Chapter 17 Her Combat Power

To be honest, the reason I was able to defend against Miyagi this time was twofold: firstly, Miyagi was careless and concerned about saving face, and secondly, I fought hard.

Yasuda knew there was a significant gap in strength between him and Miyagi, but he had improved recently, so it wasn't entirely hopeless!

Miyagi put away his nonchalant smile and opened his arms.

After a few feints, Yasuda successfully broke through Miyagi's defense with the ball. As he jumped for a layup, the ball was ultimately slammed against the backboard by Miyagi.

"Wow, Miyagi!" Yasuda said confidently, picking up the basketball as he panted. "But I'll surpass you someday! Time to practice, good luck!"

Gongcheng straightened up and raised an eyebrow: "Okay."

Although Yasuda missed, he broke through his own defense.

The two had known each other for four years as junior high school classmates and teammates, a situation that had never occurred before, which made him feel a sense of crisis.

While I was hospitalized, the basketball team improved by leaps and bounds! In contrast, I've become quite lax!

Kanon directly points out the problem:

"Miyagi, your weaknesses are slowness and limited range of motion when you drive. You need to be faster when you turn to shake off Yasuda. Even if you can't shake him off, you can create a significant distance. Also, you need to be more decisive when shooting."

Miyagi was astonished, because what she said made a lot of sense!

Ayako patted Miyagi on the shoulder and encouraged him, "Ryota, now that you're back, you should practice hard and get along well with Sakuragi too."

"Yes! Aya..." Miyagi's eyes lit up, and he ran to Aya's side with a blush, saying, "I'll practice hard! I'll also take good care of that first-year kid, after all, I'm the next captain~"

I didn't hear anything else, but Sakuragi was unusually sensitive about the "next captain." In his heart, he was the one who would be the next captain of the Shohoku basketball team!

Sakuragi snatched the basketball from Yasuda and taunted Miyagi, "This genius is the one who defeated the gorilla! I should be the next captain! Want to have a match and show you the true strength of the next captain!"

All members of Shohoku High School: ...

Miyagi was surprised and accepted Sakuragi's challenge.

At first, Miyagi didn't dare to be careless, but later he found that Sakuragi was a complete novice. The two of them competed more and more ridiculously, and finally they were completely twisted into a mess.

Ayako was speechless: "I really can't stand these two problem children!"

Hana rubbed her forehead: "You know, sometimes you don't know someone until you fight them. I bet the two of them will become good friends soon."

The fox sighed, "Two idiots."

Ayako was furious: "Hey Rukawa! Stop watching the show! Go and stop them!"

The fox, acting as if it were none of its business, turned its head and said, "No."

Finally, Captain Akagi gave each of them a steamed bun, and only then did the two of them quiet down.

Captain Akagi clapped his hands: "Alright! Everyone, let's continue practicing!"

The basketball court has resumed training.

Miyagi followed along with the others, practicing ball handling, and then practiced shooting under Coach Anzai's guidance.

In the blink of an eye, it was already dark.

When Kanon saw Sakuragi following Miyagi like a little shadow, she couldn't help but smile.

Rukawa Kaede's face remained expressionless, with only a hint of doubt remaining in his exquisite fox-like eyes.

Hanon smiled and said, "Sakuragi isn't doing extra practice today, it'll just be the two of us."

Rukawa Kaede gave a blank "hmm".

The voice carried a joy that only the speaker could perceive.

...

Before every team practice, a fierce battle between monkeys and foxes would take place in the basketball gym. The Shohoku players would watch from the sidelines with smiles on their faces, trying to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

"Hey, the basketball team's pretty lively." A sudden voice came from the gym.

Sakuragi and Rukawa stopped fighting and looked in the direction of the sound.

Sakuragi glared at them, annoyed. "Hey, who are you people?"

A group of delinquent teenagers walked into the basketball court with smirks. "How about we join the basketball club?"

A loud bang.

As they approached the basketball court, Hanon and Haruko stopped laughing and rushed inside.

The scene was quite horrific.

Sakuragi, Rukawa, Miyagi, and Yasuda were covered in blood and looked extremely disheveled.

Mitsui Hisashi arrogantly said, "Heh... Miyagi, if a basketball team gets involved in a violent incident, they'll be suspended, right? Or worse, they'll be disbanded, right? Hahaha... So, are you going to rebel?"

Ayako, filled with rage, exclaimed, "You despicable bastard!"

Kanon caught Haruko, who was on the verge of fainting.

[Triggered Event: ]

Hanon's eyes froze for a moment, then her expression turned serious, becoming more solemn than ever before. She put her arm around Haruko and whispered, "Go find Coach Anzai quickly!"

Haruko, her face ashen, nodded firmly and ran out.

Hana gently closed the basketball court door and moved her wrist.

Taking advantage of Rukawa's momentary lapse in attention, Ah Long raised a mop and slammed it hard against the back of Rukawa's head.

Hanon rushed over, grabbed Rukawa and pulled him behind her.

"Boom!"

The mop landed right next to her toes, smashing a groove into the wooden floor.

"Teaching assistant!" The young team members turned pale with fright.

When Rukawa Kaede came to his senses, a fair hand was holding his. His gaze followed that hand upwards, and he saw Kanon's worry was evident, causing his heart to tremble.

Are you alright?

The flow of blood seemed to have gained warmth, and Rukawa Kaede pursed his lips, staring at her intently.

Hua Yin looked him up and down, and seeing the blood flowing from his head in an inverted V shape, she couldn't help but chuckle for some reason.

Although I shouldn't laugh, it's really funny!

She even wanted to lift his bangs to see what kind of unique wound could leave such artistic bloodstains…

Hanon suppressed a laugh and examined his wound: "Rukawa... are you alright?"

Rukawa Kaede stared at her blankly, his round face expressionless. "I'm fine."

His voice remained as cold and indifferent as ever, "And you?"

Hanon shook her head.

When Ah Long saw the girl standing protectively in front of Rukawa Kaede, he smirked: "I didn't expect there to be so many pretty girls at the Shohoku basketball gym, and she's even an American sweetheart?"

Hanon raised her head and glanced sideways at A-Long.

Ah Long suddenly felt a chill.

Her glance, though casual, somehow gave him an invisible sense of pressure.

But he wasn't intimidated. Being looked at by those beautiful blue eyes made him a little itchy, so he raised his voice and gave a sly smile: "Beauty, want to be friends? You can tell your brother if you're ever unhappy."

After he finished speaking, the people around him laughed along with him.

Looking at the sullen-faced Hanon, Sakuragi, unusually kind, advised the enemy, "You'd better not mess with her..."

The single-celled monkey, unusually, silently prayed that she would behave herself at school.

A low pressure came from behind her. Hana looked down and saw that Rukawa Kaede's fist was trembling slightly, making a cracking sound. His violent and unrestrained nature was evident all over his body.

Hana tightly pressed down his restless hand and whispered, "You absolutely mustn't do it!"

Rukawa paused, lowered his eyes, and looked at their clasped hands, his coldness instantly vanishing completely.

Then, Hanon looked at A-Long with a complicated expression, feeling utterly miserable: "What upsets me the most today is that even someone like you dared to hit on me."

Everyone: ...I didn't expect her to be so sharp-tongued!

Hanon doesn't like being high-profile, but unfortunately, she has a face that's meant to be.

Perhaps because of her tall stature, exceeding the average height of local men, people would at most glance at her discreetly, allowing her to avoid dealing with too many unnecessary emotional entanglements.

But right now, this oddly shaped and deformed fruit disgusted her.

"You..." Just as Ah Long was about to speak, the girl in front of him suddenly walked closer to him.

Before he could even see her movements clearly, a piercing pain shot through his lower abdomen.

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying on the ground, trembling and curled up, my internal organs felt like they were being churned, and I was covered in cold sweat.

Hanon kicked the person away with a powerful kick! The whole process was swift and efficient, taking less than three seconds!

Everyone was stunned, and for a moment no one made a move. No one had expected her to react so directly and to be so powerful in combat.

Sakuragi, hands on his hips with a proud look, said, "This genius already warned you!"

Everyone: ...

The entire Shohoku team couldn't help but look at Hanon with newfound respect.

She really steps up when something happens!

The fox stared at her intently.

Even a single glance at the person before him changed his psychological state.

At the same time, he also felt a powerful attraction.

She speaks gently, smiles sweetly, trains with unrestrained focus, and fights with decisiveness and ruthlessness.

All of these belong to her.

It's absolutely hilarious!

He found that he couldn't take his eyes off Kanon no matter what he did.

As for why, he couldn't be bothered to think about it.

Hanon glanced at them; there were nine people in total.

She pulled down her sleeves, rolled up her long hair, and tied it into a low ponytail with her wristband.

Rukawa Kaede thought to himself, "So wristbands can also be used to tie hair."

When she raised her hand, the dark color of her wrist, hidden by her sleeve, was faintly visible.

His narrow, fox-like eyes narrowed, but his long sleeves completely covered his wrists, so nothing could be seen.

Hanon hooked the mop off the ground with one leg, grabbed it precisely with her right hand, and her gaze was as sharp as an eagle's.

"If someone hits my man, I will retaliate tenfold."

"Ha! How arrogant!" The sausage-lipped man spat out the cigarette from his mouth, grabbed the wooden stick, and smashed it directly at Hanon without saying a word!

"Oto-chan!"

Upon seeing this, Ayako couldn't help but scream.

"careful!"

Exclamations erupted; the boys were stunned by her power before they could even approach.

Hanon deftly sidestepped the sausage-lip attack, then swung the mop with a flourish—

"Bang!"

"ah--"

Sausage Lips let out a shrill scream, was slapped three or four meters away by the mop, rolled on the ground, twitched once, and then passed out.

Two fearless thugs surrounded and attacked.

When Kanon saw Sakuragi and Rukawa moving forward, she immediately stopped them: "Don't come any closer! Back off!"

Her rosy, chubby face said, "Okay, even this genius didn't get a chance to shine~"

Tender, white, cold steamed buns: ...