The match against Kainan is getting closer every day.
Over the next few days of training, Kawamoto was somewhat distracted.
It's not laziness.
He still completes all training programs, still dominates everyone in team scrimmages, and can still easily hit three-pointers.
But Akagi noticed it, Mitsui noticed it, and even Sakuragi sensed it.
Kawamoto seemed a little different Peace.
"Hey, Kawamoto- san!"
During a break, Sakuragi came over and wiped his sweat with a towel. "What's wrong with you these past few days? You seem... you seem a bit strange."
Kawamoto unscrewed the water bottle. "Is there one?"
"Yes, I have."
Sakuragi sat down cross-legged and said very seriously, "You didn't talk much before, but your eyes—they—"
He scratched his redhead, struggling to find the right words. "It's the kind of thing where I'm going to take down everyone."
"Right now... it seems like I'm thinking about something else."
Kawamoto glanced at him.
This red-haired boy, whose mind is so simple that only basketball and Haruko, is frighteningly perceptive at times.
"Just thinking about some things."
He said.
"Want to play against Kainan?"
"I never imagined that someone as amazing as you, Brother Kawamoto, would have moments of worry."
Sakuragi's eyes lit up. "Don't worry! With this genius here, we can definitely defeat that middle-aged man. What Kanagawa king? Watch me utterly crush them!"
He spoke with great enthusiasm, gesturing wildly.
Kogure pushed up his glasses and said with a smile, " Sakuragi, Shinichi Maki is only seventeen years old, not middle-aged."
"Besides, how could Kawamoto possibly lose to Shinichi Maki?"
"I think the Kainan team should be the ones with a headache."
"It's because we look alike!" Sakuragi said matter-of-factly.
Everyone laughed.
Mitsui leaned against the wall drinking water, Miyagi practiced his crossover dribble and mid-range shot, Kaede Rukawa practiced his layup while wearing headphones.
Despite Kawamoto's presence, Akagi remained focused, working on the whiteboard, which was covered with tactics for dealing with Kainan.
This scene was very ordinary, so ordinary that everyone in Shohoku was used to it.
But Kawamoto looked at them, a strange emotion welled up inside him for the first time.
It was something akin to reluctance to part.
He recalled the expressions of his so-called friends from junior high school as they gradually distanced themselves after learning that he came from a single-parent family and that his family was struggling financially.
He recalled the way the customers looked at him when he was working there.
It's not about looking at a teenager, it's about looking at a workforce.
These don't exist in Shohoku.
Sakuragi would pester him, asking how he could shoot more accurately.
"Won't you ask him where his dad is?"
Mitsui would give him sports drinks after training, but he wouldn't ask how much he earned from his part-time job.
Akagi would roar at him for a poor screen, but he wouldn't lower his standards because of his dominant performance.
They looked at him as they looked at Kawamoto Kazuki, the number 15 who could destroy everything on the court.
It was ridiculously pure, yet precious in its purity.
" Kawamoto."
Akagi walked over, looked at him, and suddenly said, "Whatever you're thinking, tomorrow is the game against Kainan. Once you're on the court, you can only think about winning. This is an opportunity we've waited three years for."
He paused, then added, "This is also your true chance to dominate Kanagawa."
Kawamoto looked up.
Akagi's eyes were serious, reflecting only the captain's direct expectation of his ace.
"Hmm," Kawamoto said.
That night, he was working the night shift at the convenience store.
At two in the morning, with no customers, he stood behind the counter, opening his notebook.
The left-hand page lists Kainan: full tuition waiver, annual subsidy of three million yuan, direct admission to university, and JBL League.
This is clearly a well-defined, safe road with a visible destination.
On the right-hand page, summer vacation plans are written: risks, unknowns, the possibility of losing everything, or the possibility of soaring to new heights.
The middle is blank.
He drew a circle in the blank space and wrote a number inside the circle.
5.
After thinking about it, I crossed out the 3 and wrote it again.
Three years, or a summer vacation, success or failure.
The pen nib hovered over the paper for a long time before he finally closed the notebook and looked out the window.
The night in Hiratsuka is very quiet, so quiet that you can hear the sound of the waves.
But the nights in Shonan have never truly been quiet.
There are always the roar of motorcycle gangs, the screams of drunkards, and people like Okubo lurking in the shadows.
He couldn't help but think again of the guy he'd met on National Route 134 back in junior high.
That madman who said he would bring Peace back to the nights of Shonan, where only the roar of motorcycles could be heard.
"Maybe everyone is crazy, "Kawamoto thought.
They're just going crazy in different ways, and they're exchanging it for different things.
That madman wanted to use the rules and fists of the biker gang to exchange for Peace in the nights of Shonan.
Riki Takato wanted to use his basketball scholarship and guaranteed admission to university to secure his loyalty to Kainan in the future.
Kazushi Hasegawa wanted to use a less-than-honorable, blindfolded defense in exchange for a summer that could be prolonged.
Kenji Fujima wanted to exchange his pride in perseverance for the dignity of being a basketball player.
Shinichi Maki wanted to use relentless training to ensure the Kainan Dynasty's unshakeable foundation.
Akagi wanted to use three years of hard work and his captain's dignity to earn proof of dominating the nation.
Mitsui wanted to trade his exhausted knees and pride for the MVP he was two years ago.
Miyagi wanted to win Ayako's approval with his speed and never-give-up attitude.
Kaede Rukawa is the purest; he wants to give anything to earn the title of Japan's number one.
Sakuragi was the most foolish; he wanted to use his reputation as a genius and his constant practice to earn a smile from Haruko.
And himself----
Everyone places what they consider precious on the scales, anxiously and expectantly waiting for fate to throw down an equal weight.
Some scales are ornate, others are simple.
Some bets were huge, some were insignificant.
But they're all essentially the same; they're all gambles.
Kawamoto didn't know whose exchange would succeed or whose would result in a complete loss.
All he knew was that he had to win his gamble.
The second day was match day, and the team only had training at noon.
To be in better shape, Kawamoto returned home after finishing his work at the fish market.
After translating " Ode to Gallantry" for a short while, he went to bed early to prepare for the competition the next day.
The spotlight shone directly onto the center of the court, and the air suddenly tensed.
The scoreboard's scarlet numbers were lit up.
Kainan University Affiliated High School 0-0 Shohoku.
Before the score even changed, an invisible weight had already pressed down on everyone's shoulders.
Behind Kainan's substitute bench, a deep purple brocade banner hangs quietly.
The two embroidered Chinese characters in the center are like a charm that has not faded for seventeen years, guarding this territory.
Seventeen years, the king of Kanagawa, advancing to the national tournament for seventeen consecutive years.
This flag is silent, yet it is more oppressive than any shout.
The Kainan team members stepped into the spotlight.
Shinichi Maki walked at the front, his steps steady and deliberate, as if surveying territory.
His gaze calmly swept across the Shohoku half of the court, finally settling on the red number 15.
Behind him, Soichiro Jin unconsciously mimicked the arc of a basketball shot with his fingertips, Nobunaga Kiyota's neck was taut, Kazuma Takasago's broad shoulders shrugged slightly, and Tadashi Muto was checking his shoelaces one last time.
Kainan 1
"Ever-Victorious 1"