I want to reach 20 paid subscriptions on Patreon this week to complete this novel, as it has been over a month since the last subscription.
patreon.com/ayan41x
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Ryu woke up from a deep sleep.
He heard Karupin snoring.
Last night, with Karupin's help, he had engaged in a fierce match in the dream space.
His opponents were, of course, the Generation of Miracles:
Aomine, Midorima, Kise, Murasakibara, and Akashi.
However, he lost in the end.
With Ryu's current strength, he was absolutely confident of defeating any one of them individually.
But when they teamed up, Ryu clearly felt the strain.
Even when he activated the limit of his [Selfless State], the Perfect Form, he was still slightly suppressed by them.
'The combined power of those guys is truly terrifying,'
Ryu thought to himself in amazement.
It seemed that to defeat them in a 1v5, only by inheriting the Dimensional Ball Techniques could he possibly succeed.
Of course, all of this was based on the data of the Generation of Miracles during the summer.
Now they should be even stronger.
He got up and went downstairs.
He called Karupin over.
After a hearty meal, the two of them went out.
He was walking down the street during school hours.
Ryu suddenly felt a strange sense of loneliness.
He had felt this way before when he skipped school in his previous life.
All his friends and classmates were in class.
But he was wandering aimlessly outside.
For a moment, he had the illusion of being disconnected from the world.
Hoo…
He let out a long sigh.
Ryu decided to buy a train ticket directly back.
Karupin didn't object.
It was the same wherever it was.
Ring ring ring…
Ryu, carrying Karupin, had just arrived at the station.
His phone rang.
It was a call from Hanafuji.
Ryu answered.
"Hanafuji-senpai, what's up?"
Hanafuji asked from the other end of the line.
"It's nothing much, I heard you're in Tokyo, so I wanted to ask you for a favor."
Hmm?
Ryu was a little confused, wondering what favor the other party wanted.
"No problem, what kind of favor do you want me to do, senpai?"
Hanafuji replied.
"I'd like to ask you to investigate the basketball teams of a few schools in Tokyo."
'That's all?'
Ryu thought to himself.
'This is just asking me to gather information!'
Hanafuji nodded.
"Yes, because these schools haven't appeared in previous years, my information is practically nonexistent. Just to be on the safe side, I'm asking for your help."
Ryu understood and couldn't help but admire this senior who quietly contributed to the team.
"I understand. Send me the names of the schools you want to investigate!"
After chatting for a few more minutes, Ryu hung up the phone.
Looking at the train ticket he had just bought, he felt a mix of emotions.
He even suspected that Hanafuji had done it on purpose.
Why call now, of all times, just when he was about to board the train?
Helpless, Ryu went to the ticket refund window.
After refunding the ticket, he waited for Hanafuji's message.
Not long after...
A phone vibrated with a buzzing sound.
Ryu opened his phone and saw several school names sent by Hanafuji.
Looking at them.
Looking at these four unfamiliar schools,
Ryu didn't hesitate and headed straight to the nearest school.
He hailed a taxi and drove to Kyoju Gokawa High School.
After a while.
When Ryu got out of the taxi, he was already standing in front of the gate of Kyoju Gokawa High School.
The school gate itself was unique.
White stone pillars stood on both sides of the gate, with an overall style leaning towards European.
Above the gate was a triangular lintel.
Hanging above the lintel were the large characters "Kyoju Gokawa High School".
It's worth mentioning that...
The characters for "Kyoju Gokawa High School" were all gleaming.
Reflected on the white stone pillars, they appeared even more magnificent and resplendent.
Ryu's eyes widened.
'Holy crap, these characters look like pure gold!'
A school sign made of gold.
Ryu had never seen anything like it in his two lives.
Perhaps it existed in his previous life, but he had never actually seen it before.
He explained that he didn't usually pay much attention to gold and silver jewelry.
However, given his family background, he inevitably came into contact with some gold and silver utensils.
Therefore, recognizing the material of the school sign wasn't difficult for him.
Looking at the imposing school gate,
Ryu had reason to suspect that this was a truly elite academy.
A thick stench of money permeated the air, both inside and out.
Karupin remarked, gazing at the magnificent school gate.
"This school isn't bad," he thought. "Maybe there's a treasure inside!"
Ryu's lips twitched.
'The treasure is right before my eyes. These few words could support a family for years.'
Ryu greeted the gatekeeper and strode into the campus.
Walking through this aristocratic school...
Ryu realized that the air of wealth displayed at the entrance was nothing compared to what he'd witnessed.
Besides the necessary facilities, the most striking difference from other schools was the campus architecture.
All the buildings here were European in style.
There wasn't a single Japanese element.
'A quintessential capitalist school.'
Ryu immediately saw through the school's true nature.
He didn't know whether to call it good or bad.
Perhaps this was just the kind of environment where every circle has its own way of growing up!
Perhaps because classes were still in session, Ryu didn't encounter many students.
'Was I too early?'
He regretted coming in the morning.
The basketball team usually didn't start training until the afternoon.
Ryu wandered around the campus for half an hour before finally finding the school's gymnasium.
Oh, no! It should be the sports complex.
Ryu stared at the seemingly intimidating building before him, falling into deep silence.
They seemed separate.
Ryu opened one of the doors and stepped inside.
Upon entering, a completely empty venue came into view.
One wall of the venue was a huge mirror.
Many rubber mats were scattered on the floor.
Based on Ryu's experience, this must be a dance studio.
Ryu left the venue.
Afterwards, Ryu entered several more venues.
Each venue had a different interior.
There were kendo halls, taekwondo halls, gymnastics halls, track and field halls, volleyball halls… and so on.
None of them were basketball courts.
After an unknown amount of time.
When Ryu opened another door, he finally saw a familiar sight.
A court, backboards, hoops…
'Finally found it.'
However, the court was empty.
Ryu didn't bother waiting any longer.
He was quite tired after searching for so long.
So he simply found a spot in the spectator area and lay down.
He fell asleep almost immediately.
Karupin, equally bored, found a spot and curled up.
The sound of snoring began to fill the quiet arena.
Time passed.
How much time had passed, no one knew.
The arena door opened.
A group of people walked in.
"Finally, I can relax a bit. My body's practically rusted."
"You, you're usually the laziest one! You can count the number of times you've participated in training on one hand."
"Oh! What does it matter! It's all the same no matter how much we train, as long as we advance."
"Easy for you to say. Do you know how much money the captain and the others spent to advance this time?"
"Isn't it based on skill?"
"What do you think! None of you are allowed to tell anyone about this, understand?"
"Okay… I know."
…
But what they didn't know was…
Besides them, there was another person and a cat inside the arena.
Ryu had already woken up when the arena doors opened.
However, he didn't get up, just lay there quietly.
He wasn't intentionally listening to their conversation; he was just too lazy to move.
What he didn't expect was that he overheard some little secrets.
This left him helpless.
Showing himself now wasn't an option, but not showing himself made him feel like a coward.
'This is really troublesome.'
Ryu lay on a bench in the stands, looking at the ceiling.
Karupin, seemingly oblivious, continued snoring incessantly.
A short while later, the sound of thuds filled the arena.
He yawned.
Ryu finally sat up.
However, no one noticed him.
He simply sat there quietly, watching the players engage in a playful, unprofessional intra-team match.
Seeing their skill level, Ryu was speechless.
They couldn't even dribble properly, and the ball slipped from their hands several times.
Could this team advance to the national tournament?
Ryu simply didn't believe it.
So, it was just as he had heard.
Kyoju Gokawa High School advanced because someone bribed their opponents.
Ryu didn't doubt the authorities.
Because it simply wouldn't stand up to scrutiny.
And the other schools weren't pushovers either.
If the truth came out, things would get out of hand, and the situation would be difficult to manage.
The officials wouldn't just blindly agree to anything because it's a prestigious school.
Now, Ryu finally understood how Aomine felt when he saw the weak.
He truly had no energy left.
Who was watching those people playing basketball below?
His eyelids were drooping; he felt drowsy.
He shook his head.
Ryu stood up and casually transmitted a message to Karupin.
"Let's go, Karupin."
As Ryu stood up, the players in the intra-squad game on the court noticed him.
Everyone in the arena was startled, wondering why there was suddenly another person there.
One of the high school students, nearly 190cm tall and fairly handsome, asked seriously.
"Who are you? Why are you here?"
Ryu slowly walked down from the spectator area.
Beside him walked a cat with an arrogant gait, looking at them with disdain.
The scene was utterly bizarre.
Ryu waved to them and said,
"Sorry, I suddenly fell asleep. I'm leaving now."
Ryu no longer needed to investigate this school's basketball team.
These kinds of players wouldn't cause any trouble in the national tournament.
Money isn't everything.
At least it wouldn't affect his Academy.
So he had no reason to stay any longer.
"Stop..."
Ryu hadn't even stepped out of the gym when someone called out to him.
The speaker was high school student who had just questioned Ryu.
Ryu turned around, smiling, and asked,
"Friend, is there anything else?"
The man walked over seriously and looked at him.
"Did you hear what I just said?"
Ryu tilted his head, feigning ignorance.
"Huh? What did you say? I was sleeping the whole time. When I woke up, I saw you guys playing ball."
The other person clearly didn't believe him and gave the others a look.
Then a group of people walked over and subtly surrounded Ryu.
Ryu's expression remained unchanged, as if he hadn't seen anything.
He didn't cause trouble, but he wasn't afraid of it either.
In a fight, with his Akutsu physique, he could beat these people to a pulp.
However, he was too lazy to fight these kinds of people.
He transmitted his voice to Karupin.
"Karupin, these guys are all yours. Can you handle them?"
Karupin glanced at Ryu.
"Why don't you handle them yourself?"
Ryu said helplessly.
"Oh! I'm just afraid of killing them. How about I take you out for seafood at noon?"
Hearing this, Karupin's eyes lit up, but it still pretended to be reluctant.
It snorted coldly, then strode off with an arrogant gait, head held high, tail swishing, its eyes full of disdain for inferior beings.
The crowd was simply curious to see Karupin walking towards them, not noticing anything amiss.
Some even wanted to squat down and tease it.
But the next moment...
A black shadow flashed in everyone's sight, and then a cat's paw slashed towards their faces.
Swish swish swish swish...
Ahhhhhh...
Screams and howls echoed throughout the entire stadium.
Karupin moved with lightning speed, like a ninja, hovering around the shoulders of these people, leaving afterimages in his wake.
Soon, Karupin stopped, then gracefully returned to Ryu's side.
"Alright, it's settled, let's go!"
Ryu looked at the group lying on the ground, clutching their scratched faces, his lips twitching uncontrollably.
'That guy's ruthless; these cat claw marks won't fade for at least a month.'
But what did it have to do with him? It was all Karupin's doing.
Thinking this, Ryu felt much better.
Then, Ryu swaggered out of the arena and disappeared.
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I want to reach 20 paid subscriptions on Patreon this week to complete this novel, as it has been over a month since the last subscription.
patreon.com/ayan41x