Chapter 4: The practice game
Saturday, Shohoku High School...
"We're here," Hikoichi announced, as they (as in the Ryonan basketball team) stood at the entrance of Shohoku High School. "Minna, this is Shohoku High School, home of the Shohoku basketball team, who had beaten us last year by a small margin to become the second best team in Kanagawa. Later, in the National Championships, they had gone on to beat Sannoh, the previous champ-"
"URUSAI, HIKOICHI!!!"
Hikoichi eeped at the sight of Taoka-sensei's humongous head, which had grown to twice its original size, and ran to hide behind Sendoh.
Sendoh just laughed at the sight. "Let's go, guys."
They weren't even 10 steps forward when Sendoh stopped in his tracks, causing the rest of the team to bump into him.
"What's wrong, Sendoh?" asked Koshino.
When he didn't get any answer, he followed his friend's line of sight, and saw the source of the brightened look on Sendoh's face.
---
Hanayuki was on her way to the gym when she heard her name being called.
"Hana!"
Looking to her left, she saw Sendoh running up to her. "Aki!"
Before she could say anything else, she was literally lifted off her feet and swung around, before given a bear hug, not unlike the one Sakuragi and Rukawa had given her back on her first day at school, only this time, it didn't look like he was going to let her go any time soon.
"Er, Aki... I can't breathe... " said Hanayuki, choking a little.
"Eh? Ah, gomen! Are you alright?" he asked, letting go off her immediately.
"Still breathing." She looked up at him and smiled. "Hisashiburi ne, Aki?"
"Aa. It's been a very, very long time since we last met, Hana. I missed you so much." He pulled her into an embrace again.
"I missed you too," came Hanayuki's muffled voice. "Anou, do you think you can loosen your grip a little? I'm running out of oxygen here."
"Ehehe... sorry again." Sendoh pulled away, but still held Hanayuki by the shoulder. "You know, this is the first time I've seen you in your school uniform. You really do look like a student."
Hanayuki gave him an incredulous look. "Of course I look like a student. I am a student."
Sendoh laughed. "Sou, sou!"
"Sendoh! What do you think you're doing?"
Both of them turned around to see the whole Ryonan team looking at them. Taoka-sensei had his hands planted on his hips, a vein clearly throbbing on his forehead, while Hikoichi was busy scribbling in his notebook.
Hanayuki smiled and bowed. "Konnichiwa, Taoka-sensei."
Taoka-sensei ignored her and turned to Sendoh. "Sendoh, I will not have this kind of behaviour coming from you. This is no time to be flirting with the first girl you lay your eyes on."
"But sensei, Hana's a good friend. Besides-"
"I don't care who she is," Taoka-sensei cut him off. "She can be your mother for all I care. You will behave properly at all times, especially now that we're in Shohoku's grounds."
"But sensei, she's not my mother. In fact, she's someone more important. She's-"
"Enough, Sendoh! Now let's get going." Without waiting for Sendoh to explain, Taoka-sensei led the rest of the team towards the gym.
Sendoh and Hanayuki exchanged a look and a shrug, before making their way to the gym behind them.
---
In the gym...
"Nyahahahaha! Sendoh, this time I'll definitely beat you!"
"I'll be looking forward to it, Sakuragi."
Hanayuki smiled to herself as she recalled how her brother had said the same words to Sendoh in the practice game the previous year. "Ganbatte, oniichan!"
"Don't worry, Hana-chan. The Tensai won't lose the second time," Sakuragi declared, striking his Tensai pose. Just then, Rukawa walked past.
"Do'aho."
"Kitsune, you had better not get in the way this time."
"It is you who had better not get in the way, do'aho."
The game began soon after, and right from the start, the competition had been very close and tough. Whenever Shohoku scored a point, Ryonan would catch up soon enough. There were visible improvements in both Sakuragi's and Rukawa's skills, but Sendoh too, had improved, making him even harder to handle than ever.
And, from the looks of it, Ryonan had gotten themselves a couple of rather good first-years. Fortunately, Shohoku didn't lose out in this factor. Turned out that Mikage had a knack for three-point shots, just like how Mitsui had been when he was still in the team. Tendo, on the other hand, had very good rebounding skills, and was also a fast runner.
"Sempai!" Tendo called to Sakuragi, who was being marked by Fukuda tightly and unable to get away.
Left with no choice, Sakuragi passed the ball to his junior, who then quickly eluded his opponent, charging towards the Ryonan basket at full speed. However, before he could reach the basket, he was blocked by Sendoh. Slightly overwhelmed, Tendo lost hold of the ball, which was neatly caught by Koshino.
"Tendo teme! What do you think you are doing?" yelled Sakuragi, as he chased after Ryonan's vice-captain.
He managed to catch up to Koshino, but before he could get his hands on the ball, Koshino passed it to Sendoh. As usual, Rukawa was right at his heels, but that didn't stop Sendoh from getting past the younger boy's defense and putting the ball into Shohoku's basket.
Shohoku's ball, Miyagi passed to Rukawa, who made a show of trying to force his way through Sendoh's defense, but gave the ball to Mikage instead. It turned out that Mikage was standing right before the three-point line unmarked, giving him the opportunity to put in a three-pointer with ease.
Later, Fukuda's pass to Sendoh was intercepted by Sakuragi, who quickly ran off the other side of the court. When he was about to dunk the ball into the basket, Sendoh appeared behind him to tap the ball away, but Sakuragi unexpectedly and successfully avoided it by changing techniques at the last second and did a lay-up shot.
Sendoh was clearly impressed; Rukawa grudgingly so, while Ayako commented, "Sakuragi has improved a lot, hasn't he?"
"Of course he has. He's always improving himself. I don't think the day will ever come when oniichan stops improving," said Hanayuki.
"Hohoho!" Anzai-sensei laughed, agreeing with Hanayuki.
On the court, Sendoh was saying the same thing to Sakuragi.
"Sakuragi, I see you have improved."
"Nyahahahaha! I'm the Tensai! Of course I have improved. Nyahahahaha!" came Sakuragi's proud reply.
"Do'aho," Rukawa muttered, as he walked past the two.
"Teme kitsune! You're just jealous that this Tensai performed better than you!"
On the bench, Ayako slapped her forehead. "Here they go again."
"It's ok, Ayako-san. They're just warming up," said Hanayuki.
"You mean there's more?"
Hanayuki nodded her head. "Oh yes, I'm expecting more from them," she replied, a small smile playing on her lips.
The score was 32-30, there were 2 minutes left to play in the first half, and Shohoku was leading by 2 points. And that was it. Ryonan began to attack incessantly, scoring and scoring until it was they who were leading, by 8 points.
By the time the first-half of the game was over, the score was 41-45, in favour of Ryonan. Needless to say, Sakuragi was furious that they were in the lead.
"Kuso! How can this be? How can they lead us by 4 points when we have the Tensai here?" he ranted.
Knowing that his rants would last longer if he was interrupted in the middle of it, Hanayuki waited until he had stopped before making her point. "Oniichan, Kaede, do you remember what I've told you on my first day at school?"
The two sophomores looked at her, glanced at each other, and looked at her again.
"I said I don't care if you guys can't get along outside the court, but on the court, you have no choice," she went on. "Now, I'm going to tell you what I've told you before last year, when we had the practice game against Ryonan. If you want to win this game, you'll have to work together."
"Both of you have improved a lot, no doubt about it, but so has Aki. If anything, he's probably the new number one player in Kanagawa now that Maki-san is not around. You do remember how we had to assign 4 people to handle Maki-san, don't you? We managed to stop him, remember? Anyway, my point is, the only thing that could beat Aki is teamwork. And the core of this teamwork-" she pointed a finger from each hand at each of them respectively, "-is your partnership."
"I'm not asking a lot. You've worked together before, and you've seen for yourselves the power that can be generated from it. Need I say more?" She looked at them expectantly. "Now, are you ready to kick some Ryonan butt?"
"Nyahahahaha! Hana-chan, I'll kick their butt so hard they'll find themselves on the way to the moon."
"Do'aho." I say we kick them to the sun and let the heat roast their butts.
Hanayuki smiled. "Very good. Just let me spice things up a little." She turned to where the Ryonan team was gathered and called out, "Hey, Aki!"
Sendoh's head popped out from amongst the many heads in the group. "Hai, Hana?"
"Oniichan and Kaede said they're going to kick your butt so hard you'll be flying all the way into outer space. You know what to do right?"
Sendoh winked and gave her a thumbs-up. "Of course. I love it when people say they're going to kick my butt, because then, I'm going to enjoy kicking their butts even more."
"I'm glad to hear that." Hanayuki winked back. "Ganbatte yo."
"Hana-chan, why are you cheering for him?" asked Sakuragi, aghast. Beside him, Rukawa looked equally horrified, if you can call his widened eyes an effect from being horrified.
"Well, by cheering for him, he'll be all fired up to beat you guys, and in return, you guys will be more fired up to beat him," she reasoned.
The referee blew the whistle to signal for both teams to return to the court. Hanayuki smacked the duo on their backs. "Go do some kicking."
The game was resumed for the second-half, and like in the first-half, it was a close and fierce competition between the two teams, although at first, Ryonan's lead widened from 4 to 10 points, much to Shohoku's horror.
Rukawa and Sakuragi were standing about a metre away from each other when Hanayuki shouted at them.
"Oniichan, Kaede! What in the whole wide world do you think you're doing??!"
It was so loud that everybody's attention was focused on her. And the two people she was addressing.
"Why is it that I have to tell you the same thing over and over again?! Do you guys really want to lose that much??! I thought you told me that you're going to kick Aki's butt! Well, I don't see that happening!" she yelled, her arms flailing up and down.
While the whole Shohoku team sweatdropped, Sendoh started laughing.
"See! He's laughing at you now! I demand that you kick him quick, and kick him hard! If you can't do it alone, then do it together! Isn't that what I had told you earlier on? How could you have forgotten about it so quickly??!"
Embarrassed and somewhat encouraged by Hanayuki's outburst, Sakuragi and Rukawa bounced back, showing Ryonan what they were really made of by finally working together. Their spectacular partnership caused Ryonan to lose their balance, and slowly, Shohoku regained the points which they had lost earlier, enough to topple Ryonan from leading by 10 points to lagging behind by 2 points.
However, Sendoh wasn't called the genius for nothing, and with only 10 seconds left in the game, he managed to upset the partnership that was Rukawa and Sakuragi and scored the much needed 2 points to tie the game. The score was 90-90.
"Kuso! It was so close, Hana-chan! One more kick, and Sendoh will be on a one-way ticket to the moon!" Sakuragi started ranting again.
Hanayuki laughed and patted him on the shoulder. It didn't matter to her that they only tied the game. What mattered was the fact that her brother and Rukawa had worked together and pulled Shohoku out of a crisis. "Apparently, oniichan, you didn't aim well or kick hard enough. But it's ok. At least we didn't lose. You'll have other chances to do so in the future."
"Hana's right," came Sendoh's voice. He walked over to Hanayuki and slipped an arm around her waist, promptly earning himself a glare from both Rukawa and Sakuragi and a slap on the hand by Hanayuki.
"Keep your hands to yourself, Aki. You don't want Taoka-sensei to scream his head off at you," Hanayuki warned.
"Hai, hai. Wakatta," said Sendoh while rubbing his hand. "By the way, will you be free next Saturday?"
Hanayuki eyed him curiously. "Why do you ask?"
"There's something I would like you to have, and I thought that maybe, if you could come out next Saturday, I would give it to you then."
"Well-"
"She can't go," Sakuragi butted in. "Next week we're going to see Gori, Megane-kun and Mitchy at Fukasawa University."
"Oh, what for?" asked Sendoh.
"They're in the university's basketball team, and next week they're playing against Tokyo University in a practice game. Hisashi-niichan asked us to go and give them support," Hanayuki explained.
"You're not going to be watching them the whole day, right? How about later?" Sendoh pressed.
"I'm afraid I still can't, Aki. For one thing, I'm not going to watch them play."
"Nani??! Why not, Hana-chan?" asked Sakuragi.
"I've got something to do on that day, oniichan. I told you guys about it, remember?" she reminded him.
Sakuragi scratched the back of his head. "You did?"
"Yes I did," Hanayuki insisted. She turned to Sendoh. "Gomen ne, Aki. Maybe some other time?"
"Yeah sure. Why not? I'll-" Sendoh broke off when he heard Koshino calling for him in the background. "I got to go. I'll give you a call, and then we'll talk about it, alright?"
He gave Hanayuki a quick peck on the cheek and sprinted off, before she could say anything or Sakuragi or Rukawa can react. Not that they didn't react though.
"Sendoh, you hentai! Come back here! Nobody kisses the Tensai's sister and gets away with it. I said come back here!" Sakuragi yelled after him.
Rukawa too was furious, though you wouldn't be able to tell from the non-expression on his face. I swear to Kami-sama I'm going to kill him the next time I see him and dump him into the ocean with his fish friends!
Hanayuki just sighed and shook her head, as the younger members of the Shohoku basketball team jumped in to hold Sakuragi back. Aki no baka, you never learn, do you?
---
The next day, at a supermarket...
Where on earth is the canned-food section? thought Sendoh to himself, as he wandered around the aisles in the supermarket, looking at the signs hanging above his head. I can't believe okaasan. Just because the supermarket near our house didn't have the particular brand of canned mushrooms she usually bought, she had to send me all the way here to get some. And, she could have told me yesterday, when I was around the area after the practice game with Shohoku. Geez...
Just then, out of the corner of his eyes, he caught sight of a familiar figure walking down the aisle. Aha! A saviour!
---
"Fujima-san!"
Fujima was pushing his trolley along the dairy section when he heard someone calling his name.
"Sendoh?" he exclaimed, surprised to see the captain of the Ryonan basketball team there. "What are you doing here?"
Sendoh laughed in reply. "What else can you do in a supermarket, Fujima-san?"
"Oh, right."
"Anyway, I was wondering if you can tell me where the canned-food section is. I'm on a grocery errand for my mother see, and she asked me to buy this particular brand of canned mushroom for her, but I can't seem to find which aisle they're in," said Sendoh, all in one breath.
"Um, ok. It's right there, Sendoh. See that sign? Just go straight, and turn into the 2nd last aisle on your left," said Fujima, pointing to the said directions.
"Oh, thank you, Fujima-san! You really saved me from a lot of trouble. By the way, are you shopping for groceries alone?"
Before Fujima could say anything, a little girl came running up to him from around the corner. "Otouchan, I want this chocolate!"
"Hai, hai." Fujima took the bar of chocolate from her and put it in the trolley. "Where's your okaachan?"
The little girl shook her head.
"Ah, sou ka?" said Fujima. Looking up, he saw Sendoh grinning mischievously at him.
"Wow, Fujima-san, I didn't know you actually have a daughter of your own. So lucky, ne?"
"Actually-" Fujima started to say, but was cut off by a voice coming from behind Sendoh.
"Kenji, is Aoi-chan with you?"
Still grinning madly, Sendoh turned around to face the owner of the voice, and felt the grin froze on his face.
---
Author's notes: Thank you to Kiku who reviewed. I'll try my best to put in some matches. But, please note that I will not elaborate much on games in which Shohoku goes up against teams they had played before, like Ryonan, Shoyo, and Kainan etc. Instead, I'll make them go up against new teams, teams which were mentioned in the manga that Shohoku never got to meet. Those would be in later chapters. Because I have nothing to base the games on, it will be purely fictional. So please bear with me. Thanks!!!