He pulled a coin from his pocket.
With a casual flick, he tossed it into the dusty offering box.
Clink.
The crisp sound echoed through the silent mountain night.
Everyone fell quiet.
They looked at the dilapidated shrine, and their expressions gradually became serious.
Akagi Takenori stepped forward and pressed his palms together.
His rugged face was filled with sincerity and determination.
Then came Kogure, Mitsui, Miyagi, and Rukawa Kaede.
Finally, Sakuragi Hanamichi.
They all stood side by side in front of the shrine.
The moonlight broke through the clouds and bathed them in silver, casting long shadows across the ground.
"We will…"
Akagi took a deep breath, his voice low and powerful.
"Conquer the nation!"
Everyone roared in unison.
"CONQUER THE NATION!!"
Their voices startled a flock of birds and echoed throughout the mountains.
It was the vow of youth.
A vow more powerful than any god.
"All right! Let's go back and sleep!"
"I'm hungry. Is there any late-night food left?"
"Yohei, let me borrow that mask from earlier. I'm going to scare Takamiya."
Laughing and joking, everyone threw their arms around one another's shoulders as they made their way down the mountain path.
Their voices gradually faded into the distance.
The shrine once again returned to deathly silence.
The wind stopped.
The mist gathered once more.
Not long after everyone had left...
The tightly closed wooden door of the shrine creaked open.
There was no wind.
Yet the door moved.
From deep within the dark inner sanctuary, a figure slowly emerged.
It wore battered Sengoku-era armor.
Its footsteps made no sound.
Moonlight happened to illuminate its neck.
There was nothing there.
No head.
It silently "watched" the direction in which the Shohoku players had disappeared.
Then it slowly turned around and vanished into the shadows of the shrine.
Only the fallen leaves on the ground stirred slightly, spinning in a tiny circle.
...
The next morning.
The morning sunlight pierced through the thin mist and spilled across the outdoor basketball court of the hot-spring inn.
This was the training ground specially prepared for their training camp.
The facilities weren't as good as a proper gymnasium, but the court was spacious and the mountain air was wonderfully fresh.
The court was divided into two areas.
On the left, the sounds of intense collisions and sneakers squeaking against the floor rang out one after another.
Akagi, Rukawa, Mitsui, Miyagi, and the reserve players were engaged in a scrimmage.
"Fast break!"
Miyagi shouted.
The basketball flew forward like a cannonball.
Rukawa caught it, smoothly spun past the defending Kogure, jumped—
And slammed it through the hoop.
BANG!
The rim shook violently.
"Get back on defense! Stop standing around!"
Akagi roared from beneath the basket, his presence overwhelming.
Everyone was preparing for their practice match against Jousei High School the following day.
As one of Shizuoka Prefecture's representative teams, Jousei was far from an opponent to underestimate.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere on the right side of the court was completely different.
It looked more like…
a kindergarten morning exercise session.
"Hohohoho…"
Coach Anzai sat in a folding chair, holding a cup of tea and smiling like a benevolent Buddha statue.
Beside him stood Haruko, dressed in sportswear with a stopwatch and notebook in hand.
She looked extremely serious.
And in front of them....
Sakuragi Hanamichi was holding a basketball while maintaining a horse stance.
Sweat poured down his face.
His entire body was trembling as though someone had turned on his vibration mode.
"Sakuragi-kun, lower your hips a little more."
Coach Anzai spoke in his usual leisurely tone.
"D-Damn old man…"
Sakuragi gritted his teeth.
His thighs were burning so badly they felt ready to explode.
"What kind of training is this?!"
"This genius wants to dunk! I want to shoot! I want to shine like Rukawa!"
"Sakuragi-kun!"
Haruko pumped her fist beside him.
"Fundamentals are very important!"
"Coach Anzai said this is an essential step toward becoming the 'Rebound King'!"
The moment Sakuragi heard those three words...
And especially when they came from Haruko.
He instantly revived at full health, complete with his own imaginary background music.
"Yes, Haruko!"
"I am the Rebound King!"
"I am the Iron Brother!"
He immediately lowered his hips.
His stance became so textbook-perfect that it looked as though he'd suddenly enrolled in a professional coaching clinic.
Not far away.
Makino Juro was doing one-handed push-ups.
He wasn't participating in the scrimmage.
Nor was he part of Sakuragi's fundamentals class.
His training was simple.
And incredibly boring.
Extreme physical conditioning.
Sweat slid down the defined lines of his back and dripped onto the floor, gradually forming a small puddle.
"998…"
"999…"
"1,000."
Juro flipped himself upright.
His breathing was only slightly disturbed.
He grabbed a towel and wiped away his sweat before looking toward Sakuragi.
Then he walked over.
At that moment, Sakuragi was practicing defensive slides.
His movements were fast, but his center of gravity constantly rose and fell.
He looked like a red-haired monkey bouncing around in every direction.
"Too high."
Juro spoke calmly.
"What's too high, Master?"
Sakuragi stopped and gasped for breath.
Makino Juro extended his foot and lightly tapped the back of Sakuragi's calf.
"Your center of gravity."
"Are you dancing?"
"When you're defending, imagine yourself as a rock, not a balloon."
As he spoke, Juro dropped into a defensive stance.
At that instant, Sakuragi felt as though Juro had transformed.
His body hadn't changed at all.
Yet the feeling he gave off was completely different.
He was like a towering mountain.
Unshakable.
Immovable.
"Watch carefully."
Makino Juro's eyes sharpened.
He shifted sideways.
There was no unnecessary movement.
His entire body seemed to glide across the floor.
His speed was astonishing, yet his balance remained as steady as a mountain.
"Use your hips to sense your center of gravity."
"Use your thighs to support your body."
"Don't rely on those restless little calves of yours."
Makino Juro straightened and patted Sakuragi on the shoulder.
Then he offered one final metaphor.
"When you can move without spilling the water balanced on your head, your defense will have officially entered the beginner level."
"Hip…"
"Center of gravity…"
"Lower…"
Suddenly, Sakuragi's eyes lit up.
It was as though he'd just opened the gates to an entirely new world.
"Wahahaha! I get it!"
"What Master means is that I have to defend like I'm sitting on a toilet!"
"…"
The entire court fell silent.
Haruko turned away with a bright red face, her shoulders trembling.
Coach Anzai's glasses flashed with reflected light, and the corners of his mouth curled upward.
Makino Juro's mouth twitched.
The metaphor was crude.
Extremely crude.
But…
there was some truth behind it.
Sakuragi's ability to comprehend things really was on a beast-like level.
The day's training continued at an extremely high intensity.
It wasn't until the sun began to set that the entire court was painted golden-red.
"Everyone, gather!"
Akagi blew his whistle.
The players dragged their exhausted bodies into formation.
They were tired.
But the eyes of every player were sharper than they had been that morning.
Their jerseys were soaked with sweat.
That sweat was proof that they were getting stronger.
"Dismissed! Hot spring! Dinner!"
"OOOH!!"
That night, at Yun'in Hot Spring.
No one had the energy for another "breath-holding contest" or "size comparison."
Everyone simply floated in the water like dead fish.
The steaming hot spring water wrapped around their aching muscles, washing away the exhaustion of the entire day.
"Ah…"
"I'm alive again…"
Mitsui let out a long sigh and covered his face with a hot towel.
He felt as though his soul had been purified.
"The day after tomorrow's opponent is Jousei High School," Miyagi said, leaning against the edge of the pool as his fingers traced circles across the water.
"I heard their ace, Mikoshiba, is pretty strong."
Rukawa kept his eyes closed.
"Just crush him."
"Exactly!"
Sakuragi suddenly burst out of the water, splashing everyone in the face.
"With this genius around, what Mikoshiba? They're all just scrubs!"
"As long as I use today's…"
"Toilet-Squatting Defense Technique!"
"I'll defend him so hard he'll question his entire existence!"
"I won't even let him take a dump!"
The others stared at him.
Silence.
Then...
"…"
Miyagi slowly wiped the water from his face.
"What the hell kind of defense technique is that?"
Sakuragi proudly puffed out his chest.
"The ultimate one!"
"This genius has already mastered it!"
"Wahahaha!"
END OF CHAPTER
The King Of Slacking Off - MrBehringer's Secret
👉 patreon.com/MrBehringer