BAM!
SMACK!
The sharp, thunderous sounds of impact echoed from inside the training room, like a series of explosions.
The sudden commotion quickly caught the attention of the Seiho basketball club members. Kasuga Ryuhei and Tsugawa Tomoki exchanged glances before quietly heading toward the training room.
The moment they reached the doorway, everyone's eyes widened in shock.
Inside, Akashi Asuka was standing before a punching bag he somehow found from who-knows-where. The loud booms coming from the gym were actually from him striking the bag with movements that looked surprisingly professional.
Everyone froze, their faces filled with confusion.
What the hell is he doing?
They looked at each other, waiting a few seconds, until someone finally couldn't hold back their curiosity and stepped forward.
"Asuka, what are you doing?"
As Kasuga spoke, Akashi Asuka suddenly shifted into a horse stance and threw a straight punch. Halfway through, he retracted his fist and turned it into a sharp elbow strike, slamming it dead center into the sandbag.
THUD!
With a heavy boom, the sandbag, clearly not light, was launched backward.
Before it could even swing back down, Asuka's body spun like a whirlwind, his tall frame turning 270 degrees as he delivered a powerful spinning elbow strike.
DOOM!
The middle of the sandbag caved in deeply, the impact making the metal chains above rattle loudly.
After two smooth, fluid strikes, Akashi Asuka finally stopped, steadying the bag before turning to Kasuga.
"Oh, it's you, Kasuga-senpai! I recently picked up a few martial arts moves, so I came here during break to get some practice in."
"Martial arts?"
"Yeah! The two moves I just did are from an ancient martial art, one's called 'Top Heart Elbow', and the other is the 'Spinning Elbow' from Muay Thai. Oh, and I added a bit of short power to it too."
Akashi Asuka explained earnestly.
"I see..."
Kasuga nodded blankly, then suddenly snapped back to reality. "Wait, no! That's not what I asked! I meant, what are you doing here? This is the basketball club!"
Akashi Asuka blinked, puzzled. "Yeah, I know. Isn't the D-Division finals coming up soon? I figured I should learn a few martial arts moves for self-defense. Is there a problem with that?"
His sincere question made Kasuga suddenly doubt himself.
Something felt off... but he couldn't quite pinpoint what. After all, learning a few self-defense techniques to prevent injuries in games did sound reasonable for an athlete.
"How long have you been practicing?" Kasuga asked curiously.
"Not that long, really. Just started recently…" Akashi replied, dropping into another stance and preparing to strike again.
"Wait, that can't be right!" Kasuga exclaimed. "You don't look like a beginner at all!"
"Senpai's flattering me. I'm just following what I saw online, it's all just showy moves."
As he said that, Asuka threw another heavy punch. His massive fist slammed into the sandbag, yet this time, instead of a thunderous boom, there was only a dull thud.
"Eh?"
Asuka drew back his fist, puzzled. Then, under everyone's stunned gaze, sand began slowly trickling out from where he'd just hit.
"Huh? Did I break it?"
Asuka froze.
The others stood there, completely dumbfounded.
The air seemed to freeze.
A long, awkward silence later,
Kasuga coughed. "Ahem... Asuka, that's what you call 'just for show'?"
Akashi scratched his head. "Uh... I can explain."
His strength was indeed impressive, but breaking a sandbag with one punch was a bit much. In truth, the bag had been old and worn out for a while, the tear was mostly due to its poor condition.
"No, no, I don't think you need to explain," Kasuga interrupted. "Asuka, I think you might've joined the wrong club. If you switched to the boxing club, you'd probably already have your first championship belt."
"Yeah, totally~"
Everyone nodded in perfect agreement.
Up until now, the basketball team had assumed Akashi Asuka's strength came only from his large build. But at this moment, they realized just how wrong they'd been.
Because no normal high schooler, no matter how tall, could punch through a sandbag.
============
The next day.
The Seiho High basketball team's main lineup assembled for the Tokyo D-Division Finals.
As expected, their opponents were none other than Hanamiya Makoto's Kirisaki Daiichi High.
Although Akashi Asuka had described Kirisaki Daiichi to them before, and the team outwardly appeared calm, deep down, they couldn't help but feel some unease.
However, this morning, Matsumoto Yukinori noticed something strange, none of the players showed a hint of worry anymore. Instead, they all exuded a newfound confidence.
But this wasn't the kind of confidence born from self-belief.
It was the kind of confidence that said: "Go ahead, try something, I've got a monster watching my back."
"Well, whatever. Confidence is still a good thing," Matsumoto thought.
Though their sudden shift in morale puzzled him, more confidence before the match could only help, not hurt.
Before the game, he went over their strategy one last time.
"Remember, stick to our rhythm and focus on defense early on. And most importantly, watch out for dirty plays. Based on what we've gathered, Kirisaki Daiichi usually starts pulling cheap tricks in the second half, but stay alert regardless."
"If they do try anything, follow the plan. Got it?"
"Got it!"
The players responded loudly, full of energy.
Tsutomu Iwamura looked surprised. He hadn't been there during yesterday's "training room martial arts incident," so he didn't understand why everyone was so fired up today.
But if he had been there... he probably would've understood perfectly.
After all, when your team has a guy who can punch through a sandbag sitting on the bench, it's hard not to feel safe.
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