Black Basketball: A false start

Chapter 252 End of Warm-up
"You stinky fox, I let you steal the spotlight again..." Sakuragi Hanamichi looked at Rukawa's receding back, gritted his teeth with an unhappy look on his face, and ran towards the backcourt.

"Sakuragi-san seems very unhappy..." Taoi Satsuki chuckled as she looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi who had a sour face on the court.

"Yeah, I don't know why, Sakuragi Hanamichi and Rukawa Kaede are obviously not difficult people to get along with, but whenever the two of them meet, they will have a quarrel..." Inoue Ayako complained helplessly with her hands on her hips.

"Himuro, do you need me to help you deal with that poker face?" Mike Okita came to Himuro Tatsuya, looked at Rukawa Kaede's back and asked seriously.

"It's okay, I can handle it." Himuro Tatsuya waved his hand, staring at Rukawa Kaede's back with sharp eyes like a knife, and a fierce aura instantly emanated from him.

"Muro! Catch the ball!" Murasakibara Atsushi's voice interrupted Himuro Tatsuya's thoughts, and he directly kicked the baseline ball to Himuro Tatsuya.

"Tsk tsk... The commanders of both sides are trying to hold back their momentum..." Jin Jixiang said with a playful look, "For a miracle civil war, this is really rare."

"We have already greeted each other since the beginning of the match." Aomine Daiki folded his hands in front of his chest and said seriously, "Now, it's time to test the strength of the two teams. Whoever can force the opponent's main general to fire at full power first will seize the initiative."

"Then Yangquan High School is doomed to lose, right?" Wakamatsu Kosuke asked with his eyes wide open. "Shonan High School has the miracle-level Sakuragi Hanamichi, plus Rukawa Kaede and Kabaji Shigehiro. No matter how you look at it, they are definitely stronger than Yangquan High School, right?"

"That's not necessarily true, Wakamatsu." Before Aomine Daiki could say anything, Imayoshi Shoichi shook his head and said, "No matter how many strong players a team has, there is only one basketball on the court. If Himuro Tatsuya is strong enough, he may be able to compete with Shonan High School."

"If that's the case..." Wakamatsu Kosuke nodded slightly without commenting, then looked thoughtfully at Himuro Tatsuya who was advancing with the ball on the court and said, "The outcome of this game..."

"Yes, the outcome of this game depends on the second or even third scoring points of the two teams." Aomine Daiki said firmly.

"Attack!", "Attack!", "Attack!"

As the game progressed, the hearts of the Yangquan High School fans on the sidelines gradually tightened with Himuro Tatsuya's progress. They shouted Himuro Tatsuya's name nervously, cheering for Himuro Tatsuya and venting their own nervousness.

"Murasara, it seems that all the fans are optimistic about Himuro." Kaneki Ken said with a smile as he looked at Murasakihara Atsushi beside him.

"Yangquan is not just my team, Muro is also very strong." Murasakibara Atsushi replied calmly.

"Come here on horseback."

As soon as Himuro Tatsuya arrived outside the three-point line of Shonan High School, Rukawa Kaede immediately stepped forward and blocked Himuro Tatsuya.

"Your performance just now was very impressive, Rukawa." Himuro Tatsuya felt the pressure coming from Rukawa, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, he took the ball and retreated instead of moving forward, and stepped into Rukawa's gym again.

"Do you think I'm acting?" Rukawa raised his eyebrows slightly, "I think I'm shattering your last fantasy"

"That's hard to say." Himuro Tatsuya had a hint of fighting spirit in his eyes, "After all, it's you who has revealed all your cards now, Rukawa Kaede!"

As he spoke, the sky behind Himuro Tatsuya gradually darkened, and a quiet and eerie atmosphere gradually enveloped the entire place.

"What's going on?" Rukawa looked at the dark sky behind Himuro Tatsuya with a vigilant look on his face, and his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

"boom!"

As the sound of a ball exploding was heard, the shadow of a ninja appeared behind Himuro Tatsuya. As the ninja casually threw a smoke bomb, Himuro Tatsuya's figure suddenly disappeared in front of Rukawa Kaede.

"Not good!" Rukawa cursed inwardly, and quickly adjusted his steps, rushing in the direction of Himuro Tatsuya's breakthrough, stretching out his long arms, trying to interrupt Himuro Tatsuya's breakthrough rhythm.

As the two figures gradually overlapped, the shadows behind them drew out their swords at the same time and started fighting each other.

"The fight is intense..." Aomine Daiki muttered to himself as he watched the two people entangled with each other.

"Don't try to stop me! Rukawa Kaede!" Himuro Tatsuya growled, then turned around to get rid of Rukawa Kaede's entanglement.

"Don't even think about it!" Rukawa gritted his teeth and braked again, then rushed towards the direction where Himuro Tatsuya would break through.

"I knew you would react." Himuro Tatsuya's voice suddenly sounded in front of and behind Rukawa Kaede at the same time, "But for this ball, neither of your guesses is right."

"What..." Rukawa's pupils shrank slightly and his feet were nailed to the spot.

"Rukawa-san..." Akagi Haruko, who was standing on the sidelines, felt her heart involuntarily rise as she watched Himuro Tatsuya successfully get rid of Rukawa.

"Haha..." Himuro Tatsuya chuckled as he looked at Rukawa Kaede who passed by him, and muttered to himself, "Looks like I won this game... Rukawa Kaede."

As Himuro Tatsuya finished speaking, the shadow of the benevolent behind him suddenly pulled out a wakizashi, and the shadow of the samurai behind Rukawa Kaede stabbed. Himuro Tatsuya had already lifted the basketball with his right hand, and lightly picked it up towards the basket.

"What the hell are you all doing with all this fancy stuff?"

Just as the basketball was slowly flying towards the basket, crackling sounds of lightning suddenly rang out, and a fiery red figure suddenly appeared in front of Himuro Tatsuya.

"Sakura... Sakuragi?" Himuro Tatsuya stared at the high-flying Sakuragi Hanamichi with his mouth wide open and muttered to himself, "Wasn't he just... still outside the three-point line?"

"Bang!" Sakuragi Hanamichi did not give Himuro Tatsuya time to react. In front of everyone's astonished eyes, he blocked the ball with a powerful shot and slammed it out of the court.

"Crack!"

The basketball flew into the sky under the gaze of Rukawa and Himuro Chenye, and then hit the sky heavily. The two of them seemed to hear a sound of breaking, and then their eyes blurred, and the original dojo and the shadow behind them disappeared. "Alas, it's still a little short..." Huang Lai Ryota sighed as he looked at Rukawa and Himuro Chenye who were stunned in the field, "Little Himuro and little Rukawa may have just mastered this skill, and their level is still too shallow... In front of little Sakuragi who can really enter the zone... they are vulnerable!"

"Another absolute suppression of talent, Tatsuya..." Alex Garcia looked at Himuro Tatsuya in the field with a serious expression, and his brows knitted involuntarily, "What will you do this time?"

Alex Garcia was not the only one who had this question. There were also fans from Yangquan High School in the audience. At this moment, the only sounds in the entire stadium were the cheers from fans from Shonan High School.

"Really? What are you all worried about?" Qingfeng Daihui looked at the nearly desperate expressions of the Yangquan High School players, suddenly chuckled, and said softly, "Although I don't know what this state is, but from this state, I can see endless unwillingness..."

"Qingfeng, what are you talking about?" Jin Jixiang looked at Qingfeng Daihui with some confusion and asked, "What are you unwilling to do?"

"Who knows?" Aomine Daiki shrugged and said, "Maybe it's resentment for the lack of talent, or maybe it's unwillingness to keep losing? Anyway, these two guys make me feel like I met Kaneki in the first year of junior high school... the kind of guys who have gone through thousands of trials, love and hate basketball to the extreme, and crawled out of hell... the fighting spirit of Shura!"

"If that's the case..." Moroboshi Dai looked at Himuro Tatsuya and Rukawa Kaede who were bowing their heads in the field and said thoughtfully, "Doesn't it mean that every defeat...will become nutrients to nourish them?"

"Hu~~"

Before Moroboshi could finish his words, two fierce hurricanes suddenly blew up on the field, and two phantoms of samurai and ninjas, which were even larger than the previous ones, appeared behind Rukawa Kaede and Himuro Tatsuya again.

"It seems that I have to thank you guys from Shonan High School..." Masako Araki stood on the sidelines, looking at Himuro Tatsuya who was more powerful on the field with a gratified look on her face, and said with a chuckle, "Without your help, Himuro would not be able to fully awaken!"

"Muro!" The usually slow-witted Murasakibara Atsushi also noticed the abnormality of Himuro Tatsuya at this time. He came to the sidelines, took the basketball, yelled, and threw the ball to Himuro Tatsuya.

"Come on, Rukawa Kaede!"

After receiving the ball, Himuro Tatsuya rushed to the basket without hesitation. The figures of the two kept flashing, making it impossible to see the details of their movements. The only way to judge their approximate positions was by the sound of the basketball hitting the ground and the sound of the shoes and the soles rubbing against the floor.

The jerseys of the two players rustled, and two gusts of wind carried tremendous wind pressure, blowing the hair of everyone on the sidelines.

"Crench!"

Just as the players on the court held their breath and tried their best to capture the trajectory of the two, the sound of violent friction between sneakers and the floor suddenly rang out. Himuro Tatsuya made a sudden stop and shook off Rukawa Kaede half a step, then made a fadeaway jump shot. In Rukawa Kaede's anxious eyes, he slowly threw the ball out. With a swish, the basketball went into the net, and Yangquan High School led Shonan High School by 6 points.

"I told you, Atsushi won't lose this match." Himuro Tatsuya turned his head and looked at Kaneki Ken after landing, and said word by word, "I will win in front of you even if I die!"

"Hahaha, this kid is quite interesting. I like him." Jerry West smiled at Himuro Tatsuya's unyielding expression and said meaningfully, "This kid's fighting spirit is exactly the same as Joe's kid..."

"Then should we still pay attention to him, Mr. General Manager?" Kupchak asked curiously.

"No." Jerry West shook his head decisively and said, "Even if we don't choose Kaneki Ken, we still have better options... such as the kid from Lower Merion High School in Philadelphia."

"Are you talking about Kobe?" Kupchak leaned forward and asked.

"Yes, this kid was born to be a Laker." Jerry West nodded.

Unlike Jerry West in the box, Chris Bane and Jerry Bob really admired Himuro Tatsuya in the field.

"Hey, Jerry, I think we need to pay attention to the kid who just scored the goal." Chris Bain said with a complicated expression.

"You don't have to tell me." Jerry Bob said angrily, "Although the blond kid didn't take many shots, judging from the potential he has shown so far, he should play in the NBA instead of playing in such a low-level league... And, forgive me for being so blunt, the NCAA is also a low-level league for him. Let's focus on other players, so that at least we can bring some combat power to North Carolina."

In this way, amid the whispers of the crowd on the sidelines, the first quarter of the game ended tepidly. The score between the two sides came to 38 to 32, with Yangquan University leading by six points.

Unlike what everyone expected before the game started, the two main players played two rounds of singles in the opening stage. The rest of the game was dominated by the second and even third scoring points of the team. Himuro Tatsuya's performance in the first quarter was extremely impressive. He even suppressed Rukawa Kaede on the offensive end and scored 18 points and 6 assists. Almost all of Yangquan High School's points were related to him.

"Well done, Himuro, Murasakibara."

As the players of Yangquan High School walked off the court, the substitute players on the field came forward and high-fived Himuro Tatsuya and Murasakibara Atsushi to celebrate.

"Everyone, next..." Araki Masako waited until everyone was seated and was about to start arranging the next tactical layout when she was interrupted by Murasakihara Atsushi's next words.

"Masako, can you be quiet for a while? I'm really tired now and want to take a rest." Murasakibara Atsushi said as he drank big gulps of water.

"So tired?" Masako Araki was suddenly startled, and then quickly looked at the other starting players. Sure enough, all of them looked exhausted, either wiping their sweat or drinking water.

"Oh no!" Masako Araki's heart skipped a beat. She was no longer in the mood to plan any tactics. She could only watch the players recover their strength.

"You're right, senior." Wakamatsu Kosuke looked at the scoreboard on the sidelines, patted Imayoshi Shoichi on the shoulder and said, "Does Yangquan High School really have a chance to overthrow Kaneki Ken?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Aomine Daiki said with an inexplicable smile, "Although both of them finished the first quarter, Murasaki Hara's consumption of physical energy is much greater than Kaneki... No, Kaneki didn't even sweat at all!"

"Hiss..." The players of Toou High School realized it belatedly and looked at Kaneki Ken who looked relaxed, and took a breath of cold air.

"Ken-kun, are you showing mercy to Kozuki Kozuki?" Momoi Satsuki came to Kaneki Ken and asked curiously.

"Don't talk nonsense, I didn't." Kaneki Ken smiled and shook his head and said, "But you are right to remind me, it's time for me to end the warm-up."

Brothers, today is my birthday, a shorter one
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(End of this chapter)