Chapter 9: Leaving

A big win made everyone very happy.

It had been a long time since Jianguang's players had experienced victory away from home.

Before Aizen's rise, they were very weak and almost always fell short in national competitions.

This time, under Aizen's leadership, they won against Teikō, who had dominated the country for three consecutive years.

Even if their opponent only played the second team, it didn't matter.

The second team was still Teikō, and Kise Ryōta played, so the victory held significant value.

After the game, the players, covered in sweat, went to shower.

After cleaning up, everyone gathered and walked out of the stadium.

When they arrived, everyone held Teikō in awe and felt restrained upon entering Teikō's grounds.

Now, most of the players had shattered Teikō's divinity in their minds.

Teikō Junior High was famously daunting in the eyes of junior high students.

This is understandable for a group of young men whose minds are not yet mature.

However, true maturity requires facing pressure and daring to challenge the established norms.

Aizen saw the looks on everyone's faces and felt pleased with the changes in his teammates.

Although their hard skills couldn't improve through just one game, the change in mentality was significant.

For a bottom-ranked school like Jianguang, this improvement was no small feat.

Facing any opponent in the upcoming national competition, they wouldn't be mentally defeated.

It was a game that gave the team a spiritual boost.

"Well, it's a good deal!" Aizen thought to himself, genuinely happy for his teammates.

They were a group of young people who, despite their lack of talent, were incredibly passionate about basketball.

Though young and unseasoned, they understood the gap between their talents and others.

In such cases, watching peers perform on stage while they had no place could be painful.

Aizen could empathize, having experienced it in his previous life.

Aizen was lucky to have good talent in this life, and the blessing system enabled his rise.

But this time, he wanted to take his teammates, who were labeled as untalented, to see the top together.

Thinking about it, Aizen felt excited. He couldn't wait to compete in the national tournament.

"A gentleman hides his edge. Let's restrain ourselves today."

"Next time we meet, we'll see how pure you geniuses who haven't faced real challenges for ten years are!"

Aizen's personality wasn't always approachable and could be aggressive, but he hid it well.

Especially after acquiring skills from Blue Lock, Aizen's change was more pronounced.

He wondered if this change was related to the system drawing from Blue Lock.

If affected by this, it was understandable, but whether it was true or not remained unclear.

It was also possible Aizen had always been this way but hadn't admitted it.

Despite his sometimes unpleasant personality, Aizen treated those around him well.

That's why his teammates centered around him and got along well.

At this moment, the coach led everyone to the return bus.

His joy was as great as everyone else's. Defeating Teikō was a significant mark on his resume.

The coach said, "Everyone did great today. Tell me what reward you want."

Dahe replied, "Coach, we just want to eat now."

"Yes, playing against Teikō was exhausting. We want a big meal!"

"Eat, eat!"

The coach initially thought they wanted rest or reduced training, something he could easily agree to.

But he didn't expect these kids wanted to bankrupt him with food.

Looking at these hungry boys, the coach pretended to be cool, wiping sweat from his forehead.

Seeing this, Aizen smiled and whispered, "Coach, why don't we all chip in, after all..."

Aizen looked around and then looked embarrassed.

"After all, there are too many of us, and you just started working, so you probably don't have much savings."

Aizen's faux-concerned expression was too familiar to the coach.

When he first became the school team coach, he saw Aizen's mischievous side and suffered for it.

Seeing Aizen's squinting eyes gave him a stress reaction.

He quickly said, "Okay, how much money can you kids have?"

Then he waved his hand, "Let's go, let's have a big meal and discuss what to eat on the way!"

He agreed so quickly that his true thoughts were hidden.

The change was so fast that everyone was confused for a moment.

Aizen said, "Thank the coach quickly."

"Wow, thank you, coach!"

"Coach is generous!"

"Haha, I'm going to eat as much as I want." Of course, it was Dahe who said that.

The coach's mouth twitched.

...

Satsuki Momoi was sweating profusely as she ran from the locker room.

She feared Jianguang and his team would leave, but she finally caught up.

At this time, Aizen and his team had reached the bus and were about to board.

Everyone saw a pink-haired girl, holding a notepad, rushing towards them.

This excited the boys, who were just admiring Teikō's beautiful girls.

They saw that she wasn't friendly and was heading towards them with determination.

Satsuki stopped, panting heavily.

"Huh! Huh!"

"Finally, I made it. Luckily, you didn't leave."

Hearing this, everyone was a little confused.

The coach said, "Student, who are you looking for?"

"Hello, coach. I'm Satsuki Momoi, the manager of Teikō Basketball Club."

"The game your school played just now was very exciting!"

Polite and under everyone's curious eyes, Satsuki looked at Aizen shyly.

"I'm here to find Mr. Aizen. I have something to say to him."

After that, Satsuki blushed slightly, whether from pretense or genuine shyness.

She had seen many geniuses, and geniuses shared a similar aura. She couldn't help comparing the "Miracles" with Aizen.

Gradually, she realized she had never seen a boy like Aizen, making her even more curious.

"Mr. Aizen, can you come over here with me?"

Seeing this, Aizen and the coach nodded, and Aizen looked at her, "Okay."

He walked away with Satsuki, under the envious eyes of his teammates.

"Damn it!"

"Aizen is not only a great basketball player but also so handsome. He's killing me!"

"..."