Slam Dunk: Soaring

“Tianming, we really are best friends!” Sakuragi looked at the other person’s report card which was even worse than his own, and hugged his shoulders enthusiastically.

“Please play another 1v1 match with me. I will definitely win this time!” Rukawa looked at Zhou Tianming with full fighting spirit.

Zhou Tianming held the basketball in one hand and the report card in the other, thinking to himself: This is clearly a world of basketball, why do I feel that passing the exam is more difficult than dominating the country?

Slam Dunk: Soaring
Chapter 1 Olympic Champion (Part 1)
“CCTV, CCTV, this is the men’s high jump final of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The last jump of the last contestant in the men’s high jump is about to begin. We invite the contestants to come on stage!”
Tokyo, New International Stadium, a battlefield used to decide the highest honor in high jump. As soon as the referee’s slightly dull whistle sounded, a group of spectators in red and white jackets sitting in a corner of the audience seats all stood up. Everyone’s face showed tension, their hands were placed on their legs and clenched into fists, and even their palms looked a little pale because of the force.
Of course, it’s not just the spectators at the scene. In the distant land of China, countless Chinese compatriots have already quietly sat down in front of their TVs, waiting for this sports legend from China to continue to create miracles. Although they have absolute confidence in this miracle maker, in competitive sports games, no one dares to say that they are absolutely sure of victory until the last moment.
In the arena, Zhou Tianming took a deep breath, raised his arms to the coaches on the sidelines and the audience in the distance, and stood at the starting line with a calm face. He glanced at the electronic scoreboard, which recorded the results and rankings of the current players. The first place result was clearly visible:
Canada, Drouin, 2.43m!
Yes, Drouin from Canada had just jumped an excellent result of 2.43m, which was the best result Drouin had achieved in several such competitions. He was very excited at the moment, staring at Zhou Tianming not far away, his eyes full of fighting spirit. This might be the first and only chance in his career to beat Zhou Tianming, which made him both excited and afraid. He was looking forward to victory but afraid that it would be another empty victory.
Although this result is still quite far from the world record of 2.60m held by Zhou Tianming, it was created by Zhou Tianming in his prime period after all. Zhou Tianming, who is now 30 years old, cannot and will not be able to maintain such a terrifying result. It is just unknown whether he can surpass the height jumped by Drouin and continue to maintain his undefeated myth.
Zhou Tianming, who lived in the United States since childhood, returned to China to live alone at the age of 16. Soon after entering school, he showed his amazing jumping ability and was soon discovered and trained by the national track and field team. After two years of formal training, when he was 18 years old, he participated in the Olympics in the capital for the first time and won the men’s high jump gold medal in the 2008 Olympics with an outstanding result of 2.45m. This result caused an uproar in the sports world at the time. The Chinese team, which had few achievements in track and field events, unexpectedly won the high jump championship, which surprised many sports stars and even many domestic sports experts. After the International Olympic Committee conducted several physical examinations on Zhou Tianming and confirmed that Zhou Tianming had not taken any drugs, everyone was amazed and lamented that a high jump genius had appeared in China.
Moreover, after Zhou Tianming’s stunning debut, with his growth in training and continuous accumulation of experience in participating in competitions, Zhou Tianming won gold medals in the next two Olympic Games with absolute advantage. The process was not too easy. In the semi-finals of the 2012 Olympic Games high jump, he set a terrifying record of 2.60m. The birth of this record almost made other national athletes give up the competition at that time, and also made Zhou Tianming appear on Time magazine for the second time, and people in the high jump world named this year as “Zhou Tianming’s Year”.
However, as time passed, after participating in the 2016 Olympics, Zhou Tianming met his wife Lisa when he was 27 years old. A year after their marriage, they had a pair of lovely children. During this period, although Zhou Tianming still participated in training, he spent more time with his family. The boring and monotonous training and the not-so-challenging competitions have made Zhou Tianming feel a little bored. He is no longer so keen on high jump. He prefers to accompany his wife and children. However, he still participated in this Olympics, not for other reasons, but one day, when he wanted to give his Olympic gold medal to his lovely children, he was embarrassed to find that there were only three medals. He didn’t want to give one less to anyone, so he came again.
Zhou Tianming jumped a few times on the spot as usual, and after making sure that his waist, legs and shoes were all normal, he exhaled a few deep breaths, and stared calmly at the horizontal bar on the high jump stand. It seemed as if the world had quieted down in an instant. Zhou Tianming swung his arms, which were not strong but gave people a feeling of being full of power, and began to run with big strides. Then he ran faster and faster. When he was close to the jumping line, the referee nearby only felt a black shadow passing by. The moment Zhou Tianming stepped on the jumping line, he pushed hard with his left foot, swung his arms upward, and his body was launched like a cannonball, flying higher and higher, and gradually reached the same height as the horizontal bar.
The temperature in the stadium was 24 degrees, the most comfortable temperature for the human body, but the audience on the sidelines were still sweating. From the moment Zhou Tianming started, accelerated, and jumped, their hearts were hanging in their throats, and their eyes were full of expectation and nervousness. Just when Drouin succeeded in challenging 2.43m, they knew that Zhou Tianming had met an opponent today, although they always believed that he would win. But in the second-level competitions in recent years, Zhou Tianming’s results rarely reached 2.45m. But just now, facing the pressure of Drouin’s results, Zhou Tianming was forced to increase his last jump to 2.45m, which also made the audience feel nervous about Zhou Tianming’s competition for the first time in a long time.
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ActivityRegister as a Filo member and get 200 points![Register Now]Chapter 2 Olympic Champion (Part 2) (Old Version)
Zhou Tianming was flying in the air, as light and steady as a swallow, and as swift and accurate as an eagle. He knew that he had successfully crossed the bar, and he also knew that he could definitely jump over it. He even had the ability to jump higher and improve his result. However, he did not do so. Thinking back on his 12-year sports career, he felt that it was time for him to stop.
Bang!
As Zhou Tianming landed on the mat, the referee turned on the green light at the same time.
The referee looked at Zhou Tianming in disbelief. To be honest, he had not had much confidence in Zhou Tianming’s jump. After all, Zhou Tianming’s form had been declining in recent years, and he had hardly jumped over 2.40m in the past two years. However, after this jump, his thoughts changed completely. He even felt that Zhou Tianming could perform better.
“Congratulations, you are already the champion,” the referee congratulated sincerely.
“Thank you!” Zhou Tianming stood up from the cushion with a smile, raised his right hand and shook hands with the referee, “But this may be my last time to participate in the competition.” After that, Zhou Tianming ran towards the audience seats.
“Uh,” the news was a bit sudden, and the referee was a little slow to react. But then he thought, this magical oriental boy is already 30 years old, and maybe it is really the end of his sports career. Thinking of how he dominated the high jump world when he was young, and now he can only be an old referee, he felt a little bored for a moment, and turned and walked towards the working group.
Seeing Zhou Tianming successfully jump over the 2.45m horizontal bar and win the championship, the enthusiasm of the audience sitting in a corner of the audience seats suddenly burst out, and all kinds of blessings and admiration were given to Zhou Tianming. Some people excitedly opened their arms and hugged the people next to them tightly, regardless of whether the audience members next to them were of the opposite sex or even supported Zhou Tianming. Just when one of the audience members excitedly hugged and wanted to give a kiss, he found that the person he was hugging was a middle-aged foreign uncle with a big beard. It was as if cold water was poured on his head. He calmed down a bit, turned back with embarrassment, and continued to shout to the audience.
“Tianming, you are so awesome!”
“Zhou Tianming, I love you!”
“Tomorrow I will give birth to a baby for you!”
“Tianming, this is your fourth Olympic gold medal, right?”
Zhou Tianming ran to the audience stands with the loudest cheers, waved his arms vigorously at them, made a victory gesture, then stretched out his right hand, retracted his thumb, and made a four sign. The audience in front of him was even more excited. If there were no security guards in front to stop them, it was unknown whether these excited audiences would rush off the stage. One of the young mothers wore big-framed sunglasses, long golden wavy hair, and a white casual sportswear. Although she was wearing sportswear and sunglasses, she was obviously a beauty at first glance. She also smiled and waved her arms at Zhou Tianming. There were two children about 2 or 3 years old sitting beside her. The two pairs of big eyes looked at Zhou Tianming without blinking, and they kept shouting “baba, baba”. Zhou Tianming noticed the three of them, and his eyes revealed infinite love.
At this time, a boy about 13 or 14 years old in the excited crowd threw a red object to Zhou Tianming. Zhou Tianming caught it and opened it to see that it was the national flag. Zhou Tianming waved to the excited boy to express his gratitude, then unfolded the national flag, draped it over his shoulders, and began to run around the stadium. The spectators around him gave him warm applause when he ran to them. After all, the achievements made by this Oriental man over the years have conquered them.
Two months later.
Press conference.
“Mr. Zhou, for the track and field team after you retire, who do you think can take over your position as the mainstay of the high jump?”
“Mr. Zhou, are you really refusing to join the track and field team coaching staff?”
“Mr. Zhou, you will only be 34 years old in the next Olympics. Are you really not going to consider participating in another one? You know, you are the hope of ** track and field!”
The reporters sitting in the audience kept asking Zhou Tianming questions. Zhou Tianming smiled and answered some questions he was interested in. He was in a very relaxed mood at this time. After this retirement press conference, he would take his family on vacation to enjoy the leisure life he missed due to training in recent years.
As he was thinking, Zhou Tianming became impatient: “Everyone, be quiet. I am just 30 years old this year. I have passed the best age for an athlete. I really don’t have the energy to participate in the next Olympics. We should focus on those young, energetic and vibrant athletes. I believe they will do better and more outstanding than me!” He waved to the reporters and said, “Goodbye, friends. It’s time for me to relax. These years are really tiring.” After that, he strode out the door without looking back.
All the reporters stopped what they were doing, stood up in unison, and did not stop Zhou Tianming. Instead, they gave warm applause to bid farewell to their hero.
Zhou Tianming stepped out of the building where the reception was held, facing a beam of dazzling sunlight, feeling an unprecedented sense of relief. However, just as he walked to the parking lot and was about to open the car door, a bullet flew from nowhere and accurately hit his left chest. Zhou Tianming, who was still immersed in the idea of ??going home to enjoy life, fell backwards in shock, his eyes full of reluctance and unwillingness, and then everything returned to calm.
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Chapter 3: Traveling through time? Rebirth? (Old version)
“Tianming, what time is it? Hurry up and have breakfast.”
In the living room, a beautiful young woman who looked to be less than 30 years old, wearing a white home dress, was holding a glass of steaming milk in one hand and holding her waist with the other, shouting towards the bedroom at the other end of the living room.
“Hmm…I see.”
In the room, a young man who was sleeping with his head covered heard the beautiful woman’s call, and drowsily lifted the quilt and sat up, rubbing his temple with his hand, looking dazed.
“Huh? Wasn’t I shot?” As he was thinking, he pulled open his shirt and a piece of snow-white, smooth and pink skin came into view, except for one thing that was not as eye-catching as his impression.
“Am I dreaming? Or was I saved and had my skin grafted by the doctor? It can’t heal so quickly.”
Zhou Tianming put on his slippers with a puzzled look and walked towards his closet. After taking two steps, he suddenly realized that something was wrong. What was going on? Why did this cartoon slipper look so small? And what was going on with this small hand? Whose house was this?
Confused Zhou Tianming quickly rushed to the closet, and when he saw himself in the mirror, he stood there in a daze.
The man in the mirror, no, to be exact, a boy who looked about 13 or 14 years old at most, with a delicate face with a little childishness, a pair of dull eyes that didn’t blink, wearing a pair of pajamas from a dream, and a height of more than 1.6 meters, but a little thin, with no trace of the tendon muscles of an athlete. Zhou Tianming stared at himself in the mirror in amazement, this… isn’t this what he looked like when he was a child?
“Why haven’t you come out yet? Today is your first day to report to the middle school. Being late will leave a bad impression on the teacher!”
After a while, perhaps the beautiful woman in the living room was getting impatient and shouted towards this room, and then a sound of footsteps came from far away.
This shout finally woke up Zhou Tianming who was in a daze. At the same time, a huge amount of memory fragments suddenly poured into Zhou Tianming’s mind. Under the impact of the huge memory, Zhou Tianming felt a splitting headache and almost fainted. Fortunately, Zhou Tianming’s willpower was not weak. The previous experience of large and small competitions gave him extraordinary willpower, and he managed to get through it.
At this time, the door was pushed open. The beautiful woman, who originally wanted to continue urging her son to get up, saw her beloved son squatting on the ground with his head covered, looking very painful. She was so scared that she hurriedly walked to Zhou Tianming and squatted down.
“Tianming, what’s wrong with you?”
Zhou Tianming didn’t say anything and continued to rub his temple. After a while, he felt the pain recede like the tide. He slowly raised his head and looked at the beautiful woman with an anxious face.
“Mom, I’m fine. I was in a hurry to get up just now, and I tripped and hit my head.” He helped his mother to stand up embarrassedly. “I feel much better now. You should go to eat. I’ll change my clothes and come over.” After that, Zhou Tianming pushed his mother out of the door and urged her to wait for him at the dining table.
Seeing that her child seemed to be fine, the mother breathed a sigh of relief and muttered, “You little brat, you have to go out and wait to change your clothes, and you’re still shy.” Then she walked back to the dining table with a smile on her face.
Zhou Tianming was really shocked at this moment. He he actually traveled through time and space and was reborn into the body of this little kid with the same name and surname as himself. But why did this kid look so much like him when he was a child? With a lot of doubts in his mind, Zhou Tianming quickly changed his clothes and sat down at the dining table. While eating a sandwich, he interpreted the new memories in his mind.
He traveled to the island country of Japan, and it was Japan at the end of the 20th century. His new home was in a county called Kanagawa. He was a wealthy family. His father was the general manager of a state-owned enterprise, and his mother was the vice principal of a private high school. Although his family was not as wealthy as the Yamai Group, it was still quite wealthy. Thinking back to his life in his previous life, he had fought hard for so many years and was finally going to enjoy a luxurious retirement life, but ended up here inexplicably. Zhou Tianming was filled with sadness and depression. But he changed his mind and realized that at least he was still alive and had become younger, so he gradually let it go and decided to start a new life.
“Mom, I’m done eating. I have to go to school to register.” Zhou Tianming finished his meal in no time, put aside the messy thoughts in his mind, put on his schoolbag and prepared to go out.
“Have you brought everything you need for reporting? You really don’t need your mother to accompany you?” The mother, who was clearing the table, was a little worried.
“Don’t worry! Mom, I’ve got everything.” Zhou Tianming, who was still a little uncomfortable with his new mother, planned to report by himself. “The school is so close to home, don’t worry.”
“Okay, then you should be careful on the road,” the mother did not force him, after all, her son was already a middle school student.
“knew”
Zhou Tianming was riding his bike on the road in the early morning. The air after the rain was fresh and pleasant. The refreshing wind blew across his face. He felt that every cell in his body was filled with lightness. At least at this moment, Zhou Tianming just felt in his heart that it was great to be young!
He drove along the county’s first park and would be at school in 10 minutes. He noticed a little girl on the roadside, blushing and trying to climb a tree. She was a little girl, but she looked about the same age as him. She was also wearing the uniform of Beicheng Middle School. However, since the girls’ uniform was a skirt, she didn’t dare to climb the tree freely and could only circle around the trunk.
Chapter 4: Meeting Caizi (Old Version)
Zhou Tianming slowly braked the car, parked it on the side of the road, walked up to her and asked, “What are you doing, little girl? Climbing a tree is so dangerous!”
The girl opposite didn’t say anything, but turned to look at Zhou Tianming. The girl had a pretty oval face. She stared at Zhou Tianming with a pair of peach blossom eyes. Her straight nose was slightly wrinkled because of anger. Her long lips were a light orange-red, and it seemed that she had put on some lipstick. Her big, shiny black wavy hair fell on her shoulders.
“Who are you calling a little girl? My name is Inoue Ayako,” Ayako said unhappily, “Looking at the school uniform you’re wearing, you should be from the same school as me.”
Zhou Tianming then remembered that he was no longer the 30-year-old mature uncle, but a 13-year-old kid. He was speechless for a long time before he said, “Hello, beautiful classmate. I saw that you might have encountered some trouble around this tree, so I wanted to come and see if you can help me.”
Ayako, who seemed a little fierce just now, blushed slightly after hearing this and said embarrassedly, “A strong wind blew suddenly when I just arrived, and blew my hat onto the tree.” After that, she pointed to the top of her head.
Zhou Tianming looked up and saw that a dark brown hat was hanging on the tree branch. Since there was a small branch in the tree branch that passed through the round hole behind the hat, it seemed that it would be difficult to wait for a gust of wind to blow the hat off. Zhou Tianming stretched out his hand to gesture, but his fingertips were still far away from the hat on the tree branch, and he probably couldn’t reach it even if he stood on the bicycle.
“Classmate, how about you climb up the tree and help me get it?” Ayako’s face turned even redder, and she whispered with a bit of embarrassment but expectation in her eyes.
Hearing her say this, Zhou Tianming’s face suddenly turned a little dark. Others might not know that Zhou Tianming hated climbing trees since he was a child in his previous life, because he hated the bugs on the trees. In other words, he was afraid of them. In his memory, he was squatting under a tree teasing a caterpillar when he was very young, and then he was accidentally stung by a caterpillar. This should have been regarded as retribution from heaven, but it made Zhou Tianming cry and scream in pain for several days before the swelling finally subsided and he got better. This incident left a deep shadow on his childhood. Since then, every spring when the flowers bloomed, Zhou Tianming would always deliberately stay away from lush trees. When others asked him the reason, he would say with confidence that he was afraid of thunder.
However, seeing the little girl’s expectant eyes, he didn’t want to refuse, and hurriedly said: “Okay! I’ll try, but climbing a tree is too damaging to the trunk, which is not good for the future growth and development of the tree. We should use green and environmentally friendly methods. Look at my powerful diamond legs.” Zhou Tianming, who was talking nonsense, decided to try to jump up and get it. He stepped back a few steps, bent his knees, and recalled the preparations he often used in high jump in his previous life. He wondered with some doubt whether this body had the explosive power of his previous life. He sprinted violently, stopped his feet and jumped high. He stretched out his right hand and clamped the front of the hat with two fingers. He pulled it down hard, and the hat was off the branch. Zhou Tianming breathed a sigh of relief, but when he reached the highest point, he was surprised to find that his body was used to walking sideways, just like when he participated in the high jump competition, he needed to cross the highest point, but unlike the competition, there was no cushion under him at this time. It was impossible for Zhou Tianming to adjust his posture at this time. He felt desolate and sad. Was he sad that he had to report to the hospital on the first day of his time travel?
“Ah~!”, a piercing cry was heard, followed by a ‘bang’.
The expected pain from contact with the concrete floor did not come, but instead he felt something soft underneath him. Thinking of the scream just now, Zhou Tianming reacted immediately, stood up and bowed while saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.” After saying that, he secretly glanced at the miserable little girl in front of him.
.. , Ayako saw that the boy did not help her up, so she gritted her teeth and stood up on her own, with a black line on her forehead. She said with some hatred: If you want to jump, just jump. Why do you have to fall sideways on me in the end? After saying that, she rubbed her arm which was a little sore from the fall.
Zhou Tianming kept grumbling for a long time but couldn’t come up with any explanation. He couldn’t tell people that he was a high jump champion before and that the posture for the competition was like this. If he did, people might think he was crazy, and he would still have to report to the hospital.
The scene suddenly became awkward. On one side was Caizi, whose face was red with anger but she couldn’t vent her anger. After all, she was well-intentioned. On the other side was Zhou Tianming, who kept his head down and apologized repeatedly. After all, he was well-intentioned, and his apology attitude was so correct. The girl didn’t look hurt and believed that she would be moved by his sincere apology and forgive him or even thank him in return.
Fortunately, Caizi didn’t know what Zhou Tianming was thinking. She saw that Zhou Tianming just kept apologizing without any other explanation, and time was almost running out, so she could only snort heavily, picked up her hat, and left with a feeling of depression.
Zhou Tianming was stunned in the place. He was a little depressed that he didn’t hear the words of thanks, but then he thought that it was good that he didn’t get beaten. He originally planned to be a Lei Feng who did good deeds without leaving a name, but the result was like this. Fortunately, he didn’t leave a name. Tianming secretly thanked his luck and got on his bicycle again and rode towards the school. However, he was smart and decisive and changed a slightly longer route. He knew that the classmate named Caizi was his schoolmate, and he didn’t dare to appear in front of this schoolmate again.
“Hmm… She seemed to have mentioned her name just now. What was it?” Tianming muttered while pedaling leisurely, “Oh, it seems her name is Yamagami Ayako, a strange name…”
Chapter 5: Enrollment in North City (Old Version)
Kitajiro Junior High School is located in the north of Kanagawa City. When it was first built many years ago, there were large tracts of farmland and open space around it, so there was plenty of space for construction.
The school gate is very grand, with a square outside and a small fountain inside, surrounded by tall spotlights. The main administrative building behind the fountain is majestic, and the stairs facing the gate symbolize the students’ path to study.
The school’s architectural style is mainly black and white, which looks cold and solemn. It is different from other public middle schools in the county.
However, since today is the school’s open day for freshmen, the gates were open and the electronic screen on the gates was scrolling with various welcome slogans. In the square in front of the gates, many senior students also served as volunteers to provide consulting assistance to parents and students who came to the school for the first time and to distribute freshman reporting guides to them, which made this solemn school seem lively again.
When Zhou Tianming arrived at the gate of Beicheng Middle School with sweat on his forehead, he found that many students and parents had already arrived to report. Generally, students who live far away from home and need to live in the school usually have their parents help them bring their luggage to report.
Zhou Tianming parked his bicycle and asked a volunteer for a reporting guide. He took a quick look at it and knew that he needed to go to the school s public notice office first to check his class.
He quietly came to the notice board and found that many students had gathered in front of the notice board, all of them were chattering about their classes. Zhou Tianming also began to look for his name on the notice board.
Zhou Tianming’s name is easy to find, he is the only one in the school with the last name Zhou. Because Zhou Tianming’s father is a Chinese, but because the company’s headquarters is in Japan, after being promoted to management, he chose to settle in Japan and married a Japanese wife, but he still often has to go to the Chinese branch to work. For example, these few days, his baby son was transported through time, and he is still on a business trip.
Soon, Zhou Tianming found his name on the notice board, Class 5, Grade 1, on the third floor of the teaching building. Zhou Tianming thought about it and decided to go directly to the classroom and then spend the afternoon to visit the campus where he would be for the next three years.
After climbing to the third floor of the teaching building in one breath, Zhou Tianming walked happily towards the classroom. Although he didn’t want to gossip with the classmates in the announcement office, it didn’t mean that he didn’t miss his childhood school life. This time God gave him a chance to experience campus again, and he was looking forward to his future campus life.
When he walked into the classroom, many classmates had already chosen their favorite seats, about 30 people. Looking around, Zhou Tianming wanted to find a corner with fewer people. At this time, he noticed that a female classmate in a seat in the first row was looking at him unfriendly and was playing with a brown sports cap in her hand.
Who else could it be but the girl I met on the road!
Zhou Tianming’s expression froze, and he inexplicably recalled a sentence from a great philosopher in his previous life, “The more you don’t want something to happen, the more likely it is to happen.”
Seeing that the girl was a little unfriendly but not angry, Tianming had no choice but to step forward and said awkwardly and carefully:
“Ahem… Hey, are you feeling better, Yamagami-san?”
Seeing the other party coming over to say hello, Inoue Ayako’s face looked much better. Although this guy flew up and hit her, and her arm was still a little painful, but he also helped her get her hat back. As the saying goes, two things cancel each other out. He was still someone she was familiar with before, and now he was going to be her classmate. She simply stood up and planned to respond to the other party politely, but when she heard the second half of the other party’s sentence, she almost fainted with anger. Her oval face suddenly turned red, which was certainly not a blush of shame, as the anger in her beautiful eyes could testify.
Inoue Ayako actually gradually stopped being angry after the “knockdown incident” ended. She was so stunned by the guy’s amazing jump that she didn’t react at all when he knocked her down. However, she was very curious about how this skinny boy could have such a strong jumping ability. She wanted to get to know him so as to understand his situation. Who knew that this abominable bastard didn’t even remember her name, even though she had introduced herself solemnly when they met in the morning.
On this side, Zhou Tianming noticed that the female classmate’s face looked a little dark and knew that something was wrong.
“Who asked us to go to the mountain?” the female classmate said, gritting her teeth.
As expected! I actually remembered her name wrong. I just knocked her to the ground not long ago, and now I called her by the wrong name. This girl is not incompatible with me. Recalling the time when I was in school in my previous life, a senior said that many Japanese surnames are related to places, such as Matsushita, Kawada, Inaka and so on. Seeing that the girl opposite didn’t say a word and just stared at him, Tianming said cautiously: “Yamashita classmate?”
The girl opposite her turned even darker.
“In the mountains?” The weak boy’s voice became a little softer.
The black-faced woman’s face turned even darker, and the blue veins on her forehead throbbed a few times.
“Yamada?” The weak boy’s forehead was already covered with sweat.
The hat in the black-faced woman’s hand had been pinched out of shape, and her arms were trembling slightly, as if she was enduring something.
Seniors are really not to be trusted! Zhou Tianming regretted it so much that a sentence suddenly popped up in his mind, “Who are you calling a little girl? My name is Inoue Ayako.”
“Hey, don’t be so serious. I’m just joking with you, Inoue Ayako.” Zhou Tianming said in a relaxed manner.
Finally, I didn’t call the wrong name! Seeing the girl’s expression ease up, Zhou Tianming breathed a sigh of relief, secretly thinking he was lucky, and in his heart he also admired his excellent memory.
“Hmph! Don’t make such jokes again in the future,” Miss Ayako snorted, her complexion looked much better, and she put down the tortured hat with her right hand. She had just been resisting the urge to knock the hat on the head of the bastard opposite her.
Chapter 6 This is Slam Dunk (Old Version)
“Hello, Tianming, there is a seat here.”
At this time, a boy in the last row of the class stood up. He was not tall, but as fat as a ball. He waved at Zhou Tianming and kept pointing at the empty seat next to him.
Tianming looked up and saw a classmate he used to get along well with in elementary school, named Matsumoto Kotaro. He didn’t expect that he would be assigned to the same class as him. He was surprised and wanted to take the opportunity to leave here. Kotaro’s call was a godsend.
“Come here, come here,” Tianming also waved in the direction of Kotaro, turned his head and said, “Ayako, my friend called me, I’ll go over first. The joke I made with you just now was indeed a bit too much. I solemnly apologize to you and hope you don’t mind.” After that, he wanted to turn around and leave.
“It’s okay. Since it was just a joke, there’s no need to apologize.” Miss Caizi saw someone calling her and put the matter behind her. A smile appeared on her face. “By the way, we will be classmates from now on. I don’t even know your name yet.”
“Lei…ha, my name is Zhou Tianming, I hope that Caizi-san will give me more guidance in the future.”
Zhou Tianming originally wanted to make up his name and say that he was called “Lei Feng”, but when he realized that they would be classmates in the future, he quickly changed his words and revealed his real name, as the saying goes, “One’s name remains unchanged, and one’s surname remains unchanged.”
“Zhou Tianming?” Caizi silently read the name, then turned around and sat back in her seat.
Zhou Tianming walked to the seat next to Kotaro and sat down. The two men’s figures formed a sharp contrast, one tall and one short, one fat and one thin, just like the Fat Monk and the Thin Monk in “The Deer and the Cauldron”.
When Kotaro was in elementary school, he had a very good relationship with the original owner of Zhou Tianming’s body. They lived very close to each other, so they usually hung out together and ate the same meals. However, one grew horizontally and the other grew vertically, resulting in the current weird situation of one tall and one short, one fat and one thin. However, this did not change the relationship between the two, and they are still good friends.
“When did you meet such a beautiful girl?” Kotaro asked in a low voice, lying on the table, with a look of envy on his face.
“Haha, what you should ask is how she knows me,” Zhou Tianming was flipping through his textbooks and said casually, “On the way to school this morning, her hat got stuck on a tree and I helped her get it.”
Although Zhou Tianming had integrated the memory of this body, he still felt a little overwhelmed when he saw the contents of the textbooks. Did all the junior high schools in Japan in the 1990s learn these? Then Zhou Tianming stuffed the textbooks into his desk, out of sight, out of mind.
“Uh, why don’t I encounter such a good thing?” After hearing Zhou Tianming’s answer, Kotaro looked resentful as if he was asking the heaven why he didn’t give him such an opportunity. They used to play together, but how come Tianming, just after he went out on his own, could meet such a beautiful girl? Could it be that the problem is with him?
“You?” Tianming glanced at the little fat boy. “You have to stand on tiptoe to reach a hat on someone’s head. How can you help them reach a hat on a tree? Will you knock the tree down?”
The little fat boy was immediately frustrated and glared at Tianming, “I’m going to fight you, but you humiliated me like this.”
“Okay, okay, I was wrong, I give up!” Although the little fat man was just joking, he still felt a little heavy when he pounced on her. “You should lose weight, you’re almost crushing me.” “I want to lose weight, but I haven’t succeeded.” The little fat man stopped torturing Zhou Tianming, with a look of distress on his face, and his tangled expression was about to wrinkle into a bun. “If you want to lose weight, you still have to do more exercise. By the way, after you enter junior high school, are there any club activities you want to join? When we were in elementary school, we didn’t participate in many clubs. We just played games at home.”
“Club activities?” Zhou Tianming sat up and stroked his smooth chin with his right hand. Thinking about his thin body and recalling his strong physique in his previous life, he immediately made up his mind, “Well, I want to participate in club activities! Do you have any recommendations? By the way, I’m good at high jump.”
“Huh? When did you become good at high jump? If you are good at high jump, you can try your hand at the basketball team in our school. As for the track and field team, I think forget it. There are no girls watching the track and field team.” The little fat boy smacked his lips and said with a look of longing, “I heard that our basketball team is very good. Although it is not as strong as Takeishi Junior High School led by Mitsui Senior, the point is that there are many girls watching the games. I want to join the basketball team when the time comes.”
Zhou Tianming was thinking about which club to join. Should he join the track and field club? But he spent his last life on track and field, so he should change his life. Hmm, the baseball club? With his high jump level, he can catch any ball. But the pitcher is the most important person on the baseball team. If he becomes a pitcher, he will have a big arm at a young age. That would be too ugly. No, no!
While thinking, he heard what the fat boy said. He didn’t take it seriously at first, but after hearing the last two sentences, he suddenly came to his senses, stood up, grabbed the fat boy’s shoulders and asked in surprise: “Who are you talking about leading Takeishi Middle School?”
The little fat boy was a little confused when he was suddenly caught. Seeing Zhou Tianming’s surprised eyes, he said, “Senior Mitsui Shou, what’s wrong with you? You are so excited all of a sudden, do you know Senior Mitsui?…”
After Zhou Tianming heard the first sentence the fat boy said, he stopped listening and stared blankly at the ceiling. Kanagawa, Inoue Ayako, Mitsui Shou… Even if Tianming’s brain circuit was longer, he reacted at this moment.
“Slam Dunk…”
Chapter 7 North City Basketball Team (Part 1) (Old Version)
“Ring, ring, ring, ring”
The bell for the end of get out of class echoed throughout the campus, indicating the end of the first day of the new semester.
In Class 5, Grade 1, the students were busy packing their textbooks while talking about the interesting things that happened during the vacation that just ended.
“Tianming, have you decided which club you want to join?” In a corner at the back of the classroom, a little fat boy stuffed his schoolbag and textbooks into his desk and said excitedly, “I’ve already decided. I’m going to join the basketball club. They’ll definitely need me there! That will be the battlefield for me to show my skills!”
“…” Zhou Tianming was speechless for a moment after hearing what Kotaro said. He stared at Kotaro’s figure for a long time, “Okay, you… should be able to do it.”
After saying that, he put his textbooks on the desk in the classroom and put on his schoolbag.
“Since you want to join the basketball club, and I haven’t made up my mind yet, well, I’ll go to the basketball club with you.”
“Great! It would be best if you also join the basketball team. Then we can join forces and become the twin towers of the team!” said the fat boy with shining eyes.

Then the two of them walked leisurely towards the basketball team.
When Zhou Tianming knew that he had come to the world of Slam Dunk, he was actually a little excited. As a 16-year-old boy who lived in the United States, he loved basketball since he was a child, and basketball became a way for him to promote communication with foreign classmates. In addition, due to his excellent jumping ability and decent mid-range and long-range shooting ability, he also received a lot of praise in the United States, a country of basketball paradise.
After returning to China in his previous life, his talent was discovered by the school’s track and field coach because of his excellent jumping ability on the basketball court. However, due to his height of only 1.8 meters, he was not favored by the basketball coach at the time. He was successfully poached by the track and field coach and transformed into a track and field athlete. This also became a regret for Zhou Tianming at the time.
When they arrived at the basketball stadium, there was already a long queue at the new player reception desk. It looked like there were at least fifty or sixty people in the queue. This made Zhou Tianming, who was standing nearby, secretly smack his lips and sigh that this was worthy of the world of Slam Dunk. There were so many people who liked basketball. Even the most popular baseball club in Japan was probably no more than that.
Seeing so many people signing up, the fat boy at the side hurriedly grabbed Zhou Tianming and ran to the end of the long queue, fearing that the queue would be even longer if he was any later.
In the stadium.
“There are quite a lot of new students reporting to the basketball team this year. Do you think there will be any outstanding new players joining?” An elegant, handsome, tall and calm young man adjusted his glasses that had slipped down due to sweating, and looked at the freshmen lining up with hope.
“Humph, no matter how many people there are,” said a burly, dark-skinned man with a crew cut, dribbling a ball in his hands, “regardless of whether there are outstanding new players joining, I will not stop my steps to dominate the country!”
As soon as he finished speaking, he dribbled the ball skillfully to a position three or four steps away from the basket, stood up and made a standard shooting motion, and the ball drew a beautiful parabola and flew towards the basket.
The ball hit the back edge of the basket and bounced out. The dark-skinned man with a crew cut looked a little unhappy, and he muttered, “Is the basket crooked?”
The two people who were talking were two regular players of the Kitamura Junior High School basketball team. The quiet man with glasses was the team’s shooting guard named Kogure Mitsunobu, and the other dark-skinned man with a crew cut was naturally the team’s main center, Akagi Takenori.
Zhou Tianming, who was still waiting in line, noticed the two men from afar. Although he had read the comic “Slam Dunk” in elementary school in his previous life, and his impression of it was not that deep after so many years, he still remembered the appearance of the main characters, especially the signature face of the gorilla, which made Zhou Tianming imagine the future starting members of the Xiangbei High School basketball team.
The team had the talented and inhumanly funny protagonist Sakuragi Hanamichi, the indifferent teenager Rukawa Kaede who had superb basketball skills and extraordinary talent, the fiery boy Mitsui Hisashi who won the MVP of the county for three consecutive years in junior high school, the fast and responsive monk Miyagi Ryouta, and the strong and skilled gorilla Akagi Takenori. This team, which was only assembled in Akagi’s senior year, actually made great strides, defeated Shoyo and Ryonan in succession, advanced to the national competition, and finally defeated the former defending champion Sanno Industrial in the national competition.
Thinking of this, Zhou Tianming felt a little excited. He wondered if he could lead the team to go further after joining Xiangbei High School in the future, or even realize the common dream of all the players of Xiangbei High School and dominate the country!
After his thoughts drifted for a while, Zhou Tianming slowly calmed down and noticed that there was a handsome boy standing next to the gorilla. The boy was a little shy, wore a pair of large-framed glasses, and looked gentle and refined. He guessed that this must be the gorilla’s good friend, the future best sixth man of the Xiangbei team, Mugure Kimiyasu. Sure enough, these two people had a gay relationship since childhood, and they were childhood sweethearts!
About ten minutes later, it was Kotaro and Zhou Tianming’s turn in the team. After receiving the application form, Zhou Tianming briefly looked through the contents of the form, which were nothing more than a few concerns of basketball players, such as height, weight, position, and playing experience.
Zhou Tianming sorted out his thoughts and filled in the playing position of point guard or shooting guard. After all, he is only 1.65m tall now. Although he is only in the junior high school basketball team, there are still many seniors in the second and third grades of junior high school who have exceeded 180cm in height. The most conspicuous among them is Akagi, a monkey-like species. His growth rate is inhuman. He is only in the second grade of junior high school, but he is already 188cm tall. And judging by his posture, there is still a lot of room for improvement. No wonder he is already 197cm tall in the third year of high school.
Chapter 8: North City Middle School Basketball Team (Part 2) (Old Version)
Zhou Tianming filled in “no experience” in the length of service, and filled in his height and weight according to his actual current situation, and then handed it to the team management.
As for filling in “no experience” in the basketball age column, it’s not because Zhou Tianming wants to play dumb, it’s just because this body has never touched basketball before. Moreover, this body is indeed a bit thin. He is 1.65 meters tall but weighs only 40 kilograms. It looks malnourished no matter how you look at it. However, given the material conditions at home, it is impossible that he doesn’t have enough food to eat. So there is only one answer left: lack of exercise and being a very picky eater.
After understanding his true situation, Zhou Tianming planned to focus on strengthening his body first. As for joining the basketball team, it was just to allow this body to understand basketball better. Of course, now there is another reason, which is to get to know Akagi and Murasakibara first. After all, he plans to join Shohoku High School in the future.
As for joining the basketball team and becoming a regular player in junior high school, Zhou Tianming didn’t care. There were no national competitions in junior high school, only county competitions. Moreover, the bodies of the kids in junior high school had just entered puberty, and most of them had just started to play basketball. Even if there was a competition, it would be embarrassing for a 30-year-old uncle to participate. He felt embarrassed when he won, and he would feel even more embarrassed when he lost if he bullied junior high school students. But it was different in high school. Most of the players were adults over 18 years old, so there was no guilt in bullying them. Of course, the most important thing was that the plot of Slam Dunk unfolded in high school, and all kinds of great players would emerge in high school. Bullying these powerful supporting roles would arouse Zhou Tianming’s interest and make him feel refreshed.
“Now, the students whose names I read will join the second team of the basketball team and train with the first team on weekdays.” A basketball team member who looked like a senior in the second grade of junior high school held a list in his hand and said to everyone, “Of course, students whose names were not read should not be discouraged. You just have a little gap in basic skills with the second team. You should do more basic training and some physical strengthening exercises in the gym on weekdays. Oh, and eat more nutritious meals on weekdays.”
When he said the last sentence, the senior even took a look at some of the thin freshmen, including our classmate Tianming, “Basketball is a sport that involves physical confrontation. You can’t do it without a good body.”
Then, the player read out the list of players entering the second team.
As expected by Zhou Tianming, he was assigned to the third team, along with about 20 first-year students. However, what Tianming did not expect was that Kotaro was selected to the second team because he was strong and would be a good candidate for center once his height increased. Zhou Tianming was speechless with this comment, but the fat guy next to him was very excited. He kept pulling the senior and said that the senior had a sharp eye and was a reincarnated talent expert. At the same time, he patted Zhou Tianming on the shoulder and told him not to be discouraged, saying that he would protect him in the basketball team in the future, which made Zhou Tianming laugh and cry.
In any case, now that he has come to the world of slam dunk and chosen to try his luck in basketball, Zhou Tianming began to think about how to improve his strength.
The fusion of memories made him very clear about the condition of this body and the reasons for its weakness. Staying at home for a long time without exercise and being picky about food caused his body to not keep up with development, which made Zhou Tianming feel more powerless than ever before.
It seems that his future basketball career is still very long, Zhou Tianming thought self-deprecatingly. Fortunately, he has enough time, more than three years left. Moreover, the attempt to fly up the tree in the morning also made Zhou Tianming have great confidence in the potential of his body. He just didn’t know to what extent he could grow.
evening.
When Zhou Tianming returned home, his mother Yoko had already prepared a table full of food. It was not Japanese food, but Chinese food. Zhou Tianming suddenly felt warm in his heart.
“Tianming, how does it feel to go to middle school?” When the mother saw her son coming back, she brought the dishes and chopsticks to the table and asked happily.
“Not bad!” Zhou Tianming put down his schoolbag, smelled the aroma of food on the table, and sat down impatiently, “By the way, Mom, I joined the school’s basketball team today.”
“Really?” The mother was surprised to hear her son’s words, “You never liked sports before, why do you want to participate in club activities? But this is really good news!”
“Ha, he was dragged in by that guy Kotaro.” Zhou Tianming didn’t know how to answer, so he pulled out the little fat guy as a shield.
“Oh, that little guy finally did something good. He always took you to play video games before.”
“He wants to lose weight,” Zhou Tianming picked up the bowl and picked up a piece of braised pork. “I’m starting to eat!” After saying that, he lowered his head and started to finish the food.
Under his mother’s incredulous gaze, Zhou Tianming ate two large bowls of rice, which was unprecedented. He also ate all the vegetables that he usually disliked, which made his mother Yoko praise him a lot.
Only Zhou Tianming himself knew clearly that it was no wonder that he was picky about food and no wonder that his cheap father went on business trips so often. Zhou Tianming glanced at his mother who was happily humming a tune while washing dishes. The food she cooked was really… different. Even if he was used to eating the kind of low-fat and tasteless meals of athletes in his previous life, with basically no extra seasoning or additives, it was no match for what he had just experienced.
For this reason, Zhou Tianming secretly decided that no matter how hard the training would be in the future, he would take time to cook his three meals a day! Fortunately, his cooking skills in his previous life were not bad, but the amazing cooking skills he showed all of a sudden were indeed a bit exaggerated. Forget it, he should just endure it for a few days and pretend to be learning cooking these days.
Chapter 9 Team One vs Team Two and Three (Part 1) (Old Version)
One year later.
Time: First day of school
Address: Class 5, Grade 1.
“Wow! Tianming, I haven’t seen you for a holiday. Have you grown taller again?”
Kotaro, who seemed to have become stronger but not taller, exclaimed, “Amaterasu! This is not fair. We are all your people, so why haven’t I grown taller?”
The boy who was doing his homework next to the fat boy said without even looking up, “Who told you not to train with me during the holidays? I asked my dad to hire a private trainer to train me. Even the diet was customized according to his requirements. Of course, it’s good for your body.”
“Woo woo,” the little fat boy cried, “Only a pervert like you can swallow food that tastes so bland.”
Zhou Tianming smiled indifferently and said, “I haven’t let you eat the food my mother cooked yet.”
After a year of nurturing his body, Zhou Tianming no longer looks like the skinny boy he was a year ago. At least in terms of weight, Zhou Tianming has reached 50 kg, a full 10 kg increase compared to before. As for height, it has also increased by 10 centimeters to 175cm. Even though he is in adolescence with rapid growth, the fact that he has grown 10 centimeters in a year has also attracted the attention of his acquaintances. Among them, Mugure Mitsunobu of the basketball team has repeatedly suggested that the team put Zhou Tianming in the second team. However, due to Zhou Tianming’s almost zero desire to perform, the team coach did not agree with Mugure Mitsunobu’s proposal.
The school bell rang cheerfully, and the teacher on the podium assigned homework and left in a hurry. The fat boy sitting in the back row stretched and said to Zhou Tianming beside him: “Today is the day for the basketball team to recruit new members. Time flies so fast. I didn’t expect that we have joined the basketball team for a year.”
“That’s true. I didn’t expect you to stick with it.” Zhou Tianming also crossed his hands behind his head and leaned lazily against the back of his seat.
“Hey, hey, I’m the potential stock who will soon join the first team, and you’re still in the third…” At this point, the fat guy seemed to have thought of something and instantly changed his words, “How long are you going to stay in the third team, you pervert? Do you have any weird habits?”
After saying this, he put on a look of disgust, and those who didn’t know would think that Zhou Tianming had some hidden illness.
“Get lost. I’m just saving time to train myself,” he said, and was about to stand up. “Let’s go and see the new players. I heard that the team should use a new method to recruit new players this year.”
“You are well-informed. This is indeed a new method,” the little fat man paused and put on a nostalgic expression. “We can’t do it like our batch last year. 56 people signed up for the basketball team, but after only one year, there are less than 10 left. Among them, there is a player from Team 3 with ulterior motives. Tsk tsk.”
When they arrived at the basketball team, they saw many freshmen queuing at the application counter at the main gate of the gym. This scene made the two of them sigh and lament that time is merciless. Once upon a time, they were also part of this group of passionate young people.
“I heard that a training match will be organized between Team 2, Team 3 and Team 1 today, and then the teams will be reshuffled,” said Player A in the stadium.
“That’s what I heard too. The coach must be dissatisfied with the results of last year’s county competition, so he plans to use this method to re-select a team of players.” Player B added.
Listening to the chatter of the players on the team, Zhou Tianming quietly came to a corner of the court, picked up the basketball skillfully, and practiced dribbling. The ball passed back and forth between his hands on the ground. Not long after, the speed of dribbling became very fast, which dazzled the players on the side. However, everyone was used to this phenomenon, and they just wondered why this teammate was so fond of dribbling.
“Everyone assemble!”
Following a loud roar, a giant ape-like creature that had reached a height of 190cm stood in front of the coaching seat, waiting for everyone to line up.
The team members who were training heard the call from their leader and put down the balls in their hands. Zhou Tianming also stopped what he was doing, looked at the captain curiously, and walked towards the assembly area thoughtfully.
Since the seniors from the previous class have already been promoted to high school, Akagi has naturally taken over as the captain of the team. Today is his first day as captain. I wonder what will happen, Tianming thought curiously.
“Next, before the new students join our basketball team, we will have an internal training match to see if everyone has neglected the training during this holiday, and to show the new students the strength of our school basketball team!” The gorilla said stiffly. It was obvious that the first day as captain made this rough guy a little nervous. As soon as he finished speaking, his big black face actually turned red.
“No way, I spent this holiday in the countryside at my grandma’s house and barely touched basketball!”
“Are you okay? My family enrolled me in 4 cram schools during the holidays. I was swimming in the ocean of knowledge every day. I almost drowned, not to mention playing basketball.”
“I don’t want to. It’s embarrassing. There are so many junior high school girls watching me.”
Everyone was talking about it. Facing the complaints and discussions, the gorilla’s face, which had turned red with nervousness, suddenly darkened. Seeing that he was about to get angry, the eye brother Mu Mu stepped forward in time and said, “Don’t be nervous, it’s just a simple practice match. It’s just a test between Team One, Team Two and Team Three.”
The players of the second team were not happy with this. They thought this was bullying.
The coach Sawada Matsu who was sitting nearby put down his water cup, stood up and pointed at the complaining players from the second team: “Are you idiots? This team competition is a reshuffle. If you perform well, you can squeeze out the players from the first team and be promoted to the first team. It’s such a good opportunity, what do you have to complain about!” After saying that, he glared at a few people with a look of hatred on his face for their lack of ambition.
After hearing what the coach said, all the players fell silent, looked at the coach in surprise, and saw that he spoke very seriously. Then they cheered and excitedly went to do warm-up exercises, leaving behind a group of players with unnatural looks on their faces.
“Coach, isn’t it a bit rude of you to say that…” Facing the serious-looking Coach Sawada, Akagi, who had just taken over as team captain, could only bite the bullet and ask in a low voice.
“Hmph! The court is like a battlefield. Weaklings will not lead us to victory.” After saying this, the coach stood up and walked towards the coaching seat of the second team. “By the way, I will be the coach of the second and third teams for this game. You guys on the first team need to do well.” After saying that, he left the players of the first team with a grim look on their faces.
Chapter 10 Team One vs Team Two and Three (Part 2) (Old Version)
“Come on, everyone.” Akagi tried hard to relieve the pent-up energy in his chest and shouted, “We can’t let them look down on us. Kill them!”
“roar!”
The players of Team One were immediately filled with murderous intent, rubbing their hands together, and a powerful aura of “no one else can do it but them” spread throughout the entire stadium.
Zhou Tianming stood on the sidelines, stroking his smooth chin with his right hand, looking thoughtful, “So that’s it.”
Beep~~!
The referee blew the whistle to start the game.
The players on Team One are center No. 4 Takenori Akagi, small forward No. 5 Kogure Konobu, power forward No. 6 Team One-A, point guard No. 7 Team One-B, and shooting guard No. 8 Team One-C. This is already their strongest main lineup at this stage.
The players on the second team were much simpler. Based on his understanding of the players’ characteristics and their positions of strengths this year, Coach Sawada sent out center No. 10 Second Team A, small forward No. 11 Second Team B, power forward No. 12 Second Team C, point guard No. 13 Second Team D, and shooting guard No. 14 Second Team E.
Akagi was standing in the center circle with the center of the second team preparing for a jump ball. The referee threw the ball high up. Akagi, with his height advantage, touched the ball in advance and pushed the ball to his own No. 7 position.
When No. 7 received the ball, No. 13 of the second team quickly followed him, eager to try and make a surprise steal. However, No. 7 turned around quickly after receiving the ball, and simply passed No. 13 and went straight to the top of the arc on the left side of the opponent’s half of the three-point line. Without any hesitation, he jumped up on the spot and shot a three-pointer. Although No. 13 of the second team tried desperately to chase back, he was still a step late and could only sigh at the ball. Maybe it was luck on the side of the first team. The ball accurately went through the net. Even No. 7 who made the shot was a little lucky. He was just holding back his anger and wanted to vent, but he didn’t expect it to go in so smoothly.
The score is 3-0, with Team One leading.
After the offense and defense switched, the players of Team 1 quickly returned to their own half and paid attention to the players they were supposed to defend. When No. 13 of Team 2 took the serve from the baseline and controlled the ball near the center line, No. 7 of Team 1 took a few steps forward and was about 3 or 4 steps away from No. 13 of Team 2. No. 13 of Team 2 wanted to break through directly, but thought of the speed of No. 7’s breakthrough just now, and hesitated.
During this moment of hesitation, the ball hit the ground and did not return to his hand. No. 13 reacted and found that No. 5 Mu Mu had moved behind him at some point and poked the ball down. No. 7 of Team 1 saw the opportunity and quickly took the ball and dribbled towards the opponent’s backcourt. Seeing this, the players of Team 1 also moved forward.
However, it was obvious that No. 7’s dribbling speed could not keep up with the speed of the second team’s off-ball retreat. When he ran near the three-point line, the opponent’s five players had already taken their positions. Center No. 10 and power forward No. 12 stood on both sides of the basket, blocking Akagi, the center of the first team who had just run to the basket, behind them.
Seeing this, Akagi lowered his center of gravity, leaned sideways and pushed forward, squeezing out a space between the two men, and raised his right arm to ask No. 7 for the ball.
No. 7 did not hesitate and made a ground pass. The ball passed under the armpit of No. 13 of the second team who was defending him and flew diagonally to where Akagi was. No. 4 Akagi pushed his body backwards, making the second team power forward on the right side stagger. Akagi took another step forward and grabbed the ball steadily. Then, with his 190cm strong body, he made a two-handed dunk and easily scored two points.
This kind of slam dunk is very rare in junior high school basketball. The team of substitutes off the court immediately cheered, shocked by such a powerful slam dunk. Akagi ran back to his own half with an expressionless face and clapped with his teammates who came to celebrate with him.
Of course, where there are joys, there are sorrows. The five second-team players on the field all looked powerless and depressed. It was obvious that the two attacks just now had dealt them a heavy blow.
“Don’t get discouraged, we only conceded two goals. You can make up for it if you score two goals against them.” Outside the field, Coach Sawada cheered up the second team. The players of the second team barely cheered up. However, in the following time, the second team finally understood why they were the second team and the opponents were the starting lineup.
Akagi received a wonderful pass from No. 7 in the right corner under the basket and made another gorilla dunk.
The score is 7-0.
Shooting guard No. 8 pretended to shoot a three-pointer to trick No. 14 who was defending him, then dribbled quickly into the restricted area. No. 12 from the second team came forward to assist in defense. No. 8 once again faked a shot and made a real pass, tricking No. 12 into jumping up, then passed the ball to No. 6 who was unguarded, and No. 6 easily shot the ball into the basket.
The score is 9-0.
No. 13 of the second team controlled the ball and with the help of his teammate No. 10’s pick-and-roll, he dribbled the ball to the edge of the penalty area, attracted No. 5 Murasakibara to come over for help, and passed the ball to his own small forward No. 11. The small forward saw that Murasakibara on the opposite side went to help and no longer defended him, so he jumped up and shot without thinking. It was a close-range shot that was almost certain to happen, but he didn’t expect that as soon as the ball left his hands, a giant black and thick hand slapped the ball. With a crisp sound, the ball flew far beyond the three-point line, and No. 5 Murasakibara, who had just gone to help, had just run there.
Murasaki picked up the basketball, passed the ball to point guard No. 7 who came up to receive the ball, and then ran towards the opponent’s backcourt. Seeing this, the second team members didn’t care about the amazing block just now, and quickly rushed forward to surround No. 7. However, No. 7 just dribbled the ball a few times crosswise on the spot, and then threw the ball forward with force. At this time, Murasaki had already run across the center line, received the ball passed by No. 7, looked at the empty frontcourt in front of him, and thought to himself, “I wish I could dunk too.”
Then, he stood at the three-point line with the ball. With no one guarding the three-point line, Murasakibara still had some confidence in his three-point shot. Then the ball followed a beautiful parabola and accurately hit the basket.
The score is 12-0.
The state of the second team members on the field also sank to the bottom…
Chapter 11 Team One vs Team Two and Three (Part 3) (Old Version)
The referee blew the whistle to end the game in the middle of the game, and the score was fixed at 36-10, with Team One taking the lead.
The players of Team One excitedly walked off the court and hugged and celebrated with their players on the sidelines, as if they had already won the game. Akagi, the captain of Team One, excitedly pounded his chest a few times, revealing his gorilla nature.
While drinking the water handed over by his teammates, Akagi glanced at the dejected second team from afar and murmured, “You are still far behind.” Then he turned around and discussed with his teammates the lineup and tactics to be used in the second half. Of course, for the team that temporarily has no coach, the lineup is nothing more than whoever is tired in the first half will be the substitute, and the tactic is whoever has a good chance will shoot.
On the other side, the players of the second team went to rest listlessly, everyone seemed to have lost their soul, silently lowering their heads. No matter how hard Coach Sawada tried to counsel and persuade them, there was no way to cheer them up again. Sawada could not help but smile bitterly and shook his head. Everyone in the second team still lacked practical experience, and their ability to withstand blows was far inferior to that of the first team. I don’t know how to get these kids to cheer up again, otherwise the second half will be even worse.
There is a ten-minute break at halftime. As time passes, the second half of the game is just around the corner. Coach Sawada sees that several players from the second team are still lowering their heads with confusion on their faces. Regardless of whether they have enough physical strength, this low morale also makes him secretly anxious. Looking around at the other players from the second team, each of them has flickering eyes and lowers their heads silently, as if avoiding the coach’s gaze.
The coach’s expression gradually began to become dissatisfied, and suddenly he noticed that a player in the back row of the second team’s rest area was lazily lying on a chair, chatting animatedly with a fat student next to him. The fat man also answered something from time to time with exaggerated body movements, just like two fans who bought tickets to enter the stadium to watch the excitement.
This gave Sawada an outlet for his anger, which had nowhere to vent. I’m here worrying about and suffering for you problem children, and you’re just standing there talking and laughing and watching the fun!
“Those two students, get ready to warm up and start in the second half!” Sawada said through gritted teeth, pointing at the duo who were chatting and laughing.
The coach’s sudden words made everyone in Team 2 forget about the game for a moment. They all focused their attention on Zhou Tianming and Kotaro. The two who were chatting enthusiastically felt several gazes converge on them, and when they heard what the coach had just said, they were a little stunned for a moment.
Just now the two were discussing if the zoo sent a real gorilla to dunk the ball, would it be as powerful as the captain’s? The fat boy even bravely imitated them a few times, not knowing that their actions had been seen by the coach.
“Hurry up and change your clothes and warm up!” Seeing that the two were still in a daze, the coach said loudly with some impatience and some pride.
This sentence woke up the fat boy, who quickly took out his No. 18 jersey and changed into it right at his seat. He chose the No. 18 jersey following Zhou Tianming’s advice, and it was said that in China it meant “to be rich”.
Zhou Tianming on the side pulled up a bitter smile, thinking to himself how unlucky he was. He just wanted to watch a bullying match quietly, but he didn’t expect that he would get hurt.
“Coach Sawada, ahem, I’m a player on the third team and I don’t have a jersey yet!”
After saying this, Zhou Tianming’s face, which had been honed for many years, couldn’t help but blush. The coach asked him to play and he couldn’t refuse. However, he had been staying in the third team and had no chance to play at all. The team didn’t even consider giving him a jersey.
At this time, No. 13 of the second team, who had been bowing his head in deep thought and played as a guard in the first half, seemed to have just woken up from a dream. He almost tore his team uniform off his head, walked briskly in front of Zhou Tianming, his steps were faster than those on the court, and said to Zhou Tianming sincerely: “It’s okay, classmate, just use my jersey. From the first time I saw you, I felt that you have extraordinary temperament. The second half is up to you!” After saying that, he patted Zhou Tianming’s shoulder solemnly.
Zhou Tianming’s eyes twitched, and he looked at No. 13 unnaturally for a few times, then slowly took the No. 13 jersey, cursing this bastard in his heart. He had originally planned to take the opportunity to ask the coach to get him a spare new jersey, and then choose a cool No. 99, which would be his signature number in the future. Who knew that this guy would interfere.
The former No. 13 who handed over the jersey breathed a sigh of relief, ignored the jealous looks of his teammates who had fought together in the first half, and sat down in the back row of the rest area with peace of mind, while urging the two to warm up quickly, making the two of them angry.
The first team rest area was also puzzled when they saw the changes happening here. They didn’t know what new tactics the coach would use to change the trend of the game. This also made the first team put away their contempt, freed from the pride of leading the score in the first half, and planned to defend the second team players more seriously. How could they know that the coach just didn’t like those two people. The morale of the second team was too low in the first half. No one listened to his tactics, so he just played them casually. The ultimate purpose of this training game was to motivate the next team of players who seemed to be lacking in fighting spirit because they had no games during the holiday. Now that the purpose has been achieved, the remaining time will be used to see the progress of the players during this period.
Chapter 12 Team One vs Team Two and Three (Part 4) (Old Version)
The whistle for the second half sounded, and players from both teams came onto the court one after another. However, the point guard and power forward positions of the second team had been replaced by a silent No. 13 and a fat No. 18.
“Senior, let me jump the ball later.” Zhou Tianming said to the center of the second team who was about to walk to the center circle for the jump ball.
The center of the second team was 180cm tall, which was considered very tall for a junior high school student, but still far behind the ape-like creature of the first team. He frowned when he heard Zhou Tianming’s words, but noticed that the other person was not much shorter than him, and thought about jumping the ball with the 190cm monster of the first team, so he nodded in agreement.
But the audience was in an uproar at this time. They saw a new player from the second team actually walk to the center line to jump ball with the captain of the basketball team, Akagi, and they immediately started talking.
“What the hell is the second team doing? Are they giving up on the jump ball?” Audience A.
“That monster center on Team One is almost a head taller than the kid on Team Two. If that kid on Team Two can touch the ball, I will run around the playground five times!” Audience B.
“Only five laps. The captain is a man known as a monster. If the shorty from the second team can touch the ball, I will take off all my clothes and run naked for five laps in the playground!” Audience C.
Zhou Tianming on the court naturally didn’t hear the friendly bet from the audience. He stood in front of Akagi calmly, as if ready to jump, and then smiled warmly at Akagi: “Senior Akagi, hello! Please give me your guidance!”
Akagi was very upset when he saw that the opponent’s center didn’t come to jump ball, but sent a player from the original third team to jump ball with him. However, the opponent greeted him so politely. As the captain, he felt that he was a little petty. He nodded politely to the opponent and encouraged him: “You should do your best too!”
Just as he finished speaking, he noticed Zhou Tianming muttering something with his head down, so he pricked up his ears. As an ape-like creature, Akagi not only has an outstanding physique, but also has excellent hearing. This is why he can hear the teacher’s lectures clearly even though he sits in the last row, becoming an excellent student in the school.
“Looking closer, he really doesn’t look like a junior high school student.” Zhou Tianming’s muttered words reached Akagi’s ears.
Akagi was stunned at first, then he realized that the other person was talking about him. His face suddenly turned dark, and his already dark skin looked even darker and brighter.
“What did you say?!” Akagi was angry. As a junior high school student who was only 14 years old, he cared a lot about being told that he looked old, even though he himself did look a little old.
“Ah?! I said Captain Akagi is a junior high school student, but he plays basketball so well that he doesn’t look like a junior high school student at all.” Tianming didn’t expect Akagi’s ears to be so sharp that he could hear such a small sound. But who is Zhou Tianming? He started to make up a lie without blushing.
“Bastard,” Akagi still said hatefully. He heard what was said just now clearly, but the referee was about to toss the ball, so he couldn’t go on. He suppressed his anger and planned to defeat the opponent severely during the jump ball.
The coaches and players off the court were confused about what happened on the court. They didn’t know why Akagi was angry, nor did they know why the person who jumped the ball for the second team was changed. In short, things seemed to be a little different.
The freshmen who were watching the excitement from a distance were also looking at the No. 13 of the second team with curiosity. His height and weight were much lower than Captain Akagi. They didn’t know how he could jump the ball with Captain Akagi, who was 190cm tall, with his height of less than 1.8 meters.
The only person on the court who still had a different opinion of Zhou Tianming was Zhou Tianming’s classmate and deskmate, No. 18 Kotaro, who temporarily served as the shooting guard of the second team. He had the honor of seeing Zhou Tianming’s terrifying jumping ability, which was one of the reasons why he always called Zhou Tianming a pervert. So at this moment, he was trying his best to get closer to the possible landing point after Zhou Tianming passed the ball.
The referee saw that both players were ready, so he threw the ball high up. The two players who were preparing for the jump ball stared at the slowly rising ball. When the ball reached the highest point, Akagi suddenly exerted force with both feet, pushed the ground with all his strength, raised his right arm high, and jumped into the air like a spring. When he saw that the ball was only a palm away from his fingertips, Akagi couldn’t help but sneer in his heart: “Asshole, basketball games are not that simple!”
On the other side, Zhou Tianming was still unfamiliar with the jump ball and jumped a little later than Akagi. However, his jumping method was completely different from Akagi. As a professional high jumper in his previous life, he was accustomed to jumping with his right foot. His jumping posture was quite graceful and smooth, and his rising speed was obviously faster than Akagi.
When Akagi’s palm was about to touch the ball, he felt a black shadow in front of him quickly surpass him, followed by a crisp sound of “snap”, and then his hand waved in vain. He heard various exclamations from the outside of the court, and only four words emerged in his mind: How! Is it possible!
“Wow, what did I see?!”
“Is he flying?”
“Strange… Monster Senior actually lost the jump?!!”
Wow!!
Meow meow!!
The entire audience was in shock.
The coach was shocked!
The players on the field were shocked!
The freshmen are excited!
In the gym, apart from Zhou Tianming, perhaps the only fat boy who received the jump ball looked calm. He twisted his hips and dribbled the ball clumsily, and came to the backcourt of Team One as quickly as possible. Facing the empty field in front of him like the ocean, the fat boy decisively took three steps to make a layup, and a funny layup successfully went into the frame, and the score came to 36-12.
Chapter 13 Team One vs Team Two and Three (Part 5) (Old Version)
“Thank you for your hard work, Ayako-san!”
“You’re welcome, Yoko-sensei. I’m glad to be able to help you.”
“Really? You really are worthy of being our class monitor, hehe,” the pretty female teacher said happily, “Then Ayako, goodbye.”
After saying that, he smiled and waved goodbye to the female classmate in front of him.
“Goodbye, teacher!”
Ayako also waved to the teacher, then turned and walked out of the teaching building.
Walking on the path in the campus, Caizi was in a good mood. She just helped the teacher sort out the students’ files, but she didn’t expect the teacher to thank her so politely.
“Junior high school teachers are different,” Ayako whispered.
As I was walking, when I passed by the gymnasium, I found that many people were hurriedly walking into the gymnasium.
“Hey, what are all these people doing?”
Driven by curiosity, Ayako also followed into the basketball hall.
As she walked into the stadium, she heard a burst of loud noise. Ayako was so shocked by the sudden sound that she quickly covered her ears. She looked around and found that a basketball game was being held in the stadium. She happened to see the jump ball between Akagi and Zhou Tianming.
“This number 13 feels so familiar.” Ayako murmured with her bright eyes open.
On the court.
The fat boy who had just successfully carried out a sneak attack ran back to his own half of the court happily, raised his hand and clapped his hands with Zhou Tianming.
Zhou Tianming smiled and joked: “You are not bad, kid, you cast well.”
“Haha, that’s for sure. After all, my basketball skills are there.” The little fat boy said shamelessly.
On the other side,
“This bastard!” Akagi’s face turned dark.
“This guy is really extraordinary.” Mu Mu.
“You jumped really high.” No. 6, No. 7, No. 8.
The team came to their senses and quickly ran back to their own half and found their defensive targets. Akagi ran to the baseline to serve the ball. He passed the ball directly to No. 7, then winked at his teammates, and then drove straight into the opponent’s penalty area. Seeing this, the center of the second team had to bite the bullet and come over to compete with Akagi.
The teammates obviously understood the signals given by Akagi. No. 7 of the team firmly controlled the ball against Zhou Tianming’s defense. The others also pulled away from the players they had let go of. No. 7 controlled the ball and moved step by step to the three-point line on the right side. He kept his center of gravity very low, kept cross dribbling with both hands, and his eyes kept moving between Zhou Tianming and his teammates.
Zhou Tianming also opened his hands, pressed his center of gravity as low as possible, and tried his best to defend the opponent. In his heart, he secretly praised that the dribbling of No. 7 was really good.
No. 7 played with the ball for 3 or 4 seconds, then suddenly grabbed the ball and started shooting. Zhou Tianming had no choice but to jump up and block the ball. Sure enough, No. 7 was faking it. Looking at Zhou Tianming’s flying body, he was shocked and quickly retracted his hands. He pushed the ball diagonally downward with both hands, and made a quick ground pass, which was steadily passed to Akagi who was trying to get into position in the penalty area.
Akagi turned his back to the center of the second team and tentatively pushed his body backwards twice. Unexpectedly, he pushed the ball away for a distance. Akagi ignored the center of the second team without thinking, turned around, grabbed the ball with both hands and jumped high, preparing to make another two-handed dunk to kill the morale of the second team.
The center of the second team could only watch Akagi take off and did not dare to stop him at all. The difference in height and strength made him lose all desire to fight.
Just as the basketball was about to hit the basket, a slender white hand pressed hard on the basketball in Akagi’s hand, stopping the dunk.
It turned out that at some point, Zhou Tianming had shaken off the opponent’s No. 7, returned to the basket, and jumped higher than Captain Akagi, pressing the basketball tightly with his right hand.
Murasaki, who had clenched his fist with one hand to celebrate the dunk, opened his mouth in surprise and looked at the scene in astonishment.
Ha~!!
A clear and powerful roar came out of Zhou Tianming’s mouth. Then, Zhou Tianming used his right palm to fan the ball, and the ball bounced out from between the two of them. As the ball bounced out, the two of them gradually separated in the air and fell to both sides of the basket at the same time, and the ball bounced out of bounds.
The stadium fell into dead silence once again.
Coach Sawada in the rest area had already jumped up excitedly, waving his fists continuously, with a lot of sweat on his forehead from excitement and nervousness. His eyes were shining as if he had seen a rare treasure, and he kept saying, “Talent, this is talent!”
Beep~~!!
Although the referee was also shocked, he quickly reacted and looked at Zhou Tianming deeply, “Team One has the ball.”
The referee’s whistle was like a stone thrown into a calm lake.
“Wow! This guy is flying again. Hey, you’d better go to the playground and run laps! I will be this guy’s fan from now on!” said Audience A.
“I’m going to run after watching the game. I also want to be this guy’s fan! Huh? You remind me, aren’t you the one who wants to run naked…” Audience B.
“I remember who he is. He is Zhou Tianming from Class 5, Grade 2. I heard he is an Oriental. I didn’t expect he can jump so high!” Audience C.

Caizi in the crowd was also excited. Although she was a girl, she loved basketball since she was a child and liked watching the stars dunk. Just now, she saw Zhou Tianming jump up and block the basketball from the monster’s hand, which made her face flush with excitement. Thinking of the jump when the other party saved her hat, she stared at Zhou Tianming on the court with bright eyes, and I don’t know what she was thinking.
Chapter 14 Team One vs Team Two and Three (End) (Old Version)
When No. 7 of Team 1 saw that Akagi did not serve the ball but remained in the penalty area, he thought that Akagi was going to receive the ball and attack directly, so he ran to the sideline and confidently passed the ball to Akagi.
At this time, Akagi was a little dazed because it was the first time for him to eat hotpot. He had not adjusted his offensive mentality yet. Fortunately, when the ball was about to fly into his hands, he came to his senses. After catching the ball, he planned to pass the ball again. However, due to his unbalanced mentality, his attention was not as focused as before. Zhou Tianming, who was standing not far from him, seized this opportunity and reached out to grab the ball in Akagi’s hand.
Akagi felt someone grabbing the ball in his hand, and immediately took a posture to protect the ball, but Zhou Tianming also held the basketball firmly and did not let go.
The referee’s whistle sounded again, “Both sides fight for the ball”
The two men quickly let go of the ball. Such close contact made both sides uncomfortable. Zhou Tianming, who looked calm, and Akagi, whose face was flushed, stood on both sides of the referee, waiting for the referee to throw the ball. Akagi’s eyes were full of anger and fighting spirit. For this bastard boy who was 15 cm shorter than him, he was just slapped by a fly. This challenged his self-esteem like never before.
However, although Akagi was very angry, the result would not change because of his emotions.
The fat boy steadily caught the ball that Zhou Tianming fanned over, but this time he did not dribble to the frontcourt. He just waited for Zhou Tianming to land and get into position before throwing the ball to the opponent.
Zhou Tianming received the ball and controlled it skillfully. In the past year, he had only been practicing dribbling in the basketball department, and all other training was concentrated at home, so Zhou Tianming’s dribbling was very skilled.
The opponent’s No. 7 stared at Zhou Tianming closely, but Zhou Tianming didn’t care. He dribbled the ball casually, sometimes through the crotch, sometimes behind the back, in short, he played however he wanted, and his eyes were always looking around the court, without even looking at the basketball in his hand, giving people the feeling that the basketball had eyes. This level of dribbling proficiency made the opponent’s No. 7 a little stunned. Do you dare to say that this dribbling level is that of a junior high school student?
Zhou Tianming dribbled forward and the No. 7 of the team also moved back. He did not reach out casually, as the opponent’s dribbling technique just now made it impossible for him to steal the ball. He just stared closely at the No. 13 to prevent the opponent from dribbling through. This was a typical case of defending against breakthroughs but not passes.
Zhou Tianming stopped just after dribbling across the center line. Team No. 7 immediately took a step forward, trying to force Tianming to reveal a flaw or pass the ball directly.
However, Zhou Tianming was not panicked at all. Facing the seemingly impenetrable defense of No. 7, he made a simple and quick change of direction and broke through from the right. No. 7 also reacted quickly and moved to defend immediately. Unfortunately, No. 7 miscalculated Zhou Tianming’s breakthrough speed. By the time No. 13 started to break through and he reacted and started to defend, the two sides had already opened up a gap, and the distance between them became farther and farther during the chase. When No. 13 controlled the ball to the penalty area, No. 7 was obviously out of reach.
No. 5 Mumu was originally defending the little fat man in the 60-degree area. Seeing that Zhou Tianming was approaching the penalty area, he could only quickly retreat and prepare to make up for the defense. Zhou Tianming was waiting for this opportunity. He made a ground pass, and the ball brushed Mumu’s side and passed to the little fat man behind Mumu. The little fat man raised the ball and made a long-range 3-point shot.
Swish!
The ball went into the net.
The victory of chasing 5 points in a row, with two jump ball wins and a block by the captain, rekindled the fighting spirit of the second team whose morale had been at rock bottom.
In the following games, Zhou Tianming did not perform so amazingly. He simply controlled the ball across half court and then passed it to his teammates, letting them play freely. However, his precise passes still allowed the players of the second team to seize many opportunities. The fat boy also made three three-pointers in the 20 minutes of the second half. The final score was 60-46 and Team One won.
Seeing that the game was over, the audience dispersed. Ayako also stood up and looked from a distance at Zhou Tianming who was taking off his team uniform and returning it to his teammate. A smile appeared on her lips and she left the stadium humming a little tune.
Zhou Tianming walked to the rest area on the sidelines to refill his water bottle. The coach looked at him with a meaningful look, then said, “Do your best!” and hurried to the rest area for Team 1. Zhou Tianming felt strange, and as the coach walked away, his eyes finally fell on Akagi. It turned out that the coach saw that something was wrong with Akagi and was busy trying to enlighten him.
Zhou Tianming felt a little embarrassed. What he did on the court just now seemed to be bullying. After all, the other person was less than 15 years old. He was a 30-year-old former Olympic champion, bullying a 14-year-old junior high school student on the court, cough cough.
He thought about it and still felt a little worried, fearing that Akagi would never be able to recover from this and the subsequent plot would not be able to proceed.
Zhou Tianming looked around, finally grabbed a magazine, moved a chair and stood on it, rolled the magazine into the shape of a megaphone and put it to his mouth, then shouted in the direction of the team:
“Gorilla, cheer up! Together we will dominate the country in the future!”
As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Zhou Tianming knew that something was wrong. How could he say these three words so easily? He quickly jumped off the chair and left the stadium like a gust of wind.
The veins on Akagi’s forehead trembled, his face was as dark as it could be, his eyes were wide open, and finally a few words popped out from between his teeth:
“Asshole! Who’s the gorilla!”
Chapter 15: Earning Money (Old Version)
Zhou’s house.
Zhou Tianming hummed a little tune, holding a large spoon in his left hand, and poured the last dish of the stir-fried pork into the plate. Then he took out a tissue and wiped his hands, “Done!”
He walked out of the kitchen with the plate in his hand and shouted to his mother who was watching a soap opera in the living room, “Mom, the meal is ready.”
“I’m here.” Tianming’s mother was watching a sad drama with great interest. When she heard her son calling her, she reluctantly turned off the TV, went to the bathroom to wash her hands, and then sat down at the dining table.
Since her son entered junior high school, she has completely lost her job of cooking every day. She only needs to buy the ingredients before Zhou Tianming comes home, and then wait for her son to come home from school to cook. However, the dishes her son cooks are really delicious.
Thinking of this, Tianming’s mother was both relieved and worried. She was relieved that her son must have learned his excellent cooking skills from her, but she was worried that if she didn’t cook every day, would her cooking skills decline?
Zhou Tianming, who was enjoying his dinner, naturally had no idea what his mother was thinking at the moment. He had already started to finish his second bowl of rice and was just about to pick up a piece of braised pork and put it in the bowl when he suddenly seemed to remember something.
“By the way, Mom, how’s the thing I asked you to do a while ago going?”
Tianming’s mother, who was struggling with herself, heard her son’s question and replied angrily, “How dare you ask that, you little brat! You don’t study hard at such a young age, and you’re actually thinking about gambling every day. I’ll tell your dad and beat you up.”
“No, Mom, I’ll just bet this once! Please don’t tell my dad.” Zhou Tianming looked at his mother pitifully, but he felt helpless and sad. He was good in everything except his age! He knew the scores of the recent World Cups very well and could make some pocket money, but it was a pity that minors could not bet on the games. He was so worried that he had to ask his mother for help.
When his mother found out that he was going to gamble on football, she was so angry that she almost went crazy. She took out a feather duster that Tianming had never seen in his whole year living at home, and was about to use family rules against Tianming. Zhou Tianming tried to persuade her and even swore by the lamp before she finally calmed down his mother’s anger.
Finally, both parties agreed that they could only place a bet once, and could only use Zhou Tianming s New Year s money. And once they made a profit, they had to split it 50-50 with their mom. What a vampire!
“I’ve already placed the bet, but you’re really willing to spend it. 5 million yen! That should be all the New Year’s money you’ve received in recent years.” The mother said reluctantly, “If it goes down the drain, what will you use as pocket money in the future?” She didn’t even eat, grabbed the phone, and called the betting center.
Zhou Tianming shrugged indifferently, he believed that he would not remember it wrongly. He asked his mother to bet on the group match of the World Cup in Italy which had just opened. He bet on West Germany 5-1 against the United Arab Emirates, and also bet on the two matches of former Yugoslavia 1-0 against Colombia. If both matches were successful, the odds would be quite amazing, almost 20 times.
“Are you serious?!” The mother stood up excitedly, without any trace of her usual gentle ladylike demeanor, “You turned over so many things!”
Zhou Tianming vaguely guessed the result from his mother’s performance, and his heart was filled with excitement. This once again confirmed that the World Cup result in his memory would not be wrong. It seemed that he could indeed make a small profit in this way.
Sure enough, the mother put down the phone and looked at Zhou Tianming in disbelief. Zhou Tianming blushed a little before he sighed, “My son has made great progress. He has learned how to make money.”
Afterwards, the mother and son began to study how to make a fortune in the next World Cup.
3 months later.
In a wasteland not far from Zhou’s house, two men, one big and one small, seemed to be discussing something.
“Yes, let’s dig a swimming pool there. How deep should the water be? Well, just over two meters will be fine.”
Zhou Tianming, wearing a pair of sunglasses, stood on a piece of wasteland, and spoke to a man in a well-dressed suit beside him, as if he was pointing out the world. Then he pointed to another empty space.
“There! Yes, that’s it! Let’s build a small gymnasium, a three-story one, with a basketball court on the first floor. No spectator seats are needed. The venue should be built according to the county basketball court standards. Money is not a problem!”
Zhou Tianming, who looked like a nouveau riche, added, as if afraid that others didn’t know he was rich, “Let’s build a fitness center on the second and third floors. It doesn’t have to be too complicated. We can build it based on the standards of the national team’s fitness center. We can buy whatever they have, but only one serving is enough.”
At this point, Zhou Tianming still looked a little dissatisfied. This made the man in a suit who was listening to his description sweat profusely, thinking, this boy is really a spendthrift, this must be hundreds of millions of yen, I really don’t know what his family thinks, letting him squander like this. However, he didn’t know that Zhou Tianming, as an Olympic champion in his previous life, had a home similar to this, and it was even bigger, more modern and advanced.
Then Zhou Tianming requested to build a three-story villa near the gymnasium for rest, a small cinema, and a small garden. The man in the suit next to him was more and more dumbfounded, but he could only keep taking notes. Finally, after finalizing the height of the surrounding walls, this huge engineering plan came to an end. The man in the suit also breathed a sigh of relief and hurried to the company with his notes, as if if he stayed here, he would no longer be able to hold back and scold Zhou Tianming for being a spendthrift.
Zhou Tianming, who was standing by, seemed to be indifferent. He just looked at the empty space quietly, then turned around and walked home. A whisper seemed to echo in the air:
It s still nice to have money!
Chapter 16 Team Changes (Please add to collection) (Old version)
On the second day after Zhou Tianming finalized the project with the construction team leader, this courtyard, which looked and sounded very extravagant, was officially launched. Various construction equipment and materials were transported to the courtyard one after another, making this small piece of wasteland no longer so empty. The workers who arrived also began to work busily, making the place suddenly lively.
During his daily morning run, Zhou Tianming would specially come here to admire the progress of his masterpiece. He had invested almost all of his winnings from gambling into this base which he would use for basketball training in the future. Of course, this was referring to the money that was left over from his mother’s exploitation.
Thinking of his mother, Zhou Tianming could only smile bitterly.
My mother also received half of the money I won from gambling on football. Although she saw that I spent so much money on building the house, she was in no mood to scold me because she was busy buying clothes and choosing cosmetics every day and really had no time to spare.
At school, Zhou Tianming also made an exception and was promoted directly from the third team to the first team. He usually trained with Akagi and Mumu. Mumu was very happy, but Akagi was very depressed because this guy often took the initiative to find him for one-on-one practice, saying that he wanted to learn the skills under the basket from him, but you have to know that you are a guard! You can’t learn the center’s skills! And he jumped so high that he would be blocked if he was not careful. Every time Akagi shot, he had to find a way to avoid this terrible block. This made Akagi very unhappy, but he had to sigh that Zhou Tianming’s jump was really amazing.
Although Akagi was still unhappy about Zhou Tianming’s words during the training match, he could clearly feel that his skills were improving rapidly during the sparring with Zhou Tianming, and as the captain of the team, he quickly adjusted his mindset. However, every time they sparred, Akagi would request that only the two of them plus Murasakibara be left at the end of the team training, obviously because he didn’t want others to see him being embarrassed by being blocked.
Zhou Tianming was also very happy about this, as he didn’t want to stand out in front of a group of junior high school students.
So this scene was played out. After the basketball team’s training was over every day, Akagi and the other three would wait tacitly until the others finished training and went home, and then start the second wave of training. Zhou Tianming would practice basket techniques with Akagi, or practice shooting techniques with Murasakibara.
Another thing that Zhou Tianming did not expect was that Inoue Ayako also joined the basketball team and became the team manager. She was mainly responsible for supervising the training of new players and some small matters in the players’ lives while on the team.
The basketball team was in an uproar over the addition of such a beautiful female classmate. The players were cheering for this fresh and charming little beauty, and felt that it was the right choice for them to join the basketball team. It turned out that this was not a zoo, but a paradise.
This sigh happened to be heard by Akagi who was warming up not far away. The poor team members practiced for more than an hour amid the rage of their captain, whose face turned blue. Finally, it was Miss Ayako who came forward to persuade them to stop this inhumane torture. This made everyone even more grateful to this beautiful female classmate. However, Zhou Tianming, who was also out of breath, just curled his lips and said nothing.
In his memory, this little girl should be the manager of the Xiangbei team in high school. However, how could she be a gentle and considerate lady, as the protagonist Sakuragi called her “big sister”? However, he did not dare to stand up and remind everyone. What he did not expect was that she was the manager of the team in junior high school. No wonder she gave people the feeling of being at ease when she was the manager of Xiangbei. It seems that she has been doing it for so many years.
When looking at Inoue Ayako, Zhou Tianming would always unconsciously think of the scene that happened when he entered school, that pretty face that was a little angry and a little flushed, and that head of playful black curly hair. This also made Zhou Tianming a little distracted, but thinking about how cowardly he had been in front of her before, he couldn’t muster up the courage to talk to her, so he had to continue his training embarrassedly.
Zhou Tianming didn’t know that Inoue Ayako had secretly watched him several times. It was because of her curiosity about him and his pretty good performance on the basketball team that she joined the basketball club early in junior high school and became the team manager ahead of time.
In the following junior high school career, Zhou Tianming quickly integrated into the first team. Coach Zetian also observed Zhou Tianming and concluded that Zhou Tianming had strong jumping ability and skilled ball control ability, and was a good seedling, but he was still immature in shooting and overall vision, so he deliberately cultivated these two aspects.
In terms of the overall situation, he asked Zhou Tianming to get familiar with the characteristics of his teammates, watch more basketball game videos, and read more books on tactics. As for the way to improve his shooting skills, he assigned Mu Mu, who had a very accurate shooting posture, to teach him after Zhou Tianming’s training every day. This made Zhou Tianming and Mu Mu smile at each other and practice shooting together tacitly.
Kotaro, who is still in the second team, gradually regards playing basketball as a hobby. Although he has not quit the basketball team, playing basketball is not his only sports hobby. He doesn’t know when he got acquainted with the captain of the judo team, Aota Ryuhiko. The two short and strong middle school students looked at each other and developed an inexplicable feeling of mutual admiration. Moreover, Kotaro is very interested in judo, a sport that does not require height and jumping. Soon he quit the basketball team and joined the judo club. However, as long as there is a basketball game, he will still run back to cheer, which also makes everyone in the basketball team full of goodwill towards this little fat man.
Chapter 17 Failure (Please collect) (Old version)
Time always passes so happily for junior high school students. However, an unknown scholar also said that happy times always pass quickly.
In the blink of an eye, Akagi and Murasakibara have been promoted to high school for almost a year, and Zhou Tianming has also entered the final period of the third year of junior high school.
In Tianming’s heart, no matter in his past life or this life, sports are everything to him, and he seems to be born for sports competition; similarly, his academic performance is like his natural enemy. No matter in his past life or this life, he is always the last in the class in terms of academic performance.
Just a few days ago, Beicheng Junior High School just finished their entrance examination. The result was very surprising but also reasonable. Zhou Tianming failed the exam.
“Principal Sakata, is there really no other way? Can you help communicate with Xiangbei High School? We can spend more money.”
A middle-aged man who looked less than 40 years old, wearing a neat brown-black suit, with a gentle and elegant face, was holding a young boy’s head with his right hand, making him bend his body. He was also very humbly speaking to a bald middle-aged man with a big belly.
“Mr. Zhou, it’s not that I won’t help you,” the balding middle-aged man seemed somewhat helpless, “It’s just that your son’s academic performance is really… I have already communicated with their school, but they said that this score is not suitable for studying in their high school.”
After saying that, the principal also shook his head, and then said to the man in the suit in a sincere tone:
“I know a little about your family’s situation. Why don’t you send your child to a private school?” Principal Sakata adjusted his glasses and added with a little confidence, “If you are considering going to Ryonan High School, although the tuition is a bit high, I can help you negotiate. But if it’s Shohoku, I really can’t help you.”
As soon as the principal finished speaking, the boy raised his head, his eyes were firm, and he said word by word: “Dad, I want to go to Xiangbei, not Ryonan.”
The boy’s sudden words obviously caught the two people off guard. The man in the suit slapped the boy on the head and said, “Brat, if your grades are good enough, you can go to any school you like. Do you need your dad to beg someone for help?” After saying that, he gave Zhou Tianming a look of disappointment.
That’s right, the two people who appeared in the principal’s office were Zhou Tianming and his father Zhou Zihao. Zhou Zihao was on a long business trip, and although he cared about his son, he only paid attention to him through phone calls due to work. However, during the critical period when his son was going from junior high school to high school, Zhou Zihao, as a father, asked the group for a period of vacation and decided to go home to spend more time with his son. After all, his son was about to enter high school, which would be the hardest three years of his life if he were in his home country.
Unfortunately, he never imagined that his son’s cultural level was so terrible, even inhumane.
There was no need to think about passing the seven exam subjects, even if none of the scores exceeded 50 points. Zhou Zihao got angry when he saw the transcript. He dug out the feather duster that Zhou Tianming had never found and was about to give Zhou Tianming a vivid lesson on the “human skin’s endurance”. When his mother Yoko realized this, she hurriedly stopped Zhou Zihao.
After his wife’s explanation, Zhou Zihao gradually calmed down and realized that his son was determined to become a basketball player. Although he knew that this was not a reason for his failing grades, his son’s grades were not affected by bad things he learned outside, so his anger subsided a lot.
Then he called his son to ask him what he thought.
After Zhou Tianming knew his entrance examination results, he was also very depressed. If he couldn’t go to Xiangbei because of his test scores, it would be a joke to tell others about it. You have to know that Sakuragi and other problem teenagers went to Xiangbei because of their poor grades.
Zhou Tianming did not say anything to his father. He just looked at Zhou Zihao firmly, with a look as firm as it could be, and said:
“Dad, I want to go to Xiangbei!”
Zhou Zihao was also amused by Zhou Tianming, but he said nothing. He took Zhou Tianming to the principal’s office of the school, and then the conversation just now took place.
“Mr. Zhou, I have said everything I can say. If Tianming insists on choosing Xiangbei High School, he can only repeat a year and take the exam again next year.” After saying that, Principal Sakata turned around with his hands behind his back.
Zhou Zihao also realized that the principal had no other choice, so he turned his attention to his son, waiting for his son’s decision.
Zhou Tianming felt mixed emotions at this time. He thought he had everything ready and was waiting to go to high school to dominate the world, but he couldn’t get into high school. Thinking of Akagi Mumu’s excellent grades and being admitted to Xiangbei, thinking of his classmate Ayako who also got high scores and was admitted to Xiangbei, thinking of the bad boy Miyagi Ryouta who he had never met and was also admitted to Xiangbei, Zhou Tianming felt his face getting hot unconsciously. However, Zhou Tianming didn’t consider the principal’s suggestion to change to Ryonan High School. What a joke, he was the man who was going to lead the project to win the national championship.
“Dad, Mr. Principal, I have decided to repeat a year.” Zhou Tianming thought for a while and made a decision. After saying that, he bowed to the principal and his father.
The principal naturally didn’t say anything and nodded. Zhou Zihao saw his son made this decision, although he was a little reluctant, he still agreed with his son’s choice, and said to Zhou Tianming earnestly: “Then you should play less basketball this year and catch up with your academic performance. If you can’t get into Xiangbei next year, then you should just study in a private school honestly.”
“Yes! I understand!” Zhou Tianming said firmly, but he was thinking bitterly in his heart, if I still can’t get into Xiangbei High School after another year of study, I will go directly to Coach Anxi and ask him to think of a solution.
As for why Zhou Tianming didn’t look for Teacher Anxi now, the reason is simple: Teacher Anxi is not feeling well and I heard that he went to Tokyo University Hospital for treatment.
Chapter 18 Reread (Please add to collection) (Old version)
The June wind carries the scent of ripe wheat, the omnipresent sign that this is the season of graduation.
early morning.
Zhou Tianming left home early. Today was the graduation day for their class, which of course did not include himself. With mixed feelings, he walked towards the school silently.
As soon as he entered the school gate, Zhou Tianming found that the campus was full of students taking group photos. Everyone was in groups of three or five, scattered in their own places full of memories. Some of the female students even put on light makeup, making them look more youthful and beautiful. They were posing in cute poses, and the sound of cameras clicking could be heard one after another.
“Tianming, you’re here too!”
In the distance, Inoue Ayako was chatting with her good friend at the fountain. She caught a glimpse of Zhou Tianming, who was in school uniform, looking around at the school gate. Her expression became a little surprised. She said something to her friend and ran towards Zhou Tianming. Her friend was teasing her from behind that she valued men over friends. Ayako blushed with shame.
Zhou Tianming heard someone calling him, turned around, and found Caizi walking towards him with a rosy face. He suddenly felt warm in his heart and a smile appeared on his face.
It was obvious that Ayako had dressed up specially today. She tied her jet-black wavy hair into a ponytail, which swayed on her shoulders. Her rosy face was embedded with a pair of big, bright eyes, two pairs of long eyelashes fluttering, and her upturned lips occasionally flashing with the light of lip gloss. A tight summer school uniform made her body look even more curvy.
“Hey! Good morning, Manager Ayako.” Zhou Tianming had lived two lives after all, so he quickly suppressed the throbbing in his heart. He walked around Ayako and joked, “Tsk tsk, it’s a good thing you’re going to high school, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to wear this clothes!” After saying that, he took a few glances at the tightest parts of Ayako’s body.
When Caizi heard what Tianming said and felt his gazes, her face suddenly felt hot. She clenched her right hand into a fist while greeting him and punched him on the shoulder several times. She said with a red face, “Asshole, what are you talking about? If you keep looking at me, I’ll dig your eyes out!”
“I know, I know. I won’t look at it.” Zhou Tianming immediately put on a very frightened look, but his eyes were full of smiles.
Ever since Ayako joined the basketball club and became the team manager, the relationship between the two of them quickly became familiar. Ayako was very curious about Zhou Tianming, and Zhou Tianming was also very interested in Ayako. She was one of the few girls in Slam Dunk, so the two of them started out by testing each other, got to know each other, and finally became very good friends.
But Zhou Tianming is a 30-year-old man in his heart. His friends used to be 30-year-olds, and they joked about anything. So Zhou Tianming would occasionally make similar jokes with Caizi, and every time, Caizi would blush and feel angry.
“Tianming, I heard that you are going to stay in school to repeat a year?” Caizi’s face turned serious and she asked a question that she urgently needed the answer to.
“Bing-go! What a pity there is no reward!” Zhou Tianming also showed a helpless expression, shrugged his shoulders, and continued, “I am such a smart person, but I didn’t even pass the admission score of Xiangbei.”
After hearing Tianming’s answer, Ayako’s pretty face was also full of black lines. She thought to herself, there are people who can’t get into Xiangbei because of their scores. What a fool. However, Ayako could only comfort him: “Then I will go to Xiangbei first to meet up with Akagi seniors. You must get into Xiangbei next year, little brother!”
After saying that, regardless of Zhou Tianming’s unhappy look, he pulled him towards the classroom. Today was their graduation day, and they had to take graduation photos.
“Ha, repeater Tianming, you’re finally here!”
As soon as I stepped into the classroom, I heard a familiar voice from a distance. However, it was because of this voice that the originally noisy class suddenly became quiet, as if the mute button was pressed. The students’ eyes were all focused on the classroom door.
Seeing this, Ayako cleverly used her schoolbag to cover her reddening face, quickly walked to her seat and sat down, calmed her slightly panicked mood, and then stared at the door seriously with everyone else.
Zhou Tianming felt his old face turn red, veins on his forehead bulged, and he thought to himself that he had made bad friends, and he would have to deal with them later. Then he pretended to be calm and walked to the back of the classroom. After finding his seat and sitting down, he immediately lowered his head and pretended that he didn’t exist. Soon, everyone turned their attention back due to the excitement of graduation and the reluctance to part with their friends. The class began to get noisy again, and Zhou Tianming let out a long sigh of relief, raised his head and glared at Kotaro.
The little fat boy probably felt a little embarrassed for yelling like that just now, so he patted Zhou Tianming on the shoulder and said seriously: “Junior brother, don’t worry about these little things, stay in Beicheng and study hard. I will go to Xiangbei High School before you, so you can rest assured and leave Ayako to me.”
“Bastard!” After hearing the fat boy’s ridicule, Zhou Tianming was furious. Without waiting for any explanation, he grabbed Kotaro’s head under his armpit and started to ravage it crazily.
“Ahem…Ming Ge, Ming Ge, I surrender. Besides, you will indeed be my junior from now on. You should be more respectful to your future senior.”
“Asshole, you still say that, it’s simply unforgivable… Look at me #?%#@#…”
Caizi, who was sitting not far away, had been paying attention to Tianming. When she heard their conversation, especially the last sentence, her face inexplicably turned red and she gritted her teeth and cursed the fat boy, saying that he deserved it.
Two hours later.
“… That’s all I have to say. When you go to high school, you must study hard and never slack off,” the teacher on the podium looked at the students with a smile on his face. The students he had taught for three years were about to leave, which made him, as a teacher, reluctant to part with them. However, he had experienced a lot and became indifferent to them. However, several female students in the audience were sobbing because they were about to leave. “Well, it’s getting late. I wish you all the best in high school. get out of class dismissed!”
After saying that, the teacher walked down from the podium and bowed deeply to the students.
“Stand up!” The squad leader stood up at this time.
When the whole class heard the monitor’s command, they all stood up. Zhou Tianming also stood up with a serious expression. Then the whole class bowed to the teacher and shouted in unison:
“Thank you for your hard work, teacher!” The loud voice echoed in the classroom for a long time.
Chapter 19 Caizi’s Further Education (Please Collect) (Old Version)
The students quickly packed up their desks and left this pure land where they had studied for three years.
Zhou Tianming and Caizi walked out of the teaching building side by side, followed closely by the fat boy behind them. Facing the afterglow of the setting sun, Caizi’s pretty face looked so rosy and charming. She stretched out her palm to block the dazzling sunlight, hopped and walked a few steps quickly, turned around and faced Zhou Tianming and said with a grin:
“Tianming, from now on I am no longer the manager of your basketball team. Do you feel sad?” As she said this, she blinked her big, bright eyes at Zhou Tianming.
“Well, now that you’re not on the basketball team, things might be a lot quieter.”
Zhou Tianming has his own way of dealing with Caizi’s teasing.
“Hateful!” Caizi pouted unhappily, “Huh? Is that Captain Akagi and the others?”
At the crowded entrance of the campus, two young men who were obviously taller than the passing students were looking around as if they were looking for something. One of them, a gentle-looking young man wearing glasses, noticed Ayako and waved his arms happily.
“It’s really Akagi-senpai and the others! Let’s go over there quickly!” The little fat man also saw them and said excitedly.
The three of them came in front of Akagi and Mugure, and Ayako said happily: “Akagi-senpai, Mugure-senpai, why are you here?”
“Yes, yes! You have grown taller now!” the little fat boy echoed.
“Maybe because of poor grades, he was asked to drop out by the high school department.” Zhou Tianming was in a bad mood and added maliciously.
After hearing Zhou Tianming’s finishing blow, the scene was quiet for a moment. Then Akagi, who was originally smiling, had a frown on his face. He punched Zhou Tianming on the head and angrily said to him with spit flying:
“Idiot! Do you think everyone is like you? You bastard failed all the subjects and didn’t pass the Shohoku score line! You are a disgrace to the basketball team!”
Seeing this, Mu Mu, who was standing by, hurried forward to stop Akagi and awkwardly said on behalf of Tianming: “Akagi, calm down, calm down. Tianming may have put all his energy into basketball, so his grades are so bad.”
As he said this, he turned to face Zhou Tianming and sighed:
“But Tianming has to repeat a year in junior high school, so you will join high school another year later. I am still looking forward to playing basketball with you.”
“Don’t worry, senior, I will enter Shohoku next year!” Zhou Tianming rubbed his head and said to Murasakibara affirmatively, then said to Akagi, “Don’t be so violent all the time, senior Akagi.”
“Hmph, he might fail again next year. This guy is just an idiot.” Akagi ignored the second half of Zhou Tianming’s sentence and criticized him from the side.
“Gorilla, it’s time for you to go back to the zoo.” Zhou Tianming was not willing to be outdone.
“…Bastard!” As the gorilla said this, he was about to swing the hammer again. Zhou Tianming hurriedly hid behind Caizi.
Caizi’s eyes twitched, and she pointed at the students who were gradually gathering around her and said, “Stop making noise! ??So many junior students are looking at us, don’t you think it’s embarrassing enough?”
Akagi looked around and suppressed his anger. Seeing that Akagi had no intention of taking action, Zhou Tianming walked out from behind Ayako with a calm face, looked at Akagi and snorted disdainfully, of course, without Akagi seeing.
Seeing this, Caizi held her forehead with her hand, feeling a little exhausted, and changed the subject:
“Senior Akagi, Senior Mumu, what are your plans later?”
“You guys, actually Akagi and I came here this time because we were worried that Tianming would be devastated by failing the exam, but it seems our worries were unnecessary.” The bespectacled brother Murasaki said happily, and then he became a little regretful, “A while ago, there was a very talented classmate in our high school basketball team, but he injured his knee and couldn’t stand the blow, so he quit the team. We were worried that Tianming would be the same as him, so we came here to check on him.” After saying this, Murasaki sighed.
“Him!?” Akagi had been silent at first, but when he heard the second half of Mumu’s sentence, he flew into a rage and shouted, “Why mention that guy? He’s just a coward, a good-for-nothing coward except for talking big.”
“He shouldn’t be that kind of person.” Mu Mu defended weakly.
“Not that kind of person?!” Akagi was even more furious, and turned to face Mumu, “That guy is now hanging out with the hooligans outside the school. When he sees me on campus, he doesn’t even dare to look at me. What else can he be but a coward?”
After a while, Akagi let out a long breath in anger and said proudly: “So, if we want to dominate the country, we still have to rely on our own efforts!”
Ayako and Kotaro, who were standing by, were completely confused and had no idea who the ‘he’ they were talking about was.
Only Zhou Tianming’s eyes flickered. He should have guessed that person. It should be Mitsui Hisashi from Takeishi Junior High School.
“I think Senior Mitsui will come back.” Zhou Tianming said meaningfully.
This sentence made Akagi and the other two excited, but they didn’t say anything, and they were silent. And Ayako and the other two, who were confused just now, finally understood a little.
“Mitsui-senpai is also going to Shohoku High School,” Ayako said in surprise, covering her mouth.
“That Mitsui senior who was the junior high school MVP for three consecutive years? He was my idol back then. Has he retired from the basketball team now?” Kotaro was also very surprised.
“Ha, it’s that guy, but for some reason, Mitsui is no longer on the basketball team.” Mu Mu saw the reactions of the two and didn’t want to dwell on this issue for too long. “There’s nothing else to do next, let’s find a place to celebrate your successful admission to Xiangbei High School.”
Yeah!
Sure enough, the two who didn’t know Mitsui very well were very happy to hear that the seniors were celebrating their promotion and put Mitsui’s questions behind them.
Zhou Tianming silently looked down on Mu Mu. This guy was just rubbing salt into his wounds in order to divert everyone’s attention. He, a failed candidate, had to celebrate for others who had successfully entered the university. However, he was also open-minded. His mysterious confidence made him believe that he would definitely succeed next year. So he said to everyone, “Why don’t you all go to my place and play basketball with the seniors.”
“That’s settled then!” Kotaro immediately said happily. He could not forget Zhou Tianming’s luxurious house where he could swim, watch movies, and even have an orchard where he could pick fruit.
So, everyone walked towards Zhou Tianming’s house.
Chapter 20 Celebration Banquet (Please collect) (Old version)
They first went to the store to buy a lot of food and drinks. After about half an hour, they finally arrived at the gate of Zhou Tianming’s compound.
“When did your family move to such a remote place?” Caizi was a little breathless after the long walk. Looking at the somewhat desolate scene around her, she asked Zhou Tianming in confusion.
Akagi and Mu Mu were also a little confused. This location was indeed a bit remote, and there were no daily necessities stores nearby. There was only a dilapidated abandoned building, and there were only a few residential buildings 2 kilometers away. They had visited Zhou Tianming once on his birthday, but the Zhou residence in their memory was not in this location.
The little fat man didn’t say anything, but urged Zhou Tianming to open the door quickly because he wanted to go in and have a rest.
Zhou Tianming ignored the little fat man and pointed to a residential area 2 kilometers away. He said, “That’s where you went last time. My parents and I lived there. I hired someone to build this yard myself. I chose this place because the land price is cheap.”
Caizi and the other two finally understood that this yard was bought by the parents for their son’s entertainment. No wonder it was so remote.
Then, Zhou Tianming took out the key, and with a creaky sound, the door was gently pushed open by Zhou Tianming. Everyone followed Zhou Tianming in pushing open the door and looked into the courtyard, but the scene they saw made them feel a little dazed.
What comes into view is a three-story building facing north and south. Its square outline looks very much like a small gymnasium. Parallel to this building is a white villa. Although the villa is not as large as the gymnasium, it also has three floors. In front of the villa, a swimming pool with a length of about 50 meters is located across the villa. The water in the pool is clear and transparent, and it is obvious that it has been replaced not long ago. In front of the gymnasium, there is a small garden. Along both sides of the stone path in the garden, there are several fruit trees that have already borne fruits.
“Wow, this place is really nice!” Ayako no longer looked tired at all. She walked into the yard excitedly and began to look around, sighing from time to time.
Akagi and Mugure also walked into the yard with a look of surprise. Akagi looked around and finally stared at the gymnasium. With confusion and excitement in his eyes, he asked: “What is that?”
“Ah, that’s a basketball arena, but it’s a basketball arena without spectator seats. The second floor is a fitness center with a full range of equipment. We can go there to play later.” Zhou Tianming said proudly. This design was his creation, and he was proud of it for a while.
Mu Mu was also very interested in this small gym. After putting the items in his hands at the door of the villa with Akagi, he ran to the basketball court with great interest. At this time, the little fat boy had already rushed into the villa and lay comfortably on the sofa, as if he would not come to me until I had a good rest.
Zhou Tianming was a little dumbfounded at this time. It seemed that everyone had forgotten the celebration banquet just mentioned. Standing at the door of the villa, he looked at the food materials on the ground, and then looked at Caizi who was walking happily in the garden. Zhou Tianming shook his head helplessly and thought that he should not disturb Caizi. He had to rely on himself to dominate the culinary world! With a sigh, Zhou Tianming walked into the kitchen with the materials.
An hour later, Zhou Tianming brought the last dish to the table. The little fat boy was about to grab some, but Zhou Tianming glared at him. The little fat boy had no choice but to put down his bowl and chopsticks in dismay, and ran out of the villa, calling back Akagi and the other man who were testing fitness equipment, and Ayako who was hesitating whether to pick some fruit in the garden.
Five people sat around the dining table, looking at the table full of dishes in front of them with disbelief.
“This…did you do all this by yourself?” Akagi Youxie asked in surprise. Akagi was sweating a lot at this time. He had just seen so many kinds of fitness equipment, and he was very interested in each one of them, so he fiddled with them for a while.
Compared to Akagi, Murasaki was much calmer. He just memorized the appearance of equipment he had never seen before and waited until he went to the library to look up how to use it.
Zhou Tianming glanced at Akagi and was too lazy to answer him. Zhou Tianming’s usual attitude towards people who did not come to help with cooking but instead doubted his cooking ability was to ignore them.
At this time, Caizi looked at Zhou Tianming with some sympathy, and thought to herself: Such a good young man who plays basketball well, has a good family background, is a good cook, and looks decent, but his academic performance is so bad. It seems that when God gives you something, he will make you lose something else.
Zhou Tianming was a little confused by Caizi’s look, but he didn’t think much about it. He raised his drink to everyone and said, “Welcome everyone to my humble home. Let’s congratulate Caizi first. The fat guy has been promoted to a member of Xiangbei High School. Let’s drink this drink together.”
“good!”
“cheers!”
The five of them happily finished their drinks, and then had a Chinese meal, which they seldom ate, and they all enjoyed it very much.
After dinner, the little fat boy lay on the sofa, rubbing his round belly, complaining to Zhou Tianming with a sad face: “Oh no, I’m going to gain several pounds again this time.”
Zhou Tianming also lay comfortably on the recliner and complained: “You deserve it! Who told you to eat so much?” After that, he squinted his eyes and planned to take a nap for a while.
On the other side, Murasakibara and Ayako were busy washing dishes in the kitchen. Maybe they felt embarrassed to eat other people’s meal for free, so when everyone finished eating, they took the initiative to ask to clean up the dishes. This made Zhou Tianming feel very relieved, as he finally didn’t have to work hard anymore, unlike that gorilla who ate and drank for free and didn’t work.
Thinking of Akagi, this guy was the one who ate the fastest just now. After eating and resting for a while, he took the ball to the gym, asking the others to go over soon.
Soon, Murasaki and the others cleaned up the kitchen, and then the four of them set off for the small gym.
Chapter 21: Duel with Akagi (Old Version)
The four people walked into the gym and saw Akagi practicing hook shots under the basket. They didn’t know how many times this guy had practiced, but the back of his jersey was already soaked with sweat.
Seeing the four people slowly walking into the court, Akagi stopped what he was doing and said with disdain: “You are so lazy!”
When Akagi’s words reached the ears of the four people, Zhou Tianming’s mouth twitched, and Mu Mu’s face turned a little dark. The little fat man pretended not to hear it, and Miss Caizi directly refuted: “We are not as good as some people who only care about eating and drinking and don’t help at all.”
After hearing what Akagi said, a trace of embarrassment flashed across his face. Then, as if he hadn’t heard what Akagi said, he tossed the basketball and said to Zhou Tianming:
“Boy, do you want to practice with me? I haven’t practiced with you for a long time. Let’s see if you have regressed?”
“Okay, Senior Akagi,” Zhou Tianming agreed without thinking. For him, having a center like Akagi who is an outstanding inside player as a sparring partner would be a great pleasure, especially since his height has risen to 185cm recently, and he wanted to see how strong he was.
Zhou Tianming first did a few sets of warm-up exercises on the sidelines, and Akagi also sat aside to rest and relieve the fatigue caused by the training. After about five minutes, both of them adjusted their conditions and walked into the court.
“You are the younger one, so you can serve.” Akagi seemed to have gotten into the game and threw the ball to Tianming.
“You will regret it!” Zhou Tianming caught the basketball, gave Akagi a thumbs up, then rotated his palm and pointed his thumb downward.
“Bastard!” Akagi’s fighting spirit instantly burned to the extreme and was about to explode at any time.
“Then let’s get started!”
After that, Zhou Tianming began to control the ball with his body lowered. Akagi opened his arms and stared at Zhou Tianming, but Akagi did not get too close to him. He was more than 1 meter away from Zhou Tianming. It might be because Zhou Tianming was on the three-point line, and he was still very confident in Zhou Tianming’s three-point level.
Zhou Tianming grinned wickedly, then suddenly took a step back, stood on tiptoe, stared at the basket in front of him, and jumped with both feet. His body quickly rose up like a cannonball, rising into the air. He raised the ball above his head with both hands, and his movements were very standard, like flowing water, and he threw the ball out steadily.
Murasaki and others on the sidelines couldn’t believe it, because they had never seen Zhou Tianming shoot a three-pointer, and this was one step away from the three-point line. Although Murasaki was very confident in Zhou Tianming’s two-point shot, before he left junior high school, he knew that Tianming’s three-point technique was still in the exploratory stage. He never thought that Zhou Tianming could now shoot so skillfully and accurately.
The basketball flew a perfect parabola in the air, like a guided missile flying towards the basket.
Swish! The ball goes into the net!
“Wow, Tianming is so awesome!” Ayako said in surprise, covering her mouth.
“I didn’t expect that his three-point shot has matured now.” Mu Mu said with emotion, and he was even more looking forward to Zhou Tianming’s future joining.
Zhou Tianming still stood there, maintaining his shooting posture, and said, “I told you that you will regret it!”
Akagi still had a blank expression on his face, but although he didn’t say anything, he was still very surprised in his heart. It had only been a short year, and this kid could make such a long three-pointer so confidently.
Perhaps the only person in the stadium who was not shocked was the fat guy, because in the past year, he often came to this gym to pick up balls for his good friend’s shooting practice. He couldn’t remember how many three-pointers Zhou Tianming had shot, but he remembered that the net had been broken by seven or eight empty-shot basketballs.
It was Akagi’s turn to attack.
Akagi picked up the ball and dribbled it carefully. As for his dribbling skills, he was not very good when facing Zhou Tianming, the main point guard in junior high school. So when Akagi stepped into the three-point line with the ball, he turned around skillfully, intending to back-up Zhou Tianming, using his own strength advantage and carefully moving under the basket.
Zhou Tianming was a little helpless about this. No matter how good his jumping ability was or how excellent his dribbling skills were, facing this kind of inside attack using brute force, he was helpless for a moment. He could only use all his strength to hold up Akagi’s moving body.
Sure enough, when Akagi moved to two steps away from the left side of the basket, he suddenly stopped, and leaned his back hard. Zhou Tianming couldn’t bear the force and staggered. Akagi seized the opportunity, turned his body suddenly to the left, took a big step, came to the position facing the basket, then flew up and hit the ball on the right side. At this time, Zhou Tianming had just stood firm.
Watching Akagi easily shoot and score, Zhou Tianming revealed a bitter smile. This was also the reason why he was happy to practice alone with Akagi. Facing the brutal style of play that relied on height and strength to overpower the opponent, especially the players with good inside skills, he had not yet figured out a good way to crack it. So he wanted to experience it more and see if he could find some flaws. Although he was only a point guard, it was rare for a point guard and a center to fight in the interior in a normal game.
“It’s evenly divided.” Akagi glanced at Zhou Tianming calmly, but his rough and dark face could hardly hide the hint of pride. He picked up the basketball and threw it over again.
After seeing Akagi tie the score, the three people on the sidelines also started a new round of comments.
“Akagi’s inside skills have become more flexible. I never saw him turn around so quickly during training!” Murasakibara exclaimed after seeing Akagi’s wonderful goal.
“A one-on-one fight between a guard and a center, only these two could think of it.” Ayako rubbed her forehead, finding it hard to accept the hand-to-hand combat between the 194cm and 185cm tall just now.
“Senior Akagi is still in strong physical condition. Can’t he even withstand Tianming?” The little fat man seemed a little surprised this time.
On the court, the score was 1:1 and the ball was once again passed to Zhou Tianming for attack.
Chapter 22: A brief separation (old version)
Zhou Tianming took the ball and dribbled it without any attempt to break through. He was still wandering around the three-point line. However, Akagi chose to shorten the defensive distance at this moment, obviously fearing Zhou Tianming’s three-pointer.
Tianming saw that Akagi’s defensive position had changed, shrugged his shoulders, immediately switched to dribbling with his left hand, lowered his center of gravity, and leaned forward to the left, obviously trying to break through from the left side.
Seeing this, Akagi had to move his body a small step to Tianming’s left side, trying to block Tianming’s way forward.
Suddenly, Zhou Tianming’s body changed direction instantly, his right shoulder dropped, and with a smooth behind-the-back dribble, the basketball in his left hand was instantly switched to his right hand. Taking advantage of the opportunity when Akagi’s body moved a small step to the left, he successfully broke into the inside. At this moment, Akagi’s tall body obviously became his disadvantage. He was obviously not as fast as Zhou Tianming in speed and reaction. When Akagi turned around and wanted to chase and defend, Zhou Tianming had already run to the basket and made an easy layup.
Akagi was also a little helpless. In terms of dribbling, Zhou Tianming could beat him completely. He quietly took the ball and walked to the midfield to start his attack.
Familiar position, familiar action, and finally a left-handed hook shot, the score came to 2-2.
“No more fighting, no more fighting.” Zhou Tianming waved his hand and said to Akagi who was about to pass the ball to him, “You violent lunatic, if you hit me a few more times I’m going to fall apart.”
“Well, it’s really boring to play one-on-one with you.” Akagi didn’t object, and then asked puzzledly, “But why didn’t I see you flying up to block the shot? I remember you were a jumping boy last year, and I suffered a lot when I was still in North City Middle School.” After saying that, Akagi’s expression was a little complicated, and it was obvious that he recalled some bad memories.
Seeing that they were not going to continue, the people on the side also walked into the court. After hearing Akagi’s question, they all covered their mouths and laughed, then looked at Zhou Tianming with curiosity.
Being stared at by several good friends, Zhou Tianming seemed a little shy and said timidly:
“Hey! I’m afraid I’ll leave you with a psychological trauma, so I’m sorry to continue hating you.”
After saying this, regardless of the somewhat stiff face of Akagi, he called everyone to go to the small cinema in the courtyard to watch a movie. Everyone cheered when they heard it, and followed Zhou Tianming.
Akagi reacted and saw that everyone was about to leave the stadium, so he hurriedly followed them, growling angrily: “Asshole! You are really an egomaniac!”
After watching a movie of “Star Wars”, everyone felt very excited, but realizing it was getting late, they agreed to meet again later and planned to go home separately.
Of course Akagi and Murasakibara are going to go together. In Zhou Tianming’s opinion, it feels like Jiao is inseparable from Meng Meng and Jiao is inseparable from Meng, which is full of gay love!
“Senior Akagi, Senior Murasaki, please come to my place for training when you have time during holidays. I’m alone here usually, so it will be more lively if we train together.” When Zhou Tianming saw Akagi and the other two were about to leave, he ran up to them and said.
Hearing Zhou Tianming’s suggestion, Murasakibara naturally agreed. Akagi also rarely smiled. He patted Zhou Tianming on the shoulder and said with a smile: “I thought so too. Even if you didn’t say it, Murasakibara and I would come.” After that, he took the somewhat embarrassed Murasakibara and left here with a laugh, as if he had won a battle.
Zhou Tianming was also a little stunned after hearing this. Is this… is this still the innocent, kind and loving gorilla in the original book?
“Tianming, I have to go back too. The meal today was very good.” Seeing that Akagi and the other man had left, the fat boy ran over hurriedly and said to Zhou Tianming with a wink.
Zhou Tianming was a little puzzled. Normally, if this guy felt lazy, he would just live here. Why did he do this today?
At this time, Zhou Tianming noticed that the fat boy’s eyes occasionally glanced behind him. He turned around and found that Caizi was cleaning the small cinema that they had just messed up. Then he understood what the fat boy meant. Zhou Tianming felt a little bit amused, but he didn’t mind the opportunity given by the fat boy.
“Okay, but you’d better walk back. You’ve eaten so much today. If you don’t walk more, you’ll gain a lot of weight.”
“Ah?! Okay.” The little fat man also left with a sigh.
When Caizi finished cleaning up and returned to Zhou Tianming, she found that everyone had disappeared. She realized that there were only two of them left in the yard. Her pretty face turned red and she muttered to herself, “Why don’t you wait for me to leave together?”
“Don’t worry, I promise to send you home safely.” Zhou Tianming looked at Caizi with burning eyes and gave a smile that he thought would convince others.
This made Caizi blush even more, her long eyelashes fluttering, but she still pretended to be calm and said, “You said that!”
The sky has gradually darkened, and you can see the stars in the sky blinking, as if they are looking down mischievously at the world below.
On the empty and lonely street, a boy and a girl were walking quietly side by side. Both were dressed in school uniforms, but the boy was much taller than the girl.
“Tianming, you will be the only one staying in Beicheng Middle School from now on. You must study hard. We are all waiting for you in Xiangbei.” Caizi looked at Zhou Tianming with clear and gentle eyes.
“Hmm.” Tianming looked at Caizi in surprise, and then he became serious and said slowly: “I have already felt that my current basketball level lacks competition experience, not the kind of competitions in junior high school, so…”
Zhou Tianming paused here, raised his head and looked at the distant starry sky, “I plan to quit the basketball team and devote my time to my studies and daily training. Next year I will definitely enter high school and compete for the top spot in the basketball world again.”
“Really?!” Caizi was very surprised. She looked at Zhou Tianming with a strange look, as if she had just met him. She said hesitantly, “But you are the captain of the basketball team now. Can you just quit the team?”
“There’s nothing I can do. The captain can’t get into high school. The coach should understand. Otherwise, I would have left school this year, so there shouldn’t be any problem.” Zhou Tianming spread his hands and said helplessly. Caizi thought about it and realized that it was indeed the case.
Afterwards, the two of them turned the topic to the interesting things that happened in the class before, and walked towards Ayako’s residence talking and laughing.
Chapter 23: Admission to Xiangbei (Old Version)
In the blink of an eye, a year has passed like sand in your hand, slipping away silently.
In his fourth year in this world, Zhou Tianming, who had grown to 190cm tall, stood in front of the school bulletin board, carefully looking for his name. At this time, a lot of sweat had already seeped out of his forehead.
“Found it! Found it!” The little fat man on the side pointed to a corner of the bulletin board and excitedly shook Zhou Tianming beside him.
“Where?!” Zhou Tianming asked nervously, his eyes following the fat boy’s finger to lock onto the last list on the bulletin board, and he found his name in the third-to-last position.
“Huh!” The nervous man breathed a sigh of relief. He had just searched for a long time but couldn’t find his name. It was this little fat guy who was smart and started looking from the back. Hey, why did the little fat guy look from the back?
Zhou Tianming came back to his senses and looked at the fat boy in confusion. The fat boy seemed to understand Zhou Tianming’s confusion and replied without being subtle: “The school must put the list of outstanding students at the front! Your grades are so bad, even if you pass the exam, you will definitely be among the last few!” After that, he laughed at Zhou Tianming a few times.
After hearing the fat man’s explanation, Zhou Tianming’s face looked a little unhappy, but thinking that he had finally advanced successfully, he decided to forgive him first.
“But it was a close call. You’re lucky.” Caizi, who was standing on the other side of Tianming, also noticed Zhou Tianming’s name and pointed to the first row of Zhou Tianming’s group on the bulletin board. Tianming looked up and the eye-catching word “substitute” hurt Zhou Tianming’s eyes. Caizi added, “I heard that Xiangbei didn’t fill its enrollment quota this year, so they filled some of the failed students…”
Before Caizi could finish her words, Zhou Tianming hurriedly stopped the two of them and said sternly, “The process is not important. What’s important is that I successfully entered Xiangbei today. I’ll treat you today. Let’s go! Let’s go to my house!”
Then, he hurriedly left the campus, pulling the two people who were still laughing.
When they arrived at Zhou Tianming’s house, Akagi and Mugure were already doing physical training on the second floor of the gym. During this year, almost every Saturday and Sunday, the two would come here to do physical strengthening exercises with Zhou Tianming, and the friendship between the three of them was deepening day by day.
“So, Tianming, you barely passed?” After listening to the fat man’s narration and Ayako’s supplement, Akagi picked up the towel and walked down from the treadmill. While wiping the sweat off his body, he looked at Zhou Tianming with contempt and spoke slowly.
For a top student like Akagi in the class, he has helped Zhou Tianming with his lessons a lot during this period. However, this guy entered Shohoku as a reserve student. From what Kotaro said, he was at the bottom even in the reserve group, which really made him unhappy.
“Congratulations! Tianming!” Murasakibara congratulated him sincerely, “Welcome to Xiangbei!” After that, he hugged Zhou Tianming.
“Thank you both seniors for your guidance during this period.” After parting with Murasakibara, Zhou Tianming bowed to the two of them with great gratitude. If it weren’t for the two of them recharging their batteries during this period, it would have been difficult for him to be on the bench.
Sometimes Zhou Tianming himself wondered if he had lost the last bit of his cultural knowledge when he traveled through time. Normally, whenever he wanted to study, he would fall asleep within 5 minutes, and if he studied for more than 10 minutes, he would lose consciousness. It seemed that the saying that no one is perfect was really accurate.
“Hey, hey! What are you thinking about?” Caizi, who was standing by, noticed that Zhou Tianming was a little dazed and pushed him.
“Ah, what did you say?” Zhou Tianming, who was pushed, finally came to his senses and turned to look at Caizi.
“Ayako said she was hungry!” The little fat man seized the opportunity and quickly stood up to answer for Ayako.
“Oh! No problem, I’ll cook now.” Zhou Tianming didn’t think much about it. He picked up the ingredients he had just bought on the road and ran towards the villa.
Caizi was stunned when she saw Zhou Tianming going away, and then her face turned red. If someone familiar with her saw it, they would know that Caizi might explode. A huge paper fan appeared in her hand from nowhere and slapped it on the little fat boy’s head, saying viciously: “Who did you say was hungry just now?!”
“Wow! It’s me! It’s me!” The little fat boy covered his head and jumped behind Mu Mu, begging in a low voice, “Big sister, please spare me. If I had said I was hungry just now, Tianming, who values ??women over friends, would not have cooked so easily!”
After saying this, Ayako’s pretty face turned even redder, but this time it was because of embarrassment. Snap! Ayako swung the paper fan again, hitting the fat boy’s forehead in the gap where Mu Mu dodged. The fat boy almost cried out in pain. This elder sister was really cruel. No wonder the school’s famous bad boy Miyagi was afraid of her.
“Okay, that’s it for this time. Don’t speak for others in the future and don’t call me big sister!” After the second slap, Ayako felt refreshed and was no longer so angry. She immediately forgave the fat boy’s mistake.
The little fat boy then walked out from behind Akagi where he had hidden for the second time with peace of mind, muttering to himself that this was a violent woman and that Tianming would be miserable in the future. After imagining what would happen to Tianming in the future, he felt much better and happily ran to the villa to order food for Tianming.
night.
After a busy day, Zhou Tianming returned home. As he entered the living room, his father and mother, who were sitting on the sofa, both looked at him.
Zhou Tianming certainly knew what his parents were waiting for, and said easily, “It went smoothly!”
Of course, the word “substitute” would never be mentioned.
After hearing the news, both of them were very happy. The family discussed it happily and imagined Zhou Tianming’s future high school life.
If it weren’t for the episode where his mother had to cook for Zhou Tianming herself, I believe this day would have been perfect for Zhou Tianming.
Chapter 24 A New Beginning (Old Version)
Shohoku High School, located in the northeast of Kanagawa, is an ordinary public high school. It is not outstanding in sports. However, after all, it is in the world of slam dunk, and basketball must be the most popular sport in the school. The best result in history was losing to Ryonan and stopping in the top 16 of the county.
Zhou Tianming walked aimlessly in the campus, feeling the environment and atmosphere that was completely different from that of junior high school, smelling the fragrance of cherry blossoms, and looking relaxed and contented.
Just now, Ayako had taken care of all the matters concerning the admission of new students. He was assigned to Class 3, Grade 1. I wonder if he will be assigned to the same class with those two problem teenagers.
“Forget it, let’s go to the classroom first.” Zhou Tianming stopped thinking about it and turned to walk towards the teaching building.
Turning into the corridor, Zhou Tianming saw the class sign of Class Three, Year One not far in front of him. He moved towards the class. At this moment, a fat guy jumped out from Class Three. He had a body like a ball, short limbs, and a pair of glasses that were so reflective that his eyes could not be seen. If it weren’t for his eye-catching student-style buzz cut, Zhou Tianming would even suspect that this guy was Coach Anxi.
Zhou Tianming was stunned for a moment and looked at the person carefully. He felt that the person was very familiar, but he couldn’t remember who the other person was for a moment.
Gao Gongwang at the door also noticed Zhou Tianming at this time. He thought that the man in front of him, who was about 190cm tall and kept staring at him, was here to cause trouble for him. After all, he was a bad boy.
“Why are you looking at me? Want to fight?” For a bad boy, fighting knows no time or place. At this moment, Gao Gong’s eyes were filled with excitement, as if he would rush up and fight if the other party just nodded.
“Huh?” Zhou Tianming was thinking about who he was, but was stunned by the other party’s question. He asked casually, “What’s your name?”
“Huh?!” Gao Gong was also a little confused. The hot blood in his body was cooled by Zhou Tianming’s question. He thought that the other party didn’t even know who he was, so how could he possibly cause trouble for him.
“Gao Gong, look!” Gao Gong, who answered Zhou Tianming’s question, felt a little bored. I took off my clothes! You just show me this?
Then, without waiting for Zhou Tianming’s reaction, he walked directly towards Class 7 of Grade 1 in the distance.
Seeing that the other party had no interest in talking to him, Zhou Tianming walked straight into the classroom. However, he had already remembered who that guy was. He didn’t expect that after entering high school, he would be in the same class with a member of the Sakuragi Army.
Time soon came to the end of school, Zhou Tianming gave up the habit of packing books to take home to review. He came to the place agreed with Caizi, and went to the basketball hall to sign up side by side.
Classmate A: “I heard that a brave freshman is challenging the captain of the basketball team!”
Classmate B: “The captain of the basketball team? Is he the 197cm tall monster?”
Classmate A: “Yes! I heard that the new student is a red-haired boy. Let’s go check him out!”
Student B: Let s go!
“!!” Zhou Tianming’s eyes lit up, and he remembered the story between Sakuragi and Akagi. He took Ayako’s hand and accelerated towards the basketball hall, “Ayako, there’s something interesting to watch! Let’s go there quickly!”
Caizi blushed a little because of Zhou Tianming’s sudden action, but seeing Zhou Tianming’s gloating expression, she did not struggle and ran towards the basketball hall curiously.
By the time the two arrived at the basketball court, it was already packed with people.
Zhou Tianming quickly found Murasakibara’s location and squeezed over with Ayako.
“Muro-senpai, what’s going on?”
Ayako squeezed into the inner circle with difficulty and just stood firm. She immediately pulled her hand out of Zhou Tianming’s hand and asked Murasakibara curiously.
“I just got here too. I heard that it was that first-year classmate who said something disrespectful about basketball and angered Akagi.” Murasaki seemed a little anxious. After all, if the captain of the basketball team challenged a layman, it would not be good for the reputation of the basketball team.
“Don’t worry!” Zhou Tianming was looking at the two people on the field with shining eyes at this time, and said without turning his head, “It’s a natural phenomenon for a gorilla to train a little monkey. No one will criticize it!”
After saying that, he ignored the two people who were staring at each other and watched the game on the court more intently, as if he could learn some martial arts secrets from the game, afraid of missing even a single detail.
Others naturally wouldn t know that Zhou Tianming was regretting in his heart at this moment, wondering why he didn t bring a camera.
Swish! Swish!
In a short while, Akagi had scored eight goals in a row. Sakuragi just stood there in a daze, and Akagi easily broke through and made a layup.
“Just as expected, the difference in strength is too big!” the onlookers discussed on the side.
“So what! This is the sport of basketball that you insulted!” Akagi said to Sakuragi proudly, as if he was possessed by the god of war.
“Hey, red-haired boy! What’s wrong with you? You haven’t even touched the ball?”
Akagi held the basketball in front of Sakuragi and teased him unscrupulously, “Come on!”
Seeing this, the single-celled Sakuragi reached out to grab the basketball, but Akagi quickly took it back, saying, “Huh, you dare to look down on the sport of basketball!”
“Shut up!” Sakuragi was extremely anxious and annoyed at this moment.
“You really want to touch this ball! Come on!”
Come again!
“Haha, I got rid of you again!”
After teasing the boy behind him for a few times, Akagi once again easily broke through Sakuragi’s confusing defense and rushed towards the basket with a smug look on his face.
“Waaaaaaaaah, damn it! I’m so angry!” Sakuragi saw that he was broken through by the opponent again, and he instantly went crazy. He had just been teased by this monster for a long time and was now furious.
Sakuragi turned around quickly and chased after Akagi’s back with all his strength. When the distance was within two steps, Sakuragi stretched out his hands and grabbed Akagi’s shirt regardless of anything.
Akagi’s long legs were running very fast, and as a result, the hand that was supposed to grab his shirt grabbed Akagi’s sweatpants instead, and then, and then, cough cough.
Sakuragi pulled down Akagi’s trousers and underwear, revealing a snow-white scene. Well, it was whiter than Akagi’s face at least.
Chapter 25 Sakuragi Hanamichi (Please collect) (Old version)
“Wow!” “Tsk tsk!” “So white!”
The whole audience was shocked!!
Sakuragi was holding onto Akagi’s two layers of pants tightly, his eyes were filled with fear, his head was dizzy, and he seemed to be petrified. Accident! This was definitely an accident.
On the other side, Akagi was lying on the ground in a crawling posture, his face flushed red, which was in sharp contrast to the color of his other head. Akagi was also a little dizzy and at a loss.
It’s as if time has stopped here.
“Brother! Get up quickly!”
Finally, a little beauty with a red face on the other side of the crowd shouted anxiously.
This shout was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, waking up the two people on the field. Sakuragi hurriedly loosened his pants and cried out in surprise.
Wow!!!!
Akagi stood up in a hurry and quickly pulled up his pants. His face was as red as an orangutan’s butt – or the kind that was swollen from being slapped. He spitted and yelled at Sakuragi: “You… you damned guy…”
Facing the furious Akagi, the red-haired boy had a pitiful expression and said weakly, “Didn’t I apologize to you? I didn’t mean it! Do I have to use violence?”
“Captain!! I…we understand how you feel, please calm down!!”
Seeing this, teammates such as Chaoqi Yasuda rushed over to comfort the captain and prevent him from losing his temper.
Akagi calmed down and suddenly seemed to remember something. He ignored everyone and looked around. Sure enough, he found Zhou Tianming who was laughing secretly beside Murasakibara. He glared at the guy fiercely. Zhou Tianming noticed Akagi’s gaze and pretended to chat with Ayako, who also awkwardly agreed with him.
Just when the accident happened, Zhou Tianming exaggeratedly shouted “So white!” This sentence was like a flashing red warning light, focusing the attention of the crowd on the whitest part of Akagi’s body. While feasting their eyes, Akagi also wanted to bury himself. Of course, Akagi would not misunderstand whose voice it was.
The following game went just as Zhou Tianming had imagined. When it came to the last ball, Sakuragi burst out with his inhuman physical fitness and successfully defended Akagi’s attack. Then he made a fierce dunk, making everyone realize the basketball talent of this problem child.
While everyone was still immersed in the shock of Sakuragi dunking over Akagi, Zhou Tianming quietly filled out the application for joining the club and handed it to Ayako. He quickly disappeared from the basketball hall under Ayako’s sympathetic gaze.
The next day, after school.
The first two to arrive at the basketball club were still the two who persisted in their dreams.
“Huh!? The door lock was opened?” Murasakibara, who was taking out the key, exclaimed when he saw the scene in front of him.
Akagi pushed open the door, his tone filled with anger: “Who is in there?!!”
Inside the room, a red-haired boy was happily wearing a slightly large No. 4 jersey, with his hands on his waist and his back to the door.
Hearing the noise, the red-haired Sakuragi suddenly turned around, waved to the two people at the door with full enthusiasm, and said confidently: “You are too late. I am the genius Sakuragi Hanamichi who defeated the gorilla captain of the basketball team. I am the next basketball captain. Please give me your guidance!”
The captain of the gorilla team saw that Sakuragi was not only wearing his jersey, but was also brazenly belittling him. In addition, the lock of the locker room door was broken. Without saying a word, he raised his fist and hit Sakuragi hard on the head.
Poor Sakuragi, before he even understood what was happening, squatted down with his hands covering his head, still crying out in pain.
“Brother, why did you hit me?” After a while, Sakuragi, who had recovered a little, was still rubbing the red spot on his head, and asked Akagi pitifully, who had a frown on his face.
Hearing the name “Brother”, Akagi couldn’t help himself and punched the red envelope accurately again. Sakuragi squatted on the ground again, and a whimpering sound came from his mouth again.
Mu Mu, who was standing by, saw this scene and was afraid that Sakuragi would say something inappropriate and suffer, so he stepped forward to smooth things over: “Ha… Sakuragi-san is going to join our basketball club, that’s great! With Sakuragi-san’s potential, he will definitely become a regular player on our basketball team in the future.”
Sakuragi was really attracted by Murasakibara’s praise and no longer worried about Akagi beating him. Simple guy is easy to coax, and after a few words Sakuragi was chatting happily with Murasakibara.
“You want to join the basketball club? Dream on!” Akagi, who was sorting out his supplies, suddenly interrupted.
“Hmm…” The red-headed Sakuragi, who was imagining with Murasaki about being the best in basketball, suddenly lost his temper. “Brother, you really love to joke! If I, the basketball star Sakuragi, don’t join the basketball club, where should I go?!”
“Everyone, the game is coming soon, let’s practice harder!” Ignoring Sakuragi’s words, Akagi shouted to the players who were arriving one after another.
“Hey, Brother…”
In the next few days, Zhou Tianming did not come to the basketball hall. On the contrary, in order to join the basketball team, Sakuragi went to the gym every day and suffered abuse from Akagi. Akagi said that he was testing Sakuragi. As a result, the floor and the basketball during training would be wiped clean every day.
Of course, this is how Sakuragi behaved when Akagi was in the gym. Once Akagi left the gym, second-year students like Shiozaki Yasuda would suffer at the hands of Sakuragi. This guy doesn’t care about seniority at all. Except for Akagi, he doesn’t know how to respect other people, especially Yasuda, whom he either beats or scolds. Yasuda also has a very good temper. As Sakuragi’s mentor when he entered the basketball team, he gave Sakuragi a lot of useful and useless suggestions, and made a significant contribution to Sakuragi joining the basketball team.
However, it was precisely because of Sakuragi’s appearance that the team’s previous strict hierarchical system was broken, making the team more dynamic.
Chapter 26 Tianming joins the club (old version)
This day is the day for new players to report.
As soon as the get out of class was over, Zhou Tianming rushed to the basketball court excitedly. He didn’t dare to go to the basketball court these days. He went back to his home to train. Counting the days, the gorilla should have calmed down these days, and he was very safe.
“Quiet! First years, line up over there!”
“Come and get in line! I’m talking to you!”
As soon as he stepped into the basketball hall, he heard the sound of the team’s assembly speech. However, it was not the team’s captain who was giving orders, but Sakuragi Hanamichi, who felt very good about himself. The last sentence was said to Zhou Tianming.
Zhou Tianming smiled helplessly, quickened his pace and joined the team. Akagi and others on the side also noticed Zhou Tianming’s arrival. The gorilla had a blank expression on his face, and Mu Mu nodded to Tianming as a greeting.
Sakuragi then joined the freshman team and shouted to Akagi, “Captain Akagi, the first-years are already lined up, please give them a lecture!”
“I know. You don’t have to tell me.” Akagi really had no way to deal with this red-headed boy in the first grade.
“I’m the captain, Akagi. Welcome everyone to join our basketball club! However, our training is very hard. Now I will announce the work of the first-year students: clean the floor and the basketball after practice. These two things must be done.”
“Some of you completed these tasks by yourself a few days ago. You deserve our praise. Everyone should learn from you!”
All the first-year students showed expressions of sighs and confusion, except for Sakuragi who was smug and proud. Of course, Akagi never mentioned his name, and no one would suspect that he did it.
“Now everyone please introduce yourselves so that the team can get to know you briefly.”
“Sakuragi Hanamichi, from Wako Junior High School, 188cm, 83kg!”
“I’m Kuwata from No. 2 Middle School. I’m 162cm tall. I was a forward in junior high school. Please give me your guidance.”
“Well, I think you are more suitable to be a guard after entering high school. You need to practice dribbling and passing well.” After listening, Akagi gave pertinent advice. He said it clearly and showed the captain’s majesty and wisdom to everyone without any concealment, which made Zhou Tianming in the team roll his eyes.
“Next.”
“My name is Kentaro Ishii, I’m 160cm tall, and I play forward.”
“Yeah.” For this player, Akagi chose to skip it directly.
“My name is Sasaoka Satoshi, and I’m 173cm tall.”
“I’m Rukawa Kaede from Fugaoka. I’m 187cm tall and can play in any position.”
Hearing this, Akagi’s eyes lit up, and the teammates around him also praised him. It was obvious that everyone was very curious about Rukawa’s arrival. Akagi narrowed his eyes and asked Rukawa: “Hey, Rukawa, do you have any other hobbies?”
“Hobbies?” The indifferent boy was also surprised that Akagi would ask him such a question. He stroked his smooth chin with his right hand and thought for a while, “Sleeping counts.”
Everyone was very surprised by Rukawa’s answer, and Sakuragi even laughed at him: “His hobby is sleeping! This third-year sleeper!”
“My name is Zhou Tianming, I’m 192cm tall, and I played as a guard in junior high school.” After seeing everyone’s attention slowly shifting away from Rukawa Kaede, Zhou Tianming stood up and introduced himself.
After hearing the height of 192cm, everyone’s eyes were focused on Zhou Tianming. Rukawa Kaede also looked at Zhou Tianming a few more times, and Sakuragi was even more jealous that he was ranked third in height. Amid the sighs and discussions of the crowd, Zhou Tianming was obviously calm and at ease. During the holiday after the entrance examination, he grew another 2cm in height. The good thing about puberty is that your height changes anytime and anywhere.
“Oh,” Akagi replied calmly without any change in his expression and was about to continue saying something.
My hobby is dunking!
“No one asked you!” Akagi felt helpless. This guy was indeed a problem child. With two more problem children among the freshmen, it would be difficult to lead the team in the future.
Next came the introduction of the senior class.
“I’m Yasuda, a sophomore.”
“Shiozaki”
“My name is Kadota, and there’s a second-year student named Miyagi who’s in the hospital.”
“I’m a third-year student named Muguro.”
“I’m a third-year student from Akagi Takenori. Please give me your guidance.”
After everyone finished introducing themselves, the team manager Ayako, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, came in late: “I’m sorry, everyone! I’m late!”
“Ah, Ayako, you are late.” Akagi stopped recording, handed the notebook to Ayako, and said casually.
When Single-celled Sakuragi saw that the person coming was a sexy older sister, his face turned a little red.
Caizi put on an attitude of a big sister and came in front of the freshmen, greeting them one by one. She made the new team members feel embarrassed while greeting them. Finally, she walked to Zhou Tianming with a smile and said, “Junior brother, I finally got you here.” After saying that, she winked at Zhou Tianming mischievously.
Next, the team training officially began. The first thing was running. According to the previous rules, the captain led everyone to run around the court. However, today, Ying Mu and Zhou Tianming came. Both of them were full of energy and ran side by side at the front of the team.
After running, do some warm-up exercises to loosen up all the joints before moving on to ball exercises.
“Okay, everyone, let’s practice short passes in all four corners.” Akagi clapped his hands, attracted everyone’s attention, and issued orders in a loud voice.
“I don’t know what it is, but here I come!” The red-haired boy was still very enthusiastic and was about to go get the ball with everyone else. Suddenly, someone grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up.
“Ayako,” Akagi’s voice came from behind, “He’s a beginner, you have to teach him the basic moves. Please!”
“yes!”
Sakuragi: ???
So there were two scenes for the freshmen in the basketball hall. On one side, Sakuragi was doing monotonous and boring dribbling exercises under the demonstration and supervision of Ayako. On the other side, they were doing passing exercises under the leadership of the vice-captain Mugure.
“Damn it, I’m the only one abandoned here!” Sakuragi knelt on one knee and dribbled the ball, complaining in his heart: “Ms. Haruko is still looking at me, in such an ugly way, why?”
Indeed, Miss Haruko was looking at Sakuragi at the gate, but what she was thinking in her heart was: Sakuragi-san, basic skills are very important, work hard!
Zhou Tianming also wanted to practice dribbling the ball and get closer to Ayako, but after looking at Akagi, he finally didn’t dare to make this request and just practiced passing the ball with his teammates.
Chapter 27 Anxi Arrives (Old Version)
The team trained like this for the next few days.
“Rukawa Kaede! Rukawa Kaede!”
On the third day of joining the club, Rukawa Kaede and the three members of Rukawa Ming had already gathered and were cheering for Rukawa at the gate.
“Damn it! It’s so noisy.” Sakuragi, who was still doing basic exercises on the side, was annoyed by the noise, especially when he noticed that Miss Haruko was also there secretly staring at Rukawa Kaede. He could no longer control himself and strode to the door and slammed it shut.
“Red-headed monster, what are you doing!?”
“Flying Red Hair, open the door quickly.”
“He must be jealous of our Rukawa-san.”
Ignoring the complaints of the people outside the door, Sakuragi felt that the world was much quieter.
With a creaky sound, the door was pushed open again, and a fat, round figure squeezed in from the door.
“Haha, a lot of new players have joined.” I saw a fat old man smiling, looking very happy.
When the people who were training heard this voice, they all stopped their exercises at the same time. The senior students had expressions of surprise and respect, while the freshmen were all confused, of course Zhou Tianming was an exception.
“Hey, old man, who are you?” Sakuragi, who was standing at the door, found an old man breaking into the basketball team. He, who had never known how to respect his predecessors, was now grabbing the fat old man’s arm.
“Who are you?”
“What, you don’t even know me? I’m the basketball player, the next captain of the Xiangbei team, this year’s best newcomer, and the talented basketball player who defeated the gorilla, Sakuragi Hanamichi.”
“Bang!” Seeing this, Ayako dropped the paper fan in her hand accurately on Sakuragi’s head: “Stupid, this is our basketball team coach, Mr. Anxi!”
“Hello, teacher!” All the senior players bowed respectfully.
“Ah?” Sakuragi was surprised.
“Haha, seeing everyone’s enthusiasm for training makes me very happy,” Coach Anxi said with a smile, “I have already sent an application for a practice match to Ryonan High School. This weekend, everyone will go to Ryonan for a warm-up match. Haha.”
“What!?”
“The Ryonan team that made it to the top four in last year’s county tournament?”
The senior players looked surprised.
“Okay, let’s have an in-team practice match first. One group will be freshmen, and the other group will be seniors. Let me see the strength of our new classmates.” Coach Anxi ignored the shock of the seniors with a smile, and deliberately glanced at Rukawa Kaede and Zhou Tianming. It was obvious that he was more interested in players of such height in the first year of high school.
Zhou Tianming had been in the basketball team for so many days and finally met the coach known as the ‘white-haired Buddha’. He ran to Coach Anxi and prepared to discuss with the coach what he had decided long ago.
Akagi noticed the behavior of Zhou Tianming, the problem child, and based on his understanding of him, he felt that something would definitely happen. However, the coach was on the court at the moment, and he could not use his power as captain. He could only wait and see. He once again used his ape-like hearing ability and eavesdropped with his ears perked up.
Everyone looked at Zhou Tianming strangely, they saw him whispering several words in the coach’s ear, and the coach’s answer was just “Oh?” “Hehe” “Okay”. Everyone looked confused. Only Captain Gorillas, who was a little closer and had excellent hearing, heard the general idea. When he heard the end, Captain Gorillas couldn’t help but twitching his mouth. This bastard was too arrogant.
This is probably what happened:
“Coach, I’m Zhou Tianming from the first grade. I want to make a bet with you for this intra-team game.”
“oh?”
“There is a senior named Mitsui Hisashi in our school. I heard that he was your former favorite player, but he gave up basketball because of some other things.”
“hehe”
“My bet is very simple. If our freshmen lead the seniors by more than 20 points in the team match, I hope you can persuade Senior Mitsui to return to the team. If I fail to do so, I will be solely responsible for the sanitation of the gym this semester!”
“Can”
Finally, Coach Anxi looked at Zhou Tianming meaningfully.
After saying that, Zhou Tianming returned to the first-grade training area.
“What exactly did you talk to the coach?” Caizi surrounded Zhou Tianming like a curious baby.
“A secret.” Zhou Tianming smiled and winked at Caizi. “If everything goes well, you’ll know in a few days.”
But I was thinking in my heart: If things don t go well, you ll know in a few days, but that s too bad.
“I want to play in the game later!” Sakuragi, who was unwilling to let Rukawa steal the show, shouted from the side.
“No, you’ve only learned how to dribble for a few days. You’re still a beginner. You can only do basic exercises on the side!” Caizi rejected mercilessly.
“Ah? No!?” Sakuragi acted very pitiful, “If an idiot fox can play in the game, there is no reason for me, a basketball player, to stay on the sidelines!”
“What an idiot!” Rukawa, who was dribbling the ball, noticed a pair of hateful eyes looking at him. When he found out it was Sakuragi, he couldn’t help but complain.
“Sakuragi, don’t be anxious. As the most powerful one among us, of course you have to take the court at the most critical moment.” Zhou Tianming looked at the innocent boy with some pity, feeling a little reluctant to deceive him.
“Hahaha, really? You think I’m a genius too.” Sakuragi couldn’t help but become full of confidence when he heard someone praising him. He swept away his previous pitiful look and patted Zhou Tianming excitedly, “You’re right. If I go on the court early, the gorillas won’t have any chance at all. Let them be happy first, and then I’ll go on the court and defeat them. Hahahaha.”
Sakuragi didn’t know how to keep his voice down when he heard these words, and Akagi in the distance heard them all. He resisted the urge to use his iron fist to beat up Sakuragi and the other man, and shouted loudly: “Sakuragi, hurry up and do the basic exercises, don’t be lazy!”
“Damn gorilla,” Sakuragi returned to his corner obediently and started doing basic exercises again.
Zhou Tianming also obediently went to find his teammates for a while to discuss their respective positions.
Chapter 28: Team Competition Begins (Old Version)
Players from both sides walked to the center of the court one after another.
Please give me some advice!!
Zhou Tianming looked at Akagi with a smile on his face and said, “Go all out.”
Akagi frowned, as if he recalled some bad memories, and he put 100% of his energy into it, as if he was facing a formidable enemy.
The game begins!
As the referee blew the whistle, the ball was thrown high into the air.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Two sounds of breaking through the air were heard, and Zhou Tianming and Akagi rushed into the air at the same time, at a speed that was unbelievable.
“Hah!” After his body flew into the air, although Akagi had a certain advantage in height, it was still Zhou Tianming who touched the basketball because he was rising faster.
Zhou Tianming pushed the ball towards his own players, and Rukawa picked up the ball.
“Oh?” Coach Anxi on the sidelines did not expect Zhou Tianming to be so relaxed.
“As expected of Tianming, he can still jump so high!” Although he was on the enemy side, Mu Mu still admired sincerely.
“It’s still a long way to go.” Ayako was a little proud on the sidelines. Sakuragi on the side was a little confused by Ayako’s words, but was also shocked by Zhou Tianming’s performance.
Rukawa dribbled the ball without any intention of stopping, and rushed towards Shiosaki who came to defend. He turned around smoothly and passed Shiosaki, then rushed towards the opponent’s half without slowing down. At this time, only Murasaki and Yasuda were left in the opponent’s half. Akagi and Kakuta were still near the center line and had no time to return to defense.
Yasuda and Murasakibara stepped forward side by side to defend Rukawa together.
Seeing this, Rukawa slowly slowed down. At this time, he had already dribbled the ball one step inside the three-point line. He stood up and dribbled the ball, looking towards the basket, as if he was going to shoot in the next second.
Yasuda noticed that Rukawa’s attention was diverted, and suddenly leaned forward and stretched out his right hand, intending to steal the ball by surprise.
The ball in Rukawa’s hand seemed to have eyes, and it narrowly avoided Yasuda’s palm and bounced from behind Rukawa to his left hand. At this time, Yasuda had lost his balance and could no longer assist in defense with Murasakibara. Rukawa seized this opportunity, moved the ball back to his right hand, and instantly accelerated to break through from Murasakibara’s left side. Because there were two people assisting in defense just now, Murasakibara’s position was biased to Rukawa’s left side, so Rukawa easily broke through Murasakibara from the right side.
After breaking through Murasakibara, there was no one in front of him. Rukawa flew up and slammed the basketball into the basket.
2-0, the freshman team leads.
“Excellent!” Zhou Tianming walked forward and clapped his hands with Rukawa.
“You’re not bad either.” The dull and taciturn Rukawa rarely responded.
It was the senior class’s turn to attack. Yasuda steadily controlled the ball in the opponent’s half. Zhou Tianming was blocking Akagi under the basket. Although he was not as tall as Akagi, his strength had already caught up with Akagi. Rukawa was defending Murasakibara on the outside, but if anyone else broke through, he believed that he would provide timely assistance.
Yasuda carried the ball to the zero-degree angle of the baseline, pretending to shoot a three-pointer, tricking Kuwata and Kentaro out, and casually passed the ball to Chaoqi at the 45-degree angle on the right. Chaoqi was unguarded at this time, so he stood up and shot a mid-range shot, but unfortunately he missed. Akagi stuck in front of Zhou Tianming, preventing him from jumping, and tried to wait for the ball to fall into his hands. Unfortunately, he miscalculated Zhou Tianming’s strength. Zhou Tianming twisted and pushed Akagi, instantly making him stagger, then Zhou Tianming flew up and grabbed the basketball directly.
At this time, Rukawa had already run towards the opponent’s half, and Zhou Tianming did not stick to the ball, but threw it to the front court. Kadota and Mu Mu chased Rukawa, but due to the difference in height and speed, they failed to successfully steal the ball, allowing Rukawa to score 2 points again with a fast break.
Less than a minute into the game, the score difference had reached 4 points, and the freshmen were in the lead, which was beyond everyone’s expectations.
Akagi walked to the sideline helplessly. He knew Zhou Tianming’s strength, but he didn’t expect that Rukawa Kaede’s skills were so outstanding. But he was Akagi after all, a man who wanted to dominate the country, so how could he back down because of such a small setback.
After adjusting his mood, Akagi rekindled his fighting spirit: “Take it easy, the game has just begun! Let’s score this goal first!”
As the captain, he had to encourage his teammates on the field at all times. When the senior students heard Akagi’s words, they regained their spirits and prepared to score a goal.
After the ball passed half court, Akagi ran into the three-second zone, blocked Zhou Tianming, stretched out his hand and looked at Yasuda, who understood and passed the ball to Akagi.
Akagi grabbed the ball with both hands and leaned against Zhou Tianming. At this time, Zhou Tianming lowered his center of gravity and resisted Akagi’s backward movement. Akagi tried to push to the left, but it didn’t move at all. He pushed to the right again, but it still didn’t move at all.
“This kid’s strength has increased so much!” Akagi was secretly surprised.
If Akagi was facing Zhou Tianming at this time, he would definitely find Zhou Tianming’s face red from holding back his anger, and then he would continue to wrestle with Zhou Tianming and laugh at his joke.
Seeing that his attempt to push Zhou Tianming away failed, Akagi quickly retracted his strength, then used his left foot as the axis, made a beautiful and smooth turn and jumped, throwing the ball out steadily.
On the other side, Zhou Tianming failed to keep up in time due to inertia and could only watch Akagi shoot the ball and sigh.
Akagi has been practicing this move for a long time. Initially, it was to prevent Zhou Tianming’s blocking, and now because of Zhou Tianming’s positioning, this move has become more and more handy. This move is still the only way to deal with this kind of guy, Akagi thought with satisfaction.
“This trick again!” Zhou Tianming muttered softly. He thought to himself that he must hone his strength when he got back. If he hadn’t used all his strength to block the position just now, he would not have been able to defend against such a shot.
The score was reduced to 2 points. Although Akagi’s goal was not as impressive as a dunk, for a center, such a beautiful turnaround shot was very eye-catching and boosted morale. Especially the beautiful girl Haruko off the court, who was happily celebrating for her brother, making Sakuragi, who was watching from the side, not knowing what he was imagining, grinning foolishly.
“Haha, what a nice goal,” Coach Anxi also muttered to himself with a smile.
Chapter 29 Sakuragi enters the game (old version)
The two sides gradually entered a state of offensive and defensive combat, with a very high success rate.
For the first-year students, Zhou Tianming is responsible for defense and ball control under the basket, while Rukawa Kaede shoulders the responsibility of offense.
On the senior side, thanks to Akagi’s stable performance and the other players’ generally higher level than the freshmen, they also scored in many places and kept the score close.
When the halftime whistle sounded, the final score was fixed at 36-32, with the freshmen leading by 4 points, and Rukawa Kaede, the highest scorer of the game, scored a terrifying 26 points.
This result was beyond the players’ expectations, and it also filled the freshmen with fighting spirit – even though most of them were just playing a supporting role.
“Tenmei and Rukawa’s cooperation is much better than expected.” Mumu said with relief while panting in the rest area. In the first half of the game, he was responsible for defending Rukawa, so you can imagine how much physical energy he consumed.
“Well, maybe.” Akagi was also sweating a lot, and said with an unhappy look, “Tianming’s body is stronger than the last time we met. I really don’t know how he trained.”
As soon as these words were uttered, the other senior students who were taking a break were all surprised. After all, apart from Yuzumi from Ryonan, they had never heard of a player who could make the captain feel strong.
On the other side, Rukawa Kaede, who was also breathing heavily, was also taking the time to rest. He played very well in the first half. Although the score was not wide, after all, there were only him and his teammate named Tianming performing on his side.
Thinking of this, Rukawa raised his head and looked at Zhou Tianming not far away. At this time, Zhou Tianming was talking to Ayako with a smile, and he didn’t look tired at all. This made the silent boy even more silent, and he was surprised: This guy played center and guard in the first half, isn’t he tired?
“Ayako, let Sakuragi play in the second half.” Zhou Tianming suggested to Ayako.
“No!” Caizi refused, “He hasn’t even memorized all the rules yet, it would be a joke if he went on stage!”
“He is only responsible for rebounding. I won’t let him control the ball, so there won’t be any problem.” Zhou Tianming added.
“That too…” Before Ayako could finish her words, the fat coach at the side interrupted with a smile: “Haha, it’s okay, Ayako-san, it’s just an ordinary team match, just treat it as a training for Sakuragi in advance.”
“Oh well”
Seeing the coach speak, Caizi no longer insisted and nodded in agreement: “But Sakuragi’s playing will drag down your freshman team, don’t regret it.”
“No, thank you coach, thank you classmate Caizi.” Seeing that the matter was finalized, Zhou Tianming threw down a sentence and left Caizi without looking back, with a look of destroying the bridge after crossing it and throwing it away after use.
“Asshole” Ayako looked unhappy and considered whether to take out the paper fan.
“Hey, Sakuragi!” Zhou Tianming came to Sakuragi in a flash and said happily: “You will be playing in the second half soon.”
“Really?” Sakuragi, who had been a little disappointed because he thought he would not play after seeing the first-years perform well in the first half, suddenly became full of fighting spirit and passion.
“It turns out that you still need me, the genius Sakuragi Hanamichi, wow hahaha!” Sakuragi started his performance again.
“What an idiot!” Whether it was his opponent Akagi, his teammate Rukawa, or even Ayako on the sidelines, they all thought the same thing after hearing Sakuragi’s bold words.
“The most important thing in basketball is rebounding! When a team is very strong in rebounding, they are not far from victory.”
Hearing Zhou Tianming’s words, Sakuragi’s eyes lit up. In fact, when he was watching the game just now, he had already vaguely felt the importance of rebounds.
Next, Zhou Tianming used the remaining few minutes to teach Sakuragi some rebounding skills.
The second half of the game is about to begin.
Before going on the court, Zhou Tianming came to Rukawa again and said with a sly smile: “In the second half, you should also join in the defense and rebounding. In this way, with you, me and Sakuragi in the interior, it will be difficult for them to score unless their shooting percentage is too high. Show them some power!” After saying that, he glanced at Akagi with sympathy.
Akagi was shooting to maintain his touch at the time, but suddenly he felt uncomfortable and missed all three shots.
“What’s wrong with you?” With Mu Mu’s understanding of Akagi, he immediately sensed that something was wrong with Akagi and asked with concern.
“Nothing.”
Rukawa looked at Zhou Tianming in surprise and said hesitantly: “This is not a good idea, after all, they are our seniors.”
Zhou Tianming did not reply.
Sure enough, just one second later, Rukawa Kaede said with a fiery look in his eyes: “Okay! I like this decision! I agree!”
Afterwards, the first-grade group walked into the court with murderous intent.
Except for Akagi and Mumur, other senior players also walked into the court talking and laughing. Although they were behind in the score, the gap was not big and they were confident of overtaking.
Of course, they didn’t know how cruel the second half would be waiting for them.
Beep~!!
As the referee blew the whistle, the ball was thrown high up again, and everyone once again witnessed Zhou Tianming’s terrifying bounce.
After receiving the ball, Rukawa did not make a fast break this time, but passed the ball back to Zhou Tianming. He was very curious about Zhou Tianming’s offensive ability.
Akagi also quickly returned to his own half, ready to protect the backcourt rebounds. He was used to losing the jump ball to Zhou Tianming. However, Sakuragi was standing in front of him, which surprised him.
Zhou Tianming controlled the ball and felt very happy: Is it finally my turn to perform?
Facing the slightly nervous Kakuta, Zhou Tianming leaned over and broke through to the right. Seeing this, Kakuta shifted his center of gravity to the right and moved his body a step to his right.
Zhou Tianming suddenly stopped, crossed the ball to his left hand, and cut in from the left side at a faster speed. When Kakuta turned around, he was already two body lengths behind.
Zhou Tianming dribbled the ball quickly to the three-point line, and seeing that no one came up to defend him, he took a three-point shot directly.
A beautiful shooting posture and a perfect running trajectory.
“Shua”
The basketball went into the net and the score widened to 7 points.
Chapter 30: Blow Up the Senior Class (Old Version)
“Beautiful!” Sakuragi saw the ball go in, and happily walked over to Zhou Tianming and said, “Next time you have a chance, pass the ball to me so I can dunk it too.”
“Haha, if you have a good chance, I will definitely pass the ball to you.” Zhou Tianming replied with a smile.
“It’s settled then. Wait till you see my genius Sakuragi’s genius slam dunk.” After saying that, he ran back to his own basket full of fighting spirit. This was also what Tianming told him. He attacked to the opponent’s basket and defended to his own basket, completely ignoring the three-second violation rule. However, the referee also knew that Sakuragi was a novice, and that three-second violations were generally not called in high school games.
Yasuda dribbled the ball quickly across half court, and Kuwata defended him closely. Seeing that he did not have many good shooting opportunities, Yasuda passed the ball to Murasakibara who was standing at the three-point line.
When Murasakibara received the ball, he had no intention of shooting when facing the 187cm tall Rukawa in front of him. He tried to break through several times, but not only did he fail, he was almost intercepted by Rukawa.
“Rukawa! I love you! Rukawa! I love you!”
The Rukawa fans on the sidelines saw Rukawa’s expression when he was defending, and their female hormones surged because of his handsomeness, and they cheered him on desperately. The Sakuragi Army who had just arrived at the side was envious.
“Rukawa is really popular!”
It s really frustrating
“Huh? Sakuragi is actually on the court? And he’s huddled together with the gorilla?”
How brave!
The unscrupulous Sakuragi Army seemed to have discovered something interesting and were watching the game with great interest.
“Here!” Seeing that Murasakibara’s control of the ball was becoming more and more dangerous, Akagi had to take a step forward and start asking for the ball.
Hearing Akagi’s voice, Murasakibara immediately passed the ball. Just when the ball was flying in the air, a slender white hand suddenly appeared and intercepted the ball. Then there was the sound of high-frequency running mixed with the sound of the ball hitting the ground.
The owner of this hand was Zhou Tianming, who was defending Kadota on the side. When he saw that Murasakibara was being defended by Rukawa and was feeling uncomfortable, he knew that the opportunity had come. Sure enough, the quality of Murasakibara’s hurried pass was not high and was easily intercepted by Zhou Tianming because of his tall height and long arms.
Zhou Tianming dribbled the ball straight to the opponent’s half. When he stepped onto the three-point line, only Yasuda, a senior student, caught up with him. However, Zhou Tianming ignored Yasuda and just two steps past the free throw line, he pushed the ground hard with his right foot and flew high into the air. Poor Yasuda was still retreating when he was hit by Zhou Tianming’s waist and abdomen and fell sideways.
“Bang!” With a fierce dunk, Zhou Tianming’s head was almost level with the bottom edge of the backboard.
The referee blew his whistle at the same time, and then held up two fingers: “Two points valid, one free throw”
Wow so awesome.
The four Sakuragi members and Haruko, who covered her mouth, said in surprise.
After landing, Zhou Tianming ran to Yasuda, who was still sitting on the ground in shock, stretched out his hand to pull Yasuda up, and asked with concern: “Senior, are you okay? I’m so sorry for what happened just now.”
“Ah? Oh. I… I’m fine.” After being pulled up by Zhou Tianming, Yasuda, who was in shock, finally came to his senses and thought to himself, “Is this still a high school student?”
“Free throws begin”
The referee passed the ball to Zhou Tianming, and Zhou Tianming struck a standard posture.
The score was 42-32, and half a minute into the second half, the score widened to 10 points.
“Why do I feel a little familiar?”
“It’s exactly the same as the start of the first half. I wonder if Akagi can still come out and save the score.”
The enthusiastic audience on the sidelines were discussing.
The results soon became apparent.
After the offense and defense switched, the senior grader, Yasuda steadily controlled the ball across half court and lobbed the ball to Akagi under the basket. Akagi knew that Sakuragi had too little experience, so he made a fake move and tricked Sakuragi, who was still in the introductory stage, into jumping up.
“Damn it!” Sakuragi in mid-air realized that Akagi did not jump and understood that he was deceived. However, he had no choice but to watch himself fall while Akagi jumped up with a smile on his face.
“You are still too young”
Before he could utter the word “lightly”, Akagi stared in amazement as a taller figure flew up from behind Sakuragi’s falling figure.
“Snap”
The gorilla’s skill of ‘hitting a fly’ was perfectly demonstrated by this flying figure.
“Huh, I haven’t hated this gorilla for a long time, and it’s still so enjoyable!” Zhou Tianming in mid-air felt relaxed all over, just like a desert traveler who had been thirsty for a long time and finally drank enough water.
Rukawa found the right spot and grabbed the basketball steadily. Although he was also shocked by what had just happened, he cared more about the latter than scoring.
Rukawa quickly controlled the ball to the frontcourt basket, leaving the defending Murasakibara far behind him, and ended the fast break with an easy dunk.
On this side, the gorilla had a sullen face after landing, and didn’t even look at whether Rukawa scored on the counterattack. He just kept regretting his carelessness. In order to avoid being blocked by this bastard, he had always been very careful in playing. How could he have been so carried away just now that he forgot about this guy?
Looking at Zhou Tianming’s meaningful smile, Akagi felt so depressed that he was about to vomit blood, and ran back to his own half in embarrassment.
Zhou Tianming’s block obviously hit the morale of the senior students. In the next 10 minutes, Rukawa and Tianming continued to break through and score. Even Sakuragi under the basket seized the opportunity when Akagi was assisting in defending Tianming and made a dunk.
As for the senior students, their shooting percentage kept declining. Once they shot from the outside, Zhou Tianming and the other two would gather in the restricted area and double-team Akagi. The three strong men made Akagi miserable during this period of time, and the rebounds were tightly controlled by the freshman team.
As the score increased, it actually widened to 24 points in ten minutes. Everyone on the sidelines found it incredible, but Coach Anxi’s expression became more and more satisfied, and even a little expectant.
“Three-pointer valid” the referee’s voice rang out again, and Rukawa Kaede made a gesture as if he had just finished shooting the ball, seeming to be very satisfied with his touch today.
“Rukawa! I love you! Rukawa! You’re the most handsome!”
Rukawa and the others shouted desperately.
The score difference reached 27 points.
Chapter 31: Rest Arrangement (Please add to collection) (Old version)
“It turns out that the senior students’ strength is not that good? They are so far ahead of Sakuragi and the others.” Danan yawned, sounding a little bored.
“Yeah, even Sakuragi can score.” Takamiya added, “But that tall guy seems to be in the same class with me. I didn’t expect him to be so good.”
The Sakuragi Army didn’t care about the progress of the basketball game at all. They came here just to see Sakuragi make a fool of himself. They were a little disappointed that Sakuragi didn’t show any embarrassing scenes in such a long time.
“Brother…” Haruko, who was standing by, looked at Akagi, who seemed a little tired on the court, with some concern.
At this moment, the calm and composed coach Anzai suddenly stood up, stretched out his fat hand, pointed at Rukawa who had just scored a goal, and said, “Rukawa, you and Shiozaki should switch positions. You will join the senior team, and Shiozaki will join the freshman team.”
After saying that, Coach Anxi picked up his big teacup again and sat back in his seat as if nothing had happened.
Hearing the coach’s arrangement, Rukawa was surprised for a moment, but then he was filled with a strong desire to fight and turned to stare at Zhou Tianming.
Zhou Tianming ignored Rukawa’s gaze and looked at Coach Anxi with a hint of anger: “Coach, you are cheating!”
“Haha, don’t worry, Tianming.” Coach Anxi drank his tea slowly and continued, “No matter what the result of the game is, I promise you that.”
“OK! Thank you, coach!”
Zhou Tianming finally felt relieved after hearing the other party’s explanation. If Rukawa went to the other side, relying only on Sakuragi who was still in the rookie stage, no matter how good Zhou Tianming was, he would not have the confidence to win.
The happiest people at the scene about the player exchange were Murasakibara and Sakuragi.
Murasakibara breathed a sigh of relief that he no longer had to defend Rukawa; Sakuragi, on the other hand, simply didn’t like Rukawa and didn’t consider the difficulty the team would face after losing him.
The game begins again.
Yasuda continued to control the ball, but this time the seniors were clearly in higher spirits and their footsteps moved faster, as if Rukawa’s joining had increased their confidence.
Yasuda quickly went down to the three-point line and faced Kuwata’s defense. He feinted several times, but Kuwata was fooled and lost his balance. Yasuda took advantage of the situation to break through three days, and after standing still, he pretended to shoot. Shiozaki, who was defending Murasaki, saw this and had to step forward to make up for the defense, and the basketball was passed into Murasaki’s hands.
Murasaki received the ball and shot it into the basket.
At this time, Zhou Tianming was still following Rukawa Kaede, and when he found that the ball had already gone in, he had to run to the baseline.
The freshman team served the ball, and Kuwata passed it to Zhou Tianming. Zhou Tianming dribbled the ball while directing his teammates to move. Just after half court, Rukawa Kaede’s ghostly figure appeared in front of him, with his arms open, staring at his actions intently.
“Come on, let me see your strength.” The indifferent boy seemed a little excited.
Looking at this guy who was just his teammate, Zhou Tianming felt a little helpless, but his innate competitive character as an athlete also made him a little excited.
Zhou Tianming lowered his head and dribbled the ball crosswise, then suddenly accelerated his body and tried to break through from Rukawa Kaede’s left side.
There was no change of direction, no change of speed, no fake moves, just pure straight-line acceleration. Rukawa was surprised that his opponent would choose such a direct way of attack, but he was not panicked at all. He stepped back and pushed towards Zhou Tianming with all his strength, trying to stop his opponent’s advance.
However, Rukawa only understood at this moment why Zhou Tianming and Akagi seemed to be evenly matched in grabbing rebounds. This guy has very strong physical fitness!
Zhou Tianming dribbled the ball into the penalty area, suddenly stopped, changed the ball to his left hand behind his back, and rushed to Rukawa’s right side.
Seeing this, Rukawa quickly moved to the right, opened his hands to block Zhou Tianming’s way forward. Unexpectedly, Zhou Tianming changed his direction as he leaned forward, and the basketball was smoothly guided from his crotch to his right hand, and he successfully broke through from Rukawa’s left side. At this time, he was only 3 or 4 steps away from the basket. Zhou Tianming grabbed the ball with both hands and used the power of the forward rush to push off the ground. The whole person flew up quickly like a cannonball.
At this time, Rukawa had lost his position and could only turn around and chase. When Zhou Tianming jumped, he also jumped up, and his rising speed was not slower than Zhou Tianming.
Akagi, who was fighting with Sakuragi in the restricted area, saw Zhou Tianming break through Rukawa and jump up to dunk. He didn’t want to step forward to defend because it was easy to be blocked. But thinking of the big block that Zhou Tianming had just blocked, Akagi couldn’t help but raise his arms high and jumped up vigorously, hoping to fight back.
The three of them were suspended high in the air, but what was surprising was that when the three of them reached a terrifying height at the same time, Akagi and Rukawa slowly stopped rising, while Zhou Tianming was still rushing upwards.
Bang!!
Two crisp sounds were heard in the air, but they didn’t sound like they were hitting the ball.
When Zhou Tianming’s rising trend stopped, he was already about half a head taller than Akagi. He grabbed the basketball with his right hand and slammed it into the basket across Akagi’s body.
Then the three of them fell to the ground one after another.
The scene was completely quiet!
Beep~!
“Player No. 4 committed a foul, the goal is valid”
The referee’s voice awakened the distracted crowd.
After landing, Akagi and Rukawa looked at each other, their eyes full of shock. Especially Akagi, he realized at this moment that perhaps he might not be worthy of the title of the team’s first center.
Zhou Tianming stood at the free throw line, rubbing his red arm with a grin, these two bastards! They were really vicious!
The stadium was in an uproar again.
“It’s a pleasure every time I watch Tianming dunk,” Ayako said excitedly.
“My brother is so pitiful” This is Haruko’s inner cry.
“The gorilla is so pitiful.” Sakuragi looked at Akagi with sympathy.
Coach Anxi, who was always as steady as a rock, stood up excitedly after Zhou Tianming dunked over Akagi. His glasses, which always reflected light, suddenly looked so clear.
Chapter 32 Tianming’s Ball Control (Old Version)
The free throw was made steadily.
In the transition from offense to defense, this time the senior team did not have Yasuda controlling the ball, but Rukawa instead.
When the ball passed half court, Zhou Tianming chose to move forward, while Akagi, Murayama and others went down to the penalty area, choosing to create space for the two.
Rukawa did not rush to attack, but lowered his center of gravity, as if looking for loopholes in the opponent’s defense.
Time passed second by second, and when nearly ten seconds had passed, Rukawa Kaede moved.
He first broke through to the right, Zhou Tianming just shifted his center of gravity a little to the right, and rushed to defend. Sure enough, the right breakthrough was just a cover, Rukawa cleverly changed his steps, dribbled the ball to his left hand, and broke through to the left. Zhou Tianming immediately moved his center of gravity and followed Rukawa closely.
What surprised Zhou Tianming was that Rukawa’s change of direction was still a fake. When the basketball bounced from the ground into his hands, Rukawa quickly turned around with the basketball. His movement was very smooth and just passed by Zhou Tianming who was defending him.
“So fast!” Zhou Tianming only had this feeling, and then he heard a bang.
Looking back, it turned out that after Rukawa broke through Zhou Tianming, Sakuragi couldn’t hold back his impulse and ran forward to stop Rukawa. Rukawa happily passed the ball to Akagi who was unguarded. The result was the loud dunk of the gorilla just now.
If you ask who has the most spectacular and inspiring dunk in the entire slam dunk world, it is undoubtedly the gorilla dunk.
“Well done!” Akagi found Rukawa and high-fived him to celebrate.
In the next ten minutes, the seniors, with the collusion of Akagi and Rukawa, had a small scoring spurt with a surprisingly high hit rate. Although the freshmen scored a few goals with Zhou Tianming’s personal ability, the score was still narrowed to 8 points, becoming single digits.
There were only 2 minutes left in the game.
“Come on, everyone! We can catch up with the score in one go!”
Akagi saw hope for a comeback, and he seemed full of fighting spirit, encouraging everyone loudly.
“Good!” The senior team members were also full of fighting spirit.
On the other hand, except for Zhou Tianming and Sakuragi Hanamichi, the other players in the freshman team were a little listless, including Chao Qi who was substituted in and looked frustrated.
The senior team served the ball, and Rukawa dribbled across half court. Facing Zhou Tianming who was defending him, he suddenly asked Zhou Tianming out of the blue, “Your three-point shooting posture was very standard in the first half, why did you only shoot once? And why do I feel like you still have plenty of energy?”
“Huh?” This question made Zhou Tianming stunned. He didn’t expect that Rukawa was thinking about this matter.
“Shouldn’t you be a quiet handsome man?” Zhou Tianming didn’t want to answer his question. After all, it was just an intra-team competition and the goal had been achieved. Why should he make himself so tired?
Hearing Zhou Tianming’s question, Rukawa remained silent, but the anger in his eyes told Zhou Tianming that he was very angry.
Rukawa increased his pace, then suddenly cut in from Zhou Tianming’s left side at an extremely fast speed, used a fake move to deceive Chao Qi who came to defend, turned his back and passed Kuwata, and finally dunked the ball with Sakuragi’s gritting teeth expression.
Why didn’t Sakuragi rush over to defend Rukawa? Because he couldn’t get around the gorilla.
“Irritable physique,” Zhou Tianming muttered quietly, then ran to the baseline to catch the ball.
At this time, the score difference was only 6 points.
“Should I expand it back to 10 points?” Zhou Tianming thought to himself. He happened to catch a glimpse of Caizi who looked a little worried off the court and made a decision immediately.
“Sakuragi, if the opportunity is good later, I will pass the ball to you, don’t be distracted.” Zhou Tianming dribbled the ball to Sakuragi and said in a low voice.
“Okay!” Sakuragi, who was a little tired from fighting with Akagi, suddenly lit up his glasses and ran towards the opponent’s penalty area with full of fighting spirit.
Zhou Tianming slowly dribbled the ball in front of Rukawa: “I have always been a point guard in my middle school.”
“You’ve introduced me before,” Rukawa deadpanned.
“Maybe I haven’t introduced enough.”
After saying that, Zhou Tianming’s eyes changed, and the rhythm of his dribbling became faster and faster, giving people a dazzling feeling.
Of course, speed is not the main thing. What is shocking is that the direction of each dribble is not fixed. The fact that one can dribble the ball at will at such a speed shows how terrifying it is.
Rukawa’s eyes froze. It was the first time he encountered such a disorganized way of controlling the ball.
Zhou Tianming’s figure suddenly moved, his body swayed quickly from side to side, and the ball bounced quickly and irregularly under his feet, but it fell accurately into Zhou Tianming’s hands which had predicted the position in advance, giving everyone a dazzling feeling.
“Is there any spin or dribbling?” Rukawa’s forehead was already covered with sweat, but he did not dare to relax his eyes at all, and his heart was filled with surprise.
“Hey” Zhou Tianming suddenly smiled, and ignored the basketball that just left his hand, and quickly passed by Rukawa. The basketball that bounced to the ground seemed to have eyes, and flew from the other side of Rukawa to Zhou Tianming who happened to pass behind Rukawa. When Rukawa reacted and turned around, Zhou Tianming had already rushed into the restricted area with the ball.
“A beautiful pass between the man and the ball,” Anxi commented calmly, but he was not so calm in his heart.
Akagi in the penalty area stepped forward to make up for the defense, and just when he rushed in front of Zhou Tianming, he was surprised to find that the ball was no longer in Zhou Tianming’s hands.
“Wahahahaha, look at my genius Sakuragi’s super slam dunk!”
A sound of breaking air was heard from behind, followed by a ‘bang’ sound.
It turned out that when Akagi was staring at Zhou Tianming’s next move, Zhou Tianming shook his wrist, and the basketball slipped from behind him into the hands of Sakuragi who also moved one step closer.
When Sakuragi suddenly received a basketball in his hand, he didn’t think about anything else and just flew up and dunked towards the basket.
The score difference came to 8 points.
Chapter 33: End of the team competition (old version)
“Tianming, next time there is such an opportunity, pass it to me, a scoring machine.”
Sakuragi scored two points again and said this with a bit of complacency.
“No problem,” Zhou Tianming replied happily and shook his hands. It had been a long time since he controlled the ball like this. This way was uncomfortable for others to watch and it was not comfortable for him to dribble the ball.
Then the two of them returned to their own half, talking and laughing.
“Hey, Rukawa! Don’t mind it,” Akagi saw Rukawa still standing there, walked up to him, and patted his shoulder with empathy, “I was the same as you back then. This guy’s way of controlling the ball was so abnormal when he was in junior high school. You should get used to it sooner.” After saying that, he shook his head to himself, as if he was recalling unforgettable past events.
“Huh?” Rukawa stared blankly, “I understand.”
After saying this, Rukawa’s eyes became hot.
But that s what s fun.
When Akagi, who was standing by, heard Rukawa’s last sentence, a cold sweat broke out on his forehead. Why was Rukawa also a little abnormal?
“Wow, my Rukawa was bullied by that number two gorilla! This is unforgivable!”
“Damn Number Two!”
Rukawa Ming on the sidelines spoke up for Rukawa.
“Orangutan number two, hehe…hehe” Caizi, who heard the discussion, twitched her lips. She looked at Zhou Tianming’s angular face, then at his tall and strong figure, and thought to herself: Apart from his figure, he doesn’t look like an orangutan at all.
There were more than 1 minute and 20 seconds left in the game.
Rukawa controlled the basketball and came in front of Zhou Tianming again, his expression no longer as stiff as before.
“You are very strong,” Rukawa said calmly, “but I will surpass you.”
After saying that, he sped up and cut to the right. Zhou Tianming defended him closely, and some physical collisions were inevitable. Rukawa’s physique was obviously inferior to Tianming, and he couldn’t pull away in speed, so he had to stop and dribble the ball with his back to Zhou Tianming.
Suddenly, Rukawa’s left shoulder dropped, and his head turned slightly to the left, ready to turn left and break through. Zhou Tianming raised his arm to the left, and his body also moved a little to the left. Who knew it was a fake move? Rukawa’s right foot suddenly took a step to the right, and his left foot quickly followed to the right. His body was like a rubber band, pulling back from the left side to the right side. The speed was very fast, which showed the flexibility of Rukawa’s body.
Rukawa was very excited as he broke through from the right side. After rushing into the penalty area, he ignored Akagi’s request for the ball and jumped up to dunk.
“Your turn is still not smooth enough.” Just when Rukawa thought that the goal was a sure thing, a voice rang in his ears, and then the basketball in his hand was blown away by a strong force coming from the side.
The basketball flew towards Akagi. Akagi stretched out his hand to catch the ball, but suddenly a red figure intercepted the basketball before him.
“Wahahahaha, I really am a genius”
The one who intercepted the basketball was the red-haired Sakuragi Hanamichi. He dribbled the basketball excitedly and ran quickly towards the opponent’s court.
“Come on, Sakuragi!” Miss Haruko shouted from the side.
“Sakuragi, show us the results of your training these days,” Ayako was also very happy. She would be proud if the students, whom she had been teaching the basics of basketball to, could perform well.
“Sakuragi, this guy, dribbles the ball very well.” Murasakibara praised in surprise.
“You still have time to praise others, why don’t you get back on defense!”
Akagi was in a bad mood because Sakuragi snatched the ball away from him. When he saw that Murasakibara was still praising his opponent, he suddenly became upset and roared.
“Oh, okay.” Murasakibara chased after Sakuragi embarrassedly.
Rukawa and Zhou Tianming landed on the ground one after another, and started to chase after Sakuragi at the same time. Both of them were very fast and surpassed Murasakibara and others in a moment. Only Sakuragi was left in front of them, but Sakuragi’s speed was also very fast, and it seemed unlikely that he would be caught up.
Sakuragi was a little excited. At the moment, he was only two or three steps away from the basket. He wondered whether he should try dunking again. The last two times he did it were by jumping from the spot under the basket. He didn’t know how it felt to sprint and dunk.
Sprint jump? Sakuragi couldn’t help but think of the first time he came to the basketball hall with Miss Haruko, and his forehead began to ache slightly.
Will it hit me again? Never mind, I’ll just use these mortals to make a layup.
Thinking of this, Sakuragi, who had never learned how to do a layup, thought that as a genius he could easily score.
His body flew high, and he held the basketball in his right hand and hooked it towards the basket. After it landed on the floor, he turned around confidently, but found that the basketball bounced high after hitting the basket and had no intention of going in at all.
“How…how could this happen?” Sakuragi opened his mouth with a flushed face.
Then Zhou Tianming caught up and the two of them jumped up at the same time.
“Young man, I have never lost to anyone in the high jump!” Zhou Tianming said confidently to Rukawa who was standing side by side with him in mid-air. Then Zhou Tianming’s rising speed increased, and his palm directly grabbed the basketball in the air. Under Rukawa’s surprised gaze, he bent his waist, swung his right arm, and slammed the basketball into the basket.
“This guy is really good in air combat,” Muguro sighed when he saw Akagi catching up.
“Maybe.” Akagi had a blank expression on his face at this time, but he was looking forward to it in his heart, looking forward to the arrival of the national competition. This year’s Xiangbei is very strong!
There were less than 30 seconds left until the end of the game, and the players had lost the desire to continue fighting. After all, it was just an intra-team match, so the game ended in a calm and friendly atmosphere.
“Mingzai, please teach me how to do a layup.”
After the game, Sakuragi walked over alone and looked at Zhou Tianming with a slightly expectant look.
“Mingzi…” Zhou Tianming raised his eyebrows, but was surprised at Sakuragi’s change. He remembered that in the original book, Sakuragi was not so keen on layups.
“How about this, I’ll find someone to secretly teach you the layup. After you learn it, use it in official games, and you can also see the surprised expressions of Akagi and Rukawa and the others.” Zhou Tianming tempted Sakuragi with a smirk on his face.
“Good idea! But you have to find a reliable person.” The innocent red-haired boy’s eyes lit up, and he fantasized about the scene where one day he would score a layup and step on Akagi Rukawa.
“Don’t worry,” Zhou Tianming patted Ying Mu’s shoulder and said confidently, “I guarantee you will be satisfied!”
Chapter 34 Haruko Helps (Old Version)
Zhou Tianming walked towards the rest area on the sidelines with a smile. Caizi, who was sorting out the competition materials, noticed Zhou Tianming walking towards her and couldn’t help but feel a little distracted. This guy just won the game and he wanted to win her favor. Ah, he was asking for credit. He really had some bad intentions. Caizi’s face turned red as she thought about it.
But when Zhou Tianming walked in front of Caizi, he didn’t stop at all. He didn’t even look at her and went straight to the beautiful little girl Qingzi.
“Are you Miss Qingzi?” Zhou Tianming asked very gentlemanly, staring at Qingzi with burning eyes.
Haruko is a very shy person. She was stared at like that by the other party, who was the most powerful person on the court just now. She was a little at a loss for a moment.
“Ah, I’m Akagi Haruko.” After saying that, she actually lowered her head with a red face.
So cute!
Zhou Tianming secretly praised in his heart, and then said: “My name is Zhou Tianming, and Captain Akagi and I have been good friends since junior high school.”
Then he leaned closer to Haruko and asked in a low voice, “I can’t believe it! That guy looks like… is he really your brother?”
Akagi, who was not far away, had been paying attention to this side since Zhou Tianming and Haruko started talking. Even with his hearing fully opened, he could still hear Zhou Tianming’s low voice.
“Asshole! Stay away from my sister!” After hearing Zhou Tianming’s question to his sister, Akagi exploded and glared at Zhou Tianming with a dark face, “Who is your good friend?”
“I have something important to say.” Zhou Tianming lost his temper after being scolded. He waved to Akagi in a flattering manner and said, “Just leave when you’re done. Just leave when you’re done.”
Haruko was amused by their words and actions, and her expression was no longer as awkward as before. She said mischievously: “I know you. My brother often mentioned you when we were little.”
At this point, Haruko seemed to remember something and started giggling with her hands covering her mouth.
Zhou Tianming knew that it would not be good words, so he did not intend to ask the bottom of it. As a result, he did not want to ask, but Caizi beside him was attracted by the interest and interrupted: “What did your brother say?”
Qingzi looked at Zhou Tianming a little embarrassedly and whispered, “My brother said that he had never seen such a dumb guy. He had to rely on connections and rely on luck to get into Xiangbei, and finally he had to repeat a year. He is really the dumbest person in the history of Chengbei Middle School.”
At the end, Haruko’s voice became smaller and smaller, for no other reason than that Ayako was laughing so hard that tears came out, which made Haruko feel a little sorry for Zhou Tianming.
“Kuromuro, let’s go out for a walk. I need to discuss some tactics with you.” Akagi acted as if he heard nothing and pulled the confused Kouromuro out of the gym.
Zhou Tianming looked at Akagi who had fled with hatred, calmed down, smiled awkwardly at Haruko, and told her the main point of this visit: “Haruko, I heard that you play forward in the junior high school basketball team, and you are best at fast break layups. Hanamichi is just a beginner. Look.”
Akagi Haruko is a very slow and simple girl in some aspects, but that doesn’t mean she is stupid. This one-on-one teaching is exactly the same as a date for two people. Thinking of this, Haruko’s face turned red again, and her expression was hesitant.
“Basketball team is a sport for five people. You don’t want anyone to hold your brother back on the road to realizing his dream.” Zhou Tianming added fuel to the fire.
“Okay, to help my brother, I will shoulder this responsibility!” The innocent girl clasped her hands together, her face determined, and her whole body full of a sense of mission. She didn’t even think about why Zhou Tianming didn’t teach her himself but asked her to teach.
“Your brother will be proud of you!” Zhou Tianming said with certainty.
Little did he know that if Akagi knew that Zhou Tianming instigated his beloved sister to give individual guidance to the red-haired problem boy, he would probably beat him up and send him to the hospital and make him suspend his studies for another year.
“Aiko, let’s go home together.” Seeing that the matter was settled, Zhou Tianming shamelessly ran to Aiko again.
“I don’t want it!” Caizi snorted. Although she knew that Zhou Tianming had something important to talk to Qingzi about, she still felt a little unhappy.
“I’ll treat you to a meal. I’ve learned a few new dishes recently.” Zhou Tianming had no choice but to use his ultimate move, which always works.
“Oh? Okay then.” Ayako, who wanted to be arrogant for a while, immediately became happy after hearing Zhou Tianming’s promise, and her foodie expression was exposed.
Then the two walked out of the stadium side by side.
Haruko looked at the two of them with envy. She had heard from her brother that this person was very good at cooking Chinese food, and she also wanted to go and eat it once. So she made a secret decision in her heart that after her brother and his friends won, she would definitely ask her brother to take her to eat it once.
The next day.
Anxi House
Ding Dong!
“Here we come”
An old woman with half her hair silver opened the door and looked at the tall young man at the door. “Who are you?”
“Hello, Master’s wife. My name is Zhou Tianming, and I’m Teacher Anxi’s student,” Zhou Tianming introduced himself very politely.
“Oh, it’s you! Come in quickly, the old man is waiting for you in the study.” Mrs. Anxi looked at the polite young man with appreciation and said kindly.
Afterwards, Zhou Tianming followed Mrs. Anxi through a courtyard and came to a room full of classical atmosphere. Coach Anxi was sitting cross-legged in front of the table with two cups of steaming tea on the table. The fragrance of tea filled the entire room.
“Sit down!” Coach Anxi pointed to the soft cushion opposite.
Zhou Tianming put down his schoolbag and followed Anxi’s example by crossing his legs.
“Don’t be in a hurry, let’s have a cup of tea before we set off.” Anxi picked up the teacup, took a sip, and said slowly.
“Okay, thank you very much coach this time.” Zhou Tian was obviously very respectful.
“Haha, you don’t have to thank me. I handled the matter incorrectly and let the kid go the wrong way. I hope it’s not too late to persuade him.” Coach Anxi looked out the window, as if he was lost in some memories. After a while, he turned around and asked out of the blue, “Tianming, what do you think of American basketball?”
“The United States?” Zhou Tianming didn’t know how to answer Anxi’s question for a moment. He remembered that Rukawa Kaede had asked Anxi about going to the United States to play basketball. However, the school has just started, so isn’t the plot moving a little too fast?
Chapter 35: The Prodigal Son Returns (Old Version)
“Coach, I haven’t considered playing in the United States yet,” Zhou Tianming answered seriously.
“Oh?” Anxi seemed very surprised. For people of their generation who like basketball, the biggest dream is to go to the United States, which is known as the basketball country, to play games.
“So what is your dream?” Coach Anxi asked curiously.
“Dream? Dreams are too far away. Let me tell you about my temporary goal,” Zhou Tianming answered honestly, “First, become the number one high school student in Japan, and then decide on the next goal!”
Hearing Zhou Tianming’s words, Anxi’s expression was somewhat moved, and then he was very relieved. He picked up the teacup in front of him and drank it all, as if he was drinking liquor instead of tea.
“I agree with your idea!” Anxi put down the empty teacup and said happily to Zhou Tianming, “Let’s talk about this and go see Mitsui-san.”
After saying that, the old man and the child stood up and prepared to go out.
County Hospital, Ward 307.
Mitsui Shou was lying on the hospital bed with a depressed look on his face, thinking that he was defeated by an arrogant boy who was much shorter than him, and an indescribable anger burned up. Damn bastard, this matter is not over yet, wait until I am discharged from the hospital and see how I will deal with you!
“Knock, knock, knock,” there was a knock on the door, and Mitsui Shou answered unhappily, “Come in.”
The door opened, and Mitsui Shou lazily raised his eyelids, but what he saw was not the beautiful nurse of the hospital, but two men. One of them had a chubby figure and looked particularly familiar.
“Excuse me, is Mitsui here?” Coach Anzai was standing at the door.
Because he had long hair and the injuries in the fight with Miyagi were mainly on his face, his face was wrapped in many bandages, so Anxi didn’t recognize him for a while.
“Ahem, this should be Senior Mitsui.” Zhou Tianming reminded from the side.
“Oh?” Coach Anzai set his eyes on Mitsui.
Mitsui Shou was immediately confused. The person he was most unwilling to face and didn’t know how to face was the white-haired old man in front of him with a very good temper.
Mitsui didn’t care about his injuries and stood up somewhat at a loss: “Teacher Anxi, why…why are you here?”
Zhou Tianming saw that the two had already met, and with Coach Anzai’s involvement, Mitsui Hisashi’s return should not be a problem.
“Coach, Mitsui-senpai, you guys chat while I go out for a walk.”
Anxi looked at him and nodded. Sanyi didn’t know who he was and didn’t know what to say. So Zhou Tianming walked out of the ward. After seeing Sanyi Shou, Zhou Tianming remembered the last scene of the fight in the original book: Coach Anxi walked into the gym, and the flame man suddenly cried after seeing Anxi. It was as if all the strength in his body was drained. He knelt on the ground and said like begging: “Coach, I want to play basketball!”
This is a person who truly loves basketball. Zhou Tianming gave such an evaluation of Mitsui. If it weren’t for his physical injury, the Xiangbei team might have gotten the ticket to the national competition two years in advance.
Zhou Tianming was walking in the corridor of the hospital while thinking about something. Suddenly, he looked at a short boy. Why did Zhou Tianming notice this person? The reason was simple: this person had a monk’s hair style and an earring on his ear.
What a coincidence, Zhou Tianming thought to himself.
That s right, this person is Miyagi Ryouta, who had a fight with Mitsui and was also admitted to the hospital.
“Hello, Miyagi-san.”
Zhou Tianming greeted Gong Cheng, who was also covered in bandages.
“Oh, hello.” Gong Cheng turned around and saw that it was someone he didn’t know. He looked at Zhou Tianming suspiciously, “Who are you?”
“I’m Zhou Tianming, a freshman at Xiangbei, and I joined the basketball team not long ago.” Zhou Tianming introduced himself.
“Oh, a freshman…” Miyagi was about to say something encouraging when he heard it was a junior from Shohoku, but suddenly realized something.
“What was your name?” Gong Cheng asked in surprise.
“Zhou Tianming”
“Are you Zhou Tianming, who was also in the second grade but had to repeat a year because of his poor grades?”
“Yes.” Zhou Tianming’s forehead was filled with black lines.
“It’s you, let’s duel!”
Zhou Tianming looked at Miyagi in confusion. Could it be that this guy was beaten stupid by Mitsui?
“This bastard must be the guy that Miss Ayako often mentioned in the team before,” Miyagi thought hatefully in his heart, and the look he gave Zhou Tianming was like a cannibal.
“Give me a reason” Zhou Tianming didn’t want to duel.
“Do you need a reason to challenge you?”
“Don’t you need it?”
“Do you need it?”
Zhou Tianming stopped talking. If he continued to ask like this, he would feel strange and get goose bumps all over his body.
After staring at each other affectionately for a while, Zhou Tianming finally spoke: “How do you duel?”
“I heard you’re good at basketball, so let’s go to the bullfight.”
Looking at Zhou Tianming’s height of over 190cm and his muscular figure that was pushed out of his clothes, Miyagi couldn’t bring himself to duel with Mitsui in the same way, so he chose the event he was second best at.
“Okay, but not now. Wait until your injuries are healed.” Zhou Tianming glanced at the bandages on Gong Cheng’s body.
That s natural
After saying this, the two of them separated.
Walking in different directions, the two were thinking about different things. One was thinking about how to win the bullfight. The other was thinking about why the other wanted to fight him. It seemed like they had never met before.
After strolling around for a while, Zhou Tianming calculated the time and thought that the coach and Mitsui should have finished catching up, so he went to the ward where Mitsui was.
Sure enough, when Zhou Tianming rushed to the ward, the door was open.
Zhou Tianming walked quickly into the ward and found that there was one more person in the ward, the person who had just challenged him.
“Why are you here?” After greeting Anxi and Mitsui, Zhou Tianming looked at Miyagi in surprise.
“I just noticed Coach Anxi outside the door and came in.” Miyagi was very calm about Zhou Tianming’s surprise, including the challenge he had just issued to Zhou Tianming. Compared with what he had just heard, all these seemed insignificant.
That’s right, just after Miyagi came in, with the intervention of coach Anxi, he and Mitsui apologized to each other and settled their previous grievances. Then Anxi told Miyagi the news that Mitsui had returned to the basketball team, which shocked Miyagi. He stared at Mitsui blankly, which made Mitsui feel a little embarrassed. Fortunately, Zhou Tianming rushed back at this time.
Chapter 36 No. 18 Jersey (Old Version)
“Haha, everyone should get along well with each other in the future. You are all students I think highly of.” Coach Anxi showed his signature smile and looked at the three of them happily.
“Yes!” Mitsui always seems so serious about Anxi’s lecture.
Akagi and Murasakibara arrived at the locker room on time after school and changed into their jerseys quickly.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!” The rhythmic sound of the ball hitting the ground in the stadium reached their ears.
“It seems that the younger students are very motivated!” Murasakibara said with satisfaction.
“Well, the previous team matches allowed them to see their shortcomings clearly, and they should be able to improve.” Akagi was still not satisfied.
Muguro smiled secretly and stepped onto the court floor together with Akagi who was saying one thing and doing another.
What comes into view is a tall and agile figure jumping high at the three-point line. The posture of shooting the three-pointer is very graceful. The basketball draws a beautiful arc and accurately goes through the basket.
“San, Mitsui?” Akagi and Murasakibara both opened their mouths in surprise, as if they had seen something terrible.
“Akagi, Mumu, long time no see.” Mitsui looked at the two and said teasingly, “As the captain, you are so late, why don’t you give the captain’s position to me.”
“Asshole” Hearing Mitsui’s words, Akagi’s face turned from surprise to black and red, and he asked stiffly, “Why did you come back?”
Although he said this, there was a hint of joy in his eyes.
“Hmph, look at what you’ve done in the past two years. You haven’t even made it into the top four in the county. Your results are really bad. When I come back, of course I’m going to lead Shohoku to dominate the country!” Mitsui looked at Akagi proudly.
Akagi’s face turned even darker. Seeing that the two were about to quarrel, Mu Mu hurriedly stepped forward to smooth things over: “Okay, okay, we can all get together to play basketball again. Let’s fight for our common dream and work hard together!”
The conversation between the few people was noticed by other players who had arrived at the stadium one after another. They came over curiously, including Miyagi, who was also eager to be discharged from the hospital.
“Hello, captain! Hello, vice-captain!” The players who gathered around greeted Akagi and others.
“Hey, this person looks so familiar, do you know who he is?” Yasuda asked his teammates beside him in a low voice.
Sakuragi and other freshmen shook their heads at the same time. Only Shiozaki, who is also a sophomore, seemed to have any impression.
“It seems like he is the leader of the bad students in our school. Senior Mitsui.” At the end of his words, there was a hint of fear in his eyes as he looked at Mitsui.
“Oh? The leader of the bad students?” As the boss of Hara Wako Junior High School, Sakuragi became curious about the new member in front of him.
Seeing that everyone seemed to shift the focus to his identity as a bad student, Mitsui Shou’s face darkened. But there was nothing he could do, as he seemed to have gone too far in the past two years.
“Senior Mitsui, Senior Miyagi, is it okay for you to be discharged from the hospital today?” Zhou Tianming, who arrived late, looked at the two of them in surprise. At this time, they still had Band-Aids on their faces.
“It’s okay. I could have been discharged from the hospital a long time ago, but I didn’t want to come to school, so I kept putting it off.” Mitsui Shou, who had a very good impression of Zhou Tianming, replied with a smile. He was the one who was called back by this guy through the coach. This guy is such a good person.
“I could have been discharged a long time ago. Don’t forget our bet!” Miyagi didn’t have such a good attitude. His jealous expression was beyond words. After saying that, he looked around and asked in confusion, “Why hasn’t Miss Ayako come yet?”
“She’s gone to get everyone’s new jerseys, and will be here soon.” Akagi looked at Miyagi with a little sympathy in his eyes. He knew that Miyagi was pursuing Ayako, but Ayako and Zhou Tianming had an unclear relationship in junior high school. Miyagi probably has no chance, but fortunately there is Ayako, otherwise with Zhou Tianming’s vision, he might fall in love with my sister. Hmm! I have to keep that bastard away from my sister!
“Hahahaha” Xiangbei’s coach Anxi slowly walked into the stadium, “Everyone is here”
“Everyone assemble!” Akagi gave the order loudly.
“Hello, coach!” Everyone lined up neatly, and everyone was in high spirits.
“Good, you are all very motivated,” Anxi seemed somewhat happy, “Mitsui and Miyagi have also rejoined the team today. I believe we will win the practice match against Ryonan the day after tomorrow!”
“Yes!” Everyone said confidently.
As soon as the voice fell, Caizi, wearing a baseball cap, walked into the gym with an angry face, carrying two large bags in her hands.
“You guys, a bunch of boys, actually asked a little girl like me to carry such heavy clothes. That’s not gentlemanly at all!” Ayako said angrily after walking in front of everyone, putting the things down with force.
“Didn’t you say that you’ve gained some weight recently and needed to exercise, and you volunteered to go alone?” Zhou Tianming interrupted at an untimely moment.
“Who knew there would be so many!” Caizi glared at Zhou Tianming angrily.
Zhou Tianming criticized himself inwardly for being so rude, not daring to look at the angry Caizi.
Great, they had a fight. Miyagi looked at the two bickering people with shining eyes, thinking that his chance had come.
“Next time I will make sure you go with me.”
Unexpectedly, Ayako’s next sentence hit Miyagi hard, and he looked distraught.
“Okay, everyone, disperse and go choose your own jerseys first.” The coach gave instructions.
After expressing their gratitude to Ayako, the players gathered around the bag.
Caizi shook her sore arms, took out a list, and began distributing jerseys according to the names on the list. Zhou Tianming also stood by and stared at the bag of jerseys nervously. He seemed to be able to see his No. 99 jersey through the bag, and he was full of expectations.
Just like in the original novel, Akagi got the No. 4 jersey, Mugure No. 5, Yasuda No. 6, Miyagi No. 7, Sakuragi Rukawa No. 10 and No. 11, and Mitsui No. 14. When it was Zhou Tianming’s turn, Caizi was holding a No. 18 jersey, looking a little embarrassed as she looked at the stunned Zhou Tianming in front of her.
“Wait, why is it number 18?” Zhou Tianming, with a frown on his face, grabbed Ayako who had just handed the jersey to him and was about to run away.
“Ahem, this jersey was custom-made at Kotaro’s house. This was the number when he gave it to me. He said it was a surprise for you.” Ayako explained in a low voice with a blush.
Zhou Tianming gritted his teeth and secretly hated this bastard. But he had no choice. He couldn’t let Caizi go back and do it again. He had to play against Ryonan the day after tomorrow, so he had no choice but to accept the number 18.
Chapter 37 Arrival at Lingnan (Old Version)
In a blink of an eye, it was the day of the practice match with Ryonan, and we were in the train car heading to Ryonan High School.
All the Xiangbei players sat in their seats with distorted faces. Even Rukawa, who usually had a monotonous expression, had a red face at this moment.
“Okay! One minute is up!” Ayako stood in the aisle and said to everyone with a smile after seeing the stopwatch in her hand return to zero.
“Huh” Everyone seemed to be relieved, lying on their seats and breathing heavily. It turned out that all the basketball team members were sitting in two rows facing each other. Oh, in fact, their buttocks did not really touch the seats, and they kept a distance of about 5 centimeters from the seats. As the train swayed from side to side, this posture was more painful than squatting. It was so uncomfortable, but fortunately it was finally over.
“Hey, no matter what, we don’t have to do this kind of exercise.” Murasakibara protested gently, expressing the thoughts of all the players on the team except Akagi.
“This is an essential exercise for the waist and legs!” Akagi said firmly.
“There’s no need to do that on the train, right? There are so many people watching us and we’re still wearing school uniforms.” Murasakibara’s expression was a little embarrassed, and his fair face turned red at this moment. He must feel very ashamed.
“The opponent is Ryonan! At the very least we need to have this kind of fighting spirit.” Akagi remained unmoved.
“That’s right, but you have to consider other people’s feelings too!” Mitsui’s face turned red at this time. He didn’t dare to look at other passers-by in the car. He criticized Akagi together with Murasakibara.
After finishing their exercise, Zhou Tianming and Rukawa began to close their eyes and rest, especially Rukawa, who could be heard snoring faintly.
“Wow, this guy actually fell asleep.” Miyagi looked at the sleeping Rukawa in surprise.
“Hanamichi Sakuragi, this is your first time participating in a competition in your life. How do you feel?” Ayako approached Sakuragi and expressed concern about the mental state of the young rookie.
“Hahahaha… I’m so calm and composed. I’m the talented basketball player Sakuragi!” Sakuragi seemed a little stuttering and tried hard to remain calm.
“You’re so concerned about your reputation that you even stutter when you speak,” Rukawa, who had woken up at some point, complained.
“Ahhh! Bastard Rukawa, what did you say?” Sakuragi glared at Rukawa.
“Are you trying to cover up your nervousness by talking loudly?” The complaining boy never missed any opportunity to complain.
“Okay, okay, everyone will be nervous in their first competition. Sakuragi has performed very well!” Ayako tried to smooth things over.
“Sakuragi, how is your secret training going?” Zhou Tianming opened his eyes and looked at the red-haired boy curiously.
“Haha, it went very smoothly!” Hearing Zhou Tianming’s question, Sakuragi’s expression instantly turned from gloomy to bright. He secretly glanced at Miss Haruko not far away, and there was even a hint of shyness on his face, which made Rukawa and others feel a little strange.
“That’s great. Show your skills today and let everyone see the results of your training.” Zhou Tianming encouraged Sakuragi.
“Don’t worry, Mingzi, I will be the one to show off my power in today’s match!” Sakuragi once again showed a very confident expression.
Everyone was speechless.
In the Ryonan Gymnasium, many players were training seriously. No one was lazy, and no one was gossiping. They were just concentrating on their own training. It can be seen that the majesty and severity of the Ryonan coach are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
“Good morning!”
As the door of the stadium was pushed open, the sunlight that was supposed to shine in was mostly blocked by a row of tall and strong young men. In front of this group of tall men, a chubby old man was looking at the scene in the stadium with a smile. These visitors were the people from Xiangbei who had just got off the train.
“Hahaha, I’m going to defeat Sendoh!!”
Before the Ryonan people could react, a red-haired player jumped out from the Shohoku crowd and said arrogantly.
Boom!
Then the red-haired boy was hit hard on the head by a player who was more burly.
“What an idiot! Don’t you even know the most basic manners?” Akagi waved his fist angrily.
“You hit people at every turn!” Sakuragi complained, covering his head.
Everyone in Xiangbei felt extremely embarrassed, except for Coach Anzai who was laughing “Oh hehehe”.
“Sakuragi-senpai!” Hikoichi Aida, who had met him once before, greeted him politely, which helped Shohoku resolve the awkwardness.
“Teacher Anzai, I’m really sorry to have you come all the way to Ryonan. I guess it must have been hard along the way?” Ryonan’s coach Shigekazu Taoka stepped forward and greeted him respectfully. His tone was full of admiration and respect, which showed Anzai’s seniority and status in the Japanese basketball world.
“Hehehe” Anzai answered Coach Tiangang with his signature smile.
“Hey, Hikoichi, go get a chair for Teacher Anzai.” Tanabe ordered Hikoichi Aida who was standing beside him.
“Idiot, go get a bigger chair, the kind with a backrest!” Seeing that Hikoichi Aida only brought a small stool over, Shigeka Tanaka waved his fist angrily and hit Hikoichi Aida on the head with great skill. Then Tanaka looked embarrassed. With Mr. Anzai’s physique, if he sat on such a small stool, he would not survive more than 3 seconds.
“Oh, hehe, Tiangang, no need to bother.” Coach Anzai was still being polite, not considering at all that the other person was thinking about the small bench.
“This must be Akagi-san, right?” After helping Anxi sit down, Tiangang came to Akagi again and said, “Our Yuzumi has always been aiming to defeat you and has been practicing very hard. Please give him a good training!”
“Hello, Coach Tanaka! I’ll do my best!” Akagi shook hands with Tanaka politely, not moved by Tanaka’s words at all.
Zhou Tianming stroked his smooth chin and looked at the scene in front of him as if it had nothing to do with him. Was this an implicit challenge?
“Who is this classmate?” Coach Tanaoka, who had let go of Akagi, asked in surprise when he found that among the opposing players, there was another player with a similar height to Akagi.
“Hello, Coach Tiangang, I am Zhou Tianming, this year’s newcomer. Please give me your guidance!” Zhou Tianming shook hands with Tiangang politely.
“Oh? You’re only a first-year! You’re really… tall.” Looking at the man’s well-proportioned figure and tall body, Tian Gang was a little unsure of this man’s strength. But from the introduction just now, he found out that he was not the rookie king Rukawa Kaede. It seemed that Xiangbei really had bad intentions today!
Chapter 38 Secret Weapon (Old Version)
At this time, two more people came in through the gate of the stadium. The one walking in front was a tall and sexy beauty. Her outstanding appearance and graceful temperament shocked everyone. The person following behind her was a little inconspicuous, but he was carrying a camera that looked heavy and followed the beauty’s footsteps closely.
“Hello, Coach Tian Gang, hello everyone, I am Yayoi Aida, a reporter from Basketball Weekly. I am sorry for coming here uninvited. I hope I will not cause you any trouble or distress.” The clear voice of the beautiful reporter came out.
“No trouble, you’re most welcome!” Coach Tian Gang’s original idea was to hold a practice match and not allow reporters to report it, but when he saw such a beautiful reporter, he felt embarrassed to refuse.
“Sister, you’re finally here.” Classmate Yan Yi behind the crowd muttered softly. It was obvious that he had informed his sister that she had a competition today.
“Hello, Mr. Anzai!” While Yayoi Aida was looking for the man of his heart, he saw Anzai sitting on a chair with a calm look, and hurriedly walked up to him and greeted him respectfully.
“Oh, hello, Ms. Aida.”
Seeing that she couldn’t find Sendoh, and it was not convenient for her to capture her brother and ask him publicly, Yayoi Aida had to endure the itch in her heart and turned to look at the people from Shohoku who looked a little unfamiliar to her.
“Wow, there are reporters here to record the game! Will it be on TV?” Xiangbei newcomer A said in surprise.
“Idiot, it’s just a practice match, there’s no chance it will be on TV. At most it will be mentioned in the high school basketball section.” The old man from Xiangbei had an expression as if I had seen through him.
“Ayako, Ayako, how can I accept an interview with that beautiful big sister?” When the single-celled Sakuragi saw the reporters coming, he wanted to be in the spotlight, so he asked a question that Ayako didn’t want to pay attention to him.
“Huamichi, don’t be anxious! If you score a few more goals, that big sister will naturally chase you for an interview.” Zhou Tianming said with certainty.
“Really? Mingzi, you have to pass me a few more balls then, so that I can show my power!” Sakuragi’s eyes flashed.
“Well, we’ll be interviewed together then!”
The two people who were immersed in their own world did not notice that the people from Xiangbei had quietly moved away from them a few steps. Rukawa even put on his headphones exaggeratedly, as if these two people did not come with them and they did not know them at all!
“Heh… um hehe.” Ayako saw that the big reporter Aida had noticed them and smiled at him awkwardly. She had already cursed the two of them in her heart.
The starting players for both sides have been determined one after another and are ready to take to the court.
“What? I’m not going to play?” Sakuragi’s exaggerated voice came from Xiangbei’s side, “Dad, do you want to reconsider?”
Sakuragi kept kneading Anzai’s chubby chin with his right hand. It seemed disrespectful, but people who knew Sakuragi knew that this was his way of acting coquettish.
“Hehe, Sakuragi-san, you are our secret weapon. We will send you out at the critical moment.” Anxi had no choice but to use his trump card.
“Oh? A secret weapon?”
Sure enough, Sakuragi, whose mind is still immature, believed Coach Anzai’s “secret weapon” and was feeling smug.
Everyone kept silent tacitly, but they all looked at Zhou Tianming curiously, especially Rukawa, who was full of questions about why Zhou Tianming was not in the starting lineup.
“Mingzi, you are a substitute like me, are you also a secret weapon?” Sakuragi asked the question that everyone wanted to know, and everyone pretended not to care and pricked up their ears.
“Maybe,” Zhou Tianming touched his nose and said nonchalantly.
“Haha, Tianming is our secret weapon just like you,” Coach Anxi explained.
After hearing the coach’s words, everyone’s reaction was completely different from when Sakuragi was the secret weapon just now, especially Rukawa and Mitsui, who looked at Zhou Tianming with fighting intent. If it weren’t for the upcoming game with Ryonan, they might have challenged Zhou Tianming to compete for the position that seemed to be the team’s trump card.
“Hey, something happened in Shohoku.” As a defensive expert, Ryoji Ikegami of the Ryonan team has excellent insight and noticed Shohoku’s unusual movements at the first time.
“What a strong aura.” Uekusa whispered, his expression extremely serious.
“Hmph, their momentum is pretty good, I wonder how long they can last.” The arrogant Uozumi snorted coldly. Although they won by a large margin against Shohoku last year, he was suppressed by Akagi. He must take revenge today.
Tian Gang clapped his hands, attracted the attention of everyone in Ryonan, and said: “Alright, everyone! Take your time in the game later. Xiangbei is not weak this year. If you lose the game carelessly, you know how much training you will have to do in the new semester.”
The Ryonan team members were immediately frightened and broke out in cold sweats, especially the tough guy Uozumi, who used to vomit every day because of the training tasks arranged by Takeka. He didn’t want the training to become more intense. In an instant, the murderous aura of the Ryonan team spread out, covering up the fighting spirit of the Shohoku side.
“Morning!” At this time, the door was pushed open by a tall, slender, handsome young man with spiky hair. His forehead was covered with sweat, obviously after a period of exercise.
When Yayoi Aida saw the person coming, her eyes suddenly became gentle and she locked her eyes on the handsome young man, which made her younger brother Yan Yi, who noticed her change not far away, very embarrassed. This old woman is still thinking about our senior Sendoh!
“Sendoh, you big idiot! Why did you come only now?” Coach Tiangang was furious. The game was about to begin, and the ace of the team only showed up now. It was too undisciplined and unruly.
“I’m sorry, teacher, I overslept.” The sunny smile made people feel like they were bathed in the spring breeze, and also made it impossible for Tiangang to continue to be angry.
“Okay, go change your jerseys quickly, and remember to run 20 laps around the field after the game!” Tian Gang calmed himself down, looking very disappointed.
At this point, all the players from both sides have arrived and the game is about to begin.
Chapter 39 The Game Begins (Please Collect) (Old Version)
“Finally caught up. Your electric bike is so broken that it took so long to use it.”
“That’s right, luckily the game hasn’t started yet.”
Ohkusu and Noma complained about Yohei’s electric car and walked towards Haruko and the others who were waving at them.
“Asshole, if you have the guts, don’t ride in my car.” Yohei said with an unhappy look on his face.
“Huh? Sakuragi is not on the field. It seems that he was not sent to the field. It’s a pity that we rushed over here so anxiously.” Takamiya looked at the field with a disappointed face. Then the attention of the others also shifted to the field.
Sendoh, who had already changed into his jersey, stood calmly on the court, but his eyes fell on the substitutes of Xiangbei. He looked at Zhou Tianming and Sakuragi curiously, thinking about the coach’s reminder to him. When Sakuragi saw Sendoh looking at him, his second-year syndrome came back, and he stood up with full fighting spirit and shouted to Sendoh: “Sendoh, I will defeat you!”
Zhou Tianming, who was standing by, unconsciously moved towards Caizi, fearing that the disease might be contagious.
“This idiot!” Akagi, who was preparing to fight for the ball on the court, covered his face with his hands, unable to believe that there was such a problem teenager in his team.
As for the starting lineups of both teams, the Xiangbei team’s roster is:
Center, No. 4, Takenori Akagi, 197cm
Power forward, No. 11, Rukawa Kaede, 187cm
Small forward, No. 14, Mitsui Hisashi, 184cm
Shooting guard, No. 5, Kogure Kiminobu, 178cm
Point guard, No. 7, Miyagi Ryouta, 168cm
The list of Lingnan is:
Center, No. 4, Jun Uozumi, 202cm
Power forward, No. 7, Sendoh Akira, 190cm
Small forward, No. 5, Ryoji Ikegami, 182cm
Shooting guard, No. 6, Hongming, 174cm
Point guard, No. 8, Tomoyuki Uekusa, 170cm
The game started with the referee’s whistle.
The basketball was thrown high into the air by the referee. The two ape creatures held their breath and jumped high at the same time. Their fight began from this moment.
Everyone thought that Uozumi, who had the height advantage, would touch the ball first, but the result was beyond everyone’s expectations. Akagi hit the ball steadily towards Shohoku.
“This gorilla dances pretty well.” Zhou Tianming praised from the side, with the tone of a senior praising a junior, causing Anxi, who was as steady as a rock, to glance at him.
After falling to the ground, looking at Yuzumi’s somewhat deflated expression, Akagi felt secretly happy that competing for the ball with that pervert had helped him improve.
After Miyagi received the ball, the Xiangbei team quickly advanced to the opponent’s half. Uekusa quickly stood in front of Miyagi and took a defensive stance. Looking at Uekusa who was defending him, Miyagi did not panic at all. He dribbled the ball between his legs several times in a row. As the ball bounced one of the times, his body suddenly changed direction and accelerated, and broke through directly from Uekusa’s right side.
“So fast!” When Uekusa reacted and chased after him, he was already a body length away from Miyagi. Miyagi carried the basketball to the three-point line, attracting Ikegami, who was defending Mitsui, to come over and make up for it, and then passed the ball to Mitsui.
At this time, Akagi and Uozumi were fighting in the penalty area, refusing to give up each other to occupy the best position; Rukawa was running near the left baseline with Sendoh; Murasaki and Konoha were floating at a 45-degree angle on the left.
Mitsui knew his chance had come. He stood outside the three-point line, raised the ball and shot it. His posture was as graceful as in a textbook, and the basketball drew a perfect parabola and went into the basket.
“You’re feeling good today. Pass the ball to me a few more times.” After the ball went in, Mitsui came to Miyagi, clapped his hands with him, and said happily.
The other side.
“I remember who this guy is!” Ikegami said to Yuzumi nervously.
“Yeah, I remember it too.” Yuzumi’s expression was not looking good either, “What a difficult question!”
After saying that, they both looked at the coach on the sidelines.
At this time, Tian Gang’s old face was also a little red, and a not-so-nice memory fast-forwarded in his mind:
“I’m sorry, I choose to go to Shohoku! To find Coach Anzai,” said Mitsui Hisashi with a determined look on his face, but he declined his request after winning the MVP of the county competition.
“I’m sorry, I choose to go to Shohoku! Because it’s close to home.” Two years later, Rukawa declined again.
Thinking of these things, Tian Gang felt sad. Noticing that the students on the court were looking at him, he put away his complicated thoughts and encouraged them: “Come on, your training over the years has not been in vain. Believe in your own strength!”
“Huh” After hearing what the coach said, the two of them felt that they were making a big deal out of nothing. The current Mitsui may not be the same Mitsui as before, and the current self is not the same self as before. Only the other three juniors were a little confused. What happened to the senior and the coach?
The score is 3-0, Xiangbei is leading.
Ryonan served the ball, Uekusa dribbled quickly across half court, and Miyagi defended him closely. Miyagi was confident that he could keep up with Uekusa’s speed.
Sendoh and Rukawa continued to float near the baseline, and when Yuzumi ran into the penalty area, Sendoh suddenly sped up and ran towards Uekusa, stretching out his arms to get the ball. Seeing this, Rukawa also sped up and wanted to defend, but Yuzumi just ran in front of him, so he had to stop and go around from the other side of Yuzumi, but this stop and move wasted the best time to defend.
Uekusa saw Sendoh running out of space and without thinking, he lobbed the ball to Sendoh. Miyagi has always been unable to lob the ball.
Sendoh caught the ball steadily, and took a look at the positions of other players. After making sure that there was no one around him, he jumped up from the spot and shot a three-pointer. The shooting point was very high. Rukawa, who had just arrived next to Sendoh, could only watch the trajectory of the basketball.
“Swish!” The same clean and neat three-pointer.
The score was tied less than 10 seconds after Xiangbei took the lead.
“This kid starts again,” said Tian Gang, sitting in the coaching booth. When he saw Sendoh return the three-pointer to the opponent, he said with some anger and amusement.
“Give me the ball later”
On the court, Rukawa ran up to Miyagi and said without leaving any room for doubt.
“Okay.” Seeing Rukawa’s expression, Miyagi didn’t intend to refuse.
The ball once again came to Xiangbei.
Chapter 40 Testing Each Other (Old Version)
After Miyagi received the baseline ball from Akagi, he ran quickly to the opponent’s half. This time, Uekusa was more focused and didn’t want to be broken through by the opponent’s defender again.
After crossing half the court, Uekusa still followed Miyagi’s pace steadily, although he seemed a little out of breath.
Miyagi looked around, and Rukawa happened to go around in front of Sendoh. Miyagi hit the ball to the ground, and the basketball hit the ground from under Uekusa’s open arms, passed through Uekusa’s armpits, and bounced accurately into Rukawa’s hands.
“Let me see your strength.” Sendoh stood behind Rukawa, defending meticulously.
Facing Sendoh, Rukawa pretended to shoot, but Sendoh remained unmoved and just stretched his arm a little longer, so that even if Rukawa wanted to shoot, he would be blocked by Sendoh who jumped from behind because of his height disadvantage. Rukawa slowly lowered his center of gravity and quickly cut to the right. Sendoh did not lose his position, opened his arms, and tightly defended Rukawa who was rushing to the right. Rukawa stopped suddenly, and the ball was also switched to his left hand, changing direction and speeding up to rush to the left. Sendoh’s feet were not slow either, his body leaned to the right, and he quickly moved a step and appeared in front of Rukawa.
Akagi, who was under the basket, had already trapped Yuzumi behind him and reached out for the ball, but Rukawa simply ignored him and continued to look for his own chance to score. Rukawa suddenly sped up again, cutting in from the right, even faster than before, and before Sendoh blocked his path, he narrowly broke through, flew up and took a shooting stance, at this time the rebound was only 3 or 4 steps away from him, and with Rukawa’s hit rate, this shot was almost certain to hit the target.
At this time, a figure also flew up from behind Rukawa. His spiky hair and tall stature made him look much taller than Rukawa. Sendoh stretched out his right hand and slapped the ball in Rukawa’s hand, intending to block the shot from behind.
Just when everyone thought that Rukawa had secured the block, Rukawa bent his body, took back the basketball, and passed it to the gorilla under the basket, while Sendoh’s hand waved in vain.
After receiving the ball, Akagi turned around and jumped for a slam dunk, while roaring like a mountain beast.
Hearing this roar, Zhou Tianming and Sakuragi on the sidelines shouted at the same time: “Gorilla dunk!”
Akagi landed on the ground and turned around to glare at the two of them. The two of them touched their heads in coordination, as if they were swollen and painful again.
“Nice pass.” Akagi said to Rukawa. To be honest, he was also curious about Rukawa’s pass.
“There was nothing I could do just now.” Rukawa answered honestly.
“Uh!” Akagi’s face showed some black lines.
It was Ryonan’s turn to attack. This time, Uekusa did not dribble across half court, but passed the ball directly to Sendoh, letting Sendoh organize the offense and control the ball.
Sendoh dribbled the ball skillfully with a smile on his face, as if he was a point guard.
What a familiar scene.
On the Xiangbei bench, Yasuda was shocked.
Then, everyone turned their eyes to Zhou Tianming.
Zhou Tianming touched his nose unnaturally and said helplessly: “Why are you looking at me?”
“You’re not the only one who’s seen this 190cm point guard!” Ayako teased.
“That’s because you are not well-informed,” Zhou Tianming retorted.
“Snap!” The paper fan fell precisely on the cherry wood.
“Oops, wrong number”
Sakuragi covered his head and everyone laughed.
Sendoh’s dribbling speed is much faster than Uekusa’s. The most terrifying thing is that Sendoh’s center of gravity when dribbling is very low, making it very difficult for Rukawa to defend.
After changing directions three times in a row, Sendoh successfully threw Rukawa behind him. Seeing this, Yuzumi, who was under the basket, stuck Akagi to his side to prevent him from interfering. After Sendoh broke through Rukawa, his speed slowly slowed down, as if he was waiting for Rukawa to catch up. When Rukawa’s footsteps got closer and closer, Sendoh assumed the same posture as Rukawa’s shooting just now and jumped up. Rukawa also flew up behind Sendoh and stretched out his hand to fan the basketball away.
The scene in the air was like a replay of the previous scene, but what happened next was quite different. Sendoh did not dodge, but turned his right hand holding the ball.
“Snap” the imagined sound of the ball hitting the ball did not come out, but it sounded like the sound of flesh hitting flesh.
Then, Sendoh threw the ball with his left hand, and the basketball hit the backboard smoothly into the basket.
“Beep!” The referee held up two fingers. “Red No. 11 fouled. Two points valid. One penalty kick.”
“It’s unbelievable!” Aida Hikoichi said excitedly, “I have to record it!”
And his sister’s eyes had turned into heart shapes at this time: “He is worthy of being the man I have my eyes on.”
“Ms. Aida, wake up! We are here to interview you!” Her partner looked helpless and kept shaking Yayoi Aida.
The serve was also a solid hit.
The score became 5-6, and Xiangbei was overtaken by 1 point, and just 1 minute had passed in the game.
Shohoku attacked again, and after the ball passed half court, Miyagi passed the ball to Rukawa who wanted the ball again. Mitsui was gnashing his teeth in hatred. Could it be that this rude monk was still holding a grudge against them for their previous fight?
Rukawa quickly dribbled the ball into the penalty area. Sendoh blocked in front of Rukawa with a smile on his face: “What kind of attack will you choose?”
The “noisy” and indifferent boy complained, and seeing that the opponent’s defense was flawless, he threw the ball to Murasakibara on the right, then quickly bypassed Sendoh and raised his hand to ask for the ball.
After receiving the ball, Murasakibara saw Rukawa’s actions and passed the ball back to Rukawa with understanding. The player defending him on the side, Yueyue, did not react in time at all and thought something was wrong.
After receiving the ball, Rukawa planned to score himself, and then took three steps. Seeing this, Sendoh behind him slowed down his pace. After all, he still trusted his partners in the penalty area.
Sure enough, when Rukawa put the ball into the basket, Uozumi, who had been fighting with Akagi, suddenly exerted his strength, pushed Akagi away, flew up and fiercely fanned the ball out.
The ball flew in the direction that was picked up by Akagi who was pushed to the side. Akagi took a shooting stance without hesitation and threw the ball out of his hands.
An arm stretched out from behind Akagi and fanned the ball away again. This time, the players from the Xiangbei team failed to get the ball. Ikegami predicted the landing point in advance and caught it.
Chapter 41: Ryonan’s Power (Old Version)
“So, so strong!” Yan Yi was stunned by the rapid changes on the court.
“Yes, that’s how we fight!” Tian Gang clenched his fists and said excitedly.
“How embarrassing! Dad, please send my genius Sakuragi to the court.” Seeing that Gorilla and Rukawa were blocked one after another on the court, Sakuragi felt happy and distressed. He rubbed the coach’s chin and begged bitterly.
“Bang!” The paper fan performed a useful task again.
“Idiot, be more respectful to the coach!” Ayako looked very stubborn.
“Sakuragi, the game has just started and everyone hasn’t started yet, so don’t be anxious.” Zhou Tianming taught Sakuragi calmly. Seeing that no one was in a hurry, Sakuragi could only sit aside sullenly.
On the other side, Ikegami grabbed the basketball and passed it to Sendoh. Sendoh slowed down, raised a finger while dribbling, and encouraged his teammates: “Let’s score this goal and widen the score.”
“Okay!” The players on the Ryonan field roared with great momentum, and then began to run around looking for opportunities.
As expected, the Ape King found Akagi again, but this time he seemed more confident: “Akagi, watch me defeat you!”
Ikegami also closely guarded Mitsui Hisashi, using his dog-skin plaster-like defensive style to make Mitsui very uncomfortable; Uekusa and Kuroko were floating around on the left and right sides of the penalty area, trying to run out of open space.
Sendoh skillfully controlled the ball with one hand and crossed the half court. His eyes seemed to be observing the positions of his teammates and looking for loopholes in Rukawa’s defense. Slowly, Sendoh began to lower his center of gravity, and the basketball crossed and transferred in front of him at an increasingly faster speed, which was a sign of a breakthrough.
Rukawa opened his eyes wide and stared at Sendoh’s movements without blinking, not daring to be negligent in the slightest.
“Bang!” Sendoh’s movement when he controlled the basketball and transferred it to his right hand was a little bigger. Rukawa’s tense nerves immediately sent instructions to his body, and his center of gravity moved slightly to the left.
“Bang!” The basketball was transferred back to the left hand at some point, and Sendoh’s whole body moved at the same time. He took a big step forward with his left foot like lightning, and the basketball in his hand was moved to the front left as his body moved.
The skill to excel is very simple. He just relies on the starting speed to get ahead of Rukawa. However, Rukawa’s reaction speed is also very fast, and his footsteps are not slow at all. He is still firmly clamping the direction of Sendoh’s breakthrough.
Sendoh’s speed was getting faster and faster, and Rukawa had to speed up. Suddenly, Sendoh stopped, dribbled twice in a row, adjusted his posture, and shot directly from outside the three-point line.
When Rukawa stopped, he was almost two body lengths away from Sendoh. Seeing Sendoh was about to shoot a three-pointer, he flew up and pounced on him.
“Oops!”
Rukawa’s pupils widened. He found that although Sendoh was in a shooting posture, he did not shoot. Instead, he shot towards him when Rukawa was falling. The two of them couldn’t help but touch each other’s bodies.
The sound of the basketball entering the net and the referee’s whistle sounded at the same time.
There was a constant buzz around the court.
“Wow, 3+1! That’s amazing!”
“As expected of our immortal way”
Zhou Tianming in the Xiangbei rest area was also watching this scene in amazement. He could make such a three-pointer. I don t know whether it was luck or strength. Logically speaking, Sendoh s strength shouldn t be that strong.
“Haha, classmate Tianming, what do you think of this goal?” Anxi noticed the change in Zhou Tianming’s expression and asked with a smile.
“Rukawa’s defense is good, but Sendoh plays smarter.” Zhou Tianming implicitly expressed the fact that Sendoh is stronger.
On the court, Sendoh let out a long sigh after seeing the ball go in. In fact, he was not so sure about this kind of disruptive three-pointer, but his luck seemed to be good today.
But Rukawa, who was standing aside, was not calm. Looking at Sendoh, who had just scored 3+1 in his hands and seemed a little relaxed at this moment, his eyes were full of fighting spirit. It seemed that in addition to Zhou Tianming, the person he was going to fight against now had another Sendoh.
The free throws were made steadily, the score came to 10-5, and Ryonan took the lead.
Shohoku controlled the ball and the ball passed half court and came near the three-point line. Miyagi looked up at Rukawa who was asking for the ball on the right. Uekusa subconsciously took a step towards Rukawa. Miyagi lowered his body and accelerated to cut in from the left side. His speed was so fast that he immediately opened up two body lengths between him and Uekusa, and the distance between them was getting bigger and bigger.
Seeing that Mitsui had no desire to attack, Ikegami focused more on the ball. Seeing Uekusa being broken through, he was secretly anxious. He did not realize that Mitsui behind him had taken advantage of his distraction and slipped to the bottom corner three-point line.
Miyagi raised his hand and swung the basketball hard, and the basketball was accurately passed into the hands of Mitsui Hisashi who was in a good position. It was another unreasonable three-pointer, and the score difference was narrowed to 2 points again.
“Very good, senior!” Miyagi stepped forward and high-fived Mitsui.
“You passed the ball beautifully, too,” Mitsui, who scored again, forgot about the unpleasantness just now and said proudly, “I felt really good today, you can consider giving me a few more balls.”
“If the opportunity is right, yes.” Miyagi did not hide it.
The two looked at each other and smiled, as if all grudges were forgotten with a smile, and slowly ran back to their own half of the court.
Damn it! Looking at Mitsui s beautiful shooting posture and the hit rate that gave his opponent a headache, Tanaka s expression was as if he had eaten shit. He stood up suddenly, Ikegami, what are you doing!? How could you let Mitsui run to that position by himself?!
After a pause, he shouted to Uekusa who was about to receive the serve, “Uekusa, increase the intensity of your defense, don’t let Miyagi break through so easily!”
After shouting these words, Tiangang felt that the anger in his chest had been relieved a little. He drank a sip of tea and sat back in his seat.
“Another person with an irritable physique,” Zhou Tianming commented to Tiangang.
“Oh hehe” Coach Anxi did not comment on Zhou Tianming’s whisper. He smiled and said to Sakuragi and Tianming: “You will start in the second half. Tianming, you only have 10 minutes of playing time. I hope you can give me some surprises.” After that, he gulped down the tea.
“No problem,” Zhou Tianming didn’t care about his playing time at all. He turned to Sakuragi and said confidently, “Sakuragi, kill the game in ten minutes in the second half!”
“Oh? What do you mean?” The single-celled Sakuragi didn’t understand what Tianming said.
Anxi’s eyes lit up, as if he was expecting something.
Chapter 42 Halftime (Please collect) (Old version)
From then on until the end of the first half, the score between the two sides did not widen, and the score was 45-42, with Ryonan temporarily leading by 3 points.
Ryonan scored points one after another thanks to Sendoh’s excellent personal skills and exquisite passes, and the first half almost became his personal show.
On the Shohoku side, although Akagi and Rukawa were suppressed by Sendoh and Uozumi, the trio of Mitsui, Miyagi and Murasaki played extremely well, especially Mitsui Hisashi, who made 6 of 8 shots and scored 18 points. It was a good start for the first game after his comeback.
Xiangbei Rest Area.
“Xiao San, you played well in the first half!” Thinking that he would be on the field soon, Sakuragi was in a good mood. He glanced at the indifferent boy who was still drinking water, “Unlike some guys, who were defeated.”
The silent boy didn’t say anything. After replenishing his water, he sat aside and closed his eyes to rest. He needed to summarize what the difference was between him and the immortal way.
Mitsui was gasping for breath at this time. The wasted two years made him suffer from severe physical exhaustion in the first game. There was no excitement on his face after scoring 18 points in the first half. Instead, he looked a little sad. When he heard what Sakuragi said, he didn’t want to pay any attention to him. This guy actually called him Xiaosan!
“Hey! Hey! Why are you all ignoring me? I’m the genius who’s going to play in the second half,” Sakuragi looked a little indignant when he saw that no one was paying attention to him.
“Mitsui, how is your physical strength?” Seeing that Mitsui was breathing heavily, Mu Mu couldn’t help but step forward and ask with concern.
“Huh, damn it, I haven’t trained for a long time. I didn’t expect my physical strength would be so bad!” Mitsui complained about his body with some regret on his face.
“Haha, Mitsui, don’t worry. After a period of system recovery, I believe you can return to your original state.” Coach Anxi said calmly.
“Yes, coach.” Mitsui believed in Anxi’s words and even obeyed them.
“Next, let’s talk about the lineup for the second half.” Coach Anxi adjusted his glasses, and his clear eyes appeared again under the blurry lenses.
“In the second half, Mitsui and Mugure will go off the court for a rest, and Sakuragi and Tianming will take their places.” Anxi paused and looked at Zhou Tianming who was already warming up, “Tianming, you will take Mugure’s position and play shooting guard. Sakuragi will play power forward, and Rukawa will become a small forward. That’s it, let me see what you are capable of.”
“No problem.” The people who had changed said in unison.
“Tianming, come on, I’m rooting for you.” Mitsui had no objection to being substituted off the field, and he was full of goodwill towards the initiator who allowed him to return to the court, so he stepped forward to cheer him on.
“Don’t worry, Senior Mitsui, victory belongs to us!” Zhou Tianming looked confident.
“Sakuragi, work harder in the second half and let everyone see your achievements during this period!” Murasakibara also encouraged Sakuragi.
“Don’t worry, Brother Glasses, I’m a genius.”
“Well, you should call me senior.”
“Got it, Brother Glasses”
Ayako sorted out the technical statistics of the first half, and smiled happily when she saw that the data was not much behind that of the Ryonan team. Once upon a time, they were terribly beaten by the Ryonan team, but now they can compete with it and even have a chance of winning. Shohoku has really become stronger!
Lingnan rest area.
“Huh, I didn’t expect Shohoku to be so tough this year!” Ikegami also looked a little tired, but it seemed that he was much stronger than Mitsui.
“Yes, Xiangbei is very strong this year. I feel that this is not their true strength.” Sendoh drank water with a relaxed expression, as if the discussion had nothing to do with him.
“Maybe,” Tian Gang thought of Zhou Tianming and Sakuragi on the sidelines, and suddenly turned around and praised Yuzumi, “Yuzumi, you did a good job in the first half. You must keep up the good work in the second half and completely defeat Akagi!”
“Yes! Coach!” Yuzumi’s face was firm and his tone was full of confidence.
“At the end of the first half, the opponent’s Mitsui was a little unsteady when walking. I guess he may not play in the next game. If this happens, Ikegami!” Tiangang sat aside, put his hands on his chin, and turned to Ikegami with a thoughtful expression, “You go to defend Rukawa Kaede, lock Rukawa, let Sendoh be completely liberated, and defeat the opponent in one breath!”
“Yes!” Ikegami responded calmly.
“Uekusa, for Miyagi, you just need to do your best to let him shoot instead of drive. His shooting percentage is still the same as last year, which is not good enough.”
“Yes! I will try my best,” Uekusa also tried to appear more confident, but when he thought of Miyagi’s speed, he still felt a little unsure.
Cross country, you did a good job, keep it up in the second half.
“Got it, Coach Tanaka!”
After talking to the four players, Coach Tiangang turned to the team’s ace Sendoh and said, “The next game is up to you.”
“Yes!” Xiandao also put away his cynicism and said with a serious expression.
Less than a minute before the start of the second half, players from both sides returned to the court one after another.
The players from the Ryonan team who walked onto the court were the same as in the first half, and they seemed to be full of energy, which showed how hard they trained. On the Shohoku side, Mitsui and Murasakibara sat directly on the bench, chatting and laughing, with no intention of playing at all.
“Is Murasakibara also resting?” Seeing this, Takaoka murmured.
The two new players, No. 10 and No. 18, walked into the court one after another, and there was an immediate buzz in the audience stands.
“Wow, Xiangbei actually has two such tall players hidden, are they substitutes?”
“Hahaha, that guy’s hair is funny!”
When Haruko saw that Sakuragi was going to play in the game, she waved her arms happily in Sakuragi’s direction. The crisp sound of “Come on Sakuragi! Come on Sakuragi!” kept coming out of her mouth, and she seemed to be working very hard.
The gym was filled with noise at this time, but Sakuragi, a red-haired ape creature, heard it when Haruko shouted the first sentence. When he saw Miss Haruko cheering for him, he was excited and happy, but also blushed and nervous, and kept waving his arms to Haruko.
Chapter 43: Change of Situation (Old Version)
“It’s great to be young,” Zhou Tianming looked at the two of them with a ‘tsk tsk’ sound, acting like he was an adult.
Then he noticed Akagi Takenori who was staring at Sakuragi with ill intentions, and whispered, “Actually, I’m still very young.” After saying that, he walked towards the center circle with a satisfied look on his face.
That’s right, after Akagi knew that Zhou Tianming was going to play, although the two did not communicate, they seemed to have a tacit understanding. Tianming naturally walked to the center circle to jump the ball, and Akagi seemed to be in charge of finding the landing point outside the circle.
Seeing this scene, everyone in Ryonan seemed a little surprised. When they saw that everyone in Shohoku had expressions as if it was expected, they were even more confused. However, what happened next made them understand why Shohoku was like this.
After the referee blew the whistle to start the second half, he tossed the basketball high into the air.
The jumping boy Zhou Tianming pushed the ball to his own half in mid-air, nearly half a head higher than Yuzumi. Miyagi quickly grabbed the ball and dribbled quickly towards the opponent’s half. After Miyagi started, the other three players of Xiangbei also ran quickly.
“This jumping ability?!” Sendo seemed a little surprised, but he was only surprised for less than a second, and then he started to quickly return to defense. However, the reactions of the others were obviously half a beat slower.
Miyagi ran to the three-point line and was stopped by Sendoh who was returning to defense at high speed. Miyagi had to slow down and look for his teammates.
“Good farmland, here!”
Following the sound, he saw a teammate wearing a red jersey waving for the ball not far behind Sendoh. Miyagi saw that no one was defending him and threw the ball over.
“That’s a beautiful pass, wow, haha, look at my genius performance!”
After passing the ball, Miyagi noticed that the guy who asked for the ball was actually Sakuragi Hanamichi. His face looked a little embarrassed and annoyed. The first fast break in the second half was a little risky!
Sakuragi had an excited look on his face, and before his eyes came the scene of that sunny morning when Miss Haruko, in sportswear, carefully taught him how to do a layup, and especially the scene when he made the shot and the two of them excitedly held hands to celebrate.
“Huh, this ball must go in!” Sakuragi took a deep breath and rushed to the basket quickly.
“Sakuragi-kun, come on!” Haruko nervously grabbed the corner of her clothes.
The other players on the Xiangbei team were also staring at this moment, and their expressions, which had not changed during the jump ball just now, finally changed at this moment.
There was the sound of a basketball going into the net.
After landing, Sakuragi looked towards the basket first, then locked onto Haruko’s direction and waved his hands happily.
At this time, the Xiangbei players cheered happily, as if they had already won the game.
“Wow! Sakuragi actually scored a layup!”
I can t believe it!
Yohei and the others opened their mouths in surprise.
“When did this kid learn how to do a layup?” Akagi also smiled rarely.
Zhou Tianming smiled and gave Sakuragi a thumbs up.
“Strange, it’s just a normal layup, why are all the members of the opposing Xiangbei team so excited? I can make this one too.” Aida Hikoichi was very confused, “Never mind, let’s record it first!”
The corner of Tian Gang’s mouth twitched, but he still resisted the urge to smash his fist down. He looked at Zhou Tianming on the court. He didn’t care about Xiangbei’s fast break or even the goal scored by rookie Sakuragi. All he had in his eyes was the freshman who defeated Yuzumi in the ball fight. He murmured, “I have a bad feeling.”
The score difference narrowed to 1 point and Ryonan attacked.
After the ball crossed half court, Zhou Tianming rushed towards Sendoh. Rukawa on the side wanted to step forward to defend Sendoh, but was entangled by Ikegami who was well prepared. Ikegami’s dog-skin plaster defense made Rukawa finally experience the treatment that Mitsui Shou received in the first half, and he was very distressed.
Akagi was defending Yuzumi, who was in great pain. Akagi’s momentum and strength were much stronger than in the first half, and Yuzumi could not help but suspect that Akagi was hiding his weakness in the first half. How could he know that Akagi had only one thought in his mind at this time: I am the captain, I cannot lose to that kid!
Sakuragi followed closely behind Yueyue. No matter how Yueyue ran, Sakuragi could keep up easily. After all, apes are very agile.
“You jump so high!” Xiandao faced Tianming, dribbled the ball skillfully, raised his pointed head and said with a smile.
“I can do more than just jump high,” Zhou Tianming also showed a weird smile.
As soon as the last word came out of his mouth, Zhou Tianming lowered his body, and thrust his right hand forward like lightning. The bouncing orange-red basketball was stopped in front of Xiandao as if the pause button was pressed.
After a short pause, Zhou Tianming pushed the basketball forward with force, and the basketball actually bounced up along Sendao’s crotch. Zhou Tianming took advantage of the forward inertia, stuck to Sendao’s side with a surprised expression, and whispered, “I’m not slow either.” Then, he caught the bounced basketball and rushed to the front court.
“Sendo, Senior Sendo’s ball was intercepted!?” Hikoichi was shocked, and so was Coach Takeoka who was standing in front of him.
“This guy’s reaction speed is so fast!” Tian Gang recalled Zhou Tianming’s shot just now worriedly, and looking at the speed at which this guy dribbles the ball, could it be that he is the same type of player as Sendoh?
“Oh hehe” Anxi looked at the scene with interest.
“Tianming” Ayako also blinked her big, shining eyes, looking forward to it.
Sendoh’s reaction speed was also very fast. After Zhou Tianming received the ball, he turned around and started to accelerate and chase. When others reacted and started to return to defense, the two had already run near the three-point line.
Zhou Tianming heard the footsteps behind him getting closer and closer, and the corners of his mouth curled up. He suddenly grabbed the ball with both hands, took a big step, and jumped up, which shocked Xiandao behind him. This is the free throw line, and he jumped like this? Do you think you are Jordan?
“Wow~” The spectators on the court shouted in unison, and their eyes followed Zhou Tianming’s figure.
Everyone who was returning to defend also stopped and stared at the scene in amazement.
“This kid is really messing around,” the gorilla summed it up.
Zhou Tianming hung on the basket and turned his head to look down at everyone, like an emperor looking at his ministers.
Aa …
Ahhh!!
The audience was excited by Zhou Tianming’s dunk.
Both Sakuragi and Rukawa looked at Tianming with burning eyes. The former was trying to imitate and learn, while the latter was probably thinking about when to challenge him.
Sendoh silently picked up the basketball and walked to the baseline. At this time, Xiangbei had already surpassed the score.
Ryonan launched another attack.
“It’s just an ordinary slam dunk, don’t mind it! We’ll fight back!” At this time, Ryonan team captain Uozumi stood up to encourage everyone, especially looking at Sendoh who was dribbling the ball slowly.
Sendoh noticed Yuzumi’s gaze, waved his hand, and said with a smile: “Captain, I’m fine.”
Yuzumi was skeptical, but still ran towards the opponent’s half.
After the ball slowly crossed half court, Xiandao suddenly accelerated and floated in the direction of Yueyue. At this time, Zhou Tianming stood at the top of the arc, three or four steps away from Xiandao.
“Oh no!” Zhou Tianming thought to himself that something was wrong and quickened his pace.
Sure enough, when Sendoh approached, Sakuragi chose to give up off-roading and rushed towards Sendoh with full of fighting spirit.
Sendoh hooked the ball, which passed under Sakuragi’s arm and into Yueguo’s hands. Then, Sendoh accelerated again and bypassed Sakuragi.
After receiving the basketball, the cross-country runner was about to shoot when he found that Zhou Tianming had already run in front of him and was approaching him little by little.
Thinking of the opponent’s terrifying jump just now, Yueyue decisively gave up the shot and passed the ball horizontally to Sendoh who was following. This obviously formed a two-on-one situation in a small area. Sendoh accelerated and dribbled the ball to the basket for a layup. Akagi had no choice but to jump up and stretched out his hand to try to blow the basketball away.
The two were close in height in the air. Akagi used his height advantage to keep his palm above the ball. Unexpectedly, Sendoh bent his body and waist in the air, and took the basketball back in his hand, avoiding Akagi’s blow. Then, he held the ball with his right hand and hooked it upwards. Under Akagi’s helpless gaze, the ball slowly flew towards the basket again.
Chapter 44 Ryonan Timeout (Old Version)
When the basketball was about to pass through the basket, a white and slender hand pressed the ball onto the backboard, stopping the attack.
It turned out that after Sendoh got the ball again, Zhou Tianming went straight to the basket. Fortunately, Akagi’s defense forced Sendoh to shoot at the last moment in the air, giving Zhou Tianming time to rush to the basket.
“Nice attack, amazing block” Anxi gave a cross comment.
“How, how is this possible?” Almost everyone on the Ryonan bench looked over there in shock.
“Twice in a row! That guy disrupted Sendoh’s attack twice in a row. Is he really that strong?” Coach Tiangang couldn’t help but ask himself, “Who on earth is he?”
In the stadium,
“Nice block!” Akagi gave rare praise, perhaps because Zhou Tianming saved him from the embarrassment of being scored by Sendoh.
“The captain taught me well,” Zhou Tianming responded modestly, and then quickly followed his teammates to the opponent’s half.
“Brat” Akagi grinned and chased after him.
The basketball that just flew out was picked up by Rukawa, who was entangled with Ikegami. Rukawa, who was full of anger, dribbled towards the opponent’s half as soon as he got the ball. His unstoppable speed made it difficult for Ikegami to keep up.
Obviously, with Rukawa running at full speed, it was difficult for the other players to pose a threat to him without Sendoh chasing him and Uozumi guarding him. He just rushed all the way to the opponent’s penalty area and scored a goal by hitting the rebound.
“I always feel that the second half is so relaxing.” Confused Haruko felt that the second half was not as intense as the first half, but she didn’t know why, so she asked her best friend curiously.
“Could it be because of that tall handsome guy playing?” the bestie said uncertainly, pointing at No. 18. She didn’t know much about basketball and came here because Haruko strongly requested it. But she was watching with great interest at this time. After all, No. 11 and No. 18 were both so handsome and strong, especially when standing with No. 4 and No. 10, they looked even more handsome and charming.
The score difference became 3 points, but Xiangbei was in the lead, which made several senior players of Xiangbei feel a little unbelievable, but full of confidence and fighting spirit.
Ryonan served the ball, and after two consecutive attacks were disrupted, Sendoh became increasingly calm. He dribbled quickly to the frontcourt and took a detour to the left baseline, with Zhou Tianming following closely behind.
Uekusa shook off Miyagi and ran behind Zhou Tianming. Hearing the footsteps getting closer and closer, Zhou Tianming did not look back, but was wondering in his heart whether the other party was going to make another two-on-one pass, and his attention was inevitably distracted by the movements behind him.
At this moment, Sendoh suddenly started to move, lowered his body and broke through to the left. Since he had been intercepted once while dribbling before, Sendoh’s movements were not very bold. Instead, he tried to use his body’s toughness to force his way through.
“Idiot” Rukawa Kaede, who was watching the confrontation between the two sides, curled his lips when he saw Sendoh choose this method.
“What?” Ikegami, who was standing next to Rukawa, heard what Rukawa said and didn’t understand whether he was talking about Sendoh or No. 18, but he also looked over there.
Hiss~~
The sound of sneakers rubbing against the floor was heard. Xiandao sat outside the baseline in a daze, the basketball in his hand had long disappeared. Zhou Tianming was still standing there, looking at Xiandao calmly.
Going back to a few seconds ago, when Sendoh was dribbling and breaking through, his right body collided with Zhou Tianming’s waist and abdomen, and then he bounced out. Of course, when Zhou Tianming felt the force hitting him, he habitually exerted force to hit back, but he used the strength of his waist and abdomen, without raising his elbows and other actions.
“Beep! Ryonan No. 7 dribbled the ball and hit someone, and Xiangbei has the ball!” The referee’s voice sounded at the right time.
“Abnormal body” Rukawa saw Sendoh sliding out after being knocked out, and gave a fair evaluation. In the first half, Rukawa and Sendoh had many physical collisions. The opponent was not a weak person. Rukawa couldn’t help but hesitate whether to challenge that guy. What if he got injured? Thinking of this, Rukawa glanced at Mitsui who was resting on the sidelines.
“Are you okay, Pointyhead?” After the referee blew the whistle, Zhou Tianming stepped forward and stretched out his hand to Sendo, his expression very calm, “That just now, it hurt me too!”
Xiandao smiled inexplicably, pulled Zhou Tianming’s hand and stood up, “Thank you”
After saying that, he ran over to care about his teammates and returned to his own half.
“Interesting guy.” Xiandao looked at Zhou Tianming who was in control of the ball again, and the desire to win that he had never had before was growing little by little in his heart.
Next, Zhou Tianming passed the ball to Miyagi, and then he quickly went down to the penalty area. Sakuragi and Rukawa were also floating around the penalty area. In this way, the four tall men, Akagi, Sakuragi, Rukawa, and Tianming, gathered in the penalty area, giving people a sense of d j vu of this year’s Shoyo team.
“Shohoku has a height advantage,” said Tanaka, rubbing his head with both hands, “Except for guard Miyagi, their average height has exceeded 190cm, so it’s hard to grab rebounds.”
As if to verify Coach Takaoka’s words, Miyagi passed the ball to Rukawa who was asking for the ball in the low post. Despite Ikegami’s interference, Rukawa still insisted on taking a mid-range shot, but naturally missed. When Uozumi jumped up to grab the rebound, he was surprised to find three figures appearing around him.
These three figures are naturally No. 4, No. 10 and No. 18 of Xiangbei. They did not believe that Rukawa would score when he shot. No. 4 and No. 18 relied on their experience and judgment, while No. 10 did it purely out of distrust.
“Bang!” Among the four people who flew up, Yuzumi was actually in the lowest position. He helplessly watched No. 18, who was a head taller than him, stretch out his arm and dunk the basketball into the basket.
“Wow, an air battle! I didn’t expect Ryonan to lose so badly” Audience A.
“That’s because Xiandao didn’t join, otherwise the result would be hard to predict.” Audience B.
Just two minutes into the second half, the score difference was again widened to 5 points.
“Beep! Ryonan requests a timeout!”
Tian Gang on the sidelines had a gloomy look on his face. He looked at the players who were walking back to the field one after another. Although he was angry, he didn’t know how to start.
“Coach Tanaoka, I’m sorry!” Sendoh spoke first.
Yuzumi and others also lowered their heads, like a group of students who had made a mistake.
“Forget it, it’s not your fault.” Seeing that everyone was in a low mood, Tian Gang decided to put away his anger and continued calmly: “The new players of the Xiangbei team this year are all very strong. With the addition of Mitsui, Akagi, Miyagi and others, perhaps their strength has surpassed ours.”
Everyone seemed a little surprised and looked at the coach in disbelief.
After a pause, Tian Gang raised his voice and his tone became firm: “But our Ryonan team has always been a team that yearns for victory and desires victory! We are not weak! I believe you will prove yourselves in the game and let the Xiangbei team see our Ryonan’s determination!”
“Yes” the Ryonan players swept away their frustration and rekindled their enthusiasm.
“Oh?” Feeling the fighting spirit of Lingnan, Zhou Tianming looked at Lingnan in surprise.
“What are you looking at?” Caizi handed a bottle of water to Zhou Tianming.
“Didn’t you see anything?” Zhou Tianming turned around and saw Caizi’s red cheeks with excitement. It was obvious that the atmosphere of the game just now made this little fan very satisfied.
“By the way, Ayako.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Your big waves look best when they are loose, and they really look like a ponytail when tied into a ponytail.”
“roll!”
“Oh hehe” the signature laugh rang out, and everyone’s attention was inadvertently focused on the fat old man.
“Everyone played very well just now, especially Sakuragi-san. He actually learned the layup and was able to use it in the game. It’s really surprising.” As he said this, Anxi nodded specifically to Sakuragi.
“Hahaha, it’s nothing, I’m a genius!” Sakuragi began to brag about himself.
“Akagi and Miyagi will go off the court to rest in a while. After all, we have already played the entire first half. Yasuda and Kakuda will prepare to play.” After making the arrangements, Anxi leisurely drank his tea and no longer looked at everyone.
Chapter 45: Change of Personnel Again (Old Version)
“Ahem”
Zhou Tianming, who had just taken a sip of water, choked when he heard the coach’s arrangement.
“Coach Anxi, this arrangement of yours is not very friendly to Ryonan.”
Zhou Tianming finally stopped coughing, his face turned a little red, and he looked at Anxi in confusion.
“It’s okay, haha, I know Tiangang well enough, he won’t be angry.” Anxi said in a tone that said don’t worry.
It would be strange if it doesn t happen!
Zhou Tianming secretly thought that with Tian Gang’s irritable personality, he would definitely go crazy soon! But for now, he should consider how to continue the game without Akagi and Miyagi on the court.
The timeout passed quickly, and when everyone returned to the court, the Ryonan team discovered that No. 4 and No. 7 of Xiangbei were missing, and two short players came up instead.
“Could it be that Xiangbei has hidden some outstanding players?” Many Ryonan players speculated in their minds about these two unfamiliar players they had never seen before.
Tanaoka, who had suppressed his anger, saw the changes on the field and his face darkened again. As the team coach, he had already investigated the information of Xiangbei. The two people on the field, one named Yasuda and the other named Kakuta, were both mediocre players.
Glancing at Coach Anzai who was still as steady as a rock, Tian Gang gritted his teeth secretly: Are you going to use our Ryonan’s starting players to train them?
On the court, the starting players such as Sendoh Uozumi were quite familiar with Shohoku, so they were somewhat familiar with the two new players. Instead of getting angry at this seemingly contemptuous behavior, they saw it as an opportunity to overtake the score.
After receiving the serve from the baseline, Sendoh immediately broke through half court. His teammates also went to their respective positions. Zhou Tianming came over, opened his arms and stared at Sendoh’s movements seriously.
After dribbling the ball several times, Sendoh suddenly broke through to the right with a very fast starting speed, even faster than before, but Zhou Tianming still moved his feet in time to block Sendoh’s breakthrough route.
Xiandao turned sideways to face Tianming, and his right hand while dribbling the ball suddenly shook, and the bouncing basketball immediately passed behind Xiandao. His secretive movement made Zhou Tianming fail to notice it for a while.
In the direction where the ball was passed, Uekusa, wearing a white No. 8 jersey, was standing there. Yasuda, who was originally defending him, was blocked behind him.
After receiving the basketball, Uekusa raised his head and glanced at the basket, then shot directly from outside the three-point line. Although his movements were not as graceful as Mitsui’s, he was definitely heading towards the basket, and it was getting more and more like it.
“Swish!” The three-pointer went in.
There was cheering in the Ryonan rest area, as this was their first goal in the second half.
“Senior Uekusa is so awesome!” Hikoichi looked at Uekusa with some excitement.
“He is a very hard-working child!” Tian Gang said with a gratified smile, his tone sounding somewhat emotional.
“Well done!” All the players on the Ryonan field came over to celebrate with Uekusa.
On the Xiangbei side, although Yasuda tried his best to defend Uekusa, he was thin and the shortest in the game, so it was difficult for him to pose a threat to Uekusa, who was better than him in both technique and height.
“It’s okay, Senior Yasuda.” Zhou Tianming saw that Yasuda was a little disappointed, so he walked over to comfort him.
“Yasuda, watch me, the genius Sakuragi, avenge you!” Although Sakuragi is a bit nervous, he still remembers that Yasuda helped him a lot when he joined the club.
“Thank you, everyone!” Yasuda felt warmed when he saw that everyone was encouraging him and had no intention of blaming him. “I will do my best too!”
“That’s right!” Caizi and others on the sidelines were very pleased to see this.
Transition from offense to defense.
Tianming dribbled the ball across half court and when he approached the three-point line, Ikegami, who was not far away, gave up defending Rukawa and ran over to double-team Zhou Tianming with Sendoh, apparently wanting to steal the ball directly.
Zhou Tianming took a few steps back, turned his back to them, held the ball in front of him, and quickly scanned the positions of his teammates with his peripheral vision.
Yasuda was actively moving, but Uekusa was following him closely; Rukawa was defended by Kokusai who was switched over, but it seemed that Kokusai was struggling; Sakuragi was wrestling with Uozumi under the basket and had no awareness of moving at all.
Where is Kakuda? Tianming looked for him suspiciously.
Suddenly, Zhou Tianming’s eyes lit up, and he quickly lifted the ball to the side before the two men approached. Rukawa suddenly appeared there, and after receiving the ball, he rushed to the other side of the basket where Yuzu was in the blink of an eye, made a layup and scored.
The player who was defending him, Yue Tuo, was blocked by Kakuta who was secretly running over to set a screen, and lost the chance to defend him.
“Rukawa Kaede! Rukawa Kaede” At some point, the Rukawa trio appeared in the audience seats of Ryonan, cheering for their male idol desperately.
The Xiangbei team quickly returned to defense, allowing the Ryonan team to attack again, and the score difference returned to 4 points.
This time, Ryonan’s attack was launched by Uekusa. Although Yasuda was not fast, his defense was very stable. Uekusa tried several times but failed to break through and passed the ball to Sendoh again.
Facing Zhou Tianming, Xiandao did not hesitate and accelerated to break through. Zhou Tianming reached out and accurately knocked the ball away again, but Xiandao reacted quickly, turned around on the spot, picked up the basketball that slipped out of his hand, turned back at the same speed, and ran towards the penalty area, brushing past Zhou Tianming.
Two monkey-like creatures were pushing and shoving each other in the penalty area, and Akagi was reminding Sakuragi from time to time off the court. However, when Sakuragi saw Sendoh rushing over, he immediately abandoned Yuzumi and went straight to Sendoh, as if there were more interesting things there.
After breaking through Zhou Tianming, Sendoh relaxed a little. Seeing the red-headed Sakuragi rushing towards him, he turned around beautifully and passed the ball to Yuzumi. Yuzumi didn’t say a word and dunked with both hands. The momentum was like a gorilla dunking.
Rukawa touched his smooth chin with his right hand, looking like a thinker, his eyes fixed on Sendoh, as if he was savoring the extraordinary skills he had just displayed.
“That was a close call. No. 18 made a really accurate steal!” Yan kept his eyes fixed on the court, his excitement evident in his expression. “But Senior Sendoh is really amazing. He was able to break through with the ball in that situation.”
“Haha, Sendoh’s greatest strength is that he can keep a calm mind no matter what the situation,” Tian Gang explained to Yan Yi with some pride, “This is the big heart that a good player should have.”
Yanyi took out a small notebook and silently wrote down what Tiangang said.
The score difference is two points, Xiangbei attacks.
The same position, the same situation, Zhou Tianming stood two steps outside the three-point line, looking at the two people two steps in front of him, and smiled bitterly helplessly, but then the smile became a little weird.
He switched the ball to his right hand, looked up and winked at Rukawa who was not far away. Rukawa noticed it, took a sudden step back, shook off the close-fitting Yue, and ran straight towards Zhou Tianming.
Sendoh noticed Rukawa’s movements and hesitantly took a few steps towards Rukawa.
“You’re the one I’ve been waiting for!”
After Xiandao moved, a gap was created between him and Chishang. Zhou Tianming seized this opportunity and passed through the gap between the two at lightning speed before Chishang filled the gap.
After Sendoh and Rukawa reacted, the former quickly chased after them, while the latter curled the corners of his mouth, feeling like he’d been cheated.
It was impossible to catch up, Zhou Tianming was dribbling the ball confidently in front.
In the penalty area, Yuzumi wanted to get rid of Sakuragi who came to defend, but how could Sakuragi let this monster destroy Mingzi’s score? He used all his strength to hold Yuzumi tightly behind him. Then, Zhou Tianming easily made a layup and scored.
At this time, Yayoi Aida was sitting on the sidelines taking notes. Her serious expression was exactly the same as Hikoichi’s, but there was a hint of worry in it.
“Reporter Aida, what are you worried about?”
The follower who was fiddling with the camera asked Yayoi Aida curiously.
“My Immortal Path”
Aida’s face looked even more worried.
“Ahem, just pretend I didn’t ask.”
The follower lowered his head again and started fiddling with the camera.
Chapter 46: The Three Points of Immortal Path (Please Collect) (Old Version)
The score difference returned to 4 points again. Sendoh looked at the scoreboard and smiled bitterly.
This score is really hard to catch up.
Putting aside unnecessary thoughts, this time Sendoh did not cross half court, but passed the basketball to Yue Tuo at the top of the arc. After changing direction and accelerating twice, Yue Tuo easily shook Kakuta aside, and seeing that there was no one defending him, he decisively took a mid-range shot and the ball went in.
“Basketball is still a five-person sport after all.” Xiandao looked at Zhou Tianming with a smile, “You are very strong, but I have teammates!”
“Oh?” Zhou Tianming seemed to be hesitant to speak.
“What do you want to say?” Xiandao asked with a smile, very curious.
“Do you think my teammates are weak?” After saying that, he deliberately glanced around the Xiangbei rest area.
At this time, Akagi, Mitsui, Miyagi, and Murasaki were watching the game with great interest, as if they were spectators who bought tickets to watch the game, without any sense of nervousness at all.
Sendoh opened his mouth but didn’t say a word. The tense game just now seemed to make him forget one thing: the main players of the Xiangbei team were still resting off the court.
After looking at the somewhat dazed Sendao with sympathy, Zhou Tianming hummed a little tune and went to receive the serve.
“Perhaps, we lost from the very beginning.” No one heard Sendoh’s murmur, but he felt an emotion called anger at this moment. It turned out that his team was used as a training ground from the very beginning.
“Coach, I’m curious about something?” Yan Yi raised his question like a curious baby on the sidelines.
“Say” was a brief word, but Tiangang’s eyes did not move away from the field.
“Why do I always feel that Senior Sendoh is a point guard?” Yan Yi finally asked the question that had been bothering him for a long time. He felt relieved and waited for the coach to answer his questions.
“Huh?” After hearing the content of Hikoichi’s question, Tiangang finally turned his head and looked at him in surprise, “It’s amazing that you can think of this. That’s right! Sendoh will be our point guard in the future, no longer a power forward.” After saying that, a player named Fukuda emerged in his mind. I believe that he will return to the court soon.
“Ah?” Yan Yi looked surprised and wanted to ask something else.
“Don’t ask, you will know soon.” Tiangang stopped Yanyi and turned around to continue watching the game.
Yan Yi became even more curious, but he didn’t dare to continue asking the coach, so he could only make random guesses.
On the court, Kakuta received a pass from Zhou Tianming at the top of the arc. It might be because he hadn’t touched the ball much since he came on the court and his feel for the ball was not good, or it might be because he was a little nervous facing Ryonan’s offense. In short, no matter what the reason, after he dribbled the ball twice, the ball hit his foot and bounced to the side.
At this time, Ikegami had left Tenming to defend Rukawa again, and Yugoku and Ikegami also ran to defend Kakuta like a relay. Unexpectedly, the ball bounced to his side automatically. Surprised, he grabbed the ball and turned to fast break towards the Shohoku half court.
“Isn’t it the Shohoku team that’s attacking? Why did it suddenly become Ryonan’s attack?” Seeing the change in the situation on the court, Okunoshi of the Sakuragi Army was a little confused.
“Idiot, didn’t you see that the Shohoku team had the ball intercepted?” Yohei said confidently.
“Idiot, it was the Shohoku team who passed the ball,” Takamiya disagreed with Yohei’s opinion.
“Takamiya, you’re right. Since it was kicked, it must have been a pass.” Noma nodded in agreement.
“These idiots.” Ayako heard the discussion and put her hand on her forehead. “But Kakuda is really something. As a second-year senior, he is even more nervous than the first-year.”
“Good opportunity!” Sendoh’s eyes lit up and he quickly chased after the cross-country runner. The others also started running towards the Xiangbei half of the court.
As a small forward for Ryonan, Yueyue has strong fast break ability and is very fast. However, when he ran through midfield, he was surprised to find that there were already four people behind him catching up with him.
Helplessly, he had to slow down, move to the left half court, and protect the ball in his arms.
Sure enough, when he just protected the ball, two people flashed in front of him, one on the left and one on the right. They were No. 10 and No. 11 of the Xiangbei team.
“I got here first.” Sakuragi stared at the ball in Yueyue’s hand, but the words should be directed to Rukawa.
“idiot”
“Cross country, behind!”
Behind him, Sendao’s voice sounded so beautiful. Yueyue bounced the ball and it went into the hands of Sendao who was following him. Zhou Tianming also rushed over to defend Sendao.
“Take it easy, don’t rush.” ??Xiandao raised a finger, organizing his teammates while also paying attention to Zhou Tianming’s movements.
“Mingzi, let me defend Sendoh later, watch me defeat him!” Sakuragi stood in the penalty area with some jealousy. Defeating the ace of the opposing team was what Sakuragi Hanamichi wanted to do most.
Zhou Tianming glanced at Hanamichi and said, “This guy should just learn how to grab rebounds first. Let Yuzumi train you first.”
Just as he thought of this, Zhou Tianming discovered that there was no trace of Yuzumi in the restricted area.
“Not good,” Zhou Tianming thought to himself
At this moment, Sendoh in front of him suddenly took a big step to the right rear side, standing just outside the three-point line, ready to shoot.
Zhou Tianming was trying to defend, but his steps were suddenly blocked by a huge body.
“Swish!” A crisp and pleasant sound of the net being brushed was heard, but it was the net on their side that was being brushed.
55-54, Ryonan leads by 1 point.
“We finally reversed the score!” Yan Yi said happily.
“Sendoh’s three-pointer was really amazing. For other players in Ryonan, this three-pointer was far more than an ordinary three-pointer. It also cheered up the Ryonan players who had been in low morale in the second half.” Yayoi Aida naturally beautified and praised Sendoh’s goal.
“Well done!” Sendoh and Uozumi high-fived to celebrate.
On the Xiangbei side,
“Why did you miss someone?” Rukawa looked at Sakuragi with contempt.
“What did you say, asshole?”
“It’s okay, Rukawa, Sakuragi is still learning some common sense about basketball.” Zhou Tianming, who was scored against, had to take the initiative to smooth things over for them. How sad.
“But this ape didn’t stay in the restricted area to guard the house properly, and actually ran out to ruin my business. It made me angry!” Zhou Tianming looked at Yuzumi with ill intentions.
“Oh? What do you want to do?” The silent boy was no longer silent after hearing this.
“secret”
Xiangbei served the ball, Zhou Tianming quickly went down to the opponent’s half, and Sendoh and Ikegami stood one step in front of the three-point line tacitly.
Zhou Tianming looked at the two of them, cracked a smile, then dribbled the ball towards Chi Shang’s position, suddenly stopped in front of Chi Shang, and jumped up with the ball in his hand.
Sendoh and Ikegami, who had caught up, also jumped high. They were two steps outside the three-point line, but they had never seen Zhou Tianming shoot a three-pointer, and they were not sure whether this guy could shoot a three-pointer or not, so they did not intend to miss the possibility of a shot, and they tried their best to intercept the shot.
Three people were flying in the air, one held the ball but didn’t shoot, and two held their hands up.
This continued until the three people’s center of gravity began to fall. When Sendoh and Ikegami thought Zhou Tianming was going to foul, Zhou Tianming suddenly exerted force with both hands, smashed hard towards the backboard, and then fell to the ground.
Almost at the moment of landing, Zhou Tianming rushed out again, heading towards the penalty area.
There, Yuzumi and Sakuragi were holding each other’s bodies, their eyes fixed on the trajectory of the basketball. In the end, it was still the Great Ape King who evolved more completely. He squeezed Sakuragi behind him and jumped high towards the landing point of the basketball.
However, at this time Zhou Tianming also rushed to the edge of the penalty area, then pushed the ground with his right foot, and the whole person flew up, just like when he jumped from the free throw line in the second half, and was launched like a cannonball.
“It’s mine,” Yuzumi’s fingertips touched the basketball, and he thought with determination to win it.
Suddenly, a hand reached out from behind him, no, to be exact, from above him and the ball, and “picked” the ball away.
“Bang!”, then, a force of impact came from behind.
When Yuzumi landed, he lost his balance due to the impact and half-knelt on the ground. He turned his head in surprise, and all he could see was the red number 18 grabbing the basket with one hand, looking at him with a smile.
Xiangbei once again overtook by 1 point.
Chapter 47 Alley Oop (Old Version)
“Is this guy really a high school student?” Tanaoka Shigeka clenched his fists tightly until his knuckles turned white.
“What a scary guy.” The Aida siblings, who were not far away, had similar shocked expressions on their faces.
The Ryonan team attacked, Sendoh held the ball, and Zhou Tianming followed on defense, the situation was the same as before.
Slowly controlling the ball and pressing towards the penalty area, Zhou Tianming’s defensive intensity gradually increased, but he did not easily make a steal, after all, he did not want to be passed by again.
“Bang! Bang!”
Xiandao suddenly accelerated and took a big step, successfully surpassing the cross-section where Zhou Tianming’s body was. Zhou Tianming turned around and quickly chased after him, but Yuzumi just happened to run over and blocked Zhou Tianming’s route. Zhou Tianming had to bypass Yuzumi again, but this delay made him far away from Xiandao.
Seeing this, Rukawa wanted to come over to help defend, but Ikegami, as Ryonan’s number one defender, was very good at preventing opponents from interfering with his teammates, and he controlled Rukawa so well that he couldn’t stop Sendoh; Kadota, however, left behind Cross-country and came over, but Sendoh changed his footwork without slowing down, and with a beautiful back turn, he simply passed Kadota and went straight to the basket.
“Give me the ball back.”
Sendoh rushed to the basket and flew high. He was about to dunk the ball into the basket when suddenly a familiar voice came to his ears. Then the basketball in his hand was affected by external force and was knocked to the side.
Turning around, I saw Xiangbei’s No. 10 picking up the basketball.
Regarding the fact that the Ape King ignored him and went out to interfere with Mingzi, Sakuragi also made a choice, which was to disrupt Sendoh’s goal at all costs, and he did it.
Sakuragi showed a hint of pride on his face. He threw the ball far towards Zhou Tianming, and then rushed towards Ryonan’s half like an arrow.
The Ryonan players reacted and quickly returned to defense, especially Sendoh. Since the second half, he had lost count of how many times his attacks had been disrupted. No matter how steady his mind was, he became a little anxious at this time, and his speed in returning to defense was no slower than Sakuragi.
“This guy performed pretty well.” Akagi gave a high evaluation of Sakuragi’s block.
“What a talent, bastard. If I had his talent…” Mitsui hadn’t finished his words when he noticed Miyagi and the others were looking at him with a little contempt. He smiled awkwardly and didn’t continue.
Yes, Mitsui already has an unreasonable talent for three-point shooting, but he still envies Sakuragi, not knowing that others envy his three-point shooting even more.
Zhou Tianming seemed very happy after seeing Sakuragi’s excellent block. He did not rush to attack but slowly moved the ball to the three-point line.
At this time, teammates such as Sakuragi Rukawa had already taken their positions, and Sendoh also stood in front of Zhou Tianming.
This time, Sendoh did not ask Ikegami to come over to help with defense, but worked alone. His expression seemed very serious and focused.
Zhou Tianming lowered his body and accelerated his dribbling, changing direction left and right continuously, disrupting Sendao’s footsteps, then he suddenly jumped up and threw the ball towards the basket.
Laymen watch the excitement, experts watch the door. When Tian Gang saw Zhou Tianming’s powerful shot, a smile appeared on his face: This three-pointer will definitely not go in!
Just as Tiangang thought, the ball flew towards the basket at a very fast speed, and its direction seemed to be towards the upper right side of the basket. With this force and angle, several people in the restricted area were calculating where the basketball would land and preparing in advance to grab the rebound.
“Pah~Bang!” Two consecutive muffled sounds were heard, and the eyes of everyone present were as big as bells, and their mouths were opened so wide in surprise that they could fit a duck egg in them.
“How, how could this happen!?” Takeo was so shocked that he stuttered a little, looking at the Shohoku player who was hanging on the basket again, but this time it was number 10.
It turned out that when Zhou Tianming threw the ball towards the basket, the position of the ball was slightly towards Sakuragi’s direction. Sakuragi and the others knew Tianming’s shooting accuracy, and even if it didn’t go in, it wouldn’t be so outrageous.
So, Sakuragi, who had a keen sense of basketball, thought for a moment and guessed that it was a pass to him.
While Yuzumi and others were looking up at the trajectory of the ball, Sakuragi rushed forward along the baseline, jumped into the air diagonally behind Yuzumi, and caught the basketball that bounced back. His body continued to slide as if flying, and finally he slammed the basketball into the basket, and the score became 55-58.
“Wow, hahahaha, did you see my basketball player’s dunk?”
Sakuragi fell to the ground and proudly showed off to his teammates, and his demeanor seemed to be invincible under the basket.
“We must film this aerial relay, as it will be used in this issue of Basketball Weekly!” Although shocked, Yayoi Aida did not forget to collect materials and kept instructing her assistant.
“Don’t worry, reporter Aida, everything has been filmed,” the assistant said proudly.
“That’s fine.” Aida turned around and continued to watch the scene on the court with shining eyes. “The new players of Xiangbei are very strong. This year’s county competition will definitely be very exciting.”
In the next few attacks, Sakuragi began to get into the groove. Although he didn’t score any more points, he protected the backcourt rebounds very well. As long as the opponent missed the shot, the rebounds would always be his. On the offensive end, Zhou Tianming and Rukawa took turns shooting, and although they made several mistakes, they didn’t let Ryonan overtake the score.
After a few minutes, the score was 65-66 and the difference was narrowed to 1 point. Although the Xiangbei team played well, Ryonan still had the advantage in strength on the field.
The time was getting closer and closer to the 10 minutes agreed upon with Coach Anxi. Zhou Tianming knew that with the current lineup, it would be difficult to widen the score. He couldn’t help but complain to the coach in his heart. Now he and Rukawa were the only offensive points left on the court. After the opponent blocked both of them, the offense of the Xiangbei team became a little stretched and it was difficult to open up the situation.
At this time, the second half of the game had reached about eight and a half minutes. Sendoh dribbled the basketball slowly around half court. He was already a little tired. No matter who it was, facing this tall and flexible player with quick reactions, it would consume a lot of physical strength. Moreover, the opponent only came on in the second half, but he had been playing until now.
Noticing Zhou Tianming approaching him little by little, Xiandao’s forward steps suddenly stopped, and with a flick of his right wrist, the ball flew diagonally to the front court. Because it happened suddenly, Zhou Tianming only came to a position two steps away from Xiandao, and had to turn around and look back.
The basketball flew very fast, and Kakuta rushed over to steal it but couldn’t reach it, and it ended up falling into Uekusa’s hands. Uekusa received the ball and raised it to shoot. In this situation, Yasuda chose to fly to interfere, after all, with his height, it was impossible to block it.
“Not good.” When Yasuda saw Uekusa take back the basketball, he knew he had been cheated.
After deceiving Yasuda, Uekusa cut inside and ran into the penalty area in a blink of an eye. He looked up and saw the huge body of Uozumi in front of him. Without hesitation, he jumped up and shot.
At this moment, a figure of No. 10 flew high behind the person blocked by Yuzu.
A crisp slapping sound was heard, and the basketball flew sideways, but it landed exactly where Yue Yu Hongming was.
At this time, Yueyue was standing between the bottom corner three-point line and the restricted area, which was just within his shooting range, while Kakuta, who was facing him, had just intercepted the ball and ran away.
Good opportunity! Yueyue thought to himself, and after receiving the ball, he stood up and shot with a perfect posture.
“Got it!” Yueyue thought confidently.
To make matters worse, the basketball had just left his hand when it was blocked by the jumping Rukawa with a loud snap.
It’s not just a block, it’s more accurate to say that he flew up and caught the basketball thrown by the cross-country player.
The venue became noisy again.
Chapter 48: Immortal’s Counterattack (Please add to collection) (Old version)
Rukawa and his friends were shouting wildly, and it seemed that they had attracted a few more girls from Ryonan. I wonder what the single Ryonan players on the court would think when they knew about this.
“These two guys are really fighting hard.” Mitsui’s legs were still sore at this time, and he looked at the two people who were in the limelight on the court with envy.
“Coach, when are we going to play?” Akagi couldn’t sit still anymore. If they continued like this, there would be no chance for them.
Miyagi and Motomaku also looked at the coach nervously.
“Haha, almost there.” The coach took a sip of water, obviously in a good mood, “Two more minutes, you guys go do a simple warm-up first.”
“Yes!” The three of them answered happily, and then seemed to be really serious about warming up.
“These bastards!” The fire man Mitsui looked unhappy at this moment, but in his condition he really couldn’t play.
“I will definitely train hard next time to solve my physical problem!” Mitsui Shou clenched his fists and thought firmly.
“These two idiots, don’t they check to see if there is anyone defending before shooting?!” Tian Gang covered his forehead with his hands, with a very stern tone.
Yan Yi was also very embarrassed standing by. Any team would feel embarrassed if they got two blocks in a row during one attack, especially when the second block was taken by someone else.
“Coach, these two first-year students, no, three first-year students, they jumped so high. If it were someone else, the shot just now would not have been blocked,” Hikoichi tried to smooth things over for the two seniors from Ryonan.
“Huh, you’ve been playing for such a long time, don’t you know the physical condition of those Shohoku players? You’re still so careless in shooting, it seems you haven’t trained enough.” Tiangang didn’t appreciate it and was still very angry.
Yan Yi prayed silently for the two of them.
Turning the view back to the court,
After Rukawa took the basketball, he continued to act as he pleased, dribbling the ball straight to the frontcourt alone. When he stepped onto the three-point line, he suddenly stopped, dribbled back one step and shot a three-pointer.
Although Ikegami, who was defending, predicted Rukawa’s move in advance, his height and jumping disadvantage meant that his outstretched palm could only cover Rukawa’s line of sight and could not touch the basketball, so he could only pray silently in his heart that the shot would miss.
After one round of defensive counterattack, Xiangbei scored 3 points, the score was 65-69.
“He must have been lucky,” muttered Sakuragi, who had just run to the basket to grab a rebound.
“What did you say?” The silent boy obviously heard it and felt a little unhappy.
“Why didn’t you pass the ball?” Just now, Sakuragi had been asking for the ball not far from Rukawa. His running speed was much faster than Yuzuki, so no one was defending him just now. He had a chance to score another 2 points.
“Alright, alright.” Zhou Tianming saw that the two might quarrel over such a small matter, so he stepped forward to act as a peacemaker. “The game is more important, stop quarreling, be careful of the gorilla’s fist.”
The two of them couldn’t help but shudder, thinking of the hardships they often suffered during training. They stopped talking and ran back to their own half of the field.
“Sometimes gorillas are really useful,” Zhou Tianming said with emotion while running.
“It’s my fault for being careless just now,” Yueyue said somewhat frustratedly as Ryonan was preparing to serve.
“Don’t mind, we will get it back.” Sendoh took the ball and comforted Yueyue with a smile.
The game continued. Xiandao dribbled the ball forward, glanced at Zhou Tianming, and raised his right index finger high: “Don’t be anxious, score this goal first.”
“Sendoh must be under a lot of pressure.” Yayoi Aida, who was still taking notes on the sidelines, looked at Sendoh, who was sweating profusely, with heartache.
“I don’t know how Sendoh wants to play. This year’s Ryonan and Shohoku seem to be the same as last year’s Shohoku and Ryonan.” Akagi has finished warming up and is sitting in the front row, watching the court with deep emotion.
“What does this mean?” The first-year student didn’t quite understand and asked Akagi curiously.
“What Akagi means is that the strength of our two teams has been swapped, and now they are the weaker side.” Mu Mu understood Akagi very well and explained for him.
“That’s for sure! After all, I’m back,” Mitsui praised himself in the back row.
Poof~
Not daring to look at Mitsui s red and angry face, Ayako covered her mouth to stifle her laughter.
“Haha, Mitsui-senpai, even Ayako can’t stand it anymore,” Miyagi added insult to injury.
“Go to hell,” Mitsui shouted angrily at Miyagi.
Following Sendoh’s hand gestures, the Ryonan players started running again. After everyone found their positions, Sendoh moved, and just like before, he chose the familiar right side to force a breakthrough.
Zhou Tianming had suffered from this move before. He first took a big step back, and then chased in the direction of Xiandao’s breakthrough. Sure enough, Yuzumi was already standing aside, but because Zhou Tianming took a step back in advance, he happened to run past Yuzumi’s side and was not stuck like last time.
“Where’s the ball?” Standing in front of Sendao again and already in a defensive posture, the proud version of Zhou Tianming was surprised to find that the basketball in Sendao’s hand was gone.
Just when Zhou Tianming was surprised, Sendoh without the ball bypassed Zhou Tianming more flexibly and appeared behind him. At this time, Yuzumi, who had just intended to block the position, took out a basketball like a magic trick and threw it to the unguarded Sendoh.
These two people really have a good understanding of each other. Zhou Tianming thought about it helplessly and turned around to chase after Sendoh who had already received the ball.
Xiandao knew that Zhou Tianming was very fast behind him, so he rushed to the basket as fast as he could after receiving the ball. At this time, Sakuragi under the basket also opened his arms and blocked Xiandao’s dribbling route. Just when Xiandao appeared in front of Sakuragi, he suddenly jumped and dodged Sakuragi, then stood up again, grabbed the ball with both hands and dunked it towards the basket. Seeing this, Sakuragi turned half a body, jumped up and stretched out his hand to block the shot.
In a flash, Sendoh’s hands suddenly separated, and he used his left hand to grab the ball, while his right hand blocked Sakuragi’s arm.
“Bang!” A fierce slam dunk, which caused Sakuragi to commit a foul.
“Well done!” Coach Takeo was very satisfied with the goal. Excellent technique and flexible reaction are the trump cards of Ryonan!
“He touched me! Referee!” Sakuragi kept chattering in front of the referee, not accepting the referee’s decision.
“Sakuragi, stop talking!” Seeing the referee getting more and more impatient, Zhou Tianming hurried over and pulled Sakuragi aside, saying earnestly, “It will be very troublesome if you continue to pester me.”
“But”
“No buts, you still need to learn more about the rules of the court. You can ask Qingzi to give you some lessons later.”
As far as I can remember, Sakuragi seemed to have been troubled by foul problems for a while. I hope that with my arrival, Sakuragi can understand in advance how to reduce fouls.
When Sakuragi heard Mingzi suggest that Haruko teach him, he immediately forgot about the refereeing and fantasized about something with his eyes shining.
“Wahahaha, Sakuragi finally made a fool of himself and helped Ryonan get an extra point.”
“That’s right, Sakuragi, you idiot”
“Did Sakuragi want to hit the referee just now? Why didn’t he do anything?”
The Sakuragi Army waited for a long time until Sakuragi committed a foul, and they cherished this opportunity very much. They, whose purpose in life was to attack Sakuragi, finally felt not so bored anymore.
However, after hearing their words, Sakuragi did not react excessively. Instead, he waved at Haruko foolishly, leaving them all looking confused.
Sendoh stood at the free throw line and made the shot steadily.
The score was again tied at one point.
Chapter 49 Xiangbei Timeout (Old Version)
“Ayako, after this attack is over, please go to the referee and request a timeout.” The white-haired Buddha’s expression remained unchanged, and he still looked calm and composed.
“Yes.” Caizi seemed very respectful and then went to say something to the referee.
Zhou Tianming, who had just received the serve, noticed the action on the sidelines and realized that the time agreed with the coach was up. He smiled helplessly. It was really difficult to kill the game with this lineup.
“Defend! Defend!”
Seeing Sendoh’s outstanding performance just now, the fans of Ryonan felt like they were reborn from the ashes and cheered for the Ryonan team with all their might.
Zhou Tianming’s eyes were clear. The change in momentum on the court did not affect him. After receiving the pass from Kakuta, he started to speed up. At this time, among the Ryonan players, only Ikegami and Uozumi were still within the three-point line in their half, and the others were still near the center circle.
Xiandao’s expression became more and more focused. He retreated while observing Zhou Tianming’s movements.
Zhou Tianming rushed forward quickly along the left side of the court, and Sendoh moved quickly in front of Zhou Tianming to defend him. The two pseudo point guards with a height of over 190 cm faced off again. The spectators on the sidelines held their breath and watched this attack nervously.
Zhou Tianming suddenly changed direction in front of him, the ball moved to his left hand, paused for a moment, pretended to break through from the left side, suddenly changed direction in front of him again, and then changed direction for the third time, took a big step sideways to the left again, and passed through the gap between the sideline and the sendo. The whole set of technical movements was very coherent and the dribbling speed was very fast.
Sendoh reacted quickly, but after all, he was not an experienced player like Ikegami who focused on defense. He was a little fooled by Zhou Tianming’s second change of direction. When he changed direction for the third time, his steps were a little behind. However, after Zhou Tianming broke through, he still adjusted his steps quickly, turned around and chased him.
Zhou Tianming dribbled the ball faster and faster, and soon stepped onto the three-point line in the frontcourt. Sendoh, who was chasing him, was secretly surprised that his running without the ball was not much faster than Zhou Tianming’s dribbling.
But at this moment, Chi Shang also came to the three-point line to defend Zhou Tianming. Zhou Tianming rushed to Chi Shang without slowing down, and suddenly stopped. With his left foot as the axis, his body drew a perfect semicircle backwards along with his right leg, trying to turn around quickly and bypass Chi Shang in front of him.
Chi Shang had already anticipated this situation, and took a big step sideways to the right rear, just in time to block Zhou Tianming’s forward route after he turned around.
Chi Shang thought he had successfully blocked Zhou Tianming and bought time for his teammates to return to defense. At the same time, Zhou Tianming, whose body had already turned halfway, turned back quickly as if the video was played in reverse, and then continued to rush forward at the same speed. However, the difference from before was that there was no player named Chi Shang in front.
“What amazing body flexibility!” Reporter Aida looked at the scene in amazement. “With such a tall body, he can actually perform such movements. It’s amazing!”
“Dunk one! Dunk one!”
At some point, cheers from the Xiangbei bench were heard on the sidelines. The temporary cheerleading team led by Mitsui saw that Zhou Tianming had broken through two defensive players in a row and cheered for him.
Zhou Tianming looked at the basket in front of him, and as he stepped onto the free throw line, his body suddenly flew up, giving people the illusion of a dunk from the free throw line at the beginning of the second half.
“Don’t even think about succeeding!” A deafening roar was heard in the penalty area, and Ryonan’s No. 4 Ape King soared into the sky. His sturdy body coupled with his 202cm height made Zhou Tianming in mid-air look a little thin. And watching the two bodies getting closer and closer, the spectators on the sidelines felt as if Zhou Tianming would be knocked out in the next moment.
At this moment, Ayako has stood up, her knuckles were pinched white, and she stared at the court without blinking, a mixture of worry and anticipation on her pretty face. Akagi and others beside her are also watching this scene with some worry. Haruko even covered her eyes with her hands, not daring to look at the result.
In mid-air, Zhou Tianming quietly turned his body to the side, holding the basketball in his left hand. When the two made contact, Zhou Tianming’s right shoulder first touched Yuzumi’s chest. With the impact of the collision and his sense of balance, he was not knocked away. Instead, his right shoulder turned backwards and his body turned 180 degrees left in the air, bypassing Yuzumi who was between himself and the basket.
When he felt that his left half of the body was pressed against Yu Zhu’s body, but there was nothing behind his right half, Zhou Tianming knew that he had made the right bet. He calculated the position of the basket, changed the ball to his right hand, swung his right arm and dunked with his back to the basket.
“Beep!” The whistle sounded, Yuzumi committed a foul, but failed to prevent Zhou Tianming from scoring.
“Wow, what did I see through Senior Yuzumi’s back dunk?!” Yan Yi was a little incoherent. At this time, he looked at Zhou Tianming with eyes full of admiration.
“Idiot! They’re enemies, don’t be so excited!” Tanaoka punched Hikoichi on the head. Although he said that, his eyes did not leave the court. His expression was very complicated. He muttered in annoyance: “How come we didn’t find such a player before? If he joins our Ryonan and cooperates with Sendoh, let alone the county competition, even in the national competition, we will achieve unimaginable results!”
He made the free throw steadily and the score became 68-72, with less than 10 minutes left in the game.
“Beep! Request a pause.”
After hearing the referee’s announcement, the players on the field breathed a sigh of relief and walked towards the rest area one after another.
“Haha, thank you for your hard work, students. You played well.”
As soon as I walked into the rest area, I heard Anxi’s kind voice.
“Tianming, Rukawa, and Sakuragi, how do you feel about participating in your first official high school basketball game?” Ayako asked them with a smile, but her eyes were on Zhou Tianming.
“Hahahaha, everything is a piece of cake with my genius Sakuragi here.” Sakuragi’s performance just now was remarkable. Although he was still very immature, he had already shown his talent in basketball. Especially after he blocked the ball from Sendoh, he looked full of passion.
Everyone turned their eyes to Rukawa Kaede.
“Just barely enough,” the indifferent boy replied briefly.
Then turned to dawn.
“With this level, Senior Akagi, how come you lost so badly last year?” Zhou Tianming always finds the right reasons to anger Akagi.
“asshole!”
Sure enough, after hearing Zhou Tianming’s complaints, Akagi’s face turned red and black, and he wanted to take action but felt embarrassed.
Ayako spoke up for Akagi: “Don’t be rude to the senior.”
Akagi looked at Ayako with gratitude.
“Even if the seniors lost badly, that was only last year. We will definitely get revenge this year.”
The grateful look was quickly withdrawn, and Akagi continued with a gloomy face and remained silent.
“Hehe, let’s first determine the next roster,” Anzai interrupted with a smile, “After all, it’s just a training match, Tenmei-san will watch from the sidelines with Mitsui. Akagi, Mugure, Miyagi, Rukawa, and Sakuragi-san, the five of you will go on stage later, and perform well.”
There was really no need for any unnecessary encouragement. After seeing Coach Anxi finish his words and turn on the offline mode again, Zhou Tianming smiled bitterly to himself, and then sat down next to Mitsui.
“Tianming, you played really well,” Mitsui praised, “quite like me last year.”
“It’s okay, senior, why don’t you go on stage?” Zhou Tianming asked knowingly.
Mitsui’s expression froze, and he smiled awkwardly, “Ha, haha, senior is old, he needs more rest.”
After saying that, he turned his head and ignored this guy who couldn’t chat.
Chapter 50: Tianming’s End (Please collect) (Old version)
Lingnan Rest Area,
“Everyone just performed very badly,” Tian Gang looked around at the players, “If you continue like this, we will lose this game badly.”
After listening to this, Yuzumi and others lowered their heads and remained silent. The surroundings suddenly became very quiet.
Seeing that no one said anything, Tian Gang raised his hand and pointed at the Xiangbei team. He continued with a slightly angry tone: “Xiangbei’s Akagi, Mitsui, Miyagi and others were resting in the second half! And we played with a full starting lineup, but we were suppressed by them.”
After saying that, Tian Gang, whose face turned a little red, took a few deep breaths, picked up the large teacup and took a big sip of water.
Everyone secretly raised their heads to look at Tiangang, and then looked at Yuzumi tacitly.
Yuzhu’s eyes twitched. What a bunch of despicable people!
However, as the captain, Yuzumi still stood up and said, “Coach, calm down. We will definitely play well and catch up with the score.”
“Oh?” After hearing Yuzumi’s words, Coach Tanaoka, who had already suppressed his anger, teased, “What if I don’t catch up with you?”
“Uh” Yuzumi was stunned, thinking, what’s wrong with the coach? Is he starting to think about my training volume again? For a long time, Yuzumi didn’t dare to respond.
Seeing that Yuzumi was getting scared, Sendoh realized that Yuzumi was already dead and he had to take on the task himself.
“Coach Tanaoka, we should increase our outside attack. With the current height and jumping ability of the Xiangbei team, we have made too many mistakes in breaking through.” Sendoh gave pertinent advice, and seemed to remember the several times of hotpot he had just eaten, with an embarrassed expression.
“Well, this sentence is quite reliable.” Tiangang looked at Sendoh with satisfaction, and his mood gradually improved.
During the next timeout, Tian Gang arranged new tactics for several players with a serious expression, as if the upcoming game put a lot of pressure on the coach.
“Time is almost up, everyone get ready to go on stage”
Akagi issued the captain’s orders in a leader-like manner and walked into the stadium first.
“I’m already impatient to wait, watch me, the basketball player, end this game”
Sakuragi also rubbed his hands and walked towards the field with great momentum.
“Hey, you’re really energetic.”
Miyagi followed lazily behind him, but his quick pace betrayed his impatience.
When I heard this voice, I knew that Rukawa had also appeared on the field, and beside him was the gentle and elegant Murasakibara, who always had a smile on his face.
On the Ryonan side, Yanyi, who was recording the coach’s quotes, heard some noise coming from the Shohoku team and couldn’t help but look up.
“Wow! The Xiangbei team has made major adjustments to its lineup.” Yanyi said with a hint of surprise.
Only then did Tiangang realize that the break time was up, so he reluctantly ended his lecture and turned to look towards Xiangbei.
“What is this?!” Tian Gang frowned, seeming a little puzzled, but seeing Anxi sitting aside as steady as a rock, he said nothing and turned back to look at his players.
“Go ahead, let me see who is the final winner.” Tiangang signaled the players to go on the court.
“Yes!” They answered in unison and firmly, and the Ryonan group left the rest area one after another.
When the players from both sides were ready, the referee blew the whistle and the game was about to begin.
Sendoh quickly controlled the ball and crossed half court, then slowed down and looked around at his teammates. At this time, the person defending Sendoh was Shohoku No. 11.
“We meet again.” Sendoh showed his signature smile, which, combined with his spiky hair and handsome face, actually gave people a cute feeling. For example, when Yayoi Aida on the sidelines saw him, she looked like an infatuated fan.
“I don’t really want to see you” the complaining boy began to practice his skills.
“Uh” the smile froze, and Sendoh felt that the first-year students of Shohoku were more and more interesting.
Sendoh started to dribble the ball across his body, and he didn’t seem to be in a hurry. Rukawa on the opposite side felt unhappy when he saw Sendoh’s relaxed look.
Rukawa didn’t play very well against Ikegami in the last ten minutes. Apart from a few fast breaks, he was actually tightly defended by Ikegami. Moreover, Ikegami seldom attacked and spent almost all his time on defense.
This time he finally got to face off against Sendoh. He wanted to have a serious duel with Sendoh, but Sendoh looked a little unserious now. He held the ball loosely and no one knew what he was thinking.
Seeing this, Rukawa felt unhappy and prepared to take the initiative, so he stepped forward and tried to grab the ball.
Then, at the moment when Rukawa took a step forward, Sendoh suddenly changed direction of dribbling on the spot, suddenly accelerated from the right side, brushed past Rukawa’s forward body, and went straight into the three-point line!
Sendoh’s first step was so fast, and Rukawa’s center of gravity was forward at this time, so he couldn’t turn around in time and was passed by completely.
Akagi, who was originally wrestling with Yuzumi, found that Sendoh had rushed towards the basket, so he immediately focused his attention on Sendoh. He remembered that Zhou Tianming and Sakuragi had already given Sendoh several hot pots, so there was no reason why he couldn’t give one too, and he was eager to try.
Akagi adjusted his pace, chose the right moment, and jumped at the same time as Sendoh, swinging his palms towards the basketball.
However, although Sendoh jumped up, he put the ball down and passed it to Yuzumi almost hand to hand. The process was so easy.
After receiving the ball, Yuzumi cleverly chose to jump under Akagi’s arm, and used Akagi’s arm to hit the ball into the basket.
“Beep! Shohoku No. 4 committed a foul!”
After landing, Akagi had a dark face and raised his right hand to respond to the referee.
“Yuzumi, you have become bad.” Akagi said this in a stiff voice.
Hearing Akagi’s words, Yuzumi’s eye twitched. He ignored Akagi and walked straight to the free throw line.
Unexpectedly, Yuzumi made the free throw.
71-72, Xiangbei leads by 1 point.
When Shohoku attacked, Miyagi dribbled quickly to the front three-point line, but failed to shake off Uekusa, so he had to pass the ball to Rukawa who was waiting on the side.
After receiving the ball, Rukawa dribbled continuously and left Sendoh half a body length away. He took a jump shot at the right baseline, but the ball hit the back edge of the basket and unfortunately missed. However, the ball was caught by Sakuragi, who was getting better and better at grabbing rebounds, and he passed it directly to Murasakibara who was unguarded. Murasakibara took a three-point shot and the ball went in.
The score is 71-75.
The offense and defense changed, the ball crossed half court, Uekusa dangerously carried the basketball to the top of the arc, and suddenly chose to make a high pass. Miyagi looked up helplessly, and the ball was caught by Sendoh who had just run over.
Sendoh dribbled the ball at an accelerated speed and rushed into the penalty area, followed closely by Rukawa. Then Sendoh suddenly jumped to the basket and gently raised his arm holding the ball upwards, deceiving Rukawa who was chasing him. And then, Akagi also jumped up, and then the innocent Sakuragi on the side was inevitably deceived as well. The three flying men looked at each other in mid-air.
“Is this a high jump competition?” Ayako covered her forehead in embarrassment, feeling unable to watch it and extremely ashamed.
Mitsui’s eyes twitched: “I really don’t want to admit that these will be my future teammates.” After saying that, he covered his face with a towel as if he didn’t exist.
Zhou Tianming, a veteran of many battles, had experienced so many ups and downs in his past and present lives. He was also struck by lightning at this moment, and kept muttering to himself: “This won’t be contagious, right? It shouldn’t be contagious, right?”
“Brother and Sakuragi-san are so stupid.” Haruko also felt a little embarrassed.
“Hahaha, today’s trip was not in vain. We saw such an interesting scene,” the Sakuragi Army summarized.
Back on the court,
Sendoh looked up at the sky with a dazed look in his eyes, then as the three men fell one after another, he jumped up and easily shot the ball into the basket, then ran back to the half court without saying a word.
Chapter 51 Ryonan Counterattack (Old Version)
The three of them fell back to the ground. Rukawa looked at Akagi and Sakuragi expressionlessly, sighed, turned around and ran to the front court.
“Hey! You dead fox, what do you mean?” Seeing Rukawa’s disgusted expression, Sakuragi obviously couldn’t stand it.
The gorilla next to him ran to serve the baseline ball with a gloomy face.
This was just a small episode on the field, and the two sides soon launched an offensive.
Rukawa broke through with the ball four times and shot, but missed twice due to the interference of Sendoh; Murasakibara made repeated shots from beyond the three-point line, which was quite similar to Mitsui in the first half; the gorilla in the inside also scored two goals in front of Yuzumi. As for Sakuragi and Miyagi, one focused on rebounding and the other focused on controlling the ball, and neither had much desire to attack.
On the other side, Sendoh also broke through with the ball 6 times, but he took 3 shots himself and assisted 3 times, and he scored successfully in all of them. His efficiency was obviously higher than that of the freshman Rukawa. As for the others, Uozumi scored 4 points, 2 of which were dunks against Akagi, which was very exciting. The other players also scored points, which can be said to be a success.
With only 2 minutes left in the game, the score was tied at 89-89.
Miyagi dribbled the ball near the three-point line, looking for his teammates. His eyes inadvertently swept over the lazy Zhou Tianming off the court, and his heart suddenly felt a little bitter. After seeing Zhou Tianming’s performance on the court, he gave up the idea of ????a one-on-one duel with him. Given Ayako’s love for basketball and her familiarity with the opponent, there was no reason for her to choose himself and give up that guy.
At this point, Miyagi finally untied the knot that had been bothering him. His soul seemed to be sublimated, and his body floated forward easily.
Uekusa noticed that Miyagi’s expression changed several times, and he didn’t understand what was wrong with him. But no matter what happened, this was his chance. He pounced on Miyagi’s forward leaning body and quickly reached forward with his right hand.
A shadow flashed by, and Uekusa’s hand waved in vain. Miyagi, who was known for his lightning speed, really acted like lightning. He passed Uekusa at lightning speed, broke into the area protected by Akagi in the penalty area, and easily scored a layup.
“How amazing!” Yan Yi, who was standing by the sidelines, saw this scene, and his eyes sparkled with countless little stars. His excitement was beyond words. “I will definitely find a chance to ask Senior Miyagi for advice in the future.”
Indeed, in terms of height, Hikoichi and Miyagi have a kind of mutual sympathy. In terms of basketball level, Miyagi may really be able to guide Hikoichi well.
“That’s a pretty good speed,” Mitsui seemed to be used to sitting on the sidelines and commenting on his teammates. He couldn’t help but say it at this moment, as if he had forgotten his decision not to talk to the people around him.
“It’s really fast,” Zhou Tianming replied with his hands under his head, bored, “But if Senior Gongcheng can grow a little taller, playing basketball won’t be so hard.”
He glanced at Ryonan’s Uesuga and continued, “With such a fast speed and long legs, wow, who can defend against him?”
“You are such a sharp-tongued person,” Mitsui looked at Zhou Tianming with disdain.
“Haha, senior, I am urging you on.”
“Senior, no need!”
On the court, Sendoh passed the ball to Uekusa, and he went down to the opponent’s half with Rukawa following closely behind him. Uekusa controlled the ball carefully. Miyagi’s speed had just become faster, which also brought him considerable pressure.
After carefully pressing through half court, he passed the ball diagonally to Yu Yue who was at a 45-degree angle on the left side. Seeing this, Mu Mu stepped up his defense. Yu Yue made several fake moves but failed to shake Mu Mu, so he passed the ball to Yu Zumi in the paint.
Yuzumi received the ball, leaned back and turned around, creating distance between himself and Akagi, and made a hook shot in the air.
The score was 91-91, tied again.
1 minute left.
Miyagi ran with the ball, and Uekusa followed closely to defend him. Miyagi tried to change direction and accelerate several times, and once again shook Uekusa off and killed the opponent under the basket again.
However, this time he was blocked by Ikegami who focused his attention on him. Ikegami’s defensive experience was obviously not comparable to Uekusa’s. Miyagi was trapped in a dead ball situation. He saw teammate No. 10 running towards him out of the corner of his eye. Ikegami in front of him was slowly approaching him. Miyagi had no choice but to pass the ball to Sakuragi with a ground pass.
Sakuragi received the ball, glanced at the positions of Murasakibara and Akagi, automatically ignoring Rukawa, and found that they were blocked by the defensive players behind him. Without hesitation, he took two steps and stood up, imitating the gorilla’s posture and made a close-range rebound shot.
As you can imagine, Sakuragi, who had never practiced this kind of shooting, shot very crookedly this time. The ball hit the backboard and bounced off the direction without touching the basket at all, and bounced cleanly to the other side of the basket.
Akagi and Uozumi happened to be near the landing point. Both of them exerted all their strength and pressed against each other, and the friction between their tendons made a squeaking sound.
The position occupied by Yuzumi was closest to the practice ball, but while the basketball was still falling, Akagi had already jumped high and accurately took the ball away from Yuzumi’s head.
After Akagi grabbed the ball, he immediately shook his upper body upwards, tricking Yuzumi into flying up. Akagi then dribbled around Yuzumi in the air and stood up for a dunk.
“Wow, a gorilla dunk!” After the huge dunk sound was heard, the stadium was filled with sounds from all directions yet in unison.
Akagi, who was in high spirits after the dunk, looked unhappy after landing, obviously he heard the exclamations.
The Xiangbei team led by 2 points again, 91-93.
Looking at the time on the scoreboard, there were still 40 seconds left. Sendoh took a deep breath, walked to the baseline to receive the ball, and seemed to be thinking about the options for this attack.
After just a few steps, Rukawa came in front of Sendoh. Sendoh was surprised and glanced at other teammates, and found that they were all followed by Xiangbei players. Obviously, in the last period of time, Xiangbei team chose to press the whole court.
Sendoh dribbled the ball with his hands crossed, facing Rukawa in front of him, and suddenly threw the ball hard to the front right, then he quickly bypassed Rukawa from the right side and ran towards the frontcourt.
Rukawa was surprised, then turned around and quickly chased after him, but when he turned around, he saw that the direction in which the ball was passed was actually Yuzumi’s position.
Yuzumi ran back to half court from the three-point line to receive the ball. After receiving the ball, Yuzumi didn’t even think about dribbling, but directly threw the basketball in the direction of Sendoh’s running.
The ball flew very fast, almost in the blink of an eye, and appeared in Sendoh’s hands again. After receiving the ball, Sendoh did not slow down and rushed directly into the three-point line. Akagi had to step forward to defend, but was passed by Sendoh with a quick turn.
After shaking off Akagi, there was nothing in front of him. Sendoh seemed to slow down his pace, came to the basket and then took off into the air.
When Sendoh flew up, Rukawa happened to catch up, followed Sendoh into the air, and poked the basketball in Sendoh’s hand with his right hand.
“Am I going to be covered again?” Yayoi Aida closed her eyes, as if she had already planned what kind of painful expression she would use to attract Sendoh.
The sound of the basketball entering the net was heard, and at the same time the referee’s whistle sounded.
“No. 11 of Xiangbei committed a foul, the goal is valid, and one penalty is added.”
“What happened?” Yayoi Aida opened her eyes and looked at the excited Ryonan players on the court, feeling a little annoyed about her actions just now.
Seeing her assistant’s confused expression, Yayoi Aida was speechless. At this time, Tanaoka, who was not far away, seemed to have heard her question and explained: “Sendoh turned his body in mid-air. Rukawa’s shot just hit Sendoh’s hand, but Sendoh still threw the ball into the net. This is the persistence in scoring goals.”
After saying that, he looked at Xiandao with satisfaction.
Chapter 52: End of Lingnan Station (Please collect) (Old version)
The free throw was made steadily, 94-93, Ryonan led by 1 point, with only 15 seconds left.
“They are in danger now.” Zhou Tianming sat up, no longer looking relaxed. He then turned his gaze to Coach Anxi, seeming to be hesitant to speak.
Coach Anxi seemed to sense Zhou Tianming’s gaze, but he didn’t turn his head and continued to look at the court with a smile: “Tianming, you have to believe in your teammates.”
Zhou Tianming’s body trembled, and he said to Anxi sincerely: “Yes”
There were 15 seconds left. After receiving the ball, Miyagi quickly pressed forward. When the ball reached the center circle, Uekusa and Goku came over to double-team Miyagi. Seeing that there was no hope of breaking through, Miyagi jumped up and threw the ball forward with both hands.
Rukawa was trying to get rid of Ikegami at this time. Seeing Miyagi passing the ball to him, he pushed his body hard, squeezed through a narrow path, and ran towards the direction of the ball. Seeing that he was getting closer and closer to the ball, suddenly a hand appeared in the path of the ball and intercepted the ball. It was Sendoh. There were 12 seconds left at this time.
Sendoh dribbled the ball, guarding against the approaching Rukawa while carefully moving towards the sideline, intending to delay the remaining time.
The ball was switching between Sendoh’s hands and the ground. After who knows how many times, the ball suddenly didn’t return to his hands and disappeared.
The sudden change made Sendoh look down, and he saw Sakuragi suddenly pounced over and poked the basketball away while lying horizontally in the air. The basketball flew in the direction where Rukawa was, and then with a bang, Sakuragi fell to the ground.
“It hurts! You damn fox, you’re going to get in even if you have to hide!” Sakuragi, who was lying on the ground, shouted loudly.
Catching the bouncing basketball, Rukawa glanced at the lying Sakuragi, and ran towards the basket at a high speed. Sendoh also chased after Rukawa with 9 seconds left.
Ikegami came to defend, and Rukawa didn’t pause at all. He accelerated and broke through from the right side, then passed the ball to Murasakibara. He bypassed Yue Ke who was also rushing over at a faster speed, and then received a return pass from Murasakibara. At this time, Rukawa had reached the edge of the penalty area with 5 seconds left.
“Don’t even think about scoring!” Yuzumi stood in the middle of the penalty area, holding Akagi tightly to his side. His body seemed to burst out with infinite potential, and he faced Rukawa fiercely.
4 seconds
Rukawa stepped onto the free throw line and jumped up. Yuzumi also jumped up.
3 seconds
Rukawa leaned back, but did not shoot. Yuzumi swung his arm forward.
2 seconds
Yuzumi missed the ball and Rukawa threw it out
1 second
“Beep~, the game is over, Xiangbei wins!”
As the whistle sounded, Rukawa successfully scored in the last attack, and the score was fixed at 94-95. Shohoku won this trip to Ryonan.
“Huh~” Rukawa let out a long breath after landing. His expression was still indifferent, but if you looked closely you could see a hint of joy.
Sakuragi stood up unharmed, and seeing that Xiangbei had won, he happily rushed towards the gorilla who also looked relaxed and happy: “Wahaha, as expected, as long as I, Sakuragi, am around, I am invincible.”
After laughing for a while, he noticed Rukawa standing under the basket and said, “Fox, you really fooled me.”
Xiangbei team rest area,
The players on the bench hugged each other to celebrate this hard-earned victory, especially the seniors, who were particularly excited. They lost badly to Ryonan last year, but today they finally got back on track.
“Wow! We won, I’m so excited!” Zhou Tianming opened his arms exaggeratedly and rushed towards the smiling Caizi, as if to celebrate.
“Get lost!” Cai Zi’s paper fan landed accurately on Zhou Tianming’s forehead, and she snorted with a dark face: “You used this trick to trick me last time, and you dare to do it again this time!?”
“Woo” Zhou Tianming squatted on the ground, covering his forehead with his hands, as if he had suffered a great injustice.
“Oh, I didn’t expect to lose,” Coach Tanaoka sighed, “but everyone performed well.”
After saying that, Coach Tanaoka stood up and walked into the field to comfort his players.
Although it was just a practice match, the high school boys were not mentally mature enough. Look, Hikoichi Aida at the side was already wiping away tears.
“Okay, Hikoichi, it’s just a practice match, if you lose, you lose,” Aida Yayoi comforted her brother softly, “You’re already a high school student, and you still cry easily.”
Speaking of this, Miss Aida couldn’t help but imagine that if Sendoh was so sad, she would definitely use her warm chest, sweet care, and endless love to tie this handsome boy to her side until he was no longer sad. No, no matter whether he was sad or not, she would tie him to her side.
Thinking of this, Miss Aida’s pretty face turned red, and her beautiful eyes were full of charm, which scared Yan Yi, who was looking up at his sister, and he cried even louder.
“Hikoichi, Hikoichi, are you so sad because of losing the game? Alas! It’s all because of the senior’s uselessness!” When Ikegami heard the painful cry like a pig being slaughtered from Hikoichi’s side, he couldn’t help but blame himself.
“It’s finally over,” Sendoh breathed a sigh of relief, not seeming to be depressed by the loss.
“Captain, this year’s Shohoku is very strong, especially the No. 18.” Sendoh walked in front of Yuzumi and watched Shohoku’s celebration with Yuzumi.
“He does have amazing talent.” Yuzumi nodded, “We have to work harder, this year’s county competition is full of strong teams.”
After Tanaka and his teammates gave a few words of encouragement, the Xiangbei team calmed down and the players and coaches from both teams gathered together again.
“Thank you Coach Anxi for leading the team to Ryonan High School to participate in this practice match. We have benefited a lot from it.”
Tiangang bowed to Anxi.
“Oh hehe, you’ve worked hard too, Coach Tanaoka.”
Anxi responded with a smile.
On the other side, players from both teams were also communicating with each other.
“Uozumi, let’s call it a draw this time. We’ll compete in the county competition.” Akagi looked at Yuzumi, who was also a monkey, and felt a sense of mutual admiration.
“Okay, I hope you can take that step, but don’t go home halfway.” Yuzumi said sarcastically, but Akagi knew that Yuzumi was reminding him not to be careless, and his eyes were full of fighting spirit when he looked at Yuzumi.
The two apes then exchanged a friendly handshake and hug.
“Tsk tsk” Zhou Tianming looked at the two of them with great interest and really wanted to have a camera to take pictures of them!
“Zhou Tianming” Xiandao smiled and stretched out his hand towards Zhou Tianming.
Hearing someone calling him, Zhou Tianming turned around, then stretched out his hand and shook hands with Xiandao.
“I hope you can play the whole game next time, that will be more enjoyable”
“I want to, but it depends on the coach’s arrangement.”
Zhou Tianming answered honestly, then blinked and pointed at Akagi and the other man, “We don’t have to hug like that, right?”
“Sendoh! Next time you will still lose to me, the genius Sakuragi, wahahahahaha.” Sakuragi jumped out at this time, relieving the momentary silence of the two people.
“Rukawa, I let you finish the game this time, I won’t lose next time.”
Sendoh came to Rukawa and looked at him with great interest, as if he was issuing a challenge.
“I’m at your service any time.” The silent young man was indeed frugal with his words.
At this time, the third-year student Ikegami walked up to Mitsui and looked at him with a complicated expression: “I didn’t expect you to return to the court.”
“Yes, I am a man who never gives up,” Mitsui answered proudly.
“Come on, I hope we can meet in the semi-finals.” Ikegami said expectantly.
“Of course,” Mitsui said, shaking hands politely.
After Zhou Tianming finished talking with Sendo, he came to Caizi and chatted with her in a random manner, but his eyes were looking at the other players.
Miyagi and Uekusa were chatting at the edge of the team, while Hikoichi was holding a notebook and taking quick notes, sometimes thinking and sometimes excited. It seemed that they were talking about point guard techniques.
Mu Mu and Yue Yue were talking in a low voice. One was a warm-hearted man and the other was a tsundere boy. How could I not know what they were talking about?
After a few minutes, Anxi saw that it was almost time and notified everyone to go home.
Just like that, the Xiangbei army marched out of the Ryonan basketball hall in a mighty manner and ended their first game.
Chapter 53: Homecoming (Old Version)
“Hi, Ayako-san, what a coincidence!”
On the train, reporter Aida, who was sitting opposite Ayako, greeted her with a surprised expression.
“Haha, what a coincidence, reporter Aida,” Ayako responded with a smile, but the smile seemed a little stiff. This woman had clearly followed them all the way on the train.
“By the way, Ayako-san, can I ask you a few questions?” There was some anticipation in Aida’s eyes.
“Excuse me,” Ayako asked helplessly, but she couldn’t just walk away, so she could only compromise. Haruko and others who were sitting next to Ayako also looked over curiously.
“I heard from Captain Akagi that you and Zhou Tianming have known each other for a long time and have always had a good relationship, right?” Reporter Aida is no longer a teenage girl, so she asked this question very directly.
“Um, it’s okay.” Ayako lowered her head, her cheeks were hot, and her voice became very low, but in her heart she was secretly cursing Akagi for being a big mouth. He was usually taciturn, but he talked nonsense at the critical moment.
“Oh,” Aida looked at Ayako’s reaction and was a little surprised. As a woman in her early 20s, she seemed to have discovered something interesting, but this was not what she wanted to know more about. She then changed the question and asked, “When did Zhou Tianming get in touch with basketball? For example, Rukawa Kaede of your Xiangbei and Kiyota Nobunaga of Hainan were already known throughout Kanagawa before they joined high school, but no one has heard of Zhou Tianming?”
After hearing the question from reporter Aida, Ayako was silent for a while, then raised her head calmly, “I don’t know when he started playing basketball. If you are curious about this, you can go over there and ask him directly.”
As he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed to another carriage.
Then he paused and continued, “As for why you haven’t heard of it, I do know something about it. Tianming Junior High School didn’t participate in many competitions. Although he later became the captain, the team didn’t achieve any very good results, and…”
Speaking of this, Ayako seemed to recall something interesting and wanted to laugh, but seeing several curious looks, she held back her laughter. “He quit the basketball team in his fourth year of junior high school and studied for a year to successfully enter high school.”
After saying that, he noticed the confused look in Reporter Aida’s eyes, and realized that the other party might not understand, so he had to be more straightforward: “He was supposed to be a sophomore like me, but he was held back a grade in junior high school, and he quit the basketball team that year.”
“Uh” After hearing this, reporter Aida’s mouth twitched and he felt a little amused, “It’s really different.”
After that, Aida asked a few more questions. Ayako answered some of them and avoided others. The atmosphere was full of joy.
In the next carriage, Zhou Tianming was a little distressed at this time.
“Mingzi, when will Miss Haruko teach me the common sense of the game?” Sakuragi asked Zhou Tianming quietly, looking warily at the gorilla not far away, his expression unable to conceal his excitement.
Zhou Tianming held his forehead and forgot about this matter. In order to prevent Sakuragi from arguing with the referee during the game, he mentioned this matter casually, but he didn’t expect to dig a hole for himself.
“I’ll go ask her later,” Tianming said helplessly. He turned around and found Sakuragi staring at him impatiently, as if she would keep pestering him if he didn’t ask. “Okay, okay, I’ll go now.”
After saying that, Zhou Tianming stood up and walked towards the next carriage.
“Hey, you’re going to look for Ayako again.” Mitsui was bored and teased when he saw Zhou Tianming’s movements.
“Tsk, I’m going to look for Haruko,” Zhou Tianming, who was thinking about how to talk to Haruko later, said it subconsciously when he heard Mitsui’s teasing. However, as soon as he said it, Zhou Tianming felt a murderous aura coming from behind him.
At this moment, Mitsui’s gaze had turned to the window at some point, as if he had been unaware of this matter from the beginning to the end.
Sakuragi also lowered his head and glanced secretly at Akagi.
“What do you want from my sister?” Akagi’s face was very big, but it turned dark quickly. He glared at Zhou Tianming.
“Heh, heh, no, that’s not right, Captain Akagi, actually, it’s Ayako’s birthday soon, and I want Haruko to help me pick out a gift for her. You guys have to keep it a secret for me.”
Zhou Tianming’s mind was working rapidly, like a high-speed processor, and soon he came up with a plausible explanation.
“Is that so?” Akagi’s expression eased a little and he looked at Zhou Tianming suspiciously.
“Of course. If you don’t believe me, ask Senior Murasakibara.” After saying that, he made a look at Murasakibara.
Akagi turned his head and looked at Muguro. Muguro took a long time to react and nodded stiffly, “I think so, right?”
Seeing that the matter seemed to have been resolved, Zhou Tianming glared at Mitsui who was still trying to hold back his laughter, and strode towards the next room.
“Really? Zhou Tianming is actually a substitute for Xiangbei!?”
At this time, in another carriage, Yayoi Aida and Ayako Inoue were chatting animatedly, as if they had met each other too late. Haruko, who was standing beside them, was also stretching her little head to listen curiously, looking very cute.
When she was talking about how Zhou Tianming was admitted to Shohoku, she heard footsteps approaching from afar and stopped beside her. Ayako stopped talking in confusion and looked up at the sky with Aida, their expressions suddenly looking a little embarrassed.
It turned out that Zhou Tianming was looking at Caizi with a frown on his face. This girl actually told such a thing to others, and she was a reporter!
All kinds of humiliation, regret, sadness, and anger intertwined in Tianming’s mind, mixed together, and finally turned into one sentence: “Ayako, have you gained weight?”
After saying this, Zhou Tianming seemed to have forgotten the gossip he had just heard, and turned to invite Qingzi, “Beautiful Miss Qingzi, can I talk to you about something?”
“Oh” Haruko blushed and came to the connection between the carriages with Zhou Tianming.
Zhou Tianming quickly stated his request, and after listening to it, Qingzi agreed without any hesitation. Zhou Tianming, who had prepared a lot of excuses but couldn’t use them, couldn’t help but sigh inwardly that dating is indeed the most difficult thing the first time.
Afterwards, Zhou Tianming asked Haruko to watch more game videos, saying that it would be more efficient to guide Sakuragi by combining the videos. Haruko readily agreed, and it seemed that being able to help her brother’s team again would make her very happy.
Everything was explained quickly, and Haruko and Zhou Tianming returned to their respective carriages.
After returning to her seat, Haruko found that Ayako and the other girl were no longer chatting.
“Senior Ayako, what’s wrong with you?” Haruko asked in a low voice, noticing that Ayako was a little unhappy.
“Have I really gained weight recently?” Ayako hesitated, but still asked.
“Uh” Haruko was stunned for a moment, thinking of the scene before she talked to Tianming just now, she couldn’t help but smiled and shook her head, “Tianming classmate was just joking with his senior, senior sister, don’t think too much.”
“This bastard,” Caizi gritted her teeth, then looked at Haruko curiously, “What did he ask you for help with again?”
“It’s similar to last time. I’m still helping Sakuragi-san.” Haruko answered vaguely without saying what it was specifically.
Ayako knew that reporter Aida was still present, so she didn’t want to say anything more. She secretly decided to ask Tianming about it when she returned to school, and let him know how fat she was.
Zhou Tianming returned to his seat, pretending not to notice Akagi’s questioning gaze, and looked to the other side guiltily. Rukawa was already asleep, and Sakuragi fell into his own world after making an OK sign. Mitsui Masaru and Miyagi were also chatting. Zhou Tianming looked at his teammates quietly, looking forward to the arrival of the county competition.
Chapter 54: A Trip to the Shoe Store (Old Version)
The next morning, Zhou Tianming got up early and jogged to his yard for morning exercises as usual, and then went to the gym to practice dribbling and shooting. The already remote yard was even quieter in the early morning, with occasional sounds of birds singing and the tinkling of wind chimes in the breeze.
Swish!
A graceful arc passed over the stadium, and the basketball went through the net for the umpteenth time. Zhou Tianming, who was sweating slightly, completed his morning exercise plan and murmured, “My three-point shooting rate is getting higher and higher. I should be able to use it in the county competition.”
Suddenly, he seemed to remember something interesting. “I wonder what kind of expression Mitsui would have if he saw this?”
After talking to himself for a while, Zhou Tianming walked out of the gym, went to the villa to take a shower, ate something simple, then put on some clean clothes and went out to the place where he had agreed to meet Caizi and the others.
Thinking of the scene when he invited Ayako to go shopping after arriving at the station yesterday, he couldn’t help but smile bitterly. Ayako was told by him that she had gained weight and asked him to pay for the shopping. But when Sakuragi heard it, he also asked to go shopping. Did he think his red hair was not enough as a light bulb? And what about Haruko also wanted to go shopping? Couldn’t she see the gradual change of expression on Akagi’s face? !
After thinking about it for a while, Zhou Tianming felt a little depressed in his chest. He took a few long breaths and slowly calmed down.
Forget it, let’s just take it one step at a time and just treat it as a chance encounter with them on a date.
After figuring this out, Zhou Tianming’s mood improved and he continued towards his destination humming a tune.
The morning sunshine shone on the crowded streets, making me feel warm all over. I walked comfortably for about 10 minutes, and finally the agreed park gate appeared in my sight.
Zhou Tianming looked towards the entrance of the park. Maybe because it was Sunday, there were many people gathered here in the morning. While Zhou Tianming was looking for Ayako, he was wondering if Ayako had arrived early. If she had arrived early, should he stand up Sakuragi and the other two? Just when he was thinking about it, he heard a familiar shout.
“Mingzai, here! Here!”
Hearing the voice, Zhou Tianming turned his head somewhat awkwardly. Sure enough, he saw Sakuragi in a white shirt, waving at him from behind, and then ran to his side.
“What a coincidence, Mingzi, you just arrived too?” Sakuragi seemed very happy.
“Haha, yes, what a coincidence,” Zhou Tianming said unhappily, but maybe with this guy joining in, today’s shopping might be very interesting.
Zhou Tianming, who kept reminding himself like this, suddenly noticed that there were four sneaky figures following Sakuragi.
Tianming’s face tensed, and he asked Sakuragi uncertainly: “Hanmichi, have you told anyone about today’s date?”
Sakuragi was stunned at first, then waved his hand as if it was no big deal, “No one, I just boasted to Yohei and the others yesterday, we are all one family.”
At the end of his words, Sakuragi realized something was wrong and turned back quickly, staring fiercely at a certain bush.
“Ah~ha. Have we been discovered?” Yohei walked out of the bushes, not looking embarrassed at all.
“What a shame! I was discovered before I could even see anything interesting.” Danan seemed a little depressed.
“It’s all Takamiya’s fault. He was so fat that he couldn’t hide, so he was discovered.” Noma also came out and pointed at a round object behind the bushes.
“Damn it!” Takamiya’s voice came from the bushes, “Someone, someone help me, I’m stuck.”
Zhou Tianming covered his forehead with his hands. He was not afraid of god-like opponents, but was afraid of pig-like teammates.
Afterwards, Sakuragi kicked Takamiya out, and everyone walked to the park gate and began to wait for Ayako and the others.
A few minutes later, Ayako and Haruko arrived here. It turned out that Ayako went to pick up Haruko first, which delayed her for some time.
Caizi wore a pair of pink sunglasses today, her long black hair was not tied up, and her slightly plump figure was fully exposed under the blue and white striped short shirt and brown and black trousers. Haruko next to her was dressed in a different style, a pink dress and a pair of white canvas shoes. With her pure and lovely appearance and playful short hair, she looked like a beautiful and lively young girl.
Not only Tianming Sakuragi was watching intently, but the young men and women passing by on the street also secretly glanced at him from the side.
“Yohei, you guys are here too,” Haruko noticed Sakuragi from behind and greeted him happily.
“Hanamichi insisted on dragging us along,” Yohei said awkwardly, pointing at Sakuragi who was still staring at Haruko.
Haruko turned and looked at Sakuragi.
“Yes, yes, they are free, so I took them with me.”
Suddenly meeting Haruko’s eyes, Hanamichi was a little at a loss and spoke hurriedly.
“We’ll talk about this later. Now that everyone is here, let’s decide where to go next.”
Seeing Sakuragi’s embarrassment, Tianming had to step forward to help and asked everyone.
“Let’s go look at some basketball shoes. The county competition is coming up soon, so it’s better to prepare a new pair of shoes just in case.”
Ayako suggested first.
“I want to go to the video store and see if they have any basketball game discs for sale.”
Haruko also added.
The remaining few male compatriots are only good at following instructions when it comes to shopping.
“Well, how about we go look at shoes first and then buy discs?” Zhou Tianming concluded.
“good”
“I know a pretty good shoe store that’s cheap. Let’s go there first and have a look,” Haruko said to everyone with a smile.
“Lead the way,” Zhou Tianming said seriously. He was very happy to see it help him save money.
Everyone strolled towards the direction of the shoe store that Haruko mentioned, chatting about interesting things during the team’s training. The Sakuragi Army occasionally revealed some gossip about Sakuragi, making the innocent little boys’ expressions sometimes happy and sometimes embarrassed.
“Haruko, does your brother know that you came out today?”
As they were chatting, Tianming suddenly remembered something and asked Haruko curiously.
“I know. When Sister Ayako came to see me, it was my brother who sent me out.”
“Huh? Why didn’t Akagi follow us?” Zhou Tian was obviously confused.
“Don’t worry. Brother knows that I’m out playing with Mingzi and Sister Ayako, so he’s very relieved,” Haruko smiled mischievously.
“Hehe, hehe” Ayako, who was standing by, twitched her lips when she heard Haruko’s words, but she didn’t respond. She thought in her heart, you’ll know whether I can be relieved or not soon.
“Don’t call me Mingzi!” Zhou Tianming breathed a sigh of relief, but suddenly realized what Qingzi called him and said unhappily.
“Isn’t that what Sakuragi Yohei always calls you?”
“I pointed out their mistakes, but they didn’t listen”
“Oh, I see, Mingzai”
Zhou Tianming was speechless. This girl looked very quiet, but she was actually very bad and vicious inside.
As they were chatting and laughing, the shoe store appeared not far away and everyone happily walked into the store.
“Welcome, everyone,” the mustache-wearing store manager greeted politely.
After everyone greeted him, they began to choose their favorite styles.
Zhou Tianming followed Caizi and enthusiastically helped her choose. He quickly selected a pair of light blue women’s sports shoes. After putting them on, Caizi found them very beautiful and comfortable, so she decided to buy this pair.
Then the two began to choose basketball shoes for Zhou Tianming. Zhou Tianming was not picky about shoes and chose an ordinary Jordan III. When the two finished selecting, everyone tried on the new shoes and were all very happy.
The mustache store manager saw so many people wearing new shoes, and it seemed that they didn’t plan to change anymore. He was already laughing inside, but he still had a polite smile on his face, and said slowly: “Hello! A total of eight pairs of new shoes, a total of 500,000 yen, would you like to pay separately or all at once?”
Hearing the manager’s question, everyone was about to pay, but Caizi suddenly stopped everyone and pointed at Zhou Tianming: “Mingzi paid for everyone today, let’s celebrate the victory over Ryonan.”
After saying that, he winked at Zhou Tianming, pulled everyone out of the shoe store, leaving Zhou Tianming standing there in a daze.
Chapter 55: Trouble on the Road (Old Version)
“Sir, what do you think?”
The store manager with a mustache was a little embarrassed. He could tell at a glance that these students were high school students. He didn’t know if the tall boy in front of him could come up with 500,000 yuan to pay the bill. If he couldn’t, he would have to pack the shoes again, which would be a hassle.
Just as I was daydreaming, the young man in front of me took out a card tremblingly, then gritted his teeth and said slowly: “Swipe, card!”
“OK”
He took the credit card swiftly, and while operating the instrument skillfully, the man with a mustache politely said to Zhou Tianming: “Judging from your height, you should be on the school basketball team. I wonder which college you are from?”
“Xiangbei” Zhou Tianming answered unhappily, still feeling sorry for the money, even though he usually charged this amount of money just to have the housekeeper take care of the yard a few times.
“Oh? Chengbei? Which school is this?” The store manager with a mustache was a little confused. He thought the student in front of him was from Hainan or Xiangyang.
“It’s Shohoku! It’s the university that is about to defeat Hainan, Shoyo, and Ryonan.” Seeing that the other party had heard it wrong, Zhou Tianming had to emphasize it again.
The mustache store manager was obviously stunned after hearing this. His hands trembled and he almost dropped the card machine in his hand.
After a while, the mustache man finally came to his senses. He looked a little unhappy and said with some disdain: “Young man, you should still be down-to-earth. It’s not a good habit to brag.”
“Hey, manager, are you their fan?” Zhou Tianming looked at the man with a mustache meaningfully.
“Of course, Hainan has been the champion for 16 consecutive years. I go to see it every year,” the store manager said with pride.
“How about we make a bet?”
“What bet?” The man with a mustache was a little surprised.
“I’m betting that our Xiangbei team can defeat Hainan! If our team beats Hainan, I’ll come here to buy shoes at a 50% discount in the future. If we lose, I’ll buy eight more pairs.” Zhou Tian was obviously very confident.
“No problem, let’s bet!” After a moment, the store manager with a small moustache smiled and accepted the bet, which seemed to him to have no suspense.
By the way, the payment has been made. I ll return the card to you, he said, handing the card back to Zhou Tianming.
“Do you want to sign a written agreement or something?” Zhou Tianming hammered in the bricks and nailed the corners, not wanting to leave any loopholes.
“Hey, I trust you as a person. You are worthy of my trust for spending 500,000 yuan on shoes for your friend.”
“I’m afraid you’ll cheat”
“…” The mustache shop manager was silent for a while, with a frown on his face, “I’m already this old, and I cheated a high school student like you. How can I keep this shop going?”
Afterwards, under the unhappy gaze of the mustache-wearing store manager, Zhou Tianming walked out of the store and reunited with his partners.
“Why is it so slow? Is there not enough money?” Caizi teased.
“You were worried that I didn’t have enough money, so why didn’t you come in to save me?” Zhou Tianming looked at Caizi hatefully. No wonder this guy agreed to go out on a date so readily.
“We specialize in targeting the rich. If we really make you poor, we will have accomplished our mission.” Caizi looked serious and ignored Zhou Tianming’s complaints. “Let’s go to the video store.”
After saying that, he pulled Haruko, whose face was a little red, and happily led the way.
“Hey, Sister Ayako is so awesome!”
“Yeah, Mingzai lost his temper after just a few words.”
“With just one sentence, Mingzai paid 500,000 yuan. He is truly a role model for our generation.”
“Stop talking, the big sister has gone far away. We have to follow the big sister’s footsteps and hang out with her from now on.”
The four members of the Sakuragi Army discussed in a low voice, and finally reached a unanimous decision. They quickly followed Ayako, walking in the steps of a younger brother following his older brother.
Seeing this, Zhou Tianming felt that his money was wasted. He nudged Ying Mu beside him and said, “Why did your good brothers betray you?”
“Wait for me! Let me join in!” Sakuragi ignored Tianming and rushed towards Yohei and others like the wind.
Zhou Tianming was left alone again, stunned and disheveled in the wind.
The group quickly walked around the video store, and apart from some American NBA videos on sale, they couldn’t find any county tournament videos. After asking the store manager, they found out that the sales of that kind of stuff were too poor, and no one bought them, let alone sold them.
Everyone walked out of the disc store somewhat disappointed, during which some minor incidents occurred.
There were a few hooligans with colorful hair in the disc store. When they saw Ayako and Haruko, their eyes immediately lit up. They followed them out of the video store, and when there were fewer pedestrians around and they moved a little further away, they immediately surrounded them.
“These two girls are so beautiful, I like them both”
“Yeah, it’s really beautiful, I like it too.”
I like this hot girl.
“This lovely one belongs to me.”
“Hey, you little brats, this is none of your business, get out of here, these two girls stay.”
Suddenly, six hooligans surrounded them, all dressed in biker uniforms. They looked nonchalant, but they each held some weapons such as baseball bats and wooden sticks in their hands, and looked very arrogant.
“Who are you? If you stop us again, I will call the police!” Caizi looked at the six people in front of her viciously, her pretty face turned red with anger, and said angrily.
Haruko beside her was even more at a loss as tears gradually appeared in her eyes, making her look even more pitiful.
“Haha, I like this personality.” The young man who looked the biggest and strongest in the lead looked Ayako up and down with a somewhat unscrupulous look.
“Yingmu!” Zhou Tianming’s face was as dark as water, and he was obviously very angry, but he still kept his sanity and warned, “Be careful of their weapons, don’t hurt yourself, otherwise you won’t be able to participate in the county competition.”
After saying this, he pounced on the leading young man like a tiger pouncing on its prey.
“Don’t worry.” Sakuragi, who had long been unable to contain his anger, led the four members of the Sakuragi Army and rushed towards the remaining five people.
For a moment, the sound of sticks breaking through the air, the dull sound of impact, and the miserable screams were intertwined and continuous.
Not long after, the scene returned to calm again. The six thugs who had been so arrogant just now were now lying on the ground in various shapes. Their bruised faces and noses proved that they had indeed been beaten badly.
“Huh.” Zhou Tianming straightened his clothes and looked at the people on the ground with disdain. “What a shame for the gangster world, so vulnerable!”
The five Sakuragi people behind him also dusted off the dust on their bodies, but they had some skin injuries on their faces or foreheads. They looked at Zhou Tianming in surprise.
“Ming Zai, I didn’t expect you to be so good at fighting. The opponents are several adults.”
Sakuragi smiled sincerely, as if he had found someone like him.
Zhou Tianming curled the corner of his mouth and ignored this single cell with a strange idea.
Ayako and Haruko also came over at this time, concerned about whether the few people were injured, and praised them for their bravery, which made Sakuragi and the others feel a little elated again.
“By the way, to thank you for your heroic performance just now, I will let Mingzi treat everyone to a meal,” Caizi said solemnly.
“What?” Zhou Tianming’s eyes widened. “It seems that I am also one of the people you should thank, right?”
“Invite me or not?” Caizi said angrily, “You said you would treat me to a meal last time, but you haven’t fulfilled your promise yet.”
“Well, okay then.” Zhou Tianming lowered his head weakly, while the others cheered happily.
“Then let’s ask Mingzai to treat us to something to eat?” When it comes to food, Gao Gong is obviously the most concerned.
“Of course it’s a special Chinese meal.” Caizi smiled mysteriously. Seeing that she had successfully aroused everyone’s curiosity, she continued leisurely: “Let’s go buy some groceries, and then go to Mingzai’s place and let him cook.”
“Oh?” Everyone’s expression was surprised and doubtful, only Haruko had anticipation in her eyes after hearing it.
“Is the food made by Mingzai really edible?” Gao Gong was a little worried. This was an important matter related to his meals and he could not afford to be careless.
“Don’t worry, I’ve eaten it and it’s delicious,” Ayako assured, patting her chest.
So, everyone ignored Mingzai’s unhappy expression and went to the supermarket to buy food, chatting and laughing.
Chapter 56 Xiangbei Dinner (Please collect) (Old version)
It was already afternoon when the group bought the materials and rushed to Zhou Tianming’s yard.
“What a remote yard. Mingzai, is your home in the countryside?”
Sakuragi always speaks his mind directly and doesn’t know how to use subtle words.
“Ugh” Tianming was so angry that his teeth were itching. He paid for the shoes and treated everyone to a meal, but he still had to suffer a mental blow. Oh, he was not careful in making friends.
Ignoring Sakuragi’s sympathetic look, Zhou Tianming silently pushed open the door.
The afternoon sun is hot and dazzling, shining on every corner of the courtyard. The sparkling blue swimming pool, the colorful garden, the classical and upright stadium, and the porcelain-white villa make this yard very impressive.
Just like Ayako’s reaction when she first came to the door, Sakuragi and others were also shocked by the scene in the courtyard. They walked into the gate and looked around with surprised expressions.
“I finally understand why Sister Ayako let Mingzi pay the bill.” Mito Yohei had a complicated expression.
“Damn it, I picked a pair of cheap sneakers to save money,” said Kumaji Oonsuki with a regretful tone.
“Every failure makes us wiser. We will never show mercy to the local tyrants in the future,” said Noma Tadaichiro with a determined look.
“Don’t stop me from eating later. I want to eat to my heart’s content.” Gao Gongwang felt that he had to be practical.
Tianming, who was not far away, felt as if his blood pressure was a little high after hearing their conversation.
Suddenly, several sounds of ball bouncing were heard from the gym in the yard, reaching everyone’s ears.
Everyone turned around and looked at Zhou Tianming in confusion, except Caizi who seemed relatively calm.
“Is there anyone here?” Zhou Tianming suddenly had a bad premonition and led everyone to the entrance of the stadium. After pushing open the door and looking inside, he felt as if struck by lightning and stood there in a daze.
“What’s wrong?” The people behind him became even more confused after seeing Tianming’s reaction. They poked their heads in to look inside. After seeing clearly, their expressions became very strange, but they still greeted everyone in the gym.
That s right, at this moment in the stadium, the gorilla was looking towards the door with a little pride, his jersey was soaked with sweat.
“Idiot, why did you come here just now?” Akagi’s loud voice will always be Akagi’s loud voice, which is not something ordinary people can compare to.
“Captain? Xiaosan, Liangtian, Brother Yanjing, oh, or that dead fox, why are you all here?” Sakuragi scratched his head, looking puzzled.
“Of course it’s routine training. As a member of the basketball team, don’t you have any awareness and don’t know what to do and when?” Akagi scolded.
“But, but isn’t this Mingzai’s home? And today is our day off.”
“Stop talking nonsense, change your clothes quickly and join the training!” Akagi ordered forcefully without listening to any explanation.
Zhou Tianming also reacted at this time, sighing and accepting his fate, and asked: “How did you get in?”
“Hi, Mingzai, long time no see”
Akagi was about to answer when a fat guy appeared from nowhere on the sidelines and greeted Zhou Tianming with a flattering look.
Hearing this familiar voice, Zhou Tianming sighed to the sky. He guessed it was like this without asking. He shouldn’t have given Kotaro a spare key.
Afterwards, Akagi led several regular players of the Shohoku team to start 3v3 practice. Akagi, Mitsui and Mure were on the first team, Miyagi, Rukawa and Sakuragi were on the first team, and Ayako was the referee.
On the sidelines, Haruko, Fatty and Mito gathered together to watch the fun. As for Zhou Tianming, he went to prepare dinner with a melancholy mood.
However, what made Tianming happy was that Haruko and Yohei came over to help not long after. Although Haruko, the confused little guy, seemed to be making more trouble, surprisingly, the dishes cooked by Yohei and Takamiya tasted very good. Dansu and Noma were also very efficient in washing and cutting vegetables, which saved Zhou Tianming a lot of trouble.
Zhou Tianming, whose mood improved, couldn’t help but sigh in his heart. It seems that every problem teenager has an unrecognized sadness. Looking at the hands-on ability of these guys, he knew that they had done a lot of these at home.
Thanks to everyone’s help, the dinner started more than an hour earlier than expected.
At the dinner, everyone was eating happily and enjoying themselves, especially Takamiya, who really fulfilled his promise and could not be stopped. By the end of the meal, he could no longer stand up.
After dinner,
Wow, life here is pretty good.
After eating and drinking his fill, Mitsui lay comfortably on the carpet with a look of satisfaction on his face.
Rukawa Kaede also looked around thoughtfully: “It’s really good, it would be better if it was closer to the school.”
“Hey, hey, hey, what do you mean?” Zhou Tianming asked unhappily, “Do you still want to live here?”
Rukawa and Mitsui immediately kept silent and pretended to look away.
“The Chinese food made by Mingzai is really delicious.” It was the first time that Haruko had such authentic Chinese food, and she is still savoring it.
Zhou Tianming was very pleased to hear this and was about to praise Qingzi for being sensible, but the gorilla spoke up.
“It’s okay. If you want to eat it later, I’ll bring you here.”
After hearing this, the Xiangbei players started chattering and making a noise.
“Captain, don’t forget to call me!”
“And me.”
“+1”
Zhou Tianming thought to himself that after they left, he would definitely hang a sign on the gate: No entry for outsiders.
Time passed quickly. After everyone had a good rest, they said goodbye and went home. When Akagi took Haruko and Sakuragi away, only Zhou Tianming, Ayako and the fat boy were left in the yard. The yard was missing the hustle and bustle just now, but felt a little more deserted.
“Mingzi, your friend named Takamiya is such a big eater, I actually lost to him.” Kotaro seemed a little disappointed and a little bit unbelievable. Perhaps this was the first time in his life that he lost to someone in eating.
“Well, huh?” Zhou Tianming smiled bitterly and shook his head, thinking of how Gao Gong Wang was helped out by Danan and Noma just now. Then he turned his head and looked at Kotaro with ill intentions, “Are you staying here to return the key to me?”
“What did you say?” Kotaro looked confused.
“I said,
Before Zhou Tianming finished speaking, Kotaro rushed out the door at a speed that didn’t match his size. His voice was still echoing in the air: “You guys chat first, I have something else to do, so I’ll leave first. Bye.”
“This guy is still the same as always.” Zhou Tianming looked at Caizi helplessly and said, “Let’s go. I’ll take you back.”
“oh”
The two walked side by side on this familiar road. Zhou Tianming secretly held Caizi’s hand at some point. Caizi’s body stiffened, but she did not struggle. She let Tianming hold her, but she looked a little shy.
The evening breeze rustled the leaves on the roadside, and the fiery clouds in the sky merged into one, bright red, reflecting on the faces of the boy and girl. It was hard to tell whether the redness on their faces was the color of sunset or the color of shyness.
“Tianming, you’re not angry about what happened today, are you?” After a moment of silence, Ayako spoke first.
“Of course I will, I’m so stingy,” Zhou Tianming teased Caizi.
“I heard someone was going to pick out a birthday present for me.”
“Ah? You know everything, gorilla, you have a big mouth.”
“Hehe, today is my punishment for you lying about my birthday.”
“Oh, okay.” Zhou Tianming seemed like a defeated rooster, but immediately looked at Caizi with gentle eyes.
“Ayako, be my girlfriend.”
The sudden confession made Ayako pause for a moment, and then she just stood there, standing there quietly, and the atmosphere became quiet again.
After a while, Caizi’s expression did not change much. She did not refuse politely, nor did she nod shyly. Instead, she raised her head and looked at Zhou Tianming seriously, which made Zhou Tianming feel a little embarrassed.
After a while, Ayako’s voice came out slowly.
“Sure, but we have to wait until Xiangbei gets the ticket to the national competition.”
“Really?!” Tianming’s nervous expression relaxed and turned into surprise.
Ayako blushed and stopped talking.
“Keep your word”
Zhou Tianming’s happy voice echoed in the air.
Chapter 57 Futian (Old Version)
While Zhou Tianming and Ayako were strolling on their way home, enjoying their time together, in another corner of Kanagawa, on a street court, an ugly-faced boy was practicing basketball desperately.
“I need to make another fifty shots.” The boy was breathing heavily, his sweatshirt was soaked, as if he had just been fished out of the water. But his eyes were determined. He wanted to become stronger, to become the best, so that he could return to the team and play basketball with everyone again.
The afterglow of the setting sun fell on the boy’s ugly face, reflecting his determined gaze. Not far away, a middle-aged man in a green shirt was standing in the corner of the venue, looking over here intently, paying attention to this glowing boy.
“Huh~” He just made the 50th shot. The boy stretched out his limbs and lay exhausted on the court, enjoying the sense of accomplishment that belonged to him.
The sky gradually darkened. After resting for a while, the boy stood up and walked towards the basketball under the rack, apparently to take the ball home.
At this time, footsteps were heard not far away, and the sound was getting closer and closer. The boy obviously heard it, but since he started playing basketball here, he has always been alone and never with others. He was about to leave here at this time, so he was not interested in who the person was and was thinking about going home early.
“Fukuda, report back to the team tomorrow,” the middle-aged man in green shirt walked behind the young man and said softly.
It turns out that the middle-aged man is the head coach of the Ryonan team, Shigekazu Tanaka. The boy standing in front of Tanaka is Yoshitaka Fukuda, who was expelled from the basketball team for being disrespectful to the coach.
“Coach, coach!” Hearing this familiar voice, Futian turned around immediately, his voice full of disbelief. You know, at the beginning, he had a very serious conflict with the coach in the team, and in the end, he even got into a fight. If the school knew about this, the only result would be expulsion.
However, Takeoka simply kicked him out of the team and did not pursue the matter. This made Fukuda regret his ignorance at the time and he was very grateful to Coach Takeoka.
“Futian, come back to the team and play with everyone. I was wrong at the beginning.” Tian Gang was very sincere. He stood on the sidelines and watched the child in front of him practice silently for an afternoon. With such persistence and love for basketball, what else can he ask for? He should guide him to play basketball correctly instead of shutting him out.
“I was wrong before. I shouldn’t have been so strict with you and nitpicking. Teacher, I will…”
Before Tian Gang could finish his words, Fukuda was already in tears and crying loudly like a wronged little boy.
Tian Gang didn’t continue speaking, but just sighed and patted Fukuda’s shoulder.
At this point, another super attacker of Ryonan officially returned to the team.
The next day,
Xiangbei High School, Grade 3, Class x
“Akagi, I still can’t believe it. We actually beat the Ryonan team that made it to the semi-finals last year.”
Mu Mu had dark circles under his eyes and looked quite excited. He probably was too excited to sleep well last night.
“Look at your little achievement. Don’t forget our goal. This is the only way to reach our goal.” Akagi taught Mugure seriously, “You have to keep a calm mind. In the future, we will win against Shoyo and Kainan.”
“Oh~” Murasaki looked at Akagi’s darker eyes and nodded thoughtfully.
“Maybe you’re right. With the addition of new players like Tenmei, Rukawa, and Sakuragi, plus the return of Mitsui,” Mugure’s eyes showed a fascination, “we really have a chance to dominate the country!”
“Idiot! Why did you say that?” Hearing the last four words of Murasakibara, Akagi subconsciously covered his forehead, feeling powerless all over, as if something he didn’t want was about to happen.
In fact, it is true.
“Squeak”, the classroom door was opened vigorously, and a man wearing the third grade uniform suddenly appeared, his eyes looking directly at Akagi: “To dominate the country, our judo club, I, Aota Ryuhiko, will be the first to achieve it, Akagi!”
Murasaki lowered his head with an expression as if he had done something wrong. He felt very regretful and wondered why he had forgotten about this person.
“Qingtian, please don’t come running over from the next class every time we talk about dominating the country,” Akagi looked helpless, and there was even a tone of request in his voice. He must be annoyed by this man.
Noticing that all the students in the class were looking at him curiously, Qingtian felt that he was being a little abrupt, so he shrank back and said, “Anyway, I will enter the national competition before you.”
After saying that, he ran away without looking back.
“This guy…” Akagi smiled bitterly and shook his head helplessly.
Basketball Hall,
“Kumure, next time you say the words ‘dominate the country’, you must be careful about the situation. I don’t want to see that person rush into the class to challenge me again.”
While changing his jersey, Akagi gave earnest instructions to Murasakibara.
“I got it, Akagi.” Mumu also felt tired and secretly decided that he would never mention these four words in class again!
Soon, intense training began in the basketball hall. One thing I want to mention here is that in addition to the required basic dribbling, Sakuragi added team passing exercises, which was a big step forward, although the training volume was much higher than others.
“Pa! Pa! Come here everyone.” Ayako walked into the gym at this time, clapped her hands and called everyone to gather, with a magazine in her hand.
Everyone quickly gathered around Ayako, and Akagi and the others were curious about what had happened that caused Ayako to interrupt everyone’s training.
Ayako took out the magazine, which turned out to be the latest issue of Basketball Weekly. She quickly turned to the page she had folded before, and a line of big bold words was particularly eye-catching: The rise of Shohoku, the powerful dark horse of Kanagawa!
“Wow!” After seeing the title, everyone was obviously stunned, then exclaimed and started chattering and asking questions.
“Quiet!” Captain Akagi’s loud voice was indeed effective, and the stadium became quiet instantly.
“This should be written by reporter Aida who went to Ryonan with us that day. It’s about our practice match.” Akagi analyzed the source and then told Ayako: “Ayako, read it to everyone.”
Caizi rubbed her ears and complained in her heart: You have such a loud voice, why do you let me read it?
However, he only dared to think about it in his mind, and obeyed the captain’s order verbally. He took the “Basketball Weekly” in front of him and slowly read it aloud.
“Shohoku’s head coach, Anzai Mitsuyoshi, is a former national player and former excellent university basketball coach. He has coached many outstanding basketball players and is a well-known leader in Japanese basketball. With such a coach, the level of Shohoku’s players will rise very quickly.”
“Shohoku’s No. 4 and captain, Akagi Takenori, is considered the top center in the prefecture. In last year’s prefectural tournament, he suppressed Ryonan’s Uozumi, who was in the top four, leaving him with no room to play. He can be said to be a national-level center.”
“Shohoku’s No. 14, Mitsui Hisashi, was once the best player in the prefecture. He was late for two years due to an injury, but he has made a strong comeback this year. In the practice match with Ryonan, he made 6 consecutive three-pointers in the first half. He still has the demeanor of a former MVP. I believe that he will be a scoring machine for Shohoku after he has fully recovered.”
Chapter 58 Appeared in Basketball Weekly (Please collect) (Old version)
“In addition, Shohoku’s No. 7, a small player with lightning speed, Miyagi Ryouta, has been the team’s main point guard since his freshman year of high school. His excellent ball handling skills, flexible and varied breakthrough methods, and running speed that is unmatched by ordinary players will surely give them a headache no matter which team they play against.”
Hearing this, Miyagi, who was standing aside, curled his lips and cursed the reporter inwardly: Why do you have to emphasize the short players!
“The next thing I want to talk about is the new blood that has joined Xiangbei High School.”
“Shohoku’s No. 11, super rookie Rukawa Kaede from Toigaoka Junior High School, is 187cm tall and handsome, and is definitely one of the top players in the county. In the practice match with Ryonan, he played against Sendoh most of the time. Although he was immature and had some shortcomings throughout the game, his 22 points in the game and his amazing buzzer-beater at the last moment proved his strength.”
Everyone couldn’t help but look at Rukawa after hearing this. Many people didn’t know that Rukawa had gotten such a high score without making any noise, but Rukawa still had a blank expression on his face.
“No. 10 of Xiangbei, the red-haired Sakuragi Hanamichi from Wako Junior High School, is a beginner in basketball, but his strength, jumping ability, and stamina are very good. Moreover, even though he has just started learning basketball, he has already demonstrated amazing rebounding skills. During the period when Akagi was resting, he played against Uozumi and his rebounding ability was no less than Uozumi’s. Uozumi is 14 centimeters taller than Sakuragi.”
When Sakuragi heard that they were talking about him, his ears seemed to grow wider, and after listening, he actually blushed.
Zhou Tianming, who was standing by, couldn’t help feeling a little nervous after listening to Sakuragi’s introduction. This reporter Aida was really something. It would be fine if the basketball magazine just talked about basketball, but he had to report words like “short”, “handsome” and “red hair”. He didn’t know what he would say about himself.
“The last person we talked about is No. 18 of Xiangbei, Zhou Tianming,”
Having read this, Caizi paused, glanced at Zhou Tianming who seemed to be expecting something, and raised her voice slightly.
“This player only played for 10 minutes in the practice match, but his two amazing dunks from the free throw line, several blocks, steals, as well as superb ball control skills and accurate passes once brought the morale of the Ryonan team to the freezing point. He can be said to be the strongest trump card of Xiangbei.”
Everyone turned their heads and cast envious and jealous looks at Zhou Tianming.
Zhou Tianming also had a slightly smug look on his face at this time. This reporter was quite cute.
Ayako’s voice did not stop, but a suggestive smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
“According to my own investigation, this player and the captain Akagi are from the same junior high school. He was held back a grade due to difficulty in continuing his studies. This player should also know that he has no future in his studies, so he put all his focus on basketball. He himself does have a very high basketball talent. This newspaper expresses sincere admiration and blessings to this young player who is desperate for basketball.”
“With such a strong lineup, we don’t know what results the Xiangbei team will achieve in the end. Let us look forward to it together! (“Basketball Weekly” reporter: Yayoi Aida)”
After reading the contents of the magazine, Caizi closed it with a snap, looked at everyone mischievously, and said:
“This time, our Xiangbei team is probably being put on the spot. We are reported to be so strong that all the strong teams will pay attention to us in advance.”
At this time, everyone was still looking at Zhou Tianming’s stiff smile in a joking manner, but when they heard Caizi’s words, they came back to their senses.
“Don’t worry, everyone. In the face of absolute strength, all preparations are in vain.”
Captain Akagi stood up and spoke in a powerful voice.
“That’s right, with a genius like me and the repeater Mingzi, we can definitely win the game!” Sakuragi added, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
“But we can’t be careless, let’s continue training,” Akagi said as he ran back to the court.
“Mingzi, don’t take it to heart. Miss Aida probably didn’t mean it.” Ayako held back her laughter and comforted Tianming uncomfortably.
“I don’t know who leaked the information to others.” Zhou Tianming glanced at Caizi with a depressed expression.
“Haha, they are all small things. This article is ranked so far back, almost no one will see it.” Ayako smiled awkwardly.
“Really?” Zhou Tianming was a little suspicious.
At the same time, Ryonan High School,
“Wow, my sister’s article about Shohoku has been published!” Inside the basketball hall, a man named Hikoichi Aida exclaimed.
“Really? Let me see.”
“Wow, what an exaggerated title!”
The people who were taking a break gathered around and talked a lot. After reading the article, they all looked strange.
“Ahem, let me say a few words.” Coach Tiangang stood up and cleared his throat.
“Although we lost to Xiangbei this time, it was only by a narrow margin. Every player of theirs is very strong. Perhaps, as reported, there are several national-level players.” He paused, looked around at the people whose expressions had returned to seriousness, and continued, “But we are not weak either! This time, Fuku has returned to the team, and I have decided to make some adjustments in the team. Let Sendoh be the point guard and Fuku be the offensive vanguard.”
After saying that, Tian Gang looked at everyone’s surprised expressions, and said in an unquestionable tone: “Believe me, Sendoh’s role as a defender will definitely exceed that of a forward. Okay, let’s disband.”
“yes”
The crowd dispersed and walked out of the stadium in groups of three or five. Some were discussing the report in the magazine, and some were discussing the coach’s new arrangements.
“Futian, welcome back”
The starting players of Ryonan did not leave the field, but greeted Fukuda who had just returned to the team.
“Thank you, thank you,” Futian said excitedly. He was a little nervous at first, worried that everyone would have a grudge against him because of what happened before, but after seeing everyone’s enthusiastic attitude, he immediately felt relieved.
“Fukuda, keep up the good work. We lost to the Shohoku team in the training match a few days ago. Now that you return, we must take revenge in the county competition!” Yuzumi patted Fukuda on the back with a firm tone.
“Yes! Captain!”
Yuzumi looked at Sendoh again and said with some amusement: “I didn’t expect that Zhou Tianming from Xiangbei was from the same class as you. Have you heard of him before?”
Sendoh was wiping his sweat. When he heard Yuzumi’s question, he thought of the magazine report and couldn’t help but smile.
“I haven’t heard of him, but I moved here from another place, so it’s normal that I haven’t heard of him. Ah Fu, have you heard of Zhou Tianming?”
The question was thrown to Ah Fu again. Ah Fu was stunned and shook his head.
“Forget it, let’s not think about these things, let’s continue practicing.” Yuzumi put aside all the messy thoughts and started practicing for the county competition with a group of Ryonan regulars.
Xiangyang High School Basketball Hall,
“Fujima, have you read the latest issue of Basketball Weekly?”
A tall boy wearing glasses and a green jersey picked up a magazine and asked a handsome boy.
“Are you talking about the report on Xiangbei? I’ve read it.” The handsome boy, who looked like a beautiful girl, stood outside the three-point line and casually threw the basketball into the basket.
“They were able to beat Ryonan in the practice match. Just based on this, they can’t be underestimated. But who will be in the same group with them?” The handsome boy who scored the goal looked at the man with the glasses with a sunny face and said seriously.
“If we, Shoyo, play against Ryonan, we will definitely be able to achieve a bigger score difference.” The tall, bespectacled man said confidently.
The man with glasses is Shoyo s center Toru Hanagata, and the other handsome boy is Shoyo s captain and coach, Kenji Fujima.
“Anyway, let’s take a quick look. Hasegawa mentioned that Mitsui is very powerful.”
“Okay.” Hanagata still took Fujima’s words very seriously.
Then, the sounds of training could be heard again in the gym.
Chapter 59: County Tournament Opening (Old Version)
As the basketball teams trained hard, the day of the county competition approached.
On this day, the county competition schedule was finally announced.
“Oh my god, we were assigned to the same group as Xiangyang!”
Looking at the schedule in their hands, Yasuda and other second-year students seemed a little uneasy.
“It’s not just Shoyo, our first game is against Miuradai, a strong and established team.”
Ayako said unhappily, then turned her gaze towards the captain.
“Miuradai is not a big problem, but I didn’t expect to be in the same group with Shoyo, which is a bit troublesome.” Akagi’s mind appeared the figure of Fujima, and then he looked at Miyagi and felt a slight headache.
“Hey, Captain! You’re being too obvious.” Miyagi saw Akagi looking at him at this time and instantly guessed what he was thinking. He said unhappily, “Leave Fujima to me. I will defeat him.”
“Don’t worry, if Ryouta isn’t capable, then leave Fujima to a genius like me.” Sakuragi tried to make his presence felt and began his confident speech.
“Forget it, let’s first study the plan against Miuradai. Although they are not a strong team, we still can’t be careless.” Akagi couldn’t believe these two problem teenagers, so he calmed down and set a new tone.
Zhou Tianming stood aside and did not speak. He just listened quietly without any worry on his face. For him, both Miuradai and Shoyo were just warm-up matches for their team to enter the semi-finals.
Two days later, the day when the county competition officially began arrived. The Xiangbei players came to the county basketball stadium in high spirits, ready to face their first opponent, Miuradai.
Entering the stadium, feeling the atmosphere in the stadium, and thinking about the game that will be played soon, Zhou Tianming was slightly excited. He had not participated in this kind of game for more than a year.
“I, I’m back again.” At this time, Mitsui’s trembling voice came from the side. Zhou Tianming turned his head in surprise and found that Mitsui was more excited than himself at this time. Wow, this guy hasn’t participated for two years. Well, you win.
Zhou Tianming thought boredly, then followed the others with calm faces to the Xiangbei rest area.
There weren’t actually that many people in the stands, scattered in groups of three or four. Most of them were sent by other teams to collect information, but there were still two teams that attracted the attention of others present.
One team is led by a man with pointed hair, and his school uniform has “Sendoh” and others from Ryonan written on it. The other team is centered on a tall guy with big eyes, and his school uniform has “Hanagata Toru” and others from Shoyo written on it.
The two sides did not sit together, but greeted each other from a distance and then chose a corner to sit down. Among them, Yanyi, a first-year student from Ryonan, even brought a DV camera with him, apparently to record the game. It was not known whether it was instructed by the coach or his sister.
“Hehe, Shoyo is in a difficult situation now. Shohoku was actually assigned to their group. They are so unlucky.” After seeing the Shoyo people, Coach Tiangang remembered the match schedule of the county competition and said with some ease.
“Coach, judging from your tone, do you think Shoyo will lose to Shohoku?” Hikoichi was fiddling with a DV camera at the side. When he heard what Takeoka said, his curiosity was instantly aroused. When the other people in Ryonan heard Hikoichi’s question, they also stared at Takeoka curiously.
“Idiot! Keep your voice down!” Tanaoka glanced at Shoyo furtively, and when he found that no one heard him, he breathed a sigh of relief, tapped Hikoichi on the head, glared at him, and then continued, “Half of Shoyo’s regular players have been promoted to higher education, and now only Fujima and Hanagata are left. It will be difficult to face Shohoku now.”
“Oh, I see. I heard that Fujima-senpai is very powerful.” Yanyi rubbed his head, but his eyes were still full of curiosity.
“Of course, he is the only player in the county who can be compared with Maki Shinichi,” Tian Gang said as a matter of course, but quickly added, “No, now we should also include Sendoh, and maybe Zhou Tianming.”
“Hey, look, it’s Ryonan High School! I didn’t expect them to come to watch the game too.”
“Really? That uncle must be their coach. I didn’t expect he would be here too.”
“What about the immortal way? Which one is the immortal way?”
“That’s the one with the spiky hair. I’ve seen him compete before. He’s pretty good.”
“So handsome”
“That’s the Shoyo team over there, right?”
“Really? Is today’s game so crucial? Why are these two strong teams coming to watch the game? I am looking forward to it too.”
“I don’t know, but it’s a shame that Fujima from Shoyo didn’t show up. I heard he’s pretty handsome too.”
Before the game started, the sidelines were already noisy. Everyone’s eyes were focused on where Ryonan and Shoyo were watching the game, and all kinds of exclamations could be heard.
Akagi was warming up on the sidelines. Coach Anzai had just announced the roster for the game, and he would be the starting player. Glancing at the players from Ryonan and Shoyo in the audience, Akagi became even more motivated and couldn’t wait to get on the court to play.
“Beep!” The referee on the field began to blow the whistle.
Players from both sides walked onto the court one after another. The starting players of Xiangbei were: No. 4 Akagi, No. 5 Kimura, No. 7 Miyata, No. 10 Sakuragi and No. 11 Rukawa.
Although this is not the strongest lineup of Xiangbei, but with Nakamine and Akagi, Miyagi for ball control, Murasakibara for three-point shooting, Rukawa for breakthroughs, and the energetic Sakuragi, this lineup can be considered luxurious for the opposing Miuradai.
Mitsui and Zhou Tianming sat bored on the sidelines, acting as spectators. Although Mitsui really wanted to play, he was still very obedient when he heard Coach Anxi’s arrangements.
Zhou Tianming took the initiative to ask to watch from the sidelines. He believed that his teammates would easily win against Miuradai without him having to take any action.
“Hey, I heard that you defeated Ryonan, that second-rate team, a few days ago?” Miuradai’s captain, Kengo Murasame, looked at Akagi proudly with a somewhat disdainful tone.
“Oh?” Akagi raised his eyebrows.
“We at Miuradai are not a second-rate team like Ryonan. Don’t think that if you defeat them, you will have a chance of winning us.” Murasame’s disdainful voice was heard again.
“I really don’t know what’s so great about you?” Akagi fought back, but his expression remained calm.
“Our goal this year is to end Hainan’s 16-year winning streak. Defeating you is just a side job.”
Murasame spoke very loudly, and the audience on the sidelines could clearly hear his arrogant remarks, and then the noise boiled over again.
“That damn guy actually said that our Ryonan is a second-rate team!” Yan Yi was very angry and said loudly, “Your Miuradai is the second-rate team.”
The faces of the other members of Ryonan were not very good either. Yuzumi, who was sitting on the far right, stood up suddenly and roared in a voice that was not achievable by humans: “Akagi, defeat them hard!” The teammates next to him were so shocked that they forgot their anger for a moment and covered their ears in pain.
Akagi and Murasame both heard the loud roar and couldn’t help but look over there.
“Oh? That guy must be Ryonan’s captain Uozumi, a rookie with nothing but height.” Murasame was really arrogant.
The referee couldn’t stand it anymore and blew the whistle to warn Murasame. Then the two walked into the center circle and prepared for the jump ball.
Chapter 60: Battle against Miura (Old Version)
Akagi easily defeated Murasame with a jump ball. After receiving the ball, Rukawa quickly made a fast break and rushed to the three-point line. He ignored the three opponents who came to assist in defense and shot directly.
Swish! A three-pointer was made.
“Damn, is this guy Rukawa?” Murasame just came back at this time, but Rukawa had already succeeded in the quick attack.
The Rukawa fans, wearing the same white sports skirts, are cheering for Rukawa desperately.
“This guy, this shot is really decisive!” Sendoh held his chin with both hands, his eyes full of admiration.
“Well, he must be the super newcomer that has been hyped up so much. It seems we need to pay attention to him.” Hua Xing, who was not far away, looked at him thoughtfully.
Attack and defense transition,
The one controlling the ball at this time was Miuradai’s No. 5, a point guard over 1.75 meters tall. He looked at the Shohoku No. 7 in front of him who was less than 1.7 meters tall with some contempt, and accelerated to the right, trying to break through directly from the right side.
Miyagi noticed the opponent’s actions, and when the opponent accelerated, he leaned forward to the left, accurately intercepted the basketball, then dribbled quickly to the empty frontcourt and easily scored a layup.
Less than a minute had passed and the Shohoku team was already leading Miuradai 5-0.
“What’s going on? The ball was stolen so easily!” Coach Miuradai shouted angrily from the sidelines.
“I’m sorry, I was too careless.” Miuradai No. 5 said in a low voice, then looked at Miyagi unhappily.
Who is Miyagi? When he’s not playing basketball, he’s mostly fighting. When he sees the other person’s gaze, he responds with even more disdain.
Miuradai launched an attack again, but their No. 5 was very careful this time. After pushing the ball across half court, he passed it to Murasame who was asking for the ball at the top of the arc.
As the captain of Miuradai, although Murasame has a bad personality, he still has some skills, and the one defending him at the time is Sakuragi. Murasame used a simple fake move to trick Sakuragi, then smiled disdainfully, broke through the flower road, and jumped up and shot directly in the penalty area. It seemed that it was a sure goal.
At this moment, a figure rushed out of the penalty area and jumped high.
Bang, the basketball was fanned away by a big hand.
“Beautiful, Akagi!”
Yuzumi on the sidelines saw this scene and danced with excitement.
“Damn it!” Murasame fell back to the ground, turned around, and found that the basketball had been picked up by Rukawa again, who had good luck in basketball, and quickly launched a fast break.
The super rookie showed his strength again and scored on a fast break, making the score 7-0.
“Murasame! What are you doing?” Miuradai’s coach could no longer sit still. He stood up and yelled angrily at Miuradai’s captain. Within the first two minutes of the game, he had been angry twice. I don’t know how long his heart can last.
“Akagi, Rukawa, well done!” Seeing coach Miuradai’s interesting expression, Zhou Tianming off the court cheered for his teammates.
Noticing the coach’s anger, Murasame gritted his teeth and said in a low voice: “You forced me to do this.”
Afterwards, Murasame ran to Sakuragi again to ask for the ball. The defender of Miuradai threw another high ball. Murasame took the ball and turned suddenly, but it was not the backward turn like before. Instead, he turned directly towards Sakuragi. I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but he didn’t fully retract his elbow and just hit Sakuragi in the face.
In this split second, Sakuragi’s sense of smell, which had been honed from years of fighting, made him take a step back reflexively and narrowly avoided the attack.
“Bastard!” Sakuragi immediately became angry, strode forward and was about to grab Murasame’s collar.
Miyagi, who was not far from Sakuragi, saw this scene and was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat. He hurried forward and grabbed Sakuragi.
“That bastard was definitely coming for me just now.” Sakuragi was breathing heavily, his body still pushing towards Murasame, his face was very ferocious, but Miyagi had already hugged Sakuragi tightly.
“Hehe, you are really strong, but you still have to listen to the referee in this matter. If you use violence, you will be ejected from the field.” Miyagi persuaded earnestly, and his expression seemed to be very exhausted.
Finally the gorilla ran over and stopped Sakuragi from doing that, but Sakuragi’s performance successfully earned him a technical foul. Murasame, with a look of triumph on his face, made two free throws and also got the right to serve, which made Sakuragi very angry, and the Xiangbei players in the audience were also very angry.
However, in the attack just now, Sakuragi happened to have his back to the referee, and the referee didn’t see Murasame’s action at all, so there was no way to verify it, and Xiangbei could only suffer in silence.
However, Sakuragi wanted to vent his anger. Miuradai, who got the ball, attacked again. After passing the ball several times, the ball fell into the hands of the point guard Murasame again. It was another mid-range shot. It seemed that Murasame was determined to show off his mid-range shot.
Bang!
A clear and crisp sound was heard, and it could be heard that this was a fierce and clean block.
Sakuragi, who was lying in ambush on the right side, was waiting for this moment. When he realized that Murasame was about to shoot, he couldn’t wait to fly up and gave Murasame the second block!
The basketball fell into Miyagi’s hands, and he started running. Miyagi’s speed soared that few people on the scene could catch up with him. In any case, no one could catch up with Miuradai.
He rushed to the basket and scored an easy layup, making the score 9-2.
Well done!
Miyagi returned and happily high-fived Sakuragi to celebrate. After the celebration, Sakuragi turned around and looked at Murasame with disdain, which made Murasame’s face darker and darker.
Then, the game continued, and when the timer jumped to 4 minutes and 40 seconds, the score had reached 15-6. At this time, Mu Mu of the Xiangbei team received a pass from Sakuragi at the three-point line, and the defender in front of him was just attracted by Rukawa.
Murasakibara was in a very relaxed mood. It had been less than 5 minutes and he was already ten points ahead of the opponent. Mingzi and Mitsui had not yet come on the court, so the victory should be a sure thing.
With the familiar aiming movement and the familiar jumping posture, Murasakibara jumped up like a textbook, and his posture was no less than that of Mitsui.
But just as Murasakibara was about to make a move, Murasame suddenly rushed out from the side and pounced on Murasakibara.
Murasame hit Murasame and the ball with him, and he flew out at an angle and fell to the ground. From the sound, it was obvious that he fell quite hard.
“Beep!” The referee blew the whistle, indicating that No. 4 Miuradai committed a foul and the Xiangbei team would have three free throws.
“Brother Eyes!” Sakuragi was the first to rush to Murasakibara and wanted to support Murasakibara with concern.
“Idiot! Don’t move!” Akagi’s voice sounded from not far away, and then the footsteps of many members of the Xiangbei team were heard running towards them from afar.
Hearing the captain’s voice, Sakuragi finally stopped moving. Instead, he turned his head again and stared fiercely at Murasame who was also lying nearby. However, it seemed that Murasame was not seriously injured.
“Sakuragi, calm down!” Akagi ran over and reminded Sakuragi. He looked at Murasame fiercely, then turned his head and looked at the injured teammate with concern, “Kumure, how do you feel?”
At this time, Caizi, who was acting as the team doctor, also ran over in a hurry and asked about some situations.
“Don’t worry, everyone. I’m fine, just a little sore in my arm, maybe I pressed it just now.” Mu Mu raised his head, smiling as brightly as ever, not at all depressed by the injury, “Next, this game depends on you all.”
After saying that, accompanied by Ayako, he slowly walked towards the infirmary.
Murasame, who was still lying dead, felt somewhat proud when he saw this scene. He thought that by clearing out the vice-captain of the Xiangbei team, the strength of the Xiangbei team would be greatly affected, and they would be able to turn defeat into victory in one fell swoop.
However, Murasame didn’t know that Zhou Tianming was already doing warm-up exercises with a calm face off the court. If the fat boy was here, he would definitely shout and be very excited.
Because he could see that Zhou Tianming was angry, and if Zhou Tianming was angry, someone would definitely be in trouble.