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Nearly two months have passed since the National Junior High School Boys' Basketball Summer League began.
After the match against Meisei, it took Ryu a full week to fully recover his arm.
During this time, Ryu missed two games.
However, he wasn't worried about the team losing at all.
Just kidding—with Akashi, Aomine, Murasakibara, and Midorima on the team, it would be strange if they lost!
And then there's the current No. 1 power forward in the nation, Nijimura Shuzo.
Ryu wasn't worried at all.
It's worth mentioning that since the match against Meisei, Aomine, Akashi, Murasakibara, and Midorima seemed to have conspired to gradually awaken their full potential.
Although not fully awakened yet, this trend has already begun to emerge.
That being said, after the quarterfinals began, Teiko's effortless performance during their matches was gone.
While Teiko is strong, the Generation of Miracles hasn't fully matured yet, and they're putting up a good fight against their opponents.
Especially the second match of the quarterfinals.
This match was between Teiko Junior High and Uesaki Junior High.
Aomine Daiki and Uesaki's ace, Inoue, fought a fiercely contested and incredibly exciting game.
Ryu could tell that although Aomine Daiki was giving it his all, he hadn't reached the same level of strength as when he played against Hayama Kotaro.
Perhaps Aomine had performed exceptionally well back then, and he couldn't yet use that level of strength at will.
Today, Teiko's opponent was Hayakawa Junior High.
This was also Ryu's first match after recovering.
"Ryu, do your best!" Momoi Satsuki smiled sweetly, encouraging Ryu.
Ryu grinned, revealing a sunny smile. "Don't worry, my body is perfectly fine now."
After speaking, Ryu and Aomine walked onto the court together.
"That's not what I meant!" Momoi Satsuki shouted at the top of her lungs.
Ryu didn't turn around, but waved his hand and said, "I know, I won't use that move."
Hearing Ryu's assurance, Momoi Satsuki sat back down on the bench, satisfied.
Just then, Karupin was lying on the bench next to Momoi Satsuki. Its eyes were emitting beams of blue light that others couldn't see.
At the same time, a notification appeared before Ryu, who had just stepped onto the court.
[Mission Notification: Participate in the quarterfinals]
[Mission Reward: 20,000 cat food for each victory, 100 cat food for each basket scored.]
Ryu stopped.
Looking at the mission notification, he felt a pang of regret.
The rewards for the quarterfinals were incredibly generous.
He had wasted two matches just because of Hanamiya Makoto.
That's at least 40,000 cat food!
What a loss!
As Ryu felt a pang of regret, the final whistle blew.
Without a doubt, Murasakibara's skill easily secured the starting position.
Soon, the basketball was in Ryu's hands.
Remembering the quest notification that he would receive 100 cat food for each basket, his blood was practically boiling.
He didn't want to miss this rare opportunity to farm cat food like crazy.
Ryu easily dribbled past the defender in front of him.
He didn't use any dazzling skills; just normal dribbling and running.
However, his speed was too fast for the Hayakawa players to keep up with.
Ryu quickly brought the ball to Hayakawa's basket. A sudden stop, a jump shot.
Swish…
The basketball went in. 2-0, Teiko scored first.
Without stopping, Ryu turned and went back on defense.
"Can I ask you guys a favor? Can you pass me the ball for the rest of the game? I've just recovered, and I want to get some exercise."
Of course, this was just an excuse.
His only goal was to keep scoring. Akashi and the others had no objections.
After all, Ryu's request was reasonable.
As long as they could win, they didn't mind.
In the following game, no matter who had the ball, Teiko would pass it to Ryu immediately.
Ryu was like a tireless scoring machine.
No matter how hard Hayakawa tried to defend, Ryu easily broke through their defense.
A week later, everyone witnessed the terror of Teiko's number 95 once again.
Shooting, dunking, three-pointers—Ryu was giving everyone a basketball lesson.
In just the first quarter, Ryu scored 42 points.
42 points in a single quarter—that's an astonishing score.
Everyone was stunned by Ryu's performance.
The next three quarters were the same.
Ryu was like a king on the court, dominating the entire game.
At the end of the game, the scoreboard was fixed at 168 to 34. Nearly a five-fold difference.
The Hayakawa players looked like they had lost their souls.
An indelible shadow was likely cast on their hearts.
Whether they would ever touch a basketball again was uncertain.
Ryu could only apologize to them silently.
On the way home, Ryu pulled up his personal information as he walked.
Personal Information Panel:
Name: Shirogane Ryu
Age: 12 years old
Height: 177 cm
Weight: 65 kg
Strength: A
Speed: A
Stamina: A
Mental: A+
Ball Skills: Basketball Basics (Advanced), Basic Ball Skills (Advanced),
Data Basketball 3.0, Tightrope Walking (S-rank)
Abilities: Ice Emperor's Eye - Insightful Vision (evolvable), Ryu Illusion, Beast's Breath, Wild Dance
Karupin Panel:
Cat Food: 36,260
Cat Energy: 6,057
Activity Range: 191,767 meters
"Perhaps I can finally have some peace of mind for a while," Ryu thought to himself.
He knew perfectly well that the Generation of Miracles were only just beginning.
Next year would be their time to truly shine.
By then, it was uncertain whether he would still be able to outshine them.
Sigh…
Ryu sighed inwardly. "Looks like I need to hurry up and stock up on cat food; looks like I can't rest this holiday!"
Meanwhile, on a basketball-related forum, a message completely ignited the community.
[At the pinnacle of Teiko, Shirogane Ryu, the king of the court, the Silver Emperor!]
Everyone was captivated by this message.
When they curiously clicked on the link, it contained a montage of Ryu's 168-point performance that day.
Comments flooded the screen.
Within ten minutes, there were hundreds of comments.
"My god, is he really a middle school student?"
"Are all middle school students this fierce in basketball?"
"His skills are even stronger than some players from top high schools."
As this post gained traction, another related post appeared.
[The Secret of Teiko's No. 95 Jersey]
When people clicked on it, they saw this line of text:
"In numbers, nine is the highest, and five is in the middle; therefore, 'nine-five' symbolizes emperors and the pinnacle, also known as the 'Nine-Five Supreme'."
After reading this, the onlookers all gasped in astonishment.
Some viewers who had watched Ryu's games went wild.
Most of them considered Ryu their idol.
At this time, Ryu was unaware that he had become an idol worshipped by certain groups of people.
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