Balance Lost

The Jaguars' preseason game against the Ninjas before the new season had already begun. Tamaki Zhi and Rukawa Kaede had each opened the scoring for their teams, and now it was the Ninjas' turn to attack again.

They ran the same play, but unfortunately, Zhi's three-pointer missed this time.

Akagi grabbed the rebound and passed it to Miyagi.

Miyagi had barely dribbled past half court when Sakuragi anxiously called for the ball.

Seeing how eager Sakuragi was, Miyagi passed it to him.

Takano Jinglei was guarding Sakuragi—a man nearly the same build as Sakuragi, with his hair slicked incredibly flat with gel, save for bangs that curled upward!

Sakuragi recalled the coach's assessment of Takano Jinglei during the earlier preparation meeting.

"Sakuragi, you'll guard their number five this time, Takano Jinglei. Don't underestimate him. His basketball talent is no less than yours, and he's a left-handed player. You need to be extra careful, Sakuragi!"

"Come on, helmet-head. Watch my genius shot!" Sakuragi was brimming with confidence after receiving the ball. Seeing that Jinglei was standing far away, he chose to pull up from the spot.

Jinglei did not rush him, either.

Swish! Nothing but net.

"Ha ha, helmet-head, you're done for." Sakuragi grew smug.

"Sakuragi's mid-range shooting has improved quite a bit. Looks like he didn't just recover from his injury in the United States—he trained, too!" Omoki had actually been looking forward to Sakuragi's performance.

The Ninjas began their offense.

Yanfeng was still signaling the play. This time, Kongdao received the pass. Just as he was about to turn around, he saw a huge black shadow standing before him. Before he could make out who it was, the ball had already been stolen.

"Using the same play three times? This genius couldn't stand watching anymore!" Sakuragi had picked off the ball.

"Oh! He slipped behind Kongdao while we were running the play. He must have known I would pass to Kongdao, so he decisively abandoned the player he was guarding." Yanfeng analyzed the situation.

With the ball in hand, Sakuragi raced forward like a wild horse let loose from its reins. As the last line of defense, Yanfeng saw that he could no longer stop him and gave up on the play. Sakuragi took two steps in one, launched himself from two steps inside the free-throw line, and hammered down a one-handed tomahawk dunk!

"Take that! Take that!! Stupid fox, ha ha!! Take that!!" Sakuragi was wildly excited after the dunk and repeatedly taunted Rukawa Kaede.

"Sakuragi can actually anticipate plays on defense now. That never showed up in training before. Could it have been a coincidence?" Akagi could hardly believe Sakuragi's performance.

The Ninjas gave the ball directly to Jinglei on this possession. Perhaps they wanted him to make an answer basket!

Jinglei gave a shooting fake.

"Idiot, it's a fake!" Akagi's warning seemed to come too late. Sakuragi might have been too excited, because he jumped. Seeing that he had shaken Sakuragi off, Jinglei lowered his head and dribbled toward the paint, preparing for a hard collision with Akagi, the final line of defense.

Jinglei leaped high as though he were going for a dunk, but he did not expose the ball much. He clearly intended to battle Akagi in the air. Akagi also rose high, and the two indeed collided fiercely midair. Jinglei's physical ability was truly formidable—even a powerful interior player like Akagi gained no advantage! Just as Jinglei was about to shoot the ball from his chest, that black shadow appeared again and swatted away the ball the instant it left Jinglei's hand.

The ball happened to fall into Miyagi's hands. Miyagi immediately started a fast break. After crossing half court, he saw that the streaking Rukawa Kaede was tightly covered, while Mitsui had yet to catch up. Just as Miyagi hesitated, Yanfeng stole the ball from behind. But the ball was not under Yanfeng's control, and by a strange twist of fate, it rolled into the hands of Sakuragi, who had just arrived. Seeing that he was standing right on the three-point line with no one guarding him, Sakuragi adjusted his breathing and calmly let the ball fly.

Swish! Another clean make!

"Ha ha ha, so you're nothing special even with that helmet on!" Sakuragi taunted Jinglei, who had just caught up.

Jinglei remained calm, without the slightest expression on his face.

That guy was still a complete novice a year ago, but now he can shoot with such confidence—and he even has a three-pointer. Sakuragi, Sakuragi! You've improved far too quickly! Mitsui praised Sakuragi in his heart.

9–0. The Jaguars had unleashed a 9–0 run, with Sakuragi scoring seven straight points. It was the Ninjas' turn to attack.

This time, Yanfeng made no elaborate hand signals after receiving the ball, because Jinglei rushed over to set a pick-and-roll with him.

Sakuragi reacted quickly and immediately followed, disrupting the pick-and-roll. But Jinglei and Yanfeng, this inside-outside duo, seemed exceptionally well coordinated. Combined with Jinglei's large frame, he directly screened Miyagi behind him. After blocking Miyagi off, Jinglei immediately ran toward the paint. The instant he broke forward, Yanfeng passed the ball into Jinglei's hands. One screen, one roll! Perfect chemistry.

"Come on, helmet-head!" Sakuragi shouted as Jinglei charged at him with the ball.

Just before colliding with Sakuragi, Jinglei gripped the ball with both hands and placed it to the left side of his body as if preparing to throw a shot put. After raising his right arm, he violently swung his right elbow forward. Thud! It struck Sakuragi, who was pressed tightly against him, squarely in the stomach.

"Ah!~~" Sakuragi immediately fell to the floor.

But Jinglei's move had been extremely subtle, and the referee did not blow the whistle. Jinglei continued his attack. With no one guarding the open space, he calmly shot and hit nothing but net.

"Rookie, you okay?" Jinglei looked at Sakuragi, who was still down on the floor. Though his expression remained unchanged, his words carried a sense of superiority.

"Hey! That move was dangerous!" Miyagi, who had been screened behind them and witnessed the entire sequence, warned Jinglei.

"Interesting, Takano Jinglei. You steel-helmeted freak!" Sakuragi got back to his feet. He appeared to be all right.

"You all, stop arguing. Play on!" the referee signaled.

The Jaguars attacked, and Miyagi passed the ball directly to Rukawa Kaede, who had been calling for it all along.

"Damn it, Miyagi, why give it to that guy?!" Sakuragi was furious.

"Don't lose focus. Move without the ball, Sakuragi." Miyagi remained calm.

Seeing that Kongdao was in good defensive position, Rukawa Kaede did not force the issue. Instead, he waited for Akagi to establish position and fed the ball inside.

Although Ojide was a Black athlete, Akagi was young and strong. He sealed his position firmly. Seeing that Akagi had established deep position, Rukawa Kaede immediately passed the ball in. Akagi made only a slight adjustment after receiving it before going for a hook shot. Ojide was caught off guard and could only watch the basketball fly toward the hoop.

"Damn, it's short, Sakuragi!" Akagi sensed that the ball's trajectory was lacking the instant he released it. It might hit the front of the rim, so he immediately called out to Sakuragi.

"Don't worry, watch my genius putback dunk~~~!!" Sakuragi had been ready. He raced in along the baseline, leaped up, and prepared to slam home the rebound.

As expected, the ball hit the front of the rim and bounced back. Just as Sakuragi had timed his jump and prepared to grab the ball for a putback dunk, he suddenly felt his upward momentum turn into forward momentum. His waist seemed to go numb. His fingertips brushed past the ball in midair, and his entire body flew forward, crashing into the reporters.

Tweet! Tweet! White number five! Pushing foul! The referee made a decisive call this time.

"Hey, wasn't that way too rough?!" Miyagi once again stood up for Sakuragi.

"Sakuragi, are you okay???" Mitsui crouched beside Sakuragi, who was lying on the floor.

"Jinglei's plays are pretty dirty! I don't know how Sakuragi is doing. No, I need to sub him out and let him calm down." Seeing this, Omoki intended to take Sakuragi out.

Not long afterward, Sakuragi slowly got to his feet.

"Damn it, a mosquito bit my waist! What a dump Nagoya is—there are even mosquitoes inside the arena." Sakuragi was clearly speaking indirectly about someone. He signaled to the coach that he was fine. Seeing that Sakuragi was in excellent form, Omoki abandoned the idea.

Jaguars sideline inbound.

Mitsui ran free and, standing at the top of the three-point arc, fired without hesitation. Perhaps because he had not touched the ball in a while, the shot missed. But Sakuragi once again came flying in from the baseline, ready to unleash another putback dunk. Just as Sakuragi leaped high, Jinglei stepped underneath him. He seemed to have blocked Sakuragi's upward force, leaving Sakuragi's lower body completely hanging over Jinglei. Losing his balance, Sakuragi fell backward like he was doing a backflip, his head striking the floor without any protection.

"Hey, what are you doing?! What happened?!" Mitsui and Miyagi ran over together and confronted Jinglei. Seeing Jinglei surrounded, Ojide immediately rushed over and rammed into Miyagi. A large-scale confrontation broke out between both sides, while Sakuragi, who had fallen, lay motionless beneath the basket.

Fortunately, the bench players and referees rushed onto the court and pulled Miyagi and the others apart before the conflict could escalate.

This time, Sakuragi took a long while to recover before shakily getting back to his feet.

"How are you? Can you continue?" the referee asked Sakuragi.

"I'm fine. Let's continue!" Sakuragi said lightly.

The referee called Sakuragi and Jinglei over, apparently to give them a warning.

"You bastard, go to hell!" Sakuragi, who had just been calm, suddenly exploded. He grabbed Jinglei, who was right beside him, and slammed his head fiercely into the completely unprepared Jinglei.

It happened so quickly that before anyone could react, Jinglei had already been knocked to the floor. He pounded the court violently with his hand, looking to be in tremendous pain.

Blood also flowed from Sakuragi's head. That earlier fall had indeed been severe. Sakuragi still wanted to keep attacking Jinglei, but his teammates had already dragged him away.

Medical staff came to Jinglei's side. Blood streamed down Jinglei's face, and even the gel in his hair seemed to have been washed away by blood.

"Jinglei's performance provoked Sakuragi into losing his temper. Those repeated moves threw Sakuragi off balance!!! Sakuragi was still too young. He fell for it. It's my fault too—I should have taken Sakuragi out back then." Coach Omoki sat there blankly, his face pale. He knew what Sakuragi's headbutt would bring.