[You say to the coach, "I'm back to win a championship!"]
[The gym goes dead silent—then bursts into laughter.]
[One of your teammates pats your shoulder, grinning. "Don't push yourself, Souta. To win a championship, we'd have to beat Teiko Junior High."]
[Another chimes in, "Yeah, Souta, come on. That's Teiko! The biggest powerhouse in the country. That generation's being called the strongest in history. They were already top players as first-years last year—they'll be even stronger now. Forget the championship. Let's just do our best."]
[Their words piss you off.]
[That attitude was one of the reasons you quit in the first place. Playing with people with no ambition drove you insane. Though to be fair, you'd given up even faster than they had—you'd quit an entire year ago.]
"..."
"Why does this damn system add commentary? That's my job."
Souta glared at the holographic text in irritation.
["I'll win," you tell them seriously. You're the kind of man who refuses to back down.]
[You rejoin the team and start training. After a year away from the court, you'll need time to recover.]
[Day three. You keep up your rehab training. The Kasugano siblings and Kazuha Migiwa are happy to see you back to your old self. They say this version of you feels right.]
[Day four. More rehab. You start to truly understand Mitsui Hisashi's pain.]
[Your body and stamina are still rough. Luckily, all those fights with delinquents at school kept your reflexes from rusting too much.]
[Day five. You keep training. The coach is impressed by how fast you're recovering and lets you join an intra-squad scrimmage.]
[Clearly, this fifty-something old bastard knows how to score points—figuratively and literally. He knows Hozumi Academy's trip to the National Tournament last year wouldn't have happened without you carrying them.]
[You suit up and hit the court. Your performance shocks the coach.]
[He shouts, "Amazing! Souta, you're a genius!"]
[No one expected that after a year away, you'd come back even stronger.]
[The coach of Hozumi Academy's Basketball Club was once a benchwarmer on a low-tier pro team, with no major achievements.]
[Then again, if he'd been good, he wouldn't be stuck coaching basketball at a music school. The elite coaches—like Shirogane Kozo and Shirogane Eiji—all worked with powerhouse teams.]
[Even if he wasn't great, he wasn't blind. He could see it—your playstyle was pure precision.]
[Every move, every shot, every drive, every layup—honed to perfection. You looked like you'd stepped straight out of a basketball textbook.]
[Your bank shots always hit at a perfect 45-degree angle. Your timing on pick and roll slips was precise down to the defender's 5-degree shift in balance. Every shot released at the peak of your jump, hands extending just over your head.]
[Your teammates asked if you'd been secretly training all year.]
[You were speechless. Training? What training? Bunch of idiots.]
[You led your team to victory—22 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, all team highs.]
[Day six. You improve even faster. Even after club activities end, you keep training late into the night.]
[Sora grows curious about your change and starts following you to the streetball court.]
[This shut-in of a girl barely interacts with anyone besides you and Haruka.]
[You practice. She watches.]
[You keep practicing. She gets bored.]
[You're still practicing. She wanders off to explore.]
[You keep going, completely immersed.]
"No wonder I'm me," Souta said proudly. "Poor as hell, but hardworking as hell too. Old habits die hard."
Then he paused. "Wait... why am I roasting myself?"
He shook his head and focused back on the Simulation.
[While you're training, you suddenly hear Sora scream in the distance.]
[Though she's not exactly well-endowed, she's still a beauty—and she's being harassed by a few delinquents nearby.]
[You rush over. There are three of them, each with hair dyed a different color—red, yellow, and green.]
[You take them on alone and beat all three, sending them running with bloody noses. As they leave, they shout, "We'll be back!"]
"..."
What are you, Team Rocket? Souta thought.
[You stop practicing for the night and carry Sora home. She twisted her ankle, and since she's frail to begin with, she tires easily.]
[She rests her head on your shoulder and whispers, "Sorry, Souta."]
["For what?" you ask.]
["For bothering you again."]
[You sigh. "You've been saying that since we were kids, and you've never changed."]
["Because it's boring at home," she says, pouting.]
["Then go to school instead of staying cooped up all day."]
["Idiot. I don't want to see anyone except you and Haruka," she says, tightening her arms around your neck.]
[You sigh again. "Then let's come out together again tomorrow."]
["What if they show up again?" she asks nervously.]
[You grin back at her. "Don't worry. I'm the strongest."]
[You laugh awkwardly—your face still bruised from earlier. Sora giggles, leaning against your back, saying nothing.]
"Wait—wait, wait! Something's off!"
Souta leaned back, alarmed.
This was heading way off-script!
"At this rate... things might get really complicated!"
[You can feel Sora getting a little too close lately, even though she's always been like this.]
[So the next night, you decide to leave her at home and go train alone.]
[Sora gets mad. When you come back, she threatens not to talk to you for an entire day. You just laugh, which makes her kick you before running back to her room.]
"Hah! As expected of me—the genius of geniuses!"
Souta puffed out his chest, pointing at the screen.
Then he kept reading.
[You're not sure how long it's been—definitely less than a month—but you can feel your condition has recovered to about seventy percent. Thanks to your talent, The Big Fundamental, your basketball skills are at their peak once again.]
[The National Tournament Qualifiers group draw has been announced.]
[This is why you didn't transfer schools. It's already too late.]
[Besides, the Kasugano family doesn't have extra money. Otherwise, you wouldn't have moved from the city to this small rural town.]
[Okukozome is a small town in the northern part of the Kanto region, located in Tochigi Prefecture. It's tiny—only about 160,000 residents.]
[In a small prefecture like this, there's only one qualifying spot for the National Tournament, far fewer than big cities like Tokyo or Kanagawa. Tokyo gets three, Kanagawa two.]
[Of course, the competition in Tochigi isn't nearly as intense as in those big cities. Otherwise, it would've been impossible for Hozumi Academy to make it to the main stage of the National Tournament last year.]