57 Chapter 57 : The End of The Game
Furihata has a dumbfounded expression on his face right after he processed what Riko just said.
"I am sorry, did I hear just wrong? Did we lose? Even though we have two points lead and a flagrant foul advantage? You are joking, right?" Furihata asked for confirmation, still couldn't believe that they would lose.
And his reaction is not an exaggeration, considering they should get the flagrant foul advantage due to the play that causes him to lose consciousness. The penalty of the flagrant foul is two free throws and the ball goes back to Seirin's possession, so with the possibility of four points lead and the ball in their position within one minute left, he couldn't believe that Shuoku would be able to overtake the score.
Fortunately for him, Riko shook her head before she answered his question,
"Well, we didn't lose, per se. We beat Shutoku 113 – 110 and advanced to the Tokyo Final League. But with how the game ended, it was no better than losing itself."
At first, Furihata released a relieved sigh as his team indeed won the game. However, just by the expression of his senpai, he knows it was not a simple win, and he decided to ask about it.
"So, what happened after the game?"
"Let's start right after you collapsed, okay?" Riko answered his question. "After that accident, the game was delayed for about forty-five minutes. The referee even called both teams' coaches to ask our opinion about if the game should be canceled or not, even though I doubt he would take my opinion seriously." Riko said the last part with a wry smile.
But Furihata just looked at her confusedly.
"Why would they even need to consider the coach's opinion? Is there a protocol if something emergency like this happened?"
"Well, yeah, there is indeed a protocol if something emergency happened." Hyuga nodded at his question. "But there has never been an almost-death case like you yesterday. So, the official didn't really know what to do. In the end, though, we decided to continue the game, considering it was only a minute before the game was over."
Furihata nodded, understanding the situation better.
"So, what happened after that?"
"Just as you predicted, Kimura got a flagrant foul 2, which resulted in immediate ejection for him," Riko answered. "Shutoku tried to protest this decision, saying that it was an accident and Kimura didn't know you are coming from behind. But after looking at the video review of that play, it is clear that Kimura was aware of your presence and he raised his elbow intentionally. The only accident here is that he didn't expect he would knock you out with just one hit."
"So, what is his punishment?"
Furihata's mom who hasn't spoken anything since they came suddenly asked, gaining the attention of everyone in the room.
"Just like the rules state, he would receive two games suspension and the school would get fined. There would probably be an additional punishment for Kimura, but I don't know about it too much."
Hyuga snorted a little before he added,
"He deserved worse if I have to say."
Furihata's mom nodded at their explanation.
"Anyway!" Furihata suddenly chimed in before they got out of the topic. "What about the game? What happened after that?"
"Well.. It is like this.."
-Flashback-
"Okay, everyone!" Riko spoke to her players after the official decided to continue the game. "The official has decided that we will continue the game. I will make some adjustments before the game restarted again. Let's talk about it."
However, when all she got is a distraught and unfocused expression from her players, she could only sigh helplessly.
"Guys!" She raised her voice, trying to get her players' attention. "I know you all must be thinking about Furihata-kun, and I know I might sound like a jerk here, but we still have one more minute to go before the game is over. Let's put our focus back on the court first. We will visit Furihata-kun with a win in our hands."
Honestly, she didn't have much expectation that her words would move her players. Fortunately, Kuroko once again stood up as the mood maker for the team.
"Riko-senpai is right, you know?" The blue-haired boy spoke, gaining the attention of his teammates. "Just moping around here wouldn't help Furihata-kun or us for a bit. We would still have to finish this game before we could visit him. It would suck if we have to visit Furihata-kun after losing the game, especially considering how hard he carried us during this game."
Even though Kuroko's words couldn't lift up his teammates' spirits, at least they snapped them from their brooding thought.
"Kuroko-kun is right." Hyuga suddenly added. "Furihata-kun has already worked this hard to create this chance for us to win. It would be a shame if we don't end this game with a win. At least, we can do it for Furihata-kun, okay?!"
The atmosphere on the Seirin bench suddenly changed after their speech. The grim and depressed expression that could be seen on everyone's faces suddenly vanished, replaced by the burning determination in their eyes.
"You are right!"
"We should do it! For Furihata-kun!"
"Yeah!"
Riko smiles, glad that Hyuga and Kuroko could lift up the mood.
"This is how it should be!" She clapped her hand, gaining the attention of her players. "I know we will be without Furihata-kun for the last minutes, which is probably a bit scary, considering he is one of our most valuable players today. But we are not just a one-man team here. Let's show everyone here what we are capable to do, and let's seal this win!"
"Yes, Coach!"
"Junpei, you are the most clutch player among us here, so you will take the next two free throws for Furihata-kun. Do you have any problem?"
Seirin's captain shook his head firmly, not showing any hesitation.
"Good. Izuki, Kagami-kun, you are up again. Yes, Kagami-kun will play for the rest of the game. We need his defense against Midorima right now." Riko sighed helplessly as she has to take this hard decision, even though she has planned it since the beginning.
Meanwhile, Kagami looks like he has a star shining in his eyes as he bounced in excitement, couldn't wait to play again after sitting on the bench for a long time. His teammates just looked at him in amusement.
"I don't care if you can stop him or not, but your main task is to slow down Midorima. As long as you can waste his time, we would be fine. Also, you don't need to participate in the offense. Just keep your focus on stopping Midorima. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Coach!" The red-haired power forward nodded as he showed his feral grin. Riko ignored him and turned around to her other players.
"Junpei, Tsuchida, your task is to clean up the mess in the paint area. Without Kimura on the court, I believe their bench players would not be as good as him, so it would be easier. Just make sure you stop Otsubo from doing whatever he wanted. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Coach!"
"And Kuroko-kun, I want you to stay between Takao and Midorima. Try to put more pressure on them and don't let them have an easy time. If you think it is necessary, help Kagami-kun or Izuki with a double team. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Coach."
"And for our offense, just make sure we keep the ball until the end. Izuki, don't let the tempo get higher. We will play negative basketball here, trying to beat them in time. So, I need you to give all your concentration to the court. We cannot afford even one mistake, or they will punish us with their offense. And the last thing, Let's win this game! For Furihata-kun!"
All her players are looking at each other, nodding in determination. After that, they yelled together,
"For Furihata!"
A minute later, the game restarted again with two free throws for Seirin. Hyuga did the job effortlessly, resulting in another two points for Seirin.
107 – 111
"Good job, Junpei!"
"Keep it up!"
Due to the flagrant foul, the ball is still in Seirin's possession. But now, Tsuchida has a hard time finding his teammates who are in open position for the inbound pass. A few seconds passed, and the referee is looking at his watch, checking if he is taking too much time and giving the ball back to Shutoku.
Seeing the movement from the referee, Tsuchida knows he doesn't have too much time, so after seeing Hyuga is in a good position to receive the ball, he sends it a bit high, making it a post-game for the captain.
"Don't think we will give you an easy time because of that accident, Seirin!" Miyaji gritted, trying to push back Hyuga from the paint area.
Seirin's captain didn't indulge in the conversation, just kept pushing it lightly. He doesn't need to try hard to get a better position considering they are trying to waste their time. He just needs to pretend he has a hard time here so that Shutoku will trust their defense in Miyaji. If nothing special happened, he would take the shoot in the last second, giving Shutoku only 36 seconds left.
However, Takao and Midorima noticed what Hyuga is trying to do, and they tried to help their senpai. Unfortunately for them, due to their bad coordination, they both come for Hyuga, leaving Kagami and Izuki in a wide-open position.
Hyuga saw this, and he kicked the ball outside to Izuki without hesitation.
"Nice pass, Junpei!"
"What the hell are you doing here, Takao!"
Shutoku #14, the player who substitute Kimura, rushed forward to Izuki's direction, trying to cover the defense. But Izuki has already seen that before and when the defender is already in front of him, he dishes the ball to his right where Kagami is standing alone.
"Nice pass, Senpai!"
Kagami grinned as he charged forward, pushing down everyone who is trying to stop him. When he jumped for a dunk, Otsubo did the same, trying to stop him. However, compared to Kagami's condition who hasn't played since the fourth quarter begin, Otsubo who has been played for the entire game couldn't keep up with Kagami's explosive jump, resulting in two more points for Seirin.
*BAAM!*
A posterized dunk!
107 – 113
"YOSSHAA!!!" Kagami roared, celebrating the dunk. However, he got smacked in his back by Hyuga.
'Idiot! Don't be too reckless like that! What if you hurt yourself!"
Kagami could only rub his head sheepishly as indeed he was too reckless in the last play.
"Sorry about that one. I need to vent out all my emotion there."
Hyuga just nodded slightly, understanding his excuse.
"Just be careful. Riko will kill you if you hurt yourself more than this."
Somehow, Kagami suddenly feels like someone poured cold water on his back. When he turned around, he could see his coach smiling from the bench, yet a dark aura is emitting from her body.
'Scary..'
The game is restarted again with the ball in Takao's possession. With only 30 seconds left, all Shutoku can do right now is just feed Midorima the ball and let the shooting guard do his job. For all they know, a clutch moment like this is his specialty and he hasn't missed any last-second three-point shoot in his career, so they just need to create space for his teammates.
However, Seirin also realized that, and they double-teamed Midorima right after Takao get the ball. Kagami keeps the distance between them close and Kuroko is following them from behind, trying to make it uncomfortable for Midorima to take the shoot.
Yet to their surprise, after a few seconds of dribbling the ball, Takao still passed the ball to Midorima even though he is getting a double team by Kagami and Kuroko. But they both cannot stop the pass as Takao sends it a bit high, right to Midorima's head.
Right after receiving the ball, Midorima didn't waste his time as he immediately took a stance for a three-point. Kagami is second too late to snap his thought from the surprise as now, he saw Midorima is about to jump and release the ball.
However, Kagami gritted his teeth as he jumped as high as possible, trying to disturb the shooting form.
"Don't think it would be that easy, Midorima!"
Seeing a hand suddenly pop up in front of his face, Midorima gritted his teeth as he realized that Kagami could reach the ball from his hand.
'Damn! How the hell he could still jump higher after all this time?! At this rate, the shoot would bounce to the rim! Shit!'
Knowing it is too late to change his decision, Midorima made up his mind immediately to go to the paint area for a rebound after he landed on the floor. And true to his predicament, the edge of Kagami's finger managed to tip the ball, changing its route from the basket.
"NICE DEFENSE, KAGAMI!"
However, Kagami couldn't enjoy his little win even for a second as he saw Midorima is already moving to the paint area right after he landed. He knows what the green-haired boy is thinking right now, and seeing that he is already two steps behind him, he couldn't do anything but get box-outed in the rebound battle.
However…
*Clank!*
The ball bounced to the rim high, and suddenly, it fell down straight to the basket, giving Shutoku another three points.
*Splash!*
110 – 113
"Nice one, Midorima!"
"Once more! Push forward!"
"Don't let them steal the ball, Seirin!"
With only ten seconds left, it was really chaotic on the court right now. Shutoku keeps their man-to-man pressure on the entire court, trying to foul Seirin player who have the ball. However, Seirin moves the ball faster from one player to another, trying to waste more time and avoid getting fouled.
And when the time left is only five seconds and almost all Shutoku players are losing hope, Takao suddenly sneaked between Hyuga and Izuki, cutting the pass route between those two players.
"WHAT?!"
It took about a second for both Seirin players to realize what happened. But it was too late as the ball is already in Midorima's hand as the shooting guard is taking a stance for another three.
"DAMN! KAGAMI! STOP HIM!"
The moment Midorima jumped to release the shoot, Kagami also did the same, trying to stop it from going to the basket. And unlike the last time, now Kagami's hand reached the ball before it could reach its highest point.
"TAKE IT, YOU BASTARD!"
*BAAM!!*
Kagami blocked Midorima once again!
For Midorima who has never missed any shoot during his career, getting blocked three times in one game is a bad statistic for him. However, the green-haired boy didn't lose his calm even for a second. Instead, he smirked a little, giving Kagami a bad feeling about it.
"I know you will block this shoot. That's why I changed its route so the rebound would fall into my teammates. And now, game over."
Kagami widened his eyes as he realized why Midorima is too calm. The moment he landed on the floor, he saw the ball fall into Takao's hand, and the point guard is already handing the ball to Midorima.
"DAMN IT!"
Kagami rushed forward once again and jumped, ready to block the shoot for the second time. However, before he could reach his highest point, he suddenly feels immense pain from his knee, trying to pull him down to the ground.
'DAMN! NOT NOW!'
Kagami gritted his teeth, trying to force himself to stay in the air longer. Knowing only one second left, Midorima also took a stance, trying to do another three-point shoot for the last time. All the audience in the gymnasium holds their breath nervously. No one dares to let out any words as they saw the last play of this dramatic game would be decided by the confrontation between both teams' best players.
However, before Midorima could jump, his eyes suddenly caught a blurry movement, and just by now, he realized that he fucked up.
"This is game over, Midorima-kun."
The movement that he saw is Kuroko who has been lurking behind him from the beginning, ready to take action when the time comes. And now, with only one second left, the blue-haired boy slapped the ball from his hand, stripping it off his possession, and before anyone could react, the buzzer rang, ending the game in the most plot twist way.
110 – 113
Seirin won the game! They will play in Tokyo Final League next week!
But before anyone could react to the final result, a painful roar suddenly snapped them from their thought.
"AAARRGH!!"
And when all players on the court turned around to the source of the voice, they could see Kagami rolling on the floor and holding his knee with a painful expression. It took only a second before all Seirin players react in the same way as they did for Furihata before.
"KAGAMI-KUN!"
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Author note :
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