Aizen gritted his teeth in frustration, ‘This guy was dark-skinned enough already, but it turned out he was also quite the show-off with his trash talk.’
Unfortunately for Aomine, there was no way around it—trash talk had always been an integral part of basketball culture.
Asian players were actually quite polite compared to their counterparts overseas.
Over in America, those players were what you’d call ‘full of personality’.
Larry Bird—one of the all-time great trash talkers—specialized in elegance, delivering insults without ever using a single curse word.
His signature line: “Watch closely, I’m going to beat you right here.”
Gary Payton—another trash talk legend—specialized in vulgarity, dragging family members into his insults without hesitation.
His signature line: [CENSORED] [CENSORED] [CENSORED] [CENSORED] (manual bleeping applied).
Michael Jordan—yet another trash talk master—specialized in pure arrogance, leaving his opponents completely speechless.
His signature line: “Of course you want to play against Jordan again.
That way, you can tell your grandchildren you played against Michael Jordan.
But me?
Who’s going to remember who Jordan beat?”
In any case, even though Aizen was annoyed, Aomine’s brand of trash talk wasn’t going to affect him one bit.
Aizen was thinking about how he was going to defend against Aomine, while Aomine was thinking about all the flashy ways he could embarrass Aizen on the court.
But then, Shirogane Kozo gave an instruction that caught Aizen completely off guard.
“Aomine, you’re on offense.
Aizen, you’re on defense.
And don’t be afraid to be aggressive with your movements.”
‘Huh?’
Both Aizen and Aomine turned their heads toward the sideline at the same time, wondering if they’d heard correctly.
Seeing the two of them frozen in confusion, Shirogane Kozo urged them on.
“What are you waiting for?
Get started already!”
Nijimura Shuzo quickly understood why the coach wanted Aizen on the team.
It all came back to last year’s national tournament semifinal.
Aomine had no idea about any of this.
The moment he got the ball, he took off like a rocket.
‘So fast?’
Aizen was genuinely shocked, ‘This dark-skinned guy was so quick it was like he had nitrous boosters installed in his legs.’
Before Aizen could even react, Aomine had blown past him, drove to the basket, and threw down a one-handed tomahawk dunk.
“My bad.
I never go easy on anyone when I play.
Bear with it for now—next time, I’ll teach you how to play basketball properly.”
‘Wait, this guy said he’s going to teach me how to play basketball?’
‘I’ve watched more basketball games than you’ve watched adult films, and you want to teach me?’
Aizen couldn’t tolerate that anymore.
Besides, the coach had said he could be ‘a little’ aggressive.
And who’s to say how big that ‘little’ was?
Why not just use his own standards?
Aomine had no clue what was coming.
He was still hanging smugly on the rim, swinging back and forth like a pendulum.
‘Take that, you pale-faced jerk!
You called me dark?
Go ahead, say it again!
I dare you!’
Aomine landed and continued to hold the ball.
Aizen’s offensive skills were already well-documented, and Shirogane Kozo wasn’t about to give him a chance to embarrass himself any further.
“Watch out, Aizen.”
Aomine crouched low.
He didn’t even need to dribble to adjust his rhythm—he just took one step forward and his entire body launched into the air like he’d been shot out of a cannon.
“No matter how many times I see it, Aomine’s explosiveness is seriously impressive.” The assistant coach watching from the sidelines couldn’t help but comment.
This was absolutely the fastest player he’d seen in ten years, and his physical flexibility perfectly complemented his incredible speed.
He was a player born purely to score points.
Everyone else had similar reactions, all stunned by the explosive speed Aomine had just unleashed.
Momoi Satsuki had already started thinking about what kind of ramen she wanted to eat later.
She didn’t think for a second that Aizen could take down her childhood friend.
When it came to basketball, Aomine’s talent was nothing short of astonishing.
Back in elementary school, he’d already been bold enough to challenge high school and even college players.
Of course, that was just basketball.
Other areas?
Not so much.
Aizen quickly slid sideways to cut off Aomine’s drive, only to discover that the guy’s flexibility was equally insane—just one quick crossover and he’d already switched from right to left.
Knowing that letting him get into the paint meant giving up points, Aizen decided to go all in.
“EAT THIS, YOU BURNT CINDER BLOCK!”
Aizen shot his arms out, grabbed hold of Aomine’s arm with one hand, grabbed his waistband with the other, and with one powerful heave, flipped Aomine’s entire body over.
‘Wait a second…’
‘Why am I flying through the air?’
Aomine had absolutely no idea what had just happened.
He felt his feet leave the ground and his brain froze completely.
Before he could process anything…
Bang!
Aomine crashed heavily onto the floor.
Everyone could feel the ground beneath their feet tremble.
It took a few seconds of Aomine howling in pain before they snapped back to reality.
“HOLY SH—He just slammed Aomine into the ground!”
“No kidding.
That’s a judo black belt for you—that move was clean and crisp.”
These club members were pretty amusing, standing around analyzing and commenting, marveling at how Aizen, a judo master, could handle a basketball player without breaking a sweat.
‘Wait, a basketball player?’
‘HOLY CRAP, HE JUST ATTACKED SOMEONE!’
“What do you think you’re doing?!
Are you playing basketball or are you fighting?!”
The assistant coach was the first to snap out of it.
Aomine, Akashi, Midorima, Murasakibara, and Haizaki were all the future of Teiko—his precious treasures.
There was no way he could just stand there and watch Aizen treat them like this!
“Forget about joining the basketball club!
A student like you—”
“GREAT DEFENSE!”
Before the assistant could finish his sentence, Shirogane Kozo clapped his hands together with tremendous force, thoroughly pleased with what he’d just seen.
This was exactly the kind of beast he was looking for—someone who could toss Aomine around like a ragdoll without breaking a sweat, looking completely unbothered while doing it.
The surrounding players and even the assistant coach were all completely dumbfounded.
‘Wait, Coach, what exactly are you trying to say here?
Are you seriously recruiting a brawler instead of a basketball player?’
“Ahem, that was some good defense.
You effectively stopped Aomine’s attack.
But you might want to tone it down a little—don’t be so aggressive, it’s easy to get called for a foul.”
He cleared his throat, and everyone thought he was about to offer some deep insight.
But after hearing him out, they all felt like they were about to pass out.
“Do you understand?”
Aizen blinked a few times.
He was beginning to suspect that this coach wasn’t exactly playing with a full deck.
‘Whatever—the important thing was joining the club.’ So he nodded emphatically.
“Good.
Now, Aomine, let’s go again.”
‘Again?’
Momoi blinked in surprise.
‘Hopefully this doesn’t knock out whatever little intelligence Aomine has left!’
Of course, Aomine had no idea Momoi was insulting him.
He’d gotten into Teiko fair and square through legitimate exams, thank you very much!
When he heard Shirogane Kozo’s instructions, he felt no fear at all.
In fact, his desire to crush Aizen, that pale-faced pretty boy, only grew stronger.
He grabbed the ball again and drove with an even more flashy and elaborate style.
“That’s Aomine’s streetball style.
I’ve never seen anyone play streetball this well in Japan.”
“I know, right?
Add his incredible speed to the mix, and you can’t even touch him.
No wonder he’s the genius who beat the first-stringers during his tryout.”
The club members started marveling again.
Even Aizen himself was surprised.
Aomine’s talent was almost unfairly strong.
If he tried to keep up by purely reacting to Aomine’s movements, he’d get utterly humiliated.
There was no way to defend against that kind of offensive repertoire.
Fortunately for Aizen, this wasn’t exactly a proper basketball game.
So, what everyone witnessed next was Aomine blowing past Aizen like a gust of wind, not letting his opponent touch him even once, easily driving into the paint.
Then they saw Aizen chase after him like a gust of wind, and just as Aomine was about to score, Aizen smashed directly into him.
“TAKE MY SHOULDER CHARGE, YOU FREAK!”
BOOM.