Chapter Four: Dominate Nationals!
"KISE! KISE! LET'S GO!"
"GO! GO! RYONAN!"
If anyone was happiest about this practice match so far, it was Coach Taoka on Ryonan's bench. Initially, he'd been irritated with Kaijo—the moment Coach Takeuchi recruited a Generation of Miracles player, he couldn't resist coming over to show off.
Like Ryonan didn't have talent too!
Coach Taoka's expectations for this game had simply been for Sendoh Akira to teach their rookies a lesson. He just hadn't anticipated that Kise Ryota's ability would far exceed his imagination. If they were both first-years, Sendoh might not even match up to that genius across the court.
However—
Coach Taoka's gaze shifted to Yagami Sorato, who stood facing down Kise Ryota. The more he looked, the more satisfied he became!
"What's wrong? Not going to attack?" Kise taunted Yagami.
Unlike against Kasamatsu, Yagami held no physical advantages over Kise—not in size, not in speed.
"Then let's—"
Yagami dropped low into his stance, hands rapidly crossovering the ball.
"Heh." Kise didn't focus on the basketball. Instead, he mirrored Yagami's stance, watching his core.
This preparation move was one of Kise's own favorites before attacking. He knew exactly how to defend it.
BANG!
The ball hammered off the floor, bouncing back toward Yagami's left hand.
"Now!"
Kise's hand shot out for the steal!
Yagami showed no panic. His left hand met the ball and immediately pounded it back to the floor.
BANG!
Kise's palm missed by a hair as the ball shot between his legs!
A nutmeg?!
Gasps erupted from the sideline crowd.
No—not quite!
Kise had Yagami's body position sealed. The ball went through, but Yagami couldn't follow!
Stopped it!
Before the smile could fully form on Kise's face, Yagami took a step forward.
BANG!
A third impact as the ball struck the floor.
Yagami's right hand reached behind Kise—a bounce pass!
SMACK!
Uozumi Jun caught the ball and froze for an instant before his face lit up with fierce joy. He leaned his body backward, bulldozing Kobori out of position, then exploded upward and hammered the ball through the rim with both hands!
BOOM!
Slam dunk!
Ryonan 31 - 28 Kaijo
"YEAH! UOZUMI-SENPAI WITH THE JAM!"
"That power—I swear the whole backboard shook..."
"DON'T LET THEM TAKE THE LEAD! CRUSH THEM!" Uozumi roared.
The gymnasium atmosphere reached a fever pitch!
"Ha ha ha!" Coach Taoka couldn't suppress his laughter.
More than Yagami's initial scoring, these last two assists to Koshino Hiroaki and Uozumi Jun thrilled him even more.
"Excellent! Excellent!"
Coach Taoka's goals for Ryonan's basketball team this year quietly evolved. Not just reach nationals—dominate nationals!
Kasamatsu pushed the ball into the frontcourt. This time he didn't waste energy battling Yagami, immediately firing a direct pass to the right wing after creating space.
Power forward Hayakawa Mitsuhiro caught the ball and rose for an immediate jumper. Ikegami Ryoji was a step slow, his diagonal contest falling short.
SMACK!
"Huh?!"
Uozumi had somehow appeared on the right side of the paint, elevating to swat the shot!
"How is that possible?!"
"Seven feet is just too much for high school players!"
The ball bounced off the floor. Kise beat Sendoh to it by a fraction.
"Still live!"
To escape Sendoh's pressure, Kise drove into the paint for a pull-up jumper.
"NOT ON MY WATCH!"
SMACK!
The ball, mid-flight toward the basket, got slapped down by Uozumi again!
"Even Kise?!"
"WOOOOO!"
"INCREDIBLE! THAT DUNK ACTIVATED UOZUMI-SENPAI!"
"One more chance!"
The ball landed near the free-throw line. Hayakawa tipped it toward the basket. Kobori secured it, gripped it with both hands, and rose for a power dunk!
"YOU CAN'T DO WHATEVER YOU WANT IN MY PAINT!"
Uozumi jumped for the third time, smacking the ball clean out of Kobori's hands.
"!!!"
The entire Ryonan bench erupted to their feet.
"UOZUMI! UOZUMI!"
The ball flew far out of bounds—finally not Kaijo's possession. Yagami led the fast break, scooping up the ball and charging toward Kaijo's basket.
"STOP HIM!"
Kasamatsu chased Yagami relentlessly, but that half-step gap refused to close.
BOOM!
Yagami drove into the paint and took flight.
At that moment, Kise appeared from his left rear!
"Kise's recovery speed is insane!"
"WATCH YOUR BACK!" the Ryonan players shouted.
Yagami's layup motion transformed as he softly lobbed the ball behind him.
Sendoh elevated behind all three players, catching the basketball in mid-air and throwing down a one-handed tomahawk dunk!
BOOM!
Ryonan 33 - 28 Kaijo
"SENDOH! SENDOH!"
"YAGAMI! YAGAMI!"
The Ryonan bench grew more animated by the second, the players now chanting for Yagami as well.
"Excellent! The team's morale is surging!" Coach Taoka sat confidently in the bench area, arms crossed, nodding continuously. "Let today's practice match be the starting point for Ryonan's journey—to dominate nationals!"
TWEET!
"Kaijo timeout!"
In the four-quarter game format, each team has two one-minute timeouts in the first half and three in the second half, plus two-minute breaks between quarters.
"DEFENSE! WHERE'S THE DEFENSE?!"
"Can no one besides Kise play basketball?!" Coach Takeuchi roared. "Move without the ball on offense! Use your body on defense!"
"Even if you can't get steals, pressure them! Don't let them shoot comfortably!" He paused, his gaze sweeping across every player. The fury in his voice was palpable. "If you won't give effort now, I have plenty of ways to make you remember today's lesson in practice!"
"DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!"
"YES SIR!" The Kaijo players tensed, their bodies tightening up.
TWEET!
Timeout over. Game resumed.
Coach Takeuchi's courtside tirade hadn't been wasted. Kaijo's players moved with renewed aggression, their footwork quickened, and their defensive pressure intensified dramatically.
Still, this scenario fell well within Coach Taoka's expectations. He'd never wanted Ryonan to trade buckets at a fast pace with Kaijo anyway. With Kise Ryota on the other side, pulling away to a significant lead would be nearly impossible.
"Since we're playing halfcourt basketball," Coach Taoka's gaze shifted to Ryonan's paint, a knowing smile on his face, "this is Uozumi's stage!"
The disciple he'd coached from freshman to senior year sensed the rhythm change. His massive frame anchored Ryonan's interior, making Kaijo's drives and layups painfully difficult while vacuuming up defensive rebounds.
The back-and-forth grind made the game increasingly tense, with both teams' offensive efficiency noticeably declining.
However, Ryonan's rebounding advantage allowed them to gradually extend their lead.
SWISH!
After Uozumi grabbed another defensive board, he fired the outlet to Yagami on the perimeter.
Following two consecutive misses after the timeout, Yagami finally knocked down another three-pointer.
Ryonan 46 - 37 Kaijo
"Huff... huff..."
Yagami breathed heavily. He could see it now—he probably had the worst conditioning on the floor. No helping it. The only two first-years out there were him and Kise Ryota, but that guy was part of the Generation of Miracles.
Coach Taoka nodded approvingly. For Yagami's performance level, showing fatigue only now was already quite impressive.
He signaled Uekusa Tomoyuki to warm up, preparing to substitute in. However, he wasn't ready to pull Yagami immediately. For one thing, Ryonan still controlled the game's pace. For another, he wanted to see how Yagami would handle this situation.
Kaijo inbound.
Kise found Yagami again. After a series of crossovers, he blew past him on the right side with a single explosive step.
Uozumi anchored the paint.
Kise pulled up from the right side of the restricted area.
Two points good.
Ryonan 46 - 39 Kaijo
"What's wrong? Is this all you've got?" Kise turned back with a disdainful smirk.
"???"
Yagami had already sprinted past half court, Kasamatsu trailing behind him.
Ryonan quick-inbounded. Sendoh launched a quarterback-style long pass, the ball arcing perfectly through the air and landing precisely in Yagami's hands.
Yagami stopped outside the three-point line.
"???"
Kasamatsu, expecting him to drive for a dunk, overran the play and scrambled to recover.
Yagami was already airborne.
"Ah!"
Three-pointer—nothing but net!
Ryonan 49 - 39 Kaijo
The lead ballooned to ten points!
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