“Good grief.
You’ve improved this much in such a short time.” “See?
Going to the gym with me was the right choice.
Muscles are the one true law of basketball!” Eikichi Nebuya wasn’t angry in the slightest that his dunk had been stopped.
His teammate was amazing.
He couldn’t have been happier.
“This isn’t just the result of working out.
Besides, I’ve barely trained for any time at all.
How much of an effect could it have had?” Hibari rolled his eyes.
This had nothing to do with working out.
He was simply becoming increasingly proficient with King Crimson’s ability.
The more he used it, the more he understood the power of Time Erasure.
Perhaps it could even contend with the Emperor Eye.
“But playing like this is really exhausting.” Hibari wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Many of his current points, blocks, steals, and other statistics were earned through King Crimson’s Time Erasure.
However, performing a second move within an extremely brief 0.5-second window consumed a huge amount of stamina.
Hibari felt that if he went all out continuously, he might last only twenty minutes in a game, perhaps even less.
“I’ll still need to take it easy at times and leave some work to my teammates.” Twenty minutes was Hibari’s current limit when playing at full power.
The national tournament followed FIBA rules, with each game lasting forty minutes.
Hibari needed to play at least thirty minutes, or he would be just as limited as Tetsuya Kuroko.
In other words, he would need to coast for at least ten minutes on the court and leave the game to his teammates.
Alternatively, he could transform into LeBron and forget about defense entirely, focusing only on offense to conserve a great deal of stamina.
35-33!
The game ended.
Hibari’s team narrowly lost by two points to the team led by Eikichi Nebuya.
He had genuinely done everything he could.
It was impossible to play that way on every possession.
Still, even though he lost the game, his performance won the basketball club’s recognition.
Before anyone realized it, everyone had begun treating him as the team’s second most important player.
“Whew!” “That was a great game today, Hibari!
Are you still going to the gym this weekend?” “As long as you keep training, we’ll definitely accomplish something in the upcoming national tournament.” Back in the locker room, Eikichi Nebuya was in high spirits.
Chiba Middle School clearly had even greater hopes this year.
“Of course I’m going.
I still have a long way to go.” Hibari nodded in agreement.
After all, even No.
2 recommended that he gain a certain amount of weight.
Only then could he become stronger through contact, and his finishing ability at the basket would rise along with it.
Here was a bit of trivia.
Which NBA player had the highest finishing rate at the basket?
Shaquille O’Neal!
Wrong!
The Big Diesel was indeed the most dominant center in NBA history, but if you looked purely at the data, LeBron James had the highest scoring efficiency at the rim.
During his prime, he regularly maintained a finishing rate above 70%.
That monstrous physique and driving force allowed him to almost ignore interference when going for a layup.
Once he reached the basket, it was two points.
Why not an and-one?
Because LeBron was the human embodiment of two-plus-zero.
A strong body was far too important for the current Hibari.
Moreover, he didn’t need to worry that gaining too much weight would affect his speed and explosiveness.
Through lottery draws, he could continuously raise the upper limit of his speed.
One day, he too could race across the court like Daiki Aomine.
“Hahaha!
All right, then.
We’ll meet at the usual place on Saturday morning.” “I know a basketball trainer.
He was always busy before, but he’s free now.
I’ll introduce you this week.” Eikichi Nebuya was very enthusiastic.
No wonder he could constantly train his muscles while maintaining such excellent jumping ability and speed.
It turned out he had a trainer guiding him.
However…
“No need.
I can train by myself.” “How can that be okay?
Training blindly on your own won’t just be ineffective.
It can also hurt your level of play.” “I have a trainer.” No.
2!
The most professional trainer in the world.
In its own words: The training you’re currently receiving is worth one million dollars a year.
That was the confidence of the system.
Even its words smelled like money.
“Is that so?
All right, then.” Eikichi Nebuya didn’t insist after hearing that.
“Seriously, if you can keep performing like this, I believe you’ll definitely get a chance to start.” “Coach has a sharp eye.
He must have already seen your strengths and potential.
Keep working hard!” His expression was extremely serious.
He wanted to accomplish something great.
Reaching the national top sixteen wasn’t enough to satisfy this “Herculean Strength”!
…
After changing clothes, Hibari rode his bicycle around Chiba Prefecture with Yukino sitting behind him.
With her father’s help, the Yukinoshita family’s second daughter had ultimately become the basketball club manager.
On her second day after joining the club, Chiba Middle School’s basketball club suddenly received more than a dozen new applications.
Yukino knew perfectly well what these people had come for and maintained a polite distance from them.
“Meow…” “Stop.” Yukino’s ears twitched.
She patted Hibari on the back and told him to stop.
“What is it?” Hibari stopped and watched Yukino get off the bicycle and walk into a park.
She stood beneath a tree and looked up.
He followed her gaze and discovered a tiny kitten meowing from the tree.
It extended its paws several times, seemingly trying to climb down by itself, but withdrew them each time.
“If this little guy could get up there, why can’t it get down?” “The hardest part of climbing a tree isn’t getting up.
It’s climbing down safely.” “Sounds like you’re talking about yourself.” “Hmph.” Yukino gave an unhappy snort.
In more than ten years, she had only tried climbing a tree once, and Hibari had taken her.
That was also the time she fell from a tree.
Ever since, her parents and sister had forbidden her from climbing them.
Hibari got off the bicycle and began climbing the tree with both hands and feet.
“You listen to your mother too much.” “I think that living for yourself is more important than living for other people.” “You don’t need others to tell you what you want to eat or drink.” Hibari spoke to Yukino as he climbed.
“You were like this when we were kids too.
Everything was what Mother said, what Father said, what your sister said.
Compared to them, I’d rather hear what you have to say.” “Father and Mother have far more life experience than I do.
In the end, most things will prove that they were right.” Yukino argued back, unwilling to lower her head in front of Hibari.
“Making mistakes is part of youth too.
If we never fall, how can we learn to stand up?” Hibari had already climbed into the tree.
He removed his jacket and wrapped it around the trembling kitten.
Then he looked down at Yukino from above and said, “Follow me from now on.
I’ll take you along when I ‘fall,’ then teach you how to stand back up.” “That doesn’t sound very appealing.
Besides, I’m first in our year, while you’re last in your class.” “How could a mere test paper possibly be worthy of deciding my life?
Your grades are so good, yet you still can’t climb a tree.” Hibari began climbing down while holding the kitten.
“That’s because…
Hey, slow down.
Don’t fall.” …
Please add this book to your library!