A grotesque spider with a vicious face appeared behind Makoto Hanamiya.
The moment it appeared, several strands of silk shot from its mouth.
The threads instantly stuck to Tatsuya Himuro's feet.
Himuro tried lifting his leg, only to realize it felt unusually heavy, as if it were actually glued to the floor.
Makoto Hanamiya smiled.
"What's wrong, buddy? Why aren't you attacking?"
"Or… you don't know how to attack?"
"If that's the case, why even play basketball? Why don't you go home and pick on that kid instead?"
Fed up with the nonstop trash talk, Tatsuya Himuro dribbled and prepared to force his way through.
But this was exactly what Makoto Hanamiya wanted.
After all, Hanamiya's greatest specialty was stealing the ball.
The moment Himuro brought the ball down to dribble, Hanamiya's hand was already there.
With a swift motion, he stripped the ball cleanly and regained possession.
After taking the ball, Hanamiya didn't forget to mock him.
"No way, no way. You can't even hold onto the ball now? Are you sick or something? Parkinson's?"
Tatsuya Himuro's expression twisted in anger. His fists clenched tightly, the muscles in his cheeks hollowing slightly as he ground his teeth.
He was about to lose it.
He was this close to punching Makoto Hanamiya.
Yet Hanamiya still didn't stop.
"Ah, I get it now. Your skills… really are worse than that kid's."
"You're supposed to be the senior… so why are you weaker than him?"
Those words were like pouring salt directly into Himuro's wound.
The reason Tatsuya Himuro had fallen out with Taiga Kagami in the first place was exactly because of this.
More precisely, because of his pride.
And now Hanamiya's words were stabbing that pride all over again.
Himuro finally snapped and roared:
"You bastard!"
Seeing Himuro on the verge of exploding, Hanamiya grinned.
"What? Thinking about using violence on the court?"
Himuro froze mid-motion.
He forcibly stopped himself.
He wasn't someone who liked fighting, and besides, this was Kirisaki Daiichi's home court.
There was no way he could actually hit someone here.
But the frustration… it was unbearable.
On the sidelines, Satsuki Momoi kept taking notes with her pen.
Under Tatsuya Himuro's data column, she wrote:
[Poor resistance to pressure. Needs tempering]
[Training method: One-on-one against Makoto Hanamiya]
There was no helping it.
If a basketball player couldn't handle trash talk, that was a serious problem.
The match on the court continued.
But Himuro's condition was clearly off.
Enraged by Hanamiya's insults, even his movements began to fall out of form.
The game ended exactly as expected.
Makoto Hanamiya won.
Score: 5–0.
Even after the match ended, Tatsuya Himuro still hadn't recovered.
He had a feeling he probably wouldn't sleep well for the entire week…
After the game, Makoto Hanamiya walked over with a smile, extended his hand, and said:
"Himuro, you played well. At least you gave me a good time trash-talking."
Himuro, still furious, slapped Hanamiya's hand away.
Hanamiya helplessly waved his hand and stepped off the court.
At that moment, Shuzo Nijimura walked over to Himuro and explained the situation.
But even after hearing the full explanation, Himuro's anger still hadn't faded.
Hanamiya's trash talk had been way too vicious.
It was like true damage—every line a critical hit.
Nijimura could only sigh in helplessness before saying one last thing.
"You'll get used to it eventually. If nothing unexpected happens, you and Hanamiya will probably be spending a lot of time together."
Himuro stared at him in shock.
"Why?!"
Nijimura spread his hands.
"Because your resistance to trash talk is too weak, and the strongest trash-talker on our team happens to be Hanamiya."
"So yeah… you'll probably suffer for a while."
"But don't overthink it. We all went through this."
As he spoke, Nijimura pointed at Shogo Haizaki nearby.
"Haizaki too. When he first joined, Hanamiya roasted him so badly that he went to Hanamiya's house in the middle of the night looking for trouble."
Haizaki's face stiffened. He clearly didn't want to recall that embarrassing story.
Because…
When he snuck over to Makoto Hanamiya's house that night…
He got ambushed and beaten instead…
Hanamiya had apparently anticipated the sneak attack and prepared countermeasures in advance.
Or rather…
Hanamiya had always been prepared.
At this point, Himuro didn't want to think about it anymore. Nijimura had already explained enough.
Even though he was still angry, all he could do now was swallow it.
After all, if he could out-trash-talk Hanamiya, or if he could beat Hanamiya, would he still be this angry?
In the end, it all came down to a lack of strength.
Himuro silently made a vow in his heart.
'Hanamiya… sooner or later, I'm going to roast you to death!'
In the matches that followed, Himuro challenged the remaining team members one by one.
Without exception, he failed to score a single point.
And with that, Tatsuya Himuro's initiation ceremony was complete.
Next came the Summer Cup.
Kirisaki Daiichi's first opponent was Kōkyo High School.
Kōkyo High wasn't a strong team. Even qualifying for the Summer Cup could be considered pure luck.
But their luck had clearly run out—because their very first match was against Kirisaki Daiichi.
A few days later.
The match between Kirisaki Daiichi and Kōkyo High School arrived.
The stands were completely packed. Everyone wanted to watch Kirisaki Daiichi play.
Whether high school coaches or ordinary spectators, almost everyone was interested in their match.
It could be said that nearly every Summer Cup team without a game that day had come to watch.
Even some teams that hadn't qualified showed up.
After all, the pressure Kirisaki Daiichi gave off was simply too overwhelming.
After both teams entered the court and began warming up, Makoto Hanamiya suddenly spotted a familiar face.
"Hm?"
Shogo Haizaki asked,
"What's wrong, Hanamiya?"
Hanamiya replied,
"I saw a familiar face."
Haizaki looked over and saw a man with a scar around his eye and a particularly gloomy expression.
He felt the man looked familiar, but couldn't remember where he'd seen him.
Hanamiya reminded him:
"His name's Kato. He was my teammate back in middle school."
"You know… the guy who deliberately injured Midorima at the start of a game and then got elbowed straight into the hospital by Miyamoto."
Haizaki immediately remembered.
Wasn't this Meisei's sandbag small forward?
"How did he end up at Kōkyo?"
Hanamiya shook his head.
"No idea."
"But judging by his expression… he's definitely not here with good intentions."
Haizaki gave a wicked grin.
"He can try…"