A week later, the new semester began at Miura Tai.
Already familiar with the place, Wu Yufei's first stop after entering the school was not the classroom, but the basketball gym.
Inside the gym, Murakami Ken'go and Naito Tetsuya had already arrived early to practice.
Since Wu Yufei joined the basketball team, it had been a significant motivation for the two of them.
"Hey! Captain Murakami, Iron, you guys are here so early!"
Wu Yufei walked into the basketball gym, put down his backpack, then picked up a basketball from the sideline and walked in.
"You're not late either. It's not even seven o'clock yet."
Murakami Ken'go threw the ball and replied.
"Well, my schedule is too regular. I wake up naturally at six o'clock and can't go back to sleep, so I thought I'd come here to practice."
There was still an entire hour before school officially started, so it was the perfect time to practice.
"A Tie, let's practice the pick-and-roll tactic again!"
"Alright!"
"Then I'll be your practice partner."
Over the past week, Wu Yufei had often dragged Murakami and Naito along to practice tactics with him, aiming to quickly improve their chemistry with him.
According to Wu Yufei's plan, whether Miura Tai could break out of Kanagawa Prefecture this year, advance to the national tournament, and create new school history would depend on himself and the two in front of him!
Murakami has the skills, Naito has the physicality, and Wu Yufei has the organizational ability. On the offensive end, as long as the three of them can coordinate seamlessly, the other two teammates only need to focus on their blue-collar roles.
On the defensive end, it primarily relies on Naito anchoring the paint. After all, his height and bulk are undeniable. Most centers in the prefecture, and even nationwide, cannot match Naito. With his shot-blocking and rebounding skills, plus the support of the blue-collar player Kawasaki Akihiro, this frontcourt combination can hold its own against Seirin's "Gorilla Brothers." Even against Yamato's strongest duo of Oowada and Nobe, they should at least avoid being completely outclassed!
If this plan is executed perfectly, not only can they make it to the national tournament, but even if they face Yamano, Wu Yufei will have the confidence to go head-to-head with them!
An hour may seem like a long time, but once the three of them fully immerse themselves in it, it passes quickly.
"Alright, today is the first day of school. Wu Yufei, don't be late. Go to the classroom first. Team practice starts at 4 PM. Make sure you're on time. You can come to the gym for lunch with us."
"Alright, I'll go first."
After packing his things and grabbing his bag, Wu Yufei walked out of the basketball gym toward the academic building.
"Hey, isn't that Wu Yufei? The one from X Middle School last year?"
"Yeah, yeah. Last year, our middle school team played against them, and we got crushed badly. Our captain cried for hours afterward."
"He actually came to Miura Tai this year? I thought he'd definitely be recruited by Hainan or Xiangyang."
"Isn't that great? That means we'll be teammates with him for the next three years!"
On the way to the classroom building, many freshmen who were also interested in or loved basketball recognized Wu Yufei, who had made a name for himself in the national middle school basketball scene last year, and began to discuss him.
Upon arriving at his classroom and finding his seat, Wu Yufei sat down immediately, leaning on the desk with a bored expression on his face as he stared at the sky outside.
"Hey! Isn't that Wu Yufei? It's been a long time!"
Suddenly, a person Wu Yufei didn't recognize walked up to him and greeted him excitedly.
"Um... who are you?"
Wu Yufei truly didn't recognize the person in front of him.
Lately, whenever he had free time, Wu Yufei would dig into his memories, which had gradually helped him recover many of the original owner's memories.
But he really didn't recognize the person in front of him.
"How rude!! It's me! Ishiyama Jun! We faced off at last year's county tournament! Tengyuan Middle School!"
Ishiyama Jun's tone was filled with resentment.
"We even shook hands after the match!"
[Tengyuan Middle School…? Hmm…]
Wu Yufei strained to search his memory for any recollection of those four characters.
"Oh! I remember now! It's that Tengyuan Middle School we defeated in the first round last year!"
Wu Yufei finally vaguely recalled that it was last year, when he was in his third year of junior high school, that Tengyuan Middle School had faced off against his school in the first round of the county tournament.
At the time, Wu Yufei had scored a perfect 40+15+15 in a single game, and their middle school had defeated the opposing team by a wide margin.
The captain of the Tengyuan Middle School team at the time was apparently named Ishiyama Jun.
"You've really changed a lot over the past year…"
Wu Yufei looked at Ishiyama Jun in front of him, but no matter how he tried, he couldn't connect the person in front of him with the image in his memory.
Compared to the person in his memory, the Ishiyama Jun in front of him was taller, about five centimeters taller, and his limbs were more muscular, and his skin was darker.
It seemed that Ishiyama Jun had worked hard over the past year.
"Hmph! Ever since I was defeated by you last time, I've been reflecting on my mistakes and haven't wasted a single minute in the past six months! During the vacation, I even went to Tokyo to participate in a basketball training camp hosted by a former national team player. Now I'm ten times better than before!"
Shishan Jun said proudly.
Wu Yufei smiled: "Is that so? That's wonderful. We'll be teammates for the next three years, so let's work hard together. My goal is to dominate the national championship!"
"Dominate... the national championship? That's quite an ambitious goal..."
Looking at Wu Yufei's outstretched hand, Ishiyama Jun hesitated for a moment, then quickly smiled and shook it.
"But if it's you, I'm sure you can do it. Please teach me a lot!"
Swoosh!
The classroom door opened, and a middle-aged man walked in.
"Good morning, everyone. I'm delighted to meet you all. I will be your homeroom teacher for the next three years. My name is Yamada. Next..."
First, the students introduced themselves to each other. Everyone was already very familiar with this part of the process. They stood up in order according to their seat numbers and introduced themselves, including their names and hobbies.
"My name is Wu Yufei. I'm an international student from China. My specialties are singing, dancing, Ra... No, no, that's not right. My specialty is basketball—only basketball! I hope you'll all give me your guidance over the next three years. Thank you."
Wu Yufei didn't say anything about aiming to dominate the nation, after all, this was just a self-introduction among classmates, not a rally speech for a basketball team. There was no need to overstate things.
Next came the familiar orientation procedures for new students: gathering in the auditorium to listen to a lecture by an elderly man with white hair.
It seems that leaders' tendency to give lengthy speeches is the same in every country.
Wu Yufei was so bored he almost fell asleep on the spot, but the opening ceremony finally came to an end.
After all, it was the first day of school, and every teacher who came afterward basically just gave a simple self-introduction and then briefly outlined the general overview of their high school course.
Before long, the morning was over.
"Yufei, let's go eat together!"
Shishan Jun approached Wu Yufei with his lunch box.
"Oh, I can't. I've already made plans to have lunch with my basketball team teammates, and we can practice a bit during lunch..."
As soon as Wu Yufei refused, he suddenly thought of something.
"Oh, right! Ishiyama-kun, aren't you also joining the basketball team? Why don't you come with me now?"
"Really! I thought I'd have to wait until the afternoon to go to the basketball court! I didn't expect you to have already made friends with the seniors on the basketball team! I want to go, I want to go!"
With a look of excitement on his face, Ishiyama Jun left the school building with Wu Yufei and headed to the basketball court.
"Excuse me... Huh? Why is no one here?"
Looking at the empty basketball gym, Ishiyama Jun said in confusion.
"Of course. Everyone must be eating in the lounge. Come with me."
After all, Miura High School was a well-known private high school in the county, so the basketball gym was naturally very standard, with not only a basketball court, but also locker rooms, a lounge, and a dedicated recording studio.
He led Ishiyama Jun to the lounge with ease, and sure enough, they heard voices coming from inside.
Thud, thud, thud...
"Oh! It seems like Yuhi has arrived. I'll go open the door!"
Squeak...
"Hey! Yu Fei, you're finally here! Who's this?"
The one who came to open the door was the team's good-natured senior, Takatsu Hiro. Upon seeing Ishiyama Jun standing beside Yu Fei with an excited expression, he asked curiously.
"Hello, senior! I'm Ishiyama Jun from Class 1-A. I also want to join the Miura Tai basketball team!"
Ishiyama Jun immediately introduced himself.
Everyone was there because they loved basketball, and with Ishiyama Jun's cheerful and outgoing personality, he naturally got along well with the second- and third-year seniors.
After eating lunch together and taking a short break, everyone headed to the basketball gym to practice.
There was no specific arrangement for the midday practice; it was simply something everyone did on their own initiative, so it wasn't conducted in a particularly formal manner.
Everyone practiced tactics on their own, played pickup games, or found a basket to practice on their own. It was all about having fun.
They practiced until there were only twenty minutes left before class in the afternoon. Wu Yufei then changed clothes, packed his things, and left the gym with Ishiyama Jun after making arrangements with his teammates for the afternoon team practice.
The afternoon classes were equally boring for Wu Yufei.
After all, in his previous life, Wu Yufei had at least managed to get into a top-tier university and secure a scholarship, so he could still be considered a half-decent academic. Therefore, high school-level courses were as easy for him as a high school student listening to first-grade math lessons. If you were asked to go back and listen to first-grade math lessons now, could you even stay awake? Not falling asleep on the spot would be a miracle.
After the afternoon classes ended, the entire school officially entered club activity time.
Wu Yufei and Ishiyama Jun headed straight to the basketball gym.
"Hey! Yufei and Jun, you're here. Perfect timing—we're currently holding new member auditions. Why don't you go through the process too?"
Murasa Ken'go smiled as he explained to the two who had appeared at the entrance of the basketball gym.
Oh, right! I forgot about this step.
Wu Yufei finally remembered that he and Ishiyama Jun were, after all, first-year freshmen who had just officially enrolled today, so they did indeed need to go through this formality.