73 Chapter 73 : VS Toō Academy VI : Back to One Digit

"LET'S GOOO!!"

Kagami raised from his seat, celebrating Fukuda's play. Midorima who is beside him just let out a small snort.

"Why are you being so happy like that? The gap is still 15 points, you know?" Takao snickered at Midorima's remark.

"Of course, I know." Kagami scowled. "But it is just like you with your team when you were down more than ten points by us, right? If you could do that, I don't see why we couldn't do that right now, considering we are the better team."

Now, it is time for Midorima to scowl at his insult.

"Watch your tone, bastard!" He growled. "Even though we lost the game, we are still the better team than you. We are one of the kings in Tokyo, and your mere school is nothing compared to us."

"Yeah, tell that to yourself." Kagami waved his hand nonchalantly. "And one of the kings in Tokyo? We have defeated two of the three. Not so strong, right?"

If looks can kill, Kagami would be dead by Midorima's glare right now.

"Anyway!" Takao interrupted before things go worse between them. "Do you think your team can do it? I mean, they are still playing against Toō without Aomine after all."

"Well, we are also playing without our best player. I am here, you know?" He shrugged at the deadpanned stares he received from the two Shutoku players. "And as for if they can do it or not, I have faith they will surprise us here. But it is not something you will believe unless you see it for yourself. So, let's see how far my team can go in this game."

And with that, the three turned their attention back to the game.

Back to the court, now the ball is in Imayoshi's possession as he tried to initiate an attack. However, a frown could be seen on his face as his mind is still wandering about the last play by Fukuda.

'I don't understand. He seems to be a traditional power forward. Was the last play a fluke or were they planned to do that? From the reaction of his teammates, it is sure that they didn't expect him to do that. But his confidence before taking the shoot tells otherwise. What the hell happened here?'

However, he didn't have enough time to think about it as Izuki is trying to poke the ball from his hand. And when he saw Furihata is trying to approach him too sneakily, Imayoshi knows he has to act quickly.

'Let's think about it later.'

He took a deep breath before sending the ball a bit high to Wakamatsu who is in the low post area. And right after that, he runs in the other direction, followed by Izuki. However, he only took three steps before he stopped and go back to his first spot, fooling Izuki for a moment.

"Shit! Furihata! Cover!"

Furihata who is already in that direction in the first place didn't hesitate to follow Izuki's order. However, by doing so, he left Sakurai in a good position, which Wakamatsu took advantage of it by passing the ball to the shooting guard.

"I am sorry!"

Sakurai catches the ball and shoots it immediately without taking any single dribble, not leaving any chance for Seirin to stop him. And a second later,

*Clank!*

*Splash!*

The ball bounced to the board first before it went into the basket, resulting in three more points for Toō.

A three-point bank shoot!

"Nice shoot, Sakurai-kun!"

"Nice assist, Wakamatsu!"

Meanwhile, Furihata sends an apologetic look at his teammates.

"Sorry, that was my fault."

"Don't worry about it." Hyuga patted his back. "Just don't go blindly like that. Always make sure to cover the route pass for the one you need to cover without leaving the player who you should guard open like that."

"I know.."

Honestly, it is embarrassing for Furihata to get reprimanded in the basic defense like that. He is a defense-specialized player, after all.

"Don't think about it too much, Furihata-kun." Izuki also patted his shoulder. "It is my fault in the first place to let him get away like that. Let's do better next."

"Yeah."

A second later, the game restarted with the ball in Izuki's possession. Furihata is standing on the left-wing side, being guarded by Sakurai.

"Nice play, Sakurai-kun." He praised the shy boy genuinely. "You play amazing this game. No wonder they put you on the first team."

"Aaah.." There is a single hint of blush on Sakurai's face, didn't expect to get praised in the middle of the game like that. "Thank you, Furihata-san. But it is Aomine-san who did the most."

Furihata nodded his head.

"Well, if you say so." He shrugged. "But don't think I will stay silent for almost all the time!"

And right after saying that, he charged forward from the sideline, trying to get closer to the paint area. Sakurai is trying to follow him. But the moment he turned his body, he was blocked by a screen from Fukuda.

*BRUGH!*

"What?!"

He tried to get away from the screen and catch up with Furihata as quickly as possible. However, Furihata didn't do as he expected. Instead of running away to the other side, he sets another screen for the Toō player with the number #17. And right after Sakurai escaped from the screen, Izuki sends the ball to Fukuda, startling both Sakurai and Toō #17.

"DAMN!"

Both of them tried to cover the guard for Fukuda. However, they are a second too late as Fukuda pulled up another three from his spot.

*Splash!*

"Nice shoot, Fukuda-kun!" Furihata gives him a high-five. "Now they wouldn't think the last play is a fluke and watch you carefully. It would give us enough space to exploit our offense.

Fukuda nodded, still remembering what Furihata said after he did hit his first three-pointer.

"Can you do that again in the next offense?"

"If there is an opportunity, I can probably do that again. Why?"

"I will create the opportunity for you. If you can knock it down one more time, they would be wary of your offense. If we can prove almost all of us are lethal scorers, we can scatter their defense just easier and create more space for our offense next time."

Yeah, that is basically the conversation between those two. And now, Fukuda could see what Furihata means by that. Now, all Toō players looked at him with different expressions, as if they put a target on him.

'Well, I should expect something like this. But with their attention on me, at least Senpai and Furihata would have an easier time scoring next time.'

A second later, the game restarted again with the ball in Imayoshi's hand. However, he saw something strange happen in Seirin's defense.

'Why do they move back slightly like that on the left side? With how Sakurai-kun scored last time, it would be a fool for them to give up their control of the outside area like this. Unless..'

When his eyes fell on the one who guards the paint area on the left side, a smirk formed on his mouth as a realization suddenly hit him like thunder.

'I see.. They are covering for that first year's defense. That means he is not good at defense. Now, I have two ways to exploit this situation. Either find a way to drive to that direction or exploit the space they gave up to cover for him. But of course, they would notice that would happen in the first place. Hmm.. What to do now…'

Imayoshi hummed for a second before he drives forward to the left side, followed by Izuki. His eyes met his teammate, the one with jersey number #17 as he tried to fool Izuki. However, after doing that earlier with Furihata, Izuki is not getting fooled by that play. So, instead of following his movement, he still keeps his eyes on Imayoshi.

"Hmm.. Not bad.. But can you stop me from doing this?"

And right after that, Imayoshi shifted the ball to his other hand with a quick crossover, followed by another crossover to get away from Izuki.

"SHIT!"

An ankle breaker!

Izuki who is not prepared for the double crossover fell down to the floor, and cannot stop Imayoshi from driving forward. And before Mitobe could cover Izuki, Imayoshi released the ball with a floater, resulting in two more points for Toō.

"Nice floater, captain!"

But before any Toō players could celebrate the last play, they were snapped by the yell from Susa.

"DON'T LOWER YOUR GUARD! DEFENSE!"

And just by that they suddenly remember that Seirin is a team that specialized in a quick fast break situation. Right after the ball went in, Fukuda grabbed the ball and throws it immediately to Furihata who is already running right before Imayoshi scored.

"FURIHATA-KUN!"

He threw it with all his strength, which is quite bad as it went further than Furihata expected it would be. However, with his speed, Furihata managed to catch up with the ball easily and before it went out of bounds, he jumped 360 and saved the ball, sending it to Hyuga who is following him from behind.

"Nice save, Furihata-kun!"

The glasses shooting guard didn't have a hard time pulling up a shoot from his spot, and a second later,

*Splash!*

"Nice three, captain!"

"Come on! Keep pressuring them!"

All of Seirin's players are moving forward, giving their opponent pressure so they couldn't receive the ball comfortably. Susa who is holding the ball for the inbound situation frowned for a moment before he sends the ball to Sakurai who is in a slightly better position than the other.

But it proved to be a mistake as before Sakurai could get the ball, Furihata who is still on the outside of the court suddenly rushed toward his direction and tapped the ball, changing its direction into the other side of the court.

"WHAT?!"

Susa and Sakurai have shocked expressions as they seem to forget about Furihata's presence for a second, and it costs them this possession.

"Nice steal, Furihata-kun!"

Izuki grabbed the ball before it went too far and get out of bounds again. However, right before he could think about what to do next, he heard Furihata shout at him,

"SENPAI, HERE!"

And following his instinct, he dishes the ball to his kouhai who seems to gain the upper hand after shocking Sakurai. It took a few seconds for Toō's shooting guard before he realized what happened, and right before Furihata could pull up another three, he reacted.

"Don't think it would be easy, Furihata-san!"

However, right the moment he jumped to stop the shoot, he could see the smirk on Furihata's face, and after growing up in the same court for more than three years, he knows what Furihata is about to do.

"DAMN!"

Instead of taking the shoot immediately after getting the ball, Furihata baited for Sakurai to jump in his direction, and the moment Sakurai did it, he lowered his stance for a second before pulling up a shoot.

That second of delay is enough for him to cause trouble as he clashed his body intentionally with Sakurai's before he released the ball, resulting in another foul for Toō. And as if it was not enough, a second later, they all could hear the sound of the ball hitting the net,

*Splash!*

Indicating the ball went into the basket, resulting in another three points for Seirin. And right after that,

"Toō Academy #9 defensive shooting foul, one free-throw for Seirin high #12."

A four-point play!

When Furihata turned his head to see the score, he could see the number changes to 23 – 34, they are still down to 11 points. But with the next free throw, the gap would be shortened once again into 10 points, and if they could maintain their form, they would be able to catch the score before the first half ends. That's why after realizing that, he roared in excitement.

"LET'S FUCKING GOO!!!!"

"Nice play, Furihata-kun!"

"Come on!"

They celebrated Furihata's last play before the sudden voice from Toō's bench snapped them from their little moment.

"Haaaa… I leave for a moment and the score is already this close? You all are just a bunch of useless players, aren't you?"

When they all turned around to the source of the voice, their expression changed 180 degrees from happy to grim one. And that is understandable because the one who speaks is Toō's best player, Aomine.

The final boss is back!

When the wind of the game is starting to move in their direction, Aomine showed up once again to destroy their hope!

Furihata stares at the blue-haired power forward for a moment before letting out a small smirk as he muttered,

'Good. Our business is still not finished. I swear I would stop you this time.'

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Author note :

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You can also read this fanfiction up to chapter 93 on that page. Thank you! :)

-Zeta Faes-