I Don't Deserve Any

"Hmm… So let me get this straight. Your game is in 10 minutes, and your coach is nowhere to be found. Is that it?"

"Yes. We called him multiple times but he's gone missing. He wasn't with us when we came so we assumed that he would come on his own but he's not even picking up his phone. He sometimes doesn't even show for training…"

"So, what you want right now is for me to be your stand-in coach…?"

"If that is not too much to ask!" Kanae said as she bowed to Kei.

Unlike the boy's team, the girl's team had a coach that was recently hired. However, the coach was an irresponsible person who often missed practices and makes the girls train alone even when he was there. When the girls win, he would take credit for the victories instead of praising the girls for their hard work.

"Can't you ask Yanagi-sensei? He's here, you know? I can help you call him if you wa—"

"No. It has to be Amane-kun. I heard that you coach the boy's team on your own while a new coach is being scouted. Please, you are the most qualified person for this!"

"Please, Kei-chin… You know I wouldn't ask you if I had any other choices…" Chihaya suddenly spoke up to support Kanae.

Kei took a few minutes to himself to think of what he could do before turning back to Kanae.

"Haah… Please lift your head. A senior shouldn't be bowing like this to a junior. Please let me ask Yanagi-sensei first."

"Does that mean you will help us?!"

Kei took his phone out before making a phone call to Yanagi-sensei. On the phone, he asked Yanagi-sensei to come help him with the procedures and accompany him to help out with the team. He was supposed to have a teacher accompany him here after all. A few minutes after the call, Yanagi-sensei rushed over to the court where the girls were warming up. Kei asked Chihaya and Kanae to go ahead to the court before him since he still had to visit the restroom.

When he arrived on the court, he met up with the girl's team and watched them continue their warm-ups. He used the warm-up session to assess the team's ability as well as how he could help them tactically since he had not spent any time watching the girls practice after all. In their basketball team, the boys and girls trained separately to avoid any distractions. This was why the coaches for both teams were also different. When they were done warming up, they stood around Kei who was using this time to explain to them.

"Apologies, but I had to step in temporarily to help you with your competition, please bear with me. First of all, I need the 5 starting players to stand up."

When he said that, Kanae and Chihaya took a step forward followed by the other 3 players whose names were Arisugawa Chitose (Third-year captain), Kagami Nanako (Second-year center), and Sorasaki Mutsuki (Third-year power forward).

"Alright, since I only had your warm-up session to observe, I could only come up with certain things I would like to relay to you."

After Kei explained that he wanted them to play in a certain formation for the first quarter of the game, the girls were slightly confused as to why he wanted them to play this way throughout the first quarter. Basketball consisted of 4 quarters of 10 minutes each, substitutions can be made constantly and tactics were constantly changing throughout the game. After the first quarter ended, they had a 5-minute break.

'Tachibana 22 – 34 Toyosaki'

"Kei-chin, I don't mean to question you but… I don't get why you had us in only 1 formation throughout the whole quarter."

"Let me explain, one of the reasons was to assess the other team's capabilities, the other was to tire them out. Take a look, they're already running out of gas." Kei said as he pointed to the other team.

The formation he had them play was the 3-2 Formation where 3 players will be guarding near the 3-point line whereas 2 players would be guarding the cramped 2-point area. In professional basketball games, this formation can be figured out rather easily and the other team could adjust themselves to counter it. However, since this was a high school game, the other team's girls could not adjust well enough even if the coach told them to.

It was also a formation where the defending team would be using limited movements while the team on offense would be constantly moving to find gaps and would be prone to fast breaks. When the girls looked at the other team, they were all covered in sweat and breathing heavily.

"Okay, now I want you to run the same 3-2 formation for the second quarter but using a fly fast break tactic. They are not keen on getting rebounds, something we can take advantage of. Looking at the other team, they are not good with shooting but rather they look for points from the inside."

The girls nodded in unison. The girls were reluctant in following Kei's advice and orders when he showed up, especially the third-years who had their pride as seniors to consider. But since their coach was nowhere to be found and he was their only hope, they couldn't do anything but follow reluctantly. It was also partly because of Chihaya convincing them to trust him that they reluctantly agree.

"But wouldn't that open them up for shooting? After all, they will eventually score."

"While that may be true, they will definitely be missing more shots after this. The ones they will miss will be more than the ones they score. In this tactic, I want whoever it is guarding the shooter to run down the court looking for a long pass. Get the rebounds and pass it to that player, am I understood?"

Once again, the girls nodded in unison and the whistle was blown to signal the end of the break. True to his words, the Toyosaki girls were running on fumes from the start of the second quarter while the Tachibana girls were still energetic. Using the formation and instructions given by Kei, they caught up to the opposing score by the end of the second quarter before taking the lead during the third. When the final whistle blew…

'Tachibana 81 – 67 Toyosaki'

The two teams lined up in front of each other as the referee signalled for them to bow to each other and thank each other for the match. When Chihaya wanted to run to Kei to force a big hug on him, he was no where to be found. In truth, when he saw that there was only 10 seconds left in the game and that victory was certain, he and Yanagi-sensei left the venue after he asked him to.

"Mouuu… Kei-chin is so cold…" Chihaya said with a disappointed look in her face while looking at the empty bench.

"Hmmm~ He's too humble for his own good, isn't he?" A smiling Kanae approached Chihaya from behind.

"I'm going to give him another slap when we get back."

As Chihaya continued to stare at the empty bench slightly depressed, she felt a hand placed onto her shoulder. It was the team captain Arisugawa Chitose. Chitose was the point guard of the team and also the older sister of Kanae who was 1 year younger than her.

"Chihaya-san, may I speak to you for a moment…?"

Outside the basketball stadium where a student was seen walking with his teacher, the teacher couldn't help but ask the student a question.

"Why didn't you stay till the end?"

"Hmm? Ah… If I had stayed till the end, then certainly the girls wouldn't appreciate their own efforts."

'This boy really is kind hmm? Even when the others don't realise it, he cares for them even though he barely knew them for an hour.'

"Besides… I don't deserve any of the praise that is meant for them. They worked hard to reach this far after all…"