CHAPTER 11

"Teiko Middle School, first-year student."

"Ethan Woods."

After Donnie finished his reply, as if a short chapter had concluded, the game screen abruptly transitioned.

The camera panned down from the sky, through a shower of cherry blossoms, focusing on the characters inscribed on a red brick wall, and then to a white banner standing vertically at the school entrance—

'Teiko Middle School, Entrance Ceremony.'

Although Donnie had already experienced the realism of this VR world, the street court from before was like a small instance dungeon, far less bustling with life than the Teiko Middle School entrance ceremony.

He once again felt a different kind of wondrous experience.

The chat was already reacting:

[Never expected this kind of development. The main story is actually enrolling in Teiko…]

[Oh no. Japan's already bleak future in middle school basketball is about to get even bleaker with Donnie joining the scene.]

[Isn't Teiko Middle School basically the endgame? Who can even beat them?]

[Just have them fight each other directly! Internal conflict!]

[Hmm, that makes sense. If all the Generation of Miracles are at Teiko, and Donnie wasn't there too, he'd barely get to meet them. By joining Teiko, he can have intense showdowns with them every day~]

"Phew…"

Donnie let out a breath, then said in a low voice to his viewers, "Being back at the start of school like this, honestly, I'm a little nervous."

"Speaking of which, this game isn't going to make me attend classes or anything, right?"

"Because I'm totally prepared to skip class, just saying~"

"…"

As Donnie was muttering to himself and admiring the scenery outside the school gate with his viewers, preparing to officially enter the Teiko campus…

A sleek, expensive-looking black sedan pulled up behind Donnie.

The driver quickly got out from the driver's seat, hurried to the back, and respectfully opened the car door.

Then, Donnie and everyone in the live stream saw that striking flash of magenta hair.

[Bros! The second member of the Generation of Miracles to appear!]

[This guy looked super scary in the CG.]

[Judging by his height, he's probably the Generation of Miracles' point guard.]

[Is his background like, a rich kid? That driver in the black suit, the whole setup is a bit over the top.]

[What kind of car is that…?]

[Never seen it before. Maybe the developer made it up.]

After closing the car door, the driver turned back and said respectfully, "Young Master Akashi, is it really alright to drop you off here?"

The red-haired youth nodded and replied, "Yes. Starting tomorrow, you don't need to pick me up or drop me off."

The driver said, "Then I will report this to your esteemed father."

"It has nothing to do with my father…"

"Besides, if I arrive in this car every morning, people will make fun of me."

Akashi's gaze, in the eyes of the stream viewers, seemed quite gentle. He hesitated for a moment, then continued, "Please allow me some freedom while I'm at school."

"You there, fellow student. Don't you agree with what I'm saying?"

Donnie was suddenly addressed. However, based on their conversation, Donnie had picked up on a few things.

It was roughly the story of a rich kid, strictly controlled by his father, trying to gain more freedom in middle school.

As a father of three in the real world, Donnie subconsciously began to say:

"It's middle school, after all. And just the early years at that."

"A bit of appropriate relaxation is quite necessary…"

"If you say…"

[System Notification…]

[Player's current dialogue is inconsistent with story development. Story synchronization progress will decrease.]

[When the value reaches 0, the game will be unable to proceed with the story and will enter Free Mode.]

[Current Synchronization Progress: 90%]

Just as Donnie was about to launch into a lecture on parenting, under Akashi's somewhat strange gaze and the system's prompt, his words died in his throat. After a long pause, he said sheepishly:

"Hey, classmate…"

"Do you play basketball?"

"I bet you're really good at basketball…"

Akashi smiled and nodded, introducing himself, "Akashi Seijuro. Have we met before?"

Akashi's words perfectly defused the awkward situation. Donnie went along with it, "I'm Ethan Woods. This should be our first time meeting."

Akashi nodded. "Well then, goodbye for now."

After saying that, Akashi was the first to walk into the school campus.

The chat exploded with laughter:

[Hahaha~]

[This conversation could be nominated for the most awkward dialogue of the year!]

[Donnie, please remember, you are currently a middle school student in Japan, not an old dad!]

[Immersion, Donnie! Immersion!]

[LMAO~]

Donnie scratched his head and followed through the school gates. At 5'10" in the game, he was quickly swarmed by various sports clubs trying to recruit new members.

"Hey, classmate! Do you play baseball? No? No problem! Want to join our baseball club? With your physique, even a beginner will get good fast!"

"Teiko Middle School's swimming club is really strong, you know!"

"…"

"Hey, classmate, don't be in such a hurry to leave! How about table tennis? Consider table tennis?"

Donnie was pushed and shoved along, finally escaping the encirclement of sports clubs after a while.

Then, he turned his head and caught a glimpse of neatly styled, vibrant green hair. The person was holding a few books and wearing black-framed glasses, looking very scholarly.

Although he was tall like Donnie, the clubs flocking to him were all literary ones.

"Ah!"

"Excuse me, classmate, do you enjoy reading?"

"Would you like to join the literature club?"

The green-haired youth gave the recruiter a cold glance and said flatly, "No… This is just a phone book."

"A phone book is a wonderful book too! Consider our literature…"

"Eh?"

"A phone book…?"

"Wait, why are you walking around carrying a phone book?!"

The green-haired youth's expression remained unchanged.

"It's my lucky item for the day."

"From this morning's horoscope."

The live stream viewers, just like Donnie, found this scene quite amusing.

At this moment, Donnie didn't notice a short, light-blue-haired youth passing by him.

When Donnie turned, thump, he bumped into someone.

"Oh, sorry, my bad."

"Uh…"

"Where'd they go?"

"Huh? Strange, I definitely bumped into someone just now."

The chat went wild:

[Donnie?]

[???]

[…]

[You DID bump into someone! Are you blind?!]

[That huge person, with blue hair, just walked right past you!]

[That must be the Phantom Sixth Man from the Generation of Miracles on the cover art. Donnie, with his impeccable blindness, completely missed him.]

Donnie was startled when he saw the chat messages and explained:

"The Phantom Sixth Man?"

"But I really didn't see anyone!"

"Weird…"

"Is the game bugged?"