Chapter 125: The Big Stage for the Little People

“Isn’t it a bit too arrogant for Kaneki to leave the field at this time?” Kise Ryota asked hesitantly as he looked at the expressions of the entire Seirin team who were gradually calming down.

“What are you talking about? This is Kaneki’s usual style.” Midorima Shintaro looked at Kise Ryota strangely, then said with relief, “No wonder you don’t know, you have never played with Kaneki. Kaneki’s usual style is to suppress the opponent strongly at the beginning of the game, providing teammates with trial and error opportunities. If teammates play well, let them continue to play. If teammates play averagely, Kaneki will end the game himself.”

“How confident you are…” Kise Ryota looked at Kaneki Ken who was training as if nothing had happened with a complicated expression, “Is this the weight of the first awakener?”

“Kaneki on the basketball court is becoming more and more like a superior god.” Midorima Shintaro said with a complicated expression, “He doesn’t even mind… personally training an opponent.”

……

“As expected of a team trained by Kaneki Ken, their tactical literacy is very high.” Izuki Shun brought the ball across half court, briefly glanced at his teammates’ movements, and decisively handed the ball to Kagami Taiga who came out. “However, when it comes to tactical execution, we Seirin have never been afraid of anyone!”

“Nice pass!” Kagami Daigo took the pass and made a triple threat stance, staring at Sakuragi Hanamichi in front of him with burning eyes, “Hey, red-haired monkey, come and try to defend against this move of mine!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Kagami Daiga kicked the ball and pushed the ground hard with his right foot. The friction between the sole of his shoe and the ground made a teeth-grinding crunching sound. His jersey fluttered under the rapid attack. In a blink of an eye, Kagami Daiga had missed a position with Sakuragi Hanamichi.

“You are the red-haired monkey, I am the basketball genius Sakuragi Hanamichi!” Sakuragi Hanamichi was a little unhappy when Kagami Daiga mocked him with his nickname, “Your breakthrough is not comparable to Gilgamesh, even my genius breakthrough is faster than yours!”

Sakuragi Hanamichi was not bragging. He just took a step sideways and blocked the half body position that Kagami had just broken through. With a bang, the two red-haired figures collided violently. Sakuragi Hanamichi paused and stabilized his body, while Kagami Taiga took advantage of the momentum to turn backwards to create distance and raised the ball to prepare for a shot.

“Don’t even think about shooting!” Sakuragi Hanamichi jumped into the air impatiently, and the distance of nearly one step between the two was instantly eliminated.

“No, Sakuragi!” Miyagi Ryouta hurriedly spoke out to stop him, but it was too late.

It was seen that Kagami Daiga not only did not dodge Sakuragi Hanamichi, but jumped towards Sakuragi Hanamichi and threw the ball at the moment the two collided in the air.

“Beep~” Akagi Takenori blew the whistle, “Sakuragi, you fouled, Black Team No. 10 takes two free throws.”

“Ugh, damn it!” Sakuragi Hanamichi raised his hand unwillingly, “You actually used such a sinister trick!”

“Tsk, if you hadn’t fouled me, this shot would have gone in!” Although Kagami Daigo was a little scared about being almost blocked by Sakuragi Hanamichi just now, he still retorted stubbornly.

“What a pity, that ball just now was almost blocked…” Akagi Haruko said with some regret.

“I can only say that this is the price we have to pay for training new people.” Akagi Takenori said seriously, “But we have Kaneki.”

Kagami Daigo made both free throws, looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi provocatively and said, “Now we both have two points, it’s a tie. I will score more goals next time, you see if you can catch up!”

“Just wait, red-haired monkey, I will definitely beat you!” Sakuragi Hanamichi pointed at Kagami Daiga and said word by word.

“Fortunately, we finally scored… It seems that after Kaneki Ken left the court, Shonan’s defensive pressure has been reduced a lot.” Aida Reiko sat on the sidelines, biting her nails unconsciously, “As long as Kagami can defeat Sakuragi Hanamichi and speed up the transition from offense to defense into a rhythm we are familiar with, maybe before Kaneki comes on the court, we can establish a stable winning score difference…”

“Defend!”, “Defend!”, “Defend!”

As Miyagi Ryouta gradually advanced to the front court, the cheers from the Seirin High School bench became louder and louder.

“I won’t let you pass!” Yi Yuejun took a stance, opened his eagle eyes, and stared at the fertile fields of Miyagi in front of him.

“Nice momentum… but forget it if you think you can stop me with just this!” Miyagi Ryouta smiled slightly, and Yi Yuejun only felt a crackling sound of lightning in his ears, and invisible sparks seemed to burst out in the air. When Yi Yuejun came to his senses, Miyagi Ryouta had already broken through his defense and rushed straight to the basket.

“Sorry, my teammate is a little nervous. Can you wait for him for a moment?” At this moment, Kuroko Tetsuya’s voice sounded in Miyagi Ryouta’s ears, and his hand reached out to steal the ball in Miyagi Ryouta’s hand.

“As Kaneki said, you’re just as elusive as he appears and disappears…” Miyagi Ryouta didn’t show any surprise at this moment. He dribbled the ball from his left hand to his right hand, brushing past Kuroko Tetsuya’s steal. “But as long as I can see your existence, you’re just a guy who can’t do anything!”

“What!” Aida Reiko stood up in surprise, “Why… why can he see it too! Obviously…” “It’s not time for you to get familiar with Kuroko’s existence, right?” Kaneki Ken’s calm voice came from the side, “Then you underestimate Miyagi too much. Before I came, he was the starting guard of Shonan!”

……

“Miyagi, what are you thinking about? You seemed absent-minded during training today.” After a daily training session that was no different from usual, Miyagi Ryouta was packing up his things absent-mindedly. Kaneki Ken noticed what was happening in Miyagi Ryouta’s mind and asked with concern.

“Ah… nothing…” Miyagi Ryouta didn’t want to say the problem that was bothering him, but seeing Kaneki Ken’s sincere eyes, he finally chose to speak, “Um, captain, do you think there is still a place for me in the current team?”

“Why do you think so, Miyagi?” Kaneki Ken asked curiously, “In the Shonan team, no player is redundant.”

“But…” Miyagi Ryouta forced himself not to look at Kaneki Ken’s eyes, “The current team, even if we put aside you, the first ace of the Miracle Generation, has Kabata, Akagi and Sakuragi in the interior, and Mitsui, Rukawa and Izawa on the outside…”

Miyagi Ryouta sighed and continued, “Rukawa and Kabaji are the national runner-up ace duo, Mitsui was a top ten combo guard in junior high school, and Akagi was once a top three center in Kanagawa. I originally thought that Sakuragi still needed some time to grow and I could still make some contributions to the team, but under your careful guidance, his deterrence on both offense and defense is no less than that of Akagi… Even if it is Mugure, if he only comes on as a substitute, he can cause huge damage to the opponent…”

Kaneki Ken listened quietly to Miyagi Ryouta’s thoughts without saying anything.

“But only me…” Miyagi Ryouta seemed to remember something, his eyes became even darker, “I have been living under the shadow of my brother since I was a child. Later, when my brother got into trouble, every time I stepped onto the court, others would compare me with my genius brother… I am not tall, my shooting is average, and the only thing I can show off is my decent speed… But now even with this, the ones who are better than me in the team are you, Sakuragi, and Rukawa… I feel like I am just a small figure on the fringe of the team, or to put it bluntly, a burden!”

“Do you think, with my personality, I would go to great lengths to prepare a reinforcement plan for a burden?” After hearing what Miyagi Ryouta said, Kaneki Ken did not rush to comfort him, but just asked back based on the facts.

“…I don’t know.” Miyagi Ryouta shook his head. He really didn’t know about this.

“What’s wrong with being short? The vice-captain of Teiko, Akashi Seijuro, whom I once selected, was only 1.58 meters tall when he was in the first grade of junior high school.” Kaneki Ken continued, “But now when he stands on the court, he is better than a group of big guys.”

“But he is…” Miyagi Ryouta was about to argue, but was interrupted by Kaneki Ken.

“It doesn’t matter what he is. What’s important is, Miyagi, there’s no difference between me choosing you and choosing Akashi.” Kaneki Ken looked at Miyagi Ryouta sincerely, “As a point guard, your speed and vision are first-rate except for your shooting. Not only that, your ability to capture the dynamics of opponents and teammates at high speed is even better. As long as you practice your shooting, you will definitely be a better point guard than Hanamiya Makoto and Fujima Yoshiji.”

“Kaneki…” Miyagi Ryouta obviously did not expect that he could be compared with the famous Akashi Seijuro in Kaneki Ken’s heart.

“So believe in yourself, Miyagi. No one can say you are a nobody except yourself.” Kaneki Ken smiled and patted Miyagi Ryouta’s shoulder. “Besides, what’s wrong with being a nobody? As long as the stage is big enough, a nobody can also sing a magnificent drama!”

……

“Who cares if your teammates are nervous or not…” Miyagi Ryouta felt that the blood in his body was boiling, but his mind was extremely clear. “As long as I am on the court, I am the brand point guard of Shonan High School – lightning fast, Miyagi Ryouta!”

Miyagi Ryouta turned around and passed Hinata Junpei who came to defend, and threw the ball high against Mitobe Rinnosuke’s backup defense.

“Is this… a lob?” Yi Yuejun’s eyes were filled with surprise. “No, this is…”

“Uh ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!!!” Two red-haired figures in the penalty area soared into the sky, and two long arms stretched out at the same time towards the basketball thrown by Miyagi Ryouta.

“Come on, Sakuragi! In a jumping competition, you will never lose to that red-haired monkey!”

“Of course! Miyagi!” In the end, it was Sakuragi Hanamichi who had a faster bounce speed who touched the basketball first, “Because I am a basketball genius, Sakuragi Hanamichi!”

“Boom!” This is the sound of the basketball being dunked into the basket by Sakuragi Hanamichi.

“Bang!” This was the sound of Kagami Daigo falling to the ground.

“Beep, beep…” Just as everyone was speechless at this amazing goal, a shrill whistle broke the silence of the stadium.

(End of this chapter)