Limit

"Damnit!"

Mitsui, standing at the top of the key for the reset, slapped the basketball in frustration. The combination of Hiroshi and Rukawa had run his team ragged and the score had swelled to 9-4, with the duo slicing through the defense and avoiding Sakuragi enough to score. Miyagi and Mitsui, on the other hand, had missed their shots each trip down the floor, and Sakuragi was not a big enough offensive threat so Miyagi hadn't thrown many passed to him. Sakuragi had grown strangely pensive while the score ran up and Mitsui could tell that he wasn't concentrating on the game, especially because the redhead's rebounding seemed to be lackluster.

"Hey, Sakuragi!"

Sakuragi turned, oblivious to the slight edge in Mitsui's tone. "Hm?"

"Pay attention! Rukawa is completely breaking down your defense!"

Upon hearing this, Sakuragi instantly frowned. "What are you talking about? I'm the devil of concentration!"

Before Mitsui could shoot a comeback, Miyagi dashed in front of the tall shooting guard and motioned for the ball. "Don't worry about it. Let's get those points back."

Mitsui sighed and did a pass-off to Miyagi. Though Miyagi hadn't articulated it, Mitsui knew that his fellow senior was right; there wasn't much point yelling at Sakuragi, since he had just come back and it was unreasonable to expect much from him.

On offense at least, Mitsui thought bitterly. Sakuragi was rusty, there was no doubt about that—but his freakish athleticism and eternal stamina should have been more than enough for him to keep crashing the boards like a monster. Rebounding was more about positioning and desire, and everyone knew that Sakuragi had a nose for the ball; however, right now, the redhead was lacking focus and it had started to seep into other aspects of his game. Hiroshi and Rukawa had had their way with him so far, and even Yasuda seemed unafraid of just charging in to challenge the redhead.

"Shit!"

Mitsui's head snapped up just in time to see Miyagi get blocked by Rukawa. Hiroshi scooped up the loose ball and prepared to pass it off to Yasuda, who was already open at the three-point arc.

"In your dreams!"

Hiroshi looked surprised as an energetic Sakuragi bounced into the air, cutting off Hiroshi's field of vision—and that moment of hesitation allowed Miyagi to recover and steal the ball back from Hiroshi's relaxed arms. Miyagi promptly turned on his heel, making one long stride back to the basket but was once again cut off by Rukawa.

Excellent defensive recovery, Miyagi relented as he shot a look over his back, bouncing a pass backwards straight into Mitsui's hands. Mitsui lifted into the air and nailed a jumper from the free throw line, bringing them within shooting distance at 9-5.

Rukawa picked up the loose ball without a word, taking it back out for the reset. The ace lifted the ball over his head as Mitsui marked him as he considered his options, and soon his attention locked onto the rookie, who was panting for breath. Hiroshi looked completely exhausted, his hands on his knees and completely ignoring the fact that they were back on offense.

Rukawa stared at Hiroshi for a second longer before heaving the ball towards him anyway, the ball smacking the rookie in the back and catching him completely off-guard.

"Huh...?!" Hiroshi swung his vision up just in time to see Miyagi grab the loose ball. Without missing a beat, Miyagi snapped a chest pass straight into Sakuragi's hands. From the sidelines, Anzai nodded appreciatively at the pass, which was perfect for the redhead:

Sakuragi was standing 45 degrees to the right of the basket.

The redhead leaped up for the jump shot, with everyone holding their breath in anticipation…

…and threw the ball over the backboard.

Sighs all around.

"It's okay Sakuragi," Mitsui said quietly, breaking the sudden silence as Sakuragi just nodded a bit dazedly.

Why won't it go in? Sakuragi thought, looking down at his shooting hand. I used my legs, but…

While Miyagi went to fetch the ball, Yasuda took thebrief intermission to speak with Rukawa. "Rukawa…"

Rukawa, who hadn't responded at all to the airball, lifted his head and stared at Yasuda, politely waiting for him to continue.

Yasuda lowered his voice a bit. "Give the rookie some time to recover, okay? He's excited from meeting such strong opposition, and I think he strained himself a bit… he seems to be at his limit."

Rukawa listened attentively with his hands on his hips, but shook his head slightly when Yasuda finished. "No."

Yasuda blinked, astonished. "Why, Rukawa?"

"No one on an opposing team cares if you're tired."

Rukawa immediately sauntered off to another place on the court before Yasuda could say any more, ending the conversation. Yasuda considered the retreating figure of Rukawa.

You've really become the ace of Shohoku. Akagi was right about that… but do you know your teammates' limits? We're not all as talented as you. You were forced to leave the court against Kainan due to exhaustion last year… are you making sure other players that will help the team don't suffer the same fate during crunch time?

Yasuda shot a look at Hiroshi, who was hunched over as his sweat ran down his body. Though he wasn't out of shape, the lanky forward looked as if he was using all his energy to keep standing. Yasuda heaved a sigh, knowing he couldn't do anything about it and just walked away, respecting Rukawa's decision.

Miyagi tossed the ball back in Rukawa's direction, starting the game back up. Rukawa immediately snapped a pass to Hiroshi again, and though he caught it this time, Hiroshi looked completely out of it. Miyagi quickly slacked off on defense from Yasuda for a brief moment, taking a swipe at the ball and instantly halting Hiroshi's dribble.

Hiroshi, startled, whirled around and tried to look for someone to pass to. However, Miyagi had instantly caught the moment of weakness and completely rotated off Yasuda, holding his hands up to block Hiroshi's field of vision. Mitsui still kept a tight defense on Rukawa and Yasuda was outside of Hiroshi's gaze, leaving the rookie with no visible options. In a state of panic, he put the ball on the floor again and the sound of the whistle immediately stopped play.

"Double dribble!" Kakuta called, striding over with his hands out expectantly. Hiroshi sighed and flipped the ball over, visibly disappointed. Though Hiroshi moved back onto defense shaking his head in irritation, Rukawa didn't look too upset at the turnover, as if it was something expected.

After Kakuta handed the ball back off to Miyagi, the point guard moved to the top of the key with the ball and paused for the briefest of moments. In a flash, he shot another quick pass to Sakuragi, still trusting his teammate to find his offensive groove.

Sakuragi was open, but looked slightly hesitant about shooting despite the basket being within his shooting range. Instead, he dribbled to the side to try and get closer to the basket, but the ball glanced off his foot and bounced free. Yasuda scooped up the loose ball and quickly flipped a pass to Rukawa, who had reacted instantaneously to the redhead's mistake and left Mitsui to play catch-up. In a blur, Rukawa cut down the baseline and quickly laid ball up and in before anyone could recover. 10-5.

Miyagi once again kicked Sakuragi in the rear, immediately pinning the blame on the redhead. "Have you forgotten how to dribble too?"

Instead of lashing out, Sakuragi glanced dully at Miyagi. Miyagi sighed and looked upwards to meet the second year's eyes, knowing full well that the redhead had something on his mind.

"Hey, why aren't you concentrating?"

Sakuragi stared at Miyagi for another moment, thinking of how to phrase his concerns before finally replying.

"Did we always play this way?"

Miyagi barely hid his surprise. He caught it really fast…

Miyagi sighed again, this time heavily. "Yeah, it's changed since you left. We were a bit short of tall players and… well, I guess we just weren't what we were last summer. Even during the winter tournaments… no, I think because of the winter tournaments… Anzai-sensei chose a smaller, athletic line up this year that would bring sheer offensive power at the cost of defense. We can guard the perimeter pretty well, but we've lost battles on the inside and are often out-rebounded by the opposing team. Even I know that if we really expect to win anything, that if this goes on…"

Miyagi paused and something in his head went off. "But, now that you're back… it should be okay. You're very important to the team, Hanamichi."

Sakuragi's demeanor transformed instantly upon hearing the compliment, his face breaking into a sunny smile.

"Of course! This Tensai will save the team!" Sakuragi laughed arrogantly, resulting in a few sweatdrops to appear on the Shohoku players' heads at the ease of manipulation.

Miyagi nodded in response and picked the ball up. "All right, then show us."

With a gentle bounce, Miyagi passed the ball to the tall redhead. "Direct the offense. This may seem odd, but I'll let you take over the attack now. You have good instincts."

Sakuragi looked a bit surprised at this request, but shrugged it off instantly.

"Such an easy job, Ryota!" Sakuragi chortled as he moved to the top of the key.

Mitsui pulled up to Miyagi as Sakuragi ran ahead, not noticing the two quietly talking behind him. "Are you making the right decision here, Miyagi? I've heard of big guys directing offense, but this is Sakuragi we're talking about, man."

Miyagi rolled his eyes. "As if we're still playing to win right now? Listen, what Sakuragi is lacking now is confidence. When I'm talking to him, he still seems to have an inherent gift at analyzing the game's situation."

Miyagi changed his glance back ahead as Sakuragi waited outside the arc for the two to catch up. "He's acting as arrogant as before, but somehow… deep in his heart, he's doubting his ability. It's natural, since he was gone so long. But he needs to reaffirm to himself that he can still be a star player on the team. He needs to realize that he's a weapon, not an offensive liability. This is just a scrimmage—if we get Sakuragi back to his old skill level…"

Mitsui considered what Miyagi said carefully before relenting.

"Okay, I'll leave it in your hands," Mitsui agreed, the two moving away from each other as Sakuragi taunted Yasuda and Rukawa for no apparent reason. However, as soon as he noticed the other two players on his team ready to play again, Sakuragi suddenly grew silent and his eyes snapped into focus. In a quick decision, Sakuragi shot the ball towards Mitsui, the shooter momentarily unguarded because Hiroshi had failed to rotate over. Mitsui gripped the familiar ball in his hands and reared up for the three pointer, the ball flying effortlessly through the air and soaring to the hoop, the arc just perfect… but it came up short, clanging off the front of the rim.

Mitsui grimaced in disappointment, but before anyone could react, a streaking figure raced from straight down the center and leapt into the air. A second later, a thunderous slam rocked the gym as a stunned Miyagi looked on to see Sakuragi casually land back to the floor. 10-6.

Sakuragi instantly started bragging, pointing a finger to his temple. "Longer shots give off longer rebounds, eh? This Tensai noticed that long ago!"

Miyagi tried to hide his surprise, returning Sakuragi's smile. "Nice one. Now show them you have more than just offensive power and hops."

Sakuragi's eyes glinted with pride. "I just have offense, huh? Fools!" he laughed, whirling around and preparing to play defense.

Miyagi and Mitsui shot a perplexed look at each other, sharing the same thought: No wonder Akagi was able to deal with this guy.

"Game point!" Yasuda called as he handed the loose ball off to Rukawa. The ace wasted no time in literally destroying the other players: he quickly stutter-stepped past Mitsui's defense and almost insultingly dribbled the ball over Miyagi's diminutive stature, racing towards the hoop and leaving the two defenders in a state of shock at the abrupt display of offensive aggression.

Sakuragi stood ready, now the only one between Rukawa and the basket. With blatant disregard for the redhead, Rukawa leapt into the air as Sakuragi followed suit. By sheer instinct, Sakuragi recalled the play from moments ago and quickly lashed out one of his hands, not to block a shot…

…but to block off the pass that Rukawa had intended for Yasuda.

Rukawa didn't show any visible reaction to the wonderful defensive read from Sakuragi. Hiroshi, who had been racing down the other side of the basket, picked up the loose ball and hit a bank shot from the left corner as the two rivals landed back to Earth.

11-6.

Match over.