194 National Stage

The whole Tokiwadai looked around the stadium in awe as they took in the size of the court arena they were standing in. They had been in the Tokyo Metropolitan Arena for all their previous tournaments and official game, but they hadn't been to ones as big as they were standing in. Middle School games had much less audience than high school games, so all their games were held in side-courts, but the Nationals were another deal.

All the games were to be held in main courts where high school games were played, and the crowd was larger than anything they had ever experienced before.

Sora nervously looked around the stadium and took in the cacophony of sound from the audience. The only time that the crowd had come closer to this one was last year's preliminary finals.

Sora: "Awawawa, so many people."

Usually, one of the third years would handle Sora, but, Kaitani, Yuki, and Hyakuzawa themselves felt a little overwhelmed in the presence of the crowd of this size and didn't hear Sora panicking.

Thankfully, Tokiwadai had a member that had experience with large audiences and put an arm around Sora that caused the second-year to look at the person. He saw Shun smiling towards him.

Shun: "What are you nervous about? We are still in Tokyo, most of the people here are from Tokyo, so think of this crowd as your home crowd. These people here are to cheer you on. It is one of the advantages that Tokyo schools enjoy every year."

Of course, Shun didn't tell Sora that the crowd at Middle School games weren't savages and territorial and would support all teams equally. The people who came to the games knew that the players were middle school children, so it gave no support to Tokyo schools, but this year, the advantage was with Tokyo schools as both Teiko and Tokiwadai were National favorites.

Sora, listening to Shun's words, calmed down, and the rest of the team recalled that Shun had experience with Nationals and took his words as the truth and similarly calmed down.

Shun internally smiled as he saw his teammates calm down. He knew that the team won't have any problems with performance if he was able to set the plays appropriately, that would get his teammates to regain confidence, and the ship would be smooth sailing, but it was good to see that he had curbed the problem before the game.

At that moment, some people walked towards the team and asked for Shun to join them to the side. Shun's teammates looked at Shun, walking away with those people with wide-eyes.

Hyakuzawa looked at Shun and then turned his head towards his teammates and asked.

Hyakuzawa: "Those were magazine reporters, weren't they?"

Yuki nodded and replied to his teammate.

Yuki: "Yeah, you know how they interview him sometimes."

He pointed his chin toward the other side of the arena where another game was scheduled that had the other Tokyo representative, Teiko Middle School, participating in it.

Yuki: "See, those guys also get interviews. It is crazy how many times Shun and those guys are in the magazine this year. They are almost in every issue of basketball monthly."

Kaitani gazed at Shun, talking to the reporters and talked.

Kaitani: "Just think about what they would do when those guys announce where they are going for high school."

Yuki chuckled and added to it.

Yuki: "Oh, boy, those issues might just be solely about those six."

-*-*-*-*-*-

Shun was talking to the reporters about the Nationals, and one of them asked.

Reporter: "Kageyama-kun, what do you think about the competition this year?"

Shun turned to the reporter and answered the question.

Shun: "Well, our team doesn't underestimate any of our opponents, but the one we are looking out for are Kamata West Middle School with the Genius Twins, the underdogs, Meiko Middle School, and of course, our fellow Tokyo representatives, Teiko Middle School.

These three schools are on our watchlist for this year's Nationals."

Another reporter asked a question.

Reporter: "What are your thoughts on Teiko Middle School? They are excessively strong this year."

Shun thought about the question for a moment before answering.

Shun: "Teiko Middle School's team is what I would call a well-balanced team. They have a team that covered all bases of the game. All of the starters are excellent players, all masters of their part of the game. They will be a tough team to beat."

Another reporter asked a question that had nothing to do with the Nationals.

Reporter: "Have you decided which school you will be going to?"

Shun shook his head and answered.

Shun: "No, I haven't decided where I will be going to high school. I am holding that decision until after the Nationals."

The same reporter continued the line of questioning.

Reporter: "Have you met with potential recruiters? I am certain that many basketball programs from around the country would've approached you with their offers."

Shun once again shook his head and replied to the question.

Shun: "I haven't started to meet with the recruiters. All the correspondence will be handled by our head coach, and he and I came to the decision that I shouldn't be thinking about or talking to high school scouts until after the Nationals."

This time another reporter jumped on the current line of questioning and asked.

Reporter: "If you were to join a school, what would you be looking for in them that would draw you to a particular school."

Shun found the question interesting and took a moment to think about it before answering.

Shun: "I would be looking at the culture at a basketball program. If I like the approach to the game they are taking, that would be all the reason for me to join a high school program."

A reporter returned to the Nationals and asked.

Reporter: "Do you think have a chance to win this year's Nationals?"

Shun looked the reporter in the eye and said.

Shun: "I don't think of chances of us winning. I am a hundred percent sure that we would win this year. Anytime my team and I enter the court for a game, we play with the attitude to win the game.

Nationals are no different. We will win it all. This year that championship trophy is coming to Tokiwadai Middle School, and no one can take that away from us."

Shun smiled at the reporters and finished the questioning.

Shun: "I would love to talk to you guys more, but I have to go and prepare for the game."

Shun didn't wait for a response and walked away.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Shun walked back to his team and gathered all of his teammates. He clapped his hands to gain their attention and spoke to them.

Shun: "Okay, people. Let's start the warmups. I need everybody on the top of their game. We are going to start with a bang, so I am going to whip out the good old steal tactic in the second half.

Which means we are aiming to establish a substantial lead by the end of the first half. And, then increase that lead to be unshakable by the third quarter, and top it all by taking the fourth quarter easy to preserve stamina, and just think of maintaining the point gap.

Understood?"

The team nodded, and a few of them spoke in agreement, but Shun wasn't satisfied.

Shun: "Louder people, once again, understood?"

The response this time was from everybody and louder.

Team: "Understood!"

Shun nodded and finished.

Shun: "Good, that is the spirit. Now let's blow some minds."

The Nationals were afoot.