Only after he made it to the locker room did Takenori Akagi let his pain show. Until then, he had been forcing himself to hold on, afraid of affecting the other Shohoku players' spirits.
Ayako Inoue was examining Takenori Akagi's ankle injury. Her grim expression made it clear that his condition did not look good.
"Ayako, when can I go back on?"
"No, Captain Akagi. You absolutely can't play again with this injury. If it gets any worse, I'm afraid..."
"Please, Ayako!" Takenori Akagi pleaded, looking at her with an utterly serious expression.
"I have to get back on the court. Even if my bones break or I can't walk anymore, I don't care. It took so much for me to finally get this chance."
"But Kudo just said they could beat Kainan."
"Just tape it up for me first, Ayako. If Kudo and the others can beat Kainan without me going back on, then I won't take that risk."
With Takenori Akagi injured and off the court, Shohoku Team had a major problem with its lineup.
Aside from Takenori Akagi, Shohoku did not have a single capable center.
Emperor Kakuta could hold out for a while against weaker teams, but against an elite powerhouse like Kainan, there was simply no way to put him on the court.
In the end, Coach Anzai settled on the lineup.
Ryota Miyagi came on at point guard, Ryota Kudo moved to power forward, and the heavy responsibility of playing center fell to Hanamichi Sakuragi.
Play resumed, and this time Ryota Miyagi was the one guarding Shinichi Maki.
At an even greater disadvantage in strength, Ryota Miyagi was shoved aside by Shinichi Maki after just one instance of body contact, and Maki successfully drove into Shohoku Team's paint.
But this was actually the defensive strategy Coach Anzai had devised.
The moment Maki got past Ryota Miyagi, Ryota Kudo was already in position to help. Neither of Kainan Team's two big men was much of an offensive threat anyway.
Facing Shinichi Maki's drive, Ryota Kudo showed no fear of contact. Instead, he stepped forward and pressed right up against him.
This showed Ryota Kudo's defensive resolve as he repeatedly reached out, trying to steal the ball from Shinichi Maki.
With Ryota Kudo slowing him down, Ryota Miyagi quickly caught up, leaving Shinichi Maki surrounded.
Even the normally composed Shinichi Maki frowned in irritation. He could only pass to Kazuma Takasago, who had established position inside.
After receiving the ball, Kazuma Takasago immediately grew confident now that his opponent was no longer the formidable Takenori Akagi. He prepared to post up Hanamichi Sakuragi.
Dribbling once on the spot, Kazuma Takasago tried to force Hanamichi Sakuragi back with his body. He was a full size bigger than Sakuragi.
But tremendous strength met Kazuma Takasago's back. He had actually failed to budge Hanamichi Sakuragi at all.
He tried twice more, but Kazuma Takasago failed to move even half a step closer to the basket. He was outside his scoring range.
With no other option, Kazuma Takasago could no longer worry about embarrassment. He passed to Tadashi Muto on the other side of the basket.
Tadashi Muto caught the ball with no one in front of him. He took aim and prepared to shoot.
The instant the basketball left Tadashi Muto's hands, a red-haired boy soared into the air. Hanamichi Sakuragi swatted the ball away with one hand, shouting loudly.
"Gorilla block!"
Landing on the floor, Hanamichi Sakuragi was so fired up that his eyes almost blazed. He glared at Kazuma Takasago and Tadashi Muto and roared.
"I'm King Kong's little brother! I'll protect Shohoku's paint!"
In an instant, Shohoku's cheering section in the stands was deeply moved.
Haruko Akagi in particular had been terribly worried ever since seeing her brother get hurt. She was worried about Takenori Akagi's injury and afraid Shohoku Team would lose because of it.
Now, after seeing Hanamichi Sakuragi's commanding display, Haruko Akagi immediately cheered loudly for him.
"Go, Sakuragi! Beat Kainan Team!"
The Sakuragi Gang also shouted, "That was so cool, Sakuragi! Keep it up! At this rate, you'll definitely find a girlfriend!"
Hearing the encouragement from the stands, Hanamichi Sakuragi did not let it go to his head this time. He simply gave them a reassuring gesture.
Because this time, Hanamichi Sakuragi was not fighting so hard to look cool. He was doing it to protect Shohoku's paint in Takenori Akagi's place.
And just before they went on, Ryota Kudo had very earnestly asked everyone to give it everything they had once they took the court.
Only by opening up a lead over Kainan Team could they put Takenori Akagi at ease and let him stay off the court to rest his injury.
On the next possession, Kainan Team's Soichiro Jin hit a three, and Shohoku Team's Ryota Kudo powered his way past Tadashi Muto inside for two points.
Kainan Team could not contain Ryota Kudo and Kaede Rukawa, who kept scoring.
Likewise, Shohoku Team could not stop the connection between Shinichi Maki and Soichiro Jin. Jin had already made four three-pointers.
Ryota Kudo had considered going to guard Soichiro Jin himself, but that would not work. He had to stay inside to help defend against Shinichi Maki.
If they eased their restrictions on Shinichi Maki, the consequences would be more than Shohoku could bear.
Leaving the interior defense entirely to Hanamichi Sakuragi would not work either.
The first half was not even over, and Hanamichi Sakuragi already had three fouls.
With Shinichi Maki's wealth of game experience, if he got the chance, he would definitely get Hanamichi Sakuragi sent off.
So Ryota Kudo could only abandon the idea of guarding Soichiro Jin. The two teams would just have to compete on shooting efficiency.
Ryota Kudo caught another pass from Ryota Miyagi inside. He steadily posted up Tadashi Muto, then, before everyone's incredulous eyes, smoothly rose into a fadeaway jumper.
Leaping into the air and turning his body, Ryota Kudo flicked his wrist softly. Swish! The ball dropped cleanly through the net.
The fadeaway jumper was not a common technique, but there were still players who could do it.
The point was that Ryota Kudo's movement was far too familiar to everyone. It was exactly the same as Shoyo's Toru Hanagata's.
On Kainan Team's bench, Coach Takato lost his composure for once, muttering irritably to himself.
"I knew this kid had an incredible ability to learn, but this is just ridiculous. Now we're in trouble..."
Before facing Shohoku Team, Coach Takato had thoroughly researched the team.
What he learned about Shohoku Team astonished him. Though most of them were problem children, they were all extremely gifted basketball players.
The others were talented, but still within reason. Only Ryota Kudo, the team's core, was utterly absurd.
Ryota Kudo had already been very strong before joining Shohoku. The key was that he kept evolving as the Prefectural Tournament progressed.
His three-pointers bore an uncanny resemblance to Hisashi Mitsui's, his ballhandling had shades of Kenji Fujima, and now he had even performed a fadeaway jumper exactly like Toru Hanagata's.
There was only one possibility: Ryota Kudo possessed an almost freakish ability to imitate others.
From every angle, Ryota Kudo was already a nearly perfect all-round warrior.
Supporting his chin with one hand, Coach Takato began considering how to contain Ryota Kudo, or how to contain this Shohoku team.
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