Taoka Moichi looked at the young man in front of him, his voice filled with regret at the thought of such a talent being wasted: "It's truly a pity for such a raw gem to remain at Miura Dai; it's a waste of his potential."
Naito Tetsuya lowered his gaze and replied, "Coach Taoka, I'm doing very well at Miura Dai."
"Naito, you still have enormous room for improvement, and right now you have obvious weaknesses!" Taoka Moichi took a step forward, his gaze sharp as an eagle's. "Only I can make you stronger. High school basketball is by no means your end point; in my opinion, you'll eventually become a national player. But if you stay at Miura Dai, your professional career might hit a reef early on."
Naito Tetsuya clenched his fists, a flicker of desire to become stronger in his eyes, but it was quickly overshadowed by hesitation: "Coach Taoka, Miura Dai has treated me well, I can't..." After all, when he was ostracized by the rugby team, this was the place that gave him refuge.
Seeing this, Taoka Moichi slowly reined in his imposing aura: "Alright, I'll give you time to think. When you truly see your weaknesses and desperately want to become stronger, you can come to me anytime."
The Public Welfare Cup concluded, and a few days later, the Kanagawa Prefecture player rankings were freshly released. Newspapers dedicated nearly a third of their space to a special report on this list.
Although some top players did not participate, the rankings still held significant value.
Kanagawa Prefecture No.1 Gu Jin, Ryonan High School
Height 190 cm, Weight 89 kg, Can play all positions
Offensive Ability: 5 Stars | Defensive Ability: 5 Stars | Organizational Ability: 5 Stars | Overall Strength: 5 Stars
Kanagawa Prefecture No.2 Sendoh Akira, Ryonan High School
Height 190 cm, Weight 79 kg, Position Small Forward / Point Guard
Offensive Ability: 5 Stars | Defensive Ability: 4.5 Stars | Organizational Ability: 5 Stars | Overall Strength: 5 Stars
Kanagawa Prefecture No.3 Maki Shinichi, Hainan High School
Height 184 cm, Weight 79 kg, Position Point Guard
Offensive Ability: 4.5 Stars | Defensive Ability: 4.5 Stars | Organizational Ability: 5 Stars | Overall Strength: 4.5 Stars
Kanagawa Prefecture No.4 Fujima Kenji, Shoyo High School
Height 178 cm, Weight 66 kg, Position Point Guard
Offensive Ability: 4.5 Stars | Defensive Ability: 4 Stars | Organizational Ability: 4.5 Stars | Overall Strength: 4.5 Stars
Kanagawa Prefecture No.5 Rukawa Kaede, Shohoku High School
Height 187 cm, Weight 75 kg, Position Small Forward
Offensive Ability: 5 Stars | Defensive Ability: 4 Stars | Organizational Ability: 3.5 Stars | Overall Strength: 4.5 Stars
Kanagawa Prefecture No.6 Akagi Takenori, Shohoku High School
Height 197 cm, Weight 90 kg, Position Center
Offensive Ability: 4 Stars | Defensive Ability: 5 Stars | Organizational Ability: 3 Stars | Overall Strength: 4 Stars
Kanagawa Prefecture No.7 Hanagata Toru, Shoyo High School
Height 197 cm, Weight 83 kg, Position Center
Offensive Ability: 4 Stars | Defensive Ability: 4 Stars | Organizational Ability: 3.5 Stars | Overall Strength: 4 Stars
Kanagawa Prefecture No.8 Mike Okita, Ryokufu High School
Height 195 cm, Weight 82 kg, Position Small Forward
Offensive Ability: 4.5 Stars (Good at breakthroughs and pull-up jump shots, strong impact with American style of play) | Defensive Ability: 4 Stars (Outstanding mobility and physicality) | Organizational Ability: 3.5 Stars (Possesses certain passing vision) | Overall Strength: 3.5 Stars
Kanagawa Prefecture No.9 Jin Soichiro, Hainan High School
Height 189 cm, Weight 71 kg, Position Shooting Guard
Offensive Ability: 4.5 Stars | Defensive Ability: 3 Stars | Organizational Ability: 3.5 Stars | Overall Strength: 3.5 Stars
Kanagawa Prefecture No.10 Naito Tetsuya, Miura Dai High School
Height 196 cm, Weight 100 kg, Position Center / Power Forward
Offensive Ability: 3.5 Stars | Defensive Ability: 3.5 Stars | Organizational Ability: 1.5 Stars | Overall Strength: 3.5 Stars
Kanagawa Prefecture No.11 Uozumi Jun, Ryonan High School
Height 202 cm, Weight 90 kg, Position Center
Offensive Ability: 3.5 Stars | Defensive Ability: 4 Stars | Organizational Ability: 2.5 Stars | Overall Strength: 3.5 Stars
Kanagawa Prefecture No.12 Nango Koichiro, Basketball Enthusiast
Height 192 cm, Weight 89 kg, Position Power Forward
Offensive Ability: 4.5 Stars | Defensive Ability: 3.5 Stars | Organizational Ability: 2 Stars | Overall Strength: 3.5 Stars
Kanagawa Prefecture No.13 Godai Tomokazu, Tsukubu High School
Height 180 cm, Weight 78 kg, Position Point Guard
Offensive Ability: 4 Stars | Defensive Ability: 3.5 Stars | Organizational Ability: 3 Stars | Overall Strength: 3.5 Stars
Kanagawa Prefecture No.14 Kishimoto Minori, Ryokufu High School
Height 192 cm, Weight 88 kg, Position Power Forward
Offensive Ability: 3.5 Stars (Excellent post-up offense and offensive rebounding) | Defensive Ability: 4 Stars (Strong physical confrontation, outstanding boxing-out awareness) | Organizational Ability: 2 Stars | Overall Strength: 3 Stars
Kanagawa Prefecture No.15 Kurami Ichiro, Ryokufu High School
Height 180 cm, Weight 70 kg, Position Point Guard
Offensive Ability: 3 Stars (Stable mid-range shooting) | Defensive Ability: 3 Stars | Organizational Ability: 4 Stars (Clear passing vision, strong control over tempo) | Overall Strength: 3 Stars
Kanagawa Prefecture No.16 Takano Shoichi, Shoyo High School
Height 193 cm, Weight 85 kg, Position Power Forward
Offensive Ability: 3 Stars | Defensive Ability: 3.5 Stars | Organizational Ability: 2.5 Stars | Overall Strength: 3 Stars
Kanagawa Prefecture No.17 Hasegawa Kazushi, Ryonan High School
Height 190 cm, Weight 81 kg, Position Small Forward
Offensive Ability: 3 Stars | Defensive Ability: 4 Stars | Organizational Ability: 2.5 Stars | Overall Strength: 3 Stars
Kanagawa Prefecture No.18 Nagano Mitsuru, Shoyo High School
Height 191 cm, Weight 84 kg, Position Power Forward
Offensive Ability: 2.5 Stars | Defensive Ability: 3.5 Stars | Organizational Ability: 2.5 Stars | Overall Strength: 3 Stars
Kanagawa Prefecture No.19 Ikegami Ryoji, Ryonan High School
Height 183 cm, Weight 74 kg, Position Small Forward
Offensive Ability: 2.5 Stars | Defensive Ability: 4 Stars | Organizational Ability: 2 Stars | Overall Strength: 2.5 Stars
Kanagawa Prefecture No.20 Koshino Hiroaki, Ryonan High School
Height 174 cm, Weight 62 kg, Position Shooting Guard
Offensive Ability: 3 Stars | Defensive Ability: 2.5 Stars | Organizational Ability: 3 Stars | Overall Strength: 2.5 Stars
Kiyota Nobunaga's knuckles turned white from the force, and the edge of the newspaper was crumpled into a ball, almost torn to shreds by him.
"Outrageous!" he roared, a vein throbbing in his temple. "I'm not even in the top twenty? Are those guys blind!"
His gaze was fixed on the list, scanning from the top few names all the way to the twentieth. Each name felt like a needle pricking his eyes. Especially seeing Gu Jin's dazzling all five-star rating, and then remembering the time he was completely shut down by him, a surge of nameless anger shot straight to his head.
"Damn Gu Jin..." he gritted his teeth, as if wanting to chew and swallow those two words. "Why does he get to monopolize the top spot? Where am I, Kiyota Nobunaga, inferior to this bunch of guys behind me!"
He slammed the newspaper onto the floor, and the basketball by his feet was kicked, clattering against the wall. "Those rating guys don't know a thing! Who can do anything against Gu Jin? And last time was just a mistake... How dare they only give me one and a half stars in each category?
When the official games start, I'll definitely show everyone that I am the most dazzling new star in Kanagawa!"
His clenched fists loosened and tightened again, his eyes swirling with unwillingness and stubbornness. He took a deep breath, bent down to pick up the newspaper, and firmly etched Gu Jin's name and his own missing ranking into his heart—
"Just you wait, Gu Jin, and everyone who looks down on me... Next time we meet, I'll step all over you!"