[You said to the coach, "I came back this time to win the championship!"]
[The basketball club fell silent, then everyone burst into laughter.]
[Someone walked over and said to you with a smile, "Don't push yourself too hard, Yuuto. To win the championship, we have to beat Teiko Middle School."]
[Someone beside him chimed in, "Yeah, Yuuto. They are Teiko, the biggest powerhouse in junior high. This generation is even hailed as the strongest in history. Last year, they were just first-years, but they were already top players nationwide. This year they'll surely be even stronger. National champions? No chance. Let's just play our own games well."]
[Hearing these words made you even more annoyed.]
[This was one of the reasons you left. Playing with these guys who lacked ambition only made you angry every day. But you ignored the fact that you gave up even faster than they did; you quit a year ago.]
"..."
"Simulation is just a simulation, why does it have to roast me?"
Yuuto was dissatisfied that the dog system was stealing his job.
["I will win." You told them seriously. You are a man who strives to be strong his whole life.]
[You returned to the team smoothly and trained with the other teammates. Having left the court for a year, you needed time to recover.]
[Day 3: You continued your rehabilitation training. The Kasugano siblings and Nagisa Kazuha were very happy with your change. They said the current you looks like the real you.]
[Day 4: You continued your rehabilitation training. You fully understood the pain of Mitsui Hisashi back then.]
[Your body and your condition are a bit terrible. Fortunately, you often fight with delinquents at school, so your agility hasn't regressed too much.]
[Day 5: You continued your rehabilitation training. The coach thought your recovery speed was excellent and tried to let you participate in an intra-squad scrimmage.]
[Obviously, this fifty-something-year-old geezer knows how to rank up. He knows that the reason Homi Academy made it to the Nationals last year was indispensable from you, the carry.]
[You put on your training uniform, you went on the court to play, and your performance shocked the geezer coach.]
[He shouted, "Subarashii! Genius! Yuuto, you are a genius!"]
[No one on the team expected that after leaving the court for a year, you would actually become stronger.]
[Homi Academy's basketball coach was once a benchwarmer for a low-tier professional team. He wasn't strong, and he had no representative works in his career.]
[But that makes sense. If he were awesome, he wouldn't have come to a music school like Homi Academy to teach basketball. Those awesome coaches, like Shirogane Kozo and Shirogane Eiji, would choose to work for basketball powerhouses.]
[Even if it's a labor of love, any capable coach can pull a team together even in a trash school, like Coach Anzai of Shohoku.]
[Of course, he isn't strong, but he still has an eye for talent. He can tell that your playing style is extremely standardized.]
[Every movement, every shot, every crossover, every layup... looked as if it had been tempered thousands of times. You simply looked like you walked out of a textbook.]
[Every bank shot angle is controlled at 45 degrees. The timing of the pick-and-roll cut is precise to the moment the defender's center of gravity shifts by 5 degrees. Every shot is released at the highest point with both hands raised above the head.]
[Everyone asked if you had been secretly training during the year you left the basketball club.]
[You were amazed by their imagination. Where would you find a place to train just to play ball? A bunch of psychos!]
[You led your team to victory. You got a team-high 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists.]
[Day 6: Your recovery speed accelerated because even after club activities ended, you would practice extra at home at night.]
[Sora was curious about your changes and went with you to the public court to keep you company during practice.]
[This shut-in keeps everyone at a distance except for Kasugano Haruka and you.]
[You were practicing, she was watching you.]
[You continued practicing, she watched you boredly.]
[You were still practicing, she couldn't help but wander around nearby.]
[You were addicted to practice and couldn't extricate yourself...]
"As expected of me. Besides possessing the traditional characteristic of poverty from the Flower Planter (China), I am also fucking diligent."
Yuuto was very happy.
He finally found one of his few virtues.
"Eh? Why am I looking down on myself like this? That's strange!"
Yuuto shook his head and continued staring at himself in the simulation.
[While you continued practicing, a scream from Sora came from the distance.]
[Although she has no chest, she is very tolerant (a pun on 'Nu Nai' [No Milk/Boobs] and 'You Rong' [Have Tolerance/Capacity], implying 'tolerance is a virtue' or simply 'beautiful'). She was harassed by nearby delinquents.]
[You rushed over. There were 3 opponents, with hair dyed in the three colors of a traffic light.]
[You fought them. You won a one-on-three fight, single-handedly driving away the Traffic Light Trio. As they left, they shouted, "We'll be back!"]
"..."
Are you guys Team Rocket or what?
[You had no heart to practice. You carried Sora home on your back. She sprained her ankle just now, and she has been frail and sickly since childhood, getting tired after walking just a few steps.]
[Sora lay on your back and said to you, "I'm sorry, Yuuto!"]
[You asked, "Why are you apologizing to me?"]
[Sora apologized, "I bothered you again."]
[You said as if accustomed to it, "You've been saying that to me since we were kids, but I've never seen you actually change."]
[Sora said righteously, "Because staying at home is boring."]
[You were helpless. "If you're bored, go to school. Don't just squat at home all day."]
["Baka, I don't want to see anyone other than Yuuto and Haruka." Sora's arms around your neck tightened.]
[You sighed and said, "Then let's come out together again tomorrow."]
["What if we meet them again?" Sora was a little afraid.]
[He looked back confidently, "Isn't I here? Don't worry, I am the strongest!"]
[Your smile was comical because you got punched in the face. Sora laughed seeing it and leaned on your back without speaking.]
"Something's wrong!!!"
Yuuto leaned back.
This development is hugely wrong!
"If this goes on, the person who becomes the 'God of War at the Entrance' might be me!"
[You felt that Sora's attitude towards you was too intimate, even if she had been like this since childhood.]
[Thus, the next night, he decisively chose to leave Sora alone at home and ran to practice by himself.]
[Sora got angry. When you came back, she threatened not to say a word to you for a day. After hearing this, you laughed happily. Sora kicked you and ran back to her room.]
"As expected of me, a genius among geniuses!"
Yuuto spoke plausibly, pointing at the panel and giving it a frantic thumbs up.
He continued reading.
[You don't know how much time passed, but it was definitely less than a month. You felt that your condition had recovered to 70%. Because of 'The Big Fundamental' talent, your basketball level reached the peak of your career.]
[The draw for the National Tournament regional qualifiers came out.]
[This is the reason you didn't choose to leave this underdog team; it was too late to transfer schools.]
[Besides, the Kasugano family didn't have extra money, otherwise you wouldn't have moved from the big city to a rural town.]
[Okukozome is located in the northern part of the Kanto region, a small town in Tochigi Prefecture. It is very small, with a population of only 160,000.]
[For such a small prefecture, there is only one slot for the National Tournament, far inferior to big cities like Tokyo and Kanagawa. Tokyo has 3 slots for the National Tournament, while Kanagawa has 2.]
[Of course, the competitiveness of Tochigi Prefecture is far inferior to the big cities of Tokyo and Kanagawa, otherwise it would be difficult for you to bring Homi Academy to the main stage of the National Tournament.]