"Ah… I can finally take a break. I'm so tired!"
Kise Ryota walked over, looking like he was about to die, and stood in front of Shidou Ryusei.
Shidou looked up at Kise, and Kise gestured with his eyes for Shidou to move over a bit.
Shidou Ryusei immediately pretended to be clueless.
"Hey, Kise, didn't you say you were tired? Why aren't you sitting? There's a spot here!"
Kasamatsu Yukio pointed to the seat next to him.
"No! I want to sit with Little Shidou!"
Hearing this, Kasamatsu was instantly petrified.
Shidou Ryusei looked at Kise Ryota's pitiful expression and finally compromised, moving slightly to the right and handing the towel and water next to him to Kise Ryota.
"That's great, Little Shidou!"
Seeing this, Kise Ryota immediately cheered up, because he had clearly noticed that Shidou Ryusei didn't have a towel or water next to him when he first entered the court. Why were they there now?
Dear readers, take a guess!
"How do you feel? Can you last until the end of the game?"
Kise Ryota, wiping his sweat, heard Shidou Ryusei's concern and replied, "Of course. This is just the beginning!"
Shidou Ryusei raised an eyebrow and looked at Kise. "Oh? Are you sure you can last the whole game without taking off the weights on your waist?"
"Eh!? How did you know, Little Shidou?!"
Kise Ryota was shocked that Shidou Ryusei could tell he was wearing weights. At the same time, Kasamatsu Yukio and the others, including Coach Takeuchi Genta, all focused their attention on Kise Ryota.
Being stared at by so many guys for the first time, Kise felt somewhat uncomfortable.
Kasamatsu Yukio, who had always criticized Kise Ryota's lack of seriousness in practice, didn't know what to say now. The main point was that even while wearing weights, Kise was subtly suppressing Kagami Taiga on the court. Of course, Seirin definitely didn't know this.
(Let me just say this: regarding my view on the Generation of Miracles, based on the anime's portrayal, Kagami Taiga and Kuroko Tetsuya absolutely cannot defeat them. So I won't follow the original plot where Seirin is incredibly strong. Here, Seirin is the weakest of the schools the Generation of Miracles members joined. Also, I will strengthen Midorima, because I feel he's a bit underwhelming.)
"I'm talking to you guys! What are you doing on the court? Are you dead? Snap out of it! Look at the score yourselves! How many points do you want the opposition to score before you're satisfied?
Does your offense rely entirely on your juniors? How dare you stand on that court! Can't you even guard one person? Can't you handle the most basic defense? I see you've been slacking off for too long! If you keep this up, get off the court and sit down. The Basketball Club doesn't lack hard workers. If you don't want to play, get lost! There are plenty of people to replace you!"
Takeuchi Genta grew angrier as he spoke. Kaijo was a regular in the National League, after all. Kise Ryota's arrival had made the team rely excessively on their ace, which was a major taboo on the court.
Kasamatsu Yukio, Hayakawa Mitsuhiro, and the others were thoroughly chewed out by the coach and didn't dare look up at him.
The main thing was that they couldn't refute him; their performance on the court was exactly as described, and they hadn't even realized there was a problem at the time.
"Sumimasen!"
"Alright, Coach! Let me play. Sitting on the bench is just sitting, so let's treat this as a warm-up for today's practice! After all, the opposing first-year duo is tough to handle.
Although Kagami is restricted by Kise, Kuroko's low presence is definitely a problem. The upperclassmen can't just focus on Kuroko; they also have to watch Seirin's other players, so completely shutting down Kuroko is impossible!"
Shidou Ryusei took off his jacket, revealing his uniform underneath, and started stretching while trying to calm Coach Takeuchi.
Seeing this, Takeuchi Genta realized he had been a bit too anxious. "Then… Kise rests. Shidou Ryusei leads the team."
"Coach, I want to play too!"
"No. If both of you play, this practice game will be meaningless!"
"But…"
Kise tried to say something else, but Shidou Ryusei stopped him. "What? You don't have faith in me, Kise? Just sit comfortably on the bench. I've been wanting to go all out for a long time!"
After speaking, Shidou Ryusei's slightly lowered eyes suddenly lifted, revealing a sharp glint of coldness. His previously relaxed shoulders instantly tensed, radiating an imposing aura.
In an instant, the surrounding air seemed to solidify under his presence, and the previously noisy environment fell silent. Even the Seirin players turned their attention to Shidou.
Kise, who was about to speak, froze. Hayakawa, who had unscrewed his bottle cap, stopped his hand near his mouth. Kagami wasn't scared by Shidou Ryusei's aura; instead, he looked at him with growing excitement.
"That guy… is finally going to play?"
Little did he know Kagami Taiga wouldn't think that way for long.
The others reacted differently.
"That guy's presence… is that powerful?"
"Sigh, he's playing after all? Looks like we have another tough battle ahead!"
Aida Riko looked at Shidou Ryusei's physical data. "Can a physique like this… really appear in a high school student?"
Kagami's physical condition was already outstanding, and while Kise Ryota's physique was impressive, it wasn't significantly higher than Kagami's. However, Shidou Ryusei's physical stats completely crushed Kagami Taiga's.
But the combination of Kagami and Kuroko should be able to cope… right?
"Um, because the fast pace of offense and defense just now is causing my Misdirection to slowly disappear!"
"Huh?"
"What!?"
"Why didn't you say something so important sooner?!"
Aida Riko angrily shouted while grabbing Kuroko.
"I'm sorry, I did say something… but no one heard me…"
Timeout ends!
"Crap! I forgot the main thing!"
"In short, we need to strengthen rim protection. If Shidou Ryusei drives in, immediately provide help defense!"
"Yosh!"
Right after play resumed, Kasamatsu Yukio passed the ball to Shidou Ryusei.
Shidou Ryusei took the ball past the three-point line, and Seirin's paint immediately collapsed in defense.
"Huh? Although I really dislike playing this way, it seems to be the most efficient method right now!"
With that, Shidou Ryusei shot immediately.
Kagami Taiga didn't even see the movement clearly; he only felt a blur, and the basketball had already traced a perfect arc.
Shidou Ryusei didn't even look to see if it went in. He turned and ran back on defense.
"Swish!"
The sound of the net echoed behind him.
"That's impossible!" Kagami Taiga's eyes widened.
Exclamations rose from both benches. Even Aida Riko couldn't see how Shidou released the shot.
Kise Ryota, unable to keep his balance, leaned backward, and Kaijo's bench players quickly helped him up.
"Little Shidou… he can shoot threes too…"
And his release was even faster.
"Kagami!"
Hyuga Junpei called out, and Kagami finally snapped out of it. Hyuga knew Kagami had to score to rebuild the team's confidence.
Seirin possession. Izuki Shun dribbled past midcourt and passed to Kagami Taiga.
Shidou Ryusei rushed forward to meet him.
"You're finally playing! I thought you wouldn't come on until the second quarter!"
Kagami Taiga looked at Shidou Ryusei with excitement and a battle-ready smile.
"Well, it seems the lesson I gave you last time wasn't enough. Honestly, I don't know where you get the confidence to face me directly!"
Shidou Ryusei chuckled softly, ignoring Kagami's provocation.
He glanced at Kuroko Tetsuya behind Moriyama Yoshitaka and said with a smile, "It seems you haven't recognized reality. You don't think the current score was achieved by you alone, do you? To put it bluntly, without that low-presence 'thief' who only passes the ball, in my eyes… you're no different from trash."
As soon as he finished speaking, Shidou Ryusei stole the ball from Kagami Taiga and rushed toward Seirin's basket.
"You're looking down on people too much!"
Kagami chased him, as if a secret he wanted to hide had been exposed.
But the next moment shocked everyone again—Kagami couldn't catch up to Shidou Ryusei while he was dribbling.
As Shidou stepped past the free-throw line, his calf muscles tensed and his body sprang into the air like a coiled spring.
"Hah!"
With a low roar, Shidou Ryusei stretched out mid-air, raising the ball high in his right hand.
Then he heard footsteps behind him.
"Oh?"
His pupils shrank. Kagami Taiga had jumped from the free-throw line and was catching up at an astonishing speed.
Their bodies met mid-air. Shidou felt Kagami's breath on the back of his neck.
Time seemed to slow.
"Interesting. You're not as boring as I thought."
A slight smile appeared on Shidou's lips. He deliberately let Kagami's chest press against his back.
"Not good!"
At the moment of contact, Shidou pulled the ball back, his body nearly losing balance.
"Beep—"
The referee's whistle sounded.
But Shidou's move wasn't over. As he lost balance, he swung his right arm behind his back and flicked his wrist. The ball traced a strange arc behind Kagami.
"Swish—"
The net snapped crisply.
"This… how is this possible?"
Kagami Taiga seemed to lose all fighting spirit.
Shidou Ryusei fell hard, then rolled and stood up, spreading his arms wide and flashing a provocative smile at Kagami.
"This is what true life activity feels like!"
Cold sweat ran down Kagami Taiga's forehead. He had caught up, yet he was still fooled.
"You…" Kagami gritted his teeth.
Shidou brushed himself off and walked toward the free-throw line. "Don't be so nervous. This is just the beginning." He glanced back. "But honestly, your jump height did surprise me. Too bad that alone isn't enough."
Kagami's expression darkened. He could feel his confidence crumbling.
It wasn't just Kagami; even Hyuga Junpei and the others felt Shidou Ryusei's dominance.
Aida Riko didn't know what to do.
If they collapsed the defense, Shidou would shoot threes. If they didn't, they still couldn't stop him.
Takeuchi Genta was practically splitting with laughter. Even he didn't know how he got a monster like Shidou Ryusei, but in public he could only cover his mouth.
At that moment, Kise Ryota saw Aomine Daiki's shadow in Shidou Ryusei—their final shooting motions were almost identical.