Chapter 93 : VS Shenshinkan High II - Kill Oda!

"Tch." In the audience seat, a spiky-haired boy scowled at the confrontation between Kagami and Oda. "To this day, I still don't know how I could lose against Oda. I mean, he is far weaker than me. Hell, I even overpowered Kagami for a while, and now Kagami dominates him in the beginning. That would say I am the better player out of the three, right, Senpai?"

"You cannot say that." The older boy next to him answered. "Kagami-kun was still recovered from his injury when we played against each other last week. Now you can see that he becomes much sharper, whether in speed or reaction, compared to when he played against us last week. And even though Oda-san is not as strong as you, he still had a lot of tricks on his sleeve that could be used against Kagami-kun."

"Tch.."

Yeah, those two boys who speak at each other in the audience seat are Tsugawa and Uchida, two aces of Meisei High that were beaten by Seirin. Currently, even though they have already been eliminated from the tournament, they are watching the game between Seirin and Senshinkan while waiting for their last game against Too.m

"Don't worry about it, Uchida-kun." Tsugawa patted his kouhai's back. You have been playing this game for only two months. As long as you keep your hard work, you will be able to play at the level of Generation of Miracles in a year or two."

The kouhai didn't speak for a while before he bowed his head down and murmured, "Yeah, but that wouldn't be the same without you here."

For that, Tsugawa didn't have an answer. He knows that he is Uchida's only anchor to the team. If he retired, no one would be able to stop Uchida from leaving the Meisei basketball team right now. That's why instead of trying to convince Uchida to stay, Tsugawa decided to bring him to this game, hoping that this would light some sparks inside his heart.

"Who do you think will win this game, Senpai?" Uchida's sudden question snapped Tsugawa from his melancholy thought. But he didn't need to think about it, as he answered the question in a second without hesitation.

"Seirin."

"Eh?"

Seeing the confused gaze from Uchida, he explained immediately. "Well, even though we lost to both teams, I feel that Seirin is much better compared to Senshinkan. I mean, the latter needs Oda to always play in order to maintain the stability of the other. Compared to that, Seirin had a lot of leaders. They have Kagami-kun, Izuki-kun, and Hyuga-kun on the court, and Furihata-kun also would always be ready to step up from the bench. The depth difference between those two would be crucial."

"Hmm…"

Uchida nodded his head slowly, his eyes wandering around the court. Seeing his kouhai didn't speak anything, Tsugawa decided to do the same, watching the rest of the game in silence.

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"Koganei-kun, careful! Behind!"

"Nice screen, Narita!"

"Damn! Kagami-kun, cover!"

"No! Don't confront him! It is not a breakthrough! He would pass!"

"What?!"

*Splash!*

"Nice three, Saki!"

"Come on! Keep it up! It is still too early!"

"Substitution for Seirin. #12, #11 in, #6, #7 out."

The game has been running for more than eight minutes. Yet despite Seirin's effort to always score at every chance they had, the score is still tight, with Seirin only led with 19 – 17 three minutes before the first quarter ended. The reason is simple. Oda started to target Koganei again just like last year, and it was quite disastrous for Seirin.

At first, the cat-like senpai was able to keep up with the ace of Senshinkan. Twice he tried to break through, and twice too Koganei forced him to miss. But when Oda started to combine his organizing skill and his mind game trash talk, Koganei crumbled just like wet paper.

The first time was a between-the-leg pass, and then shoot right in front of his face when trash-talking Koganei, then a kick-out pass after breaking through, and then the same in the last play. Four in a row Koganei has been exposed by Oda, which makes the senior small forward depressed after getting benched.

Furihata and Kuroko looked at him with concern in their eyes. But seeing Riko shook her head at them, they keep their mouth shut and didn't speak anything to their senpai.

'Koganei-senpai is strong, and Riko-senpai and Alex-san would also be on the bench to console him. It would be alright.'

Furihata shook his head slightly, walking on the court for the first time in this game.

"So, Bastard, what is the plan?" Kagami comes forward immediately, asking a question that was shared by all the players who have been on the court since the beginning. Furihata just grinned for a bit before he answered,

"Well, since Oda seems to avoid confrontation against you, let's bait him into your territory. Show him who is the boss here."

Yeah, since their first confrontation, instead of a lot of one-on-one situations that a lot of spectators expecting about, Oda would always search a space as far as possible from Kagami, and when the red-haired power forward comes directly, he would pass the ball to the other player and start moving again. It was clear that Oda avoided Kagami at all costs. The question is, does that mean he is afraid or is that just another mind game?

For that, Furihata needs to figure it out quickly.

Unlike Furihata though, when he heard the idea of their next defense, Kagami grinned menacingly, eyeing Oda on the other side of the court like a predator. For a dominant player like Kagami, he would always despise the idea of bullying the weak. So, it tickles his nerves when he saw Oda bullying Koganei repeatedly as if he enjoyed doing so.

Seeing the development of the game went worse for Seirin, his only thought was, 'if I had a chance to face him (Oda) again, I would be able to turn the momentum back to their side. What he didn't know is that the opportunity would be delivered straight into his face with a silver plate by Furihata.

"Nica idea, Bastard. What should we do?"

"So, this is what we are going to do…"

----------------------------------------------------

Oda is feeling confident.

For the last six sequences, his team managed to keep up with Seirin's fast pace without having any slight difficulty. But he didn't lower his guard even for a second, especially right now. From the coach's report, he knows that while Kagami is indeed scary, he is not the biggest reason why Seirin could go this far in their second official tournament. No, their biggest advantage lay in their two players, Furihata and Kuroko.

It was their ability to change the tempo of the game that caused Oda to be wary for a bit. With Furihata, Seirin could go for 0 to 100 and back to 0 speed again just in a play. His ability to dictate the tempo of the game is top-notch.

Meanwhile, Kuroko's unpredictable nature is also a headache for Oda. While sometimes they would be on advantage of 5v4, when Kuroko decided to show up, he only need one pass or one steal to turn back the momentum to Seirin's side.

If Seirin put both players on the court together, their offense would be unstoppable for Senshinkan.

But Oda is still confident though, as Seirin's defense is also not that great. He could score as much as he wants if their defense is only on that level.

"So, you are the super rookie of Seirin, huh?" He spoke when facing Furihata. Seirin's first-year point guard just raised his eyebrows slightly at that.

"Isn't that Kagami?"

"Not really." Oda shrugged. "We described players like him and the Generation of Miracles as the monster, and you are just a super rookie. Slightly behind them."

"And who is this 'we' that you are talking about?"

Oda's grin widened at that. "Now, that would be telling."

Furihata frowned a bit. Is this another Oda's mind game to make him sloppy? Is that right, he sure is terrible in doing so. Well.. That doesn't matter. All he needs to do right now is one thing, that is.

"SENPAI!"

He makes a sudden feint move to the right before turning back to the left wing, asking the ball from Izuki who still observed the game. Oda tried to follow him, but Furihata's fake costs him two priceless seconds that Kuroko uses to set a screen for Furihata and helped him to escape from Oda's guard.

"Nice screen, Phantom!"

"Damn!"

Seeing as he couldn't stop Furihata from getting the ball, Oda decided to move back and prepare himself for a breakthrough. A fine reaction, as Furihata did exactly as he prepared for a second later, driving forward right after getting the ball.

"Don't think you can escape that easy!"

However, Furihata is unfazed. He ignored the pressure from Oda before extending his hand to the sky, ready to flick the ball for a layup. Seeing the not-so-subtle move from Furihata, Oda felt a little strange. However, in a decisive second like this, he didn't have any time to think about such a complicated problem. So, he leaped into the air right before Furihata released the ball to protect the rim.

"Nice defense, Oda!"

"Saki, run! Be ready for a fastbreak!"

Several Senshinkan players have celebrated already, seeing there is no possible way for Furihata to escape the block. However, they were stunned a second later, as instead of going straight to the basket, Furihata flicked the ball backward, which confused a lot of them. But when Oda saw one of Seirin's players suddenly makes a run, he couldn't help but curse.

"DAMN!"

Yeah, that person is Kagami who stayed in the corner area while acting like Kuroko, doing nothing and disappeared in the background before his moment comes like this, as he took off from the ground and caught the pass from Furihata while hanging in the air. Oda who lost his momentum due to being fooled by Furihata couldn't do anything as he was getting hit by Kagami's body in the air, and a second later,

*BAAAAM!!!!*

"COME OOOOON!!!!!"

With the dunk done, almost everyone in the audience seat gives Kagami standing applause, as it was really an exciting play

Another posterized dunk for Kagami to Oda! No matter how far Oda tried to avoid Kagami, he was still getting posterized! And when he saw the cold gaze he received from the red-haired power forward, Oda couldn't help but shiver for a bit.

'Damn it! This is a blatant abuse!'

However, Oda knows that he couldn't get riled up right now, or his team would collapse in a second. So, he forced himself to calm down and smile.

"Don't worry, everyone! Keep calm and don't be hasty! It's time for us to attack, we still have a chance here!"

Hearing the confident tone from their captain even though he was just getting humiliated, all Senshinkan players lightened up immediately, their motivation went up once again.

"Captain is right, we still have a chance here!"

"Yeah! Let's do it!"

His attempt to boost his teammates' confidence was successful, and now, the game restarted again with the ball in his hand again. However, Oda had a bad feeling, wondering about the last play. He knows there is something peculiar earlier, but he couldn't figure out what.

'It doesn't matter. Let's finish this quarter first.'

He saw the clock show its time at 00:27, less than a half minute before the game ended. So, he stayed for a while in the middle of the court, delaying the game until the last second to blow the buzzer-beater. Ten seconds later, he signaled one of his teammates to set a screen for him before he went to drive forward.

"Izuki, behind!"

Izuki who guarded Oda noticed the sudden screen and tried to get away from it. However, before he could do so, Oda switched the ball to his left hand and drives through the area which was not covered by the screen.

"Damn! Furihata-kun, cover!"

Furihata was surprised for a moment before he extended his arms wide, creating wings to stop the breakthrough. Inwardly though, he thought,

'Twice in a row? He is really targeting me. Let's see if you can do that!'

Furihata and Oda battled for a few more seconds before Oda finally gets away from his guard and had an open position for himself in the paint area. However, instead of being happy, Oda frowned as one thought came to his mind.

'Why the hell is it so easy? The record showed his toughness in defense, should it be harder?'

His silent question gets the answer immediately though, as right after he jumped toward the basket, everything in his eyes darkened for a bit, and when he looked up, he saw Kagami already in the air, towering over him again in their battle.

'Damn! Like the play earlier, he baited me to go to the paint area before letting his teammate do the work! And just like a fool, I fell for this trap twice! Goddamn it!'

Fortunately, Oda noticed it early and has a good reflex. He lowered the ball immediately and switched it to his other hand before trying to flick it with a jelly layup. But his reflex also has already been on Furihata's calculation, as just right before the ball could be released from his hand, someone suddenly stole the ball from his hand in the air.

*Snap!*

"What the hell?!" Oda was stunned for a second, didn't know what happened or who stole the ball from his hand, which caused him to lose his balance in the air and fall to the ground. But right after that, he could hear clearly the shout from all Seirin players, giving him a hint of what just happened.

"Nice defense, Kuroko-kun!"

"Good block!"

When realization hits hard, Oda cursed once again. 'Shit! I really forget about his presence! Damn! Damn! Damn!'

However, it was not the end. The clock still showed the time at 00:04, and Furihata managed to get the rebound from Kuroko's block earlier. When Oda realized this, he suddenly shouted at his teammates.

"IT'S NOT OVER! STOP HIM!"

But it's already too late, as Furihata pulled up a three from the middle court, not giving any Senshinkan players chance to stop him. And right after that,

*Splash!*

*FWEEEEEEE!*

"YOSSSHAAAAAAA!!!!!"

A buzzer beater! Not only widened the gap to 24 – 17, but it also killed Senshinkan players' motivations, as a buzzer-beater is quite rare for a high school game like this. Oda could only watch helplessly as his teammates' shoulders slumped for an inch, a little sign of giving up from them.

He didn't know what to do, but he had to make sure that he could lift up their spirit once again before the game restarted, or he could say goodbye to this tournament.

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Author note :

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You can also read this fanfiction up to chapter 113 on that page. Thank you! :)

-Zeta Faes-