Kurutani kept saying that he wanted to join Shohoku High School, which made Sakuragi Hanamichi feel that he and the team seemed to be insulted.
If the person who said this was just an ordinary person, Sakuragi Hanamichi might not have such a big reaction, but now the person who said this is Sora Kurutani, the boy in front of him who is almost only as tall as his waist. , actually kept saying that he wanted to join the Shohoku High School Basketball Club.
And judging from the other party's expression, Kuratani Sora is quite confident about this matter.
Although Shohoku is a public school, and the Shohoku High School Basketball Club is open to everyone, dwarfs must have the consciousness of being dwarfs, right?
Even now that the average height is relatively short, Kuratani Sora's height condition is as good as bad, and he doesn't have any flesh on his body. He looks like an elementary school student.
Even if you want to join a club activity, wouldn’t it be better to choose one that suits you? Why do you want to play basketball and try to compete with Shohoku High School, which just won the championship this year?
Sakuragi Hanamichi really didn't know what the guy in front of him was thinking.
"Not everyone can join?"
"I have already guessed that Xiangbei, which has won the national championship, will have requirements for selecting players. It is natural."
"But I have confidence in myself. I think I can become a member of Xiangbei!"
"Besides, I still want to start!"
Kurutani Sora put a hand on his chest and said confidently. Being ridiculed by Sakuragi Hanamichi, Kurutani Sora's face still didn't show even a little bit of disappointment.
And it was precisely because of Kuratani Sora's attitude that made Sakuragi Hanamichi even more angry.
Where does the confidence come from? Where does this kid get his confidence?
People like Wild Monkey and Rye Dye Monkey were only promoted to the starting lineup after the third-year seniors retired from the team after the national competition, and sometimes they didn't even get their turn.
The guy in front of me, who is worse than a wild monkey and a bleached monkey, actually keeps saying that he wants to be the starter? !
Sakuragi Hanamichi felt that this guy was not here to join the basketball team, but to humiliate him.
If such a person can start in the team, then what is the purpose of Sakuragi Hanamichi's training for more than a year? To compete with the skinny dwarf in front of me?
Sakuragi Hanamichi's eyes were fixed on Kurutani Sora, as if his eyes could kill someone.
Opening the door, Sakuragi Hanamichi walked silently into the arena, came to the side of the court, picked out a basketball from the storage basket on the side of the court, turned around and threw it to Kurutani Sora, put down his bag, and Sakuragi took it from the bag. He took out his sneakers, changed his shoes, and said to Sora Kurutani:
"Kurutani Sora, right?"
"Come and challenge me."
"Let me break your unrealistic fantasy. In our Xiangbei High School, there is no living environment for people like you!"
With the basketball in his hand, Kuratani Sora subconsciously caught the basketball with both hands. Listening to Sakuragi Hanamichi's words, not only did Kuratani Sora's face show no fear, but a bright smile appeared on his face.
"OK!"
"I'm looking forward to competing with you!"
Kuratani Sora said to Sakuragi with a smile. Even though Sakuragi Hanamichi looked down on him like this, Kuratani Sora still didn't get angry.
In fact, it's not that Kurutani Sora has a good temper, it's just that he has encountered too many similar things. When he was in junior high school, although he reluctantly became a member of the basketball team, but for three years, he had He hasn't had a chance to play in three years.
Even beginners who have only been in the team for a few months, guys who are not even good at dribbling, can play, but he can't.
Kurutani Sora, who still insists on playing basketball in such an environment, no longer has any psychological fluctuations because of Sakuragi's words. He has become numb.
Kurutani Sora's smile made Sakuragi Hanamichi very uncomfortable. He sat in the rest area on the sidelines, quickly changed his clothes and shoes, and Sakuragi Hanamichi quickly walked into the stadium.
Sora Kuratani came to the arena today well prepared, with sportswear and basketball shoes all available.
Not long after Sakuragi entered the court, Sora Kurutani dribbled the ball towards the court. Kurutani's posture when dribbling the ball is very relaxed. It can be seen that he has indeed played basketball.
Sakuragi glanced at Sora Kurutani, pointed outside the three-point line, and said to Sora Kurutani:
"One on one, call the foul yourself."
"11 points, whoever scores 11 points first wins, and three-pointers count as three points."
"Is there anything you don't understand? Tell me now."
"If there are no problems, let's get started."
Sakuragi Hanamichi walked in front of Kurutani Sora and looked down at Kurutani Sora. The sun shined through the window into the room, and Sakuragi Hanamichi's reflection directly enveloped Kurutani Sora.
Too short, Kuratani Sora is really too short.
"no problem."
Kurutani Sora raised his head, looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi's face, responded with a smile, and then took the ball to the three-point line and stood about two meters outside the three-point line. Kurutani Sora was not polite to Sakuragi Hanamichi and calmly accepted the right to attack first.
"No need to test the ball, let's get started!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi saw Sora Kuratani walking outside the three-point line and saw that the opponent was about to pass the ball to check. He shook his head and said, then stood inside the three-point line and signaled Sora Kuratani to start attacking.
"Then you're welcome, Sakuragi-kun!"
Sora Kurutani dribbled the ball with his right hand. Due to his short height, he dribbled very fast on the spot. Seeing this, Sakuragi sank slightly.
"Come on horseback!"
As soon as Sakuragi Hanamichi finished speaking, Kurutani Sora, who was dribbling on the spot, dribbled the ball a minute faster and rushed towards Sakuragi with the ball. The moment he came to Sakuragi, Kurutani Sora stood up. Quickly stop the back movement to adjust, and then quickly switch the basketball to the left hand. While dribbling in a suspended position, he quickly changes direction and rushes from his right side.
In a beautiful crossover, Kurutani Sora instantly crossed Sakuragi Hanamichi, and then quickly rushed towards the basket.
Kurutani Sora is very fast, and his movements of changing directions are also very skilled. Facing a tall man like Sakuragi Hanamichi, Kurutani Sora obviously knows what his advantage is. In the bullfight with Sakuragi, he also used it. Follow your dexterous movements.
"Soon!" Sakuragi raised his eyebrows somewhat unexpectedly when he saw Kuratani Sora flashing past his eyes. At the same time, he quickly adjusted his body and turned around to pursue.
Kurutani Sora, who passed Sakuragi Hanamichi with the ball, quickly came to the basket, looked at the empty basket in front of him, and flew for a layup:
"One goal first!"
With a bright smile on Kuratani Sora's face, he let go of the basketball and hit it from bottom to top toward the backboard. However, just when the basketball had just risen to the lower edge of the backboard, a tall figure suddenly jumped out from behind Kurutani Sora. came out and pressed the basketball directly onto the backboard with both hands.
"Catching up?!" Kuratani Sora's pupils shrank slightly, and when he saw Sakuragi Hanamichi chasing him from behind, he looked startled and murmured in surprise.
He was very confident in his speed and thought he would be unlikely to be caught up. However, the reality was that Sakuragi Hanamichi, who had clearly been thrown away by him, had actually returned to the basket.
"hateful."
"What a pity!"
"You're so tall, but you're so fast?"
The surprise on Kuratani Sora's face disappeared in an instant, and turned into annoyance and regret. Kurutani Sora really felt that he had a great chance of scoring the ball just now.
Although it was a pity, Kuratani Sora was still smiling. On his face, Sakuragi didn't actually see much depression.
"Is that the only extent?"
"There are a lot of people like you, no, people better than you in our Xiangbei!"
Sakuragi fell back to the ground, grabbed the ball with one hand, lowered his head slightly, and said to Sora Kurutani.
However, Kuratani Sora didn't care at all what Sakuragi Hanamichi said at this time. Instead, he happily ran to the three-point line, smiled, waved to Sakuragi, and said:
"It's your turn, it's your turn."
"You attack and I defend."
Sora Kurutani clapped his hands on his thighs, bent his knees firmly, and shouted towards Sakuragi Hanamichi. Seeing the other party's enthusiastic look, Sakuragi's face turned a little darker.
Without saying a word, he walked to the three-point line with the ball. Sakuragi Hanamichi leaned slightly, and then gave the ball to Sora Kurutani.
"Check the ball!" After whispering softly, Kurutani Sora returned the ball to Sakuragi.
The moment the basketball came into play, Sakuragi Hanamichi dropped the ball directly and accelerated, starting with a digging step. At the same time, the left-hand ball protector quickly blocked Kurutani Sora's hand trying to steal the ball.
At the moment of accelerating the breakthrough, Sakuragi Hanamichi also directly collided with Kurutani Sora's side. Under such physical confrontation, Kurutani Sora could not stand firm at all, and was directly knocked to the ground by Sakuragi Hanamichi.
"Bang!" With a muffled sound, Kurutani Sora sat down on the floor. Sakuragi heard the sound and looked back at Kurutani Sora. His speed also slowed down a lot. When Sakuragi entered the basket, Hanamichi casually sent the ball into the basket. After landing, he quickly walked to Sora Kurutani and asked with some concern:
"Hey, are you okay?"
"If I make a foul, you just say so."
When Sakuragi Hanamichi just broke through, he actually didn't feel that he encountered any resistance at all, so he didn't know why Kurutani Sora fell. Sakuragi thought it was some subconscious action he made when he broke through, which caused him to fall. Kuratani Sora lost his balance.
Sakuragi didn't expect it at all, it was just a reasonable physical confrontation to accelerate the breakthrough, and Kurutani Sora couldn't stop it at all.
Because a breakthrough like his is really not at the top level among Shohoku High School.
"ah?!"
"No, you didn't commit a foul."
"It's me who didn't stand firm."
After hearing Sakuragi Hanamichi's inquiry, Kurutani Sora sat on the floor and shook his head in hindsight. When Sakuragi Hanamichi broke through just now, he planned to steal, but Sakuragi's habit of protecting the ball was very good. Not only was his steal unsuccessful, it actually increased the collision area between him and Sakuragi.
The huge force directly brought Kuratani Sora to the ground. In fact, even Kuratani Sora himself didn't know how he fell. He was still a little confused in his mind.
This was the first time he had encountered a player of Hanamichi Sakuragi's caliber.
It was obviously just a simple accelerated breakthrough, but it gave him a feeling that he couldn't resist at all.
"1:0, you scored a goal, keep attacking!"
Kurutani Sora and Sakuragi Hanamichi's bullfighting did not use a change of attack. In Asia, such bullfighting rules are more popular. In Europe and the United States, many one-on-one bullfights require a change of serve. Each player can show their strength to the greatest extent by attacking once.
It will not cause a group of players to explode with each other and create a one-sided feeling.
"Yeah!" Sakuragi nodded, picked up the basketball, and returned to the three-point line.
After checking the ball, Sakuragi Hanamichi held the ball in both hands and prepared to attack.
Just when Sakuragi was preparing for the second round of attack, there were a few more figures at the door of the basketball gym. Kiyota Nobunaga and Nango Koichiro walked into the arena together. When they saw Sakuragi Hanamichi appearing to be bullfighting with others, their "fun people" attributes exploded, and they immediately walked to the sidelines.
Without disturbing Sakuragi and the others, they just stood on the side and whispered to each other:
"Hey, Bleached Monkey, who is that kid opposite the red-haired monkey?"
"Have you seen it?"
Kiyota Nobunaga's eyes fell on Kuratani Sora, and he whispered to Nango Koichiro beside him.
"I don't know you. You can tell by that look that you're not a high school student, right?"
"Perhaps some elementary school student broke in, was discovered by the red-haired monkey, and then bullied him."
Nango Koichiro shook his head and speculated maliciously.
After hearing this, Kiyota Nobunaga nodded seriously, actually agreeing with Nanxiang's statement.
In the stadium at this time, Sakuragi did not notice the arrival of Kiyota Nobunaga and Nango Koichiro. During the game, Sakuragi was still relatively focused.
A simple test step failed to mobilize Kurutani Sora's defense.
Sakuragi simply stopped acting, dropped the ball directly, stepped forward to accelerate again, and his body instantly leaned on Kurutani Sora. After a simple physical confrontation, Sakuragi Hanamichi directly passed Kurutani Sora and headed towards the basket. .
Approaching the basket, Sakuragi Hanamichi took off the ball. Just when Sakuragi was about to lay up, a thin figure suddenly jumped out from behind Sakuragi Hanamichi, and actually reached out to shoot the basketball in Sakuragi Hanamichi's hand. .
The sudden appearance of the figure also startled Sakuragi Hanamichi, but Sakuragi's ability to stay in the air was very terrifying. Sakuragi reacted quickly to collect the ball, pulled the lever, avoided the block, and shot for a layup.
The basketball flew out of Sakuragi's hands, lightly hit the backboard, and then bounced into the basket.
Che Gu, who was pursuing him, jumped in the air and quickly fell back to the ground, his feet landing with a soft sound.
"Ohhh! What is that?!"
"Can elementary school students bounce so well?"
Kiyota Nobunaga saw with his own eyes what just happened. Kurutani Sora, who was chasing Sakuragi Hanamichi from behind, almost blocked Sakuragi. Although Sakuragi Hanamichi's layup was very relaxed, he lifted the ball for a layup. By the time, the height of his arm was already very close to the backboard, nearly three meters high.
But for such a high layup, Kuratani Sora, who is only 153cm tall, almost covered Sakuragi. In other words, the opponent's jump was as high as Sakuragi Hanamichi's jump for the layup, or even higher!
This terrifying bounce shocked both Kiyota Nobunaga and Nango Koichiro.
What does this feel like? It was like seeing a short primary school student jump up and grab the basket with one hand.
The visual impact is quite strong.
"This guy." Sakuragi Hanamichi was almost blocked. After landing, he looked back at Kurutani Sora and murmured in surprise. He was also shocked by the opponent's bounce.
Kurutani Sora's talent points seem to be all about jumping and speed.
And the abilities in these two aspects are very strong!
(End of chapter)
