Awakening

Opening his eyes, he found himself in a white room with white sheets, white lights, and a white ceiling.

"I guess this is a hospital, but why am I here?"

"My head hurts so much, what happened to me?"

As the dreaming youth drifted back to sleep, he didn't know how much time had passed, maybe a moment or a day.

A man and a woman entered the room, looking at the sleeping youth, and both fell into silence.

After a while, the young man finally spoke, "Mother, younger brother is fine now. He can be discharged the day after tomorrow. Please go back and rest, I'll take care of him."

"Alright, Shōten, you must take good care of your younger brother, Shōgo."

"Sure!"

With that, the middle-aged woman picked up her red bag from the seat and left the room to rest.

As the two visitors came in, the sleeping soul woke up again, hearing the important keywords, "younger brother, Shōgo."

But just as the soul wanted to pretend to sleep, the voice of the young man sounded, "Wake up, I know you're pretending."

The soul opened his eyes, looking innocently at the guy in front of him, his older brother, Shōten.

"Shōgo, I've taken care of the fight incident this time, and I don't want to see you causing Mother to worry again because of something like that."

"Understood!"

Shōten looked at Shōgo with surprise, as it was the first time his brother had answered him so obediently.

After a moment of silence, Shōten's tone softened as he said, "Is it because of the basketball team issue? I already heard about it."

Shōgo, lying on the hospital bed, remained silent, neither admitting nor denying.

"If you can't play basketball, let's play tennis instead. As a noble member of the Haizaki family, tennis suits you better."

"No need. I will continue playing basketball. However, I need your help with something; I want to transfer schools."

"Is that so? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Okay, I'll take care of it as soon as possible. Which school do you want to go to?"

"It doesn't matter, you can arrange it."

"Alright, leave it to me. Anyway, you are almost healed. I'll go now, there's still a lot to do in the club. See you later!"

"Sure, take care! And come back early, don't let Mother worry."

After the young man left, Shōgo on the bed sat up and looked at the bustling city outside the hospital room.

He recalled in his mind over a decade of information and finally confirmed it.

This was a different world. He had transmigrated here and became the character named Shōgo Haizaki in this manga-adapted world. He was one of the pre-selected players for the basketball team at Teiko Junior High School, and he wore jersey number 8.

However, he was now the same person who was forced to quit the team due to being overshadowed by Ryōta Kise.

"So, I'm Shōgo Haizaki? The character I saw in the manga, the one who slacked off and got pushed aside by the new guy, right? So, because of that, I got into a fight and ended up in the hospital?"

"Damn it! Why is it like this? After encountering such a lucky transmigration event, I've become a disliked side character. Why me?"

As he thought about the future, Shōgo felt uncomfortable, almost like he had eaten something terrible.

Thankfully, he still had the skill of Plundering, so he could bully some small fry without a problem.

Is this some kind of consolation prize?

While pondering his situation, a virtual data panel appeared before Shōgo.

[Name: Shōgo Haizaki

Height: 188cm (growing)

Weight: 78kg (growing)

Position: Small Forward (growing)

Jersey Number: None

Strength: Superior

Agility: Superior

Endurance: Medium

Jumping Ability: Superior

Explosiveness: Superior

Special Skill 1: Pillage

Skill Description: "Steal" others' skills and convert them into one's style and rhythm, causing opponents to unconsciously break their rhythm and preventing them from using the same technique again.

Special Skill 2: Devour (Soul Fusion Advanced Skill)

Skill Description: "Devour" others' skills, transforming them into one's own permanent abilities. Each devour requires consuming 1 point of Devouring Energy.

Remaining Energy Points: 3]

Shōgo thought he was seeing things and reached out to touch the virtual data panel, making it disappear. But whenever he concentrated, the panel reappeared.

Perplexed, Shōgo performed various experiments with the virtual data panel in the hospital room and concluded that it only had one function: to record real-time data about his body.

For example, when Shōgo felt tired in the hospital room, his endurance would change from average to below average. However, when he rested, it returned to average.

With this change, he finally understood that the virtual data panel's only function was to record real-time data about his body. Moreover, it did not affect others, and they couldn't see it. Is this some kind of cheat or superpower?

Shōgo felt a little frustrated. Wasn't this "superpower" too weak? How did it compare to the ability of Seirin's coach?

After thinking about it carefully, he realized that there were differences; at least, his ability was more detailed and real-time.

Okay, apart from these two points, Shōgo couldn't think of any other differences.

Fortunately, there was still the last skill, and this made Shōgo brighten up. It seemed like he still had some advantages from his transmigration.

He had 3 points of Devouring Energy, which meant he had three chances to devour someone else's abilities.

What were these three chances for? The Zone? Eye of the Emperor? Or Belial's Eye?

Thinking about these possibilities, Shōgo felt delighted and looked forward to them.

The era of miracles, how interesting!

Shōgo Haizaki is no longer the same. Shouldn't this era of miracles become more exciting?

And that guy who ordered me to quit the team, just wait for me! Let's see what happens!