Akagi let out a cold laugh.
A contest of endurance?
He was Shohoku's pillar.
The indomitable fortress of the paint.
How could he possibly lose to an amateur like Sakuragi?
"Fine."
"I'll show all of you what true perseverance looks like."
Akagi accepted the challenge in a deep voice.
"I'm in too!"
Miyagi immediately raised his hand.
"As the point guard, my mental fortitude is second to none."
"Tch, what a childish game..."
Mitsui scoffed with obvious disdain.
Yet his body told a different story as he quietly sank deeper into the water until only his head remained above the surface.
"But since you're all begging to be humbled..."
"I suppose I'll humor you."
Even Rukawa, who usually kept to himself, silently slid farther into a corner of the bath.
A string of bubbles floated from his mouth.
"...Idiot... glug... glug..."
Clearly...
He had joined the competition too.
This was a battle for men's pride.
No one wanted to be the first "weakling" to surrender.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
Fifteen minutes.
What had begun as a relaxing soak gradually turned into torture.
After all...
This hot spring was a scorching 42°C (108°F).
Everyone's faces slowly turned as red as boiled crabs.
Sweat streamed endlessly down their foreheads.
It felt less like bathing...
And more like being slowly boiled alive.
"Huff... huff..."
Mitsui's breathing grew ragged.
His heartbeat pounded like a drum.
Damn it...
I shouldn't have eaten that much tempura.
His stomach was staging a full-scale rebellion.
"What's wrong, Micchi?"
Sakuragi smirked smugly.
"Already giving up?"
"You stamina scrub?"
"Shut up!"
Mitsui gritted his teeth.
"I can still... soak for another hour!"
"Hmph."
"Big talk."
Sakuragi turned toward Akagi.
Akagi sat motionless with his eyes closed.
His brows were tightly knitted.
Veins bulged across his forehead.
It was obvious he was forcing himself to endure.
"Hey, Gorilla."
"If you pass out..."
"We'll fish you out."
"Free of charge."
"Enough!"
Akagi growled.
"Worry about yourself!"
Just then...
Everyone's attention shifted toward another corner of the bath.
Makino Juro was leaning comfortably against the stone wall, arms spread casually.
He looked completely at ease.
Not only did he show no signs of suffering—
He was actually smiling.
He was even humming a tune to himself.
"What's with that guy..."
Miyagi frowned.
"Why does he look completely fine?"
"Is this what a genius looks like?"
Sakuragi refused to accept it.
He quietly drifted toward Juro, his gaze becoming increasingly suspicious.
The water shimmered softly.
His body beneath the surface was only vaguely visible.
"Tch."
Sakuragi clicked his tongue dismissively.
"Master, your basketball skills are amazing..."
"But your physique..."
He slapped his own rock-hard pectorals proudly.
Smack! Smack!
"Mine's still better!"
"Look at these muscles!"
"These lines!"
"This is what a real man's body should look like!"
Akagi also opened one eye for a glance.
Though he remained silent...
His expression radiated the unwavering confidence of a center convinced he possessed the strongest physique.
The boys immediately began competing in silence.
One flexed his biceps.
Another sucked in his stomach to show off his abs.
Even Rukawa subtly straightened his back, revealing the definition of his lean muscles.
Meanwhile, Takamiya and the others struck exaggerated bodybuilding poses.
The hot spring instantly transformed into a bodybuilding competition.
The air became saturated with masculine pride.
"A good physique..."
Juro finally spoke lazily.
He didn't even bother opening his eyes.
"It's not determined by who has the biggest muscles."
"Then what is it?"
Sakuragi asked immediately.
The corner of Makino Juro's lips curved upward.
Slowly, he opened his eyes.
His gaze swept across everyone before settling on Sakuragi's exaggerated pose.
"Coordination."
"Explosive power."
"And..."
He paused.
His expression became unexpectedly profound.
"...Core strength."
"Tch."
"Listen to him acting mysterious."
Miyagi curled his lip dismissively.
Then his gaze drifted lower.
Suddenly...
His eyes lit up like he had discovered a new continent.
A wicked grin spread across his face as he pointed beneath the water.
"Hey, Juro."
"You've been sitting perfectly still this whole time."
"Trying to hide something?"
"Hide what?"
Makino Juro raised an eyebrow.
"My King's Sword?"
Miyagi immediately made an unmistakably mocking gesture with his little finger.
"King's Sword?"
"Looks more like an earthworm to me."
"Hahahahaha!"
The entire bath erupted in laughter.
Even Akagi couldn't stop the corner of his mouth from twitching.
When a group of men gathered together...
Lowbrow jokes like this always landed the hardest.
"An earthworm?"
Sakuragi laughed so hard he nearly fell into the water, slapping the surface repeatedly.
"Master..."
"So you're one of the travel-size models?"
"It's okay!"
"This genius won't discriminate against you!"
"You may dominate on the basketball court..."
"But in this department..."
"This genius finally wins!"
Faced with everyone's teasing...
Juro didn't get angry.
His expression didn't change in the slightest.
Instead...
He simply sighed.
His gaze resembled that of a dragon looking down upon a group of ignorant ants.
Filled not with anger...
But pity.
"How ignorant."
He spoke only two words.
"Don't judge everything by appearances."
"And don't use your painfully limited imagination..."
"...to measure the realm of the divine."
With that...
He placed both hands on the edge of the pool.
Splash!
Water cascaded everywhere.
Juro slowly rose to his feet.
His movements were elegant.
Calm.
Carrying the natural bearing of a king.
Droplets rolled down the perfectly defined lines of his body.
The laughter...
Stopped instantly.
It was as though someone had grabbed everyone's throats at once.
Their eyes grew wider and wider.
Their pupils contracted violently.
Their mouths slowly opened into perfect circles.
Their jaws nearly hit the water.
Their gazes traveled upward...
Then downward...
Until...
They froze.
Time itself seemed to stop.
Only the crisp clack of a shishi-odoshi—the bamboo deer-scaring fountain striking its stone—echoed through the silent night.
"..."
Sakuragi's towel slipped from his hand into the water.
He stood there completely petrified.
"T-That's..."
"That's impossible..."
Takamiya's jaw literally dropped open.
Mito Yohei rubbed his eyes over and over, convinced the hot spring had cooked his brain into hallucinating.
Even the perpetually expressionless Rukawa showed genuine shock.
His sleepy eyes snapped wide open for the first time all day.
It was as though he'd just seen an alien.
Akagi sucked in a sharp breath.
At that moment...
The pride of Shohoku's mighty Gorilla Captain suffered an unprecedented dimensional defeat.
That...
That overwhelming presence...
Cast a shadow large enough to eclipse the heavens.
Standing at the edge of the bath, Juro looked down at his dumbfounded teammates.
A crooked smile appeared on his lips.
It carried three parts ridicule.
Three parts detached indifference.
And four parts effortless confidence.
"See clearly now?"
His voice echoed through the spacious bathhouse with almost sacred authority.
"The 'earthworm' you were laughing at..."
"...is merely a Holy Sword that has yet to be unsheathed."
He raised his chin proudly.
"And once the Holy Sword leaves its sheath..."
"It releases the brilliance of its blade..."
"...and cuts through every illusion in this world."
Though he never actually shouted it...
Everyone's minds instinctively supplied the legendary finishing line.
"BANKAI!!"
The sheer visual impact...
The overwhelming pressure...
It was a hundred times more terrifying than when Makino Juro had dunked all over Maki Shinichi.
Everyone:
"WHOOOOOOAAAAAA!!!"
Their synchronized exclamation overflowed with awe...
Shock...
And the crushing defeat that only another man could truly understand.
They had lost.
Completely.
Not only were they outclassed on the basketball court...
Even their so-called "core equipment" had been utterly overwhelmed.
So...
This was Makino Juro.
The man chosen by the gods.
He truly left no path for ordinary mortals to survive.
END OF CHAPTER
The King Of Slacking Off - MrBehringer's Secret
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