Coach, I Want to Play Basketball

Another school rooftop.

A young man wearing gold-rimmed glasses, exuding the rigor of an iceberg from head to toe, stood quietly in the shadows.

The captain of Seishun Academy's tennis club—Tezuka Kunimitsu.

His deep gaze rested on Ryoma Echizen, who wore a cap and stood on the rooftop with a dejected back.

"Ryoma, why did you give up tennis..."

Tezuka adjusted his reflective glasses, his eyes beneath the lenses filled with unwavering conviction. "No matter what happened, I will bring you back, because you... are Seishun Academy's pillar."

"..."

Lin Xiao arrived in a dark, dense forest. He closed his eyes and gently pressed his right hand against the trunk of a towering ancient tree.

As the Earth's favored son, he could hear the voice of this forest.

Very soon, following the faint feedback from the earth veins, a malicious mutter reached him.

"Heh heh heh... These humans really are ridiculous."

An amorphous monster wreathed in thick black mist floated contentedly in the center of a cave, playing with the colorful "balls of light" inside its body.

"All I need to do is cause a little landslide or mudslide, then show up and pretend to help them. They'll willingly hand over their most precious dreams and talents."

The monster twisted its black mist smugly. "And this counts as an 'equal exchange,' so I won't be tainted by any karmic sin. Those demon exorcists and 'righteous people' won't come after me either! I'm a genius!"

Just as the monster basked in the joy of its "perfect crime."

A calm voice carrying an oppressive weight suddenly sounded from the dark cave entrance.

"Found you."

"Who?!"

The monster jerked in shock, its black mist churning violently as it stared fixedly at the young man in a high school uniform standing at the entrance. "When did you get here?!"

"When you said humans were ridiculous."

"A mere human brat dared to trespass on my turf?"

After seeing who had arrived, the monster immediately broke into cruel laughter.

Its black mist, originally only two or three meters across, instantly expanded madly like an inflated balloon! In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a terrifying giant monster nearly thirty meters tall, with a savage maw and countless tentacles!

Its enormous body even smashed through the cave ceiling!

"In this desolate wilderness, it's perfectly normal for someone to die."

The thirty-meter-tall monster looked down at Lin Xiao as though he were an ant. "Since you're looking for death, I'll take your soul!"

"You want to kill me? You know, in a tokusatsu world, stealing other people's dreams like this is a capital offense."

"What the hell are you talking about????"

Lin Xiao casually rolled his wrist. "Next, if the Earth doesn't answer me, I won't kill you."

Hearing those utterly nonsensical words, the monster froze.

The Earth would answer you? Who the hell did you think you were? The Earth's illegitimate son?!

"You human fraud! Die!" The monster swung its massive tentacle down at Lin Xiao!

However!

Before the tentacle could fall, the monster's huge scarlet eyes abruptly shrank to pinpoints.

"...Why are you glowing?!"

Under the monster's horrified gaze.

Lin Xiao's eyes erupted with blinding crimson light! He suddenly raised his right hand, and the Blue Cone bloomed with dazzling, sacred radiance beneath the sunlight!

"Gaia—!!!"

Accompanied by a furious roar that echoed through the mountains!

A violent red pillar of light erupted directly from beneath Lin Xiao's feet!

"Rumble—!!!!!"

Within that towering pillar of light, Ultraman Gaia, fifty meters tall and weighing forty-two thousand tons, crashed into the valley of Dragon Abyss Mountain like a meteor!

Bang!!!

The instant Ultraman Gaia's feet slammed into the ground!

The dirt and rocks within several hundred meters surged into the air like a tsunami! The towering trees around them, some more than a century old, were instantly uprooted and destroyed, becoming splinters and dust that filled the sky!

Wild winds raged, and the earth split apart.

Amid the billowing dust, Gaia slowly straightened his mountain-like body.

"The Earth answered."

"Looks like you're not so clean after all."

"What the hell is this thing?!!!" the monster screamed in terror, even pointing at the devastated forest around them.

"And what nonsense are you spouting?! What do you mean, the Earth answered?!"

"You bastard destroyed all the trees and the whole valley here!!! You're the biggest destroyer in this forest, aren't you?! The Earth answered you anyway?!! Is the Earth blind?!!!"

Lin Xiao snorted coldly.

"I can't be bothered to reason with you."

"You don't deserve to hear it."

Just as the monster prepared to make a desperate final stand and release all its black mist at Lin Xiao.

Crack, crack, crack—!

An incredibly bizarre scene unfolded!

Lin Xiao did not even need to act. The solid rocky ground beneath the monster's feet suddenly collapsed to both sides without warning, as though it had developed a will of its own!

"????"

The monster was full of question marks. Its feet gave way, and its massive body instantly lost balance before falling awkwardly into the huge pit.

The fucking Earth really was playing favorites!!!

Boom!

Gaia's right fist, carrying a terrifying sonic boom that shattered the sound barrier, smashed without restraint into the monster's twisted black-mist core!

Sizzle—!!!

There was no suspense whatsoever.

This monster, which had lorded over the deep mountains, did not even manage a scream beneath the purification of forty-two thousand tons. Like a punctured balloon, it was obliterated body and soul on the spot!

The instant it exploded.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!

More than a hundred brilliant, multicolored lights scattered from the monster's remains like shooting stars across the sky!

They were all dreams and passions it had devoured from humans through despicable means!

Now, guided by the Light of Gaia, they crossed mountains and rivers with perfect precision, flying back to their original owners!

Chiba Prefecture, Sobu High School rooftop.

Ryoma Echizen lay on a bench, his eyes filled with endless deadness.

Suddenly, he felt a dazzling golden streak cut across the sky and gently sink into his chest.

"Thump, thump, thump."

Ryoma Echizen abruptly clutched his chest.

His heart, silent for half a year, suddenly pounded with frenzied intensity like a war drum!

His love and passion for tennis, etched deep into his bones, all surged back into the depths of his soul at that moment!

Ryoma slowly rose from the bench.

Sharp brilliance reignited in his eyes, which had once been dead and empty!

He pulled down the brim of his cap and wore his trademark, supremely confident smile.

"It's... it's back..."

"My dream... isn't over yet!"

At the same time.

On the soccer field of a high school somewhere in Kanagawa Prefecture.

A burly high school student nearly one hundred ninety centimeters tall, with an eye-catching red pompadour, stood in goal looking utterly bored.

Sakuragi Hanamichi.

A year ago, while riding into the mountains, he had encountered a monster that completely stole his burning passion for basketball. Now, he could only waste his youth hanging around the soccer club in a depressed haze.

"A shooting star?"

A red streak of light descended from the sky and struck Sakuragi Hanamichi with perfect accuracy!

Crackle—!

Sakuragi Hanamichi felt as though his entire body had been hit by a hundred thousand volts of electricity. Images of himself grabbing rebounds, dunking, and that beautiful red-haired girl asking him, "Do you like basketball?" flooded wildly into his mind!

Thud!

Sakuragi Hanamichi's knees gave out, and he dropped heavily onto the soccer field grass. Tears poured uncontrollably from his eyes like a fountain!

"Hey! Sakuragi! What are you doing?!"

The soccer club coach happened to be passing by. Seeing his goalkeeper, whose physical gifts were practically inhuman, suddenly kneeling on the ground in a daze, he hurried over anxiously. "Why did you suddenly zone out?!"

Hearing the coach call him.

Sakuragi Hanamichi slowly raised his head, his face covered in tears and snot.

He looked at the soccer club coach before him and stretched out trembling hands.

"Coach..."

"I... I want to play basketball!!!"

Soccer club coach: "?????"

Watching Sakuragi Hanamichi kneel on the ground and cry like a two-hundred-pound child, the coach's expression instantly froze into one of pure horror.

Wait, what?!

You're a soccer club goalkeeper, and right on the soccer field before a match, you're kneeling there telling me you want to play basketball?!

What the fuck is wrong with you!!!