Kuroko's Basketball template: the king of slacking off, Shohoku's strongest sixth man.

"That is..."

Sakuragi ruffled his hair in frustration and waved his hand dismissively:

"Ahhh, whatever! It all boils down to one thing!"

"Right now, Shohoku's interior defense is only held up by this genius!"

"If I don't get stronger, who will grab the rebounds? Who will block the shots?"

"Who's going to slap those bastards who want to run wild in Shohoku's restricted area back home?!"

An unprecedented sense of heaviness weighed on my heart.

Yet it was like a fire, burning him with heat and making his blood boil.

Just then.

"Squeak—"

The door to the equipment room was pushed open.

The blinding light flooded in, and Sakuragi instinctively squinted.

A tall, thin figure stood at the door.

He was covered in sweat, his black bangs were wet and stuck to his forehead, and he was holding a towel in his hand.

Rukawa Kaede.

The others had already finished training and left.

He seemed to be looking for something.

Upon seeing Sakuragi in the darkness, his cold, phoenix-shaped eyes flickered slightly.

"Are you incubating your eggs in a place like this?"

Rukawa Kaede's voice was still that cold, indifferent tone that made you want to punch him, with a hint of hoarseness from strenuous exercise.

Sakuragi instantly bristled and launched himself off the vaulting box:

"You damn fox! You're the one who incubates the eggs!"

"This genius is engaging in deep tactical meditation!"

"Do you understand meditation?!"

"You big idiot."

Rukawa Kaede rolled his eyes and turned to leave.

"stop!"

Sakuragi rushed over and stood like a wall blocking the doorway, completely enveloping Rukawa in shadow.

"You felt it too, didn't you?"

Sakuragi's voice suddenly lowered, and his usual playful smile disappeared.

Rukawa Kaede stopped and looked up at him.

"With the gorilla out, the paint was completely exposed in today's practice game."

Sakuragi gritted his teeth, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked:

"Although I don't want to admit it..."

"But without that gorilla yelling under the basket, it felt... really unpleasant."

Rukawa Kaede was silent for two seconds.

He wiped the sweat from his chin, his eyes suddenly sharpening like knives:

"Then become stronger."

"So strong that I don't need to rely on anyone."

"Nonsense! Of course this genius knows!"

Sakuragi's eyes widened.

"But that Zone... that damn state, I just can't get a hold of it!"

"That lazybones Lin Bei refuses to teach properly, only spouting 'feelings' and 'water flow' and other such mystical nonsense!"

Rukawa turned around and looked directly at Sakuragi.

"Me too……"

"Huh?" Sakuragi was taken aback.

"That field."

Deep within Rukawa Kaede's pupils, two ghostly blue flames seemed to burn.

"I still have the Immortal Path... We're all behind that door."

Rukawa Kaede recalled that day's match, and Lin Bei's despair-inducing dominance after activating Zone.

That feeling of powerlessness when you are completely seen through and attacked from a lower dimension.

For Rukawa Kaede, whose pride was abnormally strong, this was worse than being killed.

"I want to go in."

Rukawa Kaede tossed the towel over his shoulder, his tone eerily calm:

"Whether it's a Zone or some other road."

"I'm going to tear that door open."

"I want to become stronger."

Sakuragi looked at his mortal enemy.

Although I really dislike this pretentious fox.

But at that moment, he actually saw a flame that resonated with his own in that damned fox's eyes.

That was a powerful hunger.

It was an extreme sense of resentment at being left behind by that lazybones Lin Bei.

"Hey, fox."

Sakuragi suddenly grinned, a somewhat ferocious smile, yet his fighting spirit was off the charts.

"Do you still have the strength?"

Rukawa Kaede snorted coldly:

"One hand is enough to deal with you."

……

Ten minutes later.

The basketball court, which had already been darkened, turned on half of its lights again.

There were no referees and no spectators.

There are only two tireless madmen.

"Bang!"

The dull thud of muscles colliding echoed in the empty arena; it sounded painful.

Sakuragi Hanamichi, like a bull, held his position firmly, feeling Rukawa Kaede's strength with his back.

"Too light, fox!"

"Didn't you eat? Push harder!"

Sakuragi roared, using his incredible explosive power to forcefully create space and jump.

"Snapped!"

Rukawa Kaede's palm precisely sliced ​​the ball, quick, accurate, and ruthless.

"That was too much, you idiot."

The moment he intercepted the ball, Rukawa Kaede darted out like a cheetah.

He stopped abruptly beyond the three-point line, turned, and jumped to shoot.

The movements were fluid and graceful, as beautiful as a painting.

"Don't even think about it!!"

Sakuragi's terrifying jumping ability has once again redefined our understanding.

Like a spring with a rocket booster, it instantly soared into the air, its fingertips almost brushing against the basketball.

"Whoosh."

The ball still went into the net cleanly.

"Again!!"

Sakuragi landed and instantly retrieved the ball, then slammed it hard into Rukawa's hands.

"That goal doesn't count!"

"Just now...this genius slipped!"

"The floor is too slippery!"

"Too verbose."

The two of them were like a tireless perpetual motion machine.

Sweat streamed down the floor.

Every breath I took smelled of blood, and my lungs burned with pain.

But no one stopped.

"That guy Lin Bei..."

Sakuragi was panting heavily, like a bellows, while defending.

"He said Zone is about having no distractions... but all I can think about is smashing you, you fox, into pieces. Does that count as having distractions?!"

"Calculate."

"So you can forget about ever going back in."

Rukawa Kaede feinted and then coldly delivered the finishing blow.

"You're talking nonsense!"

"This genius does it all for the team! For national domination!"

Sakuragi roared as he caught up: "Unlike you, a lone wolf whose mind is only on one-on-one fights!"

"So what?"

Rukawa's eyes turned cold, and he suddenly accelerated.

This time, there were no fancy techniques, just pure instinct.

It's like the instinct to fight wild beasts in the mountains and forests.

wild.

His pupils seemed to turn into vertical pupils for a fleeting moment.

A primal, dangerous aura erupted.

"So fast!" Sakuragi's pupils shrank sharply.

But he didn't back down; his body reacted faster than his brain.

At that moment, he forgot to think, forgot those complicated Zone theories.

There is only the opponent right in front of you.

The only thing that mattered was the unwavering determination to stop that shot.

"Bang!!"

The two collided violently in mid-air and then crashed heavily to the floor like two bags of cement.

The basketball spun around the rim a few times before reluctantly falling out.

"Didn't make it! Hahahaha!"

"This genius has successfully defended against it!!"

Sakuragi lay sprawled on the floor, laughing like a fool, his chest heaving violently.

Rukawa Kaede lay beside him, panting heavily.

Sweat trickled down his hair and into his eyes, but he didn't even have the strength to wipe it away.

"...I was lucky." Rukawa Kaede's stubbornness kicked in.

"Admit it, fox, this genius is your nemesis."

Sakuragi stared at the ceiling light, his vision beginning to blur.

"Feed".

"what."

"That bastard Lin Bei is probably sleeping soundly right now, isn't he?"

"……affim."

"This is really annoying."

"……Um."

"When the gorilla comes back, I'll definitely show him that this genius has surpassed that lazybones."

"dream."

The sound grew fainter and fainter.

Exhaustion washed over me like a tidal wave, forcing me to shut down the computer.

……

The next morning.

Sunlight streamed through the windows into the basketball court, and the air carried the fresh scent of morning dew.

"Squeak—"

The door was pushed open.

Good morning!

"Let's be full of energy today too..."

Ryota Miyagi twirled the basketball on his finger.

He stopped abruptly, as if a duck had been choked.

Mitsui Hisashi, holding a bottle of water, peered out from behind, looking puzzled.

"What's wrong? Did you see a ghost?"

The next second, the water in Mitsui's hand fell to the ground with a "plop" and rolled far away.

All that could be seen on the floor in the center of the court was...

Two figures were tightly entangled together.

The scene was extremely indescribable.