??????? ??? | ????????? ?? ??? ????? 『×』??

[Chapter V] | Swim Class

A loud thud to the floor, Tejima landed on his rear. Soon followed by a loud slam, Asahi dunked the ball into the basket, a slight thunk and a squeak as his shoes made content with the shiny floor of the court. The whole room was silent, the only sound being heard was the bouncing of the ball which soon began to recede.

The buzzer had rung. The game was over. Everyone's eyes glued to the scoreboard. Twenty-four to forty-four points. The last team of first-years had beaten the captain's team by twenty points.

It was just silence. Nothing but silence as it simply took time for it to register what the hell had just happened.

---

About an hour had passed since the end of the basketball practice. An ending speech from the captain was made before they were all sent back to the locker rooms to change back into the school uniforms. But Suzune didn't stay behind at all. As soon as the game had ended, she turned on her heel and left, her serenely beautiful black hair flipping in the wind as she exited the scene.

But a pondering thought was left in her head after watching those games. Particularly Asahi's. The first initial games between the first three sets of first-year teams, the combined second and third-year team won. No matter how skilled some of the members were in these teams, they weren't able to score a single point against their seniors at all and were just completely and utterly destroyed. Which made it all the more curious and nearly baffling as to how Asahi's team of all people were able to win, securing their guaranteed spots on the basketball team. Though, the same probably couldn't be said for the same as the others.

When Suzune first glanced at Asahi, he did give off the impression that he was quite fit, but she didn't think he'd have skills in basketball of all sports. If anything, she underestimated him and figured he was a more studious person, and is quite smart. As much as she hated to admit that, despite how much she found him nauseating to look at times, even going as far as to say his voice can be insufferably annoying to her. But she certainly surprised him today. He displayed an incredible amount of skills. His quick handling with the ball, displaying a sense of leadership because he appointed himself as the Point Guard, and can be considered quite strong. To be able to leap off and perform a dunk is only something a select few could do, mostly the tall people being able to do those stunts. And considerably, Asahi is short. While maybe average in height to a majority of people, he was shorter than most of the first-years that went to the basketball practice.

However, what she couldn't put something quite on her finger the most was how the red-haired teen was able to win the battle against Tejima, especially with how large the third-year's stature was. In that final dunk, Tejima's air time was cut off much shorter than usual, considering the amount of murmuring she had heard from the bystanders that were watching in the gym. They found it uncanny at the fact that a simple first-year was able to beat their captain of all people. They would understand if they beat their second-year, Miyaji, but for Asahi to beat Tejima in an air battle, especially in height, no less, really baffled them. Even more so, that same foreboding feeling she felt when Asahi passed her in the convenience store was something she felt again. An evident ringing noise like an echoing alarm, constantly ringing in her ear, her ankles and legs quaking as they threatened for her to fall down. It occurred when he performed that technique of passing the ball under his leg to his other hand before cutting it back. She's never paid attention to sports news, but he's heard from some conversations here and there of a certain group called "Generation of Miracles."

In hindsight, that name sounded very idiotic to her. To call a group of five basketball players a bunch of prodigies because they possessed "supernatural" abilities, so to speak. But after witnessing this spectacle today, that idea of Asahi being one of those prodigies wasn't off the mark. As much as she didn't wish to think that he possessed some sort of innate ability that allowed him to do those skilled plays he did, it seemed plausible as to why. Now that she thought about it, she did see a basketball game back when she was in middle school. It was a homecoming game.