While summer Interhigh was still the most important basketball high school tournament of the school year, the Winter Cup had been growing in popularity and importance over the past few years. Needless to say the energy of both tournaments couldn't be any more different: complete polar opposites. Summer was the pinnacle of the life of the seasons, everything felt optimistic and vibrant, and just like the hot season itself, the tournament had a certain kind of glow to it: excited first year students who now had a chance prove themselves to be the best among the other first years in the country, and enthusiastic third year players, who looked at the tournament as their chance to prove themselves as worthy captains to their teams, and as the last summer they would spend with the other third year members before graduation eventually came knocking on their doors like the unpleasant relative they never wished to see. On the other hand, the cold winter often meant an end, a conclusion to their hard work for the past year, and for the third year players, the Winter Cup was the epilogue they had yet to write: the culmination of three years worth of sacrifices, and hard work. And that was how the third year players of the Ryonan basketball club felt: the commitment and determination to give the books of their high school life a satisfactory epilogue they could look back on with pride and joy in the future.
The two weeks prior to the start of the tournament, the whole team lived and breathed basketball. With the burden of the final tests off their shoulders, they all could put their entire time and energy into training. Whenever they weren't at school, they were training until late in the evening, or rewatching videos of the teams they could be facing, weekends included. And while the boys were literally sweating it out, Taoka-sensei was working hard at coming up with endless scenarios the team could encounter, and what strategy to follow in those cases. Aya in particular barely got any sleep during those days because she ended up staying up late, watching again and again the videos of the many teams she managed to get her hands on, taking as many notes as she could, or rewriting ones she previously had, but weren't as accurate after a third or fourth rewatch. It goes without saying that both her and Akira were completely resolute to take the team to victory this time around, therefore, dates were put on hold and interactions were limited, much to their dismay, but that was yet another sacrifice they were willing to take: they were on very familiar terms with sacrifices in their relationship after all, be it for her sake, his, or both.
They arrived in Tokyo two days before the start of the championship in order to do the final adjustments to their condition before their first match and while the mood had slightly changed once they made it to the big city, the overall mood was still of a deep solemnity and seriousness. They were feeling ecstatic for being able to be there, once again, representing Kanagawa, but also bitter from what happened last time and how it could have been avoided had they worked harder on their stamina, and worked harder in general. Sendoh, in particular, was the one feeling the most dissatisfied given what went down last time, however, he had been paying extra attention to his ankle for the past few months, and hoped it wouldn't give him any trouble again during the tournament. While he was fully recovered from his ankle sprain, he had to admit it did hurt him a bit from time to time whenever he was overtraining, but according to his doctor, it was purely because of the excessive training lately, so all was good.
Summer Interhigh was a very fierce and tough battle, but the Winter Cup was beyond their expectations. It was like a full on blood bath. Every team that had reached it had given it their all during training every single day since the summer, resulting in every team considerably having improved in mere four months. Groups stage was already tough enough, and matches were only getting fiercer the more they advanced to the next round, but because of how hard they had trained, how much blood, tears and sweat they had put into their hellish trainings, they were able to win every single game until again, reaching the dreamed final match.
Joining them this time for the final game was their fellow Kanagawa representative, the Shohoku team, and at that point, it was hard to see one team without the other, just like it was back during the summer Interhigh. In fact, whenever they weren't playing their own games, Ryonan made sure to attend every Shohoku game to cheer on them, albeit also to see how much they had improved in those three weeks compared to the preliminary matches. And it was during those matches when Aya was able to meet up with both Megumi and Kaori, since she tended to keep to herself whenever Ryonan had a match, so attending the Shohoku matches was a good opportunity for the Shibaharu sisters to see each other. As Kaori ended up attending all of the Ryonan matches leading up to the final, mainly because she wanted to cheer on Sendoh and Hikoichi, she also attended all of the Shohoku ones, deep down because of how excited she was to see Rukawa playing in an official match, although she kept her enthusiasm to a minimum around her father, and masked it as her usual sarcasm and witty remarks, so he wouldn't suspect a thing nor would start blurting out nonsense as he always did. She knew he was, in fact, a very good player, but as expected, training and an official match were vastly different. His skills really shone whenever he was on court, and even more when he was facing a good opponent, and inevitably her eyes followed every move he did, everywhere he went, mouth agape in awe as her attention was completely captured. It goes without saying that Jarrett did attend as many games as he could fit into his schedule, however, he was very glad to see Kaori enjoying basketball again, as she used to do when she was a child. He was so elated about that fact he couldn't even bring himself to tease her every time he noticed her watching Kaede in awe.
The night before the final match, Taoka-sensei gathered the boys in one of the meeting rooms of their accommodation to deliver some words prior to the game the following day.
"And here we are again, boys. I can't even begin to tell you all how proud I am of each one of you for taking the team this far again. Be proud of what you have achieved so far, and especially the third years, thank you for the hard work during these three years and for leaving behind such a legacy. As your coach, I'm really proud to see how much you guys have worked and grown. It is an honour to have coached you during such important years of your lives, and it is an honour to keep coaching the second and first year. Now, go and rest tonight, okay? Let's turn tomorrow into a memory you all will look back on with joy and pride."
After he delivered those words, most of the guys seemed to be tearing up, especially Hikoichi and a couple of the third year boys, while thanking their coach for everything he did, before they began leaving the meeting room, one by one, heading to their respective rooms.
"Are you coming too, Aya?" Akira asked her as she was the only one not moving from her spot.
"Actually I'm going to rewatch a couple of the videos we recorded ahead of tomorrow…"
"Do you want me to stay with you? I'm sure it will be useful for me as well—" He paused after she interrupted him.
"You should go and have a full night of sleep, silly." She smiled at him, reaching to squeeze his hands gently.
"Fine, fine…" He released a soft laughter before leaning down to kiss her forehead. "Don't stay up too late, okay? Goodnight."
"I won't, goodnight."
He dropped another tender kiss to her forehead before he headed out of the room and went to his, leaving Aya in the meeting room to rewatch the videos she recorded of the games Shohoku played those past few days, in hopes to be able to come up with more strategies they could use ahead of the match tomorrow, or spot things she wasn't able to when she attended the actual matches. And once she was done rewatching those at least twice, she switched to rereading the highlighted parts of the books she brought with her. In fact, she didn't realise it was so late until Akira returned to the meeting room and had to cough in order to get her attention as she was deep into one of her books.
"I thought you said you weren't going to stay up late?"
Speaking in a soft tone, he walked closer to sit next to her on the couch, gently taking the book off her hands, ignoring her protests, to close it and gather the other materials she was working on.
"It is not that late, Akira come on… I'm working on stuff."
"It is that late, trust me. Coach told us to rest, and I'm sure that includes you as well." He kissed her cheek.
"Why are you still up then?"
"Because I knew you'd be here working on things you'd already worked on at least ten times. Tomorrow will be fine, Aya. We have worked really hard, and you and Taoka-sensei have done an amazing job coming up with plays."
"I know, but…"
"My sweet, and worrywart girlfriend," he said tenderly, gazing into her eyes, "the best we can do now, all of us, is rest to be in a perfect condition tomorrow."
"You are right." She finally agreed, sighing in defeat. "Sorry, it's just I'm very anxious about tomorrow. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep, so I thought I'd better stay here working, instead of tossing around in bed."
"You should also rest properly, you know. We need our dedicated manager to be in a perfect condition tomorrow as well."
She nodded in response. "I guess my mind just keeps reminiscing about last summer, when you had your injury."
"In case it happens again, as much as you will worry, please do trust my decision, okay? This is our last chance to make it."
Her eyes widened as soon as he uttered those words. Was he actually asking her to sit there and do nothing if he injured himself again? A further injury could be potentially dangerous to him, as his body was still developing, so how come he was still being so reckless about it again? Hadn't he learned nothing from last time? Aya wanted to protest, and voice out her concerns, or even try to persuade him not to do that again, but the complete serenity he had in his eyes as he looked at her made all of those feelings dissipate. Sighing again, she held both of his hands tightly, smiling sweetly at him.
"I trust you on this, okay? Whatever you decide, were it to happen again, I'll support you."
"Thank you, Aya." He smiled in return, feeling relieved by her words. "But I'll do my very best to be extra careful this time."
"How are you feeling ahead of it?"
"Mhm?" He tilted his head slightly, pretending to give it a thought. "Pretty excited actually. I really want us to win, and I do want to give this all I've got. I know the Shohoku boys are extremely strong, so my competitive side is extra motivated and fueled."
It was universal knowledge that he was chill and calm most of the time, and even sometimes on court whenever he felt they could easily win, but the stronger the opponent, the fiercer his desire to win was. Three years worth of work had led them all to this stage, and beyond his personal want for the win, he also wanted to give his all because of his team: the coach, the third year boys, who had been with him since day one and the juniors, who worked harder than their senpais in order to catch up with them and carry on their legacy, and last, but not least, Aya as well. Beyond their romantic relationship, she was a very important part of the team, as he often told her, and he knew they couldn't have gotten as far as they did without her help and dedication to the team.
"Let's get you to bed, okay?" He asked, and without waiting for an answer, he stood up and gathered her books and papers in his hands, so she wouldn't carry anything.
"Fine… captain-san," she replied, in an attempt to tease him as she also stood up to follow him.
"Not this again." He laughed. "If you call me that, I'll have to call you manager-san in return."
"We are on official duty, so we might as well address each other respectfully and properly." She laughed along.
"Then that means you are not getting any goodnight kisses or hugs, manager-san," he pointed out, walking into her room to put the books on the nearest table before turning to her.
"I guess a polite bow would be the proper thing to do, Sendoh-san," she said, holding back her urge to laugh as she pretended to give a full bow by bending from her waist.
"..." He inhaled sharply, releasing air as he was about to turn around, but he gave in and ended up enveloping her in his arms instead. "Cheeky. I almost believed you there for a split second."
"I got you, didn't it?" She smiled triumphantly, hugging him back.
"Ahhh you really did." He leaned further down to kiss her forehead first, then her cheek and then finally her lips. "Goodnight, Aya. Make sure to get lots of rest."
"Goodnight, Akira. You better get rest too, okay?" She smiled at each of the kisses, pecking his lips back before pulling back.
He gave her one last kiss before spinning on his heels to exit the room, but a sudden thought stopped him as his hand was on the door handle. Quickly he turned around again, only to grab her books before she prevented him from doing so.
"On second thought, I'm taking this to my room." He smiled at her, pinching her puffed out cheek with his free hand. "Now, goodnight."
"You know me too well." She laughed, shaking her head as she hesitantly opened the door for him so he could head back to his room.
Once she made sure he was back into his room, Aya closed and locked the room behind her, and went straight to bed, slipping under the warm and cosy covers, trying her best to empty her mind off silly thoughts, so she could fall asleep sooner rather than later, but against all odds, she easily drifted off to sleep as soon as she closed her eyes due to exhaustion from the day. And she slept so profoundly she didn't wake up not even once during the night until the first annoying beeps of the alarm inevitably woke her up. With a sort of hard smack, she turned it off before it kept on beeping. Eyes wide open, she went to get ready for the day, changing into her school uniform, then she made sure she put her sportswear into her gym bag to later change at the venue ahead of the match. Taking a very deep breath, she left her room in order to meet the rest of the team for breakfast. Their match wasn't until later in the afternoon, but tension ran high as the room was in complete silence once Aya made it to the breakfast hall. Tension, mixed with a fully focused state of mind. Instead of either joining Akira or Hikoichi, she chose to sit next to their coach instead, so they could discuss a few ideas she had the previous night when she stayed up late researching, and although she had to sit through the usual Taoka lecture about how she should have gone straight to bed, he appreciated the ideas, even congratulated her on how good those were.
After breakfast was finished, and in the same silence, the whole team marched towards the meeting room again to go over the plays they had practiced over and over for the past weeks and months, and especially the ones they would be using against Shohoku, depending on how the game was developing, and a couple of extra 3-point plays in case they needed them by the end of it. Each player had been working really hard on their weak points nonstop since the school year started, therefore, Aya had no doubt those plays they've been working on would work perfectly against their opponent. For example, Koshino had been polishing up his skills as a shooting guard, often staying after practice to work on his 3-pointer as much as he could until the success rate increased whereas Uekusa had been working on his speed and dribbling, as well as, his passes in order to improve as their point guard. As for Fukuda, he has been working real hard on his defence skills, which were very poor, and on being a reliable power forward to their new center, Kuroda, who actually happened to be really good, but also worked as hard as the other boys, improving his rebound skills. As for the team captain, there was always room for improvement and he had been working a little bit on everything as much as he could. However, it wasn't only the starter line-up boys who worked hard, the bench also worked as hard, in case they needed to sub someone in and out because having a strong bench was as important as having a strong starter line-up.
By the time they finished going over the plays, they had a quick lunch and headed towards the venue in order to watch the game for the third spot between Sannoh and Daiei, which they couldn't finish watching as they had to head to their assigned locker room ahead of the upcoming match. And finally, it was time for the long awaited final match against Ryonan and Shohoku. Both teams had played against each other so many times by now, that it was amazing they still managed to surprise the other team, making every match feel as if it was the first time they were up against the other. Just like the previous night, the coach said a few words of encouragement, and reminders of what he said earlier in the morning.
"Remember we are starting on man to man play as usual. Stay in constant motion, guys. The ball has to move at all times, no overdribbling, okay? We don't want to give them the chance to steal the ball because you are too absorbed in dribbling, and as much as you can, seek opportunities to free up your teammates. Teamwork is important."
"Don't forget, guys, we are strong," Sendoh added.
With those final words, the coach starting heading out of the locker room towards the court, followed by the team, in complete silence until they made it out to court, finally able to see the full packed venue, deafening noise as the audience were already in high-spirits cheering for their favoured teams or players. Quietly, Aya was helping the starter line-up players with their team jackets and tracksuit bottoms after their six minutes warm-up, carefully placing them along the bench, and once she made it to Akira, she still said nothing, and only smiled fondly at him while taking his white tee and tracksuit bottom after he removed them to reveal his white Ryonan uniform. He seemed to be deep within his thoughts, and in the zone, so she chose not to say anything that might take him away from that serene state, so she assumed a smile would suffice. And it really did, for he returned her gesture by simply squeezing her cheek very quickly before anyone else saw and went to line up with the rest of the team for the initial greetings while Aya returned to her spot on the bench, next to coach Taoka, ready for the game to begin.
3…2…1
After the opening tip, Sakuragi gained control of the ball and immediately went into Miyagi´s hands, but that was something they were already expecting, therefore, they switched to defence right away. Kuroda was an outstanding good center —in fact, he was a sort of their saviour, since they were in need of a good center after Uozumi graduated—, but Sakuragi's jumping skills were off the scale, and so, no matter how good their center was, it was almost impossible to match those jumping skills.
Miyagi then passed the ball to Yasuda, but Koshino was faster and managed to swipe the ball from him, instantly passing it to Sendoh, who was already upcourt. The Ryonan captain easily laid the ball in, after leaving behind a very stunned defence, but inevitably a very fired up Rukawa.
0-2 in Ryonan's favour.
"Let's just get those points back!" Miyagi exclaimed to his team.
Shohoku's captain quickly tossed the ball to Kakuta, their center, who faked to shoot, prompting Kuroda to jump in order to block it, but instead passed the ball to Rukawa, who managed to score.
2-2
"Why didn't you pass me the ball, Ryo-chin!" Sakuragi argued with his captain. "I could have easily scored!"
"You were being well guarded by Fukuda and that giant. Kakuta did the right thing by passing it to Rukawa." Miyagi calmly replied to a very loud Sakuragi.
"Don't waste your time, idiot and let's get it back at them."
During the first 10 minutes of the game, each time a team scored, the opponent team scored right back at them, making it practically impossible to get ahead on the scoreboard. Sendoh and Rukawa were especially making it very hard, given that everytime each one of them scored, the other one would just get it back at the other, pointing to the scoreboard every single time, as if they were sort of having a competition between the two of them asides from the actual game happening on court.
"We need to break this pace…" Sendoh thought. "Pass Kuroda the ball next time, Uekusa." He requested before joining the rest of the guys in offence.
On command, Uekusa began dribbling slowly, but quickly threw the ball to Kuroda, who passed it as quickly to Sendoh, and broke through the defence, only to pass it to Koshino, who was outside the three point lane, managing to score easily.
Yasuda then inbounded the ball to Miyagi, and he quickly tried to pass it to Sakuragi this time, but Kuroda blocked the pass and immediately passed it to Sendoh, who similarly to the earlier play, threw the ball to Koshino, so he could easily score another three-pointer.
28-34
"Let's not get nervous!" Miyagi tried to reassure his teammates as he was looking at them from the midcourt, dribbling as he was quickly looking back and forth between the boys, inwardly thinking what was the best course of action to take next. He quickly dribbled past Uekusa, passing it to Rukawa, who decided to shoot, but unfortunately felt a bit short and bounced off the rim instead.
"Great pass, sly fox!" A boastful Sakuragi laughed as he got the rebound over Kuroda and Fukuda, and tried to lay it in himself, but Kuroda blocked the attempt immediately, and as fast threw the ball to Sendoh, who was already sprinting upcourt, Rukawa following closely behind, catching up with him soon enough and stand in front of him.
Sendoh faked right, and then left, but Rukawa didn't fall for it and shouted at Yasuda.
"Block it, Yasuda! He always does the same!"
But Sendoh passed the ball to Koshino nevertheless, who prepared himself to shot another three pointer, prompting Rukawa to jump up in order to block it, as Yasuda wasn't fast enough, but instead of shooting, he passed the ball back to Sendoh, who being outside the three pointer line, easily scored.
That bastard. Rukawa turned back to Sendoh, scowling at his satisfied smile as he was high-fiving his teammate after the play.
28-37
After three consecutive three-pointers, the Ryonan crowd went wild and erupted into loud cheering and clapping. And a similar energy was exuding from their bench as they were enthusiastically cheering on their team.
"There's plenty of time to recover, guys!" Miyagi reassured his team again, dribbling fast through the defence to try and lay it in himself, but the center, Kuroda, jumped up almost immediately to block it, resulting in Miyagi sprawling onto the floor after such a fierce block.
"White foul, #8! Two baskets!" The referee shouted.
"You okay there?" Kuroda asked Miyagi, while helping him up.
"Can you still play Ryo-chin?! If not, I'll happily be acting captain!"
"I'm perfectly fine, Hanamichi." Miyagi sent him a grin, then thanked Kuroda for helping him up.
"Do you think this is a circus, king of the apes rip off?!" Sakuragi pointed at Kuroda, who simply smiled.
Kuroda was a couple of centimetres taller than Uozumi, so his presence in court was nothing short of intimidating, yet he actually was very calm and had a gentle aura around him: the team often called him the gentle giant, because of how kind-hearted he was.
"You already brought the whole circus with you, idiot." Rukawa addressed Sakuragi.
"Rukawa." He snarled, pointing at him instead. "Very rich of you to say that when Sendoh is beating you again, stupid fox!"
As usual, Rukawa ignored him altogether, but the stupid monkey had a point. He had improved greatly, yet Sendoh was always a couple of steps ahead of him no matter what he did, however, that only fueled his desire to win.
The players then lined up for the foul shots, which Miyagi effortlessly scored.
"Timeout for Shohoku!" The referee shouted.
Confused by the timing of their coach's timeout request, the Shohoku boys marched towards their bench to catch some air and listen to their coach's further instructions while the Ryonan boys did the same and returned to their side. As soon as they were by the bench, Aya quickly handed each one of them the towel so they could wipe off their sweat, and their energy drinks, as all of them gathered around coach Taoka to listen for his further instructions.
"We can't let our guard down, boys. It's only over a minute before the end of the first half and we have to keep this up. Koshino, Sendoh keep it up with the three-pointers—"
"I think we should change the play, Taoka-sensei. Rukawa must have realised by now." Sendoh interrupted the coach, sending a quick glance to his rival. "They will quickly change their defence to block our three-pointers, and Sakuragi with his impressive jumping skills can block them with ease."
"Sendoh is right, boys. Let's start with changing the offence to the inside. Keep up the advantage."
As Sendoh had predicted, as soon as either him or Koshino had the ball near the three pointer line, they were immediately guarded by Sakuragi or Rukawa, who were the tallest in the team, with an incredible jumping skill, but that left the inside unguarded.
"Hiro, don't shoot!" Sendoh shouted at Koshino, who was preparing to shoot yet another three pointer, but ignored his words, and Sakuragi effectively blocked the shot after jumping up, the ball going straight into Rukawa's hands.
"Thank you, moron."
Rukawa raced downcourt dribbling as he easily made it past the defence, to the unguarded inside, dunking the ball in.
32-37
"We said to switch the offence to Fukuda and Kuroda, Hiro," Sendoh said.
"Sorry. Thought Sakuragi wouldn't get there as fast when he was by your side instead."
"Never underestimate him. Let's get those points back!"
However, Rukawa's impressive dunk seemed to have motivated the Shohoku boys further, especially Sakuragi, who, under no circumstances would lose against Rukawa, despite Ryonan being their opponent. After that dunk, Shohoku managed to catch up with Ryonan just on time for the half time.
36-37
As the referee whistled, both teams retrieved their towels and energy drinks to head into their respective locker rooms to rest, and think of the best plan for the second half.
"We need to readjust our play." Taoka announced as soon as everyone gathered in the locker room. "Our advantage easily vanished. I'm going to sub you out for now, Koshino."
"But Taoka-sensei—"
"You were told not to shoot from the outside, and yet you did. And we now need a change of pace."
Koshino fell silent, and retreated to the back of the locker room in frustration, but not before Sendoh managed to quickly pat his best friend's back in support.
"Hikoichi, start warming up. You are going in."
A very excited Hikoichi nodded firmly various times as he diligently began warming up: the rest of the team looking at him, proud. Hikoichi was one of the boys who had improved the most and they were glad to see the coach was giving him chances to prove himself.
"Direct the offence to both Sendoh and Fukuda. Uekusa and Hikoichi, your job will be to assist the two of them as much as you can."
The team responded with a high spirited yes before some of them sat down on the floor, wiping off their sweat and drinking from their energy drinks in order to recover and be able to regain their energy.
"How's your ankle?" Aya asked after approaching Akira, who was on the floor, tying his shoelaces tighter.
"All good, Aya. Nothing hurts, promise." He smiled back at her. "How are the stats looking?"
"Fukuda-kun has scored the most points so far, while Rukawa-kun is following close behind. Sakuragi is getting the most rebounds, albeit Kuroda-kun is not failing behind either, he's doing a great job."
"What do you think about the coach's strategy?"
"Shohoku is an unpredictable team. Sakuragi keeps having small mishaps every now and then, but his impressive natural skills make up for it. Miyagi is incredibly fast, amazing dribbling and passes, and Rukawa… you know better than anyone, right?"
"He's extraordinary," he simply said, standing up.
"I think as the coach said, we should direct the offence towards the two of you. Although I'd try scoring from the outside again with Hikoichi's assists. You two have been working really hard together. And I'd assist Fukuda and Kuroda whenever they are unguarded in the inside zone."
As thank you for her insightful input, he patted her head affectionately as it was already time to get back on court for the second half. In silence, they made it back to the court and went to line up in the middle of it.
"Hey Hikoichi, they are finally letting you play against this genius!" Sakuragi patted his back a little bit too hard.
"I'll do my best, Sakuragi-kun! And watch out! I've been working really hard."
"Might as well let this genius teach you a couple of tricks!" He laughed.
It wasn't Hikoichi's first official game nor anything of that sort, but it was the first time coach Taoka decided to sub him in in such a crucial moment of a very important game, which meant his efforts and hard work were recognized.
Just like before in the first half, Sakuragi got the ball for his team, who still feeling pretty much fired up, scored again bringing the scoreboard 36 to 39 in Shohoku's favour. However, Ryonan boys weren't feeling discouraged by this, but rather more fueled up, especially their captain, who seemed even more motivated than in the first half, and it showed by the way he easily got those points back, scoreboard being now in their favour 40 to 39.
"Who do you think is going to win, pops?" Kaori asked from her spot in the audience.
"That's a very good question, pumpkin. Either team needs to break this even pace they seem to have set on."
Similarly to what was happening in the first 10 minutes of the game, as soon as one team scored, the opponent team scored back and whenever one team seemed to be on track to get ahead of the other, that advantage quickly vanished into thin air as if it had never existed. Sendoh and Rukawa were the ones who were most into the game, completely deep within their thoughts, going back to their little one-on-one as they were during the first few minutes of the first half.
"Shohoku currently is one point up, but I doubt Ryonan will let them get away with it so easily." Jarrett commented, arms crossed over his chest as he observed the game carefully.
"Hikoichi!" Sendoh called him. "Remember that play we've been training over and over? I think it is time."
Hikoichi nodded firmly at his captain, sprinting to get into position. Uekusa started by dribbling towards the left side of the court, while Hikoichi quickly made it to the opposite side, as Kuroda and Fukuda were on the elbows. Sendoh then quickly cut through the middle of the key, successfully making it to the three-pointer line, shooting after Uekusa made the pass.
After he scored, Hikoichi ran up to him to high five him as it turned out way better than in the training.
"I wonder if that will be enough for them to break this pace." Jarrett mused.
It seemed so at the beginning as Sendoh and Fukuda were scoring one after the other, irremediably bringing the scoreboard to 45 to 55 in Ryonan's favour, however, Shohoku wasn't going down without putting up a good fight. A 10 points gap was indeed a lot, but thanks to Rukawa, and also Sakuragi, they were able to shorten that gap and tie the game once again, inevitably back to square one. For the next few minutes, neither team was really getting ahead in the scoreboard, remaining in a tight tie until there was only barely a minute left.
72-72
However, desperate times called for desperate measures, and Taoka had no other chance than to call for a last timeout, after Shohoku tied the game, yet once again.
"Barely a minute left, boys." He nodded, taking a deep breath as the coach was crouching down while explaining one of the plays they had gone over that very same morning. "Uekusa will start, then Kuroda will cut to the wing for the pass here—" He pointed to each dot on the small board. "Got it? Use it as a last resort. You guys can do it, okay? This is the last push."
"Ryonan on 3, 2, 1, go!" All of them chanted before making it back to the court for the very last push, as their coach said.
Shohoku was on offence this time. As usual, Miyagi started. He dribbled quickly past Uekusa, passing it to Yasuda, who returned it to Miyagi, easily dribbling through both Kuroda and Fukuda to score himself.
74-72
"Good job Ryota!"
The sudden voice of Ayako made Ryota get briefly distracted, blushing as he looked into his girlfriend's direction, waving at her.
"You idiot, don't get distracted!"
"Ryo-chin!"
Sakuragi's voice pulled him out of his daydreaming, quickly racing to the opposite side of the court, guarding Uekusa, who threw the ball to Koshino, then back to him, then to Sendoh on the left wing. The team captain faked right, and then jumped up in order to pass to Fukuda who caught the ball mid-air to dunk it.
74-74
Yasuda began Shohoku's offence this time, throwing the ball at Miyagi, whose eyes moved frantically back and forth, mulling over the situation. Seeing that Uekusa was slightly out of position, he seized the chance to go past him, going for the basket. He prepared himself to shoot from the free-throw line, but the enormous figure of their center jumping up in front of him, made him flunk the shot, hitting the rim.
"Rebound!" He shouted.
"Leave it to the king of the rebounds, Ryo-chin! Sakuragi showed up out of nowhere and jumped as high as he could, beautifully managing to get the rebound and then slammed it right through the rim with both hands.
76-74
"Never lose sight of this genius!" He laughed boastfully while doing a peace sign with both of his hands.
"Game is not over yet, idiot!" Rukawa shouted at him as he sprinted back upcourt where Ryonan were already for their offence.
Barely ten seconds left, and it was their last chance to make it. It was now or never.
Uekusa, with the ball, was positioned on the right wing. Kuroda quickly cut to the wing for the inbound pass, Fukuda and Sendoh, backscreened Sakuragi and Rukawa respectively. Then Fukuda cut to the ball after the screen, successfully receiving the pass from Kuroda. Kuroda screened for Sendoh, who was now wide open to nail a perfect three-pointer, bringing the scoreboard to 76-77 on the very last second.
Final result: Shohoku High School 76-77 Ryonan High School
As soon as the final whistle echoed through the venue, the Ryonan boys immediately ran towards each other for a group hug. On their bench, a similar image could be seen. Hikoichi and Aya were literally crying out of joy while they hugged each other whereas Taoka-sensei was actually running towards the boys on court, visibly very emotional before everybody else on the bench raced into the court as well, forming around their team, congratulating them for the incredible job, especially their captain.
"You guys made it!" Aya exclaimed once Akira managed to get out of the group hug.
"I told you, didn't I? We gave it everything we had. I always had full trust in the team." Smiling wide and bright, he placed both of his hands on her sides to lift her up.
"Put me down, hey!" She protested, but she was still laughing.
"I will not." He ignored her protest and twirled her around before finally putting her down to hug her tightly, not minding the fact that they were in public.
"I'm so immensely proud of each one of you, Akira. Especially you. You were amazing there, you know that, don't you?" She hugged him back tight, as she was shedding more tears of joy.
"Might as well need a reminder of that every now and then." He joked. "Thank you, Aya. Couldn't have done that without you."
On the other hand, however, Shohoku boys weren't as ecstatic. Miyagi was looking at their bench, bitter and regret on his face as he saw the looks of the juniors, and Ayako. He was their captain, and he was supposed to lead them to victory, and yet they lost. Sakuragi was still on his spot, feeling off, whereas Rukawa, surprisingly, seemed to be too stunned to speak or move, as his gaze was casted downwards.
"Let's go line-up." Miyagi patted their backs, a bit more calm now.
Reluctantly, Sakuragi and Rukawa joined the rest of their team, facing the Ryonan boys as they bowed at each other.
"Thank you for the game!"
After the bows, Sendoh was the first one to approach the fellow captain, offering his hand for a shake. "Good game today, Miyagi. It's been an honour playing against you guys."
"Likewise." Miyagi looked up at him, and gave a brief smile, shaking his hand back.
Each player shook each other's hand, a sign of great respect between both teams, except for Rukawa who refused every Ryonan's player's offer for a handshake, with the exception of one.
"You really are getting better, and better," Sendoh said. "You put up a great fight today."
"It wasn't enough."
"I know you'll keep working your ass off." He added with his usual smile. "I'll gladly play one-on-one with you anytime."
"It won't be as easy next time."
"I'm looking forward to seeing Shohoku next year with you as their captain."
Sendoh held out his hand for a handshake, but Rukawa simply stared at his hand for a moment before shaking it briefly —his own way of saying he accepted, reluctantly, this defeat. However, after the handshake, Sendoh gave Rukawa a very brief and short hug amidst amused laughter and a shocked face from the younger boy, who walked off as soon as he tried that. Sendoh really appreciated Rukawa, and he was actually sad their rivalry was sort of coming to an end, as it was highly unlikely that they would cross paths again like this: at least they would always have one-on-ones left after all.
Sendoh then approached Sakuragi. "You really continue to amaze everyone, Sakuragi." He nodded. "Might as well be as genius as you always claim to be."
"Of course I am! Shohoku's rise to victory is starting today under my leadership!" He laughed loudly.
"Good game today." He offered his hand for a shake, which Sakuragi, as always, returned with crushing force.
On the sidelines, both coaches were also bowing at each other, congratulating the other on how much of an incredible job the other team had done since the summer, and how excited they were to face each other again in the upcoming Interhigh next year, and see how the teams will have grown by then. Both teams then gathered their things to make it back to their assigned locker rooms, a completely different atmosphere surrounding each team. Ryonan had worked very, very hard and they were over the moon that those extenuating training paid off whereas Shohoku, albeit disappointed by the result, were already looking forward to the next championship.