Friendly Match Opponents

Time passed quickly, at least for Wu Yufei.

After all, the material taught in class was nothing difficult for someone like him, who had fought his way through the hellish battlefield of China's exam-oriented education and made it into a prestigious university. So, Wu Yufei spent most classes drowsing. Occasionally opening his eyes to glance at the blackboard was already the greatest respect he could show the teacher.

Of course, in order to avoid leaving the teachers with the bad impression that he was some delinquent who never studied, whenever a teacher called Wu Yufei up to solve a problem on the blackboard, he would always answer it perfectly.

Once or twice, the teachers assumed Wu Yufei had simply gotten lucky. But after it happened repeatedly, all the teachers could do was helplessly accept that this guy was a genius. If he did not want to listen, then so be it. At worst, he only slept in class and did not disrupt their lessons.

On the contrary, every teacher probably wished their entire class consisted of students like Wu Yufei.

Thus, with the teachers' tacit approval and the admiring gazes of his classmates, Wu Yufei spent nearly every class half listening and half sleeping. The only subject he could manage to listen to for two-thirds of the lesson was Japanese History.

After all, unless someone specialized in it, this was not something people in China actually studied.

As a result, every day naturally passed very quickly for Wu Yufei.

Even the most boring and seemingly endless hours of studying flew by, while basketball practice afterward passed in the blink of an eye.

Coach Harada was not some renowned coach, so the training plan he set for the Miuradai Basketball Team was naturally rather rough.

Once training began, they ran a few laps to warm up, followed by thirty minutes of individual practice. If your shooting was poor, you practiced shooting; if your dribbling was poor, you practiced dribbling; if you could not drive, you practiced driving. After half an hour, they played a practice game and were evaluated based on their performance.

After the scrimmage, they practiced a few tactical plays and set patterns, most of which were centered around Wu Yufei.

Once tactical training ended, it was nearly five-thirty.

They then had one final hour of individual practice, ending right on time at six-thirty, after which everyone went home.

Anyone willing to stay in the gym and keep practicing could do so voluntarily. Anyone with other matters could leave. That was the Miuradai Basketball Team's daily training schedule.

Every time, before Wu Yufei had even practiced to his heart's content, the coach would announce the end of training and dismiss everyone.

Unable to do anything about it, Wu Yufei could only call like-minded teammates to stay for extra practice. Yet before he could train to a satisfying extent, his teammates would bid him goodbye and head home one after another.

Not every Miuradai player was like Wu Yufei, determined to stay on the path of basketball all the way to the NBA. Most of them merely hoped this talent would help them get into a good university in the future. That was all.

All Wu Yufei could do about that was sigh. Everyone had their own aspirations; they could not be forced.

One week... two weeks...

Half a month passed quickly, and Wu Yufei had also been eagerly awaiting something else.

Finally, on Wednesday afternoon of the third week, Coach Harada brought the news Wu Yufei most wanted to hear.

Clap... clap... clap

Coach Harada appeared at the entrance to the gym and clapped his hands, drawing the attention of every player practicing inside. Then he said, "The Prefectural Tournament will begin soon. Our friendly match opponents have been decided. This Saturday morning, we'll visit Takezono High School, and next Sunday, we'll host Tsukutake High School here."

Takezono and Tsukubu... Both were solid top-eight teams in the prefecture. But then again, Miuradai's best result in recent years had only been a top-eight finish, so these were probably the best opponents they could arrange.

Wu Yufei thought helplessly.

He had actually been looking forward to seeing whether Coach Harada could arrange matches against Shoyo or even Kainan, but it seemed he had been thinking too much.

If their opponents were merely teams like Takezono and Tsukubu, then even without him, Miuradai's current lineup could still narrowly defeat them.

After all, ever since Takezono's third-years graduated last year, the team had been relying entirely on first-year Oda Ryusei to hold things together. The key was that Oda was not truly the kind of star who could carry an entire team by himself.

Thus, in the story, Takezono could rely on Oda's outstanding performances to make it all the way to the top-eight round, only to be utterly crushed by the reigning champions, Kainan University Affiliated High School, in the group final. Kainan could send out only half its main lineup and still make Oda question his life.

As for Tsukubu, there was even less to say. Though the original work mentioned that Tsukubu had briefly suppressed Shohoku early in the game using the tactics they excelled at, they were ultimately crushed by Shohoku. That proved Tsukubu was, in the end, a team with only a few tricks.

If those few tricks knocked their opponents senseless, they could build momentum and win smoothly. But once their opponents withstood them, they would immediately run out of steam and eventually be overturned.

Both teams were standard top-eight teams. They had a certain amount of strength, but they also had fatal weaknesses.

Seeing that Wu Yufei did not look particularly pleased, Harada could only explain helplessly, "There's no helping it. These were the only two teams I could arrange. I also tried asking Takezato and Shoyo, but they both refused. The remaining teams are not even as good as these two."

"Looks like Miuradai is being underestimated."

The first person to step forward was not Wu Yufei, but captain Murasame Kengo.

In his view, Shoyo was at least a powerhouse whose strength and reputation within the prefecture were second only to Kainan University Affiliated High School. It was normal for them to have their pride, and he had nothing to say about being refused by them.

But Takezato? Where did they get that confidence? Last year, they had barely reached the final four only by relying on a group of third-year seniors giving it everything they had. This year, all those contributors who led the team to the final four had graduated and gone to university.

All of a sudden, Murasame Kengo wanted to face Takezato in the Prefectural Tournament even more than Kainan, so he could teach them a proper lesson.

"Alright, if you have any energy to spare, vent it all out on the court! Our next game is an away match at Takezono High School. That place is a Hellish Home Court with quite a reputation throughout the prefecture, so none of you had better lose your nerve!"

Coach Harada rallied them.

"Yes!!" everyone roared in response.

"Continue training!"

Wu Yufei did not continue his shooting practice. Instead, he approached Naito Tetsuya again.

"A-Tetsu, for the next two days, let's practice an extra hundred passing combinations every day. Let's improve our chemistry a little more. Once the game comes, I guarantee I'll feed you until you're stuffed!"

"Alright! You said it! You'd better give me at least ten assists then!"

Weekly Mission

Assist Enhancement: For the next week, you must complete two hundred assist drills every day.

Current mission progress:

Mid-range shots: 79/200

Completions: 2/7

For the previous two days, Wu Yufei had asked Murasame Kengo to help him. Today, he thought it was time to switch things up. As a mad feeder, he had to spread the love around.

After completing today's mission quota with Naito, Wu Yufei found several teammates who had voluntarily stayed behind for extra practice and played half-court 3v3 with them, using the game to hone their chemistry.

As usual, they continued until nine at night. After every teammate had left, Wu Yufei was the last to turn off the lights, lock the door, and leave the school.

Walking home, Wu Yufei suddenly remembered that some household supplies needed replenishing.

And since official games were about to begin, he should buy a new set of gear as well, if only for good luck.

With that in mind, Wu Yufei turned and headed toward the largest nearby shopping mall.

However, just as Wu Yufei was about to enter the mall in front of him, he suddenly heard a woman scream from the parking lot not far away.