They were no longer the Shohoku that could be beaten simply by beating Akagi. That dream he had dreamed for over a decade had to come true this year.
"Shohoku!" Akagi suddenly tensed his arms and roared, "We're the strongest!!"
That roar released so many pent-up emotions and proclaimed his resolve as captain. At that moment, Takenori Akagi radiated an imposing presence. And all that confidence came from the dependable teammates around him.
Everyone else was fired up by him too, shouting in unison, "Shohoku!! We're the strongest!!"
Their voices made the gym reverberate.
"Ho ho ho ho..." Coach Anzai strolled in, chuckling. The sight warmed his heart, and his eyes behind his glasses grew a little misty.
Ayako also shook off her earlier gloom and returned to her usual capable self. Her figure was as stunning as ever, and those long legs still caught the eye...
"Looking fired up, everyone!" She clapped her hands. "Now you're starting to look like a championship team."
Then she walked to the wall, pulled out a sheet, and posted it. "Oh, right. I brought back this year's prefectural tournament bracket."
Dozens of teams were packed onto the sheet, divided into four major groups. Each group had a seeded team: last year's prefectural semifinalists, Kainan, Ryonan, Shoyo, and Takezato.
Those four teams did not have to play in the group rounds. They could wait to face the teams that advanced and compete for the semifinal spots. In other words, anyone wanting to reach the final four had to get past them.
The section Shohoku had landed in made every player's heart sink-their group's seeded team was Shoyo High School, last year's prefectural runner-up and a top-sixteen team at nationals.
"Huh? Why did we have to get Shoyo..." Yasuda and the other second-years could not help groaning. They knew the hierarchy in Kanagawa: among the final four, Kainan was strongest, with Shoyo close behind. Last year's standings made that clear. Ideally, they would have drawn Takezato's group, but they had not been that lucky.
Akagi snorted. "What are you complaining about? If we can't even get past Shoyo, how can we talk about conquering the nation!"
Ayako nodded in agreement. "Exactly. The group rounds are single elimination. Lose once, and you go home. We can't afford a single loss before reaching the final four."
She pointed at the first line of the bracket. "Our first opponent is Miuradai High School."
Hanamichi Sakuragi scratched his head, looking puzzled. "Miuradai? How do they compare to Ryonan?"
Ayako smiled and patiently explained, "There's still a gap between Miuradai and Ryonan, especially with Kaede Rukawa joining Ryonan this year. But don't underestimate them. In the winter qualifiers, they made it all the way to Kainan before being eliminated. This year, they're declaring they'll get revenge on Kainan, and they've strengthened their roster quite a bit."
After listening, Sakuragi nodded with an air of understanding. "I see... Since they can't even beat Ryonan, they're not worth this genius's attention. Yep, that's right."
Ayako was momentarily speechless, unsure how to respond.
Akagi sighed, picked up a pen, and circled Miuradai's name. "It's our first game, regardless. Let's win it before anything else!"
"Right!"
"Ho ho ho ho... That's the spirit."
The nineteenth, Kanagawa Prefectural Gymnasium.
Crowds milled outside the gym, with plenty of spectators lining up. Today marked the opening of the prefectural tournament. After a long wait, the basketball fans finally had a new season.
Although the favorites all had byes straight into the quarterfinal round, that did nothing to dampen the fans' enthusiasm. Every team had its own talking points, after all.
For example, the game about to begin: Shohoku versus Miuradai.
That article in Basketball Weekly had already driven anticipation sky-high. Plenty of people wanted to see just who this Shirasawa from Shohoku was, to warrant being compared with Sendoh.
More importantly, eighteen assists and zero shot attempts in a single half... Those bizarre stats were a draw in themselves.
As for Miuradai, they had made an appearance in the winter qualifiers too and had some ability.
Miuradai certainly shouted their slogans loud enough, constantly talking about getting revenge on Kainan. But people still had their doubts about how good they really were.
Half an hour before the game, a line had already formed outside the gym.
The players from both teams had arrived even earlier and were now waiting in their respective locker rooms for the game to begin.
On Shohoku's side, the atmosphere was a little strange.
Most of them were not smiling.
"Old man! Have you gone senile?!"
Hanamichi Sakuragi was so agitated that he stamped his feet.
Just moments earlier, Coach Anzai had announced the starting lineup: Takenori Akagi, Kakuta, Kiminobu Kogure, Tetsushi Shiozaki, and Yasuharu Yasuda.
Shirasawa, Miyagi, Mitsui, and Sakuragi himself had all been stuck on the bench.
The reason was that fight that had become the talk of the entire school.
The school had already dealt with Yohei, Tetsuo Hotta, and the others, but Coach Anzai knew it was not that simple... So he had decided to bench these boys for the first game as a lesson.
Honestly, aside from Sakuragi, the others did not take it too seriously.
Shirasawa had expected it, and Miyagi and Mitsui were no fools either. They knew Coach Anzai could not really keep them out of the game-otherwise, by the end of it, the team might as well disband.
Only Sakuragi was both frantic and bewildered, feeling that this genius's prefectural tournament debut had gone up in smoke.
The ones truly wearing worried faces were Yasuda and the others.
The pressure was enormous.
They knew their own abilities. What if they dug a huge hole right at the start and it proved impossible to climb out later?
Besides, several key players would be sitting behind them, watching... Their stares alone were enough to make it hard to breathe.
Faced with Sakuragi's shouting, Coach Anzai merely chuckled.
"This is your punishment for fighting. Take the time to reflect."
Sakuragi plopped back into his seat and wailed, "This is supposed to be this genius's debut... And you're letting small fry like Yasuda play instead..."
Takenori Akagi planted a hand on his head.
"Quiet down."
He turned to face the whole team. "Whoever plays and whoever sits, we represent Shohoku. Get your heads in the game. We have to win this!"
"Let's go!"
"Yes!"
At the same time, in Miuradai's locker room.
Captain Kengo Murasame curled his lips into a slightly mocking smile.
"Shohoku? Just a third-rate team. Our only target this year is Kainan."
He swept his gaze over his teammates. "Ten minutes. Build a lead within ten minutes, and let's finish this boring game early."
"Let's go. Show the crowd Miuradai's true strength."
The announcement rang out over the court.
"The Kanagawa Prefectural Tournament Group C game between Shohoku High School and Miuradai High School will begin shortly."
"Players from both teams, please enter the court."
"Wow, there are so many people today!"
In the stands, Hikoichi Aida led the Ryonan team in search of seats and, in a moment of inattention, sat in the coach's seat himself.
"Hikoichi..." Moichi Taoka's low voice came from behind him.
Hikoichi quickly jumped up. "Sorry, sorry! Hehe, I got too excited."
Moichi Taoka shook his head and sat down.
Ryonan's quarterfinal round had not started yet. Aside from training, they would also pick out games to watch so they could keep tabs on the key teams.
Shohoku was the one they were watching most closely.
Even Sendoh had been dragged along.
Anyone with eyes could tell, however, that Coach Taoka had forced him to come to "keep the team together." Right now, he had headphones on and was lazily flipping through an illustrated book.
"Sendoh! Since you're here, pay attention!"
Moichi Taoka was getting annoyed.
Used to this, Sendoh gave a perfunctory nod.
"Miuradai and Shohoku aren't even on the same level."
He tossed out the remark casually.
Not far away, Yohei Mito and the others had arrived along with Haruko Akagi.
They counted among the few die-hard supporters Shohoku currently had.
Haruko quietly waited for the game to begin, but the jokers beside Yohei were peering everywhere through binoculars. They hardly looked like they had come to watch basketball.
"Hey, hey, found one! Wow, those legs... Hehe, that waist... Hehe, perfect, this one..."
Halfway through speaking, Nozomi Takamiya suddenly lowered his binoculars and adopted a serious expression.
"Keep going! Why'd you stop? Let me see!"
"You fat bastard, keeping her all to yourself? That's low!"
They reached out to snatch them, but Nozomi Takamiya raised his hand and declared solemnly, "Sorry. It's sister-in-law."
At those words, they froze where they stood, as though someone had pressed pause.
Then they nodded in unspoken agreement. "Yeah, next one."
The doors to the players' tunnel finally opened.
The two teams walked onto the court under the eyes of the entire crowd.
Takenori Akagi held his head high, brimming with presence.
"Let's go!"
With that low shout, he led this entirely new Shohoku team onto the prefectural tournament court.
"Hey, Shohoku's here. Basketball Weekly hyped them to the skies. Today we'll see just how good they really are."
Someone in the stands pointed at Akagi and remarked, "I still remember that game last year. Shohoku lost by over forty points, but Akagi alone had seven or eight dunks. He was seriously intimidating."
"Look at number nine! He's so handsome!"
"That's Shirasawa, Shohoku's super rookie this year. You're swooning when you don't even know who he is?"
Amid the crowd's buzzing chatter, the players from both teams had taken their places in front of their benches.
Takenori Akagi suddenly thrust his arm up and roared, "Shohoku!"
The starters followed him, striding onto the court.
Uozumi folded his arms and huffed. "Akagi's certainly making a show of it this year."
It was true. In previous years, Akagi had always entered silently for Shohoku's games, struggled alone for over thirty minutes, then quietly left with another loss. But this year was different. He radiated a proud confidence.
"Wait... What's going on?" Hikoichi Aida suddenly pointed at Shohoku's bench and cried, "Aside from Captain Akagi, Shirasawa, Miyagi, and Sakuragi-senpai are all sitting on the bench!"
"Does Shohoku think that little of Miuradai?"
At his shout, the entire Ryonan team looked over.
Moichi Taoka frowned. Was Shohoku being... too arrogant? Or did they have something else planned? He could not help looking toward Coach Anzai on the opposite bench.
Sendoh slipped one headphone off his ear and drawled, "Maybe they're holding something in reserve."
On the court, both teams' starters were in position.
The referee blew his whistle and tossed the ball into the air.
Takenori Akagi jumped with all his might-this leap was his first step toward nationals!
He firmly tipped the basketball into his own half. In front of Akagi, the gap between him and Miuradai's center, Kawasaki, was plain to see.