The rest of Kaijo's team quickly rushed over to check on Kasamatsu's injury. Upon learning it was just a minor one, everyone let out a sigh of relief. As the team's most dependable "big bro", Kasamatsu meant a lot to them.
"Kota, over here."
Takeuchi, sitting with arms crossed and a stern expression, called out. Kota obediently walked over — he could feel it. Coach was mad.
"Why did that foreign player try to throw hands with you? Did you do something?"
Kota licked his lips and spilled the whole story honestly.
Takeuchi shot him a glance and continued.
"Have I or have I not told you before? Don't waste your time picking fights with nobodies. We're not just here to win some scrimmage. Your trash talk game is strong, I'll give you that — but save it for when it actually matters."
Kota blinked, wide-eyed.
"Coach, wait, you're not benching me, are you?"
Takeuchi closed his eyes, nodded slowly.
"Kota is suspended indefinitely. Unless I say otherwise, you're not stepping on the court."
Kota was about to protest when Kasamatsu gave him a good ol' karate chop to the waist.
"Do what the coach says. You're not seriously thinking we can't win without you, are you? Don't get cocky, rookie."
Clutching his waist, Kota pouted."I'm not arguing! I just wanna know… if I'm not playing, can I chill at home during the game?"
Even without Kota, Kaijo was still a top contender for the championship. Their horn tactic was already smooth, and they still had an unused three-point strategy as backup. Kasamatsu could handle the offense just fine. Sure, it wasn't as flashy as with Kota, but this version of Kaijo was way stronger than in the original timeline.
Kasamatsu flat-out rejected Kota's proposal. Even if he wasn't playing, he still had to show up to the games. The team walked out of the gym laughing and joking.
Takeuchi trailed at the back, stroking his chin thoughtfully,
"Kota's trash talk actually works like that?"
In the game against Too, Kota had riled up their ace too. If not for that, the outcome might've been very different.
"What if we made this a weapon…One player triggered per game and boom—technical foul, ejected?"
Takeuchi stared at Kota's back, deep in thought.
...
Takeuchi really didn't let Kota play. But he still made him attend all the games, calling it:
"Standing with the team in unity and experiencing the game atmosphere."
But let's be honest—these early qualifiers weren't exactly thrilling. Watching your own team bulldoze the opposition gets boring fast.
Kota even dozed off on the bench once. Kasamatsu, annoyed by his laziness, gave him a new task: Lead the bench squad in towel-waving to cheer on the starters.
Kise laughed at Kota for a week straight.And Kota? Completely baffled.
"Who makes their main point guard wave towels from the bench? What is this, comedy practice?"
...
Final match of the prelims. Three minutes left. Kaijo up by ten. Safe lead.
Kise began dribbling slowly, imitating Kota's relaxed style.
"If Kota had the ball here, what would he do?"
He instinctively glanced at the bench.
There sat Kota—chin resting on one hand, the other lazily waving a towel, face full of existential crisis. Five straight games waving towels and watching Kaijo crush their opponents without him—he was dying of boredom. He even wished for a tough opponent to force the coach's hand. But Kaijo just steamrolled every team in the prelims.
Kise saw Kota's dead-eyed look and couldn't help but burst out laughing.It was the first time he'd seen that expression on Kota's face.
Kise's defender noticed.
"Is this dude laughing in the middle of the game?"
Offended beyond reason, the defender snapped.
"We may not be as strong as you, but that's just rude!"
He gambled on a steal… and actually succeeded—Kise was still mentally AFK.
Two points.BEEP—
Kaijo called timeout. Kasamatsu stormed over and kicked Kise.
"What the hell are you spacing out for?! This is an elimination match! Lose this and we're out!"
Kise bowed his head in apology.
"Sorry! I couldn't help it. Kota's towel-waving just looked too hilarious!"
Kota looked utterly confused.
"Wait, how is this my fault? What??"
Takeuchi glanced at Kota. Yeah, that towel-waving really was tragic. He joked,
"Guess we'll keep Kota on towel duty for the next round-robin tournament. Needs more practice."
Everyone knew he was joking. Kota just sighed and shook his head, about to respond—
[New system alert: Host detected as benched. New mission unlocked — Atmosphere Manager!]
Kota blinked.
"Benched?! What part of this looks like being benched to you?"
He closed his mouth and pulled up the new task screen, completely zoning out.
The others noticed Kota staring into space and staying quiet.
"Did he not realize the coach was joking??"
Takeuchi coughed to break the awkward tension.
"There's still a little over two minutes left. We're up by eight. Stay focused—if we lose this lead, you're all toast."
"Got it!"
As the timeout ended, Kaijo kicked it into high gear. Kise, determined to redeem himself, got serious and went on a 7–0 run in just two minutes. Opponent's dreams: shattered.
"Thanks for the match!"
Kaijo left the court laughing and joking, while their opponents—especially the first-years—were crying in frustration.
"We were so close! Just one more win and we would've made it to the round-robin… maybe even qualified…"
"It's alright, we'll try again next year. It's not like we could do much against Kaijo, anyway."
The upperclassmen had long accepted reality. The moment they saw they'd be facing Kaijo, they'd mentally packed their bags.
"Man, Kaijo is crazy strong this year. That flashy guy... even his game is flashy. Ugh, guys like that are so annoying."
"Isn't he one of the Generation of Miracles or something? Freakin' monsters. No hope for the rest of us these next three years…"
They weren't wrong. For the next three years, Kaijo wouldn't just dominate their region.They'd rule all of Japan's high school basketball— including the Generation of Miracles.
"You all played great. Go home, rest, and prep for the round-robin. Two games a day, a lot of pressure—but as long as we don't mess up, we'll qualify."
"Not much else to say. Who are we?"
"KAIJO!"
"What's our goal?"
"National Championship!"