Chapter 14: A Genius?

Rindo then gave Tsuna a tour of the club's facilities, which left him once again surprised.

He saw a lot of advanced technological equipment used for developing drinks, experimenting with new flavors, and enhancing nutrient content.

The club even owned a sophisticated body monitoring system and a private gym equipped with top-notch equipment.

As they went on, Rindo led Tsuna to the court where the sound of sneakers squeaking against the floor echoed around them.

"Yo, pick up the pace! Don't let Sakamoto-senpai get past you!"

A tall, dark-haired man wearing eyeglasses dribbled past his opponent's defense. With a swift move, he leaped into the air and scored with a powerful dunk.

"Fuck, I told you to be faster, Aoki!"

"Shut up! Let's just return the favor..."

With that, the situation changed as they went on the offensive this time.

"It won't be easy, first years!"

Sakamoto immediately closed in to stop the one dribbling the ball which made him frown as he halted his steps.

"Pass it to me, Sato!"

"Nope, I'll do it on my own!"

"Fuck, it's a team play, you dumbass!"

A student with a tank top, spiky black hair, and long sideburns shouted annoyedly at the student dribbling the ball, who had dirty blond hair cut in a semi-mohawk style.

"Aoki! Shut up. I can't focus!"

Sato shouted as he tried to bypass the defense of his opponent.

They were currently playing 3v3 since they didn't have enough male members in the club.

However, his indecisiveness was something Sakamoto took advantage of as the guy swiped the ball out of his hand.

"Shit!"

Sato cursed, seeing Sakamoto dribble forward with the ball in hand.

"I told you to pass!"

"Shut up!"

As Sato was about to run after Sakamoto, who had stolen the ball, Aoki, who should have been running after Sakamoto as well, was rushing at him.

"What? You crazy motherfucker!"

At first, Sato was taken aback by this.

However, veins started to bulge out of his forehead as they suddenly went into a brawl, leaving the others dumbfounded before they were pulled apart.

Their last team member, Zenji Marui, stood holding Sato with a deadpan expression.

"Why am I even here?"

He muttered, his eyes devoid of any enthusiasm.

Marui was a first-year student like Sato and Aoki and shared the same dormitory as them, the Polar Star Dormitory.

These two, Shoji Sato and Daigo Aoki had been roped into joining the club after they met Rindo and somehow agreed to join the club.

"And I got dragged into this somehow..."

Marui sighed, his demeanor resembling that of a lifeless corpse.

"Hahaha, quite the lively club, isn't it?"

"..."

Tsuna merely rolled his eyes at Rindo's comment. With a sigh, he muttered, "...Well, I suppose it's tolerable since I won't be here often anyway."

"Oh, Rindo! You're here!"

Sakamoto's voice reverberated across the court, drawing the attention of everyone in the room toward those who had just walked in.

"Who's that with Rindo-senpai?

"...Isn't he the freshman?"

No longer engaged in their little fight, Aoki and Sato murmured in unison. Marui adjusted his glasses before adding, "He's the transfer student..."

All eyes turned toward Tsuna.

Initially, they thought of him as a dick considering the way he gave his speech at the Inauguration Ceremony a while ago.

However, hearing about the guy from Soma made them slightly change their perspective.

After all, Soma, who they thought to be a dick, turned out to be cool to hang around with.

They had also heard the rumors, so they were quite interested in being in the same class and seeing Chef Chappelle smiling the whole time.

"Tsuna, this guy here is Sakamoto Satoshi. He's a second year and basically our club leader..." Rindo introduced Tsuna to Sakamoto as he then turned to Sakamoto, "And this is Tsunayoshi Ito, the new transfer student and our new member!"

"Ah! Finally..."

Sakamoto's expression softened with relief. Now, with ten players, they could try their luck at the Interhigh.

He turned to Tsuna, a smile on his face, "Well, Ito-kun, do you play basketball?"

"Nope."

Tsuna shook his head.

"Huh? What did you say?"

Sakamoto's smile faltered as the entire court fell silent at Tsuna's unexpected response.

"Hahaha, come on, don't be too stiff. Tsuna here is quite athletic, I'm sure he'll learn fast..." Rindo patted Sakamoto's shoulder, which didn't feel reassuring at all.

Sakamoto sighed before fixing his eyeglasses and spoke, "I guess it's fine. Let me teach you the basics. You'll learn faster by doing..."

Both of them then faced each other on the court, with everyone watching as Sakamoto taught Tsuna the basics.

"Alright, why don't you give it a try now? Let's do one-on-one." 

Sakamoto passed the ball to Tsuna, who caught it with ease, "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you so you can adapt faster..."

Tsuna recalled Sakamoto's movements a while ago in his mind and nodded, "Sure."

"Good! Let's go!"

Sakamoto spoke as Tsuna started dribbling the ball.

Initially stiff, Tsuna began to loosen up as he moved around, with Sakamoto closely marking him.

Sakamoto raised his eyebrows slightly at how quickly Tsuna seemed to get used to dribbling.

He muttered, "Huh? He's pretty quick to catch on. I guess that's good for us..."

However...

"...!"

Tsuna suddenly dribbled to the left, sharply crossing over to the right and breaking through Sakamoto's defense.

BAM!

He then slammed the ball down in a dunk.

The reverberating slamming sound echoed through the court as everyone widened their eyes in shock, their mouths forming an 'O' shape.

"...Isn't that Sakamoto's move from a while ago?"

"Yeah, but... How?"

"...Ito-kun, did you actually learn a move or two before this?" Sakamoto looked at Tsuna in disbelief.

Tsuna just shook his head at this and responded, "No, what's the problem?"

"Fufufu, I know he's perfect..."

Rindo chuckled softly on the side, a wide grin on her face. However, her eyes betrayed a hint of surprise at Tsuna's move.

"But..."

Sakamoto looked closely at Tsuna's expression and could see he seemed genuine with his words, which made words get stuck in his throat.

"I don't really know what to do, so I just copied what you did earlier," Tsuna continued.

To him, who was pretty much capable of skillfully utilizing his body as he wished, copying what Sakamoto did was quite easy.

"Huh?"

"Copy? Just like that guy from the Generation of Whatever?"

"It's the Generation of Miracles, you dumbass..."

Marui, Aoki, and Sato murmured among themselves, blinking their eyes in amazement.

"...You copied mine?" Sakamoto fixed his eyeglasses as he looked at Tsuna, who nodded.

He gulped down a mouthful of saliva before speaking, "Umm... Could you copy this as well?"

"Sure, I'll try..."

Sakamoto nodded.

He immediately dribbled the ball at a fast pace. Sakamoto's eyes suddenly flashed fiercely as he sharply zig-zagged and closed toward the basket, executing a swift layup.

"Now, try it..."

Sakamoto passed the ball to Tsuna, who did the same movements effortlessly.

The atmosphere descended into a deeper silence.

"No, it's not just the same. I think he's doing it even better than me..." Sakamoto looked at Tsuna's bored expression in shock. Then, his expression shifted to excitement as he muttered, "...Shit, did we actually just get ourselves a genius?"

He turned to Rindo, who was grinning as if she had expected this, and Sakamoto felt grateful in his heart.

With enough training, Tsuna would most likely be able to become their ace player!

It's safe to say that they had found themselves a diamond in the rough.

However...

"Oh, I won't be coming here often..."

"Eh!? Why!?"

Sakamoto felt his soul leaving his body.