Chapter 117

Kawakami Yoshiko quietly focused her gaze on Yukimiya Kazuma, the one with snow-white hair, in the middle of the court, thought for a moment, and said, "Coach Xinsongzhi, how has student Yukimiya been performing in his daily life recently?"

"Yukimiya?"

Xinsongzhi paused, wondering why Kawakami Yoshiko suddenly asked this question, but considering Yukimiya Kazuma's recent performance, even he could find no fault, so there was nothing he couldn't say; thus, he said directly, "Yukimiya has changed a lot. His training attitude is focused and serious, his strength has improved just as rapidly, and the fact that the basketball club managed to reach the nationals this time is basically all thanks to student Yukimiya's effor..."

As he spoke these words, Xinsongzhi's speech suddenly halted.

If you don't say it, you don't know; if you do say it, you're shocked.

Good lord.

He hadn't noticed much before, but now that he reviewed the Tokyo district preliminary selection period, Yukimiya's progress wasn't just progress; it was a takeoff, as if he had been replaced by someone else!

"Um, Teacher Kawakami, has Yukimiya shown any changes in class as well?"

"I don't think so..." Even though he wasn't her own student, Kawakami Yoshiko still knew a bit about him.

Hearing this, Xinsongzhi also breathed a sigh of relief.

But just the next second, he heard Kawakami Yoshiko continue, "However, his exam scores have improved greatly; perhaps even more than his basketball skills."

Xinsongzhi shook his head in slight disagreement, "Improving grades is normal; after all, many in the basketball club crammed intensively for the training camp. And you don't know, Teacher, Yukimiya's basketball skil..."

Before Xinsongzhi could finish, he saw Kawakami Yoshiko say expressionlessly, "Student Yukimiya ranked second in the grade this time, and judging by the answers, there was absolutely no possibility of cheating."

Xinsongzhi: "??"

After training ended.

Xinsongzhi suddenly quietly approached Yukimiya Kazuma and whispered, "Yukimiya, you... have you been okay recently?"

"???"

Yukimiya Kazuma was puzzled, not understanding what Xinsongzhi meant by his words.

Did he dislike the self-practice being too intense again?

That shouldn't be the case?

He should have gotten used to it by now?

"I'm fine. What's wrong, Coach?" Xinsongzhi's sudden question left Yukimiya Kazuma unsure how to answer.

Seeing Yukimiya Kazuma's expression, Xinsongzhi and Kawakami Yoshiko exchanged a quiet glance, said no more, nodded, and let Yukimiya Kazuma leave first.

"Yukimiya lives alone; he has always handled things very well in that regard, so there is no need to worry about that. Could it be a problem with his feelings?"

Hearing this, Kawakami Yoshiko recalled carefully, but ultimately shook her head.

In the Land of Cherry Blossoms, middle school students dating is quite open, but in her impression, although Yukimiya Kazuma was very popular, it seemed he still hadn't been seen going out with anyone as a couple.

Kawakami Yoshiko paid quite a lot of attention to Yukimiya Kazuma; previously it was because his grades were poor, but now it was because his grades were too good, which made her somewhat curious.

Yukimiya Kazuma certainly couldn't imagine that his changes had led Xinsongzhi and Kawakami Yoshiko to think of so many things.

The days of the training camp passed one by one, and the training content also quietly changed.

A dawn that was just turning light.

The sea breeze, carrying a comfortable coolness, brought the crashing waves onto the sandy beach.

A group of vibrant youths ran along the coastline where waves constantly crashed, facing the morning sun, but amidst their unrestrained youth, the laughter, anger, and scolding that should have been present were completely absent here.

If you looked closely, you would discover that the only expressions on these youths' faces were the struggle of gritted teeth and sweat soaking everything.

"Damn it! What's going on? Why does today's running training feel so incredibly exhausting?" Haru no Yuji breathed heavily; he had only just run the second lap, and his Legs Already became quite heavy, making even lifting his legs feel difficult.

"Hah-huff... hah-huff! Don't talk too much, save your strength; I feel like I can barely breathe!" Teruyama Daisuke followed behind him, in a worse state than him, looking as if he was about to suffocate.

"Everyone pay attention; the sand here is very soft. Running on the beach takes more effort than on a normal track. Stop talking for now." Takefune Masaki, leading the run, heard the conversation behind him and immediately spoke up to remind them.

"Huff... huff... Is that so? Why does Senior Yukimiya look like nothing is wrong at all?"

A junior member was panting heavily with his mouth open; while speaking, he suddenly heard a rapid sound of footsteps coming from behind, which made his expression instantly turn terrified.

However, before he could make any other reaction, he saw Yukimiya Kazuma, taking long strides, zoom past him from behind, and immediately lap everyone else.

"My god!"

Looking at Yukimiya Kazuma ahead, breathing evenly and with an unchanged expression, everyone in the group couldn't help but curse inwardly.

That damn monster.

And looking at the Jump attribute in the system that had jumped up by 0.1, Yukimiya Kazuma's corner of his mouth curled up slightly.

It wasn't just Jump.

Old man Xinsongzhi's training has been very effective, at least for attributes that purely reflect physical abilities like 'Speed', 'Strength', and 'Stamina'.

Speaking of which.

After crossing over, after experiencing a period of improvement through meditation training, Yukimiya Kazuma rarely gained attributes from the basketball club's daily training.

Most of the time, his attributes were basically only obtainable during meditation training.

So it wasn't that Yukimiya Kazuma didn't want to work hard in daily training; it was that his physical constitution was too strong for the basketball club's daily training to drive.

But obviously, that was just Coach Xinsongzhi considering the daily life of middle school students, so the intensity simply hadn't been ramped up; now, facing the All-Japan tournament, the coach suddenly lifted the restrictions.

This is good; normal training and meditation training provide dual improvements.

Happy~

For a moment.

Yukimiya Kazuma was in high spirits, as if his steps even became much lighter; after a few long strides, even his back disappeared from the sight of Takefune Masaki and others behind him.

"..."

Damn it, why does Kazuma, that bastard, feel like he's becoming more and more perverted?

After the morning run ended.

The third-year students could barely stand, the second-years were propping themselves up with their hands on their knees, and the first-years simply lay flat.

As for Yukimiya Kazuma...

Oh!

He could still walk in small steps, controlling the accumulation of lactic acid in his body.

After a brief rest.

Shin Matsuzaki immediately announced the first training plan for the day... off-ball cutting.

Clearly, Shin Matsuzaki was determined to strengthen the basic qualities of the Bai Shui Hall players; off-ball cutting is the foundation of basketball fundamentals. Of course, if it were merely simple off-ball cutting training, for the current Bai Shui Hall players, it would probably carry no intensity at all.

Shin Matsuzaki's training method was also very simple.

On the beach, everyone, from off-ball cutting to linking up the previous passing drills, receiving the ball to attack the rim, receiving the ball to draw a double-team and pass out.

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Everything took place on the fine, soft sand; because dribbling was almost not considered, this training could be carried out on the beach.

The method seemed simple, but because the sand dragged on their feet, it placed quite high demands on the players' positioning and the precision of receiving and passing.

Everyone was encountering such a training method for the first time, so at the beginning, naturally, mistakes were continuous; and once a certain player's mistakes accumulated to five, they would receive Shin Matsuzaki's devilish 'reward'.

Reward content: simple and direct running laps, one lap limited to two minutes.

This 'reward' seemed ordinary, but in reality, the 'circle' Shin Matsuzaki drew, running one lap along the designated route, was at least 500 meters or more.

If it were on a normal track, this time limit would not be considered fast; at full sprint, with everyone's speed, they could basically guarantee a 500-meter lap in under a minute and a half.

But the key was that the 'circle' Shin Matsuzaki pointed out had quite peculiar terrain.

If running one lap around it, one would probably experience several different road conditions midway, such as beach, flat ground, grassland, and gravel ground; each felt different when running.

According to the two-minute limit, if one were just simply running one or two laps, there might not be too much of a problem, but once the number of times accumulated, it would be formidable.

Yukimiya Kazuma also experienced it once; if running at the speed of one lap per two minutes, he felt that even for himself, at most ten laps would be about the limit.

The others could be imagined.

Therefore, although it was only a morning of training, Yukimiya Kazuma could clearly feel everyone's progress; yes, just that fast, because those who were not fast enough had already collapsed from exhaustion in the running laps.

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"Watch the ball! Watch the ball!!"

"Pay attention to the passing direction, don't run blindly...!"

"Careful, the opponent is cutting to the basket for a layup!"

On the first afternoon when the training content changed, Shin Matsuzaki organized an intra-team practice match according to plan; unlike usual, this practice match was played as beach basketball.

But the indoor basketball rules were still used.

Even so, under the condition of being unable to dribble, how could the situation be the same? Not only because of the loose sandy ground, but also the sea breeze blowing occasionally from the seaside would have a huge impact on the ball.