Chapter 123 – Warm-up Match (3)

"It's my turn now!"

Their roles were swapped, now it would be Umi's turn to be on the offensive. If she were able to get the first point, she would gain a slight advantage and momentum.

After receiving the ball from the referee, Nitta-san, she immediately made her move.

She made a feint and dribbled the ball quickly. Looking at how she played, she seemed like an actual basketball club member. If I was the one facing her, she would have left me in the dust by the first feint.

"It won't be that easy, Umi!"

"I figured that would be the case…"

But her opponent this time was Amami-san. She stood imposingly between Umi and the ring.

Umi's first move and feint should have caught her off guard, but she managed to keep up with Umi by brute force. When she noticed the feint, she immediately jumped and sprinted to catch up with Umi.

The skillful Umi who calculated all her moves against Amami-san with her ultra instinct.

"Ninacchi, how many seconds will you give us to change our roles again if one of us failed to shoot?"

"Twenty four seconds, but because it's you two, I'll give you fifteen seconds, so ten seconds left, Umi."

"You decided it just now?! That's unfair! …Well, it doesn't matter…"

"Ah! This distance!"

When Amami-san was still distracted by Nitta-san, Umi took advantage of it and did a shoot from where she stood.

She was right outside the three-point line.

From an outsider's perspective it seemed like a desperate shoot since she failed to shake Amami-san off and the time wasn't on her side, but…

Swoosh!

"…!"

"No way!"

The ball left her hands, drew a beautiful arc and went into the hoop without touching the ring.

It was a beautifully performed shot that left everyone else dumbfounded.

"Alright! One to zero! Nine more points to go!"

"I knew it! You're amazing, Umi! …But if it's only this much…"

Amami-san gave her honest praise to Umi. It seemed like the shoot just now roused her fighting spirit. She was even more pumped up than before.

"Ninacchi– no, Referee! Ball!"

"'Kay~ By the way, I'll start counting the moment you touch the ball, okay?"

"Mm, got it!"

After receiving the ball from Nitta-san, Amami-san started dribbling toward Umi who was on the defensive this time.

Unlike Umi, she didn't bother to make any feints. Instead, she just stared right at her eyes and came at her directly.

"You sure you can afford to dilly dally like this, Yuu? You only got ten seconds left, you know?"

"Eh?"

Amami-san glanced at Nitta-san, who nodded at her after she looked at her watch.

It seemed like Umi was able to calculate the time accurately.

"I see… I still can't get used to this time change…"

They shortened the time limit for the role switch to match the time we had left to use the court and Amami-san seemed to be having difficulties adjusting with the change.

That meant Umi could take advantage of this and widen the score gap between them–

"…Well, I just need to be faster!"

But Amami-san immediately made a split-second decision, left Umi behind and scored her first point with a beautifully executed . 

She landed gracefully onto the court and grinned slyly toward Umi's direction.

"Now we're tied~"

"Jeez, why are you so… Well, whatever, it won't be fun otherwise…"

Umi lightly slapped her cheeks, took the ball from Amami-san and went to the center.

"Since feint won't work I should just try to shoot from places she wouldn't expect… She has to catch her breath too, she wouldn't be able to respond properly in the meantime…"

Umi slowly dribbled the ball while muttering something. She seemed to be creating plans as countermeasures to Amami-san's moves and trying to one up her.

The real match between those two was about to begin.

*   *   *

After that, the game continued in a stalemate.

Whenever Umi made a shot, Amami-san would react accordingly and whenever Umi tried to defend, Amami-san brute force her way through Umi's defense.

The score currently was 8-8 and Umi was now on the offensive side. The game would end on the tenth score, if this kept up, Umi would end up winning the game.

"Oh no!"

"Haah!"

However, it seemed like Umi spent most of her stamina. She fumbled when she was about to shoot and Amami-san, seeing this opening, swatted the ball away from her.

It was the first mistake that Umi made ever since the match had started.

"Alright! Two more points and I'll win~"

"Tch! I just let my guard down a little… There won't be a next time and I will be the one who'll win!"

Umi seemed more restless than before, probably because her previous mistake threw a wrench to her plans. She also seemed tired.

Amami-san also seemed to be as tired as Umi, but suddenly she made a big play.

"…Hah!"

"Oh!"

"…Are you serious?"

Amami-san, who was unable to bypass Umi's defense, made a hook shot from inside. (T/N: Hook shot should be self-explanatory. You shoot the ball while doing a hook, except unlike in boxing, you do the hook gently.)

The shot made a beautiful arc across the court and landed right inside the hoop without touching the ring.

I didn't know much about basketball, but even I knew that it was an amazing shot.

"Phew… It was a spur-in-the moment shot, but I'm glad that I actually scored with that one…"

Amami-san patted her chest and acted all casual about it while the other three people here, including me, were staring at her dumbfoundedly.

"My… I didn't expect that… Jeez, Yuuchin, that was overkill…"

"Huh? Overkill, how? I did this a lot back when I practiced in my backyard though?"

That would explain why she acted so casually about it. Still, even though she was used to it, actually pulling that shot off in that kind of situation was still insane.

That shot turned the score to 8-9 with Amami-san leading. She only led by one point, but the situation didn't look good for Umi.

"Umi, catch!"

"Eh? A-Ah…"

She seemed to be out of it because of that shot, she even failed to catch Nitta-san's pass.

"Are you okay, Umi? Should we take a break?"

"I'm fine, it's almost over anyway, I can hold on."

So she said, but after that she made another mistake and Amami-san easily cut her off.

Now, not only was she behind in points, she also gave a chance to Amami-san to be on the offensive side. The latter was worried about Umi's condition, but she wasn't naive enough to throw the match for her.

The ball that Amami-san swatted away rolled to my feet.

"Maki, give me the ball."

"Mm… You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine… It's just, it's been a while since I played… But, Maki…"

"Hm?"

"Sorry, Yuu, Nina, can I talk with him for a bit?"

After she said that, she immediately jumped into my chest.

"…I don't want to lose…"

"…I see…"

We had been together for a while, so I knew that she was a competitive girl. Whether it was in games, study or sports, she would try her best to win.

I saw the bitter face she made when Amami-san made that hook shot and I understood that I needed to spoil her for a bit to make her feel better.

I knew that I should be impartial during times like this, but she was my precious girlfriend, an exception to that rule.

Besides, this was just a game, who cares about being impartial or whatnot.

To me, seeing her smile would be my priority, I didn't want to see her bitter face.

"…Hang in there, Umi."

As I said that, I embraced her as tightly as I could.

"M-Maki! The other two are watching…"

"So what?"

The other two might be sick of seeing us like this, but it couldn't be helped. It was a small price for cheering Umi up.

Honestly, I kinda wanted to see her beating Amami-san.

Amami-san, who had a face as bright and pretty as an angel, yet at the same time as ruthless as a demon king. I wanted to see Umi beating that Amami-san with her efforts.

"You can do it, Umi."

"…Say it again…"

"You can do it, you can do it!"

"…Maki…"

"Hm?"

"Do you love me?"

"…Are we really going to do this?"

"I feel like doing it, can't I?"

"…Of course you can, but…"

I've said it to her many times and that feelings I got for her never changed ever since I first said it to her.

That was why, if she told me to say it, I would do my best to say it out loud for her.

"I love you, Umi."

"…Hehe…"

She smiled happily and buried her face in my chest.

Seeing this, I noticed that I've grown taller in the past few months. Umi, who used to be as tall as me, was now a head shorter than me.

That made me realize that I needed to man-up more. I had to do it to be with this girl, who was happily rubbing her cheek against my chest.

Just as the both of us were drowning in our own world, Nitta-san blew her whistle as hard as she could and dragged us back to reality.

"Alright, Maehara Maki, foul for unsportsmanlike conduct."

"Huh? What are you on about?"

"It's just fair. You made us single ladies watch you two flirting like that, it's unsportsmanlike no matter how I try to look at it."

I was about to argue against it, but considering that Umi and I had messed around for too long already, I held myself back and resigned to my fate.

…Well, I did that because I loved Umi so much, it couldn't be helped.

"My bad, Yuu. My dear boyfriend loves me too much."

"I don't mind… Anyway, have you rested enough?"

"Mhm. I'm in perfect shape now."

Umi had calmed down and regained her usual vigor.

She was still in a disadvantageous position, but at least she was ready to fight back now. Nitta-san kicked me out of the court so I could only cheer on her from outside, but at least I could still cheer on her.

"Alright, it's time to continue where we left off, Yuu…"

"Mm… Well, I'll still win anyway~"

They exchanged passes for a while. There would be at least three rounds left before this game would end.

Between those two, who would win?

Both of them move, and…

Beep! Beep!

""""Ah…""""

The alarm rang the employee gave us when we rented the court rang, it meant that our time was up. The hot air between Amami-san and Umi doused just like that.

In the end, the result of the match was 8-9 with Amami-san winning because of time out.

Unknowingly, Asanagi Umi and Maehara Maki's dumb act at the very last minute of the game dragged on for too long and caused this kind of result.

…In other words, this was partly my fault.