Your Style Is Too Solo!

Shirakawa stopped in his tracks, the corner of his mouth curling into an almost imperceptible smile.

The fish had taken the bait.

He slowly turned around and looked at Kaede Rukawa's unwilling, conflicted expression, knowingly asking, "What? Changed your mind? Want to learn?"

Kaede Rukawa's face alternated between green and white, his handsome features nearly twisting together.

Asking a peer who had just defeated and relentlessly humiliated him for guidance?

That felt worse than killing him!

His pride, his self-respect, would not allow him to do that!

But...

"Why... can't you ever beat me..."

Shirakawa's words were like a poisoned thorn, stabbing deep into his heart.

He could ignore victory or defeat, but he could not endure the word "ever."

He was a genius. His creed in life was to keep growing stronger and keep challenging stronger opponents.

If there truly was a barrier he could "never" overcome, that was something he could not accept.

After an intense inner struggle, Kaede Rukawa finally made his choice.

He stared hard at Shirakawa and forced out several words through clenched teeth. "What... do you mean?"

His voice was still cold, but it no longer carried its earlier aggressive force. Instead, there was a trace of humility even he himself had not noticed...

"Heh."

Shirakawa chuckled softly. This was exactly the effect he wanted.

To completely tame this unruly wild horse, brute force alone was not enough. He also had to crush him on a spiritual level, in terms of basketball philosophy!

He walked up to Kaede Rukawa and took the basketball from his hands.

"Your skills are very good."

Shirakawa casually dribbled as he spoke.

Kaede Rukawa frowned but said nothing. He knew there had to be a "but" coming.

Sure enough, Shirakawa abruptly changed his tone.

"Your physical gifts are excellent too. Your speed, jumping ability, and flexibility are all top-tier."

"But..."

Shirakawa stopped dribbling and looked Kaede Rukawa up and down with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Your style is too solo."

Solo!

That word struck Kaede Rukawa's heart like a heavy hammer.

"I..." Kaede Rukawa instinctively wanted to argue.

Was he really that selfish?

He was simply used to solving problems his own way.

When his teammates could not score, he stepped up.

When the team was in crisis, he stepped up.

With one dazzling drive after another, one unstoppable isolation play after another, he carried the team on his shoulders.

This... counted as being solo?

"You don't agree?" Shirakawa seemed to see through his thoughts and sneered. "Then let me ask you, what is basketball in your eyes?"

Kaede Rukawa answered without hesitation, "The outcome of a one-on-one battle."

"Wrong."

Shirakawa shook his head and rejected him without mercy.

"Completely wrong!"

He fiercely passed the basketball toward the empty side of the court.

"There are ten people on a basketball court."

Then he pointed at the hoop.

"One basket."

Finally, he pointed at himself, then at Kaede Rukawa.

"Yet you always want to turn a five-man game into your own personal show."

"You only see the defender in front of you. You think about how to get past him, how to score over his head. You want to prove you are better than him in the flashiest way possible."

"When you do that, you ignore your four teammates, and you also ignore the other four defenders."

"From the very beginning, your style was never about winning. It was about satisfying that pathetic vanity of yours—your personal hero complex."

Shirakawa's words were like sharp blades, cutting open Kaede Rukawa's heart again and again, exposing his truest thoughts, hidden beneath that cold exterior, bloody and bare to the air.

Kaede Rukawa's body began to tremble slightly.

His face turned deathly pale.

Because he realized that... every word Shirakawa said was right!

That really was what he thought!

He enjoyed the feeling of standing beneath everyone's gaze and using his own ability to solve everything!

He enjoyed the thrill of crushing opponents beneath his feet and proving that he was the strongest!

But... what was wrong with that?

"Isn't basketball... supposed to be like that?" For the first time, Kaede Rukawa's voice carried confusion and uncertainty.

"Yes, and no."

Seeing that the moment was about right, Shirakawa softened his tone.

"When your individual ability is above everyone else on the court, you can play that way. Like what I just did to you."

That remark casually gave Shirakawa another chance to show off.

"But you can't do that yet."

"You're strong, but not strong enough to ignore the team."

"So your current style is an extremely inefficient and foolish way to play."

"You'll be targeted, double-teamed, and drained of stamina. Once you're tired and your shots stop falling, your team will lose."

Shirakawa paused before delivering his concluding statement.

"That's why I said you'll never beat me."

"Because I play basketball."

"And you're just fighting."

Fighting...

Those two words exploded in Kaede Rukawa's mind like a bolt from the blue.

He stood there blankly, utterly devastated, as though his whole world had collapsed.

Looking at him like this, Shirakawa knew he had said enough for today.

Any more, and this kid's self-esteem might really shatter.

He tossed the basketball back to Kaede Rukawa.

"That's enough for today, super rookie. Go back and think carefully about how basketball is supposed to be played."

With that, Shirakawa did not look at him again. He turned away coolly, picked up his things, and walked out of the gym.

Only Kaede Rukawa remained, clutching the basketball as he stood blankly in the middle of the empty court.

The lights stretched his shadow long, long...