Author: Kenjii Izuke (Izuke)
Part 3/27: "Izuke, Power Forward Player"
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Hello, readers! I hope you're okay with this story so far. I did get a number of complaints about the school switching, and Rukawa getting involved in that and all... um... gosh, maybe Rukawa's more suited for Shohoku after all. Agh! Oh well, if that's the case, I'll get him to stick around. (Gee, poor Rukawa-kun, he's got to keep running around)
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"WHAAAATT~??? Are you crazy?"
"No, oka-san, I'm not crazy. Can I transfer school again?"
"Well… it depends. What school is this?"
"Shoyo High School," Izuke said, sitting down on the sofa. "Can I?"
Mrs. Kenjii looked thoughtful. "Shoyo's a good school… but I'm not sure. This is a little weird, changing school all of a sudden. Why the sudden change?"
Izuke gulped. Would she have to tell her mother about what Fujima said? "Well, oka-san… the basketball team…"
"Ah, the basketball team," Mrs. Kenjii said, smiling, "The one with that famous IH player Fujima Kenji in it?" Izuke nodded, surprised at her mother knowing all this. "Does this… by any chance… have anything to do with him?"
Izuke gulped again. "Er… well, he wants…"
"I see, I see," Mrs. Kenjii interrupted, "Not bad. I'll ask your father." She walked into one of the rooms. Izuke heard talking coming from inside. About a few minutes later, Mrs. Kenjii came out again.
"Hm…" she said, scratching a mosquito bite on her arm, "Your father doesn't seem to mind. And neither do I… so I guess its OK. I'd better ring up the school now. They should have vacant spots. And whatever it is, don't forget you're going to Shoyo on Monday and not Shohoku." Izuke's mother shook her head, tsk-ing at her daughter in disbelief. "My goodness, dear girl, I can't believe I'm actually doing this for you."
Izuke didn't believe it. "YAHOO! Thanks, oka-san! I owe you one!" she yelled, and leaped all the way to her room and lay down on her bed. In ten minutes, she was fast asleep.
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Izuke woke up. She blinked a few times, and then remembered that this was the day she went to Shoyo High School instead of Shohoku. It was unbelievable. She had been in Shohoku for only a week, and suddenly she was in Shoyo.
She changed into the Shoyo school uniform which her mother had laid out for her. The uniform was not like Shohoku's. All students, including girls, wore olive green ties and gray boots. Their uniforms were like Kobe uniforms – blouse, green blazer, long socks, short skirt, the whole infamous set. Prefects were distinguished only by their black blazers and shining black shoes. The girls' uniforms were in black and gray, and looked grander than that of Shohoku's.
After a quick breakfast, Izuke walked out of the house with her bag. She proceeded to the bus stop in front of her house. The bus arrived almost immediately. Izuke got on and started reading her English textbook. She read patiently as the bus rumbled on past a number of stops, letting people on and off.
"Next stop, outside Shoyo High School. Next stop, outside Shoyo High School."
Izuke jumped up and went to the stairs at the back of the bus. The bus came to a halt just in front of Shoyo High School and she got off. The bus rolled away.
"Ohaiyo, Izuke-chan."
Izuke turned. "Ne…?" She saw Fujima standing just in front of her. "O-o-ohaiyo! Eh… eh…" She didn't know what to say. "Why aren't you… in… er… school?"
"I was waiting for you to arrive," Fujima said nonchalantly, as though it was something he did everyday.
"…Ch-ch-chotto, wa-watashi ni? For me…? What for?" Izuke said, looking quite confused now.
Fujima chuckled. "To see if you really would come to Shoyo. I'm surprised. Just yesterday you were playing against my team… and now you're with us. This is crazy. I didn't actually think you'd take it seriously."
"Oh… ahah…" Izuke said, nodding, "Honto desu ka!? What if I didn't turn up? You'd be waiting here like an idiot! Whatever. OK… I'm lost now. I don't know this place at all! Where do I find my class???"
"Are you forgetting that I've been here for three years, girl? I obviously know my way around here like my own home," Fujima said, grinning brightly. "Come on." He walked into the school, and Izuke followed along.
"You know, I'd better not stand near you," Izuke said suddenly, "Or people are going to give me really weird looks!" She laughed and kept a distance away from Fujima. Fujima stopped and grabbed Izuke's hand and dragged her along. "Ow! Not again!" Izuke exclaimed, and pulled away. She followed after Fujima obediently, not wanting to have her wrist hurt.
"This is the hall," Fujima said, stopping in front of a large indoor compound, "Don't bother about lining up. If you're in the basketball team, that's not necessary. You'll be missing a lot of classes, by the way."
"Nani?" Izuke exclaimed, "Demo…"
"Benkyou, benkyou. (translation : study, study) That's the key to it," Fujima answered her quickly and turned round a corner. "By the way, did you remember to bring your basketball clothes?"
"Er… yeah," Izuke said, "But my jersey says dM."
"Don't worry, you're new. No one's going to bother about what it says, as long as it's proper clothes," Fujima told her reassuringly. "This – is the canteen." The canteen was huge, with rows of tables and benches arranged all around the compound. There was a whole row of stalls selling different kinds of food.
"The labs are on the second floor," Fujima said, "And the toilets are on the other side of the canteen. See over there?" He pointed out the toilets. "The classes are on that side – the whole of that area… that's the badminton court… the pool is on the other side of the classes… there's the squash court, and there are two basketball courts. One is downstairs… and the one we normally use is upstairs… on the top floor."
"Top… floor?" Izuke said.
"Yeah, top floor. And its really hot up there, so don't say I didn't tell you." Fujima glanced at his watch. "Hm… seven-thirty. Come on, time to practice. I can't believe I'm late."
"Late…?"
"Yeah," he said, "Practice starts at seven."
"Oh," Izuke said, and nodded. In Shohoku She followed Fujima all the way up six flights of stairs… all the way to the top floor. Fujima walked through the first door, and Izuke followed him through. A group of people – about eight of them – were already practicing. They stopped the moment Fujima entered.
"Fujima," Toru greeted, smiling, "Ohaiyo! Izuke!" He gave a slight nod as a greeting to Izuke. Izuke waved back, as though they were good friends. In truth, all these people were like strangers to her.
Fujima pointed to a small room in the corner. "You can go change in there." Izuke nodded and ran over to the room. Five minutes later, she was out, dressed in the Do Minato basketball clothes. She stood out from the rest of the team as her clothes were blue, while theirs were bright green. "Ten rounds now!" Fujima shouted loudly, as he sat down on a chair, dressed in his basketball clothes, and a jacket draped over his shoulders. Immediately the team began jogging around the court. When they were done with ten rounds, Fujima got up. "Shooting… from the penalty line!"
While the team practiced shooting, Fujima did basic warm-ups and practiced basic ball passing movements. "Stop!" he shouted, turning around to face the team. The team immediately stopped. "Izuke-chan, I want you to cover Toru. Toru, try and shoot. The rest of you, sit down and watch."
Toru immediately began running around the court with the ball, as Izuke kept her distance. She didn't believe in pursuing the players all around the court. She preferred to keep her energy by keeping nearer to the basket, which she was meant to guard. As a point guard, she certainly had the energy for guarding and shooting.
Toru neared the basket. Izuke, though short compared to male basketball players, could jump quite high – just high enough to reach the rim for a slam-dunk – but this only happened once in a blue moon, when God decided to work a miracle on her jumping. Toru jumped up and attempted to shoot, but Izuke stretched out her hand and knocked the ball away. The ball dropped to the floor and bounced all the way to the other side of the court. The two players jumped down.
"What th…" Toru exclaimed, and ran after the ball, which rolled away and stopped when it bumped into the wall.
Fujima chuckled to himself, and stood up. "Did you see that?" he said loudly, and all the players stopped to look at him and listen to what he had to say. "Did you see that? That was pretty great, wasn't it? I hope all of you have learnt something from Izuke's guarding." He smiled at Toru. "Hanagata. Don't let that get you down."
"Wait, Fujima," Ito said, "If you're a point guard, what is she?"
Fujima looked thoughtful, and stared at his Asics shoes. "Izuke… you'll take the position Power forward! Ito, you're the Second Guard… Kazushi, small forward… Toru, you're still centre… and I'll keep at being the Point Guard." He dribbled a basketball before letting it drop to the floor and roll away. "Now listen. We tied with Shohoku last week. Tomorrow we'll break the tie. I want all of you to attack! We must beat them by at least 25 points!"
"Izuke-chan," Toru said, "We're relying on you. Do your best."
"HAI," Izuke said enthusiastically, and suddenly her face turned sour. "Hey, chotto matte! I can't play power forward!" she exclaimed, running up to Fujima with a terrified look. "I've never played as power forward before! I can't be the main right wing attacker! I... I can't even dunk! I'm not tall enough! H-hey, Fujima!"
Fujima turned and stared at her with raised eyebrows. "Eh?" he said, and grinned. Izuke slunk back slightly, predicting his answer in advance. I know he's going to give me one of those weird looks and he won't change his mind anyway, she said, the corners of her mouth turning down. "Well, just go out there tomorrow and give it all you got, because there isn't any other position available," he said, and patted her shoulder kindly.
"I hope entry into your school has a moneyback guarantee," Izuke said, sticking out her tongue, and Fujima looked mock horrified.
"You wouldn't dare," he said, and laughed, knowing that it was all a joke. He shrugged, and walked off. "I know you can do it," he called back to a confused Izuke.
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"WHAT?"
"No way!"
"Impossible!"
"I don't believe it."
"Its true," Ayako exclaimed in frustration, turning a bright red, as Miyagi pressed the question at her. She waved her paper fan around threateningly, and Miyagi immediately stopped asking questions.
"Izuke-chan has transferred to Shoyo High School. It's not my fault, don't shout at me!"
Rukawa was thoroughly shocked. Shoyo… everyday his father was asking him to switch to Shoyo, but he'd said no, Shohoku was a good team and with him in it they'd win all the time. "Otou-san, what's your problem? Besides, Shohoku's nearer to our house, and Anzai-sensei is a good basketball coach. You want me to cycle for twenty minutes just to get to Shoyo?"
And yet, his father would persist each day, hoping that Rukawa, one day would change his mind and decide to study in Shoyo High. "What's with you and that crazy old man? What's basketball if you don't excel in your studies!? Damn you, boy, if you want to keep playing basketball in Shohoku you're going to have to prove to me that you can play it well in your studies too! And speaking of basketball, I, son, will tell you honestly, that Shoyo has a better reputation in that darned ball sport. It's got higher prestige. Go think about it. It's your decision."
But now… to replay the whole match and to win would be very, very hard – especially with Izuke in Shoyo. And now that Shoyo's prestige was boosted, Shohoku would hardly stand a chance of winning the next year, and the year after that. And that, put simply, meant that he would not make it to the nationals. That meant that no talent scout would notice him, and if the national varsity team found out that he was part of the losing team, they might kick him out. Should he switch to Shoyo, too? That would be silly. He could almost see the school paper headlines. ONE BY ONE, SHOHOKU PLAYERS ALLYING SHOYO. But then…
"Well, now we're in dire straits," Mitsui said gravely, staring at the parquet floor. "For one thing, we'll be playing a replay match. With Izuke, it'll be their game both sets. We won't have time to attack if we keep defending against their shooters." He shook his head, and slammed his fist into the wall angrily. "DAMN!" he cursed.
The match had been tied, and naturally, was supposed to be continued for five minutes. The team that was leading by the end of those five minutes would be the winner. However, this time, there had been some technical problems with the play. Shohoku did not know what had happened, but rumour had it that Fujima and his team had persuaded the panel of judges to hold a replay match instead of a tiebreaker on the day itself.
"They can't do that!" Kogure protested angrily, leaning against the wall. "They should have just kicked Shoyo out! This isn't part of basketball rules! How can they... how can they just allow a replay like that? They're crazy!!" His face was red.
Rukawa, meanwhile, was still thinking hard. Transfer to Shoyo? That was a very hard decision to make. Rukawa decided to go home and discuss it with his parents. If the answer were Shoyo, then Shoyo it would be. But he'd have to face a very painful defeat in the match tomorrow first – before a great victory hailed him.