“Want to go for a ride?” On the road, Hibari pedaled his bike, with Yukino sitting behind him.
“Mother was already very angry last night.” Yukino had failed to get home on time yesterday and had been scolded by her mother.
“I asked whether you wanted to go.
I didn’t ask whether the tigress at home would get mad.” Hibari chuckled and pedaled off with Yukino for a ride.
“I’ll tell Mother exactly what happened.
You took me away without asking.” “Got it.
I forced you to wander around with me.” This girl really said one thing and meant another.
Hibari didn’t mind taking the blame for her.
Yukino’s mother was terrifying.
At home, both sisters and even their father had to listen to her.
But Hibari wasn’t afraid.
No matter how rich the Yukinoshita family was, none of that money was going to be shared with him.
Hibari lived by his own hands and didn’t need to watch anyone’s mood.
“Hmph!” Yukino reached out and wrapped her arms around his waist.
Hibari looked back.
“Don’t get the wrong idea.
This is for safety.” “Then you’d better hold on tighter.” Hibari took her riding aimlessly through the streets.
Yukino had very few friends.
It was almost fair to say she had none.
Because of the flaws in her personality, even when she was simply having a normal conversation, she gave people the distant impression that she was cold and had no interest in making friends.
After returning to Japan, she had come looking for him every now and then, because she truly had no other friends.
Gradually, Yukino leaned her head against Hibari’s back and watched the scenery pass by.
Sometimes she also wished she could be like other students, walking home with friends after school, going here and there together.
Instead of getting in a car and going straight home the moment classes ended.
Sometimes, even Yukino herself wondered whether the reason she always took the initiative to find Hibari was that she wanted him to pull her out of that cage.
Maybe she had made Hibari her shelter from the storm.
Because only Hibari wasn’t afraid of her mother.
Ever since they were children, he had dared to take her along and stand against her mother.
She also remembered something from when they were very young.
Once, Hibari had taken her to raid a bird’s nest, and she had accidentally fallen from the tree.
When they got home and faced her mother’s stern warning, Hibari had planted his hands on his hips and spoken with shameless confidence.
If she remembered correctly, this was what he had said at the time: “If we never fall down, how are we supposed to learn how to get back up?” “Aunt Yukinoshita, there’s a serious problem with your educational methods.” “Pfft.” Yukino remembered that scene and couldn’t help laughing out loud.
Hibari looked at her strangely.
“Something funny come to mind?” “Nothing.
Just…
that time when you took me to raid a bird’s nest as kids and got scolded by Mother.” “Oh, that time.
Too bad I never got another chance to take you afterward.
Your dad is way too much of a doting father.
You only fell once, but he acted like you’d come down with some terrible illness.” But in the end, you still brought the nest back.
And there were several little birds inside.
Behind Hibari, where he couldn’t see her, Yukino smiled.
“Don’t talk about Father like that!” She lightly patted Hibari on the back, then asked, “What are you going to do after we go back?” “Practice.
Basketball.” “You’re serious about this?” “Of course.
One day, when I win the national championship, I’ll bring the trophy back and let you touch it.” “Stop bragging.
A half-baked player like you can’t do that.” Winning the national tournament was extremely difficult.
Japan had nearly sixty prefectures.
Chiba Prefecture alone had 200 participating teams.
In major regions like Tokyo, Kanagawa, and Kyoto, there were even more teams.
Any team that could break through its prefectural tournament was elite among elites.
In recent years, the national tournament championship had almost always been monopolized by teams from those larger regions.
A small place like Chiba Prefecture wasn’t exactly a sports powerhouse.
It took many years for a national champion to appear.
And that wasn’t only true for basketball.
Soccer, baseball, and other sports were the same.
Hibari didn’t bother explaining much to her.
He simply told her to watch.
…
That night.
After dinner, once he had rested enough, Hibari changed clothes and ran to an outdoor court to practice by himself.
Hibari No.
2 went with him.
No.
2 had another hidden function: it could provide him with the most professional training.
In No.
2’s words, “My training methods are worth one million dollars a year.” That one million was calculated according to the world’s top trainers, on the same level as LeBron James’s trainer, Mike Mancias.
It understood Hibari’s body and knew what Hibari needed at his current stage.
Under No.
2’s instructions, Hibari stood on the court and dribbled basketballs with both hands at the same time.
He was right-handed, not a natural two-sword style player, but this was his goal.
There were simply too many benefits to being ambidextrous.
It increased the options for drives, passes, shots, and more, making it impossible for defenders to focus on one side.
The Suns star, Mr.
70 Points himself, Devin Booker, was a classic example of a one-direction driver.
He relied heavily on driving right and rarely dribbled with his left.
Game after game, defenders targeted him by forcing him left, greatly reducing the threat of his drives.
If that kind of weakness couldn’t be fixed, a player’s individual driving threat would be drastically discounted.
They would often need teammates to set high screens for them.
But even with a high screen, opponents could still predict your driving lane and set up their defense in advance, effectively limiting your efficiency all the same.
Balance between the left and right hands was a hurdle Hibari had to overcome.
“Smack.” He lost the ball.
Training both hands evenly was far harder than he had imagined.
In the original work, the fact that Taiga Kagami overcame the weakness of being right-handed in just one summer was already proof of his extraordinary talent.
“This is really hard.” “There are no shortcuts to two-sword style.
But in your daily life, you can increase how much you use your left hand.
For example, when eating.” “I’ll work hard.” Hibari picked up the basketball, regained control, and kept practicing.
An effective goal could give a person tremendous motivation to move forward.
Right now, Hibari wanted to make something of himself on the path of basketball.
This was one of his strengths.
Either he didn’t do something at all, or once he decided to do it, he had to do it to the best.
“Smack!” The ball slipped away again.
Hibari picked it up and kept practicing.
He definitely wasn’t a pure basketball enthusiast.
In his previous life, he had played ball back in school, but only casually.
His fundamentals still weren’t up to standard.
Compared to people who had played since childhood, he was far behind, and there were many areas where he needed to improve.
After practicing for who knew how long, Hibari’s entire body was soaked with sweat.
He was so tired that he didn’t want to take another step, so he simply lay down on the court.
“Right, No.
2.
What should I do if I pull duplicate skill packages, or skill packages I think are useless?” This was a question Hibari had just thought of.
“Skill packages of the same general type can be fused a second time and upgraded.
For example, your Pull-Up Three.
If you pull another three-point skill package in the future, you can fuse them.” “Will it definitely become stronger after fusion?” “Not necessarily stronger, but it will gain additional traits.” His current Pull-Up Three was a shooting package that depended heavily on talent.
Its representative player was Tracy McGrady.
In Hibari’s opinion, McGrady had the most beautiful pull-up three.
However, McGrady’s pull-up three relied heavily on build and talent.
As a shooting guard, McGrady stood 2.03 meters tall, with a 2.21-meter wingspan.
That was ridiculously abnormal.
Combined with his outstanding athletic ability, McGrady’s pull-up three was extremely difficult to defend.
Looking across history, McGrady’s build was top tier.
There weren’t many who could steadily surpass him, and Kevin Durant was one of them.
…
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