Slam Dunk Chronicles: The Tyrant's Era

A week later, the new semester at Miuradai High School began.

Already quite familiar with the place, Wu Yufei's first stop after entering the school wasn't his classroom; it was the basketball gym.

Inside the gym, Murakumo Kengo and Naito Tetsuya had arrived early to begin practice.

Ever since Wu Yufei joined the basketball team, he has been a major source of motivation for the two of them.

"You! Captain Murakumo Kengo, Naito Tetsuya, you guys are here early?!"

Wu Yufei walked into the gym, put down his backpack, picked up a basketball from the side of the court, and stepped in.

"You're not that late yourself-it's still not even 7 o'clock," Murakumo replied while shooting the ball.

"Well, my daily schedule is way too regular. I naturally wake up at six and can't fall back asleep, so I figured I'd come here to practice."

There was still a full hour before the school day officially began-no better time to get some shots in.

"Tetsuya, let's work on pick-and-roll tactics again!"

"Alright!"

"Then I'll be your sparring partner."

Over the past week, Wu Yufei had often pulled Murakumo Kengo and Naito Tetsuya to run through tactics with him. His goal was to build solid chemistry between the three as quickly as possible.

According to Wu Yufei's plan, whether Miuradai could break out of Kanagawa Prefecture this year and make it to the national tournament-creating school history-would depend on the three of them!

Murakumo Kengo had the technique, Naito Tetsuya had the physicality, and with Wu Yufei's playmaking ability, as long as the three could achieve good coordination on offense, the remaining two teammates only needed to handle the "blue-collar" work.

On defense, the core would be Naito Tetsuya holding down the paint. With his size and bulk, most centers in the prefecture, even nationally, couldn't shake him. If he could hone his shooting, blocking, and rebounding skills and get help from the blue-collar teammate Kawasaki Akio, their interior defense wouldn't even fear Shohoku's "Gorilla Brothers." And against Sanoh's elite combo of Oowada and Nobe? At the very least, they wouldn't get crushed.

As long as this plan played out perfectly, not only would a national berth be within reach-even facing Sanoh wouldn't scare Wu Yufei!

An hour might seem long, but for the three completely immersed in practice, it passed in a flash.

"Alright, it's the first day of school, Wu Yufei-don't be late. Head to class. Team practice starts at 4:00 PM sharp, so be there on time. Join us in the gym for lunch if you want."

"Got it. I'll head off now."

Packing up his things, Wu Yufei grabbed his bag and walked out of the gym toward the academic building.

"Eh, isn't that Wu Yufei? The one from X Junior High last year?"

"Yeah, that's him! We played them last year and got wrecked. Our captain cried for hours afterward."

"I can't believe he ended up at Miuradai. I thought for sure Kainan or Shoyo would have recruited him."

"This is great! That means we'll be teammates for the next three years!"

On the way to the academic building, many new students who followed or liked basketball recognized Wu Yufei, the rising star who'd made waves in the junior high basketball world last year, and began talking excitedly.

After finding his classroom and his assigned seat, Wu Yufei sat down, slouched over his desk, and stared out the window, looking bored.

"You! Isn't this Wu Yufei? Long time no see!"

Suddenly, someone Wu Yufei didn't recognize at all approached him, enthusiastically greeting him.

"Uh… Sorry, but who are you?"

Indeed, Wu Yufei didn't recognize this person at all.

Lately, he had been trying to dig into the original owner's memories whenever he had free time and had slowly started recovering many fragments.

But as for the guy in front of him-nothing came to mind.

"So cruel!! It's me, Ishiyama Jun! We played against each other in the junior high prefectural tournament last year! From Tenguen Junior High!"

Ishiyama Jun's voice was full of grievance.

"We even shook hands after the match!"

[Tenguen Junior High…? Hmm…]

Wu Yufei racked his brain to recall anything associated with that name.

"Oh! I remember now! That was the school we beat during the first round last year!"

A vague memory returned during his third year, his team played Tenguen in the first round of the prefectural tournament. Wu Yufei posted a triple-double with 40+15+15, and his team crushed the opponent by a huge margin.

And if he remembered right, Tenguen's team captain at the time had been… Ishiyama Jun.

"You've really… changed a lot over the past year…"

Wu Yufei gave Ishiyama Jun a once-over but couldn't reconcile him with the version in his memory.

Compared to before, Ishiyama Jun had grown at least five centimeters taller, was more muscular, and his skin had tanned considerably.

He had trained hard over the past year.

"Heh heh! Ever since you beat me, I've been training like foolish didn't waste a single minute! I even attended a basketball camp in Tokyo run by a former national player. I'm ten times stronger than I was before!"

Ishiyama Jun said proudly.

Wu Yufei smiled. "Is that so? That's great! We'll be teammates for the next three years. Let's give it our all. My goal is to dominate the entire country!"

"Dominate… the nation? That's a bold goal…"

Ishiyama Jun hesitated, then smiled and shook the hand Wu Yufei extended.

"But if it's you, I believe it's possible. Please take care of me!"

Swoosh!

The classroom door slid open, and a middle-aged man walked in.

"Good morning, everyone. Nice to meet you. I'll be your homeroom teacher for the next three years. My name is Yamada. Now then…"

They began the usual round of student introductions. Everyone, already familiar with this process, stood up in turn according to their seat number to introduce themselves: name, hobbies, and so on.

"My name is Wu Yufei, an international student from China. My specialty is singing, dancing, Ra… uh, no, no. My specialty is basketball. Just basketball! I hope we can all get along for the next three years. Thank you."

Wu Yufei didn't talk about his dream of national domination; this wasn't a team meeting or motivational rally, just a classroom intro. No need to go overboard.

Afterward came the standard freshman orientation-gathering in the auditorium and listening to a white-haired old man give a speech.

Long-winded school leaders exist in every country.

The speech almost put Wu Yufei to sleep. At last, the opening ceremony came to a close.

Since it was only the first day, every teacher who came afterward simply introduced themselves and briefly outlined their subject for high school.

The morning passed quickly.

"Wu Yufei, let's have lunch together!"

Ishiyama Jun came over with his lunchbox.

"Oh, I can't. I'm having lunch with my basketball teammates. We're also going to get in some practice over lunch…"

Just as Wu Yufei was refusing, he suddenly thought of something.

"Wait! Ishiyama Jun, aren't you planning to join the basketball team too? Why not come with me now?"

"Really?! I thought we had to wait until this afternoon to go to the gym! And you already get along with the upperclassmen?! I'm in! Let's go!"

With an excited Ishiyama Jun in tow, the two of them headed to the gym.

"Excuse us! … Huh? No one's here?"

Seeing the empty gym, Ishiyama Jun looked puzzled.

"Of course, not, they are probably all eating in the locker room. Follow me."

As a well-known private school in the prefecture, Miuradai had a proper basketball facility and a full court, locker room, lounge, and even a recording room.

Leading the way, Wu Yufei brought Ishiyama Jun to the lounge, where they could hear voices from inside.

Knock knock knock…

"Oh! That must be Wu Yufei. I'll get the door!"

Creak…

"You! Wu Yufei, you're finally here! Who's this?"

Opening the door was Takatsu Hiroshi, the friendly upperclassman. Seeing the excited Ishiyama Jun standing next to Wu Yufei, he asked curiously.

"Hello, senpai! I'm Ishiyama Jun from Class 1-A, and I want to join Miuradai's basketball team!"

Ishiyama Jun introduced himself enthusiastically.

Since everyone loved basketball and Ishiyama Jun was cheerful and outgoing, he quickly became friendly with the second and third-year members.

After lunch and a short break, everyone got back to practicing in the gym.

There was no formal training scheduled by the coach at noon was all voluntary. So, there were no strict drills, just scrimmages, individual work, or pick-up games; whatever people felt like doing.

They kept practicing until about 20 minutes before the afternoon classes started, when Wu Yufei changed clothes, packed up, and left the gym with Ishiyama Jun, having agreed on the schedule for team practice later that day.

The afternoon classes were just as boring for Wu Yufei.

After all, in his previous life, he had been accepted into a top-tier Chinese university (a "985" school) and regularly earned scholarships. So related to his past studies, high school material now felt like attending a first-grade math class. Could any of you sit through 1+1 lessons today without falling asleep?

Once the afternoon classes ended, Miuradai officially entered club activity time.

Wu Yufei and Ishiyama Jun headed straight to the gym.

"You! Wu Yufei, Ishiyama Jun, you're here. Perfect timing. We're just starting new member tryouts. You two should join in."

Murakumo Kengo, seeing the two arrive at the gym entrance, smiled and explained.

Oh right! Wu Yufei had forgotten about this part.

He suddenly remembered both he and Ishiyama Jun were just newly admitted first-years today, so of course they'd need to go through the tryout process.