8 Chapter 08 - Preparation Against Kaijo
In the evening, Furihata started his training as an official member of the Seirin Basketball team. Unsurprisingly, it is just light training like body conditioning and adapting to the team's rhyme. Well, after their last scrimmage yesterday, something like this should be expected.
However, at the end of the training, Riko dropped some surprising news on the team.
"Everyone, gather around!"
"What happened, Riko?" Hyuga asked, wiping the sweat on his face.
"Sit down first. I have an announcement to make." She smiles sweetly, making the senpai who knows her longer gulp nervously. After everyone sit down and waited for her, she started speaking,
"I managed to arrange a practice match against a good team." She broke the news, causing chatters on the court.
"Okay, everyone! Silence, please!" She clapped her hand, gaining the attention of her players.
"Now that I have your attention, four days from now, we will have a practice match against Kaijo High School!" Seeing as a lot of her players have confused expressions on their faces, Riko lets out a deep sigh.
"And here I thought some of you would know anything about high school basketball. Junpei! Tell me what you know about them!" She ordered the captain to share the information.
"Hai, Coach!" He pushed up his glasses before he spoke, "Kaijo High School have one of the best basketball team in Japan, with their team being regularly on the national team for almost a decade. Their best achievement is last year when they were able to advance through the semifinal before they lost against Rakuzan High School."
Several players gulped nervously at the prospect of playing against one of the best teams in Japan.
"Thank you, Hyuga. But the surprise is not over." She paused with a smirk, enjoying the nervousness of her players. "The news is they have a very good newcomer. I think Kuroko is familiar with him. He is one of the Generation of Miracles, the small forward, Ryota Kise."
A silence descended upon the gym before it broke with the screams,
"EEEEHH??!!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Izuki-kun, Furihata-kun, come here!" The next day, before they started training for the match against Kaijo, Riko called her two point guards to discuss something.
Izuki and Furihata just shrugged, knowing that this would come sooner or later.
"Okay, I will be frank with both of you," Riko spoke, staring at them both. "Furihata-kun, even though you played better than Izuki-kun yesterday, I have no plan to make you my starting point guard. Do you have a problem with that?"
The atmosphere around those three becomes a bit tense for a moment before Furihata nodded.
"Sure, I don't mind."
Suddenly, Riko and Izuki release a deep breath that they hold back, relieved that it went well.
"Thank you, Furihata-kun. I am afraid that you will create some fuss over my decision. I am glad you are mature enough. But, do you know why I take the decision?" Riko asked curiously.
"I don't know for sure, but I can make a guess."
"Oh?" Riko raised her eyebrows, intrigued. "Care to share with us?"
"Sure. You want to strengthen our bench. That was Seirin's weakest point last year as if I can take a guess, they were just helpers. But now that you have bench players with proper basic basketball skills, so you need a leader for them.
If you put me as the starter, not only do I have to adapt to all the senpai, but Izuki-senpai will also have to adapt to the new bench player, which will take a longer time. But seeing as I could play well with them even though they are new to me, you trust me to lead them while still having Izuki-senpai as the main point guard. That is easier than integrating both of us into a new completely team just like the first scenario."
Izuki and Riko let out a low whistle, impressed with the confident (borderline arrogant) assessment from Furihata.
"Good guess and you are definitely spot on. But for the other reason, you are quite proficient with basketball strategy and you have a good understanding of what happened on the field. I want to have you as our secret weapon, our sixth man that could lead the team when our opponent lowered their guard, and my advisor while on the bench. That means I will demand you to take a more active role inside or even outside the court, be it to advise me or just to give me your opinion. Can you do that?"
Riko and Furihata stare at each other for a moment before the latter gives a nod.
"Sure, I can do that." Riko smiles, satisfied at what she just heard.
"Good. Now, go back to your training!"
When they come back to the court, they could see Kagami playing offense against Koganei. He drives with a high speed to the right side and makes a quick stop before spinning his body to escape the guard before doing a one-handed dunk.
"Impressive." Izuki whistles lowly while Riko and Furihata nodded. Honestly, Furihata is a bit jealous of Kagami's monstrous body. After all, who doesn't want to have that kind of body and dominate every defender?
But, well.. What can he do about that? Whining about unfairness would not bring anything to him. He doesn't have time to waste asking for a thing he doesn't have. He rather takes his time to think about the best way to use the things he has right now.
Or that is at least what Yoichi Hiruma said in the manga 'Eyeshield 21'.
All of his thought suddenly snapped by an unfamiliar noise. It was not coming from the court but from the outside of the court. There is a sudden crowd filled with female students there, screaming about getting photos and signatures.
"What the hell happened here?" Furihata could hear Riko mutter, confused about the crowd. Suddenly, a voice popped up out of nowhere, startling both Riko and Furihata.
"It has been a while, Kise-kun." Kuroko suddenly appeared in front of them, greeting the source of the crowd.
"Kurokocchi!" A blond student with a uniform from a different school shouted excitedly before turning his attention to the crowd. "I am sorry, can you leave me for a moment?" He didn't wait for the answer before running to Kuroko.
He is Ryota Kise, one of the infamous Generation of Miracles.
Meanwhile, Furihata could only shake his head in exasperation. "I forgot that Ryota Kise is an uprising model. No wonder he attracts the majority of female students here." Hearing what Furihata said, Riko and Izuki sighed for different reasons.
The first one thinks about how much trouble the blond would bring to her team, while the later thinks about how unfair that someone younger than him gains more attention from the female students compared to the entire Seirin players.
"Well, seeing as he is here, let's see the interaction between the former 'untouchable' Teikou members," Furihata said one more time, clearly ignorant about Riko and Izuki's thoughts. Suddenly all of the Seirin players gathered around. Curious about Kise.
"When I heard about our opponents, I remember that it is the school that you are joining for, so I guess I want to greet you, since we were the only ones that get along the best in Teikou, right?" Kise spoke with a voice full of enthusiasm, to only get a straight rejection from Kuroko.
"Not particularly," Kuroko said with a straight face, making Kise cries comically.
"You are so mean, Kurokocchi! Don't you remember when we are-" Suddenly, out of nowhere, a basketball is thrown at Kise's face, which the blonde caught it easily.
"Sorry to ruin your little reunion after a long time. But what about playing a little one-on-one here, Ikemen-Kun?" Kagami grinned menacingly, shocking everyone on the court.
"Of course, he would do that. Typical villain speech. Or is that protagonist speech?" Furihata mused inwardly. However, he is also curious about what Kise will do as a response.
"Sure, because you showed me something good earlier, I will just return the favor." He said nonchalantly while dribbling the ball. It was the signal for everyone to give both players room to play.
"This might be bad." Kuroko suddenly speaks, gaining the attention of the others.
"No, phantom. If anything, this might be good for Red over there." Furihata replied while pointing at Kagami.
"Furihata-kun, what do you mean that it might be good for Kagami-kun?" Riko asked, trying to understand what is going on.
"Well, Kakashi over there will show Red over there what the Generation of Miracles is capable of. It will also lift up his spirit for the match while removing the underestimating attitude he has toward his opponent. After all, he is still thinking that Japanese basketball is weak, right?"
"Kakashi? Seriously, Furihata-kun?" Riko and the others who hear what he said deadpanned, knowing Furihata's strange habit to give someone a weird nickname.
But surprisingly, Furihata replied to the unasked question.
"If you don't know about the Generation of Miracles, you will know after this why I call him Kakashi."
"Sure.."
They turned their attention to Kise and Kagami.
"Are you ready?" Kise asked in a teasing manner.
"Bring it on!"
Then suddenly, Kise drives quickly to the right side, leaving Kagami behind. Kagami showed his monstrous reflex by following him around, still guarding Kise tightly. But suddenly, everyone on the court saw something they are very familiar of.
Kise suddenly makes a quick stop before spinning his body around Kagami before jumping, doing a one-handed dunk.
"He is copying Kagami?!" Hyuga and Koganei shouted, couldn't believe what they saw.
'You must be kidding!'
Kagami gritted his teeth and turned around, jumping from behind to block Kise's dunk attempt. However, Kise didn't bulge even for a second, and just ignored the pressure from Kagami before he dunked the ball with full power, leaving him hanging on the rim, staring at Kagami who is falling down to the floor.
A silence descended on the court before it broke by Furihata.
"That is Ryota Kise's infamous ability. He can copy almost all the moves he saw and make them better than the original. Just like I said, he is Kakashi, indeed."
