28- Playoffs

Entering the national stage, Tanaka felt refreshed, this was his first time playing with the whole country watching him, "Well now," Tanaka turned towards his teammates, "This is the nationals, I actually expected something from the Group stage it may not be challenging but I enjoy breaking that Hanamiya guy" Tanaka said to himself.

It was true for him, he never played seriously, he didn't even reveal any of his tricks, he turned his head and looked at the players of the team in the nationals, there is a total of four teams, Ousai, Teiko, Kamata West and Kamizaki.

Ousai opponent was Kamizaki from Block A, and their match will be second to Teiko, after that, they will rest for a few hours then start of the playoffs finals, Tanaka and the group sat on the stands waiting for the match to start.

And Tanaka had been feeling itchy since earlier, too many eyes were looking at him, also the Ousai Academy also came to support them so the eyes looking at him was quadrupled, what more is that Taiga was sitting on his lap warding off all of the 'snakes' trying to leech off of him.

Well, it did get him more attention, but mostly thought she was his little sister so they don't have the same idea as each other, but no one really cares, Tanaka sat there peacefully with Taiga on his lap, Tanaka ate popcorn as he watched the match.

It didn't take long for the match to start, Teiko against Kamata West, Teiko will be matched against the infamous twins who have been getting attention lately because of their dirty play, but not as much as Hanamiya, but their playstyle was still problematic.

The game started with the tip-off and the ball went to Teiko, Akashi held the ball and he didn't rush immediately as one of the twins was in front of him, but Akashi ignored the guy and looked at the stands where Tanaka was sitting and eating pop-corns.

But his eyes were looking at Akashi, Akashi smiled then turned his head back to the court.

*Swoosh!

Akashi dashed towards the twin and before he bumped into the twin, he stopped his movement and took a step back and a pass to the right, Nijimura caught the ball and charged forward, he did his favorite in and out dribble and left behind his defender then he was met with another defender but Niimura moved fast and passed the ball towards Midorima who was free.

Midorima shot the ball and unsurprisingly, it went in, Tanaka nodded, "He is better than Sora for sure" he commented.

"What do you mean!? I can also do that!" Sora yelled.

"Really Shrimpy? he has a 100% shooting percentage and has never missed once, how about you?" Hiruma said.

"I... hehe, I can reach that one day, hmph" Sora harrumphed.

"Yeah right," Kuro smirked and laughed loudly, the others also laughed along with them.

The players playing on the court who kept looking in Tanaka's direction saw them laughed and thought they were being mocked, Haizaki clicked his tongue and was very pissed off, he wanted to show off while Tanaka was watching to show his superiority but that guy was laughing and ignoring their game, "Just you see later" he stomped his feet and continued the game.

Their match continued with the twins being able to score with fouls, and this made the pissed off Haizaki even more furious, he had 3 fouls already and he wasn't even able to show much of his play, the others ones who also gained were Nijimura, Aomine, and Midorima.

"Those twins' play style is really dirty, but I like it," Tanaka said with amusement.

"I thought you hate dirty playstyle?" Sora asked in confusion.

"That was only Hanamiya because that involves brawling but this one, they are using the rules on their side and didn't hurt anyone" Tanaka explained, he then looked, "Maybe I should make a play syle like this or add it to villainous play" Tanaka murmured.

Everyone immediately shuddered when they heard, Villainous play was already difficult to deal with even in their practice, if it still could improve then that would be the dirties playstyle in basketball, thankfully, they were teammates and of course, to win, if needed, they would even help Tanaka developing this playstyle.

Especially Hiruma who incorporated this playstyle.

At the end of the game, Teiko won with 89 points and Kamata West with 59 points, it could be said, they really struggled to play with the genius twins, it couldn't be helped since that was the first time Teiko played with that kind of players.

Tanaka and the group made their way into the court and started the warm-up while the audience went to take a break, "Hmm, I don't want to be tired on the finals, so I guess I will use that play style" Tanaka said as he looked at the players of Kamizaki, they are very tall and from Hiruma's information gathering.

They are also talented and very fast to move, when it comes to scoring, maybe even Ousai will lose to them, "I want to enter the first quarter but the title... I guess I will stick to it, not many people could get that kind of handsome title" Tanaka commented then continued warming up.

Just then Tanaka noticed something from the corner of his eyes, a group wearing a cheerleading uniform on the stands, they have drums, they have the paper speaker thingy and they also have banners and the bottles on their hands.

He saw Aisaka wearing her school uniform while organizing the group, "Is this a perk of having a super loving girlfriend?" Tanaka thought, when everyone returned back to the stadium and the game will be starting soon.

The Ousai cheering squad made their cheers[Go! Go! Ousai!], and as they finished their cheers, the slogan of the Ousai Basketball team unfolded, [This is a legend in a making]