Gold Medal Coach

"Teaming up with the gorilla..." Sakuragi fell into thought again.

"Don't tell me you begged the genius here to join the team, Gorilla!" Sakuragi suddenly leaned close to Akagi's ear and whispered.

"Idiot! You're impossible!" Akagi flew into a rage and punched Sakuragi squarely on the head.

"Brother! Sakuragi has only just recovered..." Haruko felt that her brother had hit him a little too hard.

"He's perfectly healthy. Don't worry about him!" Akagi said firmly.

"Wait, Akagi, are you really with the Jaguars?!" Sakuragi asked again for confirmation.

"Of course. Not only me—Miyagi and Mitsui are on the team too. And this year, you and Rukawa Kaede were selected as well. Our old Shohoku is together again!" Akagi's eyes shone with determination, just like back when Shohoku had set its sights on conquering the nation.

"M-Miyagi! That's awesome! Hahahahaha! It would be perfect if that damned fox weren't here!" A blissful smile returned to Sakuragi's face, but the moment he thought of Rukawa Kaede, his mood sank again.

"All right, stop muttering over there. Once your injuries have fully healed, I'll take you back to the team for training camp," Akagi said.

"My injuries healed ages ago. I'm fine, look." Sakuragi began stretching as he spoke.

"No. Follow the doctor's instructions. I'm heading out for a while. If you dare leave the hospital without permission... you know the consequences..." Akagi suddenly gave him a vicious glare, making Sakuragi tremble.

"Don't worry, Akagi. With us here, Sakuragi won't even get out of bed!" The Sakuragi Gang was brimming with confidence.

"You guys!!" Sakuragi gritted his teeth in fury.

After a week of rehabilitation, Sakuragi was finally discharged.

"Hahahahaha! The genius is finally out of the hospital!!! I can finally play basketball again!!! Hahahahaha!"

"Idiot, stop yelling! You stepped on my foot!"

"Sakuragi, do your best!"

"Haruko! Don't worry, just wait for the genius to conquer the nation! Hahahaha!"

"Idiot, get in the car! If you keep dawdling, we'll miss the plane!"

"Haruko, take care of yourself while you're working out here alone. Don't exhaust yourself. Call me if anything happens."

"Got it, Brother. You do your best too!"

"Haruko~~~!" Sakuragi was reluctant to part with her.

"Get in the car, idiot!"

After saying goodbye to Haruko, Akagi and Sakuragi finally set off for Kobe to join the team, which was training there.

"Mitsui, why haven't we seen our coach?" Rukawa Kaede asked.

"I heard the team got a new coach this year. I only saw him at the press conference. He looked like a very kind older man, but after that conference, he seemed to vanish. I haven't seen him since. I asked Kawaguchi too, but he wasn't very clear on it either," Mitsui explained.

"Tch. Without a coach, training aimlessly like this is pointless." Rukawa Kaede clearly wasn't used to this kind of training.

"How about we go to the gym and work on our strength?" Seeing that Rukawa Kaede lacked enthusiasm for training, Miyagi made a suggestion.

"Miyagi! If we're going to the gym, how could we leave out a fitness expert like the genius here?!"

Sakuragi suddenly entered through the training hall's main doors, talking as he walked in.

"You are...?" Miyagi found the person before him familiar, but he couldn't quite place him.

"Could it be Sakuragi?" Mitsui seemed to recognize him.

"Hahaha, Mitsui still has sharp eyes. I am Sakuragi Hanamichi—the Slam Dunk Master, back from training in the United States, the future core of the Jaguars, my red hair gone but my strength undiminished!" Sakuragi introduced himself with complete confidence.

"He's really just a big idiot..." Rukawa Kaede poured cold water on him.

"Rukawa Kaede!!! Say that again!!!! Damn it!!!!!! Mitsui, don't hold me back!!!" Sakuragi erupted in fury.

"Is it really okay to put those two on the same team?" Miyagi sighed.

"Hmph, don't get cocky! Rukawa Kaede, our showdown isn't over yet. Dare to keep going? It's my ball!" Sakuragi still had their previous match on his mind.

"Idiot, you think I'm afraid of you?" Rukawa Kaede seemed eager as well.

"All right, you lot, stop messing around. Why are you still acting like high school students?" Akagi walked into the hall.

"Rukawa Kaede, after all these years, you've become even more competitive," Akagi said.

"Not really." Rukawa Kaede more or less admitted it.

"All right, your showdown is over. This is Jaguars training time now. Everyone, focus and train hard. Although it's been a long time since you've all seen one another, save the catching up for after practice. Right now, you should show everyone what you've gained from your training over these past years. I'm personally looking forward to it!" Akagi spoke like a drill instructor.

"Akagi, don't tell me you're the coach?!" Rukawa Kaede guessed.

"Akagi has what it takes to be a coach, but for now, he should focus on being the team's pillar in the paint." A somewhat gray-haired older man entered through the side door, followed by Kawaguchi and several people in uniforms.

The older man was extremely tall, easily around 180 centimeters. He stood straight, and while he wasn't massively built, he still looked strong and fit. After all, people tended to shrink as they aged, so the first impression he gave was that he must have once been involved with basketball—and indeed, that was the case.

"Sakuragi, Akagi! You're finally back! Great, Shohoku's Five Tigers are finally all together!! Man!!!!! It feels like a dream!!!" Kawaguchi looked at the five of them as though he had just seen his idols. His eyes were utterly vacant, as if his soul had drifted away.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Kawaguchi, who exactly is this old man?!" Sakuragi sidled over and asked curiously.

"Ahhh!! I forgot! I forgot to introduce him! I was too busy thinking about Shohoku's Five Tigers!! Haha, this is the new head coach of our Jaguars—Omoki Ishimoto."

"What a weird name! Where's my old man? I miss my old man!!!" Sakuragi slipped over to whisper in Akagi's ear.

"Idiot, your name is even weirder than his!" Akagi scolded Sakuragi again.

Then Akagi began recounting the coach's history. "I've only heard about him; I've never seen him in person. Back in the day, Coach was known as the Gold Medal Shooter. His three-pointers from both baselines were incredibly accurate! He once helped the Osaka Iron Horses win a JBa championship. He's also a member of the JBa Hall of Fame, and his career total for three-pointers ranks second in JBa history!"

"Whoa!!!" Hearing Akagi's introduction, everyone gasped in amazement.

"Senior, could you be my father's idol from back then, Gold Medal Omoki?" Mitsui asked.

"What are you all muttering about?! If you have something to say, say it out loud!" After speaking, the coach walked into the crowd.

"I've read all your basic information. I hear many of you were high school classmates. That's very interesting. I originally had no plans to come out of retirement and coach again, but Kawaguchi here is far too persistent! If I still hadn't come, Kawaguchi would have jumped off a building. Besides, I wanted to see what kind of chemistry would come from high school teammates playing together again in a professional league!" The coach spoke slowly and casually, like an old man telling a story.

"This... I wasn't sure whether you would truly come coach our team, so thank you once again for coming, Senior Omoki! Thank you so much!" Kawaguchi bowed in gratitude.

"No need to thank me, Kawaguchi. Since I've come here, I'll definitely do everything I can to help the team!" The coach helped Kawaguchi up.

"All right, perhaps someone already gave you a brief introduction to me, but let me introduce myself again! My name is Omoki Ishimoto. Starting today, I am your new head coach. I'm very happy to work with all of you!" The coach walked to the tactics board and continued speaking.

"My coaching philosophy is that a team must establish its own culture, its own style of play, its own beliefs, and create an excellent team atmosphere! You may not understand what I mean, but the most fundamental thing is that everyone must be united—twisted into a single rope. Today is our team's first training session. We'll begin by building a tenacious, united, resilient team! So get ready. I'm taking everyone out of the arena to another place for a week of closed training!"

"Leaving the arena??"

"Where exactly are we going...?"

"I've got a bad feeling about this..."

The players began discussing it among themselves.

"All right, stop talking in private. Go back to your dorms and pack your bags. A week isn't a short time, so make sure you bring all your daily necessities. No running away halfway through!!" Coach Omoki left the court after saying that.

"What a mysterious training camp. The genius can't wait any longer!!!" Sakuragi was already raring to go.

"Seeing Sakuragi this fired up really brings back memories of high school!" Mitsui said with a sigh.

"No helping it. We old friends will have to get together after this training camp ends!" Miyagi said.

What would this mysterious training camp that Sakuragi was so eager for be like? And how exactly would Coach Omoki build this team based around Shohoku?

Coach Omoki Ishimoto seemed to already have a plan in mind!