According to Mizuki, today's main character is Coach Akai.
All the players shouted in unison, "Hello, Coach!"
Coach Akai raised his voice high, welcoming everyone to the Takezato basketball team! We're one of the top four teams Takezato the county, and our goal this year is to make it to the national tournament. That means grueling training. Are you ready for this ordeal?
Everyone shouted at the top of their lungs, "It's done!"
Coach Akai nodded in satisfaction and said to Mizuki, "Let's begin."
Mizuki pulled out her notebook and read aloud, "After this week of training, we have a general understanding of the first-year newcomers and have made detailed records. Now, we announce the official team roster: Naoto Shirota, Yo Aoki, Heisaburo Nakako, Masakazu Yoshida, Masato Matsumoto, and Yuichi Nakamura."
The substitute whose name wasn't called hung his head. Mizuki quickly added, "Don't be discouraged. Even if you weren't selected, as long as you work hard, becoming a regular member is only a matter of time."
He turned to look at Yo Aoki six, saying, "Even if you become official team members, don't get cocky. If you slack off, you'll be sent back to the bench at any time. Do you all understand?"
Everyone shouted at the top of their lungs, "We understand!"
Mizuki then arranged for the substitutes to practice dribbling and shooting, while the official group would play a scrimmage, with first-year students facing off against second-year students, timed for twenty minutes!
Second-year student Shigeru Akiyama cracked his knuckles and made a lot of noise, letting the newcomers know the weight of high school basketball!
Koji Takeuchi grinned and approached Yo Aoki, pleading, "Have mercy!"
Yo Aoki rolled his eyes, thinking to himself, "So, when you guys faced Ryonan and Kainan back then, you didn't have this kind of ruthlessness?"
Before the practice match began, Yo Aoki sized up his teammates.
After a week of intensive training, Yo Aoki had a general understanding of the players. The ball-handler was Heisaburo Nakako, who was 1.78 meters tall; the power forward was Masakazu Yoshida, who was 1.82 meters tall; the small forward Masato Matsumoto, who was 1.80 meters tall; Yuichi Nakamura, who was 1.79 meters tall. The lineup was decent, but their overall strength was still far behind that of the second-year students.
On the opposing second-year team, center Tomoya Imamura is 1.92 meters tall; power forward Shigeru Akiyama is 1.86 meters tall; small forward Koji Takeuchi is 1.84 meters tall; point guard Shunya Hojo is 1.74 meters tall; and Kiyoshiro Kawai is 1.70 meters tall.
Imamura and Hojo are both Takezato's starters this year, and they are quite capable, after all, they are promising talents that the coach is focusing on developing.
Yo Aoki took a deep breath to suppress his excitement. This was not only his first official match in his high school career, but also the first time he had ever competed against a character he had only seen in a manga.
"I can't take it anymore!"
The referee for this practice match was Mizuki. He ran to the center circle to signal that both teams were ready. Yo Aoki was the tallest of the first-year students, so he was chosen to pick the ball. Imamura was chosen by the second-year students. The two of them simultaneously bent their knees and squatted down, ready to contest for the ball.
Mizuki tossed the ball into the air, and Yo Aoki and Imamura jumped up instantly. Although Imamura was taller, Yo Aoki's jump speed was much faster.
"Snap!" Yo Aoki touched the ball first and then flicked it back. Heisaburo Nakako got possession of the ball first, and the first-year students launched the attack!
Nakako dribbled the ball to the frontcourt, where he was being guarded by second-year point guard Hojo. Yo Aoki also remembered this guy; he was the one in the manga who, when Takezato faced Ryonan, was shut down by Ryonan's Koshino and hurriedly passed the ball to Imamura. He had a handsome appearance and was quite skilled.
Hojo suddenly pressed Nakako closely, startling him so much that Nakako stopped dribbling and gripped the ball tightly with both hands. Yo Aoki, who had originally wanted to check out Imamura's abilities, saw Nakako's display of force and immediately ran over to ask for the ball.
Nakako was sweating profusely from being harassed by Hojo when he saw Yo Aoki running over. Without thinking, he passed the ball to him. After receiving the ball, Yo Aoki wanted to observe the situation on the field, but what he saw almost made him explode with anger. He turned his head and saw that, apart from himself, all four of his teammates were standing on the sidelines, each with a tense face, standing like javelins, staring straight at him.
"Seriously? You guys are this nervous during a practice match? Are you here to play or to be spectators? Don't you know how to move around? Are you just trying to cheer me on with your eyes?" Yo Aoki couldn't help but complain.
"Looks like I'll have to do it myself," Yo Aoki made up his mind.
At this moment, Yo Aoki was standing outside the three-point line. Center Imamura was not guarding him closely, but instead stood outside the three-second zone, afraid that Yo Aoki would cut into the basket.
"You think I can't make the shot, huh?" Yo Aoki thought to himself, staring at Imamura's position. Without hesitation, he took a step back to the three-point line, and launched a jump shot from the spot. "Swish," the basketball swished through the net.
3:0
"Your shooting form is quite standard," Coach Akai commented.
Shirota, who was standing next to him, immediately clapped loudly to cheer on Yo Aoki.
However, Yo Aoki's shot didn't disrupt the second-year students' rhythm; they simply assumed it was a fluke by Yo Aoki.
The second-year student served from the backcourt. Shigeru Akiyama passed the ball to Hojo. Hojo had only taken a few steps when he suddenly saw Yo Aoki pressing him closely in the frontcourt.
The risk of a tall person pressing forward like that is not low. After all, Yo Aoki is tall, and it is indeed a bit unwise to do so. However, Yo Aoki has his own plans.
Seeing Yo Aoki's tall stature, Hojo tried to use his speed to break through on the left, but he found his path blocked as soon as he started. Hojo was startled and immediately tried to pass the ball, but all his teammates were blocked and couldn't see him at all.
When Yo Aoki saw Hojo dribbling, he instantly recalled Hojo's panicked state when he was being closely guarded by Ryonan Koshino in the manga, and that's when he made up his mind to step forward and defend him. He quickly rushed in front of Hojo, and seeing that Hojo's center of gravity was shifting to the left, he immediately moved to the right to block his way, pressed close to Hojo, and pressed down on him with his arms outstretched.
Hojo was covered in sweat, his eyes filled with Yo Aoki's hands, and he dared not dribble. He couldn't see his teammates either, and he completely panicked.
Kiyoshiro Kawai quickly ran over and shouted to Hojo, " Shunya! Over here!"
Upon hearing Kawai's shout, Hojo was overjoyed and immediately looked in the direction of the sound.
"The opportunity has come!" Yo Aoki's eyes narrowed, he slapped the ball out of Hojo's hand, then snatched the basketball and charged straight to the basket. There wasn't a single defender in front of him, and Yo Aoki easily scored with a layup!
5:0
"This year's students are pretty strong."
"Hey, you guys can't even handle a first-grader, can you?"
The third-year players on the sidelines laughed and cheered.
"Damn it!" Shigeru Akiyama clenched his fists in anger.
Kiyoshiro Kawai spoke up, "Our first priority is to contain Yo Aoki; the others are insignificant."
Tomoya Imamura nodded. "I will definitely not let him succeed again."
At this moment, Yo Aoki gathered all the other teammates together and said, "See? They're just so-so. Keep it up, everyone, don't let them look down on us." After saying that, he gave everyone a high five.
Thanks to Yo Aoki's performance and encouragement, the teammates' tension eased somewhat.
The game continues.
The second-year student serves, Hojo continues dribbling, and this time Kiyoshiro Kawai provides support from the backcourt. However, Yo Aoki doesn't use the frontcourt press strategy again; that was just a surprise tactic.
Hojo smoothly dribbled the ball across half-court, Nakako immediately closed in to mark him. This time, his marking was much stronger than before, but he still couldn't stop Hojo.
Imamura reached out for the ball, Hojo immediately passed it to him. After receiving the ball, Imamura turned his back to Yo Aoki, positioned himself, bent his knees and arched his back, and forced his way towards the basket, clearly intending to back down and defeat Yo Aoki.
But he was stunned after only a couple of attempts—why couldn't he move? Imamura strained until his face turned red, using every ounce of strength he had, but his body seemed nailed to the ground, and he couldn't budge Yo Aoki even an inch.
Seeing this, Hojo shouted at the top of his lungs, " Imamura! Watch out for the three-second violation!"
Hearing the warning, Imamura could no longer fight Yo Aoki head-on, so he had to use his height advantage to turn and jump. But he underestimated Yo Aoki's speed and jumping ability. Imamura took off, Yo Aoki also jumped up and swatted the ball away with a big block.
Just as Masato Matsumoto got his grip on the ball, he was immediately sandwiched between Igawa and Hojo, both trying to steal it. But Matsumoto reacted quickly, spotting an opening and passing the ball to Masakazu Yoshida, Yoshida then passed it to Nakako.
At that moment, Yo Aoki suddenly cut to the basket, reaching out to ask Nakako for the ball. Nakako passed it to him Nakako hesitation, Yo Aoki took off running up the court. The previous double-teaming had taken up a lot of time for the first-year students, and now the second-year Takeuchi and Akiyama were already ahead of Yo Aoki, but Yo Aoki didn't slow down at all; his eyes were only on the basket.
When Yo Aoki reached the three-point line, he had already caught up with two players. Takeuchi and Akiyama were startled by his speed and immediately tried to "close the door," with the two of them trying to sandwich Yo Aoki in the middle to cut off his attack.
Yo Aoki saw right through their thoughts, but he didn't care at all!
In the blink of an eye, the three of them rushed across the free-throw line. Takeuchi and Akiyama had already double-teamed Yo Aoki tightly, and the ball was about to go yellow. Coach Akai on the sidelines shook his head slightly. This kid was still too cocky. The safest way to play this ball was to wait for his teammates to get into position and slowly organize the attack.
"This first-grader is still too... Ah!" Third-grader Tatsu Shindo originally wanted to say that Yo Aoki was too inexperienced, but what happened next startled him so much that he cried out.
Just past the free-throw line, Yo Aoki suddenly jumped! Takeuchi and Akiyama had been tightly marking him, but suddenly felt a huge force slam into them, causing them to stumble.
When they looked at Yo Aoki again, they would never forget that scene— Yo Aoki was already flying in the air, his right hand outstretched, gripping the ball, his body slightly leaning back, facing the basket, slamming the ball into the basket like a mountain-splitting axe. "Bang!" The basketball hit the rim, making a dull, loud sound.
The entire basketball court fell silent instantly, with only the creaking of the basketball hoops echoing. Everyone, including Coach Akai, gaped in disbelief; no one could believe what they were seeing.
"Is this kid even human?" "Unbelievable!" "A monster!" Exclamations of all kinds rose and fell. Coach Akai finally came to his senses, his body still trembling slightly. "He looks exactly like Shinichi Maki from Kainan, Kenji Fujima from Shoyo, and Akira Sendoh from Ryonan. Could it be that Takezato has finally found his ace?"
Third-year student Yasunori Sanada turned to Shirota and asked, "I heard you and Aoki go to the same school? Such a good guy, how come I've never heard of him before?" Shirota replied, " Aoki only joined the basketball team in his third year of junior high. According to the school's tactical arrangements, he hasn't played before."
"What? So that means he only practiced basketball for a year?" Sanada's eyes widened.
Shirota continued, " Aoki used to play basketball, but gave it up and didn't start practicing again until his third year of junior high."
"I see, but even so, it's still terrifying!" Sanada exclaimed, then exchanged a glance with Tatsu Shindo beside him. Both of their eyes shone with hope—the hope of making it to the national tournament.