I'll Teach You, Kaede Rukawa!

"Me? I'm Shirakawa, Captain."

Shirakawa spread his hands and walked over with an innocent look, casually patting Akagi's already stiff shoulder.

"Class 7, first year, Shohoku High School. The basketball team's newly appointed starting point guard. Nice to meet you."

That introduction, at this moment, sounded endlessly sarcastic and shamelessly boastful.

Takenori Akagi's mouth twitched. He felt as though his throat were so dry it was about to smoke.

He wanted to argue, to question him, to roar.

But looking into Shirakawa's clear yet faintly teasing eyes, he found himself unable to say a single word.

Strength.

Before absolute, crushing, almost miraculous strength, any words seemed pale and powerless.

What could he even say?

Say, "You're cheating"?

Or, "That's not how basketball is played"?

He did not believe either of them himself.

In the end, Shohoku's iron-blooded captain merely took a deep breath, then slowly let it out.

He did not look at Shirakawa again. Instead, he turned around and, with all his strength, unleashed a deafening roar at the entire team:

"Why are you all still standing around?! Training's over! Dismissed! Anyone late tomorrow gets double the training!"

After saying that, he walked out of the gym first with heavy steps, without looking back.

His back looked somewhat desolate, even a little bedraggled.

The players were jolted awake by his roar. As if waking from a dream, they scattered like birds and beasts, afraid the captain, still furious, would grab them to vent his anger on.

"Hey! Sakuragi! Don't forget what you said—eating bread upside down!" Ryota Miyagi reminded Sakuragi as he passed by, clearly delighted by his misfortune.

"Ahhh! Don't remind this genius!" Sakuragi clutched his head and let out a despairing wail.

Soon, the once-lively basketball gym was left with only a handful of people.

Coach Anzai walked over with a cheerful smile. He patted Shirakawa's shoulder, and an unprecedented light gleamed in his ever-narrowed eyes.

"Shirakawa, today truly opened my eyes."

"You flatter me, Coach. It was just a few little tricks," Shirakawa said modestly, though his expression was anything but modest.

"Ho ho ho, young man, having ability is a good thing." Coach Anzai gave him a meaningful look. "But basketball is, after all, a sport for five people."

With that, Coach Anzai clasped his hands behind his back and left at an unhurried pace.

Shirakawa watched Coach Anzai's retreating back thoughtfully.

"A sport for five people... This old man must be reminding me not to get too full of myself."

He thought to himself, but did not pay it much mind.

He had the system and all kinds of godlike skills from Kuroko's Basketball. He could settle everything by himself, so what did he need a team for?

Just as he was about to pack up and leave, a cold figure stepped in front of him.

It was Kaede Rukawa.

Only the two of them remained in the vast basketball gym.

Kaede Rukawa said nothing. He merely stared fixedly at Shirakawa with eyes burning like flames.

His gaze was complicated. There was unwillingness, anger, and confusion, but more than anything, there was an almost obsessive need to understand.

He wanted answers.

Shirakawa felt a little creeped out by his stare and could not help saying, "Hey, superstar rookie, if you keep looking at me so lovingly, I might get the wrong idea. I'm not interested in men."

Kaede Rukawa turned a deaf ear to his trash talk.

After a long silence, he finally squeezed out two words through clenched teeth.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Shirakawa pretended not to understand.

"Why..." Kaede Rukawa's fists clenched tightly. "I can't keep up with your dribbling, I can't stop your shots, and even... even shots like that, you can make them."

There was a trace of frustration in his voice, one he himself had never noticed.

This was the first time in his life that he had been so thoroughly, completely defeated by someone else.

The feeling was unfamiliar to him. It frightened him.

Looking at the genius before him, now drowning in self-doubt, Shirakawa suddenly had a wicked idea.

He slowly leaned close to Kaede Rukawa's ear and whispered in a tempting, devilish voice:

"Want to know?"

Kaede Rukawa's body suddenly stiffened, but he still nodded instinctively.

Shirakawa smiled.

He smiled like a fox that had stolen a chicken.

He straightened up, looking down at Kaede Rukawa, then extended one finger and lightly tapped Kaede Rukawa's chest.

With a frivolous smile on his face, he spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, saying something that nearly petrified Kaede Rukawa on the spot.

"I'll teach you."

"..."

Kaede Rukawa's pupils instantly widened to their limit.

What had he just heard?

Teach... teach him?

The man who had just utterly destroyed him on the court was now saying he would teach him how to play basketball?

This was no longer provocation.

This was humiliation!

Naked, ultimate humiliation!

An indescribable rage instantly rose from the depths of Kaede Rukawa's heart and shot straight to his head!

He abruptly raised his head, and fire nearly burst from those cold eyes!

"You..."

However, before he could speak, Shirakawa's next words forcefully choked them back down.

"What? You don't want to?" Shirakawa raised an eyebrow. "Then forget it. I was going to tell you why your style of play will never beat me."

With that, Shirakawa shrugged, wearing an expression that said, "Fine, if you don't want to learn," and turned to leave.

"Wait!"

Kaede Rukawa blurted it out almost instinctively.