Chapter XII

“Damn, there still up!” Asari complained.

“It’s that Iwasaki guy, he’s totally on a rampage right now,” Suzuki chimed in.

“You’ve been shooting the ball well Sugahara,

but you need to get your teammates involved.

That is what it means to be point guard,” Miyamura said to me.

I looked away as he told me that.

“If you need a true point guard then sub in Suzuki or Kojima then,” I replied.

“You’re a true point guard Sugahara, i’ve seen you play in junior high!” Miyamura exclaimed.

“Nah, I’m a new player, I’ve changed my playstyle a lot since then,” I stated.

“If you want our team to play better then put me at shooting guard and Kojima at the 1!” I remarked.

“I’m the coach! I decide what we’re going to do, you hear me?” Miyamura snapped at Sugahara.

Kojima put his hand on my shoulder.

“Just listen to what the coach has to say,” he told me.

Kojima was looking out for me, but I also wanted to look out for him.

I wanted him to get some playing time.

“We’ll run the same formation, but this time you need you start facilitating your teammates, got that?” Miyamura said.

“Fine, not like winning matters,” I said.

“What?” Miyamura questioned.

“From the start, you didn’t care about winning this match.

That's why you left Nakamura and me on the bench.

You merely wanted to see how much of an impact we can make, that’s what you

wanted to test correct?” I explained.

Coach Miyamura was silent for a moment.

“That’s right, yeah that’s what I was testing.

It seems like it was for nothing however, because you haven’t made much of an impact at all yet Sugahara, in fact, we’re down more points than when you entered,”

Miyamura said.

He’s right, I haven’t been playing right.

I wanted to play like this intentionally so Miyamura would let Kojima play point guard.

“Alright, I understand,” I responded.

“Let’s do this guys, together,” I said to my teammates.

Half-time was about to end, and the third quarter was about to start.

However right before it did, a door in the gym opened.

A person entered the gym from the side and walked over to

Shinjo Tech’s bench.

“So he showed up after all,” Miyamura said.

Shinjo Tech’s ace player, Yamato Cain.

image [https://i.imgur.com/yb6V1b0.jpg]

Though he was dressed in regular clothing, looking as though he wasn’t ready

to play yet.

* Quick POV: Yamato Cain -

“Do you plan on playing?” Coach Jin asked me.

“No, I just came to watch,” I replied.

I quickly glanced at the scoreboard.

We were only up 8?

Against a team like Sakura, the lead should be way more.

I do see some new heads over there at Sakura’s bench.

“So, which player is giving us the most trouble?

Is it Reo?” I asked Iwasaki.

“No, it’s not actually, it's that kid over there with the dark blue hair, Sugahara Oda,” Iwasaki replied.

“Well, I wouldn’t say he’s giving us trouble, rather he’s just been scoring a lot is all, there's not much else on the table he’s offering,” Iwasaki added.

“I see, well then you guys won’t need me after all,” I responded.

“How many points do you have Iwasaki?” I asked.

“22, that other kids got 20 as well,” he replied.

Interesting, to think Sakura has such an offensive weapon.

It makes me want to play against him.

However, as Iwasaki said, the kid doesn’t really put much else to the table, so he must not be a complete player worth my time.

I briefly glanced over at Reo.

“Hmph”

* POV: Kojima -

The third quarter started up, and Sugahara and them proceeded to get back in the game.

“I didn’t know Sugahara was capable of talking back to his coach,” Haruno said.

“Yeah, those two were really arguing back there,” Kinoshita said.

“It’s seen as disrespectful,” I chimed in.

“However, the fact things didn’t escalate meant that everything was fine,” I added.

He was doing it more for me after all.

I knew what he was trying to elude to the coach, he wanted

me to get in the game for him so I could get some minutes.

However, that’s not the best move right now.

We need Sugahara to get us back in the game since we’re down 8.

He’s capable of doing so, that's why Miyamura left him in.

“Woah, that was a good shot!” Kinoshita exclaimed.

Sugahara broke down his defender and hit a step-back 3 in the corner.

Seriously, he’s so skilled.

I started to think about whether Sugahara could be better than Irie.

I wanted to say so, but I would just be lying to myself.

The answer was no.

That day, Irie was just on a whole nother plane.

I continued to watch our team play.

This time around, however, something was different.

Sugahara was passing the ball and making plays.

As a team, we just shot 2 threes the moment the quarter started,

and Sugahara just lobbed the ball up to Asari for another dunk.

It was only 2 minutes into the quarter, and we were already back in this game.

It was now 46 - 46, a tie game.

* POV: Yamato Reo -

I was breathing really heavily at the time.

The second I saw Cain enter the gym, my heart started pumping fast.

All of a sudden, something was unleashed inside me.

Iwasaki got the ball and looked to shoot it from the three-point line this time.

But his shot… it sort of looked slow.

Too slow.

Like his body was freezing, it looked as though he was moving in slow motion.

Slowly getting slower and slower.

Until… he froze still.

“You’re… TOO SLOW!” I exclaimed, smacking the ball out of his hands.

“What the!”

With the ball free from his grasp, I wrestled my way towards it and secured it.

It was now another fast-break opportunity and I ran as fast as I could.

This whole game Iwasaki has been beating me, well I won’t allow that anymore!

I raced towards the other end of the court and soared in the air, delivering a swift and powerful two-hand slam.

SLAMMMMM

I’d say it was louder than all of Asari’s dunks so far.

After the dunk, I ran back to defense.

“I must say, Im quite jealous Yamato.

Dunking is the only thing I can’t do yet,” Sugahara commented.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

The offense came running back to answer the call, however Sugahara came up with another steal.

I ran quickly to the corner to try and get an open three.

The defense transitioned back quickly and was able to stop the fast break.

However, we still had an offensive advantage, as the defense had not been able to establish maximum ground yet, leaving some open gaps to the basket.

Sugahara passed it to me in the corner.

I drove past my defender in the corner completely,

and now it was a one-way trip to the basket with only one person in my way, Iwasaki.

“What are you going to do? I’m right here!” Iwasaki stated.

“Then get out of my way!” I said.

I leaped up into the air and punched the ball into the basket yet again, but this time on top of a defender.

BAMM!!!

“Iwasaki got put on a poster!” Asari yelled.

“Dammit!” Iwasaki whimpered.

* Time Out - Shinjo -

A whistle blew for a time-out, called by Shinjo.

We were a little over halfway through the third quarter

with only 4 minutes left on the clock.

We now had the lead, 50 - 46.

Shinjo hasn’t been able to score at all this quarter.

* Quick POV: Yamato Cain -

“I’ve seen enough, sub me in coach,” I said to Coach Jin.

“I trust you're ready?” Jin asked me.

“Yeah, I already stretched an hour ago, I should be good,” I replied.

I took off my team jumpsuit and underneath was already my jersey.

“So you planned on playing this whole time?” Ota asked me.

“Only if I felt the need, in this case, I do,” I replied.

“Let’s get this show on the road,” I said.

* POV: Reo -

“It looks like Cain is about to come in,” Arisu mentioned.

“You know what you have to do against your brother right?” Miyamura told me.

“Wait? BROTHER!?” everyone yelled.

“Yeah, Cains my twin brother,” I replied

“TWIN!?” Again they yelled out.

“Now that you mention it, they do literally look identical,” Sugahara said.

“Yeah, I guess I haven’t seen Cain up close enough to actually notice until now,” Kojima added.

“We’ll first have Sugahara on him, but if things prove too difficult, I’d like you to guard him Yamato.

I’ll also have Asari become the primary defender on Iwasaki.” Miyamura said.

Now that there are two focal points to worry about, we might be in for a whole lot of trouble.

I’ve been waiting for this day.

To finally face off against my brother.

And I want to win.

The time out was over and Shinjo made their subs.

Cain was now officially in the game.

They had the ball and Cain walked down the court with the ball.

“You’ve been giving us some trouble. What was your name? Sugahara?

Well, I commend you for that,” Cain said to Sugahara.

“However your defense as far as I’ve seen was mediocre at best, so, I’m sorry that you have to guard me,” He added.

“You sure are different from that Ota fella, I’ll give you that,” Sugahara said.

“Things are starting to get hot in here,” Cain said.

“Let’s spice things up,” Cain said as he started to make his move.

A quick dribble led Cain past Sugahara and was rapidly approaching Asari.

Asari stood in the paint and was ready to contest.

I couldn’t switch onto Cain because Iwasaki was on my tail, ready to make his pounce.

From his left side, Cain bounced the ball down low and got real close to the floor.

“He’s going low!” Arisu shouted to Asari.

No, he’s…

At that moment, Cain used the power he created from his low dribble to explode into a spin move, spinning away from Asari and creating some separation.

At this point, Asari was still under the basket, while Cain had a new angle to work with on the left side of the basket.

Cain rose up and performed a windmill dunk, a specialty dunk that was ferocious and flashy.

With Asari under the basket, he had no choice but to get slammed on.

“This is for Iwasaki,” Cain said to Asari.

Earlier in the quarter I dunked Iwasaki, and now Cain took his revenge by dunking on Asari.

BAMMMM!!!!

A dunk that roared louder than my own.

Asari was left on the floor, however the referee blew a whistle.

A foul was called on Asari for smacking Cain's cheek as Cain performed his dunk.

It was an and-1 play by Cain.

Cain got to shoot 1 extra free throw and he made it.

In just his first possession Cain made his presence known.

* POV: Sugahara -

Damn, I guess he really is as good as they say.

Cain was able to speed-blitz me and dunk on Asari.

He’s quite athletic.

He definitely shares the same body as Reo, however, Cain can use his athleticism even more effectively.

I had to return the favor now.

In the next possession, I ran the ball down and started to size Cain up.

“I won’t let you score on me as easily as Ota,” he remarked.

It’s true, Ota was a smaller and less experienced guy, so it wasn’t hard to score on him.

However, Yamato’s brother is in a different league.

I’ll have to dive deep into my move set to score on him.

However, it’s not just my responsibility to score.

I can have other people score for me.

It’s been a while since I was pitted against such a formidable opponent.

This guy’s aura is flowing through the gym, and for once, I actually care to win this game.

I drove to my right then crossed left, and back right.

I created a little separation, but it wasn’t enough to fully clear Cain.

I was forced to stop my run and pass it.

Damn, this guy is no slouch on defense either.

I ended up passing it to Nakamura.

Nakamura pivoted against his opponent.

“We got a lot of crazy dudes in this gym,” Nakamura said.

“But don’t forget about me!” He exclaimed.

Nakamura laid out his moves on his defender and opted to shoot a midrange shot in his opponent's face.

Up until now, Nakamura has had a quiet game with only 2 points off of 1 attempt.

Now he has 4 and looks like he’s ready to go on a tear.

The game has now become another scoring flurry like before.

But this time it’s different.

Our whole team has been getting opportunities to score now instead of just me.

“Nice pass Sugahara!” Reo said to me after laying it up on a back door cut.

Nakamura started to heat up more and scored 2 straight baskets.

However it wasn’t just going well for us, Yamato Cain had become the floor general for Shinjo and was scoring easily himself as well has setting up his teammates.

The third quarter finally came to a close, but we were able to come out on top, thanks to everyone’s contributions.

Shinjo had open looks however some of their players, including Iwasaki fell into a missing steak.

The score at the end of the quarter was 64 - 63.

We were up by one now.

Back at the bench, we made some new substitutions.

Asari had been playing the whole game and was very out of breath.

The coach saw this and put Okamoto in for Asari.

He also subbed in Suzuki for Arisu, who had also been playing the whole game.

Everything else was unchanged.

After subs were made, the fourth quarter started abruptly.

We had to end the game strong, we were only holding a one-point lead.

However something was wrong, I couldn’t help but feel like something was different now.

Shinjo didn’t make any substitutions, but for some reason, they seemed different.

The source of this difference was coming from Cain.

His aura had gotten even more intense since last quarter.

“I’ve gone ahead and decided…” Cain said.

“That the victor of this match shall be us,” he continued.

Quickly, he jab stepped hard, but I was able to recover.

He then sprinted past me, but this time I was still on him, just barely.

A quick pass to Iwasaki resulted in a made bucket.

Though Asari needed to rest, Okamoto had no idea how to guard Iwasaki.

We ran back up the court, however Cain applied a lot more pressure on me than before.

It was already tough to score on him, but this time, I saw no openings at all, no weaknesses in sight.

I passed it to Nakamura, who had a hot hand last quarter.

However, his defender pressured the ball out of his hands.

Turnover

Cain got the ball and led the fast break.

He kicked it out to another guard and they got a wide-open three.

This isn’t good, they’re gaining so much momentum now.

In our next possession, I received a screen from Okamoto.

I was able to drive successfully, and I pulled up for a 2 pointer near the free-throw line.

However, from behind, Cain poked the ball, resulting in a block and another turnover.

Cain fiercely ran down the court and dunked the ball.

“I’m going to crush all of your spirits,” Cain stated.

As the game progressed, he kept true to his word.

Shinjo kept on scoring at a high clip, and we weren’t able to score back.

Cain had gotten the best out of me.

It was my job to help my team but Cain’s pressure has me in a chokehold.

My passes only get through him by a hair.

There were only 5 minutes left in the quarter and all of the sudden we were down by 10 points.

The score was now 66 - 76, and the team was starting to lose hope.

* Time out - Sakura -

“Cain’s not giving me many options,” I said to the guys.

“He’s playing with grit now,” Arisu commented.

“This game isn’t winnable as it stands,” said Miyamura.

“This game was more for experimenting, and seeing how well you guys mesh together on the court,” he continued.

“With that, I’d like to try one more lineup,”

“Sugahara, I’ll move you to shooting guard, and I’ll sub Suzuki out for Kojima,”

My eyes lit up, it was what I wanted from the beginning.

“This will free up some pressure on Sugahara so he can focus on scoring, we need all the firepower we can get right now to overcome the deficit.

Kojima, I’ll need you to focus on playmaking, but get a bucket if you can,” Miyamura added.

“I’ll also put Asari back in,”

So this is our final stand.

Kojima and me, along with Nakamura and Yamato, with Asari to top things off.

“Do you need rest?” Miyamura asked Yamato.

“No, I’m fine, I need to stay in the game,” he replied.

Yamato has played the whole game so far, but he doesn’t look too tired.

He has the best endurance out of everyone on the team.

We came out to play the last 5 minutes of the game.

It was one last push to see if we can get over the top.

And if we can’t then so be it.

It was only a practice match anyway.

With Kojima here I think that…

I’ll give in a little more effort.

Just a bit.

Kojima walked down the court and had Yamato Cain staring him down.

“I don’t want to underestimate you, but seriously?

Is this Sakura’s answer?

Or perhaps you guys have given up entirely,” Yamato Cain questioned.

However, Kojima didn’t shy away.

He looked just as focused as he did the entire time, even when he was on the bench.

Kojima dribbled and sliced through Cain’s aura.

Kojima was quick on his feet, being smaller than Cain, Kojima dribbled low to the ground, avoiding Cain’s pressure.

Cain came back in front of Kojima, but Kojima stopped.

With one hand, Kojima flung a swift and powerful pass to a cutting Yamato Reo.

Reo caught the ball and hit a reverse layup over Iwasaki.

“Nice!” I shouted.

* POV: Kojima -

After Yamato scored, we all headed back on defense.

Their lead was now back to single digits.

Cain approached me, but someone stepped in the way.

“I’ll be guarding him this time,” Reo said.

Cain narrowed his eyes.

Cain viscously pounded the ball, harder and harder.

The sound that the bounce emitted kept getting louder and louder.

Quickly, without time to react, Cain flew past Reo.

Cain pulled up to shoot a midrange shot, but from behind, Reo tipped the ball out of Cain’s hands, similar to how Cain just blocked Sugahara.

“Tch,” Cain let out.

We grabbed a hold of the ball, and I ran the ball up the court.

From the corner of my eye, I saw that Nakamura had a head start from his defender.

I threw the ball up the court, it was almost a full-court pass.

“What vision!” Reo exclaimed.

Everyone, including the other team, was surprised by my pass just now.

The ball went through the defense and found itself in Nakamura’s hands.

With a full head of steam, Nakamura sped up and left his defender in the dust.

Nakamura would jam in his first dunk of the game through my assist.

“So that’s how it is huh? I see now,” Cain said.

In the next possession, Cain beat out Reo this time and was able to finish around the rim for an easy two points.

As I sized up Cain, I passed the ball to Sugahara in the corner.

Sugahara pump faked and drove to the paint.

Cain sagged off me slightly and went to contest Sugahara.

However, Sugahara anticipated the help and bounced the ball back over to me.

I was wide open at the three.

Splash

I was able to hit the shot.

It was my first ever career high school points, assisted by Sugahara.

Shinjo was able to fire back a three however, and practically erased my three.

Back on offense, I passed it to Sugahara again, where he sniped the ball into the basket, giving us three points again.

The rest of the final quarter was uber-competitive, however, the initial 10-point lead that Shinjo had could not be closed in time.

Cain kept on attacking, and we simply couldn’t put up enough shots to close the pre-existing gap, on top of Shinjo's current scoring.

In my first high school basketball game…

We lost.