Chapter 32 : VS Shinkyo IV - First Win!

"Kagami-kun!" Hyuga approached the red-hair quickly, trying to see what happened. When he sees the blood on Kagami's face, his eyes widened before he shouted,

"MEDIC, COME HERE!" And within a second, the medic team from the official tournament comes to the court.

However, what happened next really enraged all Seirin players.

Papa Mbaye Shiki, the culprit of this incident, steps on Kagami's body right before the medical team could treat the wound as if nothing just happened. He didn't show any expression, but this is a sign of disrespect not only to Kagami and the Seirin team, but also to the official medic.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Koganei who a moment earlier is still on the other side of the court already arrived in front of Otou-san, pushed his body while glaring fiercely at the tall center and screamed,

"Who the hell do you think you are?!"

And within a second, the cat-like senpai was swarmed by Shinkyo players who tries to defend Otou-san. It is a bit funny, really, to see Koganei, a 170 cm bench player from Seirin, standing fiercely in front of Papa Mbaye Shiki, a 205 cm center who needs to be defended by his teammates. But no one from Seirin has the intention of stopping him. No, they all want to have their share of beating for the disrespect to Kagami.

However, before the situation turned from bad to worse, the referee shouted from the sideline,

"ENOUGH, ALL OF YOU!" He glares at all the players who are almost involved in a fight. He turned to Koganei first and spoke,

"I will let it slide since this is your first action against the rule. However, you do something stupid again, and I will not hesitate to give you a technical foul. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sensei. My apologies!" Koganei bowed slightly before he goes back to his teammates.

"As for you, #5." The referee turned around to Otou-san. "I don't know what happened earlier. But I will review it with my assistant. Just pray you didn't do something illegal here." He glares at Otou-san for the last moment before he runs toward his assistant.

On the Seirin's bench, Hyuga whispered lowly to Koganei, "Good job." Which was shared by all of his teammates. They all bumped their fists while grinning at each other. Even Kagami who is still getting the treatment also has a smirk on his face, happy that his teammates stood for him earlier.

"Honestly, all of you.." Riko could only sigh tiredly at her players' childish behaviors. "Koganei-kun, violence is not the answer, you know?"

"Yeah, you are right. It is a question, and my answer is yes." He muttered lowly, getting a grin from the others.

"Nice meme reference."

"Oh, you know?"

"Of course, I know!"

"Can you stop for a second, please?" Riko groaned, started to get tired by her players' antic. "Can you stop fooling around for a moment and see that your teammate is getting treated here?" She pointed her finger to Kagami. However, the red-hair just shrugged with a grin on his face.

"Don't worry, Coach. It is just a small wound. Just give me five minutes and I will be good as new."

Riko groaned more and decided to ignore it.

However, right to her predicament, The treatment is finished, and Kagami is ready to play again. The blood that was still running from his nose five minutes before was stopped completely, no hint of blood trace could be seen on his face. However, Riko didn't have any plan to play Kagami more than this. They are on 27 points lead, there is no need to risk their core players anymore.

Furihata-kun, Tsuchida-kun, get ready." She spoke to her players. They both nodded, knowing they would go once again after this. "Also, Fukuda-kun, Kawahara-kun, you are in too." Now, all her players were looking at her in surprise.

"We have already won. You all need to rest as we would face a more difficult schedule from now on. Also, I need to keep the bench players sharp. This is the best time to play them. Still enough time to gain the experience without risking the lead."

"Aaah…" She gets nods from her players, showing they understand her reasoning. Now, all that is left is the excitement in the fellow first-year faces as they would get their debut for the team this time.

"Furihata-kun, play a little bit slower." Riko continued her talk. "Save your stamina. And don't do anything rash. Avoid any unnecessary contact with opponent players. Just moves the ball faster, okay?"

"Yes, Coach." The first-year point guard nodded at her.

"By the way, Coach. What should we do for Otou-san? I don't think any of us except Kagami could stop him." Fukuda suddenly spoke his concern. It is understandable as he would be the one who faces him directly. However, Riko waved her hand, dismissing his concern.

"Don't worry about him. If my guess is right, he wouldn't be able to play this game anymore."

Her players widened their eyes in surprise after hearing that info.

"Why do you think so?" Kagami asked. As the one who face the center all the time during the game and got injured because of that, he feels like he has to ask what would happen to Otou-san. However, the one who answers his question is not his coach, but Furihata.

"Because the last play was a flagrant foul." Said the point guard. "Right now, the referee is still discussing with his assistant about the foul call. However, you could see the last play clearly from here, and you would know that right after you blocked his shoot, Otou-san suddenly raised his elbow so high that it meet your face. I don't know if he did it intentionally or not, but his assistant is also seeing the accident from a good spot. It couldn't be missed. He would get an ejection."

Now, everyone but Riko was dumbstruck by the analysis. His coach, however, just gives him a little smirk as she said,

"Once again, spot on, Furihata-kun."

"Ouch, that would be harsh for him." Fukuda winced a bit, imagining how hard the punishment would be. However, Koganei shrugged it off by saying, "Well, serve him right. Who the fuck does he think he is, to get away after doing something that disrespectful?"

"Koganei, language!" Scolded Riko. "I will let the first team rest. You and Tsuchida, guide your Kouhai, okay?"

"Koganei? Guiding Kouhai? Are you kidding?" Someone from the bench, much likely Hyuga, muttered loud enough for her to hear. However, she ignored it because she knows her fellow second-year players are mature enough to not let their emotions run high, and she would trust them with that right now.

Five minutes later, the referee finally finished his discussion, and he announced his decision to both teams.

"Shinkyo Academy #5 flagrant foul type-1 and second technical foul ejection. Three free throws for Seirin Basketball Team."

All the Seirin players nodded, knowing already from Furihata that it would happen. However, to their surprise, none of the Shinkyo players have any objections to the referee. They all have helpless and accepting expressions on their face, even Papa Mbaye Shiki who got ejected right now.

"Well, it seems their coach really scold them hard this time," Furihata whispered to Koganei who nodded in agreement.

Kagami did the three free throws and all of them went smoothly before he was subbed off by Tsuchida. Now, Seirin is playing with their bench players.

However, Seirin is still having the edge, with Furihata's superb playmaking skill and Tsuchida's exceptional defense. They both played well, helping Fukuda and Kawahara to adapt to the atmosphere of the game with more ease.

"Kawahara! Don't stop running!"

"Fukuda! Box out!"

"Koganei-senpai!"

"Nice defense, Tsuchida-senpai!"

The time is running slowly, as Seirin bench players are starting to get comfortable in the game. Furihata didn't do a lot of things there, just controlling the tempo while distributing the ball to his teammates. Fukuda did extremely well, collecting 4 points and 7 rebounds in this game. And while Kawahara's stats are not that impressive, he coordinated well with Tuschida to tighten their defense.

It is 20 seconds before the game end, and the ball is in Shinkyo's possession. However,

"Nice block, Senpai!"

Furihata grabbed the free ball for the rebound after Tsuchida managed to block another shoot from Shinkyo's player. When he saw Fukuda is already running toward the other side, he throws the ball in a quarter-back style to Fukuda, which the center received without any problem.

"Nice pass, Furihata!"

"Finish it, Fukuda!'

Fukuda grinned at the cheer from Seirin's bench. Right after he reached two steps from the free-throw area, he grabbed the ball and hopped from his spot with an explosive jump.

"A dunk?!" Furihata widened his eyes in surprise. He couldn't believe that just in a month, Fukuda managed to improve his vertical jump enough to let him dunk with ease. And right to his thought, Fukuda couldn't reach the rim, and when he tries to slam it down, it bounced back to the court.

"Pfft!!"

"HAHAHAHA!!"

All of them could hear Kagami roar a burst of laughter from the bench, no doubt mocking the center for his failed dunk attempt. Fukuda blushed slightly at the embarrassment, but he could recover quickly and search where the ball is bouncing.

The ball fell into Koganei's hand, who even though knowing their win is absolute, still shoot the ball at the last second. Right after he released the ball, the buzzer rang loudly, and the ball went in after it bounced the board once.

"Oi, Kouhai." Koganei spoke to Fukuda after the shoot. "If you want to look cool, do it like me! Not that lame failed dunk attempt!" And right after that, laughter burst from Seirin's side, mocking Fukuda's attempt while celebrating their first win.

86 – 51

Seirin win the game and advanced to the second round of Inter-high.

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Author note:

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