Kuroko's Basketball: I'm not the boss?

The naive Yuuki couldn't understand these words at all. He stared blankly at Xiangyang, clearly unable to comprehend what the latter meant.

Xiangyang chuckled, gestured with his lips to the milk tea Yuki was holding, and teased, "Did someone else drink this and give it to you? There's a lipstick mark on the top of the straw."

Upon hearing this, Yuuki's cheeks flushed red. He hid the milk tea behind his back and hurriedly explained, "No, no! This is just... just..."

"Okay, okay, I'm not interested in teenage romance among male high school students. Relax."

Noticing Yuuki's embarrassment, Xiangyang casually put his arm around his shoulder: "Although you're not an adult yet, and according to school rules you can't do this kind of thing, don't worry! Your senior, Xiangyang, is not only open-minded, but also keeps his mouth shut! I'll keep this a secret for you~"

Xiangyang pursed his lips and looked at Yuki with a reserved expression, but his eyes secretly glanced at Yuki's neck.

[Nothing special... Looks like Yuki's boyfriend is a good boy... That's good, saves him from being fooled by some bad woman.]

Xiangyang was inwardly excited, but outwardly remained unchanged. He patted Yuki on the shoulder and said seriously, "Alright, stop fooling around. I'm organizing a training match for them, but because there are so many people, we don't have enough referees. I'll have to trouble you to fill in."

"And Ohara, could you please come and help out as well?"

Yuki and Ohara naturally wouldn't refuse what Xiangyang said.

Xiangyang has always had a lot of influence in the Kaijo team, which became even more obvious after Kasamatsu graduated and left the team, and after Xiangyang officially entered his senior year of high school!

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Kaijo is now a one-man show by Xiangyang. Even Takenai has to discuss many decisions with Xiangyang before implementing them.

As the new students got to know their temporary teammates, Xiangyang lay back in his chair with his hands behind his head, looking very relaxed and carefree.

"Now, this is my team."

Chapter 229 Starting Lineup Complete

Haichang High School Basketball Gymnasium

As usual, the Kaisho players, having finished a day of school, were engaged in club activities in the stadium.

However, unlike usual, there were an unusually large number of dribbling and shouting sounds coming from the stadium today.

"Send it over here!"

"Give it your all, brothers! They're about to collapse!"

"We need to launch a full-scale attack now, otherwise it will be too late when time runs out!"

……

As a basketball powerhouse, Kaijo High School has the best basketball facilities in Tokyo Prefecture, with a total of seven courts!

Today, thanks to Xiang Yang's organization, all seven venues in Haichang were completely filled at the same time.

In a corner of the field, Yuki, with a whistle in her mouth, stared intently at the competition, diligently striving for the greatest fairness for her junior.

As the organizer of this training match and the judge of the selected players, Xiang Yang's work is particularly important!

At this moment, he was lounging in his executive chair (which he had taken from Takeuchi's office) with his legs crossed, occasionally clapping along with the players on the field. However, his mind was not on this massive training match.

What should we eat for dinner later?

As the saying goes, food is the most important thing for people. The question of "what to eat for the next meal" is one of the most difficult problems in human history, and different people think about it every day.

Xiangyang slowly got up, stretched his neck which was sore from lying down for too long, and looked at a certain part of the court... no, to be precise, he looked across the court and towards the window of the stadium.

The sun was shining brightly today, and Xiangyang found himself lost in thought again.

What? Someone wants to know why Xiang Yang doesn't pay attention to the players' performance in training matches?

No way, no way, does anyone really think that the chance to compete for a starting spot is through this practice match?

Don't be ridiculous! Something like a starting spot is crucial to Xiang Yang's fifth consecutive championship in his career! It's something so important, Xiang Yang naturally wants to hold onto it firmly!

A day earlier, Xiangyang had finalized the official roster based on the freshmen's performance, and today's training match was just a formality, or rather, a way to create a "prosperous illusion of fair competition."

If Xiangyang directly names the main players, then apart from him, Yuki, and Ohara, everyone else will be questioned by others.

"His strength is clearly average, even inferior to mine, so why can he do it but I can't?"

To prevent this from happening, Xiangyang specially organized this large-scale "freshman training competition"!

At the same time, to prevent unforeseen circumstances, such as a player who should be on the starting roster losing a match or performing poorly due to various unforeseen factors, thus failing to make the starting lineup, Xiangyang specifically made contingency plans for this situation.

It appears that the members of each team are randomly assigned, but quite the opposite is true! Every single one of them was carefully selected by Xiang Yang! Even before a match begins, Xiang Yang can predict the outcome.

The course of the competition has taken this far.

Therefore, Xiang Yang didn't need to pay attention to this training match at all, because he already knew the final result.

The poor freshmen of Haichang were manipulated by Xiangyang.

……

……

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world

China's national team stadium

Li Wenyu sat upright on the bench, staring intently at the videotape playing on a loop in front of him. The videotape showed two strong, muscular black men grappling with each other. Don't get me wrong, this grappling refers to physical grappling... specifically, physical grappling in basketball!

"Nowlet'sstartbydiscussingafewkeypointsofthebackhittingmovement…"

(Now, let's talk about some key points of the back-to-the-basket move...)

Yes, following Coach Sun's orders, Li Wenyu is learning a rather sophisticated technique: back-to-the-basket attack!

Incidentally, he had been watching the same videotape for three days in a row. At first, Li Wenyu was full of ambition, determined not to give up until he had finished training. Unfortunately, the monotonous training content over the past three days had worn away his enthusiasm.

At this moment, although Li Wenyu appeared to be sitting upright, like a well-behaved student listening attentively, anyone who got a little closer could hear the faint snoring sound in the air…

Of course, it wasn't just Li Wenyu; Zhou Yi, as one of the "two elders of the flower-planting family" who were singled out by Xiang Yang, also unsurprisingly received his special training.

Sitting not far from Li Wenyu, Zhou Yi looked like he was questioning the meaning of life, mechanically flipping through the books in front of him.

Learn to Shut Up

The book "Planting Flowers" has sold over a million copies nationwide. It's a book suitable for all ages and was almost included in elementary school textbooks!

Its font is neatly arranged, and the selected examples are witty and humorous. Of course, if Zhou Yi hadn't already read it seven or eight times, he probably still wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

"I never imagined that I, a basketball prodigy who touched a ball at the age of four and honed my ball sense at the age of five, with a full twenty years of basketball experience, would one day be sitting in a basketball gym doing this kind of thing!"

As Zhou Yi muttered to himself, he angrily turned to the next page, his resentment practically overflowing from his face!

"No, I have to talk to Coach Sun. If this continues, I'll go crazy!"

Zhou Yi had just made up his mind when Coach Sun suddenly appeared behind him in the next second.

"Zhou Yi, how's the investigation going... Hmm? What's wrong?"

Coach Sun walked to Zhou Yi's side and was taken aback. He saw that Zhou Yi's expression of lingering anger had not yet faded and Coach Sun had seen it clearly.

Coach Sun frowned and asked, "Are you in a bad mood?"

Zhou Yi's expression froze for a moment, then he immediately forced a smile and replied, "Of course not, it's just that I was reading this book just now... and suddenly had a new insight, so that's why I did that."

Coach Sun looked at the books spread out in front of Zhou Yi and said in surprise, "I thought you wouldn't like them. To be honest, before I came in, I was prepared to see you tear this book up."

I underestimated you.

"It's good that you've gained some insights; keep up the good work!"

And so, with Zhou Yi looking hesitant, Coach Sun gave him a thumbs up and then walked straight up to Li Wenyu.

Having shared a long-standing mentor-student relationship, Coach Sun already knew exactly what kind of person Li Wenyu was.

Snapped!

A deafening bang echoed throughout the stadium…

Incidentally, as the third person named by Xiang Yang, Wang Dalong did not receive a special mission like the "Two Old Men of China". Instead, he followed the main group and trained normally every day. However, after Coach Sun gave him special instructions, Wang Dalong went to the high-level amateur courts almost every day to hone his practical experience.

Overall, the Chinese men's basketball team is gradually getting back on track, following Xiang Yang's instructions...

……

……

Switching our focus back to Haichang, this "freshman training match," the largest in Haichang's history, has already come to an end.

Xiang Yang also announced the starting lineup for this year's Haichang team in front of everyone.

First of all, as the champion of the previous national competition and the one before that, and the one before that, Xiang Yang, as the captain of Haichang, deservedly won the first starting spot.

Next up was the team that won the championship last year, Kaijo's former "first-year duo", Yuki Hashimoto and Hiroshi Ohara.

Then came Tian Zhonglu, handpicked by Xiang Yang as the "number one center" of the Haichang High School this year.

Although he was somewhat lacking in individual ability, under Xiangyang's internal manipulation, not only did Tanaka's team win, but Tanaka's performance was also outstanding!

At the same time, everyone in the team knows their own situation. Everyone at Kaisho is well aware that the team is short of a center this year, so no one was surprised that Tanaka was selected.

The second player selected was a forward who caught Xiangyang's attention during the interview stage – Toshihide Fukuhara!

With his poor shooting consistency and rough offensive skills, Fukuhara could be considered one of the worst players at the small forward position. However, none of this could overshadow his excellent physical and dynamic talents!

He's only about 1.9 meters tall, but Xiangyang estimates his wingspan to be around 1.95 meters! Coupled with his excellent jumping ability and simple mind, Xiangyang often thinks he's just a low-budget version of Li Wenyu!

It's worth noting that although Li Wenyu isn't top-tier in terms of skill, he is still the captain of the Chinese men's basketball team. The fact that he can be considered a "lower-tier" version of Fukuhara speaks volumes about the abilities he possesses.

And most importantly... small forwards need offensive skills, but power forwards don't require as much in that regard.

Xiangyang had already planned out the positions of each member of the Kaijo regulars in the artillery bombardment tactic! Of course, the decoy was excluded (Tanaka).

In addition, the promising newcomer, Shuya Moriyama, who won the top scorer award for three consecutive years during his middle school years, was also recruited into the starting lineup by Hikaru.

A shooting guard who can achieve a 60% field goal percentage, if Moriyama can maintain this efficiency in high school games, then he will undoubtedly become the third scoring option for Kaijo this year, after Hikaru and Yuuki!

To prevent Moriyama from suddenly losing his touch, Xiangyang specially found him a "rotation player".

Shimizu Junior High School graduate, Shimamura Toshiyoshi is the junior of the "bad boy" Hanamiya Makoto.

Although Shimamura has always played point guard, according to Xiangyang's observation, his playing style makes it easy for him to switch to shooting guard.

For some reason, Shimamura seems to have a special feeling for the point guard position…

I don’t know if it was influenced by Hanamichi, but although Xiangyang thinks it’s too bizarre to yearn for Hanamichi, he can’t deny the possibility.

Of course, this means that Xiangyang must keep a close eye on Shimamura at all times to prevent him from doing anything inappropriate on the field...

Finally, Xiang Yang selected a few capable substitutes from the third-year students for unforeseen circumstances. And just like that, Haichang's roster for this year was complete.