Shohoku 5+1 Tigers

"Thud."

Hisashi Mitsui dropped to both knees.

He braced himself against the floor, lowering his head deeply.

His shoulders shook violently.

His sobs echoed through the battered basketball gym.

"Coach Anzai..."

He raised his head.

In those eyes already drowned in tears, his longing for basketball reignited.

It was a flame that could not be extinguished, no matter how long he had fallen or how far he had run away.

"I..."

Hisashi Mitsui choked back a sob and, with all the strength in his body, shouted the words he had buried in his heart for two years:

"I want to play basketball..."

Hisashi Mitsui's confession, mingled with blood, tears, and regret, fell into silence.

It was as if someone had pressed the mute button on the entire gym.

The whole place was silent.

Only Hisashi Mitsui's crying remained.

Hanamichi Sakuragi scratched his head and lowered his fists.

"Tch. So he's just a crybaby who wants to play ball."

Ryota Miyagi turned around and shook his head.

Takenori Akagi tilted his head back, staring at the ceiling as he let out a long breath.

That guy who had always opposed him.

At last... he was back.

Lin Bei stood in the corner, watching the scene unfold.

Though he had known the story long ago.

Seeing it with his own eyes still stirred something in his heart.

This was youth.

Passion, recklessness, mistakes, and then turning back.

"How nice."

Lin Bei picked up his bottle, drained the last mouthful of water, and tossed the empty bottle toward the trash can in the distance.

"Swish."

Nothing but net.

"Now that the MVP is back."

"I'll have to work even harder."

Lin Bei stretched and let out a huge yawn.

He looked at Hisashi Mitsui kneeling on the floor.

He looked at these boys, injured yet still bright-eyed.

The corners of Lin Bei's lips curled upward.

"I'll go crazy with you guys for a while."

"After all..."

"I like basketball quite a bit too."

However, the sentimental atmosphere did not last long.

"Hey! What's going on in there?!"

"That was a huge commotion just now!"

The dean of students' unmistakably shrill voice came from outside the gym doors.

It was followed by a flurry of hurried footsteps.

Clearly, the earthshaking fight had still alerted the school authorities.

The atmosphere inside the gym instantly froze.

If the school learned that a massive brawl had broken out in the basketball club.

Forget about competing in the prefectural tournament—the entire club might be disbanded.

Takenori Akagi's expression darkened.

Hisashi Mitsui stood frozen in place.

The tears in his eyes had not yet dried before fear replaced them.

"We're done for..." Kiminobu Kogure said despairingly, adjusting his glasses.

At that critical moment.

Mito Yohei moved.

He still wore that carefree, cynical smile, but there was now resolve in his eyes.

He brushed the dust off his school uniform and strode toward the door.

"Yohei?"

Hanamichi Sakuragi seemed to sense something and reached out to stop him.

But Yohei merely looked back and flashed Hanamichi a V sign.

Then he yanked open the doors, running straight into the dean of students and several gym teachers who were rushing inside.

"Yo, hello, teachers."

Yohei grinned as he blocked their view.

"Mito Yohei?!"

"What are you doing here?!"

"Is this... a fight?!"

The dean of students saw the injury on Yohei's face.

Then he looked at the delinquents sprawled all over the floor, and his fury immediately erupted.

"Yeah, we were fighting."

"We had some old grudges, so we came to cause trouble for the basketball club."

Yohei shrugged, sounding as casual as if he were discussing the weather.

He pointed at the bruised and battered members of Mitsui's Gang behind him, then pointed at Tetsuo Hotta.

"Right, boss?"

Tetsuo Hotta froze for a moment, but when he caught Yohei's meaningful look, he immediately understood.

This delinquent, who usually only knew how to put on a tough front, showed astonishing loyalty at this moment.

"Y-Yeah!"

Tetsuo Hotta clutched his face, swollen like a steamed bun.

He shouted, "It was us!"

"That Mitsui wanted to return to the basketball club, and we couldn't stand seeing him act like he'd turned over a new leaf, so we started fighting!"

"It had nothing to do with the basketball club! They were just trying to break it up!"

"Yeah! That's exactly it!"

Takamiya Nozomu, Okusu, and Noma immediately caught on as well.

"Mitsui wanted to return to the basketball club?"

The dean of students peered inside suspiciously.

There, Hisashi Mitsui was kneeling before Coach Anzai, crying his eyes out.

Akagi and Kogure stood nearby. Though their faces were bruised too, they really did look like they had been "breaking up a fight."

"Yeah, we came to take Mitsui away."

"But these basketball club nerds insisted on protecting him."

Yohei pointed to the corner of his mouth. "See this? We got these injuries fighting each other."

The dean of students frowned as he looked at this group of delinquents who always gave him headaches.

In the end, he snorted. "You lot again! All of you, come to my office! I won't let you off lightly this time!"

"Yes, yes, we accept the punishment."

Yohei turned around, his back to Hanamichi and Lin Bei, and waved.

That retreating figure looked impossibly dashing.

"Yohei..."

Hanamichi Sakuragi clenched his fists tightly, his eyes reddening.

Leaning against the wall, Lin Bei watched Yohei leave with a faint smile.

"What a great guy..."

"Is this friendship between men?"

In the end, the school quickly handed down its decision.

Mito Yohei, the other three members of Sakuragi's Gang, Tetsuo Hotta, and the others.

For gathering to fight on school grounds, they were suspended for three days and ordered to reflect at home.

Meanwhile, the basketball club, as the "victims" and the "peacekeepers," miraculously escaped punishment.

Just then.

Takenori Akagi suddenly turned around, his bell-like eyes fixed fiercely on everyone.

Especially Lin Bei, Hanamichi, Rukawa, and Miyagi.

"The touching scene is over."

Akagi pointed at the shattered glass all over the floor, the broken mop, and the scattered clutter.

A devilish smile spread across his face.

"Now."

"Right this instant! Immediately! Clean this place from top to bottom!!"

"No one goes home until it's done!!"

"What?!"

Hanamichi and Miyagi cried out in agony.

"That's not fair! It was you, Gorilla..."

"Quit whining! You're the ones who broke it!"

Lin Bei stiffened in place.

He looked at the mess covering the floor, then at the clock on the wall.

An hour had already passed since the time he had planned to watch JoJo.

"What a disaster..."

Lin Bei threw his head back and sighed toward the sky.

"Hisashi Mitsui, pay me back for my Ripple Overdrive!!"

That day.

The lights in the Shohoku Basketball Gym stayed on until late at night.

It was the first true "gathering" of the Shohoku Five Tigers.

Even if they spent it mopping floors and washing windows.

The next day.

Shohoku Basketball Gym.

"Defense! Defense! Move your feet!"

Takenori Akagi's roar was still deafening.

It was as though the incident that had nearly destroyed the basketball club yesterday had never happened.

But everyone knew that something had changed.

"Swish!"

A beautiful nothing-but-net shot.

The basketball bounced across the floor a few times before rolling to Lin Bei's feet.

Lin Bei had just finished endurance training and was sitting on the floor, resting in a sweat-soaked heap.

"Hey, dead-fish eyes."