Upcoming Tokyo Preliminaries

After the match, players from both teams shook hands, officially ending the practice match. Since there was only one match, Koyikawa also headed back with a humiliating loss.

Coach K gathered everyone together, giving a small post-game speech. Going over the specific things players needed to improve on.

"Lastly, there will be a change in the starting lineup. Starting tomorrow, Itoshi Rai will join the starting lineup as a power forward and that's that."

Coach K announced. Nobody rebutted, everyone had seen Rai's performance. It was unbelievable, to say the least.

"Congratulations, Itoshi-San."

Everyone came forward, congratulating Rai.

Everyone here was swayed by Rai's skills and talent in the court, even Hara couldn't deny the heights of the former's talent and skills that he likely could never match up to.

So even though he lost his place in the starting lineup, he reassured himself that he only lost to someone as skilled as Rai.

Although not surprised, Rai was still pleased with this promotion.

…

Rai drank a couple of water bottles to rehydrate himself. Before doing some post-game stretches.

Anytime you exert yourself physically or mentally, you need to recuperate afterward. Rai fully understands this concept.

One of the biggest differences between the best and the rest is the attention to detail, to rest, and recovery after you exert yourself in a workout or a game.

…

Time passed, with Rai continuously playing in practice matches and improving along the way.

Other reputable schools also started to acknowledge his presence because of his performance in practice matches. Of course, they were mostly rumors about him spread from the losing teams.

Ever since he had joined the starting lineup, he had shown consistent stats. Subsequently resulting in him becoming the vice-captain.

During that period, everyone also got to know more about coach K. He was ruthless in his training methods, without a care for their age. He had a strong winners mentality,

And before long Junior High Nationals were on the horizon.

Japan is divided into Forty-seven prefectures. Each of the Forty-seven prefectures of Japan has at least one representative spot for the tournament. While Hokkaido and Tokyo both have double representation, the former due to its size while the latter for its dense population.

Tokyo gets an additional spot for being the host prefecture, totaling three representative schools. The total number of participating schools was Forty-nine.

The tournament takes place over five competition days and is held at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.

Tokyo preliminaries are divided into three blocks, with the winner of each going to the nationals.

The Kuzuryū Junior High team was among the best in the nation, not to mention Tokyo. The only teams that could compete with them among the teams in Tokyo in terms of prestige are Shōei Junior High and Teikō Junior High.

With Shōei respectively being the 4th and Teikō 6th best in the nation.

…

The whole team was immersed in intense training because of the upcoming nationals. Everyone took their skills to the next level.

Soon, brackets for Tokyo Preliminaries arrived.

Coach K blew the whistle, gathering everyone around. Everyone looked excited and rejuvenated, looking forward to the Preliminaries.

They had much more confidence in winning the Nationals this year because of the addition of Rai to the team.

"As you may know, the brackets for Tokyo Preliminaries are out. There are three blocks in our prefecture. Our team is placed in Block B."

He said, pointing at the Tokyo Preliminaries brackets chat, on the whiteboard. He went over the schedule for the preliminaries, highlighting the key points.

"The team to look out for in Block B is Shōei Junior High, they have a specially strong team this year. But you shouldn't underestimate yourself either."

"We will go over more details tomorrow."

Coach K, who was about to leave, stopped before giving everyone a sharp glance.

"I won't say stuff like, 'It's not whether you

win or lose that counts,' Whoever said that probably

lost. So bring that championship home!"

"Yes, coach!"