going!"

With Ishiyama Jun's face full of excitement, the two left the school building together and headed for the basketball gym.

"Excuse us!... Huh? Why is no one here?"

Looking at the empty gym, Ishiyama Jun asked in confusion.

"Of course no one's here. Everyone must be eating in the lounge. Follow me."

Miuradai was, after all, a somewhat well-known private high school in the prefecture, so its basketball gym was naturally quite well equipped. Besides the court and locker rooms, it also had a lounge and a dedicated recording room.

Leading Ishiyama Jun through the place with ease, Wu Yufei brought him into the lounge and, sure enough, heard voices coming from inside.

Knock, knock, knock...

"Oh! Looks like Yufei's here. I'll get the door!"

Creak...

"Yo! Yufei, you finally made it! And he is?"

The one who came to open the door was Takatsu Hiroshi, the team's resident nice guy. Seeing the excited Ishiyama Jun beside Wu Yufei, he asked in confusion.

"Hello, senpai! I'm Ishiyama Jun from Class 1-A. I want to join the Miuradai Basketball Team too!"

Ishiyama Jun immediately introduced himself.

Everyone had gathered because they loved basketball. Coupled with Ishiyama Jun's cheerful, outgoing personality, he naturally became friendly with the second- and third-year upperclassmen very quickly.

After everyone finished lunch and took a short break, they began practicing in the basketball gym.

The coach had not specifically arranged any noon practice. Everyone had come voluntarily, so naturally it was not particularly formal training.

They simply practiced plays, played one-on-one, or found their own basket to work on drills. Everyone did whatever they felt like.

They practiced until there were twenty minutes left before afternoon classes. Only then did Wu Yufei change clothes, pack his things, arrange to meet his teammates for afternoon team practice, and leave the gym with Ishiyama Jun.

The afternoon classes were just as boring for Wu Yufei.

After all, in his previous life, Wu Yufei had gotten into a top university and consistently earned scholarships. He could barely be considered half a top student. High school-level classes now were like making a high schooler sit through first-grade math. If you were sent back to listen to lessons about one plus one, could you really stay alert? Not falling asleep on the spot would already be impressive.

When the afternoon classes ended, Miuradai High School officially entered club activity time.

Wu Yufei and Ishiyama Jun headed straight for the basketball gym.

"Yo! Yufei and Ah Chun, you're here. Perfect—we're holding rookie tryouts right now. You two can go through the process too."

Murasame Kengo looked at the two standing at the gym entrance and explained with a smile.

Right! He had forgotten about that part.

Only then did Wu Yufei remember that he and Ishiyama Jun had officially enrolled as first-year students today. By rights, they really did have to go through this formality.