Kaijo High School Basketball Gym
As usual, after a full day of classes, Kaijo's basketball players gathered in the gym for their club activities.
However, compared to normal days, something was clearly different today.
The sound of dribbling balls and loud shouts echoed far more frequently throughout the gym.
"Over here! Pass it here!"
"Push harder, guys! They're almost done!"
"We have to go on the offensive now! If we wait any longer, we'll run out of time!"
…
As a long-standing basketball powerhouse, Kaijo High possessed some of the finest basketball facilities in all of Tokyo. The gym alone housed seven full-sized courts.
And today—under Kota's organization—all seven courts were occupied at the same time.
At the corner of one court, Yuki stood with a whistle between his lips, eyes locked firmly on the game, diligently doing his best to ensure absolute fairness for his juniors.
Meanwhile, as the chief organizer of the training matches and evaluator for the starting lineup, Kota's role was especially crucial.
At that moment, he sat with one leg crossed over the other, half-reclined comfortably in a boss chair—borrowed straight from Takeuchi's office. From time to time, he casually clapped along with the plays on court.
Yet in truth, his heart wasn't focused on the massive training event at all.
"What should I eat for dinner later…?"
As the saying goes, food is the foundation of life. "What to eat for the next meal" has always been one of humanity's greatest unsolved mysteries.
Kota slowly stood up, rolling his neck to ease the stiffness from lounging too long. His gaze drifted toward one of the courts — No, more accurately, his eyes passed through the court and landed on the gym's windows.
The sunlight outside was especially bright today.
Before he realized it, Kota had slipped back into his usual daydreaming mode.
What? Someone's wondering why Kota isn't paying attention to the players' performances?
No way. Don't tell me there are actually people who think the starting positions are being decided by this training match?
Come on.
The starting lineup was directly tied to Kaijo's pursuit of a fifth consecutive championship under Kota's leadership.
Something that important was obviously going to stay firmly under his control.
As early as the day before, Kota had already finalized the starter list based on the freshmen's individual performances. Today's large-scale training match was nothing more than a formality—
Or rather, a way to create the illusion of "fair and open competition."
If Kota were to announce the starters outright, then aside from himself, Yuki, and Takumi, anyone else selected would inevitably face doubt.
"His skills aren't even that impressive—why does he make it, but I don't?"
To prevent situations like that, Kota deliberately organized this massive Freshman Training Match.
At the same time, to avoid unexpected scenarios—such as a player who should be a starter losing their game due to bad luck, poor chemistry, or other uncontrollable factors—Kota had prepared a backup plan.
On the surface, the team compositions appeared completely random.
But in reality?
Every single player placement had been personally selected by Kota.
So much so that before the game even started, Kota could already predict the outcome.
That was why he didn't need to watch the matches closely at all.
The results were already clear in his mind.
The unfortunate Kaijo freshmen were being toyed with—Right in the palm of Kota's hand.
…
…
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world
China Training Gym
Li Wenyu sat upright on a bench, eyes unblinking as he stared at a looping training video.
On the screen, two muscular Black players were locked in intense physical contact.
Don't misunderstand — This kind of "entanglement" referred strictly to basketball contact.
"Now let's start by discussing a few key points of the back-to-the-basket move…"
Yes.
Following Sun's orders, Li Wenyu was studying a highly technical offensive skill—
Post play.
Incidentally, this exact same video had been playing for three consecutive days.
At first, Li Wenyu had been full of determination, swearing he wouldn't stop until he mastered post offense.
Unfortunately, three straight days of this mind-numbingly repetitive content had completely drained his enthusiasm.
At this very moment, although he looked like a model student sitting attentively—
Anyone standing close enough could faintly hear…
Snoring.
And Li Wenyu wasn't alone.
As one of the "China Duo" personally named by Kota, Zhou Yi was also undergoing his own special training.
Seated not far away, Zhou Yi wore an expression of utter existential despair as he mechanically flipped through the book in front of him.
"Learning to Shut Up"
A nationwide bestseller with over a million copies sold—A book so universally applicable it nearly made it into elementary school textbooks.
The layout was clean, the examples humorous—
Of course, that was assuming Zhou Yi hadn't already read it seven or eight times.
"I can't believe this…"
Zhou Yi muttered bitterly as he turned the page.
"I'm a basketball prodigy! Touched a ball at four, trained fundamentals at five! I've got twenty years of basketball experience!"
"And now I'm sitting in a basketball gym doing this?!"
His resentment was practically spilling off his face.
"No, this won't do. I have to talk to Coach Sun—if this keeps up, I'm going to lose my mind!"
Just as Zhou Yi steeled himself—
Coach Sun suddenly appeared behind him.
"Zhou Yi, how's the reading going… huh? What's wrong?"
Coach Sun stepped to the side and froze slightly.
Zhou Yi's barely-contained anger hadn't faded yet—and he'd been caught red-handed.
Sun frowned.
"You're in a bad mood?"
Zhou Yi stiffened, then instantly forced a smile.
"Of course not! I was just… having a sudden realization while reading the book."
Sun glanced at the open pages and looked surprised.
"I honestly thought you wouldn't like this. Before coming in, I even prepared myself to see you tearing it apart."
"Looks like I underestimated you. Keep it up!"
With that, Sun gave him a big thumbs-up and walked straight over to Li Wenyu.
After years as teacher and student, Sun knew exactly what kind of person Li Wenyu was.
Smack!
A loud sound echoed throughout the gym.
As for the third person personally named by Kota —Wang—
Unlike the "China Duo," he wasn't given any special assignments.
Instead, he trained normally with the main group.
However, under Sun's specific instructions, Wang regularly visited high-level streetball courts to polish his real-game experience.
Overall, the chinese men's basketball team was steadily moving forward—
Exactly according to Kota's blueprint.
…
…
Back to Kaijo
By now, the largest "Freshman Training Match" in Kaijo's history had officially come to an end.
And under the gaze of the entire team, Kota announced this year's starting lineup.
First—
As the reigning champion of the Interhigh and Winter Cup not just once, but repeatedly over consecutive years—
And as Kaijo's captain—
Kota naturally claimed the first starting spot without dispute.
Next came the championship core from the previous season—
Kaijo's former "First-Year Duo":
Yuki and Takumi.
Following them was the player personally designated by Kota as Kaijo's "Number One Center" this year—
Tanaka.
While his individual ability was somewhat lacking, under Kota's behind-the-scenes control, Tanaka's team not only secured victory—
His own performance also stood out remarkably.
Moreover, everyone at Kaijo knew the truth:
They were severely lacking in centers this year.
So Tanaka's selection came as no surprise to anyone.
The next starter was a forward who had already caught Kota's attention during tryouts—
Fukuhara.
His shooting consistency was poor, and his offensive techniques were rough.
As a small forward, he ranked near the bottom.
Yet none of that could hide his exceptional physical talent.
Standing just under 190 cm tall, Fukuhara's wingspan looked close to 195 cm by Kota's estimation.
Combined with his impressive vertical leap and simple, straightforward mindset—
Kota often felt like he was looking at a budget version of Li Wenyu.
And while Li Wenyu wasn't among the absolute elite, he was still the captain of the China national team.
Being his "low-cost version" spoke volumes about Fukuhara's potential.
Most importantly—
While small forwards require polished offensive skills, power forwards don't demand nearly as much.
Kota had already mapped out everyone's roles within his Run-and-Gun system—
Of course, excluding the bait piece.
(Tanaka.)
In addition, the promising rookie who had won Middle School Top Scorer three years in a row—
Morikawa — was also brought into the starting lineup.
A shooting guard with a 60% field goal average.
If Morikawa could maintain that efficiency at the high school level, he would undoubtedly become Kaijo's third scoring option, after Kota and Yuki.
To guard against the possibility of Morikawa going cold, Kota even prepared a rotation player for him.
Junior of the infamous "Bad Boy" Hanamiya —
Shimamura.
Although Shimamura usually played point guard, Kota observed that his playstyle allowed him to transition to shooting guard with ease.
Still, for reasons unknown, Shimamura seemed to have an unusual attachment to the point guard position.
Perhaps influenced by Hanamiya.
Though admiring Hanamiya was something Kota personally found baffling, it couldn't be ruled out.
Which meant—
Kota would need to keep a close eye on Shimamura at all times, just in case he pulled something he shouldn't during games.
Finally, Kota selected several capable third-year players as backup reserves for emergencies.
And just like that—
Kaijo High's roster for the year was complete.