"I wouldn't be surprised if Aomine lost to Midorima, but seeing you guys put up this kind of fight against the current No.1… I really didn't expect it…"
In the gym run by Aida Riko's father, Aida Kagetora, Akashi Asuka's gaze fell on Kiyoshi Teppei, covered in injuries with his knees wrapped in an even thicker layer of bandages. His expression was… peculiar.
"Seriously, does your team's center even have a brain? He got attacked once last year, and yet this year, that guy manages to ambush him again?"
"Ah… uh…"
The others looked awkward.
Teppei scratched his head sheepishly, unsure of how to respond.
If anyone else had said that, Riko and Hyuga Junpei might have suspected mockery.
But this was Akashi Asuka. They were completely speechless.
What could they even say?
Should we tell Akashi that it's because you beat him so badly last semester that we were caught off guard this time, allowing others to ambush us?
"Never mind… these are things within your own team. As an outsider, there's really nothing I should say…"
Akashi shook his head, a look of exasperation on his face.
Honestly…
Even Akashi Asuka couldn't have imagined that, after crushing Kirisaki Daiichi so badly, Teppei would still get ambushed by Hanamiya Makoto twice during the game, sustaining a second major injury.
When Akashi first heard the news, he was utterly shocked and couldn't comprehend it.
Given Kirisaki Daiichi's current state, the four newly introduced starters didn't approve of Hanamiya's style, so there was no one on the court to cover for him if he tried any tricks.
And Hanamiya himself had suffered serious injuries to his knees and ligaments from Akashi, significantly reducing both his athletic ability and basketball skills.
In that situation…
If Teppei had been even slightly cautious, he would have been nearly impossible to ambush again.
But in reality, not only was he ambushed, he suffered the same heavy blow as in the original story, triggering a flare-up of his old injuries.
"By the way, you got beaten like that… didn't you even fight back?"
"What do you mean? Basketball is for playing basketball. If I used violence too, what would make me different from the other guy?" Teppei answered firmly, his tone righteous.
"Beautiful… that's the end of it!"
Hearing this, Akashi instantly lost the desire to continue the conversation.
"Akashi-kun, what brings you here today? If I'm not mistaken, it's not your scheduled pool training, right?"
Perhaps sensing the tension, Tetsuya Kuroko suddenly appeared and spoke up.
"Wha—wow! Your presence really is something else!"
Startled, Akashi scratched his head after hearing Kuroko's comment. "Actually, it's nothing special. With the Winter Cup starting soon, I thought I'd come here for a bit of special training."
"Special training?"
Rin and the others froze.
This was a gym. Sure, it had a basketball court, but it hardly seemed like a place for high school-level training.
They looked at Riko, after all, it was her father's gym, so she was the most familiar with the place.
Riko thought for a moment but couldn't come up with an answer, so she asked directly, "Akashi-kun, what kind of special training are you doing here?"
Akashi smiled slightly but didn't answer immediately. "You'll see soon enough. Well, it's about time for me to go."
"See you at the Winter Cup."
With a wave, Akashi turned and left.
Seirin team was left bewildered.
Then, from the basketball court on the other side of the gym, a heavily breathing, sweat-drenched figure suddenly appeared.
Seeing him, Riko's face was drained of color.
"Dad… what happened to you?"
It was her father, Aida Kagetora. His face looked as if he'd just suffered a serious blow.
Supported by Riko as he sat down and caught his breath, Kagetora finally spoke: "It's nothing… just played a few rounds with a kid. Got a little tired, that's all. Old age, huh…"
"A kid?"
Something clicked in Riko's mind. She quickly asked, "Could the 'kid' you mean… be Akashi-kun?"
"Ah! Yes! I haven't seen a 'monster' like him in ages. Even during my pro days, I only ever saw players of his caliber overseas, and they're all NBA stars now."
Riko's heart sank at her father's words.
She had long lost the ability to fully measure Akashi's physical data, not because he hid anything, but because in her Data Eye, many of his stats were already off the charts.
Her father Kagetora's Data Eye was even more advanced than hers.
So his evaluation of Akashi carried far more weight.
"Father… is Akashi really this strong now?"
Without hesitation, Kagetora answered: "Hmm… it's hard to be certain yet, but judging by his body alone, even if you threw that monster into a professional league, he could probably hold his own!"
…
The atmosphere immediately stiffened.
Some of the newcomers didn't know Kagetora, so instead of being impressed by Akashi, their first thought was something else entirely.
"Hey, Hyuga… is the coach's dad really that strong? Why is he talking about professional leagues?"
"Of course! That man used to wear the national team jersey!"
"Seriously? No way… then what the coach's dad just said, does that mean…"
"Shut up! We finally made it to the official matches, so at least let me enjoy this a little, damn it!