The Omnipotent Super Chuunibyou - Chapter 40
After a brief interlude, the fourth quarter began.
The basketball team had barely caught their breath before they were back on the court, doing their best to shake off the fatigue.
This time, they put all their effort into attacking as a group. “Now, no matter how fast you are, you won’t be able to use your speed, will you?” Akamichi said, slightly apprehensive.
But even this couldn’t stop him.
With a simple “Iron Mountain Lean,” Hasegawa Izumi shoved aside the much taller Hiiragi Gomatsu and broke through the blockade in time.
And then, as expected, came the familiar sight of a basket being scored…
The basketball team tried everything, employing near-foul tactics, but still couldn’t change the outcome.
“How are we supposed to play against him?”
Once a team’s spirits are high, they’ll naturally begin to wane, and finally, they’ll collapse completely.
Faced with such an insurmountable disparity, the basketball team’s members gradually lost heart, despair taking hold.
“Hah…”
Noticing their opponents’ spirits flagging, Hasegawa Izumi sighed. Being invincible was lonely and hollow…
Well, since that’s the case, I guess I won’t bother pretending anymore!
“Clack…”
Hasegawa Izumi promptly stole the ball again, clean and crisp.
“Defense!”
Hinata Koji continued to direct his teammates’ movements.
Though their fighting spirit was gradually fading now that victory was out of reach, they still had their dignity. They weren’t about to forfeit the match outright.
At that moment, they saw something astonishing from their opponent.
Hasegawa Izumi stopped just past the center line.
“Hey, could he be thinking…?”
“Are you saying…he’s going to shoot from there?”
“That’s possible?”
The basketball team members forgot they were in the middle of a game, and all of them stopped in their tracks, watching in disbelief as the scene unfolded before them, as if they were watching a performance.
Hasegawa Izumi leapt into the air and made a shooting motion. The basketball arced high in the air, forming a perfect parabola before it fell neatly through the net.
“I forgot to mention that my range is actually the entire court,” he said, jogging back toward his own end of the floor.
Meanwhile, the basketball team members were experiencing a range of emotions too complex to describe.
“Wait, what the point of this then?”
“If you’d told us you could do that, we wouldn’t have dared challenge you! We’d have conceded immediately!”
These guys would probably never forget the shadow this man cast over them for the rest of their lives.
“Bastard, you were just messing with us on purpose, right?!” Akamichi, the more hot-headed one, immediately lodged a complaint.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not that bored, and I’m not targeting you guys.” Hasegawa Izumi slowed to a stop and turned his head slightly, looking at them from the side. “I just think it’s cooler when I do it myself.”
His words and expression were completely sincere.
The basketball team members now understood how utterly insignificant they were. This guy had never even considered them worthy opponents.
No wonder the tennis and Go club members had gone into seclusion after their defeats.
They’d suffered wounds too deep to heal.
In the following match, the basketball team played with a completely different attitude; even if they saw something as incredible as a spontaneous-style shot, they reacted with only mild interest.
“Beep!”
When the whistle announcing the end of the game sounded, the final score was a glaring testament to the Far Eastern Magic Society’s dominance: 100.
Mm-hmm, this was Hasegawa Izumi’s verdict on his teammates’ efforts. He was extremely pleased with how far they’d come in such a short time.
“Wow!”
“Hasegawa, you’re amazing!”
“From now on, I’m your fan!”
The disappointed team left amid the continuous cheers, while the victorious one walked gleefully toward their teammates.
“Sage.”
“Sage-Sama!”
“Izumi-chan.”
“Hasegawa.”
All four girls looked at him happily, and under Chika’s lead, Rikka and Dekomori eagerly slapped hands with him in celebration.
Only the last girl’s eyes wandered.
“Nibutani?” he asked softly.
“Thanks to you, Hasegawa,” Nibutani Shinka said with a resigned sigh, coming over to slap hands.
He was quite pleased.
Mori Summer had only returned to her physical form; her mind had not yet returned. But this battle had clearly been a big step forward.
“Hasegawa-san, could I trouble you for a moment? I’d like to speak with you…”
“I’m not interested, sorry.”
The basketball coach sprinted over, but before he could say anything, Hasegawa Izumi held up a hand to decline, then left with Rikka and the others through the gate on the other side of the field.
“Eh? How did he know what I was going to say?”
The coach stood dumbfounded, just as a burly first-year student appeared next to him, his eyes alight with determination. “Coach, I want to play basketball! Please teach me how to do those amazing moves!”
“Um, I don’t know how to do them either!” The coach scratched his head, drenched in sweat.
———————
Hasegawa Izumi and his friends hadn’t gotten very far, and they headed to the small park near Shuchi’in instead. He still remembered that, after the match, he had an interview with the Mass Media Club.
“Hasegawa-san, please wait!”
Before they could even sit down, the three girls from the Mass Media Club called out eagerly.
Footsteps hurried behind them.
This time, Asahi Shizuku, Kose Erika, and Kino Karen all came together, demonstrating just how important this was to them.
“Hasegawa-san, you were unbelievably cool today!”
Kino Karen’s expression was visibly excited as she held her notebook in one hand.
“Mm-hmm,” Kose Erika nodded, looking quite chipper.
Earlier, they’d been standoffish, treating him like a fool, but now they acted like devoted fans.
Brothers, basketball is the way to go!
Of course, it helped to have someone as handsome as Hasegawa Izumi on the team.
“Girls, watch your emotions! Maintain some professional integrity!” Asahi Shizuku couldn’t help reminding them.
“Yes.”
The two girls nodded meekly, aware of their lapse in judgment.
They moved the location to a nearby gazebo. The Mass Media Club conducted interviews with everyone on the team, asking for some inside information, such as how Rikka and the others managed to pull off such stunning moves.
“Isn’t it strange? If not for the True Eye of the Evil King’s power being nullified, Sage-Sama wouldn’t have needed to intervene at all. I could’ve easily taken care of them myself.”
“Indeed, a mere mortals, even Dekomori wasn’t serious with them, Death!”
Rikka and Dekomori’s answers were forthright.
“All right, next.”
Kino Karen waved her hand, wholly unimpressed.
Fujiwara Chika and Nibutani Shinka’s responses were much more normal, along the lines of “We just train till death” and “It’s all thanks to Hasegawa’s excellent teaching.”
“Hasegawa, you’re up.”
Soon, three pairs of eyes were gazing expectantly at him.
“We’ll start by discussing the key points of ‘Blue Butterfly Skimming Clouds Movement’…”
Hasegawa Izumi began by explaining the technique’s intricacies in language the reporters barely understood, before transitioning into something more universally comprehensible.
“This time, I won’t spew any trash talk, but rather, I’ll share a regret. I’ve traversed Shuchi’in for over three weeks, defeated many adversaries, and humbled countless heroes, yet I’ve found no one worthy of defeating me. Alas, it’s truly lonely at the top… Ahem!”
“If the Kendo Club can entertain me in the future, that will suffice.”
The Mass Media Club trio exchanged glances, feeling mutual incredulity. Isn’t this still basically trash talk? Just how much does he enjoy it?!