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

Chapter 71 Challenging the King

The school bell finally rang.

Inside the basketball court.

The squeaking of shoes against the floor and the thud of basketballs hitting the ground created a lively and exciting scene.

Although they had just gone through a fierce battle.

But the excitement of defeating Shohoku swept away everyone's fatigue.

Even Lin Bei underwent an hour of "recovery training".

"gather!"

With a thunderous roar from Takenori Akagi, all sound abruptly ceased.

The players quickly lined up on the sidelines.

Everyone was drenched in sweat, their chests heaving violently.

But their eyes shone with an unprecedented light.

That is the radiance of the victor.

Akagi stood at the front of the group, his hands behind his back.

His gaze swept over every face, finally settling on Coach Anzai.

"Coach, everyone's here."

Coach Anzai stood in front of the crowd, his glasses reflecting light so that his eyes were obscured.

"Hehehe... Everyone, you've worked hard."

Coach Anzai smiled like a Maitreya Buddha, "Ayako, please explain the situation to everyone."

"yes!"

Ayako, holding a tactical board, walked to the middle of the team.

Her expression was unusually serious today, and instead of waving her folding fan as usual, she held it tightly in her hand.

"Everyone, first of all, congratulations to Shohoku for successfully advancing to the joint finals, which is the semifinals of the prefectural tournament!"

"Ohhhh!!!"

Although I already knew this outcome.

But when Ayako made the official announcement, everyone couldn't help but cheer.

"Hahaha!"

"This is all thanks to this genius!"

"As long as I'm here, dominating the whole country is a piece of cake!" Sakuragi Hanamichi laughed triumphantly.

Rukawa Kaede coldly uttered a single word from the side: "Idiot."

"What did you say?! You damned fox!"

"Quiet!"

Akagi punched Sakuragi on the head, successfully silencing him physically.

Ayako cleared her throat and continued:

"Although we defeated Shohoku, the battles to come are the real hell mode."

She posted four slips of paper on the tactics board, each with the name of one of the four teams written on it.

"This is the list of the top four in this county competition."

"The team that has advanced from Group A is the champion of Kanagawa for seventeen consecutive years—Hainan University Affiliated High School."

"The team that advanced from Group C is our old rival—Ryonan High School."

"The team that advanced from Group D is one of last year's top four – Buri High School."

"Finally, it's us from Group B, Shohoku High School."

Upon hearing the names "Hainan" and "Lingnan," the atmosphere in the group noticeably became more somber.

Ayako paused, her gaze becoming somewhat serious.

"I want to tell you some data."

"Just yesterday, while we were having a tough battle with Xiangyang, Hainan University Affiliated High School also finished their quarterfinal match."

Their score is...

Ayako took a deep breath and wrote a shocking number on the whiteboard.

150.

"150 points?!"

Miyagi Ryota's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, and his voice trembled.

"Hey, hey, hey, Ayako, you didn't spell it wrong, did you?"

"Is it 150 points? Not 105 points?"

"Our opponents are a strong team too, how could they possibly let us score 150 points?!"

Mitsui Hisashi's brows were also furrowed tightly.

"A 40-minute game, scoring 150 points..."

"So, that means you need to score nearly 4 points per minute on average?"

"This is simply a massacre."

Kogure Kiminobu adjusted his glasses:

"And I heard that Hainan's ace player, Maki Shinichi, barely played in the second half..."

The locker room fell into a deathly silence.

150 points.

This number is like a mountain, weighing heavily on everyone's heart.

The joy of just defeating Xiangyang was instantly overwhelmed by this terrifying sense of oppression.

Is this the King of Hainan?

Is this the opponent we're meant to challenge?

Even someone as confident as Rukawa Kaede clenched his fists at this moment, his eyes revealing an unprecedented solemnity.

There were only two exceptions.

One is Sakuragi Hanamichi.

"Pshaw! What's so great about 150 points!"

Sakuragi crossed his arms and curled his lip in disdain.

"That's because the opponent is too weak!"

"If I, the genius, were here, I would have completely humiliated that Maki Shinichi!"

"Besides, we beat Xiangyang! Xiangyang was second in the whole county!"

"Right, Yohei... oh no, Ryota!"

Miyagi gave a wry smile and didn't reply.

The other one is Lin Bei.

He leaned against the wall, his eyes half-closed.

"Tsk."

Lin Bei clicked his tongue inwardly.

"150 points..."

"That middle-aged man really doesn't leave people a way out."

Although he always appeared nonchalant.

But he knew better than anyone that Hainan's strength lay not only in Maki Shinichi, but also in their despair-inducing stability.

Like a sophisticated killing machine, tireless and infallible.

"This is such a hassle..."

Lin Bei sighed and pulled the towel over his head.

"Can we fast forward to the awards ceremony?"

At this moment, Coach Anzai, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up.

"Sakuragi-kun is right."

Coach Anzai's voice was not loud.

But it possessed a strange penetrating power that silenced everyone.

He pushed up his glasses, and the eyes behind the lenses, which were always smiling, now shone with wisdom.

"Confidence is very important."

"If you're intimidated by the opponent's score before you even step onto the court, then you've already lost the game before it even starts."

Coach Anzai's originally somewhat hunched figure now appeared exceptionally tall in the eyes of the players.

"When facing the reigning champions Hainan, if you don't have the determination to win, even at the cost of your own life, to take a piece of their flesh..."

"We simply cannot compete with them."

Coach Anzai slowly walked to the front of the team, his gaze sweeping over each and every one of them.

Akagi, Kogure, Mitsui, Miyagi, Rukawa, Sakuragi, Hayashi Kita...

"tell me."

Coach Anzai's voice became deep and powerful.

"Do you want to win?"

These few simple words were like a spark that fell into a room filled with gas.

Takenori Akagi suddenly raised his head, his eyes burning with rage.

He had waited three years for this moment!

The extra training every night, the perseverance after each injury, the resentment after each shattered dream...

"think!!"

Akagi let out a roar that shook the basketball court.