Everyone slowly opened their eyes.
The look in them wasn't desire.
It was the hollow gaze of people who had just been granted a brief furlough from the eighteenth level of hell.
"Urgh..."
Koshino covered his mouth, his face turning green.
"Coach... please stop. I think I'm going to throw up."
Uekusa weakly supported himself on his knees.
"My lunch... is already halfway up my throat."
Ikegami shuddered, his pupils unfocused.
"And every time I close my eyes, I see Makino Juro's face... smiling. No, grinning like a demon!"
"It reminded me of the terror of getting rubbed into the floor by him over and over again..."
"That's a horror movie, damn it!"
Taoka Moichi: "..."
The old coach's face, which had just worked itself into an emotional speech worthy of a declaration of independence, froze on the spot.
The veins on his forehead began dancing merrily.
These little bastards!
The atmosphere was perfect, and this was what they gave him?
"You idiots!!"
Taoka finally snapped.
"I told you to turn your suffering into strength!"
"Who told you to relive it like a horror movie?!"
"Listen up!"
Taking a deep breath, Taoka forcefully suppressed his blood pressure and stood.
Looking down at his troublesome disciples, his gaze swept across Uozumi's honest yet resolute face, Sendoh's perpetually sleepy smile, and finally landed on Fukuda, who seemed desperate for praise.
"In terms of training volume, we're number one in Kanagawa—no, number one in the nation!"
His voice was no longer a roar.
Instead, it carried a frightening certainty.
His finger shot toward the warming-up Kainan players across the court.
"Coach Takato may be strict, but I guarantee you one thing!"
"He's not as ruthless as I am!"
"You survived."
"Since you've endured hell itself, there's nothing left in this world that can break you."
Taoka clenched his fist and slashed it downward as if trying to shatter the air itself.
"Drag Kainan off that damned throne!"
"Do you have the confidence to do it?!"
"YES!!"
The entire Ryonan squad roared in unison.
The lifeless exhaustion from moments ago evaporated instantly.
A fire called ambition crackled to life in every pair of eyes.
"BEEEEEP!!"
"Starting lineups, please enter the court!"
The announcement echoed through the arena.
The entire gymnasium exploded.
The crowd noise nearly tore the roof off.
Spotlights cut across the court like blazing swords.
Two mighty currents collided head-on.
The purple army.
The undefeated kings of Kainan.
And the dark blue army.
The strongest challengers, Ryonan.
Uozumi Jun walked at the front.
At 202 centimeters tall, he resembled a moving fortress.
Every step echoed across the hardwood.
As he passed Kainan's first-year rookie, Kiyota Nobunaga—
The sky went dark.
Literally.
A massive shadow swallowed Kiyota whole.
Originally, Kiyota had been standing there with his chin raised high, wearing an expression that screamed I'm the greatest in the world, ready to spit some trash talk.
Then he looked up.
All he saw was Uozumi's wall-like frame.
"This..."
Kiyota's pupils shook.
His neck craned back to its limit, protesting painfully.
He knew the big man was tall.
But experiencing that overwhelming size face-to-face was suffocating.
"M-Monster..."
He swallowed nervously, his throat dry.
All the taunts he had prepared died in his stomach.
In the stands.
Sakuragi Hanamichi stuffed the last chip into his mouth.
The moment he saw the scene, his eyes lit up like light bulbs.
"Oho!"
"That wild monkey got scared stupid!"
Pointing at the court, Sakuragi laughed so hard he slapped his thigh.
"Look at that height difference!"
"This is great! Absolutely great!"
Beside him, Kogure adjusted his glasses in confusion.
"Sakuragi, what exactly are you laughing at?"
Sakuragi secretly shoved the empty chip bag into Rukawa Kaede's jacket pocket.
Then he crossed his arms and put on the expression of a self-proclaimed animal expert.
"Glasses, you don't get it."
"This is a battle for supremacy in the monkey kingdom."
"The Monkey King of Ryonan versus Kainan's wild monkey."
"I wonder whose butt is going to get smacked redder later?"
"Pfft!"
Miyagi Ryota sprayed out a mouthful of water and nearly choked to death.
Rukawa, sitting nearby, shot Sakuragi a cold glance and calmly said:
"Idiot. You're a monkey too."
"What did you say, damn fox?!"
Sakuragi instantly exploded.
The two slammed their foreheads together again, sparks practically flying between them.
Juro couldn't be bothered with the pair of idiots.
Leaning back in his seat, his sharp eyes remained fixed on the court.
More specifically—
On the man with the skyward-pointing hair.
"The script... begins now."
Makino Juro murmured softly.
At center court.
The opening tip-off.
Uozumi Jun and Takasago Kazuma stood face-to-face.
Although Takasago was considered one of Kanagawa's Four Great Centers, he seemed almost... petite standing before Uozumi.
Yet the crowd's attention wasn't on the centers at all.
Uozumi didn't even glance at Takasago.
Instead, he turned his head and locked eyes with the man standing nearby.
Maki Shinichi.
The man known as the Emperor.
"Maki."
Uozumi's deep voice rumbled with undisguised hostility.
"After today, your ranking in Kanagawa is going to drop another spot."
Maki had been rolling his wrists.
He paused.
Raising his head, the mature face that looked more like a thirty-year-old businessman than a high school student remained completely expressionless.
Only the arrogance of a king flickered deep within his eyes.
"You?"
"Mere words from you, Uozumi?"
There was no contempt in his tone.
Only a statement of fact.
Uozumi didn't get angry.
The Uozumi of last year would have exploded like a powder keg.
But after being beaten down by Makino Juro...
After battling Akagi...
After surviving training sessions that nearly made him vomit up his own guts...
His heart had become as hard as stone.
"Not me."
Uozumi calmly shook his head.
His gaze shifted toward a teammate standing lazily in the backcourt.
"Sendoh."
Maki's eyebrow twitched slightly.
Following Uozumi's line of sight, he looked over.
Sendoh Akira stood there with his hands on his hips, seemingly oblivious to the tension around him.
Noticing Maki's gaze, Sendoh scratched his trademark spiky hair and revealed a helpless smile.
"Hey, hey, Captain Uozumi."
"Don't start drawing aggro onto me before the game even begins."
"Haaah... what a headache."
His mouth said headache.
But was there even a trace of hesitation in his eyes?
What hid there was the cold gleam of a blade moments before it left its sheath.
The crowd thundered from the stands.
"RYONAN! VICTORY!"
"KAINAN! VICTORY!"
The atmosphere sent adrenaline surging through everyone's veins.
The referee tossed the basketball high into the air.
"HAAAH!!"
With a thunderous roar, Uozumi launched upward like a rocket, generating a powerful gust of wind.
There was no suspense.
The difference in height was absolute.
Smack!
The ball was cleanly tapped backward.
"Nice!"
Ryonan point guard Uekusa secured possession.
Under normal circumstances, Uekusa would slow the pace.
Feed Uozumi.
Or set up a play for Sendoh.
But this time...
The instant the ball touched his hands, it was as if he had caught a burning coal.
Without the slightest hesitation, he fired a long pass downcourt.
The target—
Sendoh Akira, waiting in the backcourt.
END OF CHAPTER
The King Of Slacking Off - MrBehringer's Secret
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