Nijimura Shuzo's opponent was visibly ticked off by how blatantly he was being ignored. Sure, he knew this first-year was personally scouted by Coach Platinum, but at the end of the day, he was still just a rookie.
And he? He was a Second Squad player who had endured a full year of Teiko's brutal training!
No way he was gonna lose to some cocky first-year punk!
"Hey, kid!"
"Don't start dreaming about First or Second Squad just yet!"
"Save those fantasies for when I send your ass to Third Squad!"
To be fair, basketball is a sport where talent makes a huge difference, especially in the early stages of development. And middle school? That is the early stage.
In these 1v1 trials, it was customary for the rookie to start with the ball.
Nijimura held the ball low in a textbook triple-threat stance. The Second Squad defender stepped up to press him, but Nijimura faked a shot with lightning speed and forced him back with a rapid sequence of probing steps.
His timing was flawless. His technique was sharp, sharper than expected.
In fact, it was too polished.
Shigure Akihito: "…"
When it came to Nijimura Shuzo's skill level, the original manga hadn't shown much.
Due to external plot reasons, his real power was always left a mystery, usually hinted at through side comments like 'Teiko's top power forward,' or 'superb technique,' and 'elite vision and passing.'
But…
Just looking at that triple-threat stance alone, you could already see echoes of those descriptions.
The way he moved, it was slick. Too slick.
Almost like a streetball hustler.
Ffffft, !
Shigure watched as Nijimura, after backing the defender down with fakes, suddenly exploded into motion!
That first step was insane, he was instantly past the Second Squad defender, who had no time to react. From Shigure's angle, he could see the shock plastered all over the defender's face.
But even so, as a Second Squad player, he wasn't going to get cooked that easily.
He planted hard and matched Nijimura stride for stride, pressing in close.
And then,
THUD!
Everyone heard it.
Just as Shigure thought Nijimura would keep using skill to break past the defense, he did the exact opposite.
He slammed into him, full force!
The Second Squad player was clearly more muscular than Nijimura, but he staggered back like he'd taken a cannonball to the chest!
It was obvious…
There was a tier difference in physical power.
And despite Nijimura's cocky, arrogant vibe off the court, on the hardwood, his style was an intense, blunt-force mix of power and technique.
With that combo, his physical dominance felt like it had been multiplied several times over.
Boom, !
Between the legs, spin move!
Post up!
Hip turn, burst forward!
Boom, !
Crossover!
As he drove in, he brushed his shoulder against the defender.
Boom, !
The scene looked almost ridiculous. Nijimura was clearly showing advanced technical moves, but to everyone watching, it felt less like a display of skill and more like a raw beatdown.
The defender stumbled backward again and again.
At that moment?
What skills?
This was just straight-up violence!
Even Shigure was speechless.
Terrifying…
That Second Squad player had a pretty solid build, but right now? He looked like a rag doll.
Not to mention, if Shigure were on defense instead, it might've played out exactly the same.
The character Shigure had drawn from the Slam Dunk Mobile system, Tomokazu Godyo, was great at shooting and ball-handling, but had a strength stat of only 50.
Yeah… strength was his weak spot.
Though his steal stat was a solid 85.
Without pulling another player card to fix that weakness, the only way he'd stand a chance defending someone like Nijimura would be to rely on interceptions.
On the court,
Nijimura, who was about the same height as Shigure, had already made it to the paint.
Whoosh, !
Up he went!
A slam attempt!
A first-year in middle school, about 175cm tall, and he was dunking!
What the hell?!
The Second Squad player left in Nijimura's dust stared in disbelief.
He'd thought this would be a breeze, school was just starting, and schooling rookies was supposed to be the easy job. But instead?
He'd just been publicly humiliated.
Getting wrecked by a freshman in front of the entire team?
There was no coming back from that.
Down on the sidelines,
The new recruits who were already nervous? They were now flat-out panicking.
"You don't want your friend to suffer, but you don't want him driving a Range Rover either."
That kind of mixed emotion? Yeah, that's exactly what all the rookies were feeling now.
But then…
Just as everyone was trying to reassure themselves with things like "That's just one guy", "He's special, personally recruited by the coach", or "Of course he's a freak, the coach picked him",
The next freak stepped up.
That's right.
Court 3.
Shigure Akihito.
[Quest Activated: Path of Glory]
[Defeat a Second Squad player during Teiko's entry trials (1v1) to receive the second part of your Newbie Reward.]
[Reward: One randomly selected standard player card from Slam Dunk Mobile.]
Shigure's eyes lit up.
He took a long, steady breath.
This 1v1 match would determine whether or not he got the final piece of his Newbie Bonus.
At this point, he still had no idea how hard it would be to obtain future player cards.
So a reward like this? One given just for winning a single match?
If he missed it, it probably wasn't coming back.
He had to secure victory.
And to do that?
He'd need to bring out everything he had.