Donnie generally trusted his agent's taste in games. He knew Leo wouldn't push actual garbage his way. He looked at the game's description and slowly read it aloud for the stream.
"Teiko Middle School Basketball Club. In its glorious history, it simultaneously boasted five players hailed as the 'Generation of Miracles,' talents said to appear only once a decade."
"However, there was a curious rumor. Unknown to anyone, with no official game records, there was another player whom even these five geniuses couldn't afford to underestimate. He was the Phantom Sixth Man."
"Hmm…" Donnie mused.
"So, the protagonist is probably this Phantom Sixth Man. Are we going to play as this character in the game?"
The chat immediately chimed in:
[Wait a sec? Five guys are called the 'Generation of Miracles,' plus a sixth man… that's only six total. But the cover art has seven people!]
[I bet the black-haired dude in the middle is who we actually play as.]
[Yeah, for real. The other characters have all sorts of crazy hair colors.]
[Can't tell much just from the cover and description. Gotta wait till we're in the game.]
Donnie skimmed the rest and then clicked 'Download.'
"Holy—!"
"344 Gigabytes?!"
"What kind of basketball game needs that much space?"
"Huh, that's… interesting. A file size that massive usually means there's some serious content packed in."
Even with Donnie's high-speed internet, over three hundred gigs would take a while to download. During that time, Donnie went back to the game's store page, looking at the finer details.
Things like the developer and the tags.
"What's this 'Gacha' tag mean?" he wondered aloud.
"And also…"
"Developer: 'Platinum Theatre'?"
"What a coincidence! The big spender who dropped those Banners earlier had the same ID…"
Donnie clicked on Platinum Theatre's profile. Apart from Kuroko's Basketball VR: Middle School Arc, there were no other titles listed under their name.
The chat immediately picked up on this and had a field day.
[The dev is in the house?!]
[Did he pull some strings with Leo to cut the line? LMAO]
[Oh no, Leo's taking bribes behind Donnie's back! Scandal!]
[…]
Donnie glanced at the chat.
"Relax, folks, nobody jumps the queue on my channel. If this game sucks, the Storm Brigade doesn't care if the developer is watching or not. We call it like we see it, you hear?"
Donnie's words were as much for the audience as they were for Alex, setting expectations straight. Just because the developer had gifted some donations earlier wouldn't skew his review of the game.
…
Donnie played a bit of an older game to kill time while waiting for the download.
Then, after finishing a round in the other game, a sharp 'Ding!' sound effect let everyone in the stream know: the game had finished downloading and installing.
With smooth, practiced motions, Donnie got out of his chair and stepped into his full-immersion VR rig.
On the DMM game platform, he launched Kuroko's Basketball VR: Middle School Arc.
In an instant, Donnie's vision went black.
'Platinum Theatre.'
Four large words materialized before Donnie's eyes, then faded.
Then, accompanied by a surge of adrenaline-pumping music, an opening cinematic began.
And from the audience's perspective, the camera in this CG moved with Donnie's line of sight, making it clear he was embodying a character within the scene!
A massive basketball arena.
The roar of the crowd, rising and falling.
Just as Donnie, caught in the center of this sensory overload, was trying to get his bearings…
SWOOSH!
A figure suddenly blurred past him!
The incredible speed whipped the player's jersey, creating an audible rush of air that momentarily drowned out the cheers from the surrounding stands!
Donnie couldn't even track the figure immediately.
By the time he turned, all he saw was a flash of a white jersey, already pulling away.
TEIKO!
Number 6!
A dark-skinned youth with deep blue hair, moving at terrifying speed, launched himself from just inside the free-throw line and slammed the basketball through the hoop with brutal force!
Donnie looked down; his current position was still back near the center line.
Holy crap…
"So fast!" Donnie exclaimed.
"And guys, this VR CG feels incredibly real!"
"The moment he blew past me, that sound, the feeling of the air displacement… it was exactly like real life…"
But what happened next on screen made Donnie's words catch in his throat.
[WHOA! That dark-skinned dude is crazy fast!]
[And he's immediately pressing full-court after the dunk! All by himself!]
[DAMN! That pressure is intense!]
[He can't get the pass out! The opponent's about to get stripped by this guy…]
SMACK!
A sharp sound. Under the relentless pressure from Teiko #6, whose movements were clearly a cut above, the opposing point guard's dribble was cleanly stolen!
Only Teiko #6 was in the frontcourt.
Three defenders stood between him and the basket.
"Pass it, Aomine!" shouted Teiko #7, a green-haired player, calling for the ball from beyond the three-point line.
But Teiko #6 ignored his teammate's call. He looked at the defenders in front of him, instantly lowered his stance, and leaned forward slightly. In a heartbeat, he shot forward like a panther.
[That's not a smart play…]
[He's going straight into a trap; he won't get through.]
[But man, he's so quick!]
Teiko #7 frowned, clearly unhappy with #6's solo act. But in the next second, everyone on the court, in the stands, and in the live stream chat was left utterly stunned.
The dark-skinned player, whom Teiko #7 had called 'Aomine,' was about to collide with two of the defenders. But Aomine, who had been charging at full speed, abruptly halted. For that split second, it was as if time and space themselves had frozen!
This momentary stop made the defenders relax their guard.
And then, in that same instant, Aomine's speed exploded to its absolute peak again. In the blink of an eye, he slipped through the tiny gap between the two defenders!
To go from max speed to a dead stop!
And then instantly back to max speed!
Was that kind of ridiculous, visible shift in velocity even humanly possible?
Donnie was completely dumbfounded!
Having broken into the paint, Aomine treated the opposing team's interior defense as if it wasn't even there, leaping directly for a shot.
The opposing center also jumped with all his might, hands stretched high, creating a wide defensive umbrella that even blocked Aomine's line of sight. Given the defensive coverage, this shot had a high probability of missing.
However…
From Donnie's viewpoint, Aomine's figure seemed to drift further and further away from the defender, as if he were floating backward in mid-air.
"A fadeaway sh—"
"Is that even a FADEAWAY JUMP SHOT?!"
[Are you kidding me?!]
[Dude, dude, dude, how far back is he even leaning?!]
[MONSTER!]
Pivoting on his knees, Aomine leaned his entire upper body back until he was almost parallel to the ground!
The basketball rolled softly off his fingertips, tracing a beautiful arc, sailing over the defender's outstretched hands.
Swish!
An unbelievable fadeaway, with an arc that launched almost vertically upwards, perfectly bypassing the defense and dropping cleanly through the net!