176 Seirin: Origin Story, Part-One
Seirin High was a new school located in Tokyo.
It had been two years since the Seirin High started operating as a fully functional school. [1]
The school was smaller in size compared to the top-tier schools in Japan, but because it was new, the facilities and infrastructure were top of the class. And over that, the school was strategically placed near a train station, which made it easily accessible to students and thus made it a legit option for students.
Seirin High, on its core, was just like any other standard school you would find all around the country.
In the two years of its inauguration, students had formed many clubs to spend their time after school, but Seirin High lacked in sports clubs.
Because the school was new, it lacked the base of a standing sports club.
A few sports club like Baseball Club, Tennis Club, Swimming Club, were formed, but Seirin High lacked the diversity in the sports club.
If the students wanted to participate in a sport of their liking, they had to be the one to form it, and many students dropped the idea after thinking all the trouble it would take to form a brand new club.
But, in the third year of the school, a person wanted to play basketball, so he picked up a standard club admission form.
He had no idea that his school didn't have a basketball club. To him, the sport of basketball was fun and interesting, so he assumed that there would be a basketball club in the school.
From his view, why wouldn't there be a club for a sport that he loved?
If someone who played basketball at the Middle School Level in Tokyo saw this person, they would recognize the person instantly.
He was one of the best players in the country. He had led his team to the Nationals.
He was an Uncrowned King, the player titled as the Iron Heart.
He was Kiyoshi Teppei.
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Hyuuga Junpei, a first-year high schooler at Seirin High, was a brash man.
He played basketball in Middle School and played as the shooting guard.
He started playing basketball when he joined the basketball club at his Middle School. The reason he started playing basketball was simple; it was because it seemed like the most entertaining sport.
In his first year, he was terrible. Hyuuga was a complete novice and struggled to learn how to play the game, so in his first year at middle school, he wasn't even on the bench.
Hyuuga's school lost in their first game of Tokyo Preliminaries.
Then came the second year, he became used to playing the game, and now it was time to choose a position to specialize in, and he chose to play as a shooter.
Hyuuga knew that he neither had the height and power to play as the center or power forward nor the speed and agility to play as a small forward, and he didn't have the playmaking aptitude for a point guard. So, by the process of elimination, he became a shooter.
Around that time, Hyuuga became a fan of NBA player Ray Allen and tried to imitate his style of shooting. [2]
But, that didn't turn out well. Hyuuga kept on missing the hoop, and his shooting was terrible.
And, even though he was a second-year, he still couldn't become a starter on the team or even a regular substitute sixth-man. The only reason he was on the bench was that he was a second-year.
But, he didn't give up and kept on practicing.
In the second year, Hyuuga's school once again lost in the first game of the preliminaries. Another season of their ending in a single game.
But, it was in the same preliminaries that he saw Mibuchi Reo of Tokiwadai play. [3]
Hyuuga was mesmerized by the shooting style of a player that was the same age as him. He couldn't believe that someone the same age as him could be so good.
And, so the change began.
The next day after losing in the preliminaries, he began building up his shooting style from the ground up. He used Mibuchi Reo's shooting form as inspiration and built his unique form.
He started to visit the Aida Sports Gym to practice shooting, which was owned by his childhood friend's family.
By the time he entered his third-year preliminaries, he had become a good shooter.
At the Tokyo Preliminaries in his third year, Hyuuga's school once again lost in the first round.
Even though Hyuuga had gotten better, and he had a dependable point guard to guide his team, the rest of his team wasn't good or serious.
After two years of losing in the first round, the third-year members had lost all motivation. The second-year members were also affected by the vibe of the club, so except two players, no one practiced seriously.
Hyuuga was mildly depressed after his game, but then the next day, he heard something that affected him deep within.
Hyuuga Junpei found out that the team he had lost to even after practicing his hardest, lost to Teiko Middle School, with a hundred point deficit.
Hyuuga fell into a vicious pit of self-pity and self-blame and was traumatized. He couldn't handle the truth of seeing how much difference there was between him and the best.
That very day he quit basketball, and when it came to chose a high school, he enrolled in a school that didn't have a basketball club.
He stopped practicing and even dyed his hair blonde.
But, he didn't know that even if he tried to leave basketball, basketball didn't leave him.
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Izuki Shun and basketball met when he was second-grade at elementary school.
He started playing mini-basketball from a young age. He was the person with the longest career in almost any room of people.
In middle school, he met Hyuuga Junpei and joined the basketball club.
Izuki didn't get to play in his first year. He was good, but the senior point guard of the team worked better with the team.
They lost in the first game of the Tokyo Preliminaries.
In their second year, Izuki became a starter for the team, but the team still lost in their first preliminary game.
Izuki was bothered by the loss, but seeing Hyuuga work hard, he picked himself up and worked harder.
Just like that, Izuki became a third-year in middle school.
In his final year of middle school, he entered the preliminaries with confidence, but his team lost in the first game.
Izuki felt all the emotions a senior in middle school would feel. His last tournament of middle school ended just as it began.
For two years in a row, his session ended with a single game.
He tried to support his team to the best of his ability. But, except for one of his teammates, none of his teammates held any motivation towards the club.
Izuki tried to learn to become more offense, but he was the type that learned slow and wasn't able to gain vital offensive skills.
With the lack of offensive ability in the team, Izuki's school wasn't able to score points and lost the game.
Izuki wasn't affected that much by the reputation of Teiko and Tokiwadai. But, he knew the difference in level between him and the star players of both teams.
Izuki moved past his disappointing loss and focused on his friend.
Hyuuga Junpei was seriously affected by the loss and enrolled in a school that didn't have a basketball club. Izuki felt worried about Hyuuga and decided to follow his friend to high school.
There were no downsides to it as Seirin High was close to home and easily accessible.
Izuki wasn't worried about not being able to play basketball. It didn't matter if the school didn't have a basketball club. He could make one himself.
And, he was sure that Hyuuga would recover and start playing again.
He was confident that his amazing joke/pun ability would attract new members, and they would have a team in no time.
And, thus he joined Seirin High.
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Just like that, three key members of the future basketball team joined Seiring High in its third year of opening.
With these three as the base, Seirin High would form a team that would have excellent performance in the first year of a brand new basketball club.
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[
[1]: I just made it like Seirin High is in its third year; this was not part of the original.
[2]: The information about Hyuuga copying Ray Allen is true, but don't try to match dates with real life. The manga spanned over multiple years.
Hyuuga was a sucky shooter in his early career.
[3]: Mibuchi being in Tokyo fits in the story quite nicely as Hyuuga is also in Tokyo.
[-]: It is said in the manga that Hyuuga and Izuki's school didn't win a single time, which means, in this fic, they can't face Teiko or Tokiwadai, as both schools have byes for the first round.
]
