Warning: contains spoilers to volumes #23-25 of the Slam Dunk manga series.
Rukawa Toyotama match, IH
I awoke lying on this hard bed in this cold, clinical room. My left eye was throbbing with pain.
Just moments ago, I was still on court, defending Minami, playing against Toyotama...
-Flashback-
'You are indeed the ace of your team.'
'......'
The next thing I felt was a throbbing sensation around my eye and I felt faint. The ground was rushing up to meet me as my knees buckled and I drifted into a world of darkness.
But through all those layers of dark clouds, I heard the do'ahou yelling at Minami. I think he was accusing him of doing whatever he did to me on purpose.
He reminded me of otoosan, who told me to fight for what I believed was right. The do'ahou didn't care if only he saw what happened. He believed his own eyes and was prepared to fight for what he believed was the truth.
I tried to smile, but my lips didn't respond.
It didn't matter, anyway. My soul was smiling and that was what was important.
I realised the do'ahou was my glimmer of light in my world of darkness just before I lost consciousness.
-End flashback-
And woke up here. I wonder how the first half has turned out.
I sat up in bed and gingerly touched my throbbing eye. It felt swollen, and I couldn't see through it. This was not good. If I was indeed Shohoku's ace, then we could not win without me.
But if I was truly Shohoku's ace, then a mere throbbing eye should pose no problem.
I got up and walked towards the locker room allotted to Shohoku.
When I opened the door, thirteen shocked faces turned towards me. Their shocked expressions were swiftly replaced by concern about my eye. I reassured them I was okay and for the first time in my life, initiated something.
'Let's say that cheer today.'
I could see all of them do some reflection on their earlier performance. Anzai-sensei must have given them some advice or something.
'We are strong!'
Yes. We will win this match, whether my eye hurts or not.
*********
We used run-and-gun (a/n: I'm not really sure if it is or not.) against Toyotama. To be frank, their run-and-gun was much better. But Minami... I don't know. He just wasn't himself until the last quarter. Must have been his conscience nagging. Ha. Serve him right.
But we won, anyhow. And we were on to the second round. The opponent? Sannoh Kougyou, the #1 seed and defending champions.
Sannoh... if I wanted to become the #1 Japanese high school basketballer, then I had to lead Shohoku to victory over Sannoh first.
The odds? I didn't dare imagine.
Now, here we sit in our motel, celebrating our victory over Toyotama. But we all knew this festive mood would not last.
Sure enough, Anzai-sensei pulled out a videocasette and announced,'We shall now watch Sannoh play Kainan in last year's semi-finals.'
Everyone stopped what he was doing and echoed,'Sannoh?'
'Yes, Sannoh.'
'Sannoh?!' the do'ahou repeated.
'Yes, Sannoh. S-A-N-N-O-H. How many times must I tell you?'
'Convinced, we sat down before the TV and started watching the tape, whose contents only served to terrify us.
Sannoh was really strong; it beat Kainan hands down.
We had to win, but how? I had to beat Sannoh's ace, Sawakita first.
That was no mean feat. I mean, yeah, Sawakita was already the ace of Sannoh last year. And he was only a freshman like me. But his plays were much better than mine.
Me? Nothing but one of the top five in Kanagawa, and still unknown to the rest of Japan.
A/n: Hey. Just for your information, this, and the next few chapters will be based on the storyline in the manga, until the end in book #31. The original storyline will continue after that. =P Hope you will like it.
Rukawa Toyotama match, IH
I awoke lying on this hard bed in this cold, clinical room. My left eye was throbbing with pain.
Just moments ago, I was still on court, defending Minami, playing against Toyotama...
-Flashback-
'You are indeed the ace of your team.'
'......'
The next thing I felt was a throbbing sensation around my eye and I felt faint. The ground was rushing up to meet me as my knees buckled and I drifted into a world of darkness.
But through all those layers of dark clouds, I heard the do'ahou yelling at Minami. I think he was accusing him of doing whatever he did to me on purpose.
He reminded me of otoosan, who told me to fight for what I believed was right. The do'ahou didn't care if only he saw what happened. He believed his own eyes and was prepared to fight for what he believed was the truth.
I tried to smile, but my lips didn't respond.
It didn't matter, anyway. My soul was smiling and that was what was important.
I realised the do'ahou was my glimmer of light in my world of darkness just before I lost consciousness.
-End flashback-
And woke up here. I wonder how the first half has turned out.
I sat up in bed and gingerly touched my throbbing eye. It felt swollen, and I couldn't see through it. This was not good. If I was indeed Shohoku's ace, then we could not win without me.
But if I was truly Shohoku's ace, then a mere throbbing eye should pose no problem.
I got up and walked towards the locker room allotted to Shohoku.
When I opened the door, thirteen shocked faces turned towards me. Their shocked expressions were swiftly replaced by concern about my eye. I reassured them I was okay and for the first time in my life, initiated something.
'Let's say that cheer today.'
I could see all of them do some reflection on their earlier performance. Anzai-sensei must have given them some advice or something.
'We are strong!'
Yes. We will win this match, whether my eye hurts or not.
*********
We used run-and-gun (a/n: I'm not really sure if it is or not.) against Toyotama. To be frank, their run-and-gun was much better. But Minami... I don't know. He just wasn't himself until the last quarter. Must have been his conscience nagging. Ha. Serve him right.
But we won, anyhow. And we were on to the second round. The opponent? Sannoh Kougyou, the #1 seed and defending champions.
Sannoh... if I wanted to become the #1 Japanese high school basketballer, then I had to lead Shohoku to victory over Sannoh first.
The odds? I didn't dare imagine.
Now, here we sit in our motel, celebrating our victory over Toyotama. But we all knew this festive mood would not last.
Sure enough, Anzai-sensei pulled out a videocasette and announced,'We shall now watch Sannoh play Kainan in last year's semi-finals.'
Everyone stopped what he was doing and echoed,'Sannoh?'
'Yes, Sannoh.'
'Sannoh?!' the do'ahou repeated.
'Yes, Sannoh. S-A-N-N-O-H. How many times must I tell you?'
'Convinced, we sat down before the TV and started watching the tape, whose contents only served to terrify us.
Sannoh was really strong; it beat Kainan hands down.
We had to win, but how? I had to beat Sannoh's ace, Sawakita first.
That was no mean feat. I mean, yeah, Sawakita was already the ace of Sannoh last year. And he was only a freshman like me. But his plays were much better than mine.
Me? Nothing but one of the top five in Kanagawa, and still unknown to the rest of Japan.
A/n: Hey. Just for your information, this, and the next few chapters will be based on the storyline in the manga, until the end in book #31. The original storyline will continue after that. =P Hope you will like it.