"Ah, we're playing against a strong team today?"
"Yeah, and we're up against one of the three Kings of Tokyo, Senshinkan High, so it's not going to be easy..."
A loud murmur spread across the corridor as a navy-haired teenager made his way into the locker room. Everyone wearing Too Academy jerseys turned to look at him with a bit of surprise.
"Eh? Aomine-kun? You're here?"
A pink-haired girl immediately approached him, not expecting Aomine to show up today as usual.
"...Satsuki, where is Wakamatsu?"
Aomine asked with a cold voice, causing Momoi to blink in confusion as she tilted her head, "Ah, he went out with our captain to see the ongoing match between Seirin and Totsuki. Why are you looking for him?"
Totsuki?
What an unfamiliar name...
"And Seirin's playing? Well, whatever..."
Aomine clicked his tongue, recalling what Wakamatsu had done. His veins bulged in annoyance as he spoke, "That bastard threatened me with my limited edition Horikita Mai magazine!"
"..."
Silence permeated the whole room as everyone stared at Aomine speechlessly.
Even Katsunori Harasawa, Too Academy's coach, shook his head.
Though he silently understood what Aomine was going through, he muttered, "Horikita Mai is a good pick. She's a talented actress..."
Too Academy's coach, Harasawa, was also a man of culture!
"Bastard, I'll go find them..."
Aomine stormed out of the room angrily.
Momoi tried to stop him, but he was too fast as she pouted, "Mou! You need to hear who's our opponent today first, Aomine-baka!"
"...It's fine, Momoi-san. You can follow him if you want."
Harasawa spoke, and Momoi's eyes lit up. "Eh, is that okay?"
"That's fine. Since Aomine is here, he should be playing, so it doesn't really matter if you're not here to tell us about our opponent..."
He smiled, confident in their chances with Aomine on the court, "We're not going to lose."
"You're right, then..."
Momoi nodded in understanding, bowing slightly before sprinting out of the room to chase after Aomine.
"Son of a bitch, how dare you play with my Mai-chan..."
Aomine grumbled as he made his way through the corridor, eventually reaching the crowded arena.
He halted, furrowing his eyebrows, "What the hell?"
The crowd was unusually quiet, an unsettling difference from the usual noise. He shook his head and started to look around for Wakamatsu and Imayoshi, who had come to watch the game.
"Huh? Ha, there you are..."
Aomine smirked dangerously as he spotted Wakamatsu's distinctive blonde hair among the crowd. Standing next to Imayoshi, Wakamatsu seemed oblivious to Aomine's menacing approach.
"Wakamatsu, you bastard..."
Aomine growled loudly as he got closer, his fist clenched and ready.
However, he frowned even more when he noticed that both Wakamatsu and Imayoshi were staring at the court with shocked expressions, seemingly unaware of his presence.
"Are you seriously ignoring me right now?"
Aomine lightly slapped the back of Wakamatsu's head, snapping him out of his trance.
"Huh?"
Blinking in surprise, Wakamatsu turned and mumbled, "Aomine? You're here already?"
"Yo, where's my magazine?"
"...Magazine?"
Wakamatsu seemed to struggle to recall what was going on, then turned back to the court, which prickled Aomine's nerves. Aomine knew whatever they were watching was the cause of Wakamatsu's unresponsiveness.
"Just what the hell are you guys watch---!?"
He also turned his head to see the court.
However...
Aomine found himself sharing the same stunned reaction as Imayoshi and Wakamatsu.
Back in the court...
Seirin was utterly dumbfounded as Hyuga and Izuki persistently chased after Tsuna, who dribbled the ball toward their basket.
"Not this again!"
Hyuga gritted his teeth, feeling himself sink deeper into despair. He didn't want to experience the same helplessness as before.
Izuki shared similar sentiments, both of them determinedly pursuing Tsuna.
"Oh? I thought you'd give up. What's this?"
Tsuna noticed the two players furiously chasing him. His eyes flashed with a cunning light as he slowed down, allowing them to encircle him. He chuckled, "That's cute..."
He dribbled the ball through his legs, then made a sharp move right through their center with such speed they could barely keep up.
Suddenly, he stepped back and accelerated even faster toward their exposed left side.
"There are more of you, huh?"
Tsuna was thoroughly amused as he noticed Mitobe and Koganei abandoning their positions to chase after him.
Every single one of Seirin's players seemed to share the same sentiment—they didn't want to repeat their nightmare.
However...
"That's too bad..."
Tsuna chuckled as he drove through Seirin's defense, making his way toward the end of the court.
Kuroko who was watching intently suddenly widened his eyes in realization and muttered, "Is he...? No..."
Mitobe and Koganei tried to reach Tsuna with desperation in their eyes as the guy didn't even slow down.
And to make it worse...
As if mocking their attempts, Tsuna swiftly jumped high above the end line, twisting slightly in the air before unleashing an unconventional throw.
The ball followed a high arc from the end line, landing flawlessly in the center of the basket.
"...Even a formless shot?"
Aida's hopeful thoughts from the start, thinking they stood a change since they were up against a culinary academy, were completely crushed.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she saw the desperation in her players' expressions.
Looking at Tsuna's cold demeanor, she quietly asked, "Just... who the hell are you?"
Meanwhile, Sakamoto's expression was practically shining as he grinned happily.
"I knew it!"
He felt his heart pounding with excitement as he continued, "That guy is a freaking monster!"
The copycat from the Generation of Miracles was nothing compared to Tsuna.
Sakamoto had been expecting this, but seeing it in person was utterly shocking. He had witnessed Tsuna's terrifying physical capabilities since the start of the preliminaries last week.
"That guy barely breaks a sweat throughout the game and still runs back home like a menace! Of course he can copy the Generation of Miracles!"
He laughed heartily.
No matter how taxing it was for an average player, it didn't apply to Tsuna—he had already broken the scale!
"...He actually copied Aomine's moves?"
And flawlessly at that...
Imayoshi unconsciously mumbled in disbelief with sweat rolling down his forehead.
His usually squinted eyes were now wide open as he noticed the crowd had regained their composure and a loud cheer suddenly boomed across the arena.
"What the heck!"
"Who's that guy?"
"Is he not Aomine from the Generation of Miracles!?"
Disbelief still echoed through the crowd as they saw the familiar signature moves executed flawlessly by a different player.
"Mou! Aomine-kun, you should have stopped doing whatever you want!"
Momoi's voice echoed as she made her way toward them. However, seeing they were ignoring her made her pout in dissatisfaction.
Still, she didn't want to immediately explode in anger. She turned her head to see what they were looking at.
"...!"
And then she stood there, frozen, just like the rest of them.
On the sidelines, Aomine couldn't help but tightly clench his fist...
...from excitement!
He felt it—a strange feeling he barely recalled was coursing through his body as his heart beat fast.
"...Totsuki Culinary Academy? Huh? Culinary?"
Aomine blinked his eyes in confusion at first before he shook his head. Those small details didn't matter to him as a beastly grin spread across his face, and he locked his attention on Tsuna in the court.
No wonder Wakamatsu and Imayoshi stood there shocked as Aomine slowly opened up his mouth, "Whoever you are, you've piqued my interest!"
---
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