Kuroko: Mahoraga - Chapter 50: Leader's Aura, The Ruler! (Patreon)

The familiar special effects appeared before Masato's eyes once again.

He had seen them plenty of times by now.

Even if he watched them another hundred times, he doubted he would ever get tired of it.

The roulette wheel gradually slowed.

Finally, the pointer stopped on an ability called [Leader's Aura].

A moment later, the system displayed the usual explanation.

[Leader's Aura: An ability derived from Kunimitsu Tezuka of The Prince of Tennis. Enhances the user's personal charm and presence.]

[Teammates influenced by the aura can perform beyond their normal level on the court, while opponents with weak willpower may have their performance disrupted.]

Masato read the description with mild surprise.

Another ability from The Prince of Tennis.

And this one came from the famous Kunimitsu Tezuka.

Masato remembered that character extremely well.

If his memory was right, Tezuka had maintained an absurdly cool presence all the way to the end of the original story.

After letting his thoughts wander for a moment, Masato focused on the ability again.

The system's explanation was straightforward.

In simple terms, [Leader's Aura] strengthened his presence enough to influence the people around him.

It was a classic buff-type ability.

Even so, Masato did not know whether to laugh or sigh.

He knew himself better than anyone, and this was not just narcissism.

After living two lives, his demeanor was already unusually mature.

Now he had an aura-type ability amplifying it even further.

Masato was already starting to worry about what daily life would look like from now on.

At this rate, he might draw attention just by walking down the street.

He hurried to the bathroom mirror to see whether anything about him had actually changed.

Masato stared at his reflection for several seconds.

His facial features were exactly the same.

And yet there was something subtly different about him.

That slight change made his entire presence feel calmer, deeper, and more mysterious.

“Is this thing trying to turn me into a succubus?”

Masato clicked his tongue.

Normally, it was easy to miss small changes in your own appearance.

If even he could immediately notice a difference, then the effect had to be significant.

And if [Leader's Aura] improved his presence this much, Masato was even more interested in its other function.

He wanted to see just how far it could push this group of scrubs he called teammates.

...

Between his daily training and the constant influence of [Adaptation], Masato had improved tremendously over this stretch.

The opponents he had faced lately had not given [Adaptation] much to feed on.

Even so, the accumulated gains were nothing to dismiss.

“Open the panel.”

At his command, Masato's personal information appeared before him.

[Name: Masato Kumoi]

[School: Kawari Junior High School]

[Static Attributes: Height 184 cm +2 / Wingspan 197 cm +2 / Weight 82 kg +2]

[Dynamic Attributes: Strength 82 +2 / Speed 84 +1 / Vertical Jump 85 +2 / Stamina 90 +1]

[Basketball Skills: 3-Point Shot 79 +3 / Mid-Range Shot 87 +2 / Layup 92 +1 / Passing 87 +3 / Defense 91 +1]

[Current Abilities: Adaptation Lv. 2 / Bible Lv. 1 / Training Ground / Core Control / Steel Bones / Leader's Aura]

Every part of his profile had improved.

Masato could feel himself changing day by day.

That feeling was addictive.

It was one of the reasons he had become more and more obsessed with training.

Out of all the improvements, however, the changes to his physical measurements excited him the most.

When he first recovered the memories of his previous life, he had still been under 1.8 meters tall.

Since then, he had grown nearly ten centimeters.

At this rate, it probably would not take him long to reach 1.9 meters.

Looking at the deep blue panel floating before him, Masato felt a deep sense of satisfaction.

But it was already extremely late.

He had no intention of staying up any longer.

Masato washed his face, returned to his bedroom, and went to sleep.

...

The next day, Masato headed to school as usual.

The moment he stepped onto campus, he immediately attracted attention from everyone around him.

This time, the reaction was even more dramatic than before.

It was not only the girls.

Even the boys were watching him.

If anything, they seemed even more enthusiastic.

News that Masato had led the Basketball Club to the Nationals had already spread across the entire school.

For an ordinary school like Kawari, the achievement felt almost unbelievable.

The students were used to their school receiving little attention.

Now they felt proud simply to be part of it.

“Look! Masato-senpai's over there. He's so handsome, and that presence is unreal!”

“Masato-senpai, you're amazing!”

“Looking good, Masato-kun!”

“Keep it up!”

“Ahhh, my husband!”

“...”

Some students came over to greet him directly.

Others whispered excitedly from nearby.

Masato knew they all meant well, so he did not show any irritation.

He did, however, start walking a little faster.

Once he reached his classroom, his classmates were more restrained and mostly left him alone.

After sitting down, Masato could not help thinking about how extreme the reaction had been.

Making the Nationals alone should not have caused this much excitement.

[Leader's Aura] was definitely amplifying it.

For the first time, Masato had a direct sense of how powerful the new ability could be.

...

Japanese schools also held morning assemblies and group exercise sessions.

During the morning assembly, the school administration praised the Basketball Club heavily.

They also announced a series of new benefits and support measures for the team.

Every member of the club was thrilled.

For the first time, they truly understood what reaching the Nationals meant to the school.

Masato, meanwhile, ended the day with another pile of love letters.

He could only feel helpless.

As his reputation had grown and Satsuki Momoi had begun appearing around him, quite a few girls had started backing off.

Today, everything seemed to have returned to the way it had been before.

Masato did not know whether to laugh or cry.

…

After school, Masato headed to the Basketball Club as usual.

The excitement of qualifying for the Nationals still had not faded, so most of the players had arrived early.

The moment Masato entered the gym, everyone turned toward him.

Several teammates immediately started shouting.

“Masato-senpai, come look! We're in the papers again!”

“Yeah! There are way more articles this time!”

“And your nickname is so cool!”

“...”

Seeing how excited everyone was, Masato set down his backpack and walked over with a smile.

“Masa, look at this one first. It's awesome!” Ishida said dramatically as he shoved a newspaper into Masato's hands.

Masato took it and looked down.

The huge headline in the center immediately caught his eye.

“The Ruler of Kanagawa!”

Masato raised an eyebrow.

That title was a little excessive.

It was probably going to annoy plenty of people.

Even the Generation of Miracles only had Teiko attached to their reputation.

Now someone had slapped all of Kanagawa onto his.

Still...

Masato liked it.

Then he checked the byline.

Masami Ishihara.

Masato nodded in satisfaction.

“Not bad. Looks like I'll have to keep using her.”

Ishida had been watching his expression the entire time.

The moment he saw Masato react, his eyes widened dramatically.

“So? Doesn't it feel amazing?” Ishida exclaimed. “‘The Ruler of Kanagawa!’ That's so damn cool. It basically sums up exactly what you're like on the court.”

“I wonder when I'm going to get a nickname.”

He sounded genuinely envious.

A dreamy expression even appeared on his face.

Kenji immediately ruined it.

“Don't you already have one? Did you forget ‘The Dumb Blunderer’?”

“What the hell are you talking about? You're the dumb one. Stop bringing that up.”

Ishida snapped out of his fantasy and flipped him off.

Masato could only stare at the two idiots.

This was the first time he had heard Ishida's nickname too.

Still, considering how rough and straightforward Ishida's game could be, it was not completely inaccurate.

“Keep working, everyone,” Masato said. “Let's make sure all of you build a name for yourselves at the Nationals too.”