When I walked into practice on Monday, I was surprised by what I saw. I thought that I'd gotten there early; practice would not start for another hour, and I'd immediately come to the gym as soon as classes ended. But there was Koshino. His face as flushed with exhaustion, sweat drenched his t-shirt and the salty brine poured down his forehead. But there he was, running line drills by himself.
After he finished his last set, he collapsed on the spot, and for a second I thought he'd passed out. When he didn't move for a few minutes, I began to get worried and began walking toward him. But before I'd gotten halfway there, Koshino had already gotten up again, and began to stretch. I continued to walk over to him and finally sat down next to him, joining him for the stretches.
I looked over at him as he was doing butterflies. "When'd you get here?"
He moved to another stretch and took a second before answering. "I have lunch as my last period, so I've been here since then." He grunted in exertion as he struggled to touch his toes. "I need the practice if I'm even going to get in the playing rotation."
I knew from the recent practices that Koshino had not done very well. He showed a lot of effort and intelligence, but he just didn't have the same natural talent that we did. It wasn't that he was not athletic, but the fact was that we were just so much more athletic than he was. And it appeared that he just couldn't hit shots during the games. With the first scrimmage approaching us, Koshino was worried that he'd not even make the playing rotation. Taoka was notorious for having a small rotation, and Koshino just had not performed well enough. I was pretty sure that he would not make the rotation.
Most guys would quit if they were in Koshino's situation, but he just keeps on working. I hope everything works out for the best for him, but the chances of him seeing many minutes at all is very unlikely.
After we had both stretched, we jogged around the court for a few minutes and began shooting around. Koshino looked very distracted and it was evident in his inability to sink jump shots.
I decided to talk to him for a second and try to get his mind off of what I knew must be just killing him inside.
"How do you know so much about this ball-club anyway?"
Koshino glanced at me quizzically. "What do you mean?"
I shrugged. "Well, my first day, you gave me a pretty in depth scouting report on the whole team, and I was just wondering how you knew so much."
He smiled wryly. "Do you know that I wasn't even recruited to come here? It's always been my dream to play for the Ryonan team. Couple of other schools came to me, offering entrance to their high schools if I'd join their team, but I knew I had to go to Ryonan."
"You're a walk-on?"
"Yeah. Of the 12 players on the active roster, I'm the only one that wasn't recruited. I guess when I came to try-outs, Coach just saw something in me that he liked, I don't know. What I do know is that I'm damn lucky to be here, but I also have a dream of one day dressing and playing for this team. I'll be damned if I'm gonna ride that bench all season long.
"Anyway, I've always paid a lot of attention to this team and more or less memorized everyone's scouting report when I came here, to find out what the competition's like."
I nodded and returned to shooting, at a loss for words. I was heavily recruited by several schools, so I had no idea what Koshino had to go through, but now I understood even better how important this was to him.
It wasn't long before the others started showing up and for today's practice Coach Taoka broke us up into two teams: the second and third year players versus the freshmen. Kato, Uozumi, Ikegami and Tokugami were joined by a second year power forward, Osamo Hoiro. On my team: Koshino, Uekusa, Fukuda and a first year center, Akemi Kenichi. Every one of us has something to prove, whether it's for playing time, or for respect. We won't go down quietly.
The game started with a jump ball. The game was played to 21, win by two, by ones and twos. Uozumi easily won the tip and Kato started with the ball. The upper-classmen had the basket going from left to right, and Kato dribbled to the top of the three-point line.
He sneered at me nastily and spoke, "Time for school, rookie."
I ignored the remark and lowered into a defensive crouch in front of him. Before I could even think to react, Kato exploded to his right and blew right by me for a lay up.
And so the game started. Kato was playing with more lethality than before and Koshino played with a hunger and a viciousness that arose from only the most desperate of the players.
Koshino literally was all over the place. He chased the ball down end to end and was not afraid to dive after loose balls. I could not fathom where he got such an endless supply of energy. But in all honesty, I had really no time to worry about that. I had my hands full getting by ass ripped apart by Kato. I could not touch him. He had never looked more focused than he did now.
Then it happened. Tokugami came off a pick set by Hoiro, rubbing off Koshino by the head of the key. He rose up for the shot just as Fukuda reached him. He released the ball, but it was tipped by Fukuda. The ball clanged off the rim and Uozumi leaped to grab the rebound. Just as the carom reached Uozumi's hands, Koshino exploded out of nowhere and ripped the ball out of the sky. Bodies crashed and Koshino was violently tossed the ground. He didn't let go of the ball, though, and clutched at it desperately. He slowly got up and let out a crazed roar that rang throughout the gym.
That roar triggered something primal within me. Something that said that there was no way in hell that I was going let Kato take me again; that I would not allow that to happen. The frustration that had been welling up inside of me finally exploded and burned white hot with passion and hunger. Unable to control myself, I got the ball and immediately went to work on Kato.
"Come on!" I bellowed the challenge at my foe.
"Show me something, rookie!"
My eyes burned with intensity as I felt adrenaline flood every fiber of my being. This is it; this is the stuff of legends. Now is when I make my mark.
I let the inferno in my heart explode out and let the energy fill my legs. I shot forward like a torpedo. Kato reeled back to compensate. I crossed the ball hard from my right to left, and exploded, leaving Kato in the dust. I hurled myself forward towards the wall that was Uozumi. He had blocked me numerous times before, but I knew it'd not happen this time. I leaped into the air and went chest to chest against Uozumi. I felt the impact but I willed myself forward, and before I knew it, the rim was there, and I forcefully slammed the ball into the hoop. The force of the collision threw me to the ground, but I refused to stay down and shot back up again, letting a great roar escape my throat.
Kato, ever the player, quickly recovered and received the inbounds pass from Tokugami. He accelerated towards the other hoop and I knew I was not done yet. I chased after him, not aware of anything but my target: Akenami Kato. A mere seconds later, he was at the basket and rose up for a lay up. Still a step behind him, I threw myself into the air recklessly. I could only imagine the look on Kato's face as my hand closed over the ball like a hawk. I snatched the ball out of the air, but I knew that was not enough. I gripped the ball firmly in two hands and pinned it against the backboard before pulling it down. In pure rush of adrenaline, I leaped high into the air again, and screamed as loudly as I could.
Koshino came to join me with a hearty high-five and a chest bump and the two of us roared again until are throats hurt.
When we had finally settled down, I looked over at Kato. He had a smile on his face; it was different than before – it lacked the meanness – instead, this one was filled with approval and respect.
"Not bad, rookie, not bad at all."
We are freshmen for a reason, and part of that is that we are still young and inexperienced. Even after all that, the junior and senior team beat us – although we made it a game – by a score of 24 to 22.