Chapter 231

The date for the draw was set for the weekend.

That morning, Yukimiya Kazuma, who had just finished his meditation training, suddenly received a phone call from Captain Kuriki Noboru.

Kuriki Noboru: "Today is the preliminary draw. Do you want to come along?"

Yukimiya Kazuma: "Is that allowed?"

Kuriki Noboru: "Of course. 9 o'clock, Tokyo Second Gymnasium. Contact me when you arrive."

Yukimiya Kazuma: "Understood, Senior Kuriki."

Although the training schedule was slightly disrupted, Yukimiya Kazuma agreed without the slightest hesitation; after all, he also wanted to know immediately whether his addition would cause any changes.

At 9 a. m., Yukimiya Kazuma arrived at the gymnasium as promised and met Kuriki Noboru.

Then, as soon as they entered the gymnasium, they ran straight into acquaintances.

Hyuga Junpei and Aida Riko.

And...

Midorima Shintaro, who had come along with Ootsubo Yasusuke.

"Huh? Yukimiya-kun?"

Aida Riko was the first to spot him and took the initiative to greet him, while Midorima Shintaro, upon seeing Yukimiya Kazuma, for some reason suddenly looked quite grim.

Kuriki Noboru and Ootsubo Yasusuke were very familiar old rivals and began chatting in a thoroughly familiar manner.

Yukimiya Kazuma, with a strange expression, watched the silent Midorima.

Very quickly.

Everyone entered the draw venue together.

Seirin, Shutoku, and Izumizengaku completed their draws one after another. Yukimiya Kazuma even took a special look, and then he was met with Midorima Shintaro's rather unfriendly gaze.

Yukimiya Kazuma: "..."

Good grief...

Group D?

It really has changed.

The next day.

In a first-year classroom at Izumizengaku, Long Tian Zhang slumped over his desk. In his dream, he was reliving the scene of the practice match against Seirin.

In the dream, he transformed into Yukimiya Kazuma, wielding lightning on the court.

"Watch my block!"

"Haha~!"

"Within the three-point line, it's all my defensive zone!"

Slap~!

The 'block' in Long Tian Zhang's dream slapped the homeroom teacher right in the face.

The teacher was completely stunned by the sudden blow; after all, the force of the slap had spun the person around, showing its power clearly.

Coming to his senses, the teacher trembled with rage and shouted: "You...! ` ‖!"

"Get out there and stand properly!"

"Basketball Club, is it!?"

"Come to my office after class. I want to have a good talk with you about club activities!!!"

Shouted at like that, Long Tian Zhang suddenly woke up!

"Uh..."

"Tea..."

"Teacher."

"I have Basketball Club activities after class. Today is the day the I·H schedule is released; it's very important..."

The words in Long Tian Zhang's mouth gradually grew weaker in the face of the teacher's bright red handprint and the look of fury about to burn his eyebrows.

Sitting not far from him, He Xiuyang shook his head wordlessly.

"As expected of you..."

"This idiot."

"Assemble!"

Inside the Izumizengaku gymnasium, Captain Kuriki Noboru was taking roll call and organizing the team, but he discovered that Long Tian Zhang from the first year was missing.

Upon inquiry, Kuriki Noboru, having learned the full story, couldn't help but darken his expression; after all, slapping a teacher during class and getting called to the office...

... was simply too outrageous.

"He Xiuyang, you'll be responsible for relaying the message later."

Once everyone had lined up, Kuriki Noboru announced loudly:

"Next, we enter the I·H regional preliminary stage! Last year, although we reached the nationals just like previous years, our results on the national stage have always been unable to break through..."

"Plus, the situation for Tokyo district teams this year is completely different from before."

Having said this, he paused, then continued: "This year, among the opponents in our group is the Eastern King, Shutoku!"

"Last year they were the top eight nationally, and this year they have the addition of one of the Generation of Miracles, Midorima Shintaro. After seeing Yukimiya, everyone should now have an understanding of what level of player the Generation of Miracles are!"

"If we don't defeat them, we might even stop at the preliminary finals this year!"

Upon hearing the words 'Generation of Miracles', everyone froze, then suddenly widened their eyes, turning to look at Yukimiya Kazuma. "That... Midorima Shintaro's strength... won't it also be..."

Yukimiya Kazuma pondered for a moment, hesitated slightly, and still chose to answer based on the high school version he knew: "Although you might not believe me when I say this..."

"But that guy's three-pointers are perfect every single time."

Tsuchiya Dahe and Dakou Longzhi nodded in unison, then they heard Yukimiya Kazuma reveal information so shocking that they didn't even know it existed.

"And the shooting range covers the entire court."

"Perfect accuracy from the entire court."

Tsuchiya Dahe, a shooting-type forward, instantly widened his eyes. "How is that possible? Not half-court... right? Oh, the level of the Generation of Miracles... everyone has evolved at super speed just like you, Yukimiya, after all this time..."

"Huh?"

"You're joking, right? Perfect accuracy from the entire court..."

"Then how do we defend against that?"

Kuriki Noboru's face showed no expression of surprise; it was obvious he had already obtained the intelligence from Yukimiya beforehand. "To defeat Shutoku, everyone must not slack off during this period!"

"Yes!" The group immediately composed themselves and answered in unison.

At that moment.

Bodao Kazumi came running over.

"Kuriki..."

"This is the bracket for the preliminary round."

"Hmm..."

"Unfold it and show everyone."

Although Yukimiya Kazuma went to the venue for the draw, there were simply too many high school basketball teams; upon learning that Aida Riko had drawn Group A just as in the original timeline.

And after Midorima drew Group D, which differed from the original timeline, he left the draw venue very quickly.

So this was also the first time he learned the complete bracket situation.

Preliminary Round, Group D.

The first thing that caught Yukimiya Kazuma's eye were the two seed teams listed on the left and right halves of the bracket.

The King of the West, Seirin!

The King of the East, Shutoku!

These two schools, which had long occupied three of the Tokyo District's seed slots, were placed in the same group this year; that means one of them wouldn't even qualify for the preliminary round finals, having to go home early in the preliminary group stage.

Regarding this, Yukimiya Kazuma didn't feel anything special.

Shutoku, huh.

Seirin, huh.

Both were originally supposed to be crushed by Seirin in Group A.