5 •Shadows•
"What the… hell."
Kamina looked around, trying to keep his composure. He was on a court, but the rest of the space was surrounded by a thick white ominous fog.
He had come home right after practice, made himself dinner after his shower and directly slumped on his bed. He was sure of that.
Then… how the hell did he get here!?
"Hello? is anyone here!? Probably not..." He chuckled as he began to pace around. He strolled over to the edge of the court, keeping one foot on the court and the other out in the fog. "Shit!"
He quickly pulled back his leg, feeling as though he was falling forward. "Where the hell is this place?"
As he turned his back to the fog and eyes gazing back onto the court, five shadows suddenly materialized much to his shock. All of the shadows were different sizes with different builds, but somehow, they all seemed familiar.
He narrowed his eyes.
Aha!
"Okamura, Fukui, Wei, Himuro, and... Takeshi?"
Catching him off guard, a soul-less mechanical voice was released out onto the court as if through a microphone. Simultaneously, four of the shadows became "locked" and only one was able to move.
[Welcome to the world of the shadows.]
[In this world, hosts full stamina is recovered after every match. The experience host gets from competing in this world will be transferred to his body. So, it is advisable host pushes himself to the absolute limits.]
[This world records all data of all players you have come across and replicates their whole entire being. However, host will need to unlock some of these players in order to play against them. So, let the first match begin.]
[Prototype Takeshi Versus Kaede Kamina: Game 1/10.]
[Game is played to 11. Ones and Twos.]
[Hosts Ball]
A dark ball floated from the sky and dropped into shadow Takeshi's arms. The rest of the shadows submerged themselves into the ground as Kamina stood rooted still in thought.
Shadow Takeshi began to dribble rather skillfully. He wasn't the original Takeshi that couldn't even attempt shot because of his nerves, no, shadow Takeshi had no other feelings besides wanting to beat Kamina.
'I see... so this is shadow world.'
The ball was thrown to Kamina who instinctively caught it, spinning it on his finger. Shadow Takeshi crossed his arms over his chest and tapped his foot to the ground.
"A little impatient, aren't we?" Kamina grinned and walked over to the three-point line. As he did so, the pajamas he was wearing were replaced with black shorts, T shirt, and basketball shoes. "Oh, so it can do this to. Neat."
He then checked the ball up, fully intent on destroying this opponent thoroughly.
-Ten Games Later-
[Congratulations for hosts flawless victories.]
[Wins: 10-Losses: 0]
[Character Kensuke Fukui has been unlocked]
[Host can now play 1v2 if he chooses to.]
A white aura surrounded Kamina's body briefly. His body that had sweated a river was suddenly brought back to its normal state and the heaving on his chest halted. The sweat drops previously fallen onto the floor were erased as if never existing.
Shadow Takeshi sighed before disappearing as if carried off by the wind.
Kamina had expected for these ten games to be easy wins. Mainly because of the obvious skill level difference between himself and shadow Takeshi. However, that didn't turn out to be the case as the shadows grew stronger, faster, and smarter with every match. Much more so than he did.
Still, he was roaring to go again. Even taking liberties to stretch before his next few games with shadow Fukui. His mind was clear, and he couldn't wait once again to start playing basketball.
[Host will be ejected. The time limit has been met.]
"Wait wh- no!"
Kamina was warped out of the space the same way he was brought in. Without his consent.
His dark eyes fluttered open. He brushed aside the hair covering his vision and looked at his body. After making sure he was safe there, he then began peering around the room.
Same room.
Same curtains.
Same shoes lined up to the right of his door.
How peculiar.
He judged morning had come as could be seen through the light visible outside. "8:00 AM. Damn."
He was in the shadow world for eight hours!? He couldn't believe it. Some of the games he played were quick, and others were fast. Nonetheless, he never expected to be in there for eight hours as it felt more like three.
'I guess I should get ready.'
-
Yosen. A high school that was labeled a powerhouse because of the wide and strong frames of their players. Their defense was considered to be unrivaled in the region and perhaps even the whole country, earning them the nickname of "Shield of Aegis."
Yosen High Schools's architecture was influenced by the western world. They also enrolled foreign talent and adopted the western education system. In addition, Yosen was also a Christian school hence the cross design in their school emblem.
Minutes ago, the bell had just wrung, and school was out for the day. After school clubs were well underway and some students were left on clean up duty.
At this moment in the gym, a tall purple haired young man wearing Yosen's school uniform had just opened the gym doors to see everyone nearly had changed into their practice gear.
He dug into his small bag of chips with his abnormally wide hand.
Murasikibara Atsushi.
"Murasikibara!" Ayako shouted. "You're almost late, hurry up and change! Then we can get started."
"Hai."
It was different seeing a Generation of Miracles player in person. Kamina and Himuro would definitely say so, and so would the rest of the Yosen regulars.
Kamina scratched the side of his head, his excitement reaching an all-time high. It had been a while since he was sure he couldn't beat a player. An overwhelming feeling. And to think there were four more others just like him? He couldn't wait.
With Murasikibara mixing in the crowd, Yosen's coach continued. She specifically addressed the second years and seniors, "There are three new additions to this year's team. All of them are freshmen and very talented players, so if any of you want to keep your spots make sure you step up your game."
Wei glanced to his side to the taller freshman. He was used to always being the biggest man on the court, so it was a first for him to feel small, both in height and size. To a Japanese player no less.
"Okay! Make two lines behind Kenichi and Fukui. They will lead you guys in warmups and stretches. After that's over with, were going to go over some plays we will run in games."
"Yes coach!" Okamura shouted, nearly shattering everyone ear drums.
Masako covered one ear with her hand and used the other to whack her bokken upside Okamura's head. "Not so loud you dimwit!"
"Sorry coach..."
Masako clicked her tongue as she shoo'd them off.
Warmups and stretches were quickly taken care of. They went from one side of the court to the other in each of their stretches. Lunges, Karaoke, Hamstring stretches, heel walks, and jogging.
A bit of sweat could be seen on Kamina's forehead as they finally finished. His body still ached slightly from the overtraining the day before. Though, he felt as if he had more stamina.
Masako strolled back and forth as Ayako stood to the side of the boys with a clipboard and a whistle. "Last year we mainly performed defensive plays. We used the 2-3 and 3-2 zones to take advantage of our size and reach over other teams. Other times we would do man to man basketball in the case the team we played with was severely undersized. But... that's going to have to change starting this year."
Murasikibra picked out his ear and blew on it, his eyes seeming as if he struggled to stay awake.
'I should have went home…'
"Starting this year, we are going to incorporate more offensive plays into our schedule. We have gained a couple of reliable shooters on our team which will make our team a threat beyond the three-point line. This means that teams will no longer be able to just lie in wait inside the paint. So, let's start."
-
For forty-five minutes Masako had explained a total of three plays to them. Like she had said, two of the plays worked on isolating the team's shooters on one side of the court. The last used a series of screens and cuts in order to find an open man in the corner or feed the ball into the key.
She spent twenty more minutes on an inbound play and a 1-2-2 half court press.
Kamina absorbed the information like a sponge. One of the greatest things in basketball as a point guard was seeing a play succeed spectacularly. And as someone who was a play fanatic, he almost always ran plays on offense and defense in order for the team's efficiency to improve and so everyone could feel they were part of the game.
He was heavily scouted in his old-world basketball of his skill in setting up plays and knowing the right time to perform a play.
Masako clapped gathering the team's attention. It was nearing 5:30 and they had only thirty minutes left of practice. "Today's practice was easygoing so don't expect the rest of the practices to be like this, understand? Practice will be finished with the completion of twenty free throws. Everyone except Kamina can disperse."
"This is so boring..." Murasikibara said, dragging his body over to a ball.
"Nice to meet you Murasikibara-san." Himuro appeared behind the giant, his arm stretched. "My name is Himuro Tatsuya."
Murasikibara shook his arm not the least bit interested, "Hello."
-
As Okamura and Fukui took turns shooting free throws, the two engaged in a conversation.
"So… Fukui. What do you think about the new guy?" Okamura completely missed the rim as he shot the ball.
His shot was as horrible as ever.
"I don't like him," Fukui said stepping up to the free throw line. "His eyes are dull, and I can't sense any passion. He's good, that much I can tell. But I still don't like him."
Okamura scratched his chin looking at Murasikibara and Himuro. "Really? I think the passion is there. But… maybe he's just shy in expressing it? Hahaha."
Fukui glanced back at Okamura. As stupid and hard-headed as the guy was, he had a knack for being a good judge of character. Though sometimes he completely missed the mark.
-
"You can do it Kamina-Kun!" Ayako cheered from the side in between giggles. "Keep going!"
Kamina frowned giving the girl a playful glare. His shirt and shorts were soaked from only five minutes of constant running. His lungs feeling as though they would burst.
'You got this, one step at a time in the right direction.' He told himself.
This thought has always been what keeps him going. The ability to never give up, accepting any obstacle that is thrown his way.
He lived for it!
And it was this mindset that would take him to the top.
