The internal scrimmage ended quickly, with Yuuto's team taking the victory.
He'd beaten the Generation of Miracles once again.
"You won again."
Akashi sighed silently. A year later, he'd naturally wanted to beat Yuuto.
He also wanted to see how much separated him from world-class level, and whether that gap was large.
It was.
Throughout the scrimmage, he'd matched up extensively with Yuuto. He'd lost more than he'd won, and his shooting percentage in those matchups had dropped about 15%.
And he could tell Yuuto hadn't gone all-out. He'd watched Covanord's game footage—the physical contact there was far more intense.
"Don't overthink it. Not everyone has eyes like mine," Yuuto continued.
This wasn't consolation.
Kagetora was right—Yuuto had indeed leveraged his advantages to beat Akashi and score over him.
But not everyone had eyes that could contend with the Emperor Eye.
Without similar gifts, the Emperor Eye remained a bug-like existence, capable of negating physical disadvantages.
Of course, for Akashi, basketball didn't matter that much. He had the Akashi Corporation waiting for him to inherit—winning or losing games was ultimately trivial.
If Akashi ever decided on a whim to buy an NBA team and become an owner, it wouldn't be surprising.
Akashi naturally understood this. He couldn't play forever—the family business needed an heir.
But as a player, he couldn't help but want to compete against Yuuto.
"Great work, Junpei."
After practice ended, Riko personally brought Hyūga a towel.
"How do you feel?"
"You can probably tell." Confidence radiated from Hyūga's face, born from his teammates. "This team is insane. Can't relax for even a second, or you fall behind their pace."
"So you need to work even harder. This opportunity doesn't come often."
Honestly, Riko didn't think Hyūga would see much playing time.
Jabberwock was too strong.
Seirin's captain was impressive, but his level was roughly on par with Kasamatsu—against Jabberwock, he'd just get destroyed.
The revenge match in a few days would come down to the Teikō and Seihō monsters.
"I know. I'll keep working hard." Hyūga understood too. Technically they were reserves, but really, they were just practice partners.
"After all, we're talking about the monsters from Teikō and Seihō."
Wakamatsu and others nodded quietly in agreement.
The past few years, the kids from Teikō and Seihō had been the real protagonists.
"I need to step out. I'll leave things to you, Riko."
"Right now? Where are you going, Dad?"
Riko looked at her father questioningly.
"Roppongi. Those Jabberwock punks are apparently causing trouble there."
"Roppongi? Jabberwock? Why would you go?"
"Because I insisted they stay for the revenge match. Naturally, their expenses for the next week are my responsibility."
As Kagetora spoke, an aura of despair emanated from him.
"Including Yuuto and his teammate—their plane tickets all came out of my own pocket!"
!!!!
Riko was speechless. After this match, they might be eating nothing but air for quite a while.
Everyone except Yuuto remained unaware of these details.
After the scrimmage, Aomine still felt unsatisfied and wanted to challenge Yuuto one-on-one.
But when he looked around, he suddenly realized someone was missing.
"Hey, has anyone seen Yuuto?"
Midorima told him, "After Kagetora-san left, he disappeared too."
He left when Kagetora left?
No way...
The Generation of Miracles seemed to guess something. They exchanged glances and headed out of the gym together.
Kagami joined them—they all suspected Kuroko had gone to find Jabberwock. That idiot.
"Isn't Yu coming?"
"Nah, I'll pass. I've got things to handle after being away so long."
Yuuto wasn't going to join that excitement. He'd just gotten back—and he had some tension to release!
"Yu, where are they going? The red-light district?" Walker watched everyone leave in a hurry, curiosity burning.
Yuuto thought about it—Jabberwock was indeed partying right now—so he nodded. "Yeah."
"I'm coming too!" Walker dropped his basketball and chased after them.
Sora and Momoi both rolled their eyes.
"So... want to go home?"
"How about a hotel first?"
Sora and Momoi: "..."
...
The next day.
The Generation of Miracles and Kuroko-Kagami duo were visibly fired up.
"Did something happen?"
Yuuto felt refreshed from head to toe today. His legs were even a bit weak.
"They went to deliver a challenge to Jabberwock last night." Walker was sulking.
They'd promised to storm the red-light district together, but then—what the hell? Those guys hadn't gone looking for women. They'd gone looking for men.
Bunch of weirdos!
And then there was Yuuto, walking unsteadily, stealing glances everywhere.
That dog of a roommate had probably gone off to have fun on his own last night.
No loyalty!
"Is that so? Good—at least we don't have to worry about them backing out."
"Ugh." Walker sighed. "I've still got $2,500 and I haven't spent a single cent!"
"..."
"Yuuto, inside."
Just then, Aomine walked over, challenging Yuuto to a one-on-one.
"Not today. I need to go see someone."
See who?
His mentor here in Japan. He might not have reached his dream of the NBA yet, but he'd accomplished something—state champion and Nike High School National champion.
Coming back, he might as well show off a little.
Ahem—what "show off"? Japan was his home.
Yuuto left, legs still a bit unsteady.
Both Riko and Akashi noticed. They gave Momoi and Sora some very strange looks.
...
Time flew by.
The day of the revenge match arrived.
That day, basketball fans from across Japan gathered in Tokyo.
The atmosphere was electric. Spectators had come from everywhere to cheer for their team.
The street ball exhibition match from a week ago had gone viral across the country.
Nobody knew what "Yu" meant, but it didn't matter—what mattered was crushing Jabberwock.
Tokyo Thunders' home arena.
This was the battlefield for the revenge match.
It hadn't cost Kagetora much—he had connections.
Plus, after everything that had happened, if Team Yu won, the Tokyo Thunders would gain some publicity just for providing the venue.
...
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