The Past II
Sakuragi watched as Sendoh tried to shot a floating jumper over Rukawa, only to have Rukawa reject the shot with authority. Hmm, thought Sakuragi, Sendoh isn't back at 100% yet. That shot would have gone in prior to his injury, but it looks like he hasn't regained his full jumping ability yet. His stamina looks good though, having been on the court for over an hour and not even breaking a sweat yet. What a difference a couple of weeks of hard training had made! Sakuragi thought back to his own hard training at the hand of his own coach, and smiled at the memory of his gang not believing that he could shoot the thousands upon thousands of shots which he had been asked to shoot, all in the name of becoming a real basketball player. Hmm. Where was Youhei anyways ...
After rejecting Sendoh's shot, Rukawa held up his hand to stop the one-on-one match he was playing with Sendoh. Sendoh, who had just retrieved the ball, looked at Rukawa with puzzlement. "Oi. Super Rookie …" Rukawa's eyes narrowed, and Sendoh quickly corrected himself. "Sorry, Rukawa. Old habit. Why are you stopping the game? I was just getting warmed up. And, I'm still winning."
Rukawa sighed, and turned to the watching Sakuragi. "Sendoh needs more than I can give him to regain his full abilities. I can match up well with him, but he needs to play as part of a team again. Not Ryonan, though, as he needs a test of equals to fully regain his confidence."
Sakuragi chortled. "For once, Fox, we agree. In fact, while you have been playing against Sendoh, this genius had Haruko-chan make a couple of calls, and Youhei has been busy picking up some people using a scooter he borrowed …."
Sendoh and Rukawa looked a little uncomfortable at Sakuragi's mention of Youhei, and Sakuragi noticed. "Ah, you two! It's not like that! He really borrowed a scooter! And, Haruko borrowed Gori's car as well. Ah! Here they are!"
Sendoh and Rukawa turned to where Sakuragi indicated, and saw Haruko and Youhei walking through the gate of the court followed by five other people.
"Ah! Haruko-chan! Who did you find for a game of pick-up?" Sakuragi shouted. Then, as he noticed who the five other people were, he began to laugh even more, and pointing to the biggest of them, yelled, "I knew it! You couldn't resist the temptation!"
Just then, a big fist came down on Sakuragi's head, leaving a smoking egg right in the middle of his forehead. "Idiot! I came to help Sendoh! Not because of you!" said Akagi. "Plus, I needed a break from studying." Akagi turned to look at Sendoh. "How's the knee?"
Sendoh jumped up and down a bit, and replied, "Not a problem. University?"
Akagi frowned. "Harder than I thought. But, I still have time for basketball on the university team, so I can't complain too much."
One of the other people who had walked onto the court with Akagi laughed. "Complain? Akagi would never do that! Three times we've met over the past year, and all I hear is how good Shohoku is doing. You'd think he still played on the team!" said Maki.
Jin smiled at Maki's comments. "We all want our region to do well at Nationals, which is why, when Youhei called us up to come by for a game to help you train, we couldn't help but come. So, no complaints from either of us."
Kiyota then turned to Youhei and said, "No complaints about being here, but that scooter ride was definitely something to complain about!"
Youhei shrugged. "Eh. I actually borrowed it off Takamiya, so it's not my fault that it went so slow. Still, Hanamichi, we got here in the end, in time, yes?"
Kiyota stopped Sakuragi from replying by yelling, "In time? I lost years of my life on that thing!"
"Quit yelling at Youhei, Wild Monkey! You're here to help, not berate!"
Kiyota looked set to reply, when all of a sudden, the fifth person from the newly arrived group put a hand on his shoulder. "Oi. Stop this nonsense, Kiyota. Learn from your seniors, and be sensible," said Fujima.
Maki gave Kiyota a punch in the head, and while Kiyota was moaning in pain and Sakuragi yelled at Kiyota for being such a fool, Maki turned to the bemused Sendoh to say, "Sorry, Sendoh. We're all here to help you. We came for a match. Four-on-four, first to fifty. You up to it?"
Sendoh smiled. "I'm ready. Teams?"
Fujima stepped in. "Maki and I were talking on the way over, and we thought we'd make it hard for you. How about Akagi, myself, Maki and Rukawa versus yourself, Sakuragi, Kiyota and Jin?"
Sendoh thought it over, and then said, "Hard? You give me a pure three point shooter in Jin, a monster rebounder and good all-round player like Sakuragi, and an offensive player like Kiyota, plus me, against an old man and former MVP, Super Rookie, the master of the Gorilla Dunk and a master strategist like yourself? Ah. Sounds fair."
Fujima stared hard at Sendoh. "We'll win, of course, but it will be good training for you."
Sendoh turned to look at Kiyota and Sakuragi, who all looked as if they could kill with the fires burning in their eyes after hearing Fujima, and Jin, who was calmly shooting three after three into the hoop at the far end of the court. Sendoh then turned back to look at Akagi, Fujima, Maki and Rukawa. He sighed. "It can't be helped. You'll lose, but we'll have fun beating you."
As Akagi, Maki, Fujima and Rukawa huddled together for a discussion, Sendoh walked over to where Sakurgai, Kiyota and Jin were now waiting for him. As Sendoh walked up, Sakuragi spoke up. "Wild Monkey and I were just talking, and we agree to call a truce for this game. We will show these elders, and the Fox, just who is the best!" Kiyota, nodding, also spoke. "If the Red-Haired Monkey makes a mistake, I promise not to laugh too much … I also want to show them how good we can be." Jin spoke next. "They are a confident team, but if we play to our strengths and their weaknesses, we will prevail."
Sendoh thought for a moment, and then realised that this was really a great thing his friends and rivals were doing for him. If this game couldn't teach him to be part of a greater whole, then there was no hope for him as a team player for Ryonan in this year's Nationals. Here, he was among equals, and it would take teamwork to win. Sendoh spoke. "Okay. To win, we need to stop Maki above all others. How about Sakuragi on Maki, Kiyota against Fujima, Jin against Akagi and me on Rukawa to start with, but freedom to move about as needed for defense. We are at a disadvantage in terms of size, but if Sakuragi can move fast enough …."
Sakuragi pounded his chest with pride. "Have no fear, this genius will do what's necessary!"
Sendoh smiled. I know you will, Sakuragi. I'm counting on it.
Haruko, who had been nominated as referee by her brother, called both teams over to centre. Youhei, the scorer, was stationed over by the gate with the portable scoring rack Akagi had brought from Shohoku in his car on the trip over.
Akagi, waiting to face Sakuragi in the circle, instead found himself against Jin. "What's this? Is Sakuragi afraid to face me? Just like he had to work up the nerve to ask me if it was all right to date my sister? What does Haruko see in you?"
Haruko, blushing, said, "Big Brother, you know that Rukawa was my crush, but Sakuragi and I spent a lot of time together during his rehabilitation. He opened up to me, and I to him. He thought it would be proper to ask for your blessing before we dated, though, so you wouldn't cause problems for him. He's not afraid of you. Don't make fun of him!"
Sakuragi glared at Akagi. "Hey, Gori, I didn't want to make you feel sorry for yourself too early in the game, so Jin has agreed to step in to save you some embarrassment. Don't worry. I'll teach you some manners later in the game. Count on it."
Maki smiled. "All right. Let the game begin!"
Haruko tossed the ball in the air, and Akagi soared up to tip the ball over towards Fujima. However, as Fujima reached out to get the ball, Kiyota jumped in front to grab the ball. He then sped up the court. As Maki tried to get in front of him, Kiyota flicked the ball to his left, where an open Jin, who had sped past Akagi without actively contesting the jump ball to start the game, caught and shot the ball. Swish. Youhei held up three fingers. Maki looked at Fujima, who shrugged and said, "What? He caught me off-guard."
Rukawa threw the ball in from behind the line, to Maki. Maki dribbled past centre, and then passed off to Rukawa, who was promptly shadowed by Sendoh. Too early in the game to go one-on-one yet, thought Rukawa, who then passed off to his left to Maki, who had begun to power towards the basket through the middle. As he went up for a lay-up, thinking he had a free basket thanks to Rukawa's crisp pass, Sakuragi flew in from the side to reject the ball as it left Maki's hand. Maki, shocked, landed and then went after the ball as it rolled to the right side of the court. Sakuragi, though, had the same thought, and went streaking by Maki to grab the ball.
"Ha! This genius is …." He didn't get to finish the sentence, though, as Fujima reached in, stole the ball, and threw a bullet-pass in to Akagi at the top of the key before Kiyota could reach him on defense. Akagi, expecting to see Jin defending the basket behind him, turned to instead find Sakuragi, who had sprinted over after being stripped of the ball by Fujima. "Surprised to see me, Gori? What did you expect? This genius is full of surprises!?" Akagi laughed. "Not what did I expect … more like, what did I want. I will crush you!" However, before Akagi could begin to power in towards the basket against Sakuragi, Jin flitted in to tap the ball out of Akagi's hands, who then had to enure a laughing "Nyahahahahahaha!" from Sakuragi.
The ball bounced to Sendoh, who began to sprint up the court towards the opposing hoop. Suddenly, Fujima appeared out of nowhere in front of Sendoh, forcing Sendoh to pass to his left, where Kiyota was free. Kiyota faked a shot over Rukawa, and then threw the ball around Rukawa's right to Sendoh, who had rotated by Fujima using a Kiyota screen. Sendoh then leaped up and slammed the ball through the hoop with authority.
Teamwork, thought Sendoh. Let's see if my team can work this well all game.
Maki, wiping some seat off of his face with his shirt, looked at Sendoh's team with interest. Hmm, he thought, Sendoh has himself a good team there. Let's see what I can do to make it a bit harder for him.
Fujima passed the ball from behind the hoop to Akagi, who promptly relayed the ball up the floor to Rukawa, who in return used a burst of speed to blow past a surprised Sendoh. However, a quick double-team by Kiyota and Jin forced Rukawa to pass the ball over to Maki, who found himself facing Sakuragi. "Old Man, don't try it." Maki smiled. "I don't need to try it. I just do it."
With that, Maki began to back into Sakuragi, who used all of his strength to keep the former MVP from forcing him back. Feeling Sakuragi's resistance, Maki then spun off of his rigid body to run right past him, and slammed the ball into the hoop.
Maki looked at Sakuragi. "Game on." Sakuragi yelled, "Oi. Old Man! It's still 5 to 2 in our favour!" Maki said, "Not for long …."
