Chapter 95

Bamboo Vine Masaki finished organizing today's gear first thing, then switched into basketball shoes and headed to the nearby park court.

Hiiragi Gen Shinsuke, that first-year little brother, was still in low spirits, but he didn't skip today's shooting practice either.

Liang Huayin stared at the Jordan poster beside the bed, lying there in a daze, his mind still replaying today's game—scenes of his own helplessness against Kise flashing over and over.

Teruyama Daisuke's fierce strike in the bathroom threw the whole household into an uproar.

Kasuga Yuji was on the phone with a friend, his voice full of complaints and dejection; the buddy on the other end, who had already switched to other events, joined in trashing the Generation of Miracles as freaks.

Even Coach Xinsongzhi was the same, pacing back and forth in his office, unable to sit still for a moment, as if uncomfortable all over.

Today's crushing loss to Teikou—although everyone on the surface seemed to bounce back quickly—in reality, this defeat cut far deeper than any past failure to produce results.

However…

The seed had already been quietly planted, and under the watering of that unwillingness, it quietly awaited germination.

……

It was still Tokyo Second Gymnasium.

Same venue, but today Bai Shui's opponent had become Wu Ze Middle School.

In yesterday's match, Wu Ze Middle School had lost to another Final Four team, Tochikuzushi Miyagi Middle School.

Wu Ze's ace player, like most teams, was a third-year—after all, teams with players like Nijimura Shuzo, who became the nation's number-one power forward in second year, or the Generation of Miracles, who likewise took up their seniors' mantle early in second year, were still a tiny minority.

There was a gap between Wu Ze and Tochikuzushi Miyagi—Wu Ze was unquestionably the weakest of the Final Four, let alone compared to Bai Shui.

After the game began.

Yukimiya Kazuma didn't run into much of a challenge, which let him pour all his energy into running the offense.

The tasks that popped up during the game weren't difficult, and scoring wasn't as hard as against Teikou.

When the attribute gap with the opponent was too large, it could conversely offset the difficulty of technical output—even without activating 'Monster Immersion,' Yukimiya could easily bulldoze his way to points purely through attribute superiority.

As for the new badge obtained earlier, Yukimiya had tested its quality during meditation training. It was indeed powerful, but the negative emotions it brought were equally intense; once he calmed down, he couldn't quite believe that person was himself.

Most importantly…

That negative emotion was, frankly, not very friendly toward his teammates.

So Yukimiya decided there was no need to force it on, adding pressure to himself and his teammates; as for the badge experience lost from not using it often, he could just feed it the gold Experience Badge when he got one.

During the game, besides 'Monster Immersion,' Yukimiya went all-out.

'Rookie Ace's War Cry (Green Lv. 2)' first restored a wave of stamina to his teammates, then 'Pass-Control Master (Gold)' kept dishing out assists and feeding the ball.

'I Love Blocking Dunks (Purple)' made Yukimiya Kazuma a godsend on defense too.

As long as his stamina allowed, Yukimiya Kazuma used his abilities without hesitation—grinding out experience and stats together, wasn't that wonderful?

Under Yukimiya Kazuma's orchestration, Bai Shui completely dominated the floor; after just one quarter, Bai Shui had opened up a huge lead. Yukimiya turned and looked—Teikou was actually me.

Coach Xinsongzhi on the sideline looked much better, thinking this was what a normal level of middle-school competition should be; he dared to assert that, nationwide, Bai Shui was top-tier.

A point guard with ferocious defense and number-one assists—truly a gift from God to Bai Shui.

What a pity.

Born at the wrong time.

There just had to be that Generation of Miracles, blocking the way ahead like a mountain.

116:47—against non-Teikou opponents, Bai Shui showed astonishing stability; the brilliant passes of 'Pass-Control Master' were practically a tool for farming weaker teams.

Yukimiya Kazuma put up an all-around line of 19 points, 26 assists, 8 rebounds, 3 steals, and 6 blocks. In the Tokyo district prelims, Yukimiya Kazuma led by a wide margin in assists.

Bai Shui's first win in the Final Four round-robin lifted the spirits of the student cheering section; the last game against Teikou had left not just the players on the court but even the student supporters feeling utterly wronged.

Now, at last, they felt better.

And Yukimiya Kazuma felt good too, because he'd earned another badge from the same 'series'—of course, not the 'Rookie' series, but the 'I Love' series.

【Badge Quest: In the match against Wu Ze Middle School, win the game and assist at least three teammates into double-digit scoring】

【Completion Reward: Obtain a badge related to 'I Love Blocking Dunks'】

【Auto-loading badge reward…】

【Badge loaded…】

【Obtain Badge: I Love Blocking Jump Shots】

【I Love Blocking Jump Shots (Blue): Your jump shot is utterly ordinary, always giving me the urge to block it. Against jump shots, block success rate increases by 20% (limited to shooting jump-shot types)】

Nice badge. Sure, we don't know why a badge from the same series is one tier lower than the purple 'I Love Blocking Dunks,' but just from the text description alone, this badge is clearly very useful.

After this, for Bai Shui Middle School, only one match remained in the prelims.

But in fact, after winning against Wu Ze Middle School, they had already automatically secured a spot to advance to nationals.

Because Wu Ze Middle School's final game against Teikou absolutely could not be won—Wu Ze would finish the Final Four round-robin with three straight losses, losing their seeded spot to advance to nationals.

However…

Just as Yukimiya thought he could coast through the last game.

The system suddenly issued a quest before the match:

【Attribute Quest: Defeat Tochikuzushi Miyagi Middle School, win the game, hold your opposing ace Long Tian Zhang to under 10 points, and put up a 40+10 stat line】

【Completion Reward: Self-allocated Attribute Points ×6】

Just as Yukimiya Kazuma was wondering what was special about Tochikuzushi Miyagi Middle School, Kasuga Yuji came over excitedly holding a basketball weekly.

It was that damned pass basketball magazine again.

"Senpai, Long Tian Zhang said in an interview that he'll beat you in the game and prove that Tochikuzushi Miyagi Middle School is the true No. 2 in Tokyo!"