28 Continuation

Throughout the weekends, Akihiko didn't encounter anything else apart from the group of guys he beat up. Speaking of those group of guys; Akihiko already knew that Charles always follows him no matter where he goes.

So naturally, the mess that he made will be cleaned up. Akihiko was aware of the power that he had; which was money.

Currently, Akihiko was walking towards the school's gym entrance as he was about to go to basketball practice.

Today, he recalled that Alexandra was going to announce something to their team.

As he was walking by the school's corridor, he was met by his teammate. His teammate who was his senior Mike. Mike approached Akihiko and said

"Hey, why don't we go to the gym together"

"Sure."

William was still occupied in the classroom so therefore Akihiko is used to walking alone. But hey, there was no reason for Akihiko to refuse. It would also seem rude because overall, his senior was clearly showing good-will.

As the two walked by the corridor, they were almost met with their two other teammates. Mike took the initiative to greet them as he said

"My two juniors, why don't we walk together towards the gym"

This time his approach was very different as he placed his arms on their shoulders, as if he was dragging them. Nash and Jason who were just walking showed a downcast expression as they reluctantly agreed.

Seeing the encounter, Akihiko gave a wry smile as the group of 4 made their way towards the gym. By the time they arrived, they saw that the gym was empty.

They then went to the locker room and changed to their basketball uniform.

....

Minutes later

Akihiko was doing his standard warm-up routine as he was first stretching his body. After that, he picked up a ball and started to practice his shooting.

By the time he had already finished warming up, Alexandra finally entered the gym and went to the center of the court.

Almost everyone was at the gym already so they surrounded Alexandra and started to sit down as they waited for what she was going to say.

But minutes later, Alexandra was still sitting down in the chair without saying anything.

But finally, she uttered the words

"Give me a ball."

One of the people in front of her gave a ball as she pointed it at someone who was the only guy still standing at the gym.

Alexandra then threw the ball, hoping it would hit him right in the head. But a hand simply catched the ball as Alexandra sighed in frustration.

Akihiko who held the ball suddenly asked

"What was that for?"

But seeing the people looking at him, Akihiko got the hint as he sat down and listened to what Alexandra was about to say.

Alexandra then said

"We have 1 week before the tournament starts. So expect the training from now on to be much more harsher. What we're aiming for is not 2nd place, what we're aiming for is the championship."

Suddenly William raised his hand as Alexandra nodded at him.

William then said

"Coach who is going to the hardest opponents that we have to face in this tournament?"

Alexandra then replied

"I have already acquired the necessary information and the teams that you have to look out for is first, Canyon Hills Junior High, the team is lead with the two ball brothers. They will surely be a troublesome team to encounter. The next one is Sierra Middle School with their ace, Jayson Tatum.

There's also other schools that have these players that you should look out for:

Markelle Fultz, Bam Adebayo, De'Aaron Fox and Trae Young."

"There's several other players that I missed, but the main point is that you guys shouldn't get complacent. These players are also very talented. But that doesn't mean you guys shouldn't be confident. Rather, learn the difference between being arrogant and being confident."

"Now that's out of the way, it's time for a practice game. The hell week, STARTS NOW!"

Akihiko who heard the names of his opponents was surprised because all of these guys would reach the nba. Some would be good players, some mediocre. But Akihiko knew that some of these guys were much better during their middle school and high school days rather than when they finally reached the NBA.

Akihiko then thought of Trae Young,

'Would his range be as wide or shorter than Midorima?'.

In his past life, Trae Young was one of the better shooters in the league. If he was that good in that timeline, how good would he be in this world.

Overall, Akihiko was excited because he would meet future NBA All-stars. Akihiko then stood up as he waited for Alexandra's next announcement.

..

The practice game has started and the teams were basically Akihiko against Jason and Nash. This would make things more balanced because three of them at the same team is basically overkill for a practice game.

Jason won the tip-off as Nash got the ball.

Jason already ran to the paint as Nash passed the ball to him from half-court. Jason catched the ball with ease as he dunked the ball for an easy basket.

"Nice pass!" Jason gave a thumbs up to Nash as the two went back to defense.

Akihiko then received the inbound pass. He was already in the half-court when he received the pass as he then drove to the rim. Nash wasn't even able to confront Akihiko so Jason who was in the low lost got ready for Akihiko's shot.

Akihiko jumped as Jason tried to contest. But Akihiko suddenly did the unthinkable as he went for a behind the neck pass. The ball then went into William's hands as he shot the ball for an open three pointer.

Alexandra looked at the two teams as she herself was very excited for what was about to go down in a week.