106 Chapter 106 : A Little Fun Game with Rival

"So, how should we divide the team?" Takao asked after twenty minutes of warming up. Not only him, everyone else also finished stretching their body, ready to play.

"Let's do a Janken." Yoshiharu took the decision. "Takao-kun, you are with Tsugawa-kun from Seiho. Furihata-kun, you are with me. Tadaharu, you are with Uchida-kun. Oda-kun, you are with Iwamura-kun. Otsubo-kun, you are with Tsugawa-kun from Meisei. Is that fair?"

Everyone nodded, satisfied with the arrangement. The lack of the small forward here is a bit troublesome, but Uchida didn't make a single protest when he found out he was pushed to that position. It was not a big trouble, because, besides Takao, the other guards are quite flexible, able to cover the small forward position if necessary.

"Okay, let's do it!" Furihata stepped up, facing the leader of this association. Yoshiharu is a bit smaller than him, with spiky hair and small dark eyes, the usual Asian people characteristic. However, just by looking at his attire, Furihata could guess he is from a well-off family.

Right now, Yoshiharu wore the home jersey edition of the Golden State Warriors with Curry's name on the back and a dark shoe with the Air Jordan logo on its side. Just by that only, Furihata could estimate the price of Yoshiharu's outfit is at least about 250 US Dollars. If conversed into yen, it was about 26,000 yen,

'Damn, that outfit cost almost twice the monthly allowance I received from Mom. Being rich is so damn enviable.'

Don't get him wrong. Furihata loves his mom with every single fiber of his body. But it would be a lie if he said he has never felt jealous toward other people, especially when facing people from a well-off family like Yoshiharu. That is just human nature.

"So, how about we start now?" Yoshiharu's voice snapped him from his thought. Furihata shook his head rapidly, trying to gain his focus back to the court. Yoshiharu just looked at him amusedly, waiting for his response.

"Okay, let's start now."

"Jan-Ken-Pon!"

Right after they both said the last part, they threw their hand in the air, showing it to each other. Furihata shows his fist, while Yoshiharu opened his palm. Rock vs Paper.

"Okay, whoever won the Janken come here!" Yoshiharu gestured for anyone to follow him. He was followed by Otsubo, Tadaharu, Tsugawa from Seiho, and Iwamura. "Oh, I got the Seiho trio and Tokyo's defensive player of the year here! Nice!"

"Good to be on your team too, Yoshiharu-san!"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the court, the players who lost the janken gathered around. There are Takao, Furihata, Uchida, Oda, and Tsugawa from Shensinkan. Furihata smirked, happy with the arrangement.

"Two defensive big men, one of the best perimeter defender, and two seniors who I don't know their capabilities. Their defense is insanely good. But our offense option is quite nasty here."

Takao also grinned, could see where Furihata comes from.

"Hiroki-san, do you mind me calling your first name?" Furihata asked Senshinkan's center. "I don't want to mistake you for that baldie over there." He pointed out at Seiho's point guard on the other side of the court who shared the same name.

Tsugawa smirked a little. "Sure, I don't mind."

"Good!" Furihata clapped his hands. "I have an interesting idea to try with this team. Do you mind listening to it first?"

"Oh?" Now, his words gained everyone's interest. All of the players on his team have already tasted defeat against him, so they are willing to listen to Furihata's words first. "Please, do tell. We are all ears here."

Furihata grinned, happy that everyone is willing to cooperate.

"So, this is what we are going to do…"

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A minute later, everyone is ready on the court, with Tsugawa (Hiroki) and Otsubo in the middle, ready for the tip-off.

"Momoi-san, do you mind refereeing this game?"

The pink-haired girl nodded happily. "Sure!" She grabbed the ball and was ready to throw it up into the air. "Both centers, ready?"

Tsugawa and Otsubo gave her a simple nod.

"Then, go!"

Right after she threw the ball, both Hiroki and Otsubo jumped at the same time, battling against each other to get the first possession. Hiroki won it by a small margin, using his fingers to tip the ball back to Takao.

"Nice one, Hiroki-san!"

Takao held the ball, starting to organize the first play.  On the other hand, Furihata started his plan, mingling around the crowd in the paint area together with Oda, confusing both Iwamura and Otsubo.

They could understand the presence of Oda here, due to Hiroki's preference to play in the high post. But for Furihata to be here, what is he doing?

However, they couldn't comprehend his presence there as Furihata and Oda suddenly move from their spot to the opposite corners, Furihata to the left one and Oda to the right.

"Iwamura, they want to stretch our defense! Don't go too far!" Otsubo who saw the trick immediately warned Seiho's center. Furihata smirked a little, already expecting that.

'As expected from the former defensive player of the year. He saw it pretty quickly. However, it doesn't really matter.'

Because both Otsubo and Iwamura were a bit attracted by Oda and Furihata's movement at first, there is a little gap between their area, and it was exploited immediately by the third person who cut from the wing side.

"Oh, nice cut!"

Takao smirked, throwing a lob from the outside of the three-point line, which Uchida caught it easily and slammed down to the rim, leaving all the opponent players gaped wide.

*BAAAMM!!*

"Nice one, Uchida-kun!"

"Good! Show us your ability, Ayase!"

"Nice pass too, Takao-kun!"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the court,

"Goddamnit, Tadaharu!" Yoshiharu cursed in annoyance. "What the hell are you doing, leaving that rookie to cut inside like that? Are you getting soft here?"

"Well, I don't see you guarding that rookie from Seirin too!" Tadaharu snarked back. "Instead, it was both our centers who saw that, and it left a big hole in our defense. So, what are you doing earlier? Daydreaming on the court already?"

"Why, you!"

"Okay, okay! Enough, you two!"

Iwamura separated both of them quickly. At this time Furihata finally realized, that even though they all act like a friend, they were still opponents from different teams in reality. Even though they could control their temper outside of the court, once they took a step inside, they couldn't help but let it out.

"Now, let's think about what should we do next."

"Give the ball to me!" Yoshiharu snapped. "I will show you how it should be done!"

On the other side of the court, Oda who saw his former captain grabbed the ball paled slightly. "Uh… Oh…. This is going to be bad…."

Takao and Furihata raised their eyebrows slightly. "Why? Is he going to be a problem?"

"Normally, no." Oda shook his head. "But Yoshiharu-senpai got a bad temper. Once he was provoked, his playing style would be rougher, and the game would become ugly for us."

Furihata's smirk grows wider when he heard that. "Well, it is good that he is not your teammate now, isn't he?"

Takao snickered as he saw the mischievous eyes on Furihata's face. "Damn, I feel bad for him. Receiving the end of your nasty habit would scare him to death."

"Hush, you." Furihata waved his hand. "I need to concentrate on defense. Shush! Don't bother me."

"Alright, alright.. Just don't overdo it, okay?"

Seeing Furihata not giving any answer, Takao could only shrug helplessly to Oda before they both left Seirin's point guard alone, ready for the next play.

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"So, you are Seirin's new rising star, right?" Furihata had to raise his eyebrows once again at the nickname. Right now, he is spreading both his arms wide, trying to prevent Yoshiharu to drive forward. "Let's see if you could live up to your reputation!"

At first, Yoshiharu tried to drive forward forcefully. But after noticing Furihata didn't bulge even for an inch after colliding with him, he tried a different approach. He tried to speed up his game, shifting the ball from right to left to right repeatedly to fool Furihata. However, Furihata faced Aomine in the past and could hold the power forward for a long time before the zone. Compared to that, this is a child play for him.

"Damn!" Yoshiharu gritted his teeth, a bit irritated at getting locked down by a rookie like Furihata.

"Yoshi!"

Tadaharu tried to help, asking for a pass. Seeing the former Seiho's captain appear in his eyesight, Yoshiharu's face lightened up. He slowed down his dribble and pretended to pass the ball toward Tadaharu, yet a second later, speeding it up once again, constantly changing his pace to get away from his guard.

Normally, his trick would work perfectly against any opponent. However, his guard right now is none other than Furihata, who could see his trick with naked eyes.

'A former captain and emotional guy like him passing the ball to his rival? No way he would do that!'

And just like that, Furihata didn't get fooled even for a second, keep sticking with Yoshiharu's movement.

"Damn, you pest! Get away from me!"

It was a rhetorical sentence that comes from Yoshiharu's mouth due to the stress and annoyance of getting pressed too tight by Furihata. However, no one expects Furihata would comply with his request, slowing down his run and loosening his guard.

"You want to get away from me? Sure."

At first, Yoshiharu didn't know what happened. But it changes in a second when he noticed he is already in the low-post area, getting trapped by Hiroki and Uchida.

"Damn!"

"Yoshi-san, here!"

Iwamura and Tsugawa tried to open up positions and help Yoshiharu. However, before the shooting guard could take any action, the third person from the opponent team comes, poking the ball from his blind spot.

*Slap!*

"Shit! Steal!"

"Go back! Defense!"

"Nice one, Takao!"

Yeah, it was Takao who snuck behind Yoshiharu and stole the ball from the shooting guard's possession. He noticed how Furihata cornered Yoshiharu into the crowded area, and when their eyes met for a second, Shutoku's point guard suddenly got the idea to be the third person to come and stop Yoshiharu.

And it works! Now that the ball is in his possession again, he tried to slow down the pace of the game a little, thinking about what to do. However, he changed his mind immediately as he could see with his eagle eyes that one person has already in a very good spot on the other side of the court.

So, without hesitation, he slides the ball quickly, bouncing it to the floor without anyone could stop it, just to be received by Furihata on the left wing.

"Nice pass, Takao!"

Furihata grinned, caught the ball immediately, and pulled up a jumper from his spot. And a second later,

*Splash!*

Straight to the bucket!

"Nice shoot, Furihata-kun!"

"You too, Takao-kun! Good observation, and nice pass as always!"

Furihata grinned widely, especially when he saw Yoshiharu's frustrated expression.

'Well, it seems this day turned from a worse into a good one. Good for me.'

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Author note :

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-Zeta Faes-