Chapter 52: Monster

"For real, it's just a little tag. Why are you getting so worked up?" "Hello?" "You want snacks or not?" Tendou Kageyoshi was internally exhausted. Ever since Riko saw her character tag, she'd gone full red-alert mode. She was currently squatting in a corner drawing circles and muttering to herself, "I'm not a 'Wifey Protector'... I haven't even gotten married... I've never even dated..." Great. Another one's gone off the deep end. Tendou rolled his eyes and left her to it. Closing the streaming app, he pulled up his system interface and opened the newly unlocked ability. [Monster] Another ability without a description? Tendou could already picture next week's update—devs scrambling to backfill lore just for this. But what the hell was this "Monster"? "Hey, Riko, you want a late-night snack?" "You going out?" "Yeah. I want to test something." "Mm, I'll pass." She replied briefly and went back to drawing circles. Forget it. Let her spiral as long as she doesn't commit sudoku. Tendou stepped out and headed to a neighborhood basketball court. Standing near the free throw line, the overhead lights cast his shadow across the ground. With a thought, he activated the [Monster] ability. Immediately, his shadow began to stretch unnaturally—out of it emerged a dark, flame-like humanoid figure, entirely black, with white, pupil-less eyes and a menacing grin, like a distorted version of Whitebeard's mustache. "So it's this thing, huh." Tendou recognized it instantly. This was based on Meguru Bachira from Blue Lock—his "monster." In Blue Lock, Meguru's monster was a visualization of his own court sense—it constantly whispered decisions to him: break through or pass, shoot or assist, where to aim, where to move. This "monster" wasn't literal—it was the embodiment of basketball IQ. "An externalization of court awareness... sort of like Wild Instinct." Tendou was pretty satisfied with this power. He gave a little nod to the black figure. "Nice to meet you, my brain." That's what it was—his brain. A visible form of his on-court decision-making power. The monster didn't respond. It just kept grinning menacingly until Tendou turned to leave—at which point it melted back into his shadow and vanished with him from the court. A buff-type ability, comparable to Wild Instinct. Tendou was genuinely happy with this upgrade. ... Two Days Later The National Tournament resumed. By this point, it had been two weeks since it began, and the top team from each group had been decided. The tournament now entered the all-important round-robin stage. Coach Shirogane had said from the start that upsets were common in the Nationals. But this year? At least in the Tokyo division, not a single upset had occurred. The four teams that made it to the round-robin were all established powerhouses. Teikō Middle School needed no introduction—they were on track to become an unprecedented three-time national champion. There was no possibility of them getting knocked out. The other three schools had all been marked by Momoi as five-star threats. One of them was even Seihō Middle School, an affiliated branch of one of Tokyo's "Big Three" high schools—Seihō High. This was a private institution with a full K-12 and university system, offering an "all-in-one" education pipeline. Joking aside, Seihō was the team Shirogane was most wary of. Schools like this had systematized training programs across all levels. That structure meant their overall performance was always stable. Maybe not the strongest, but certainly never weak—they had a high ceiling and a very high floor. Because of their vertical pipeline, the players they trained were almost always absorbed back into the school's own system. Graduates of the middle school team would naturally transition into the high school team, keeping their top players in-house. This setup had another benefit—rookies could immediately contribute at the next level without much adjustment. There was no drop in team performance when seniors graduated. Why? Because they all played under the same system. Seihō's signature system was known as the "Ripple Running Style". Sounds fancy, but in reality, it's just a stylized form of synchronized movement, also known as off-beat step-running. The advantages are obvious—it messes with defenders' timing and instincts. For most humans, their muscle memory links arm and leg movement in a certain rhythm. Facing someone who runs "off-beat" forces the brain to take an extra moment to process, delaying reaction time. It also requires incredible body coordination. Whether naturally gifted or rigorously trained, players who can pull off this "ripple run" tend to have better physical control—which in turn leads to a more stable shot. Oh, and it's supposedly low-stamina consumption. Is that true? Not really. But the anime says it is, so... sure. Let's roll with it. In short—this was a team Teikō had to take seriously. Think of it like Jerry Sloan's Utah Jazz. Everyone knew they'd run pick-and-roll, but even so—you still couldn't stop them. People mocked Jerry Sloan for sticking to one system his whole life. But he gave 23 years to that system. No tanking. 20 playoff appearances. 13 seasons with 50+ wins. Two Finals appearances. When a system is practiced to perfection, it can become unbeatable. You know what's coming. And still, you can't stop it. That's Seihō. --- Vote with some power stones in this story. By using them on this book, you guarantee bonus chapters weekly.