Chapter 11: Hakusuikan Middle School? Isn't that a good draw!

The last summer for the third-year members of the Hakusuikan Middle School basketball club began on this day of the National Tournament Tokyo District preliminaries.

When the basketball club coach Niimatsu Osamu led the team members into the Tokyo Second Gymnasium, the clamorous sound suddenly enveloped them from all around, mixed with the sound of sneakers rubbing against the floor and the cheering of various schools in the audience, making the newcomers of the Hakusuikan basketball club tremble slightly as if they had been electrocuted.

Even Yukimiya Kazuma felt a bit excited.

Yukimiya Kazuma hadn't participated in basketball matches when he was in school, but in the matches he represented his school in the past, he had never experienced such an enthusiastic audience atmosphere.

Even though middle school basketball matches were not as eye-catching as high school basketball matches. ===== CHAPTER 28 =====

But today was the opening of the Tokyo District preliminaries, so the audience seats in the gymnasium were more than half full, and in the center of the gymnasium, the teams participating in the Tokyo District preliminaries had already appeared for the most part.

The Hakusuikan group followed Takefuji Masaki, who was holding the sign at the front, to the center of the gymnasium.

Just then.

As a team wearing white uniforms entered the court, the volume of the entire arena suddenly rose by another level.

Yukimiya Kazuma turned his head to look.

Unsurprisingly, it was Teiko Middle School.

"Hey!"

"Look, Teiko Middle School!"

"Two consecutive championships in middle school, the ones at the front are the Generation of Miracles!"

"Feels a bit scary…… their expressions and everything…… a bit gloomy."

"Before the National Tournament last year, although Teiko had never tasted defeat, it wasn't as exaggerated as this year. In the exchange matches between the top ten schools in the region, they often won by over a hundred points……"

"Huh?"

"Really!?"

The player who revealed this information nodded and affirmed: "Really, Teiko is bound to win this year, others shouldn't even think about it……"

"These monsters are ridiculously strong!"

Yukimiya Kazuma turned to look at Teiko Middle School; this was the first time he had faced the entire Generation of Miracles since transmigrating.

The first thing that caught his eyes was Murasakibara Atsushi, whose height had clearly reached 200cm. Although he hadn't reached the later 208cm, among a group of middle school students, he looked quite terrifying.

Kise Ryota, who was quite lively in his impression, also kept a cold face most of the time during this stage of Teiko's disintegration.

Then there was Aomine Daiki, whose height looked about the same as Yukimiya Kazuma's, maybe just a centimeter or two taller. At this moment, he was tilting his head and saying something gloomy to the pink-haired girl beside him.

The eye-catching green in the crowd, with bandages on his hands, was silently examining a mascot that Yukimiya couldn't understand. Midorima's height was nearly 190cm, almost equal to their own center, Takefuji Masaki.

And Akashi Seijuro……

When Yukimiya Kazuma looked at him, Akashi suddenly turned his head and glanced at him. His eyes were full of pressure, and the heterochromatic pupils at the bottom of his eyes looked extremely eerie.

Yukimiya Kazuma: "……"

Good guy……

Who dares to say you guys are the protagonists? You look just like a villain group.

"Hello."

"Yukimiya-kun."

Oh.

Except for this one in front of me.

"Hello."

Kuroko Tetsuya took the initiative to greet Yukimiya Kazuma, but didn't say much more and left with the Teiko team.

Yukimiya felt strange, while his teammates felt terrified. Coach Niimatsu Osamu, who was usually stern, was even startled by the sudden appearance of Kuroko.

……

The opening process of the regional preliminaries was quite smooth.

Athlete oath, group photo.

Organizer speech.

An hour later, the opening process ended, and the match officially began.

According to the draw results before the start, Hakusuikan Middle School's first battle was against a middle school named Enshoji. The strength of this middle school in the Tokyo district was mediocre.

Of course.

In Yukimiya Kazuma's memory.

This mediocrity was probably about the same level as the old Hakusuikan.

After everyone changed into their jerseys in the locker room, not long after, gymnasium staff came to notify that the match was ready and they could go on court for warm-ups.

Immediately, the Hakusuikan team members stepped into the court with somewhat uneasy feelings.

"Is Hakusuikan Middle School strong?"

"Well~ I don't know."

"If I haven't heard of them much before, they're probably about the same level as us?"

"Eh?"

"Isn't this a good draw? In that case, our chances of entering the second round have greatly increased!"

After the warm-up, Enshoji Middle School bench.

The basketball club members quietly looked in the direction of Hakusuikan.

Although their team's strength was very ordinary and they were always knocked out in the first round of regional preliminaries in the past, even so, as players, they had ambitions!

Slap slap slap~!

"Focus, don't think about anything else. No matter what the opponent is like, we play our own rhythm and take the first quarter first." The captain of Enshoji Middle School stood up, clapped his hands, and cheered everyone on.

"Yes!"

"Let's go! Take down the opponent!"

"We're going to make a big splash this year!"

And not long after……

Boom~!

In Enshoji Middle School's offensive round, a white flash leaped out from the opposite free-throw line!

The three-pointer after the Enshoji shooting guard bypassed the screen was, accompanied by a loud noise, swatted away from far away. The huge force even made the basketball fly from the front court all the way to the back court!

Then it slammed heavily into the advertising board outside the court!

In an instant.

The expressions of everyone on the Enshoji Middle School team froze. ===== CHAPTER 29 =====

"Such…… such a long-distance block!"

"So strong!"

"Who is that number 5? Why don't I have any impression of him?!"

After a moment of silence, the audience seats suddenly became restless. The focus of the audience, who were watching several matches going on at the same time, immediately remained only on Hakusuikan vs Enshoji.

"Don't……"

"Don't mind it!"

"It's okay, the opponent just jumped a bit higher, the timing of the block was just luck. Don't be affected by him, just defend well next time!"

The captain of Enshoji Middle School was the first to recover from his daze, immediately clapped his hands as usual to bring the teammates' attention back, and didn't forget to cheer everyone on.

Hearing the captain's words, the other members of Enshoji Middle School also recovered one after another.

That's right.

It must have been luck just now.

Blocking from the free-throw line to the three-point line, such a long jumping distance, it's not easy to control the movement once you jump up. That number 5's block must have had a gambling element!

However……

Didn't he jump too high?!

On the other side.

Joy leaped into Yukimiya Kazuma's eyes.

Because before the block just now, the system finally gave a clear acquisition path for how to obtain the badge, so Yukimiya Kazuma couldn't wait to pounce on it, and even took the lead in jumping.

[Badge Mission: In the match against Enshoji Middle School, block the opponent's players 5 or more times]

[Achievement Reward: Opportunity to obtain block-related badges (Currently completed 1/5)]

[Attribute Mission: Defeat Enshoji Middle School, win the match, and provide 10 or more assists]

[Achievement Reward: Self-assignable attributes ×4] ===== CHAPTER 30 =====