Aizen was immediately ejected from the game.
Takasago had committed a foul, but he had his reasons, didn’t he?
This was Kainan’s home court, and the referees were their own junior club members.
There was no way they’d eject their own guy.
But who did Aizen think he was?
They had to get him out of there!
Although Aizen was sent off, he’d also taken out Takasago—Kainan’s starting center—before leaving.
Teiko could afford to lose Aizen because they still had Haizaki Shogo on the bench.
Kainan couldn’t afford the same luxury—Takasago’s position was irreplaceable.
Haizaki entered the game.
Before stepping onto the court, he couldn’t help but glance at Aizen a few extra times.
‘This guy—I’d better steer clear of him from now on.’
That big, that strong of a center, and Aizen just tossed him around like it was nothing.
His combat ability wasn’t quite on the level of Son Goku, but he could definitely hold his own against Mouri Ran.
He’d be punching through telephone poles in no time.
He’s untouchable!
“Are you an idiot?
The basketball court isn’t a judo mat.
You’re supposed to play ball here, not fight.”
The moment Aizen came off, Shirogane Kozo launched into a lecture.
“If something like this happens again, don’t you dare throw a punch.
Let Nijimura Shuzo and the others handle it.”
Nijimura Shuzo was starting to get confused.
‘Wait a minute—Coach, wasn’t the whole reason you brought Aizen here in the first place exactly for this kind of work?’
‘When Aizen’s talent wasn’t showing, you called me ‘sweetheart’ and made me Teiko’s designated enforcer.’
‘Now that Aizen’s talent has blossomed and the new generation has replaced the old, suddenly you want me to clean up the mess?’
‘Is this how a coach is supposed to act?’
Shirogane Kozo didn’t care about any of that.
He kept scolding Aizen, telling him to stay calm on the court in the future, not to act recklessly, and to use his words instead of his fists whenever possible.
Aren’t you great at trash talk?
Go insult them!
Fighting isn’t what real men do.
We’re gentlemen—we prefer verbal duels.
Even Aizen was stunned, feeling this coach of his had such a unique personality.
…
Back on the court.
Without Aizen, Teiko’s defensive ability dropped noticeably.
Haizaki was now regretting everything.
He should’ve never come on the court—he should’ve let the captain enjoy the experience of guarding Maki instead.
In just one possession, he’d been bulldozed by Maki three times in a row.
That pounding on his chest and lungs—Haizaki was just a kid; he couldn’t handle that kind of impact.
‘How did Aizen manage to go head-to-head with this guy?’
His respect for Aizen grew another notch.
Thanks to Maki’s liberation, Kainan was no longer completely on the back foot and could fight back.
However, without Takasago as an important interior presence, Akashi kept feeding the ball inside.
Murasakibara transformed into Shaq, wreaking havoc in the paint and scoring at will.
The game’s outcome was no surprise.
Kainan ultimately lost to Teiko 78–91, a 13-point margin.
Considering Teiko had been trailing by 18 points at halftime, and that 13-point advantage was purely from the second-half lineup change, that meant Teiko’s first-years had outscored Kainan by 31 points in one half!
All the reporters began furiously recording everything while digging up any information about Aizen.
But after asking around, they were even more stunned.
“Huh?
You’re asking about Aizen?
He’s a remarkable kid with incredible talent.
He won the national judo championship three times in a row during elementary school.”
‘Oh, so he’s a national judo champion.
No wonder he could toss Takasago around like a grandchild.’
‘Wait a minute—is the Aizen you’re talking about the same Aizen I’m thinking of?’
‘He…
he used to practice judo?’
The reporters were astonished, ‘That meant the Teiko number 10 who’d shut down Maki Shinichi had only been playing basketball for a short time?’
‘No way!’
Aizen had no idea that many people would soon be shocked by his emergence.
He’d changed into his warm-ups after coming off the court.
Now that the game was over, he lined up with his seniors for the post-game handshake.
Takasago was fine—he’d just been in too much pain to play initially.
A couple of days of rest and he’d be back to normal.
When it was Takasago’s turn to shake hands with Aizen, the gorilla hadn’t even opened his mouth when he saw Aizen shaking his head with that smug look.
Takasago’s blood pressure immediately shot through the roof.
It was exactly like how a LeBron hater would feel watching Curry—annoyed but powerless to do anything about it.
This was the art of life experience—a simple head shake could deliver a psychological blow that cut deeper than any physical one!
Takasago barely contained his rage and said through gritted teeth, “You’re Aizen, right?
I’ll remember you.
We’ll settle this at the national tournament.”
‘You want to get thrown again?
“Whatever you say.” Aizen shook his hand, then followed the group back to Tokyo.
The atmosphere on the return bus was quite good—after all, they’d easily beaten Kainan.
That meant their strength this year was even better than last year’s, and their championship hopes were greater.
Shirogane Kozo maintained a composed exterior, but inside, he was overjoyed.
After this game, he felt like an unprecedented three-peat at the national tournament might actually be within reach.
He’d originally just wanted a strong opponent for a practice game.
But in one half, they’d outscored Kainan by 31 points.
He’d originally just wanted to find an enforcer for Nijimura Shuzo.
But instead, he’d found a defensive anchor—a guy who went from a complete novice to someone who could go toe-to-toe with Maki in just one month.
One month!
That was something he’d never even dared to dream of before!
Shirogane Kozo had a feeling that Aizen, along with the other first-years this year, would bring a terrifying impact to the basketball world in the future.
And Aizen—the star of this game who’d first shut down Kainan’s ace Maki and then taken out Takasago—looked like he was resting with his eyes closed on the seat, as if tired from playing.
Of course, he wasn’t actually tired—after all, he’d only played a little over one quarter.
He was just tallying up his rewards.
[BEEP.
Defeated Kainan University Affiliated Junior High in a practice game.
Victory achieved.
Earned 500 experience points.]
[BEEP.
Defeated Kainan University Affiliated Junior High in a practice game.
Achieved 7 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block.
Earned 70 + 100 + 200 + 200 + 100 experience points.]
[BEEP.
Experience has met level-up requirements.
Upon leveling up, you will receive 10 free attribute points.
Level up now?]
Aizen didn’t level up immediately—he was thinking.
‘7 points equaled 70 experience, meaning 1 point equaled 10 experience.’
Aizen shook his head.
Steals and blocks had high ratios, but those were the hardest stats to accumulate.
In this game, he’d earned a total of 1,170 experience points, meeting the 1,000-point requirement for leveling up.
However…
After leveling up, Aizen saw the experience needed for level 2 and his face fell again.
170/5000!
‘A full fivefold increase.
It seemed leveling up wouldn’t be so easy after all.’