Black Basketball: A false start

Chapter 285 Very good, very energetic

"It's really a nostalgic scene, Ichiro."

Mitsui Shou saw through Katsume Ichiro's fake move and easily completed a steal, saying with a complicated tone.

"Senior..." The corner of Katsume Ichiro's eyes twitched slightly, and the past events of junior high school emerged in his mind.

……

Three years ago, Takeishi Junior High School basketball team held a welcome party.

"Hello, newcomers!" Looking at the new players in front of him, Mitsui Shou crossed his arms and shouted loudly with a serious face, "Welcome to join the basketball team of Takeishi Junior High School! My name is Mitsui Shou, and I am your... big brother! If you have any questions about basketball, you can come to us! We will tell you kindly! Did you hear me?"

"I heard it, Mitsui-senpai!" The new members of the basketball team shouted loudly.

"Hmm..." Mitsui Shou looked at the newcomers' reactions and nodded noncommittally. He pointed at one of them and said, "Next, it's your turn to introduce yourselves! Starting with you!"

"Yes! Senior!" The one who was pointed at, Ichiro Kumi, stepped forward and shouted, "First grade, class ten! Ichiro Kumi! The position is shooting guard!"

"I can't hear you, I can't hear you at all!" Sanyi Shou shouted angrily with a cold face, "Didn't you have dinner? Speak louder! You want to play basketball with such a low voice?"

"Yes!!!" Katsume Ichiro raised his voice a little more and shouted angrily, "First grade, class ten! Katsume Ichiro!! The position is shooting guard!!!"

"Very good, very energetic!" Looking at Katsumi Ichiro who was shouting with his face red and neck thick, Sun Jingshou nodded with satisfaction. He didn't know at that time that this meeting was the beginning of the gears of fate turning.

……

"Damn it, we lost again..." In the team practice match shortly after joining the club, Katsume Ichiro lost to the senior team again. He kicked the bench on the sidelines with an unhappy look on his face and sat down angrily.

"Although I know you are frustrated, it's better not to show it so obviously, Katsumi..." Hirata said, feeling the gazes of the senior players and pulling Lakme's Iranian jersey with some embarrassment.

"I know the seniors are great, but why can't we win even once after practicing for so long?" Katsume Ichiro yelled in frustration, "It's ok that we can't match them individually, but we've even been crushed by the seniors in terms of team chemistry!"

"After all, the seniors have practiced basketball for much longer than us..." Hirata shrugged helplessly and said, "It's only natural that they are better than us~"

"Bullshit!" Katsume Ichiro cursed angrily, "After the training is over, I will practice more. I don't believe that I can't win even once!"

"Ah? More practice?" Hirata muttered reluctantly, "But I just started playing with Ayumi from the next class... If I have more practice, I won't have time to play with Ayumi..."

"You useless guy, what do you want women for? Women will only affect our shooting speed!" Katsume Ichiro said while poking Hirata's forehead with a look of disappointment on his face.

"You can't stop me from finding a girlfriend just because you can't find one yourself..." Hirata said somewhat aggrievedly.

"I don't care anyway. If you don't accompany me for extra practice, I will tell my aunt that you have a girlfriend at school!" Katsumi Ichiro threatened.

"Okay, okay..." Hirata curled his lips helplessly and said, "I really lost to you..."

Katsume and Ichiro, who were in the middle of an intense conversation, did not notice that their conversation had been heard by Mitsui Hisashi who was standing nearby.

"What are you looking at, Mitsui?" asked a teammate beside him curiously.

"Nothing much, I just feel that this year's newcomers are more interesting." Mitsui Shou smiled and shook his head.

As time went by, the team training for the day came to an end. When Mitsui announced the disbandment of the team, most of the new players breathed a sigh of relief and immediately collapsed to the ground. Only Katsumi Ichiro remained standing firmly.

"Why don't you sit down?" Mitsui Shou deliberately put on a stern face and came up to Katsume Ichiro and asked.

"Report to Senior Mitsui!" Katsumi Ichiro stood at attention and said, "I'm very tired now. I know if I sit down, I won't be able to stand up! But I want to practice more later, so I won't sit down!"

"Want to practice more?" Mitsui raised his eyebrows, came to the sidelines, took out a key from his bag, threw it to Katsumi Ichiro and said, "Then I'll ask you to clean up the basketball and mop the entire stadium. Is that okay?"

"Report to Senior Mitsui, there is no problem!" Katsume Ichiro shouted loudly.

"Very good, I hope you won't let me down." Mitsui Shou turned and left the stadium with a meaningful smile on his face.

In the days that followed, Ichiro Katsume was always the first one to arrive and the last one to leave every day, and the players gradually noticed that the basketballs in the team were becoming cleaner and the floor was becoming brighter.

After another training session, just as Katsume Ichiro was staying for extra training as usual, Mitsui Hisashi suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Mitsui-senpai..." Katsume Ichiro stopped what he was doing, looked at Mitsui Shou with some confusion and asked, "Excuse me, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Nothing, just checking in on your training." Mitsui Shou shook his head noncommittally, pointing to the basket nearby and said, "Come on, come and play a couple of balls with me."

"Yes, Mitsui-senpai." Although Katsume Ichiro didn't know what Mitsui Shou meant, he still nodded obediently.

"One-on-one, 11 points." Mitsui threw the basketball in his hand to Katsumi Ichiro and said, "You serve first, otherwise you won't be able to get the ball in a while."

"Yes, senior." Katsume Ichiro nodded obediently, picked up the basketball, walked to the three-point line, and began to prepare for the first attack.

Mitsui stood at the top of the three-point arc, always keeping a distance of one step from Katsume Ichiro, with his arms open, his eyes closely watching Katsume Ichiro's every move.

"Mitsui-senpai, what a strong defensive pressure..." Katsume Ichiro held the ball in a triple threat posture, frowned slightly and looked at Mitsui Hisashi, muttering to himself.

"What are you daydreaming about?" Just as Katsume Ichiro was concentrating on finding a loophole in Mitsui's defense, a big hand took advantage of his unpreparedness and quickly snatched the basketball from Katsume Ichiro's hand.

"Yabai..." Katsume Ichiro lowered his hands in annoyance and quickly moved closer to Mitsui Shou, fearing that he would be caught off guard.

"The key to the defensive position is to keep your upper body straight, not to bend over!" Mitsui looked at Katsumi Ichiro in front of him and suddenly jumped up. "Shimata!" Katsumi Ichiro was startled by Mitsui's sudden pull-up jump shot and rushed over, but even though he hit Mitsui's body heavily, it still did not affect Mitsui's shot into the basket.

"Look at how flustered you were just now!" Mitsui Shou said with a look of disappointment, "If this was a game, I would have given you a 3+1!"

"I'm sorry, Mitsui-senpai!" Katsume Ichiro looked at Mitsui Hisashi who had a dissatisfied look on his face, and quickly bowed and apologized.

"Okay, stop talking nonsense and try again!" Mitsui walked to the baseline, picked up the basketball, and threw the ball to Katsume Ichiro at the top of the arc again.

In the following one-on-one, Katsume Ichiro finally understood why Mitsui Hisashi became the captain of Takeishi Junior High School when he was in his second year.

"Hold the ball firmly!"

"Don't look at the ground when you dribble!"

"Don't be too deliberate with your fake moves!"

"Come again!"

"Come again!"

"Come again!"

Time and again, Katsume Ichiro was constantly intercepted, blocked, and interfered by Mitsui Beast, while Mitsui Shou made successful shots over Katsume Ichiro's head again and again.

"Rest... rest for a while, Mitsui-senpai..." After fighting for who knows how long, Katsume Ichiro, who always prided himself on his outstanding physical strength, could no longer hold on. He put his hands on his knees, gasped for breath, and looked at Mitsui Shou and said.

"No need." Mitsui Shou lowered his head and played with the basketball in his hand, saying in a calm tone, "Although my basics are still terrible, as a newcomer, overall I can barely pass."

"Thank you... Thank you, Senior Mitsui..." Katsume Ichiro straightened up with difficulty, looked at Mitsui Shou and said with heavy breaths, "I... I will definitely work harder..."

"I'll see how you perform." Sanji said calmly, "Starting tomorrow night, I'll personally accompany you to practice more."

"That's great, Mitsui-senpai!" Katsume Ichiro was pleasantly surprised, and even his fatigue was relieved a little.

"Okay, hurry home." Mitsui Shou patted Katsume Ichiro on the shoulder and said.

"But my training isn't over yet..." Katsume Ichiro said hesitantly.

"You are still growing, so it is not suitable for you to do too much training." Mitsui Shou explained, "Just follow my pace."

"Yes, Senior Mitsui!" Katsume Ichiro nodded heavily.

In the following days, in addition to daily training, Katsumi Ichiro's daily task was to follow Mitsui Hisashi to continuously practice his ball-handling and shooting skills. Gradually, Katsumi Ichiro became the best player in the first year of Takeishi Junior High School and was successfully selected into the starting lineup of Takeishi Junior High School, becoming the second newcomer after Mitsui Hisashi to enter the team's starting lineup in his first year.

"Haha, Mitsui-senpai, I'm finally a starter!" In the post-match practice after entering the starting lineup, Katsume Ichiro finally couldn't contain his excitement. He looked at Mitsui Shou with gratitude and said, "Thanks to Mitsui-senpai, you have been practicing with me these days. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn't be able to enter the starting lineup so quickly!"

"It's nothing special to be in the starting lineup." Mitsui Shou looked at the excited Katsumi Ichiro and deliberately poured cold water on him, "The five starting players of Teikou Junior High School are all freshmen."

"I think I've heard of it..." Katsumi Ichiro briefly recalled it, sat down next to Mitsui Shou and said, "But don't worry, Mitsui-senpai, I will definitely not be worse than them!"

"Very good, very energetic." A hint of relief flashed in Mitsui's eyes, and he smiled and patted Katsume Ichiro's shoulder.

But just when Katsumi Ichiro was full of ambition and ready to help Mitsui Shou achieve success, they met Teikou Junior High School in the third round after entering the national competition. It was also in that game that Katsumi Ichiro finally realized the gap between himself and the Miracle Generation.

When Mitsui Hisashi, who was alone, made his last shot with the encouragement of Ando Mitsuyoshi, but was ruthlessly slapped out of the court by Kaneki Ken, the whistle for the end of the game sounded.

"In the third round of the junior high school basketball league, Teikou Junior High School played against Takeishi Junior High School. The score was 151 to 66. Teikou Junior High School won!"

The referee's cold decision rang in Katsume Ichiro's ears. The cold air irritated his nose and made it sore. Looking at Mitsui's lonely back, Katsume Ichiro secretly swore in his heart that he must defeat the Generation of Miracles and Kaneki Ken.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. After the national competition of Takeishi Junior High School ended, Mitsui Hisashi completed the handover ceremony and resignation ceremony step by step. The burden of the entire team's outside line fell on the shoulders of Katsume Ichiro.

"Don't be sad, Mitsui-senpai..." After the resignation ceremony, Katsume Ichiro carefully came to Mitsui Shou and comforted him, "The Generation of Miracles is too strong after all... No one in the entire junior high school basketball world has been able to beat them so far, right? But don't worry, Mitsui-senpai, after you leave, I will definitely lead Takeishi Junior High School to successfully defeat Teikou Junior High School and avenge you!"

"Very good, very energetic." Mitsui Shou sat on the bench beside the court in a somewhat depressed manner, smiled and patted Katsumi Ichiro's arm and said, "Then I will wait for the day when you will achieve the miracle era."

"Yes! Definitely!" Katsumi Ichiro patted his chest and said, "This is the promise I made to Senior Mitsui!"

……

"We have an agreement, Mitsui-senpai..." At this moment, on the field, Katsume Ichiro looked at the back of Mitsui Shou who had already rushed into the penalty area, and murmured to himself, "My teammates and I have successfully defeated most of the Age of Miracles, and now we are trying to overthrow Kaneki Ken... But it's just too ironic, Mitsui-senpai, now you have run to Kaneki Ken's side!"

"What!" Mitsui Shou, who had just jumped and was about to make a layup, looked at the shadow coming from his peripheral vision and muttered to himself in surprise, "Ichiro actually...really caught up?"

"boom!"

With the sound of contact between a palm and a basketball, the basketball that Mitsui had just left his hand was pressed onto the backboard by Katsume Ichiro.

"I'm sorry, Mitsui-senpai..." Katsume Ichiro looked at Mitsui Shou with a serious face and said, "In order to fulfill the promise between the two of us, and also for the sake of my own team... I must win this game for you to see!"

"Very good, very energetic." Mitsui Shou looked at Katsume Ichiro in front of him with a look of satisfaction, and suddenly said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)