The Situation

So it still wasn't enough.

By the tenth minute of the second half, Toyotama had fallen behind by fourteen points, and the gap showed every sign of widening. Coach Kanahira could only accept reality with resignation and let out a long sigh.

At the same time, he could not stop resenting himself and Toyotama's miserable fate.

From the first time he took charge of Toyotama three years ago until this year,

every year, whether it was the National Tournament, the Winter Cup, or even the Autumn National Sports Festival, they had always ultimately fallen before Miuradai or the Kanagawa Team.

Once or twice, they could perhaps comfort themselves by saying they had simply been unlucky. But when it happened every time, it really did feel as though fate was toying with them.

That was precisely why Toyotama had still been unable to break the curse of the Quarterfinals.

And this year, that curse still remained.

Faced with such a miserable fate, what could Coach Kanahira and the Toyotama players do besides feel helpless?

On the court, Noguchi Yuji and the other players had already begun showing signs of fatigue.

It was not merely physical exhaustion from having started in the first half and played until now. More than that, it was mental exhaustion.

Since hope had already dwindled to nearly zero, they might as well stop subjecting themselves to this torment.

Beep—!!

Very soon, the referee's whistle sounded again.

"Toyotama requests a timeout!!"

There was nothing more to say. Noguchi Yuji and the other exhausted starters were taken off, replaced by a second unit made up mainly of reserves and newcomers, allowing them to experience the atmosphere of a Winter Cup Quarterfinal.

On the other side, seeing Toyotama officially use its final timeout, Coach Harada in the Miuradai bench area