Chapter 123: Too Dark!

4:0!

Kirisaki Daiichi had a great start.

And that "great" showed even more in the next possession.

Just as captain Yūsuke Tanimura passed the ball to Papa, the big guy clearly hesitated.

Seeing the eager faces of those Kirisaki Daiichi thugs, he immediately passed the ball back.

The dude was genuinely scared of getting elbowed again.

Papa had only come to Japan because of the fat paycheck Shinkyou Academy offered him.

Let's face it, he was a mercenary — he didn't have any emotional ties to the school.

His first couple of games had gone smoothly, so he assumed the rest of the season would be a walk in the park.

He did not expect to run into a team like Kirisaki Daiichi.

"Too dangerous, man!"

Turns out, when you play basketball, the first thing you should learn is how to raise your elbow.

Once the opponent starts flinching, your threat level drops significantly.

Yūsuke Tanimura regretted this so much.

They should never have agreed to this scrimmage.

And to think they were talking about ending the Generation of Miracles' reign, teaching middle school prodigies a lesson about high school basketball...

Look at them now.

Tendou hadn't even started going all out yet.

Just his minions alone were enough to handle everything.

Still, they had no choice but to finish the match.

Since Papa was clearly unreliable now, Tanimura knew he had to take matters into his own hands.

He drove the ball upcourt.

He passed the three-point line.

He faced Tendou head-on.

He got stripped clean...

"This is impossible…"

There was no chance for a regular-level player against Tendou's Six Eyes.

Papa, realizing Tendou had the ball, immediately charged forward — ready to redeem himself and show everyone he was still worth the money.

Why target Tendou?

Because he noticed that although Tendou also played rough and his elbows felt like crits, as long as you didn't provoke him, he wouldn't escalate.

The head coach of Shinkyou got excited.

This was their moment — if even their prized import couldn't handle a single Generation of Miracles member, they could forget about nationals.

Papa was supposed to be their miracle-buster.

"Idiots..." muttered Hanamiya Makoto, not even bothering to run on the fast break.

The other starters didn't even move.

They just stood and watched, like they were at a show.

Tanimura and the rest of Shinkyou's players looked confused.

Weren't they supposed to be defending?

Then, in the next second, Tanimura turned back — and his eyes nearly popped out.

BOOM!

The 2-meter-tall Papa dropped to his knees in front of Tendou like he was paying homage.

"This... can't be real?!"

The Shinkyou coach's hopeful expression collapsed into empty disbelief.

All that money and effort to bring this foreign ace in — and he crumbled that easily? And in such an embarrassing way?

Tendou simply broke his ankles, glided into the paint, and casually laid the ball in.

"What did you do to Papa?!" someone from Shinkyou yelled.

"Just a simple crossover. He broke himself."

Tendou replied like it was no big deal.

But everyone on the Shinkyou side was absolutely shocked.

Papa was their powerhouse. He was why they could dominate their last two scrimmages — a 2-meter-tall athletic freak who tore up the paint.

But in front of Tendou?

He looked like a toy.

"So this is... the Generation of Miracles..."

Forget about winning nationals.

With monsters like this around, what's the point?

...

End of Q1:

Kirisaki Daiichi 32 – Shinkyou Academy 13

They led by 19 points after just one quarter.

Back on the bench, Hanamiya and the others were visibly refreshed — clearly, they'd been holding back for too long.

"Not bad. Keep it up." Tendou praised briefly, then warned:

"But no deliberate dirty plays. We're here to defend hard — not injure."

"You all know the rules. Anyone who steps out of line… don't blame me for what happens next."

"We know, we know."

"These guys gave up so fast, it's no fun to mess with them anyway."

Even Hanamiya didn't dare meet Tendou's eyes directly.

That look was scary as hell.

Tendou was satisfied.

The team now feared him.

Next would come respect — and then loyalty.

...

Q2 began.

Kirisaki Daiichi was ready to play seriously.

But... Shinkyou was dead inside.

Any time there was even a hint of contact, they backed off immediately.

Matsumoto got the ball, but Papa didn't even bother defending.

"Take it, man — just don't touch me."

Their morale had completely collapsed.

By the last minute of Q4, Kirisaki Daiichi led by more than 50 points.

Tendou subbed in some first-years just to give them a taste of real competition.

These chances were rare — at Teikō, the bench players never saw court time.

Even now, only a few high school teams like Seirin, Kaijō, Rakuzan, Yōsen, etc., had that level of roster depth.

But nobody expected the rookies to be even dirtier than the starters.

Tendou watched in disbelief as a 1.76m point guard sought out Papa, charged straight into him with an elbow like he was built different.

Poor Papa — he thought he'd be safe now that the starters were off.

He got blindsided by rookies with even blacker hearts.

"I swear… I'm never playing basketball in Japan again.

This place is too damn dark."