Yo Aoki feigned sudden realization. "Oh! No wonder you're so professional! Boss, you must have an Air Jordan 3 here, right?"
The store manager, flattered, patted his chest and said, "Of course! Since you know your stuff, I'll sell you this pair that I've been treasuring!"
Yo Aoki stared at the cheerful store manager, then glanced at the pair of Air Jordan 6s on his feet, and chuckled to himself: He lost two pairs of collectible shoes in one day, and another pair was stolen. Guy, you'd better hang in there.
Yo Aoki was quite happy to receive the shoes he wanted, but buying shoes wasn't his goal for the day.
He called out to the store manager, carrying his new shoes, "Boss, let me take a look at the sportswear too!"
After getting the store manager out of the way, he wandered around the shelves, waiting for Sakuragi to come in.
A moment later, the shop door was pushed open with a bang, and a red-haired boy rushed in. Yo Aoki recognized Sakuragi at a glance. He didn't rush to talk to him, but instead continued to pretend to look at things on the other side.
Seeing another customer arrive, the store manager immediately rushed over. Yo Aoki watched the entire famous scene from the manga where Sakuragi buys shoes from a distance.
When Aoki saw Sakuragi pull out 30 yen to snatch the Air Jordan 6s from the shopkeeper, Yo Aoki couldn't help but cover his mouth and burst out laughing, "This scene is hilarious no matter how many times I watch it!"
Yo Aoki felt the time was right, so he moved out while looking around, and bumped into Sakuragi who was walking by.
Yo Aoki feigned surprise. "Oh, you're Hanamichi Sakuragi from Shohoku, right?"
Sakuragi recognized him immediately, and his voice rose sharply. "You're that spy! You were following me?"
Yo Aoki shook his head. "I'm not a spy, nor did I follow you. I'm a student from Takezato."
Sakuragi ignored him completely, his face darkening as he walked towards Yo Aoki. Yo Aoki, seeing this, knew he was in trouble and instinctively reached for his forehead.
Just then, a voice drifted over. " Sakuragi, what's wrong?" It was Haruko Akagi walking over.
Upon hearing this, Sakuragi's expression immediately changed, and he turned around with a goofy grin. "It's nothing, it's nothing, I just ran into a boring person."
Yo Aoki breathed a sigh of relief and nodded to Haruko: "Hello, you're from Shohoku too, right? I'm Yo Aoki, a basketball player from Takezato."
Sakuragi immediately retorted, "None of your business!"
Haruko nudged Sakuragi's arm and smiled at Yo Aoki, "Hello, my name is Haruko Akagi, and Sakuragi and I are both first-year students at Shohoku."
Yo Aoki looked at Sakuragi and smiled, "I watched your game yesterday, you played pretty well."
Upon hearing the praise, Sakuragi immediately changed his tune, laughing heartily, "Of course! I'm the next captain of Shohoku, you ordinary folks aren't even on my level!"
Yo Aoki also laughed, "Your physical condition is truly outstanding; you'll definitely become one of the top athletes in the country in the future."
Sakuragi's nose practically pointed to the sky. Being praised in front of Haruko had completely ignited his vanity, and he laughed so hard his voice almost cracked, "Of course! Haha!"
Yo Aoki felt the time was right and smiled at Sakuragi, "Shall we have a little sparring session now?"
Sakuragi puffed out his chest, a smug look on his face. "You want to challenge this genius?"
Yo Aoki looked at Haruko Akagi.
He said, "I'm going to play basketball with Sakuragi for a while. Could you please go back to Shohoku and ask for leave for Sakuragi?"
Haruko Akagi frowned and looked at Hanamichi Sakuragi.
Hanamichi Sakuragi didn't want to lose face in front of Haruko, so he patted Haruko's arm.
He said, " Haruko, you go back first. I'll go back to training after I win."
On Monday afternoon, Yo Aoki and Hanamichi Sakuragi stood opposite each other on the basketball court in the park.
Yo Aoki gripped the ball and looked at Hanamichi Sakuragi.
He said, " Sakuragi -kun, I'm here."
Sakuragi tilted his head and smiled, shaking the ball as he gripped it.
He said, "I'll show you what a genius's defense is like."
But as soon as Sakuragi finished speaking, Yo Aoki took off, dribbled the ball to accelerate, shook off Sakuragi's defense, jumped up and put the ball into the basket.
Sakuragi bristled and yelled, "How despicable! They actually launched a sneak attack!"
Yo Aoki spread his hands and laughed, "This doesn't count, let's try again."
Sakuragi snorted and stood up straight again.
Yo Aoki adopted a triple threat stance, first probing his left side with a step, and Sakuragi immediately closed in. However, Yo Aoki suddenly dribbled behind his back, pulled back, shook off Sakuragi, and jumped to shoot. The ball swished into the basket.
Sakuragi jumped up and down in anger, yelling, "Damn it! Again!"
Yo Aoki smiled and said, "Okay."
After the restart, Yo Aoki didn't choose to drive; instead, he shot the ball, yelling at the top of his lungs, "Rebound!"
Sakuragi immediately rushed towards the basket, crouching down to block Yo Aoki behind him, and jumped up to steal the ball.
But as soon as he got the ball, he was stunned. He spun around with the ball, his mind filled with thoughts of dunking, but Yo Aoki didn't give him a chance at all.
Yo Aoki initially wanted to attack directly, but then he thought that he had to exploit Sakuragi's weakness first, so he deliberately missed the shot.
He looked at Sakuragi and asked, " Sakuragi, why didn't you attack right after grabbing the rebound? Can't you shoot?"
Sakuragi instantly bristled, turned around and jumped up like a frog, pushing the ball out with both hands.
Yo Aoki didn't even bother jumping to block the shot; there was no way it would go in.
But Sakuragi didn't give up. He kept grabbing rebounds and shooting, until he was panting heavily and his clothes were mostly soaked with sweat.
Yo Aoki called out, "Pause, Sakuragi!"
Sakuragi wiped his sweat and scoffed, "What's wrong? Scared by the genius's strength?"
Yo Aoki's shoulders trembled as he suppressed a laugh, and he said, "Let me teach you how to shoot. Your form is wrong; it's hard to make a basket."
Sakuragi rolled his eyes. "Does this genius need you to teach him? I've even beaten Akagi! I score with dunks!"
But he stopped mid-sentence, Yo Aoki exposed his weakness. "In the game Shohoku and Ryonan, you didn't have a single dunk, and your only two points were from layups."
Sakuragi opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything for a long time.
Yo Aoki then said, " Kaede Rukawa scores over twenty points in a single game, don't you want to catch up?"
Sakuragi's teeth were grinding together.
Yo Aoki continued, "You're a rebounding genius. After you grab a rebound, the defenders stick to you tightly, making it difficult to dunk. But if you can shoot, and you grab ten rebounds every game, scoring points through shooting, that's twenty points. Even Kaede Rukawa isn't as consistent as you."
Sakuragi's eyes lit up, and he wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth. "I want to learn!"
Yo Aoki nodded. "Okay, I'll teach you."
Yo Aoki couldn't understand why Shohoku didn't teach Sakuragi to shoot earlier when he read the manga. They probably thought that with Akagi, Rukawa, and Mitsui, Sakuragi only needed to grab rebounds. It wasn't until the game against Kainan, where Sakuragi was targeted by Riki Takato, that he realized how important Sakuragi was.
He looked at Sakuragi: " Sakuragi, do you know what that square behind the basketball hoop is?"
Sakuragi shook his head.
Yo Aoki picked up the ball, raised his hand, and threw it towards the hoop. The ball hit the hoop and bounced in.
He said, "That's the aiming point; just throw it there."
Sakuragi asked, "Is it really that simple?"
Yo Aoki said, "And you have to control the power and angle, since you're not always throwing from the same spot."
Hanamichi Sakuragi was full of questions, but Yo Aoki spoke first about the angle. Yo Aoki stood at a 45-degree angle from the basket, turned to Sakuragi and said that the area under the basket is divided into three areas: left, center and right. He was standing on the left side, so when shooting, he would aim for the upper left corner of the square behind the basket. On the right side, he would aim for the upper right corner, and on the center side, he would aim for the center point of the top edge of the square.
Yo Aoki handed the ball to Sakuragi, letting him try. Sakuragi took his position, gripped the ball, took a deep breath, and leaped like a frog, but he didn't control his strength, and the ball thudded against the rim and flew away. Yo Aoki ran over to retrieve the ball and reminded him, "You have to control your strength. If you jump well, just jump with all your might and gently push the ball out. Try again."
Sakuragi did another frog jump this time, but this time with just the right amount of force, the ball grazing the backboard and going into the basket. Sakuragi slapped his thigh and laughed, "Hahaha, I really am a genius!" Yo Aoki also encouraged him, "Impressive, Sakuragi, you got it right away."
Hearing the praise, Sakuragi smiled even more broadly, his mouth stretching to his ears. Yo Aoki seized the opportunity. " Sakuragi, let's try the right side and the middle." Sakuragi made both shots, Yo Aoki nodded, saying they could practice the next one.
Yo Aoki asked, " Sakuragi, have you actually watched Kaede Rukawa shoot a basket?" Sakuragi rolled his eyes. "Tch, why would I watch an ordinary person shoot like that?" Yo Aoki continued, "Don't you think your shooting form was ugly? If you used that form in front of a girl you like, do you think she'd like you?"
Sakuragi froze upon hearing this, muttering " Haruko..." before his eyes lit up with an alarming gleam. "I'm going to show Haruko my prowess on the court and make that damn Kaede Rukawa look awful!" He turned to Yo Aoki and asked, " Aoki, how should I shoot?"
Yo Aoki took the basketball and demonstrated. " Sakuragi, open your palm, let the base of your fingers and the edge of your palm touch the ball, don't let your palm touch the ball, hold the ball with your left hand, lift it up and use your wrist to release the ball from your fingertips." After saying that, he made a standard shooting motion. Sakuragi also copied his gesture.
Yo Aoki looked at his hand position and corrected him, "No, your grip on the ball is wrong." "No, you're using the wrong part of your body." " Sakuragi, your form is off, start over."
Time slipped away unnoticed. Yo Aoki glanced at his watch on the ground and said, "Oh, Sakuragi, it's getting late. Let's stop practicing here." Sakuragi also felt a little tired, but he was still puzzled and asked, " Aoki, we should be rivals, so why are you teaching me all this?"
Yo Aoki was taken aback. He couldn't very well say that Sakuragi was his childhood idol, but he quickly organized his thoughts. " Sakuragi, I watched your game yesterday."
"I think we're the same type of player. Our technique isn't as refined as Sendoh's or Kaede Rukawa's, but we have the physique and power, making us impactful on the court. Sendoh and Kaede Rukawa are technical players, while we're more of an impact-oriented player! I don't want someone with this kind of talent to be overlooked, that's why I'm teaching you."
"A high-impact player?" Upon hearing this term, Sakuragi was immediately overjoyed. It took Yo Aoki several attempts before he snapped out of it, smiling confidently, "Then let them taste our impact!" At this moment, he didn't care why Yo Aoki was teaching him; as long as he could show off, that was all that mattered.
Yo Aoki smiled and extended his hand, "Is it a deal?" Sakuragi reached out and touched his hand. "Absolutely!" After exchanging contact information, Yo Aoki said goodbye to Sakuragi and went home.
Back home, Yo Aoki looked at Hanamichi Sakuragi's number saved on his phone and muttered, "Should I call, or should I call?"