Ayako blushed, raised her hand, and gave his arm a light thump. "I think you're scarier than they are!"
Three days passed in a flash.
Shohoku's practice-game victory over Takezono barely caused a ripple.
Both teams had been bottom-feeders last year. Nobody wanted to watch two weaklings peck at each other.
News of the win only spread because Hanamichi Sakuragi went around broadcasting it himself.
He just wanted to attract a little more attention.
Of course, the way he told it, the game had practically become a tale of Hanamichi Sakuragi single-handedly crushing the entire Takezono team!
Unfortunately, it still failed to make the slightest splash.
The basketball team still failed to rank among Shohoku High School's hot topics.
But one person had been quietly keeping an eye on them.
That was the judo club's captain, Tatsuhiko Aota.
Early that morning, he stood planted at the school gates in his judo uniform like a guardian deity, waiting for his "chosen ones."
"Aota? What are you doing standing here dressed like that?" Kiminobu Kogure pushed up his glasses, looking puzzled.
It wasn't just him. Every student entering the school thought there was something wrong with the guy.
It was early in the morning, with scattered raindrops still drifting down, yet he stood there in nothing but a thin white jacket. What was the point?
But Tatsuhiko Aota thought he looked unbelievably cool.
He flashed a smug grin. "Four-Eyes, you should know perfectly well why I'm here. Hmph, I told you I'd never give up."
"Oh, right. I heard you played a practice game and beat Takezono by a few dozen points? Heh, how could a low-level game like that ever ignite a man's true fighting spirit!"
"Today, I'll let them see for themselves just how imposing this uniform is! A real man should fight!"
"Not play some shooting game where just touching someone might be a foul."
Kiminobu Kogure looked at him as though he were an idiot.
A touch is... a foul? What is he even talking about?
Ignorance could sometimes be both frightening and pitiful.
Before, Kogure might have felt a little uncertain, but after all these days, and now that they had played a practice game, he had complete confidence in Shirasawa and the others.
Forget the judo club. Even if a flight attendant club came recruiting, they probably wouldn't go!
Well... probably not.
"Aota, don't say I didn't warn you." Kogure pulled his jacket tighter around himself. "Those two are late to school all the time. I don't mind if you want to wait, but at least put on a jacket or use an umbrella."
"It looks like the rain's about to get heavier, and that outfit of yours really is... Oh, well. As long as you're happy."
With that, Kogure shook his head and left. Just looking at Aota made him feel cold.
An hour later.
Just as Kogure had predicted, the rain grew heavier and came pouring down.
Tatsuhiko Aota's stylish judo uniform had long since been soaked through and plastered against his body, no different from a drenched thermal undershirt.
He sneezed five or six times in a row, sniffed his reddened nose, and kept muttering, "Sure enough, neither of them plays by the rules. That's exactly the temperament for martial arts! I'll leave it here for today, but I'll never give up."
"Ah... achoo!"
"Damn, it's cold!"
Shohoku High School's basketball gym.
Shirasawa and Sakuragi weren't the only ones late that day.
Ryota Miyagi was right there with them.
The three of them had actually made a trip to Kanagawa Prefectural Hospital early that morning.
With Shirasawa egging him on, Miyagi had finally worked up the courage to confess to Rena.
It hadn't gone particularly smoothly. Miyagi had cowered off to one side, his face bright red, flatly refusing to approach her. In the end, Shirasawa couldn't stand watching anymore and brought Rena straight over to him.
Only then had Miyagi stammered out his feelings, his eyes darting everywhere.
Once he finished, he lowered his head, his hands clenched nervously into fists.
Unexpectedly, Rena was perfectly at ease and readily nodded yes.
Instead, that left Miyagi at a complete loss.
And just like that, a basketball boy and an older nurse got together.
As the saying went, young boys didn't know the appeal of older women and mistakenly treasured younger girls instead... Ryota Miyagi had come to his senses early.
When the three strode into the basketball gym, their faces beaming, they were greeted by Takenori Akagi's thunderous expression and towering fury.
"You bastards!!"
"You've still got the nerve to grin like that!"
Being late was one thing, but all three of them showing up several hours late was more than Akagi could stomach.
Unless he gave one of them a thorough dressing-down, he could hardly quell the "public outrage"!
But the problem giving Akagi a headache was how to punish them.
The usual procedure was to start with a fierce scolding to wear them down mentally, then move on to physical punishment: laps, push-ups, shuttle runs-whatever exhausted them most, enough to teach them a lesson in one go.
But these three were different. Every one of them was outrageously audacious, and all three happened to be stamina monsters...
To them, those physical punishments were practically playtime. They even joked and laughed while doing them, finding them much more entertaining than their regular training...
Takenori Akagi sighed helplessly. "Kogure, go talk to them. Make them see reason. They can't miss training without cause again. That's enough physical punishment. Punishing them is giving me a headache."
Kogure couldn't help laughing. "Leave it to me. Still, it's a good thing that they're getting along so well now."
"A whole squad of problem children," Akagi snorted. "I just hope they don't cause some huge disaster later."
Kogure looked toward Shirasawa, a hint of longing in his eyes, and couldn't help saying, "Akagi, if only that guy were here too. He could take my position. Then Shohoku would really be strong."
Takenori Akagi froze at those words, then immediately frowned.
"Why bring him up? He's just someone who gave up on his dream. And stop selling yourself short. The vice-captain is an important member of the team too."
Kogure sighed softly. "I was just saying. Don't worry, Akagi. I'll train hard and do everything I can to support you guys so we can seize our last chance!"
Just then, the gym doors opened.
Coach Anzai and Ayako walked in one after the other, and the coach immediately beckoned Akagi to gather everyone.
Once the players had assembled, Coach Anzai nodded.
"We have another practice game before the prefectural tournament begins."
A buzz of discussion immediately broke out among the players.
In previous years, they hadn't had a single practice game, and this year they were getting two in a row?
Coach Anzai chuckled. "Games are the best training. But this time, our opponents... are very strong."
???
The players were a little bewildered.
There were two kinds of strong.
One was genuinely strong, like last year's national champions, Sannoh, or Kainan, who had long dominated Kanagawa.
The other kind was "relatively strong"...
Based on Shohoku's past record, ninety percent of teams could be called strong.
Surely Coach Anzai couldn't mean the first kind...
Under everyone's curious gazes, Ayako slowly spoke.
"Ryonan High School."
"Ryonan?!!"
Almost every Shohoku player cried out at once.
This time, even Hanamichi Sakuragi joined in.
Apart from Shohoku, Sakuragi only knew two high schools that played basketball: Takezono, where Oda went, and Ryonan!
That was thanks to Hikoichi Aida, whom he had met that evening.
What surprised Sakuragi was the coincidence.
He had only just said he would beat them, and now they were coming right to him?
What stunned everyone else, however, was Ryonan High School's strength!
They were a genuinely strong team!
Across all of Kanagawa, Ryonan had made the biggest splash with its recruiting that summer.
Their entire original starting lineup was still there, and they had added a superstar scorer, Kaede Rukawa.
With Kaede Rukawa's ability, averaging twenty-something points in high school competition should have been a safe bet.
That was why some people said Ryonan had simply added twenty points...
Before the game even started, they might as well put another twenty points on the scoreboard.
Of course, that was only a joke other teams made, but it was enough to show Ryonan's strength on paper.
Ryonan had reached the prefectural final four last season. In theory, only Kainan and Shoyo were stronger. With Kaede Rukawa joining this season, Ryonan had become a title contender.
And Coach Anzai had actually arranged a practice game against a team like that...
How could they not be shocked?
The two teams weren't remotely in the same league!
In truth, even Coach Anzai hadn't expected this practice game.
Just yesterday, he had received a call from Ryonan's head coach, Moichi Taoka.
Taoka had been quite direct: Ryonan was a seeded team this year and would start in the quarterfinals, meaning they would play four fewer games than the other teams. To build chemistry beforehand, he wanted to arrange a practice game before the prefectural tournament.
As for choosing Shohoku as their opponent, Moichi Taoka had dressed it up as "helping Shohoku grow"...
"We brought in Kaede Rukawa, but didn't you recruit Shirasawa, the one who beat him? Ryota Miyagi is back too. You need to build some chemistry as well, don't you?"
"Your Shohoku team must want to go further this season, right? Then one game against our Ryonan will be worth ten against anyone else."
"How about it? Give the players some practice."
Coach Anzai chuckled. Regardless of how sincere Taoka was, this practice game was certainly worth arranging.
Having just beaten Takezono by a huge margin, the players were getting a little carried away. Once their sense of urgency weakened, the team's fighting strength would inevitably suffer.
Playing a strong team like Ryonan now would be just the thing to bring out their form and make them realize there were still plenty of formidable opponents out there. They had to stay hungry.
It would also let them identify their shortcomings in the game and address them before the prefectural tournament.
Each had his own considerations, and they hit it off immediately.
Just like that, the practice game was set.
Looking at the players' astonished faces, Coach Anzai said succinctly, "Oh? Judging by your reaction, you're very afraid of Ryonan. Then how about we call it off? We can set our goal at the final eight this year."
As soon as he finished, Takenori Akagi was the first to step forward, clenching his iron fists and igniting his teammates' fighting spirit.
"Coach, we have no problem with it! If we're afraid of even Ryonan, how can we talk about conquering the nation!"
"This year, we're the strongest we've ever been!"
Coach Anzai nodded in satisfaction. "That's the right attitude. You think Ryonan is strong, but have you considered this-with so many teams in Kanagawa, why did Ryonan have to pick us?"
The players exchanged looks. They really were a little puzzled.
At last year's prefectural tournament, Ryonan had given Shohoku a thorough beating. It had looked much like their last game against Takezono, with practically no ability to fight back. Back then, Takenori Akagi had been holding Shohoku up all by himself. He had managed to suppress Ryonan's center, Jun Uozumi, but Ryonan also had Sendoh. That guy had scored 47 points on his own, nearly as much as Shohoku's entire team. Calling it his one-man exhibition wouldn't have been an exaggeration.
Now Ryonan had suddenly come asking for another practice game. What was that about? Did Sendoh want another solo show? Or did they want to set the stage for their new arrival, Kaede Rukawa, too? Ryonan was a strong team, after all. Surely they wouldn't stoop that low...
While everyone was letting their thoughts run wild, Takenori Akagi spoke with absolute conviction. "Because we've gotten stronger!"
"Strong enough that even Ryonan has to take us seriously!"
His words startled everyone. When they turned to look at Coach Anzai, the old man's cheerful smile seemed to suggest that he agreed.
We've... already reached that level?
If there was one difference between this year and last, it had to be the lineup. At that thought, everyone's eyes involuntarily swept toward the newcomers.
Kuwata...
Ahem, skip him.
The next second, everyone caught on-right, wasn't the biggest change this year the addition of Shirasawa and Hanamichi Sakuragi?
Setting Hanamichi Sakuragi aside for now...
Shirasawa! He had beaten Kaede Rukawa in the junior high final! Although none of them had seen that game in person, they had heard Shirasawa had played for only fifty seconds before robbing Kaede Rukawa of both the championship and the MVP award. Ever since he had come to Shohoku, the whole team's level had shot straight up. His passing, especially, had benefited everyone, giving them more and more confidence in themselves and the team. They felt Shohoku had been completely transformed. Their crushing victory over Takezono in the last game was the best proof.