August 2nd.
Morning in Hiroshima was unbearably hot.
The sun hadn't even fully climbed into the sky, yet the asphalt was already shimmering and warping beneath the heat. Waves of heat visibly rolled through the air.
The cicadas screamed from the treetops.
The noise was so deafening it felt like it could shake the brains right out of your skull.
Every breath you took felt like inhaling burning sparks.
The entire Shohoku team gathered outside the hotel.
The bus rumbled with its engine running, smoke puffing from the exhaust pipe and mixing with the dry, dusty air. The smell was enough to make anyone cough.
"Is everyone here?"
Takenori Akagi was the last one out of the hotel.
Dressed in Shohoku's red-and-black uniform, with his bag slung over his shoulder, he stood straight as a spear.
The anxiety from last night had long since been blown away from that rock-hewn face.
What replaced it was absolute composure.
And hidden deep within his eyes was a ferocity belonging to an apex predator.
It was the gaze of the Wolf King returning to his throne.
"Tch."
A profoundly discordant snort came from the side.
Hanamichi Sakuragi was squatting on the curb, absentmindedly picking pebbles out of the soles of his shoes like a monkey that hadn't gotten its banana.
Hearing Akagi's voice, the idiot suddenly sprang to his feet.
Hands on his hips, he wore an expression of deep dissatisfaction.
"Hey, Gorilla! Were you hatching eggs in the bathroom or something?"
Sakuragi pointed dramatically at a nonexistent watch on his wrist.
"This genius has been out here long enough to dry into a corpse!"
"Are you planning to sit on that toilet until it breaks?"
Then, all of a sudden, Sakuragi shoved his huge face right up to Akagi's nose.
He lowered his voice, yet somehow managed to make sure the entire team could hear him as he snickered:
"Or is your load just too big to flush?"
The air froze for a second.
A red vein in the shape of a character resembling a "井" instantly bulged on Akagi's forehead.
His fist tightened.
That red-haired monkey really was asking for it.
If you didn't beat him for three days, he'd start tearing the roof off.
BAM!
A dull impact rang out.
It was the crisp sound of a fist making intimate contact with a skull.
Just hearing it hurt.
"WAHHH!!"
Sakuragi clutched the top of his head and dropped into a defensive crouch, tears instantly shooting from his eyes.
"Damn you, Gorilla!"
"Assaulting someone first thing in the morning! Is there no justice in this world?!"
"The brain cells of this genius! They're all going to die!"
Akagi pulled back his smoking fist and blew on it with a dark expression.
"Shut up."
"If you keep talking, I'll stuff you into a toilet and flush you all the way to the Pacific Ocean."
Kaede Rukawa walked past with his bag over his shoulder, casting a cold glance at the redhead rolling around on the ground.
His lips barely moved.
Two icy words escaped.
"Big idiot."
"YOU DEAD FOX! Who are you calling that?! Get back here if you've got the guts!"
Sakuragi instantly came back to life, rolling up his sleeves and preparing to charge.
Ryota Miyagi expertly stepped into position between them and casually shoved a bottle of ice-cold water into Sakuragi's hands.
"That's enough, Hanamichi. Save your energy for those bastards from Toyotama."
"Don't waste your mana bar on your own teammates."
...
The cicadas continued their deafening chorus.
Under the shade of a tree, Kiminobu Kogure pushed up his glasses, his eyes fixed on Akagi.
He observed everything carefully.
The rhythm of Akagi's footsteps.
The strength in his voice.
Even the way his large hands gripped the straps of his bag.
There was no trembling.
No hesitation.
That mountain-steady Takenori Akagi had truly returned.
"Looks like..."
His wristband spinning lazily around one finger, Hisashi Mitsui leaned against the tree with a crooked grin.
"That idiot captain managed to get his head straight in just one night."
"Last night, he was shaking like a leaf. Today, he's evolved into the complete Diamond Gorilla."
Kogure smiled, a glint flashing across his lenses.
"Yeah. Not only has he recovered, he's even stronger than usual."
He turned his head toward Sakuragi, who was still locked in a death glare with Rukawa, as well as Miyagi and Juro, who were watching the spectacle from the side.
Everyone was smiling.
They were still trading insults, but the relaxed atmosphere couldn't be faked.
There was no fear.
No retreat.
This team had already sharpened its bayonets until they gleamed.
They were ready to draw blood.
Kogure took a deep breath.
The scorching air filled his lungs, and his heart beat steadily and powerfully.
Single-elimination.
He repeated the words silently.
Lose one game, and you're going straight home.
No extra lives. No second round.
Kogure clenched his fist until his fingernails dug into his palm.
I'm absolutely not retiring this year.
Even if all I can do is stand on the sidelines waving a towel, I'll watch this team take that final step toward becoming national champions.
Just then...
The hotel proprietress came rushing out of the lobby, waving a slip of paper in one hand and gasping for breath.
"Guests from Shohoku! Wait! Don't leave yet!"
Kogure turned around.
"Ma'am? What happened?"
The proprietress hurried over to Akagi and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
"A phone call! An urgent call for you!"
"A phone call?"
Akagi frowned.
"At a time like this? Who is it?"
Everyone froze.
With the biggest battle of the tournament about to begin, who would be calling the hotel front desk?
The proprietress pointed toward the landline phone inside the lobby.
"Someone named Aida."
"He said it's an absolute emergency. The captain has to take the call, or he'll have to commit seppuku!"
"Aida?"
At the sound of the name, Sakuragi's ears perked up.
"Oh! That loudmouth information guy from Ryonan!"
Miyagi raised an eyebrow.
"The short guy who's always carrying that notebook? Why's he calling?"
"It's not just a phone call."
The proprietress raised the stack of thermal fax sheets in her hand.
"He also sent a fax. Apparently, it's a 'top-secret dossier' for Shohoku."
Everyone returned to the lobby.
Takenori Akagi picked up the receiver and spoke in a deep voice.
"This is Akagi."
"CAPTAIN AKAGI!!!"
A roar exploded from the receiver, loud enough to pierce the eardrums.
It was filled with the manic excitement of someone who had just been injected with adrenaline.
Akagi instinctively pulled the receiver half a meter away from his ear, his brows furrowing.
"Aida, did you install a loudspeaker in your throat?"
"Ah! Sorry, sorry! I'm just too excited!"
On the other end, Hikoichi Aida's background was filled with noise, the sounds of bouncing basketballs and shouting echoing behind him.
It sounded like he was at some underground basketball court.
"Captain Akagi! Did you receive my fax?"
"I stayed up all night researching the Osaka team and compiled all their information!"
"Absolutely authentic! I paid for this intelligence with my hairline! You have to read it!"
Akagi accepted the fax sheets from the proprietress.
The paper was still warm from the machine.
It was densely covered in writing, along with hand-drawn tactical diagrams.
The handwriting was so messy it looked like a chicken had clawed across the page, clearly written in a desperate hurry.
Yet the contents were astonishingly detailed.
[Toyotama High Tactical Breakdown]
[Core System: Run & Gun]
[Captain Minami Tsuyoshi: Ace Killer. Extremely accurate three-point shooter. Excels at using screens. Watch his hands carefully. (There's some dirty stuff going on there...)]
[Kishimoto Minori: Short-tempered hothead. Explodes at the slightest provocation, but possesses an extremely strong fast-break instinct...]
[Weakness Analysis: Impatient on defense. Falls for fakes. Mentality is prone to collapse...]
Akagi scanned the pages rapidly.
The astonishment in his eyes grew stronger with every line.
"Oh..."
This wasn't merely a scouting report.
This was practically a cheat sheet for clearing the level.
END OF CHAPTER
The King Of Slacking Off - MrBehringer's Secret
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