That alley-oop did the trick, waking Shohoku from its slump.
By instinct, Hanamichi "Actually Possessed by Kazuma Kuwabara" Sakuragi bared his teeth and did the same strange face Shohoku's Team Captain, Ryota "Ryochin" Miyagi, did before giving each other double high-fives.
"Now that's more like it, Sakuragi!" said Miyagi. He then blinked. "Hey, aren't you forgetting something?"
Kuwabara also blinked. "Forgetting what, Captain Miyagi?"
"'C-Captain'...? N-Never mind."
Kazuma didn't say it, but someone else did.
"Number 10! You're a tensai (genius) after all!" Or so "Sakuragi's Uncle" claimed.
'Ugh,' thought Kuwabara. 'It's the Ginger Monk again.'
"But don't get too cocky and let your guard down! You're capable of much more than that!" said the real Hanamichi Sakuragi within Kuwabara's body, who was tooting his own horn quite hard.
"Kuwabara-kun! Do your best!" cried out Yukina, which made Kazuma's heart flutter.
As for Takenori "Gori" Akagi's little sister, Haruko, she cried out, "N-Number 10! Go for it!" instead of "Sakuragi-kun!"
'Fine. All I have to do are alley-oops and I'm good to go, right?' Kazuma thought, rubbing that weird monk head that wasn't his.
That was when the captain of Minami High, the glasses-wearing tactician named Miyamoto, called for a timeout.
Soon after, Minami's Zone Defense became a five-man wall of defense under the ring, to keep fast breaks, lay-ups, slam dunks, and especially alley-oops from happening.
Like trailblazers, Minami Gakuen took away the inside game of Shohoku, particularly from the normally fierce Akagi, whose college exam studies made him a bit rusty from lack of practice.
Out of all the third years, only Hisashi Mitsui (Shohoku Number 14) continued playing until the Winter Games.
'Dammit,' thought the Elder Akagi. 'Maybe I should've kept on playing basketball instead of studying!' Even though he had the edge on rebounds and blocks, he couldn't score thanks to Minami's Shell Defense.
Even if Shohoku had its fair share of three-pointer shooters, because they couldn't score from inside the ring, they had a lower chance of scoring altogether compared to Minami High.
While Minami Gakuen seemed to have a line-up of weak and short players that luckily made it to the quarterfinals, their performance today showed it was no fluke.
Youtou Shinnoken
A Rurouni Kenshin/Yuyu Hakusho Crossover Fan Fiction Story by Chester Castañeda
Original Concept by Chad Yang
"The Tale of Two Idiots" conclusion.
Disclaimer: Yuyu Hakusho is the rightful property of Yoshihiro Togashi, Shueisha, Fuji TV, and Studio Pierrot. Rurouni Kenshin is the rightful property of Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shueisha, Shonen Jump, Viz, Sony Studios, Fuji TV, Studio Gallup, Studio Deen, and ADV. This disclaimer also covers all the other copyrighted material that are far too many to mention here. Don't sue me please, I'm very poor.
Chapter 48: Fourth Avenue Cafe (Part 6)
Like Shohoku High, Minami Gakuen entered Inter High as an unseeded and unknown team once thought of as cannon fodder for the rest of the stronger high schools.
This changed when they defeated top-seeded Nakatomi Academy in an underdog, one-point-lead victory led by their own super rookie, Natsume and his partner-in-crime, the trickster Date (who really should've played the shooting guard or point guard position).
The player who played center of Minami High's basketball team... the 173 centimeter (5'8") Date (sadly, the tallest guy in their team)... was no match against the bigger, more powerful Akagi in terms of gaining rebounds and under-the-basket work.
Minami High depended mostly on the Shell to handle centers and inside players, but were hopelessly out-rebounded even by Akagi alone, thus they had a seesaw of possessions and repossessions.
However, the ever-savvy Captain Miyamoto had them shift priorities and allowed Akagi to get all the rebounds in exchange for more points accuracy, turning their own center into a shooting guard.
Since they had the lead, they might as well.
Thusly, Date became a second point guard along with Captain Miyamoto, which made for faster fast breaks, more steals, more turnovers, and smoother offense-to-defense transition.
The sudden shift in tactics... from mostly defensive to mostly offensive... caught Shohoku off-guard, and soon the lead Minami Gakuen had grew and grew.
As the score gap widened, pressure started to mount on Mitsui, the premier shooting guard of Shohoku, thanks to the Shell Defense of Minami forcing him to become the lead offense of his team.
The man who'd always had stamina problems with high school basketball was now the only source of points for Shohoku.
Even from outside the ring, thanks to his constant and unerring shooting, Hisashi was able to bring the score back from the brink so that Shohoku wouldn't lag behind by twice the points.
However, Minami Gakuen's Number 7 was able to steal the ball away from the tiring Mitsui after another three-point attempt, his movements becoming predictable.
Again the ball went to Natsume.
After the Kangaroo Kid, passed the statuesque (and statue-like) "Sakuragi", Akagi attempted to swat the ball away. However, that was when Natsume did a no-look pass to one of the freshmen shooters, who sunk yet another three-pointer.
Shohoku had to sub out the exhausted Mitsui in the meantime and get Kiminobu "Megane-kun" Kogure (Number 5) in the game instead.
"Watch out for Shohoku's run-and-gun tactics and comeback offense! They shut out Sanno High that way," warned Minami's Captain Miyamoto.
"Shohoku is all offense, no defense like Toyotama High! Shut down their offense, and they've got nothing!" added Date.
"The fuck did that kid say?" said Captain Miyagi, only for Akagi to hold him back and reprimand, "Listen to what he says and use it to your advantage, Captain."
"..." was Kaede Rukawa's thoughts of the kid who passed his Man-to-Man Defense time and again.
"DAMN KITSUNE (FOX)! You're obviously the one who's supposed to guard that kid, and you can't do a damn thing to him!" said the real Sakuragi inside Kuwabara's body loud enough to get Kaede's attention. "Open your squinty eyes and do something!"
"Shut up, Uncle Dou Aho (Dumbass)," Rukawa said, and the Sakuragi Army burst out laughing at Kuwabara (who was actually Sakuragi), which earned them requisite headbutts.
In an eye blink, Kaede drove in and went past all five defenders inside the Shell Defense with a dunk, then even drew in a foul for good measure.
He then looked directly at Minami's Number 6 and said, "You were saying?"
"RUKAWA!" growled Hanamichi's mouth by muscle memory, even though Kazuma was also kind of pissed at the show-off.
"KYAAA! RUKAWA!" Rukawa's legion of cheerleaders squealed the same name.
"..." Natsume thought with a smirk. "Interesting. I wonder how long you can last doing that? Will you collapse like you did with Kainan?"
'They have us well-scouted,' Kogure thought, who only had one out of four three-pointer attempts of his get through.
Even someone as short as Natsume could do blocks because of his abnormally high vertical jump, at that.
'I got nothing,' thought Kuwabara, his hands on his knees. 'I can't rebound, I can't steal, I can barely dribble, my passes suck, and they've shut down my only offense, the alley-oop, with their Shell. I already tried my best, man! Even if we lose this, I tried my hardest!'
Maybe Kuwabara should call for a substitution and try to snatch back the enchanted body-switching pen from "Fruit Loops" even without his Dimension Sword. At least he could actually affect the outcome of that encounter.
Wait. How come he was more willing to risk life and limb against some crazy assassin over wining a crummy basketball game? What was with these stupid excuses of his?
He felt a huge, muscular arm grab him on the shoulder. "Sakuragi."
"Uh. Captain. I mean, Ex-Captain Akagi."
"What's with that? 'Ex-Captain Akagi'? You don't even sound like yourself!"
"You want me to call you by that other name...?"
"OF COURSE NOT! MORON!" Akagi conked Kuwabara on the head (of Sakuragi). "You haven't been rebounding as much as before. Are you sure you're okay?"
"..."
In the former captain's point of view, Hanamichi must not have been practicing his shooting drills during rehab, because he reverted back to not being able to shoot for shit inside or outside the three-point line. Nevertheless...
"If you're worried about the backboard, I have it covered. I have months of frustration left to spare from not playing basketball all this time. If you keep holding back, I'll personally have you benched. Do you understand?"
Kazuma almost said, "Maybe you should," but something inside him... inside Hanamichi... stopped him.
Akagi continued. "Can you show me that wild man I saw back in Inter High? The one that let us defeat a championship-caliber team? This is the last time I'll get to play with you guys, and I was looking forward to seeing that."
"...Sorry."
"What?"
"I'm sorry, Gori." Kuwabara walked away, knowing he couldn't do what Sakuragi's ex-captain was asking of him. Since he wasn't Hanamichi.
"I thought you had more guts than that," said Takenori before going to Miyagi and saying, "Be prepared to sub out Sakuragi. I think he lost his willpower."
Shohoku's Captain raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that? I've never seen him more on fire than now."
"What...?" Akagi turned and couldn't believe what he saw. 'Sakuragi... on defense? Voluntarily? What happened to him during rehab!?'
Just like in their death match with Sanno and its ace, Eiji Sawakita, "Sakuragi" helped Rukawa stop the tide of the aggressive Minami High offense by smothering the heart of their team, Natsume.
"Dou aho, don't get in my way!"
"If you stop fucking up, then sure! Until then, I'll be the one to clean up after you, you depressed Hiei-Kurama hybrid!"
'What in the world is he talking about this time?' thought Kaede. What did Mount Hiei and Mount Kurama have anything to do with anything?
Natsume's smile grew wider. "I'm flattered. So now I'm getting the Sawakita treatment? A double team?"
"Triple team, actually," said Miyagi, who missed stealing the ball from Natsume, but Rukawa got the steal instead.
However, the ensuing pass to Akagi and the former captain's attempt to shoot resulted in a miss, with Minami's Shell Defense from the inside too tight to penetrate.
"Captain Akagi! Sakuragi! REBOUND!" called out Ryota.
"RARRGH!" roared the both of them.
Even if he was no good at rebounds, Kuwabara got the impression that Sakuragi actually was decent with them, so he jumped anyway, hoping against hope that a certain someone's reflexes would save the day.
Kazuma managed to tip the ball to the backboard in time, before the kangaroo-jumping Natsume or his gibbon-armed partner-in-crime could get their hands on it.
Then Akagi finished it all off with an impactful Gorilla Dunk as the three of them fell back on earth, toppling from the shockwave of the former captain's power.
"Gori! You did it!" said Kuwabara.
"I keep my promises, Junior," said Takenori with a snort.
Chants of "Gorilla Dunk!" and "That Akagi is something else!" soon followed.
"Kuwabara-kun! Go for it! Do your best!" Kazuma then heard Haruko, not Yukina, cheer.
He turned in time to hear the Sakuragi Gundan (Sakuragi Army) cry out, "Go, go, Kazuma! You can do it, Kuwabara! Don't get struck by lightning, Kazuma! Kuwabara, Kuwabara, Kuwabara!"
"...What's with that retarded chant?" asked the (not very politically correct) Nozomi Takamiya, the resident fat guy of the group.
The Sakuragi Gundan's second-in-command, Yohei Mito, shrugged. "Who knows with Hanamichi? Just keep on chanting it so he doesn't end up sucking too bad on court! That's what Haruko-san recommended!"
Even Sakuragi (while "disguised" as Kuwabara) shouted, "Show them who's boss! Show them who's the real tensai, GRAMPS!"
As for the others, they cheered, "Number 10! Number 10!" amidst other cheers for "Shohoku!" and "Rukawa!" or "Super Rookie! Super Rookie!" (despite him about to enter his second year).
Halftime soon ended, and thanks to Shohoku's combined efforts, the score remained at a recoverable 50-44, with Minami High taking a six-point lead.
Hanamichi Sakuragi... the one inside Kuwabara's body... soon stood up and left the gym, which caught the attention of both Yukina and Haruko.
"Sakuragi-kun! Where are you going? Kuwabara-kun is doing his best to win that game for you..." began the youngest Akagi.
"That doesn't make me happy at all!" said Hanamichi, who pounded a vending machine with his fist and ended up getting a unintentional free drink from his frustration afterwards.
"Sakuragi-kun... You can't be too selfish," said Haruko. "Besides, your back would be better off in the hands of someone who won't strain it."
Yukina pointed at her Spirit Compact and said, "We've called for backup. We should be able to retrieve the pen soon."
"But not before the game ends." Sakuragi's head lightly banged the front of the same vending machine he assaulted. "This once-in-a-lifetime game that won't happen ever again. Against a team of five Ryochins. You don't see short guys play that good against taller guys everyday! I want to be the one to beat them, not Gramps!"
The ice maiden then said, "See that watch on your wrist? That's not a watch. That's a Spirit Detector."
"Y-Yukina-san...?" trailed off a teary-eyed Hanamichi.
"It can double as radar and read energy signatures. Kuwabara-kun and I were able to pinpoint Otowa Hyoko's location in Yokohama's Yamashita Park through it."
"T-Thank you!" said Hanamichi, which made the koorime (ice maiden) clear her throat and hide her face with her kimono sleeves, saying, "You're welcome," to the beaming face of someone who was probably her favorite human in the Human World.
"A-Are you sure about this, Yukina-chan?" asked Haruko.
The koorime nodded. "If worse comes to worst, we'll have our Spirit World backup to bail us out. Just remember that your priority is to get the pen back, not defeat the assassin."
After teaching Sakuragi the specifics of using the Spirit Detector, they soon discovered that Hyoko Otowa was way nearer than they thought.
Too close for comfort, in fact.
From out of Yamashita Park, Hyoko Otawa ended up a blip on the Spirit Detector's radar around an area in Yokohama where the Shinko Futo Hozei Soko (Newport Pier Tax-Keeping Warehouse) stood.
"How clich," snorted Hanamichi Sakuragi. "An abandoned factory? It's like I really am in a Super Sentai program.
Appropriate, since even the cross-dressing Hyoko himself looked like he belonged in a kid's show about spandex-wearing heroes of justice. 'Or in a circus.'
"Er, Sakuragi-kun, this is actually a historical landmark," corrected Haruko, much to the rookie basketball player's chagrin. "A customs complex."
"Ehehe? Is that so? My bad," he lamely replied.
The complex... which was formerly used for customs with two sections: Warehouse No. 1 and Warehouse No. 2. respectively... was considered "historical" because it survived the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and the Second World War.
However, the two buildings' usage decreased with the advent of containerization, so they ended their role as customs houses in 1989.
During 1992, the City of Yokohama acquired jurisdiction over the buildings. Currently, in 1993, the whole area was left uninhabited.
However, a year later, from 1994 to 1999, it got renovated. It then got reopened on April 12, 2002 as the Yokohama Akarenga Soko (Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse), a complex that included event venues, a banquet hall, and a shopping mall.
Construction presently wasn't about to begin until a year later, so the whole area was off-limits and taped up. In other words, it was the perfect hiding spot for human criminal elements and demonic entities alike.
Sakuragi, Akagi, and Yukina entered Warehouse No. 1. They did their best to avoid detection by any security guards, policemen, or passersby before ending up inside the dim warehouse of the decrepit and decaying complex that hadn't been used in four years or so.
There were holes in the wall and roof of the huge crumbling structure, which explained the puddles of water from whenever it rained. There were also loads of mosquitoes buzzing atop the stagnant water.
There was also an abundance of abandoned containers and stacks of red bricks, hollow blocks, and other construction materials slated for use by 1994.
"You two should stay outside. I can handle this," said "Kuwabara", the only one of the three who had experience in defeating ghouls, ghosts, humans, demons, and phantoms that were Class-C and up.
Or at least Kuwabara's body did. Sakuragi himself had nothing else in his mind for the most of last year except basketball. Or Haruko Akagi.
"I have to help you out," insisted Yukina. "I can't let Kuwabara-kun down and let his body come to harm. Uh, no offense, Sakuragi-kun."
Sakuragi grinned and joked, "So you only want me for my body?" then laughed.
He stopped short when he saw the younger Akagi sister's unamused face. He cleared his throat. "You two can serve as lookout for the other backup watchamacallit detectives."
They then heard a plop on one of the puddles, followed by a hissing sound.
"Sakuragi-kun, I kinda feel..." trailed off Haruko, who was closest to the shallow pool of dirty water, before she altogether collapsed, her eyes wide and her eyeballs flitting from left to right.
"Haruko-san...!?" began Hanamichi, only to cover his mouth with his hand in realization. The dank swamp water was releasing some sort of vapor that paralyzed Akagi.
He immediately took a deep breath from a more open-air portion of the warehouse before running towards Haruko, but Yukina stopped him and said, "I'll handle this."
Indeed she did, freezing the puddles of fizzling water and blowing the paralyzing vapor away from them using her ice powers. "Sakuragi-kun, I'm afraid I made a mistake. The enemy is too sneaky. We have to forfeit the mission. Grab hold of Haruko-chan and...!"
A reverberating drone was heard, followed by a whole quiver of poison-tipped arrows striking Yukina right in the neck. She fell in a dead faint afterwards.
"YUKINA-SAN!" screamed Sakuragi after lifting Haruko in his arms, this time putting her on his shoulder to carry her out of the Newport Pier Tax-Keeping Warehouse.
"Tsk, tsk. I was planning on not wasting any more of my Anki (Shadow Instruments) on you plebeians, but that koorime forced me to use a few more of my tricks up my sleeve," said a familiar, deep, yet effeminate voice.
"FRUIT LOOPS!" called out Sakuragi, who also grabbed hold of the smaller Yukina and placed her on his other shoulder. He considered running and keeping the girls out of harm's way, but Hyoko Otowa had other plans.
The drag queen used his self-extending and shape-shifting six black metal spikes (his Rikudouko, as he called them) as his insectoid legs that allowed him to pass over Sakuragi's head and land from behind him.
"Oho? What's this? I was expecting the body of the tall, redheaded monk guy to arrive here instead of you," the fabulous, lipstick-wearing cross-dresser spewed rings of smoke from a spare hookah he had on him. "I could've sworn I had your two bodies switched. Oh well."
Hanamichi realized as he slowly set down the poisoned and unmoving bodies of Yukina and Haruko that Otowa probably thought he was still Kazuma because he called him "Fruit Loops".
Doing his best Kuwabara impersonation (even though he knew him for barely an hour or less), Sakuragi said using Kazuma's gruff voice, "Whatever, dude. Just gimme the pen."
"Since when were you under the impression that you had any say on the matter?" asked Hyoko before lifting up his left palm, showing off the "Om" symbol on it and humming a low drone.
What worked against Yukina didn't work against the Hanamichi-possessed Kuwabara, who ducked before getting too many arrows stuck on his neck, ripping the poisonous projectiles that did land on him off of his flesh.
He then grabbed hold of a container lid to block even more arrows... a whole quiver of them... that started flying from under the sleeve of the hidden weapons master.
Because he soon ran out of ammo, Otowa was again forced to use his enchanted metallic Rikudouko.
Although for most of last year Sakuragi learned to be an athlete, most of his young life was actually spent fighting among other delinquents like him, thus honing his battle instincts in the same levels as Sarayashiki Junior High's Kuwabara and Urameshi.
Back at the Shohoku Basketball Court, during the practice match between Shohoku High and Minami High...
Usually, the best way to break the Shell Defense was a fast break in between the team shifting from offense to defense, which was Shohoku's specialty.
However, the fast break was also the specialty of Minami Gakuen. Their shorter players were actually quite used to deploying speediness to their advantage against bigger and slower opponents, resulting in instantaneous shifts from offense to defense.
Thus, they took away Shohoku's national-level inside game.
If anything, even though Shohoku and Minami were about equal in speed, that worked to the offense-oriented Shohoku's disadvantage because Minami could keep up with them and go into Shell Defense mode whenever needed.
It also allowed them to gain possession of the ball by forcing Shohoku to commit 8-second violations on passing, because of the limited opportunity for shooting from outside the circle.
Thusly, there was a high turnover rate against Shohoku thanks to the slippery hands of what Sakuragi described as a team of "Ryochins", particularly from the long-armed, dreadlocked Date who stole the ball right under their noses and defended by blocking the taller Shohoku players' feet (which bigger players always hated).
Kazuma didn't give them an easy time either. 'It's the least I could do for that Ginger Monk for making him miss out this important game of his. I shouldn't have underestimated that Class-C okama (homosexual).'
'Dammit, what's with this Number 10?' was the shared sentiment of Date and Natsume who passed the ball back and forth to each other, only to have this guy tirelessly chase after them.
Before getting a shot clock violation, Date delivered an under-Sakuragi's-legs pass to the team's small forward, Number 6, who then got guarded by Rukawa.
Natsume then did something amazing.
Like a miniature Akira Sendo, ('Who the hell is that?' Kuwabara thought), he stayed close to the floor... almost like he was limbo dancing... out of the Rukawa's reach and got past the Shohoku inner defensive line, from Akagi to Sakuragi, while the rest of his teammates took care of Kogure and Miyagi.
Kuwabara ran after Natsume and attempted to commit a foul on him just to keep him from scoring with one of his insane jumpers or his trampoline-jump dunks. After all, he had in his control Hanamichi's own unbelievable jumping ability.
Kazuma ended up swatting at thin air. The midget still made the goal with a fade away shot, his body falling backwards as he flung the ball with a clean swish into the basket. All net.
Dammit. It was like the kid was getting faster and faster the sooner the time ran out. 'How fast is he going to be in the fourth quarter?'
Soon, despite Kuwabara's best efforts in defense, the turnovers made Shohoku fall behind by as much as 17 points.
At the back of his mind, childhood chants and jeers of him being called "Statue" during basketball games (despite his height and reach even at that young age) came back to haunt him.
"There he goes again! That Number 6 Shorty from Minami High!"
"Who's that Number 6 midget anyway? He's pretty good! I thought them ending up in the Inter High quarterfinals was a fluke, but now...!"
"He even got past Rukawa! Shohoku's Ace! The guy who gave that winning pass in that Sanno game!"
Meanwhile, "That Number 6 bastard," was the sentiment of everyone in Team Shohoku. Most of all Rukawa.
"..."
Shohoku would've double-teamed or triple-teamed Natsume (which was initially Kuwabara's plan), but whenever that happened, he simply passed the ball to any of the rest of his four teammates, who all had decent to high shooting percentages from the three-point line.
Minami was like a reverse Shoyo. Instead of Kenji Fujima depending on the inside game of his five Towers of Power (Hasegawa, Hanagata, Takano, Nagano, or Ito) or finishing the job himself, Minami's Natsume relied on his teammates for jumpers and defense when he got guarded during his own inside game.
In reaction to Natsume's display, Captain Miyagi did an inbound, under-the-opponent's-leg pass to Kogure, who then did a long pass to Rukawa, who in turn had to screen out Date from intercepting the ball.
From there, Kaede did the same movements that Natsume did, with perfect dribbling and rhythmic movements, including Number 6's specialty, the crossover.
This wowed Rukawa's Minami Gakuen defenders, who felt dj vu and intimidation over playing against a six-footer version of their own star player.
"STOP RUKAWA! This is a famous Shohoku tactic! Whenever they're in a pinch, he turns into their clutch player!" warned the Minami High Captain to his teammates too late, with Shohoku Number 11 already past their defenses.
Rukawa did a three-pointer to take away the two-pointer shot that Natsume sunk earlier, only for the same guy... Minami High's Ace... to tip the ball with the edge of his fingers to keep it from reaching the basket.
The ball clanked on the rim.
"SAKURAGI! REBOUND!"
"Huh...? Oh, YEAH! Leave it to me, Gori!"
Minami High scrambled to their Shell Defense, intending to block out Hanamichi and Takenori's attempts at scoring even after they'd assuredly take the rebound.
However, the twin towers of Shohoku switched tactics and screened out the defenders nearest the basket... star players Date and Natsume... while Akagi swatted the ball out of their reach.
This allowed Shohoku to finally break the Shell, if only for a little while.
This also forced the weaker players of Minami to guard someone who was able to give Ryonan's Sendo, Shoyo's Fujima, Kainan's Maki, and (former) Inter High MVP, Sanno's Sawakita, a run for their money.
Thusly, Rukawa drove in and slammed his own missed ball right into the basket.
The crowd... and Rukawa's whole squad of cheerleaders who seemed to have gathered from all over Japan... exploded, even though Minami High still had the lead. Shohoku, after all, was infamous for their comebacks.
Natsume and Kaede locked eyes. "Playtime's over, kid. Time to pack up and go back to middle school basketball," said Rukawa.
Minami High's Number 6 grinned. "Nah. You would've scored three points if I weren't here." He thumbed his nose. "'Sides, I'm having too much fun to quit."
Minami's "two shooting guards, no center" strategy made it so that Date had his back covered by Nakamura and Captain Miyamoto, who were always on the lookout for good three-pointer opportunities or their small forward, Natsume, finishing the show.
The Minami High antics continued, with the smaller players competing for the most steals and interceptions in the game as well as the dreadlocked Date doing a three-pointer, only for "Kangaroo Kid" Natsume to finish it off when it missed with a tip-in, which allowed for them to maintain their lead.
The lead would've been even higher if Kogure weren't there to supply his own share of three-pointers, but he had a lower shooting percentage than the benched and tired Mitsui, especially when defended against by multiple players.
Miyagi and Akagi, the two Shohoku captains, also evened out the score with a rare fast break and slam dunk combo before Minami players could form their five-man Shell Defense.
But even these couldn't keep Minami Gakuen from leading with 76-64 by the end of the third quarter, a 12-point lead with a 42-14 edge on inside points.
Coupled with the fact that several of them had high amounts of fouls already, the Shohoku Team couldn't do anything against the defenders short of knocking them over.
Except Rukawa, who was able to slip past them with his brilliant display of offense, making a pair of baskets to keep the game from getting away.
This was the Minami High that almost defeated the undefeated Meiho High: The New National Champion that never faced the likes of Shohoku High or Sanno High.
"What did I tell you? Shohoku has nonexistent defense. And their bench players aren't much to sneeze at either," said Date, who stuck his tongue out at Kanagawa's Number 2, behind Kainan. "We got this in the bag!"
"Let's keep this up, team! Soon, we'll beat the team that beat Sanno! Then we'll be prepared to face Meiho and their monster again in this year's Inter High!" said Natsume.
"Aren't you guys counting your eggs before they hatch?" said Kuwabara with a scowl. "Who told you this game is over, you Oompa Loompas? We'll show you why Shohoku is strong!"
Back at the Newport Pier Tax-Keeping Warehouse...
Hyoko Otowa frowned. He could've sworn his Baika Chuuzen (his hidden crossbow strapped underneath his left wrist, activated by a silken thread on his right wrist) and his Kasui Busuen (cubes that when thrown on water turned into neurotoxin vapors that could paralyze limbs for four to five minutes) was enough to deal with these commoners.
However, the koorime froze all the puddles, and this spirit detective wouldn't go down even after being hit by his arrows. So he depended on his Rikudouko to finish the job.
Nevertheless, even these regenerating limbs weren't enough to keep the Spirit World lackey down.
'Grandpa's built like a tank!' thought Sakuragi after the umpteenth time Kuwabara's body got thrown into a pile of bricks, only for him to have enough energy and stamina to get up despite the pain, his bones unbroken. His muscles aching, but not torn. 'What is he made of?'
Hanamichi's last thought was roughly the same as Hyoko's. 'He just won't go down, huh? Not unless I kill him, he won't stop getting up over and over again,' assessed the Nineteenth-Century-Era Assassin.
He could kill the boy, but he didn't want to. This... Kazuma Kuwabara, was it? Yeah, that spirit detective guy was his ticket to getting a cushy spot at the side of the Chojin and his elite.
Otowa had contacted the Onmyouji... or at least his shikigami... a little while ago. He was allowed membership. He was now a surefire member of the Dai Kaijin.
The Chojin wasn't going to take away his life after being taken from the depths of Naraka (Buddhist Hell) and resurrected for this purpose!
Hyoko's orders were simple. Exchange bodies with Kazuma, then infiltrate the inner circle of the Reikai Tantei (Spirit World Detectives) in order to steal the Demon Sword.
He couldn't do that with Kazuma dead, right? Maybe he could, but he didn't want to risk it. He needed to fight smart and play it safe, like he always did when he was alive.
At least, that was the plan until "Kuwabara" began lobbing bricks over Hyoko's head, forcing him to go on the defensive by swatting and crushing the flying construction materials flying at him with his Rikudouko, which produced a lot of dust.
Because Hyoko was distracted by batting away all the flying bricks to his skull, the Sakuragi-possessed body of Kuwabara was able to hide behind the dusty cloud and wallop the cross-dresser square in the jaw with a spare hollow block, the dirt getting into his mascara-laden eyes.
Sakuragi backed away in order to repeat the process, fighting from afar and shooting "three-pointer" projectiles at Hyoko then hitting the okama right in the jaw with a smash-mouth slam dunk when he least expected it (a hit-and-run tactic similar to Shohoku's run-and-gun style).
It would've continued had the drag queen not pulled out his Hook Shot... a complex machine with a retractable chain connected to a hook... that flew through the air, stuck itself right on the abdomen of Kuwabara('s body), and reeled him in like a fish.
"AUGGGH!" screamed Hanamichi.
"Gotcha," a half-blind Otowa said after scratching the Sakuragi-possessed Kuwabara with his neurotoxin-laced Bishamontsume, pinning him down with two of his metal spikes, and whipping him around on the ground for good measure with the rest of his crab-leg-like attachments.
"I say this for your own good, Mister Detective. Stay down," Hyoko spat, spraying bits of spit, blood, and tooth enamel at Hanamichi's face.
At the back of Sakuragi's mind, memories that weren't his began to bubble into the surface of his consciousness. He'd suffered worse pain than this... or Kazuma did... in the hands of a regent-haired delinquent in middle school that looked a lot like Hanamichi's best friend, Yohei.
No matter how many times this sleek-haired Yankee pummeled Kuwabara to submission, he'd always come back for more, like a masochist who was a glutton for punishment.
Out of all the Yankees this "Urameshi" fought, Kazuma was the only one who could take the daily abuse in stride, and he was proud of this fact.
'So Gramps was suffering from battered housewife syndrome?' wondered Sakuragi. But that was just a joke. Hanamichi understood where "Gramps" was coming from.
This vision was what allowed Sakuragi to lift Otowa by his shoulders and do a judo throw (that he learned from Gori's buddy, Aota the Judo Captain) on him onto a pile of bricks, hollow blocks, cinder blocks, and rebar.
The Hanamichi-possessed Kazuma then dusted his hands off for a job well done.
'You must've been bored out of your mind till Urameshi came around... Huh, Gramps?' thought Sakuragi before realizing something else.
'Heeey! These memories are just from a few years ago! Holy shit, you really are a high schooler? Either that or you're a grown-ass man who got held back in school, picking fights with little boys!'
If Kuwabara were there and he could read minds, he would've kicked his "own" ass again.
At any rate, after the bleeding Hanamichi dug out Hyoko in order to retrieve the magical pen that allowed him and Kazuma to switch bodies, he yelped in surprise.
Otowa stabbed Hanamichi's (well, Kuwabara's) palm with a hidden Wrist Blade (inside his right sleeve this time around). Sakuragi barely got out of the way before he got shanked altogether on the same abdominal wound he got from the Hook Shot, only to scream in agony when his enemy stepped on both his feet with retractable spikes from his heels (his Zori Kunai).
"Did you really think it was going to be that easy?" Hyoko chuckled, wiping the blood out of his mouth and the rest of his body, his Rikudouko barely able to cover him in time to buffer the blow he got from having tons of bricks and debris fall on him after that judo throw.
Hanamichi attempted to run, but his destroyed feet slowed him down, making him limp and wince all the way. He suffered almost as much pain as when he broke his back during that game with Sanno.
The cross-dresser unsheathed his katana and stalked the basketball player stuck inside the body of a supernatural investigator of a similar height and build.
Again, Sakuragi threw rocks and bricks at Hyoko, who smartened up and merely batted the projectiles away instead of crushing them and making a dusty mess that hid his opponent from view.
When Otowa charged, Hanamichi picked up a crowbar, intending to wield it like a sword. It was the best he could do. Alas, when he swung it, Hyoko turned a switch on the handle of his sword and made the blade extend with a long chain attached to it, transforming it into in a kusarigama (chain sickle weapon).
The assassin wrapped the chains links around the crowbar and tugged it away from Hanamichi's grasp. He then whirled the katana around. "I call this my Kusarigatana (Sword Sickle). One of my best Anki. I can't wait to have it enchanted so that I could see its demonic form!"
Suddenly, it was Sakuragi who found himself on the defensive, with Hyoko whirling his flesh-cutting Kusarigatana around while every brick and pylon thrown at him was easily deflected by the Rikudouko that was under his mental control.
Back at the Shohoku High Basketball Club Gym, during the Shohoku-Minami practice match...
During the break before the start of the fourth quarter, Shohoku regrouped and the glasses-wearing Kogure was subbed out so that a refreshed and recharged Mitsui could play.
They needed the most accurate shooter they had to recover all those points they lost.
Then, with instructions from Coach Anzai, all the tallest people in their team... Rukawa, Akagi, and Sakuragi... blocked all attempts of Minami to get a fast break every time Minami attempted an inbound pass.
This was the Full-Court Press: A defensive style wherein Shohoku applied their Man-to-Man Defense on the entire length of the court before an inbound pass could happen.
This Full-Court Press kept the score from getting too out of hand, trapping ball handlers like Date and Nakamura either in the backcourt or at midcourt.
This was their answer to Minami High's speed-for-speed fast breaks. This time, Shohoku's players were the ones getting the turnovers.
Much needed turnovers that allowed Mitsui to shoot those three-pointers that should get rid of that annoying double-digit lead.
Minami Gakuen shifted into their bread-and-butter Shell Defense; the best tactic for a centerless team with barely any inside players.
However, it was a horrible tactic against opponents with precise shooters that didn't have to worry about rebounds going to the other team.
After taking a break for two whole quarters, Mitsui came back with a vengeance three minutes into the fourth quarter, showing vintage form that made him the MVP during middle school.
Every time he took possession of the ball, he scored, gaining three straight three-pointers all throughout. One more three-point shot would've evened out the game and reduced Minami's 12-point lead to nothing had Minami themselves not scored 14 points as well.
14 hard-earned points that somehow got through the Full-Court Press and Man-to-Man Defense of Shohoku.
Three three-pointers shared by the freshman shooter, Captain Miyamoto, and Nakamura. Two turnovers also enabled them to get a lay-up from the sneaky Date and a dunk plus two free throws from a drawn-out foul on Akagi by Natsume.
The Kangaroo Kid missed one of two free throws in his exhaustion from being triple-teamed by Rukawa, Akagi, and "Sakuragi".
And yet MVP Mitsui answered back with a fourth three-pointer in a row; even his lengthy defender Date was unable to stop him. Hisashi was on fire.
"Only two points to go...!" the crowd started to chant before, in an eye blink, Minami High again went on the offensive.
They had a fast break followed by a three-pointer from Natsume, of all people (he usually passed the ball to his teammates or drove right under the basket for a lay-up or a dunk).
Three minutes into the third quarter, the score went from 76-64 with Minami leading to 81-76 with Minami still leading. But by only five points.
"Don't let that shooting machine score any more points! We only need to keep the lead alive! DEFENSE! DEFENSE!" said Captain Miyamoto to his Minami Gakuen teammates.
"Akagi! Let's make them pay for not having a real center in this game!" said Mitsui, whose three-pointer went short but Akagi was still able to take the rebound unopposed.
Thanks to the added guards against Mitsui, Akagi's own guards had been reduced from four to three. Three wasn't enough, especially when none of them were center-caliber players like Ryonan's Uozomi or Sanno's Kawata.
Akagi, who'd been frustrated by the Shell Defense and five defenders crowding him, could now do better work under the basket with a reduced number of guards, all of whom were several feet shorter than him.
It was almost unfair, in a sense. It was like dunking over middle schoolers.
For the first time, the height and strength difference between Shohoku and Minami became apparent. It also became clear how Meiho was able to edge out a win in the Inter High quarterfinals; the Shell Defense was probably formulated by the Minami Gakuen Coach and Team Captain to stop the likes of Morishige after the fact.
The entire Minami High team paled, seemingly remembering the trauma they suffered in the hands of their almost-win against Meiho. Their Shell Defense and quickness finally defeated.
The score was 81-78; Minami leading with only three points ahead. And the hometown crowd from Shohoku High let them know it.
"THREE MORE POINTS! THREE MORE POINTS! THREE MORE POINTS!" they cried out in fervor.
But Minami High wouldn't let up. They regrouped with a time out, their tactician Captain Miyamoto discussing their next course of action.
Captain Ryota was about to do an inbound pass when he found himself pressed against the tandem of Natsume and Date.
The Zone Defense of Minami High was back with a vengeance, this time in the form of... the Full-Court Press, which could also be used with Zone as well as Man-to-Man Defense.
"You bastards. Using our own technique against us," smirked Miyagi.
"All's fair in love and war, man," Minami's Number 7 smirked in kind, and the current Shohoku Captain had all he could handle against the dynamic duo of Date and Natsume.
Soon, when the ball finally reached Mitsui's hands, Shohoku committed an 8-second violation. They took too long to pass the ball, so possession of the ball went back to Minami High.
Because Shohoku was so scared of the team of three-point shooters getting a bigger lead, they left a gap in their defense and allowed Natsume to score, who faked passing to his captain but then drove in for an easy lay-up... right in Kuwabara's face, who just stood there.
Like a statue. Like the statue that everyone back in elementary called him.
'Dammit. What the hell am I doing here?' he thought. The real Sakuragi was probably going ballistic right about now.
The score seesawed back to 83-78 with Minami High leading by five points again.
Memories that wasn't Kazuma's then flooded his brain, of all the sacrifices Sakuragi went through with this lineup of seniors, juniors, and freshmen.
Dragging tires that were roped to his waist. Being fouled out in countless games. Name calling. Humiliation. Failure. Passing to the wrong guy in a clutch situation.
'So that was why he cut his hair so short,' thought Kuwabara, brushing whatever was left of Hanamichi's cropped hair up, resulting in a spray of sweat.
The tides were turning again back to Minami's favor. Thanks to the Full-Court Press double-team of Natsume and Date, they were able to steal the ball from Miyagi (of all people), with Natsume going low to intercept an under-Date's-legs pass to Rukawa.
'Then again, it was like Ryochin trying to go against two of him, so it was kind of unfair,' was the Sakuragi-like thought that crossed Kuwabara's mind as he and Rukawa again defended against the fleet-footed midget.
Date fooled Akagi into thinking they were going into a tip-in battle, which allowed Natsume to also feint taking a shot. He then passed the ball to Nakamura as Rukawa scrambled after him.
The power forward of Minami then shot a smooth two-point banker before Kuwabara could reach him, the ball rolling around the rim then falling into the net without it getting swatted by Shohoku's gorilla ex-captain.
Everyone in Shohoku was bamboozled.
The score was now 85-78. A seven-point lead for Minami Gakuen.
Rukawa attempted to drive in, but he was again denied a basket because whenever he went into clutch play mode, the Minami High players instinctively went into Shell Defense mode as well.
Mitsui was also missing his shots due to fatigue from doing his shooting streak.
'What am I supposed to do?' thought Kuwabara, the hometown crowd going silent. Only the squeak of basketball shoes echoing inside the gymnasium could be heard.
Even Rukawa's cheerleaders were sniffling quietly, unable to muster a cheer.
Wait. Supposed to do...? Since when was he the type to run away or give up when faced with a challenge?
'I kept up with Urameshi, even though I wasn't supposed to. I kept up with the world of ghost and demons even though I wasn't supposed to. I kept up with the world of academics even though I wasn't supposed to. Even if it's basketball, I'll keep up even though I'm not supposed to! Because that's how real men live life!'
Back at the Newport Pier Tax-Keeping Warehouse...
From time to time, Otowa used his Hook Shot to grab the debris all over the warehouse to throw back at Hanamichi as well as attempt to skewer him again like before.
"Give up now, Reikai Tantei! Gimme that body of yours so that I can infiltrate Reikai and destroy it from the inside!"
Sakuragi hid behind a pile of rubble, the neurotoxin making him convulse and feel nauseated. Even Kuwabara's tougher body that went through loads of battles couldn't take that many poisonings and stab wounds.
"Maybe if I captured you without legs or arms, it'd still be okay. After all, Gein-sama can always make me a new body if worse comes to worst," said the sadistic Hyoko, and soon the Kusarigatana flew over Hanamichi's head, scratching his scalp and drawing blood.
It certainly didn't help when Hyoko began hurling hookahs at Sakuragi that turned out to be disguised bombs as well, this time of the Molotov Cocktail variety (a container filled with petrol or oil plus a burning cloth wick in place of the stopper, soaked in alcohol).
"I call this Anki of mine... Shattered Dreams. Enjoy."
Hanamichi limped away with a wincing, scrunched-up face, every step feeling like he was walking on a floor full of glass and thumbtacks.
Soon, he had to "pretend" that the floor was lava because it was quickly filled with firebombs and actual broken glass, limiting the places where he could run (or shamble) to.
How was he supposed to defeat this crazy, mincing psycho? Fruit Loops was even more dangerous than Mitsui's biker friend, Tetsuo, ever was!
"...YOU LEAVE SAKURAGI-KUN ALONE!" screamed Haruko, whose limbs were still paralyzed, but she recovered enough to be able to speak.
"Sakuragi? Don't you mean Kuwabara?" said Otowa, only for him to bat his eye-shadowed eyelids in understanding. "Oh, wait! You mean to tell me that they really did switch bodies?"
The effeminate man twirled his Kusarigatana around like a lasso. "I guess that means it's your girlfriend here that's paralyzed by my Kasui Busuen. How about it, Sakuragi-kun? Your life in exchange for hers?"
As predicted, an enraged, red-eyed Hanamichi emerged from his hiding place, running with stuttering steps because of the damage to his feet, screaming, "GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER!"
What Hyoko didn't predict was having a basketball-sized ball of pure spirit energy hurled into his stomach, almost blowing a hole into his person had his Rikudouko limbs not pushed him out of the way.
'This person is dangerous!' was the painfully obvious thought that occurred in Otowa's brain, prompting him to pull out all stops and throw not only "Shattered Dreams" firebombs, but "Shattered Nightmares" fragmentation bombs as well.
"Sakuragi-kun, NO!" shouted the Akagi sister. "Please, please STOP!" she told Hyoko.
Amidst the conflagration, the already heavily damaged Sakuragi residing in Kuwabara's body suffered through even more injury thanks to the payload of broken porcelain, glass, and iron pellets from the shrapnel bombs that exploded in front of him (which was an ancient mixture of scallion juice, chin chih, salamoniac, yin hsiu, and tung oil).
This robbed Hanamichi of the ability to run altogether, Kuwabara's bloody body sprawled face-first and spread-eagled on the ground. He still kept crawling, inspired by how the original owner of his body never let anything keep him down.
"Oh dear. The original plan won't do at all," said the haggard-looking and bleeding Otowa, his wound from being stabbed by the Rei-Ken earlier reopening. "I have no intention of residing in a body that's that injured. Maybe I should just switch bodies with 'Haruko-san' in the meantime?"
"GO TO HELL," spat Sakuragi, who fired off another energy blast, but this time it got sliced into nothingness by the cross-dresser's energy-sapping Bishamonken, the dissipating reiki going straight into the special item's blade like so much water soaked into a sponge.
"Maybe I should just finish you off," decided Otowa while scratching his chin with one of his Rikudouko spikes. "I already got what I wanted anyway. My mission to infiltrate the Spirit World and its ranks can wait. I'll just use another unwitting spirit detective. So goodbye, Sakuragi-kun."
And so Otowa threw his deadliest Anki at his sitting duck of an opponent, from Shattered Dreams (Molotov Cocktails) to Shattered Nightmares (Shrapnel or Frag Bombs), from the Kusarigatana to the Hook Shot, and from his Bishamonpun (that he could turn into a flesh-rending iron cloud controlled by his magnetic Bishamon Sword) to his Bishamonken (his energy-absorbing blade that could also release the energy it stored).
In short, everything but the kitchen sink.
Hanamichi rolled, crawled, and fired his energy balls the best he could at the deluge of bombs, fire, chained blades, bullet-fast shrapnel, returned energy blasts, a black cloud of whirling metal, and so forth, but he could only avoid or detonate so many things.
Meanwhile, anything solid thrown back at Hyoko, he deflected or blocked with his Rikudouko. Anything ki-related, he sliced up and absorbed with his Bishamonken. He was untouchable.
A slice through space-time then happened, cutting right through all garbage thrown at Hanamichi and slicing apart the Bishamonken as well as Hyoko himself after the teen manifested Kazuma's special weapon, the Jigen Tou (Dimension Sword).
Although the Jigen Tou was itself made of spirit energy, the cuts it made weren't, plus the Bishamonken couldn't absorb it from that far a distance.
'Sakuragi-kun...' thought Haruko, remembering what Aota said about the tall teenager: Hanamichi was so athletic that any sport he got into, he'd be naturally good at. Apparently, this also applied to supernatural powers.
"EEEEEK...!" Hyoko screamed, panicking at the sight of his own bloodbath. He attempted to get away with his multi-legged Rikudouko spikes, but got stopped cold. Literally.
A recovering Yukina who healed herself of the neurotoxin poison in her system proceeded to encase the Dai Kaijin member in solid ice.
Then, before Hyoko could chip away at the ice with his spider-leg spikes, Sakuragi got up despite the screams of protest from Kuwabara's legs and gathered the energy from the Jigen Tou into one shining (basket)ball of light.
"W-Wait. What are you doing? STAAHP! I'M SOWIE! I WAS ONLY KIDDING AROUND WHEN I SAID I'LL KILL YOOOUuuu...!" was what Otowa pleaded before he got his brains bashed in with a satisfying, ice-shattering, and reiki-powered "SKULL DUNK!"
Back at the Shohoku High Basketball Club Gym, during the Shohoku-Minami practice match...
"RUKAWA! SHOOT! We're going to get another shot clock violation!" ordered Captain Miyagi to Rukawa, who had four defenders waiting under the basket while one defender, Date, marked Mitsui.
And so Shohoku's Ace did a jumper, but the high-jumping Kangaroo Kid nicked it again, which resulted in another missed shot.
Expecting a rebound from Akagi, Minami's Shell Defense went on standby to smother Shohoku's inside game yet again, and even Date moved away from Mitsui in order to complete the Shell's fortifications.
"MICCHY! Take the shot!" said Kuwabara before jumping high and fly-swatting his own teammate's missed goal attempt.
"DOU AHO! Whose ball are you blocking?!" rebuked Rukawa, but sure enough, it went straight for Mitsui's hands, who was wide open with no defenders.
"Oh, shi...!" said Date, who had to regroup and defend against Hisashi again, but it was too late. Mitsui shot the ball to the goal with a beautiful three-pointer.
The score was back to 85-81. A four-point lead for Minami High.
'Crappy defense? I'll show you crappy defense!' though the Kuwabara inside Sakuragi's body as Shohoku was again forced to deal with a combination of the Full-Court Press, Zone Defense, and Shell Defense from Minami Gakuen.
A memory from Hanamichi... of him talking to "Gori" Akagi... warned Kuwabara that, "Defense in basketball is earned by experience. You're a newbie, so you can't do it well. The only way to earn your stripes defensively is to experience and expect moves from your opponents after years of practice. You can't be a defensive wizard overnight."
Akagi was probably right. But Kuwabara had at least one thing he could do... his limited experience in basketball notwithstanding... defense-wise.
If he had to, he'd drag all of Minami in the mud along with him.
Natsume was about to do a no-look pass to Date when Kazuma moved in to intercept it, which thwarted his intentions and kept the ball in his hands. 'W-W-What was that?'
Every time Natsume attempted to do something, even a feint, Kuwabara was able to read him and react accordingly. Like he was on autopilot. 'What's going on?'
Kazuma might not be able to predict the midget's moves, but he could read his intentions loud and clear through his Rei-Kan (Spirit Sense).
Sakuragi's body might not be able to manifest reiki, but Kuwabara's mind could still sense ki. Feel his opponent's intentions. Guess what he'd do next the best that he could.
This distracted Natsume long enough for Rukawa to intercept his pass then drive straight into the basket. The first turnover Shohoku had in a long while.
The Minami defenders jumped out like bats out of hell, swarming Rukawa. However, like with his game-winning play in the Sanno-Shohoku game, Kaede showcased his underrated assists and passes once more.
Not to Mitsui, who was guarded something fierce by Date. Nor Akagi, who himself was also swarmed by the Shell.
It was a pass to "Hanamichi".
"GORI!" Kuwabara called out and the Minami defenders thusly tightened their defense around the big ape. The ex-delinquent then used muscle memory to go into the proper jump shot stance.
However, Natsume saw that play himself during the Shohoku-Sanno game and jumped to alter the trajectory of the ball. However, Kazuma was actually doing a pump fake, thus enabling him to pass the ball to the one guy in Shohoku who was left unguarded.
Captain Miyagi drove to the basket while Akagi was there on standby, screening out the three defenders from Minami High from getting to Ryota.
The lay-up went in with one second left on the shot clock.
The score was now 85-83. A two-point lead for Minami High.
Date got the inbound pass, then ended up face-to-face with Kazuma and Mitsui, the man marked to guard him.
"It's Number 10 again!" was what the crowd noticed after saying all this time, "It's Number 6 again!"
"We're not going to let you get this point," said the shooting guard center of Minami High.
"That's not up to you," said Hanamichi's possessor, Kuwabara, who along with "Micchy" pressured Date to run the timer.
"What he said," echoed Mitsui in kind.
"Congratulations. By doing double teams, you left our three-point freshman shooter unguarded, Number 10!" said Minami's gibbon-armed Number 7, who did a no-look side pass to the guy "Sakuragi" was supposed to guard.
Kuwabara cursed under his breath. Even though he could read Date's intention, he couldn't do anything about it, since he didn't have a Dimension Sword that allowed him to be at two places at once.
...Only for Miyagi to intercept Date's pass, resulting in another turnover. "Sakuragi's always been like that, going anywhere he wants, so we're all used to it!"
The Minami High defenders were now confused. They didn't only have to deal with Mitsui's jumpers, Rukawa's all-rounder play, Akagi's inside game, or Miyagi's beautiful passes. They also had to deal with the wildcard known as "Sakuragi".
Even after they saw tape of Hanamichi and scouted his performance during Inter High, they didn't expect him to change his play style completely, turning into a scary man-to-man defender rather than a rebounder and blocker who could sometimes shoot.
And it was indeed the high-jumping Sakuragi (actually Kuwabara) who got another alley-oop opportunity from Captain Miyagi. However, four defenders pounced on him with their Shell Defense.
Kazuma turned it into a rebound and did a midair pass to (that damn) Rukawa at the last second, who finally avoided Natsume's annoying ball deflections with a fade away shot of his own on the two-point line.
"SHOHOKU! YOU DID IT! YOU TIED!" the crowd roared.
Amazingly, as the fourth quarter was about to draw to a close, Shohoku again proved their consistency as the Comeback Kings of Kanagawa by tying for the first time against Minami High in a long while, 85-85, with four minutes left on the game.
The next point would determine who'd win the match. Naturally, like two raging bulls with their horns locked onto each other, neither team budged, so soon the scores became an even 87-87 within the last three minutes of the game.
A timeout was called by Shohoku's Coach Anzai, which released some of the growing tension surrounding the gym.
However, instead of receiving final instructions to win the game, Team Shohoku bore witness to a rather bizarre exchange between "Sakuragi" and his "uncle" (who for some reason looked like he'd just came home after engaging in World War II).
"...The fuck happened to you?" asked "Sakuragi", who wanted to say more but his "uncle" shushed him.
"Never mind that. Yukina-san... uh... 'bandaged' me up the best she could. What's the score so far?"
"87-87, no thanks to you."
"Good work, Gramps! Here." The "uncle" handed his "nephew" a pen, and for whatever reason, "Hanamichi" couldn't look any happier after seeing it. "You got it back! Damn! But how...?"
"It's all thanks for covering for me."
"You reckless son of a bitch. If you'd died back there, I would've killed you!"
"I'll pay for your hospital bills later. Can we, uh, do this?"
"...Fine."
Then, the two of them turned the pen cap, convulsed like epileptics, and went back to "normal", much to the bemusement of Team Shohoku and everyone nearby seeing the spectacle.
"HOLY SHIT! OWWW! What the fuck did you do to my body, ya stupid Ginger Monk?!" demanded the uncle, as though he'd just noticed how painful his wounds were for the first time.
"I saved the pen, your mission, and your girlfriend! You should be thanking me!" Sakuragi retorted, then took one look at the scoreboard and exhaled. "Thanks for keeping the score even, man. And sorry for the mess. I owe you one."
The uncle sighed. "No, no. That's my line. Thanks for getting the pen back and keeping Yukina-san safe. I'm calling it all even."
Sakuragi turned to "Gori", "Micchy", "Ryochin", "Megane-kun", and that damn "Kitsune", his eyes misting up.
"I'm finally back, guys. Let's play."
Ex-Captain Akagi conked Hanamichi on the noggin. "What nonsense are you yammering about? If you're through wasting everyone's time with your shenanigans, then let's continue the game!"
Sakuragi slapped his cheeks and roared. "YEAH!"
This was, after all, the last game they'd ever play as a team. Soon after, all the third years... Mitsui, Kogure, and Akagi... would graduate to college.
Shohoku High went on to win the whole practice match against the tough-as-nails Minami High at 93-97, gaining a slight four-point lead that the team maintained until the game was over.
In particular, the ever-unpredictable Shohoku Number 10 surprised Minami Gakuen yet again when he changed playing styles at the last three minutes of the game, helping Shohoku with turnovers due to his amazing rebounds and scoring four of the next ten points that sealed the deal: A jump shot and a slam dunk.
To Be Continued...
Kuwabara: The sakura is the flower among flowers, and Kuwabara is a man among men!"
Sakuragi: Humph. If that's the case, then what of the Sakuragi?"
Kuwabara: The Sakuragi is a man among flowers.
Sakuragi: ...You picking a fight, Gramps?
Kuwabara: Bring it on, Ginger Monk!
This was originally supposed to be a standalone one shot, but then circumstances deemed that I include it in the main story arc to fill up chapter and story gaps.
Also, here's a bit of trivia: Kuwabara (191 centimeters or 6'3"), to my surprise, is taller than Sakuragi (189.2 centimeters or 6'2"). By an inch or 1.8 centimeters. Also, Kazuma is taller than Sanosuke (179 centimeters or 5'10") as well!
The more you know.
Arrivederci,
Abdiel