On May 19th, Yo Aoki and Shirota sneaked into the county gymnasium to watch the Shohoku vs. Miuradai game.
Shirota, sporting panda eyes, yawned. " Aoki, you really love Shohoku."
"Absolutely, Shohoku is incredibly strong," Yo Aoki replied confidently.
Shirota rolled his eyes. "They are strong, but it's one thing for you to skip class, but you're dragging me into it too?"
"Aren't you supposed to be a data expert? Who else should I ask if not you?" Yo Aoki scratched his head.
Shirota frowned. "I always felt that there was more to your reasons than just that, wasn't there something else going on?"
Yo Aoki thought to himself: This guy is as sensitive as a cat.
He touched his nose and explained, " Shohoku didn't field their full starting lineup in the previous practice match, so we need to observe them carefully in this game."
He pointed to the sidelines, Shirota looked over and, sure enough, the entire Ryonan team had arrived.
"Really?" Shirota was still skeptical.
Fortunately, the arrival of both teams' players diverted Shirota's attention. Yo Aoki quickly looked towards the Miuradai team's side, but couldn't find Tetsuya Naito.
He chuckled, "Thank goodness, it's definitely a comic book world."
As the whistle blew, the competition officially began.
Because of the previous brawl, Shohoku's Sakuragi, Sakuragi, Rukawa, Mitsui Miyagi were all benched, leaving only Akagi to carry the load.
Shirota scoffed, " Aoki, Shohoku is seriously underestimating Miuradai, sending in a substitute player?"
Yo Aoki simply smiled and didn't say anything.
The game unfolded exactly as depicted in the manga. Shohoku gritted their teeth and persevered, but Akagi alone couldn't win. Just four minutes into the game, Shohoku was already down by 12 points.
Coach Anzai finally couldn't sit still any longer and substituted Sakuragi, Rukawa, and the others onto the court all at once.
Seeing Sakuragi enter the court, Yo Aoki shouted at the top of his lungs, " Sakuragi, charge!"
Upon hearing the voice, Sakuragi looked up and, seeing Yo Aoki, immediately patted his chest and laughed loudly, "Haha, need I say more? This genius is destined to shine in this match!"
Before he could finish gloating, a hand suddenly slapped him on the head.
Akagi frowned. "Don't get distracted, focus on the game."
But Coach Akai chuckled and retorted, " Sakuragi, don't hold us back!"
Sakuragi immediately lost his temper.
The fully-equipped Shohoku swept away their slump and quickly tied and even took the lead. However, unlike in the manga, Sakuragi's performance was much more impressive—in one of Shohoku's offensive possessions, he grabbed an offensive rebound, jumped up and shot, and the ball swished through the net.
The Ryonan team members stared in disbelief, exclaiming in unison, "Ah!!"
They couldn't believe it at all; in such a short time, Sakuragi had already become quite skilled at playing basketball.
Yo Aoki stared at Hanamichi Sakuragi's shooting motion, thinking to himself that the kid had improved a lot and must have practiced a lot in private.
With five minutes left in the game, Yo Aoki suddenly became excited and sidled up to Shirota, shouting, "It's almost here! The iconic moment is about to happen!"
Shirota frowned and asked, "What famous scene?"
Yo Aoki's eyes were fixed on Sakuragi, and he waved his hand dismissively, "N-nothing, you misheard."
On the court, Kaede Rukawa blocked Miuradai Dai's shot, Ryota Miyagi grabbed the rebound, and Sakuragi immediately rushed to the frontcourt, yelling for the ball.
Miyagi made a one-handed pass, and the basketball landed steadily in Sakuragi's hands. But Sakuragi's next move made Yo Aoki laugh so hard he bent over – he put all his strength into the ball and slammed it into the basket over Murasame's head.
"Hahahaha!" Yo Aoki laughed so hard he almost fell over, gesturing wildly, which drew the attention of everyone around him. Shirota quickly moved his seat to the side, afraid that others would realize he knew Yo Aoki.
Sakuragi was explaining to the Miuradai players that he didn't mean it when he suddenly heard loud laughter. He turned around and saw Yo Aoki's unserious expression.
He immediately yelled at Yo Aoki, " Aoki! How dare you laugh at me!"
Yo Aoki laughed until tears streamed down his face; he couldn't stop.
After the game, Yo Aoki and Shirota left the county basketball stadium together. Yo Aoki clutched his stomach as he walked, and his body would occasionally twitch. He hadn't recovered yet.
He finally witnessed Hanamichi Sakuragi's iconic scene in real life, and he was incredibly satisfied. Humming a little tune, he smiled broadly, feeling that he had finally achieved his goal for this trip.
After school in the afternoon, Yo Aoki strolled to the basketball gym, ready to begin today's training.
But as soon as I entered, I found that the stadium had changed – the floor looked like it had been relaid and the basketball hoops had been replaced with new ones.
"The school actually renovated the basketball court?" he muttered.
"Good afternoon, Aoki," someone said.
Yo Aoki turned around and saw Mizuki standing there. Just as he was about to greet him, he noticed that Mizuki had thick hair wax on his head, making him look like he had been kicked by a donkey. Instantly, he thought of Coach Kuishi from Eda Middle School.
"Good afternoon, Captain Mizuki." He quickly corrected himself.
The players came in one after another. Everyone's clothes were particularly neat today, especially the first-year students, who had even changed into new sportswear.
"Is some important person coming today?" Yo Aoki wondered.
A short while later, Coach Akai and Shirota arrived at the stadium together.
Yo Aoki glanced at the two of them and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that they hadn't changed.
He wanted to go up and greet Shirota, but Shirota completely ignored him, looking down and sulking.
Yo Aoki glanced at Coach Akai again. In stark contrast to Shirota, Akai was ruddy-faced, pot-bellied, and swayed as he walked, looking smug and self-satisfied.
"Today is really strange," Yo Aoki muttered to himself.
Coach Akai, seeing that most of the people had arrived, gathered everyone together.
He cleared his throat. "Today I have an important announcement to make. Our Takezato basketball team is welcoming a new officer, and she is..."
He looked around, but clearly couldn't find anyone.
Where are they?
Shirota snorted, "Late on your first day."
Coach Akai didn't take it to heart, waving her hand with a smile, "Girls are normal to be late, everyone should be understanding."
Just then, a girl walked into the basketball court, wearing a sports uniform and with her hair in a ponytail.
Yo Aoki froze upon recognizing the person. "Isn't this the girl from the rooftop the other day?"
"She's actually here as a team manager? Didn't Coach Akai kick her out before?" Yo Aoki wondered to himself.
Everyone stared at the beautiful young girl, except for Shirota, who turned his head away.
Coach Akai, "This is our new manager, Oriyuki Iwasaki! Everyone, give her a warm welcome!"
"Please take good care of me." Oriyuki Iwasaki bowed shyly.
A round of enthusiastic applause erupted instantly and lasted for a long time.
" Iwasaki... Oriyuki, why does that name sound so familiar?" Yo Aoki frowned, trying hard to remember.
A few minutes later, Coach Akai gestured to stop the applause.
Yo Aoki glanced at Nakako beside him, noticing him rubbing his hands incessantly, and chuckled inwardly, "Is it really necessary to be so enthusiastic? Now you know what pain is, huh?"
Coach Akai continued, " Iwasaki is the daughter of the Ichibishi Group. She's the one who secured the funding for this gym renovation, so everyone must take good care of Iwasaki from now on, understand?"
"Understood!" everyone shouted in unison.
When Yo Aoki heard "the heiress of the Ichibishi Group," he instantly realized, "So she's the one I bravely saved that day!"
So, Coach Akai got her on the team after receiving a bribe?
Coach, where's your backbone?
The players of the Takezato Team trained exceptionally hard, each eager to show off their skills.
Looking at this scene, Yo Aoki couldn't help but mutter to himself, "It seems that having a woman in the team isn't such a bad thing after all."
Shirota was explaining to Oriyuki Iwasaki how to register player training data, something Coach Akai had just specifically instructed her on in his office, but Shirota looked extremely reluctant.
Shirota said to Oriyuki Iwasaki with a cold face, "Your job is to score the training status of all the official players so that we can conduct targeted training later."
Oriyuki Iwasaki nodded doubtfully.
Shirota pointed to the chart and said, "This chart is divided into four levels: A, B, C, and D. A is for a beautifully executed action, B is for a reasonably good execution, C is for a barely completed action, and D is for an incomplete execution. So the most important thing to distinguish is between B and C."
Oriyuki Iwasaki tilted her head and asked, "What if I get all Ds?"
Shirota scoffed; that kind of thing wouldn't happen to a regular player.
Oriyuki Iwasaki then asked, "What if they're all Cs?"
Shirota snorted, "If it's all Cs, that guy's going to get some hellish training from Coach Akai!"
Oriyuki Iwasaki happily nodded. "Okay, I've got it."
On the court, they were practicing two-man passing and cutting layups. When it was Yo Aoki's turn, he partnered with Yoshida Masashi, and their movements were fluid and effortless as they completed the training.
Oriyuki Iwasaki watched Yo Aoki's actions and immediately filled in a C on the corresponding form.
After the game, she covered her mouth and chuckled, "Let you gossip about me behind my back!"
In the coach's office, Coach Akai stared at the day's player registration form with a deep frown.
He looked up and asked Mizuki, " Mizuki, is Aoki's injury not completely healed yet?"
Mizuki said, "From what I've observed, Aoki's injuries are almost healed."
Akai pulled out a form; in today's registration, Aoki's completion rate was only C.
Mizuki looked incredulous. "That's impossible."
Akai asked, "What did we practice today?"
Mizuki replied, "It's just regular dribbling, layups, passing, and defensive drills specifically targeting Kainan and Ryonan's drives."
Akai nodded, fully aware of what was going on.
He smiled helplessly. Apart from Yo Aoki, everyone else got an A. It seemed that Aoki had offended Iwasaki.
Oriyuki Iwasaki was brought into the team entirely because of the sponsorship from the Ichibishi Group. They promised to renovate the court, replace the equipment, and cover all the team's expenses for traveling to competitions.
With such great conditions, just replacing them with a girl is like a windfall.
Coach Akai agreed without hesitation; it seems we'll have to get Shirota to rewrite it.
He casually crumpled up the form that Oriyuki Iwasaki had filled out and threw it into the trash can.
After training ended, Oriyuki Iwasaki stayed behind.
She wondered if the coach would punish Yo Aoki for giving him a C.
She slipped outside the gym and peeked through the crack in the door, and sure enough, she saw Yo Aoki practicing extra.
Oriyuki Iwasaki smiled, a smug look on her face. "Haha, finally you've suffered."
She interpreted Yo Aoki's decision to practice extra hours as punishment from the coach.
A few days later, after Yo Aoki finished practicing basketball and returned home, Ryoko Aoki said that someone had called him. When he answered, it turned out to be Hanamichi Sakuragi.
Yo Aoki immediately called back, "Hello, Sakuragi -kun? This is Yo Aoki. I heard you were looking for me?"
Sakuragi stammered, "I want... I want..."
Why are you stammering? This isn't like you, Sakuragi!