Practice Game; First Half

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Note¹: I'm going to call the two teams as Team Kyōsen and Team Seiji. Calling them The Freshmen Team and The Senior Team is going to be a mouthful.

Note²: Seiji know nothing about anime(anime was never mentioned in the earlier chapters). So he doesn't know about KnB nor SlamDunk.

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It was another great day for everyone in Kyōsen Private Middle School. The spring breeze is refreshing and the school year just started so the students have nothing to worry about as of yet.

However, in one part of this harmonious middle school is the hotspot for the battle that is about to erupt. Five players on each team are now wearing their own practice jerseys, with the seniors wearing the red jersey and the freshmen wearing the yellow one, each of them ready for a game of basketball.

Only a few students are watching the match, with Arisugawa Rena and Mia being among these few people. Aside from them, there are the bench players of the first string and a few second string players who already finished a match.

Two of the tallest players among them are on the middle of the court, waiting for the referee, in this case it's the manager of the team Aida Riko, to start the tip off. Everyone is in position and everyone's eyes is on the two players in the middle.

"As this is just a practice game, it will only last for 10 minutes! Now, start!"

*whriiiiirp*

The sound of the whistle being blown echoed as Riko simultaneously threw the ball before backing out a little bit. Just a few beats later the two centers jumped. However, it was clear for all to see who will win this tip off. And, just as everyone expected, it was the center of Kyōsen Junior High who won the tip off.

The ball was then picked up by Fukuda who is just standing right where the ball was going to land. He immediately ran towards the other side of the court while dribbling the ball. However, just as he was about to approach the arc, a shadow flashed right past him and barred him from continuing any further.

"Tsk, how the heck did you get in here so fast?"

Fukuda gave this person right in front of him the stink eye as he is rather annoyed that he couldn't show off his skills just right after the game started. It's such a great chance.

"I came here after I saw you run after getting the ball."

Fukuda have many questions on his mind but he left it for later. He just saw a teammate run past him within the corner of his peripheral vision so he faked out a drive. Then, he followed it up with a spin move before passing the ball with a basic chest pass when the space on his right widened.

However, he was shocked when he saw a hand slightly tip off the ball, resulting in the course of the ball to get altered slightly. This caused the receiver of the pass to alter his course. Of course, as a player of a team who managed to enter the Nationals, this didn't slow him down as much.

"Behind you, Izuki!"

Izuki is just about to score the ball with an easy layup when he heard Fukuda's voice coming from behind him. Using his 'eyes', he saw a shadow loom over him, ready to swat the ball at any moment.

'Damn, how fast is he? He's here already?' Izuki thought.

Thankfully, he always strive to maintain a calm mind in any situation so he saw someone just right behind the two of them. The layup he is about to do changed into some sort of a hook shot as he passed the ball. The ball slightly grazed Seiji's hair and was received by a monstrous force who slammed the ball at the basket with a two handed dunk.

*BAM*

The first score belongs to Team Kyōsen.

*clunk*

*clunk*

The rim emitted clunking sounds as the man among young men held onto it before going down. Seiji sensed this guy coming from behind him so he managed to avoid getting crushed by his weight earlier.

"Tsk. I was about to hit that block earlier. How did that guy see him coming from behind? I mean, I sensed him too, but that's just weird."

As Seiji continued to be immersed in his own world, he didn't notice the weird gazes that three of the players from the opposition is giving him. These three are the center of the team, Akagi Takenori, the point guard of the team, Izuki Shun, and one of the power forwards of the team, Fukuda Kicchou.

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On the side of the court, Riko is holding the whistle while looking at Seiji and the three players.

"This team is really quite strong. Akagi Takenori, a really tall middle school player who is known as the number one center of the Nara Prefecture. Izuki Shun, the one who posses the Eagle Eye, a very useful tool for someone who plays as a point guard like him. Fukuda Kicchou, a very talented offensive player, able to do whatever to finish at the rim. There's also Hyuuga and the other guy. With Seiji in this team, I don't think anyone can beat them this year."

Chu Lin, who is just beside her, heard her murmurs and spoke.

"Maa, if what your data says is true, including what Kagetora told me about this young man, I think he has really great potential to be someone big in the future."

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Meanwhile, on Hyuuga's side, he and his team's power forward is looking at each other with a bewildered look on their face.

"That was wild. Did you say you played with him when both of you are just kids? You sure you didn't break somewhere while facing off with this kind of person?"

Hyuuga let out a dry laugh at this question and said, "Ha ha ha… he was not that fast when we were kids. Also, I think he's quite sensitive and knew when to hold back. That's how I managed to hold on until now."

"Wow, he's quite considerate, isn't he?"

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The game continued on with Team Kyōsen having the ball possession once again. Team Seiji got the score back up earlier when Seiji pulled up for a midrange jumper after an isolation play against Fukuda so the game is tied 2-2.

Team Kyōsen didn't go for a fast break like their earlier play. They didn't rush for a quick bucket as they just witnessed how Seiji almost singlehandedly stopped them from that kind of scoring attempt.

With Izuki facilitating, Team Kyōsen orchestrated a post play with their captain, Akagi, once again giving them another basket. He posted up against Takeo(PF) and scored with a bank shot. Takeo tried to contest the shot but he wasn't able to reach it as Akagi was just too high.

Izanagi(PG) quickly comforted the slightly dejected Takeo while calmly crossing the half court line with ball in hand. Before they approached the perimeter, Izanagi whispered to Takeo to prepare a screen for Toru(SG).

Just as he said, Izanagi passed the ball to Toru who managed to break away from his defender, Hyuuga, by using Takeo's timely screen. He then calmly received the pass and shot the ball.

*swish*

The ball went through the hoop with ease and Team Seiji is up by 1 point with this possession 4-5. Fukuda pased the ball to Izuki who calmly received the ball. However, in a split second, he saw Seiji cutting the pass before running for the basket at a very fast speed.

"He stole the ball! Wakamatsu! Defense!"

"LIKE I'D LET YOU!"

Izuki yelled out in a panic for someone to defend Seiji. Good thing their power forward is quite near.

While dribbling the ball, Seiji sensed a person trail behind him thanks to his highly enhanced senses so he came to a full stop and looked at the rim for a brief second, doing a hesitation dribble to try and fool this person who's trying to get in his way. This defender bought his fake and jumped up to go for a block. However, Seiji just continued to dribble the ball once again and went to the hoop for an easy layup.

Only a minute and a few seconds passed but Seiji's team is already up by 3 points. There are still 8 and a half minutes to go and the score is 7-4, in favor of Team Seiji.

After that play, Akagi did his job as a captain and told his teammates to wake up.

"We're only down by 3 points, there's no need to force a basket if we can opt for a high percentage shot! Keep it cool and let's show them why we're the seniors!"

"OSU!"

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To be continued…

[A/N¹: With this, the whole team of Kyōsen is revealed.

Akagi Takenori(C)[From SlamDunk's Shohoku High)

Wakamatsu Kōsuke(PF)[From KnB's Tōō High]

Kogure Kiminobu(SG)[From SlamDunk's Shohoku High]

Fukuda Kicchou (Sub PF/Bench player)[From SlamDunk's Ryonan High]

Izuki Shun(PG)[From KnB's Seirin High]

Hyuuga Junpei(Sub SG/Bench Player)[From KnB's Seirin High]]

[A/N²: I'll be leaving some of the players aside for the highschool arc but I'll be including some of them to spice up the matches. For example, Maki from Kainan and Fujima from Shoyo. With this, the games will have lots of possibilities.]

[A/N³: To those who are wondering why Fukuda remained as a substitute Power Forward when the coach could have placed him as a Small Forward, well, here's my thought on that. While reading the definition of roles in basketball, I noticed that the Small Forward role was the very role in which the player should be an all-rounder. They should be able to perform all the basics of basketball, or that's what I saw. Anyway, I know that the roles in basketball nowadays are flexible but I wanted to keep Fukuda as a sub Power Forward who specializes in getting into the paint and scoring instead of a Small Forward since his role would clash with Seiji. And, let's be honest here, Fukuda isn't really suited for that Small Forward position. That's the way I see it, anyway. Also, it would be a good reason for him to part ways with his teammates and join a different team.]