novelhk Chapter 12 The Secret of Speed A Can No Longer Be Hidden
Chapter 12 The Secret of Speed A Can No Longer Be Hidden
The lights in the gymnasium came on at six o'clock the next morning.
When Sendoh pushed open the door, Koshino was already on the court. The guy was wearing a soaked training uniform, his hair plastered to his forehead, and there was a basket of balls at his feet, about thirty of them, scattered around the three-point line. He looked like he had been shooting for a while, as the floor was covered in sweat.
"You really came?" Sendoh placed his bag on the bench.
"You told me to practice help defense last night, and I didn't sleep well at all. My mind was filled with images of Jin Soichiro's movements." Yueye wiped the sweat from his face. "I woke up around 5 a.m., and I couldn't lie still, so I just came over and shot a few shots."
"How many have you voted for?"
"More than a hundred. The hit rate is alright, about 60%."
"Six into three?"
Yueye hurled the ball at him, "Six out of ten are goals! Did your PE teacher teach you math?"
Sendoh caught the ball with one hand. "My PE teacher is Coach Taoka, and I think he did teach math."
Off-road was stunned for a moment, "Really?"
"Fake."
"...You're really boring."
Sendoh began warming up with stretching, shuttle runs, and dribbling.
He specifically tested his speed after adding extra steps last night, starting from the baseline, sprinting at full speed to the center line, and turning back. He used to need eleven to twelve steps to run this distance, but today he covered it in ten and a half.
Half a step faster.
But the feeling goes beyond that. The force transfer between the sole of the foot and the floor is more crisp when you push off, like there's glue on the sole of the shoe, providing immediate feedback with every push.
The off-road enthusiast was dumbfounded. "Did you take the wrong medicine today? That was so fast!"
"You didn't take the wrong medicine."
"What's that? Did you secretly train last night?"
"sleep well."
Yueye rolled his eyes. "Last time you said you were sleeping well because of fishing, and this time you're saying you're sleeping well because of leveling up... no, because of sleeping. How many versions of this are there?"
Sendoh ignored him and continued running back and forth.
The system popped up a message.
[Speed is rated A, startup stability is improving, and it can maintain 90% efficiency under high-intensity combat conditions]
He didn't look at it and swiped the panel away.
At seven o'clock sharp, the others arrived one after another. Fukuda was still chewing gum when he pushed the door open. Seeing Sendoh and Koshino already on the field, he raised an eyebrow and said, "Are you two on some kind of adrenaline rush today?"
Off-road pointed at Sendoh, "He's on steroids, I'm normal."
"You arriving at six o'clock, is that considered normal?"
"I...I've been adjusting my sleep schedule recently."
Fukuda glanced at him, her expression clearly saying, "Who are you trying to fool?", but she didn't call him out and went to stretch in the corner.
When Taoka came in, he was holding a stack of papers. He walked to the center of the room and clapped his hands.
"gather."
Everyone gathered around. Taoka handed out sheets of paper, one for each person, covered with positions and running routes—the same defensive strategy Sendoh had drawn on the whiteboard the night before. Arrows were densely packed, positions were clearly marked, and even the timing for backup defense was written down.
After looking at it for a while, Yuechu asked, "Coach, is this a tactics manual?"
"Okay. We'll start practicing this defensive setup today. There's only one target: Hainan."
Fukuda stared at the arrows on the paper for a while, then looked up at Sendoh. "You drew this pattern?"
"Drawn by the coach."
"The coach couldn't draw this." Fukuda held up the paper. "Look here, the running routes for the weak-side help defense are linked to the pressure on the strong side. Coach Taoka has never taught this kind of linked defense before. He taught a hybrid of man-to-man and zone defense. This is different."
Taoka coughed beside him. "Fukuda, are you praising Sendoh or saying I didn't teach him well before?"
"I didn't say anything."
You said I couldn't draw it.
I'm stating the facts.
Taoka took a deep breath. "Fine, I can't draw that. This is what Sendoh drew. Are you satisfied?"
The entire stadium fell silent for a second. Koshino stood there with his mouth agape, Uekusa pushed up his glasses, Uozumi looked down at the arrow on the paper, and Fukuda chewed his gum twice, his cheeks puffing out.
Off-road was the first to speak, "Sendoh, you can draw tactics? Aren't you just good at fishing?"
"I thought about it while fishing."
"Were you not spacing out when you were fishing?"
"I use my brain when the fish are still."
"And what happens when the fish moves?"
"Reel in the line."
"...You're such a split personality."
Taoka clapped his hands. "Stop talking nonsense. Start running the tactics. Sendoh, you simulate Maki Shinichi, the rest of you run according to the positions on the paper."
Sendoh put on a red training vest and stood at the top of the arc.
On the opposite side, Koshino is positioned in the bottom corner, mimicking the position of Jin Soichiro. Uekusa is positioned at a 45-degree angle on the weak side, Fukuda is in the low post on the strong side, and Uo is positioned under the basket.
Sendoh dribbles and drives to the right. Koshino's first reaction is to collapse towards the inside, but no, he glances at the markings on the paper and realizes he should move to the left, giving Sendoh space on the left and forcing him to go down that lane.
"Yoshima, you're standing in the wrong spot." Sendoh stopped the ball.
"I know, I know, I ran the wrong way." Yueye looked down at the paper. "I should be standing here, right?"
"Yes. When you're standing in the bottom right corner, if Maki breaks through to the right, you should move to the left to leave the right side open and force him to change direction."
"Why force him to change direction? Shouldn't we have blocked him?"
"Because Maki's right-wing breakthrough is stronger than his left-wing breakthrough. If you block his right wing, he will use his body to overpower you. If you leave his right wing open, he won't fall for it, because he knows you're letting him through, and he will hesitate."
Yueye scratched his head. "Your logic is too convoluted. I need to process it."
Uekusa whispered from the side, "Just make him go to the left; he can't do it on the left."
Yueye turned to look at the grass and said, "Can you please stop summarizing everything in one sentence? It makes me look stupid."
Uezu didn't speak, but nodded.
Training continued. Sendoh dribbled again, this time Koshino positioned himself correctly, forcing Sendoh to go to the left. Uekusa moved from the weak side, standing in Sendoh's passing lane, blocking Jin Soichiro in the corner.
Sendoh stopped the ball, didn't pass, and went for a layup himself. Uozumi rushed out from under the basket to help defend, and the two collided. The whistle blew; Taoka blew it.
"Your timing for help defense was right, but Uozumi, you came out too early. Wait until he drives to below the free-throw line before you come out, otherwise your defender will be catching you alley-oop under the basket."
Uozumi nodded. "Understood."
"Again."
The second, the third, and the fourth time.
The whole team practiced this tactic for a full hour, from positioning and timing of runs to switching and rotations. Taoka's voice became hoarse from shouting, and in the end, he could only use hand gestures to give instructions. Koshino made several mistakes while running, and Taoka called him to the sidelines and explained it to him three times. Uekusa ran the most accurately, making almost no mistakes.
Fukuda's speed and strength are a great advantage in help defense, but he is prone to losing focus and failed to cover for his opponent in time on two occasions.
Sendoh imitated Maki Shinichi on offense, but his playing style wasn't exactly the same. Maki liked to overpower opponents with power, while Sendoh relied on rhythm and speed. His teammates initially struggled to adapt, often misjudging the timing of their help defense, either too early or too late.
After running for an hour and a half, Taoka called a halt.
"Ten-minute break. Yueye, come here."
As they walked over, Taoka spread out the tactical paper and pointed to the running route at the bottom corner.
"Look here. When Sendoh broke through from the top of the arc to the left, your position wasn't here. You should have taken a step inside and then immediately returned to the corner."
Why?
"Because that's how Soichiro Jin actually moves. He'll cut inside to draw your attention, then suddenly bounce back to the corner to receive the ball and shoot. If you stand still, he can get past you in one step."
Yueye stared at the arrow on the paper, paused for two seconds, and said, "Is Jin Soichiro crazy? Can't he just stand still and throw? Why does he have to run around like that?"
"He runs around so that you can't catch him."
"Then what should I do?"
"You're running around too."
"...Coach, I ran away, I just ran away, I ran the wrong way."
"So you should run even more."
Yueye took a deep breath, folded the tactical paper twice and stuffed it into his pocket, then walked back onto the field.
Fukuda was leaning against the wall drinking water when he saw Sendoh walking over and nodded at him with his chin. He had stopped chewing his gum; he didn't know when he'd spat it out.
What time did you go to bed last night?
"Around 11 o'clock."
"How long have you been thinking about this tactic?"
"One night."
Fukuda stared at him for two seconds. "What you came up with in one night, Coach Taoka hasn't been able to come up with in over a decade. Do you know what that means?"
"Does this mean the coach is getting old?"
"That means you've been slacking off all this time. If you had been this diligent in your first year of high school, we would have made it to the national competition last year."
Sendoh didn't reply. Fukuda was right; he had indeed been slacking off in his first year of high school, not intentionally, but because he didn't yet know how to exert himself in this world. He thought his tactical knowledge from his previous life would be enough, but later he realized it wasn't enough, far from sufficient.
"So I'm taking this year seriously," Sendoh said.
Fukuda looked at him and screwed the cap on the water bottle.
"It had better be true."
Training continued. Another two hours passed, from positioning and running to full-court scrimmage, from half-court offense and defense to fast break transitions. Sendoh kept simulating Maki Shinichi's playing style, but his speed was too fast, and Koshino and Uekusa couldn't keep up with his help defense several times.
Taoka kept shouting from the sidelines, his voice starting to crack.
Training ended at noon.
Everyone slumped in their chairs, while Yueye lay directly on the floor, his chest heaving like a bellows.
Sendoh sat on the bench and opened the system panel.
PP Balance: 25
Today's training was intense; I accumulated three points this morning alone. There's a scrimmage this afternoon, and another set of three-pointers tonight. I should get six or seven points in total today.
There are four days left until the first round of the county competition.
Speed has reached A, what's the next goal?
Jumping ability B+, strength B, reaction time B+, flexibility B, endurance B+.
Her weakest areas are flexibility and strength. On the day she faced Maki Shinichi, her low flexibility affected the stability of her shots after aerial combat.
Xian Dao silently recited in his mind: Add some flexibility.
Flexibility: B→ B+
PP Consumption: 5
[Remaining PP: 20]
He didn't feel anything in his body, but when he tried to bend over, he could touch his ankle with his fingers, something he couldn't do before.
"What are you doing?" Koshino sat up from the floor and saw Sendoh bending over and touching his ankle. "Your flexibility is terrible. I can touch the floor."
"Your legs are short."
"Where are my legs short? I'm a standard height of 1.78 meters!"
"The fish live two meters away."
"Don't compare me to Uozumi; they're not the same species."
The fish living nearby raised its head and said, "I am not a species, I am a person."
Yueye paused for a moment, "That's not what I meant..."
"Shut up, you're just making things more complicated," Uekusa finally spoke up.
Sendoh stood up and patted his pants.
"We'll continue this afternoon."
He walked toward the door, where sunlight streamed in through the window, casting a long shadow on the floor.
My phone vibrated as I reached the door.
A text message from Rukawa: I watched the replay of yesterday's game-winning shot. The speed of your final step was faster than in the first half. You were hiding something.
Sendoh stared at the screen for two seconds and typed: You have good observation skills.
Rukawa: I won't let you hide next time.
Sendoh: Then we'll talk about it next time.
Rukawa: You still type so slowly.
Sendoh chuckled, put his phone back in his pocket, and went out the door.