One night was enough for the strong-hearted Rukawa Kaede to get out of the shadow of failure.
But Rukawa Kaede couldn't accept his own weakness, and he had an inexplicable urgency to improve his strength...
The next day.
When Shohoku was training, Rukawa had already returned to his usual self. Although he was still taciturn, he was active and positive on the training ground.
Even during the training break, Rukawa did not stop training like the other team members. Even though Mitsui tried to persuade him several times, it was of no use.
Seeing that his persuasion was useless to Rukawa Kaede, Mitsui Shou was afraid that Rukawa Kaede would get himself into trouble if he trained so madly, so he could not help but find Jinguji Takeshi, hoping that Takeshi could persuade him. In Mitsui Shou's opinion, it was Takeshi who caused Rukawa Kaede to become like this.
"If he trains like this, there will be problems."
"There's nothing wrong with training hard, but if you get injured, it's not worth it."
"Martial arts, Rukawa Kaede must be given a reasonable amount of rest time! Can you go and persuade him?"
During the break, Mitsui Hisashi stood beside Jinguji Budo, looking at Rukawa Kaede who was running back and forth on the field, and said worriedly.
"Persuade? If he had listened to the advice, he wouldn't be in this state today."
"It's impossible to persuade a guy like this to come in!"
"Mitsui, try to arrange an external training match."
"Seek some external stimulation and build up Rukawa Kaede's confidence through competition."
"I can probably understand his thoughts. After yesterday's practice match, Rukawa Kaede must be eager to improve his strength."
"It's inevitable for young players of this age to have this mentality."
"The more competitive a person is, the harder it is for them to accept their own weakness."
"Right now his mind should be full of thoughts on how to defeat me."
"Give him some external stimulation so that he won't always focus on me."
Wu Dao did not follow Mitsui Shou's idea to persuade Rukawa Kaede. He had said what he needed to say yesterday, and Rukawa Kaede had already walked out of the shadow of failure, which was enough. As for Rukawa Kaede's current state, although it was not what Wu Dao expected, it was not a difficult problem to solve.
"Xiao San, make an appointment with Ryonan High School and see if they are interested in playing a practice game."
"When the time comes, let Rukawa Kaede have some time to show his abilities."
Wudao patted Mitsui Shou's shoulder and gave his advice.
Upon hearing this, Mitsui Shou touched his chin, thought for a long time, and nodded silently.
Their Shohoku High School basketball team has long been one of the top teams in the country. Looking across the entire Kanagawa Prefecture, there are only a few high schools that are qualified to compete with Shohoku.
Ryonan High School is located on the Shonan coast, very close to Shohoku. At the same time, Ryonan was the double champion of the IH and WC Cup last year, so it is very suitable as an opponent for the practice match.
At the same time, taking advantage of the opportunity of the practice match, Xiangbei can also know in advance what level Ryonan High School has reached now.
After a brief conversation with Wu Dao, Mitsui Shou went to see Coach Anzai to see if Coach Anzai could make corresponding arrangements.
However, it was not until Mitsui Hisashi found Coach Anzai that he learned that Coach Anzai had actually received an invitation for a practice match from Coach Takeo of Ryonan High School that morning, and Coach Anzai gladly agreed.
The situation of Ryonan High School and their Xiangbei is actually similar. Ryonan, which has won two consecutive national championships, has no rivals in the county. Xiangbei High School can barely be their opponent in Ryonan's practice games.
The main reason why Coach Takeo invited Shohoku to play a practice match so quickly was that Coach Takeo also knew the news that Jinguji Budo had returned from the United States!
As for why they were able to receive the news so quickly, it had something to do with a freshman from Lingnan... .
"The practice match with Ryonan High School is scheduled for next Friday. We'll go to their school to play."
"Mitsui, notify the players after the training is over. Tell them that those who have performed well in this week's training will get the opportunity to play in the practice match."
Coach Anzai told Mitsui the news about the training match, and then turned his attention to Rukawa Kaede who was training on the field, without taking his eyes off him for a long time.
After the break, all the players returned to the stadium for training.
Coach Anxi had divided all the players into groups. The three teams with the worst foundation were arranged in the playground, led by Mugure Gongyan, to conduct some basic training, while the regulars and the second team players stayed in the gym to train. Most of today's training subjects were physical training.
After a holiday, many players have become slack. Coach Anxi plans to use a lot of physical training to get the players into shape quickly.
Physical training is boring and tedious, but it is one of the indispensable training items for all players.
And time passed little by little during this boring and tedious training.
In the evening, Mitsui announced the disbandment after announcing the training match with Ryonan.
The players dragged their tired bodies and left the stadium one after another, but Rukawa Kaede had no intention of leaving. He sat on the sidelines to rest. After most of the players had left, he also rested enough. He walked into the court with a basketball and practiced layups, shooting, etc. by himself.
The afterglow of the setting sun passed through the window, illuminating the room with a dim yellow
The floating warm light sways with the gentle swing of the curtains.
Rukawa bathed in the sunset, repeating layups and shots over and over again.
...
"Tear..."
I don't know how long it took, but the tightly closed door of the basketball hall was suddenly opened, and a voice of praise came from the door:
"Wow! Is this the basketball arena of Xiangbei High School? The light is so good in the evening, much better than the one in our Ryonan High School!"
Rukawa heard the sound coming from the door. After completing a shot, he walked towards the basket while turning his head to look towards the entrance of the stadium.
It was a new face.
Aida Hikoichi was holding a notebook in his hand, wearing a black kimono, and was looking around the gym of Xiangbei High School with curiosity. Soon, Aida Hikoichi noticed Rukawa Kaede on the court, and the two looked at each other.
“Ohhh!
You are the captain of Takeishi Junior High School, Rukawa Kaede!"
"He actually joined Shohoku High School?!"
Hikoichi Aida seemed to recognize Rukawa Kaede. The moment he saw Rukawa Kaede, he immediately pointed at Rukawa Kaede and exclaimed, as if he had discovered something extraordinary.
Rukawa Kaede looked at Aida Hikoichi silently without saying a word, but his eyes were examining Aida Hikoichi and he did not recognize the guy in front of him.
"oh!"
"I forgot to introduce myself."
"Hello, Rukawa Kaede, I'm a freshman at Ryonan High School, Hikoichi Aida, nice to meet you!"
As Hikoichi Aida spoke, he stretched out his hand and walked towards Rukawa Kaede, looking like he wanted to shake hands with him. But when he came in front of Rukawa Kaede, Rukawa Kaede glanced at him indifferently, holding the ball in one hand and hanging the other hand at his side, showing no intention of shaking hands with Aida.
"Hahaha!"
"The players of Xiangbei built it really well!"
"I came to Xiangbei for no other reason than to take a look."
Seeing Rukawa's expression, Aida Hikoichi laughed, then awkwardly withdrew his hand and changed the subject. Rukawa heard what the other party said and completely lost interest in Aida Hikoichi. He turned around and faced the basket and continued his training.
"Has Xiangbei's training for today already ended?"
"The training is over, but Rukawa is still practicing in the gym. He is really hardworking! He is worthy of being a player from the powerful Takeishi Junior High School. I must learn from him!"
Hikoichi Aida did not disturb Rukawa's training. He stood silently on the sidelines, thinking this in his heart while observing Rukawa's training.
There was an extra "spectator" in the basketball court, but Rukawa's training state was not affected. The two of them didn't talk. One practiced while the other watched. Hikoichi Aida would take out a small notebook from time to time to write something on it.
His action certainly caught Rukawa's attention. After one shot, Rukawa suddenly asked:
"What are you taking note of?"
Rukawa Kaede's sudden question made Aida Hikoichi, who was writing, tremble his hands uncontrollably. Then he looked up at Rukawa Kaede and answered carefully:
"Ohh..."
"It's nothing big, just counting the hit rate of the shot you just took."
Aida Hikoichi said this with a little embarrassment, and silently closed the book while speaking.
Upon hearing this, Rukawa Kaede just nodded slightly and then devoted himself to his training.
Seeing that Rukawa Kaede had no intention of pursuing the matter further, Hikoichi Aida let out a sigh of relief and then opened the small notebook in his hand.
In Hikoichi Aida's notebook, there is a simple basketball half-court drawn, and on this half-court on the paper, there are small black dots dotted with a pen. There are more on the right side of the court and fewer on the left side, more in the mid-range and fewer in the inside.
This is a diagram of Rukawa's shooting positions during training. At the bottom of the page, there are also statistics on Rukawa's shooting. The data for three-pointers, mid-range shots, and positions under the basket are all written separately.
During the time when Hikoichi Aida was watching the ball, he recorded Rukawa Kaede's training in this way.
"Shohoku High School was one of the top eight teams in IH last year, and they also caused a lot of trouble for us at Ryonan High School in the winter tournament before the New Year."
"Now the star player of Takeishi Junior High School has joined Shohoku High School. In future games, he will definitely become one of our most threatening opponents in Ryonan!"
"I have to take careful notes! I'll hand it over to Senior Sendo and Senior Shinomiya later."
Hikoichi Aida was thinking and writing in the notebook at the same time, and he didn't notice that a red-haired figure had been standing behind him at some point. At this moment, he poked his head out from behind Hikoichi Aida and looked at the notebook in Hikoichi Aida's hand curiously.
Just as Hikoichi Aida wrote in the notebook: "Star player, Rukawa Kaede." Sakuragi Hanamichi, who was standing behind him, suddenly said:
"Star player? This stinky fox?"
"He's not even a starter, how can he be called a star player?"
"Hey, kid, stop writing nonsense!"
"Come to think of it, who are you?! I don't remember there being a guy like you on the team."
The sudden appearance of Sakuragi Hanamichi frightened Aida Hikoichi. He trembled and quickly closed his notebook, then slowly turned his head to look.
However, what caught my eye was a blue training suit.
Aida Hikoichi was slightly startled, and slowly raised his head, looking at Sakuragi Hanamichi's face, feeling the height of Sakuragi Hanamichi, and couldn't help but sighed: "So... So high!"
Soon, Aida Hikoichi came to his senses, bowed to Sakuragi, and continued:
"Sorry!"
"My dear senior, I am a freshman at Ryonan High School, Hikoichi Aida, and I am here to visit Shohoku."
"I often heard from seniors in school that the Xiangbei High School basketball team has the best strength in the country, so I came here to see it for myself."
Looking at the height of Sakuragi Hanamichi, Hikoichi Aida subconsciously thought that Sakuragi Hanamichi was a senior member of the Shohoku team and greeted him politely.
"Ryonan?!"
"People from Ryonan High School are coming to visit our Xiangbei?"
"emmmmmm..."
When Sakuragi Hanamichi said this, he fell silent. Just when Aida Hikoichi thought that his purpose of "investigating military intelligence" was about to be seen through by Sakuragi Hanamichi, Sakuragi Hanamichi suddenly burst into laughter.
“Hahahahahaha!”
"You, a boy from Lingnan, are quite knowledgeable! Hahaha!"
"We, Xiangbei, are going to dominate the whole country! It's really worth a visit, hahahaha!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi smiled and patted Aida Hikoichi's shoulder, looking very happy. Aida Hikoichi, who was a little nervous at first, was also stunned when he saw Sakuragi's expression, and then he breathed a sigh of relief and laughed along.
Rukawa Kaede in the field heard the conversation between Sakuragi Hanamichi and Aida Hikoichi, turned his head to glance at Sakuragi Hanamichi, and continued his training.
After Aida Hikoichi and Sakuragi laughed dryly for a few times, he suddenly remembered something and asked, "Senior, you just said... Rukawa is not the starting player for Shohoku?"
"What's going on? I know Rukawa Kaede's strength very well. With his fame and strength in the national team, even if he can't be a starter at Shohoku High School, being a substitute and getting into the starting lineup shouldn't be a problem, right?"
"Or... is Shohoku so strong that even Rukawa Kaede was selected from the main team?"
Aida Hikoichi keenly noticed the key point of Sakuragi's words just now, and immediately asked curiously.
Rukawa Kaede couldn't even become a regular player for Shohoku High School? This is a major discovery!
"You're too polite to call me senior, Yan Yi!"
"My name is Sakuragi Hanamichi, I'm a first-year player at Shohoku and the future Shohoku ace! You should remember this too!"
"As for that fox, hahahaha, he didn't make the starting lineup and is on the second team!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi put his arm around Aida Hikoichi's shoulders in a familiar manner and laughed. While introducing himself, he did not forget to pull down Rukawa Kaede.
“Ding~”
As soon as he finished speaking, Rukawa missed his shot, and the basketball hit the edge of the basket with a slight sound.
Rukawa Kaede did not pick up the ball at this moment. He turned his head and looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi and said:
"fool!"
"Come to the bullfight!"
Rukawa Kaede has tolerated Sakuragi Hanamichi for a long time. This kid is still exposing his scars in front of outsiders. This moment, he finally can't stand it anymore and speaks directly to Sakuragi.
"Hmph! Come on then!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi was not afraid of Rukawa Kaede's challenge at all. He let go of the shoulder of Hikoichi Aida beside him and walked towards the court.
During the year that these two trained together at Shohoku High School, they have played against each other countless times. The rookie Sakuragi Hanamichi is certainly no match for Rukawa Kaede, but as Sakuragi Hanamichi accumulates experience and improves his basketball level, his defensive ability has become quite strong.
In the fight with Rukawa, although Sakuragi Hanamichi is not at an advantage on the offensive end, it is not easy for Rukawa to gain an advantage in front of him.
Moreover, Sakuragi Hanamichi has always had a high opinion of himself, and Rukawa Kaede has always been his target of challenge.
Rukawa's invitation to a bullfight was exactly what he wanted. It had been more than a month since their last bullfight. Sakuragi thought he had grown again and planned to verify his progress on Rukawa.
When Hikoichi Aida suddenly heard that Rukawa and Sakuragi Hanamichi were going to have a bullfight, his eyes lit up immediately and he silently retreated behind Sakuragi Hanamichi, looking at Sakuragi and Rukawa with excitement.
"Bullfight! These two are going to have a bullfight!"
"Ryukawa Kaede, the star player from junior high school, and the future star of Shohoku, the duel between these two will definitely be very exciting!"
"I'm going to take note of this, I must take note of this!
”
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