87 Chapter 87 : VS Meisei High III - A Tight Game

"As expected, the tacit understanding between those two is really amazing." In the audience seat, a pink-haired girl spoke to her friend while observing the game carefully. "When Meisei #7 started to pull up a jump shoot, Kagami-san and Furihata-san exchanged a glance, and right after the ball went into the net, Kagami-san is already on the other side of the court."

"Woaahh.. You could see that from here?" Her friend, a blonde handsome boy, looked at her in awe. "Damn, Momoicchi. Your eyes are still as sharp as before. Shame you never tried to be on the court. You will be an amazing point guard."

"Ufufu~ Thank you, Ryota-kun."

Yeah, as you can imagine, those two are Satsuki Momoi and Ryota Kise, the member of the Generation of Miracles, who decided to watch the team they played against before. At first, it was Momoi who searched for a friend to accompany her to the game. But Aomine, being the biggest jerk on earth, rejected her request with a straight face. That was when Kise appeared, volunteering himself as he also wanted to meet Kuroko.

So, here they are, watching the game between Seirin against Meisei together.

"But Meisei's center is also amazing." Kise shook his head slightly. "He is not the type who would dominate the paint area like Murasakibaracchi, but he found a way to fight against those dominant players. His passing and organizing skills also make it harder for his guard to predict what he would do. One moment he would take a shoot, but a second later, you will find the ball in his teammates' hands. That was dangerous."

"Yeah." Momoi nodded. "This year is the first time Meisei participated in the inter-high tournament, so I don't have any data about him. But I have to admit, his playing style is quite elegant. It was quite refreshing to watch a non-traditional center like him. It is just a pity that he was in his third year, and this would be his last tournament."

"You are right." Kise nodded back. "Not only it was impossible to beat Aominecchi, but they would lose the game if they didn't do something now."

"Well, let's see what happened next.."

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In just five minutes since the second quarter began, Uchida is finally getting his touch. If Furihata is not wrong, the latest one should be the fifth Meisei's point guard made during this quarter alone. And to make it difficult, he still had his fast breakthrough that could be used to shake off his guard's tempo. One thing is for sure, Kagami who still tried to get back his touch after his injury couldn't keep up with his rhythm yet.

"Oi, Red!" Furihata finally had enough. "Switch with me!If you keep getting harassed by him, we would never be able to widen the score."

"HAA?!!"

"Just do it, for God's sake!" Now, Furihata showed an annoyed face. "Get back your touch first, and come back later! For now, let me do the work!"

"Tch." Even though he was annoyed, Kagami still did what Furihata said, as he knows that it was true. Seeing that Kagami is being cooperative, FUrihata turned around to Koganei.

"Senpai, drop down to the low post and be ready for the breakthrough from the sideline. If he came to the middle, let me and Mitobe-senpai do the job."

"Sure."

And after instructing his teammates, Furihata took a step forward, ready to guard Uchida. He knows he was no match in the physical department, and if Uchida decided to drive forward forcefully, he wouldn't be able to stop him at all.

However, Furihata is not worried. That is because Furihata found a major flaw in Uchida's play.

'If he dribbled with his left hand, it would be a sideline breakthrough, and if it was with his right, it would be a mid-range pull-up. If he decided to pass the ball, his eyes would fall in the direction where he wanted to pass in the last moment, and he didn't have any fake movement in his arsenal. So, he is still an amateur in this game.'

Furihata nodded to himself, satisfied with his judgment. Fortunately, though, Uchida is not a talkative person. It would be annoying to indulge trash-talking battle with him, considering if he is annoyed, Uchida could just shrug him off like a fly. There is a reason why mismatch is bad for defense, after all.

"Senpai!"

Uchida's voice snapped him from his thought. A second later, the ball is back in Uchida's hand, ready for an isolation battle against Furihata, making his eyebrows raise slightly.

'This is new. He never did an isolation game against Kagami before. Does that mean his touch is still hot and he is confident, or it was because they underestimated and targeted my defense? Interesting..'

Facing a head-on challenge like this, of course, Furihata is excited. He would never shy away from a blatant provocation like this.

'Come on!"

Seeing Uchida drop the ball with his left hand, Furihata took a step back, ready for a breakthrough. However, right at the moment, Uchida leaned his body forward, the corner of his eyes caught a sudden movement, and a second later,

"Furihata-kun! Behind!"

*Brugh!*

"Nice screen, Senpai!"

It was Tsugawa, who suddenly appeared behind him, setting a screen to help Uchida escaped from his guard.

"Damn! Senpai, Switch!"

Furihata gritted his teeth, trying to get away from the screen immediately. But he knows, with Uchida's speed, once he was one step behind, it would be impossible for him to recover. Or that was what he thought, until…

*Brugh!*

The sound of the second collision in a row could be heard by all the players on the court, and when Furihata took a glance at the source, he couldn't help but let out a big grin.

"Meisei #7 Offensive foul charging. Seirin ball."

"Let's go!!!!"

"Nice defense, Koganei-senpai!"

Yeah, it was Koganei, who is waiting on the sideline that suddenly appeared in front of Uchida, planted his feet on the ground to set a trap for the point guard. And it works pretty nicely, as it resulted in an offensive foul for their opponent.

On the other side of the court, Uchida looked down to the ground, not daring to face his senpai.

"I am sorry, Senpai." He sounded guilty. "I am careless back then. But I will repay it in the next play."

"Don't worry about it." Tsugawa patted his shoulder. "Just don't do it again. We will still count on you."

Even though Tsugawa didn't show any disappointment, Uchida knows that the last play would make it harder for the team. The momentum has been on Seirin's side for too long, and if they couldn't grab it back, it would cost them the game.

So, he vowed he would get the momentum back to Meisei's side in the next play.

The game resumed again, with the ball back in Furihata's hand.

"Oi, Bastard! Give me the ball!" Kagami shouted, asking for the ball. Seeing that they still have 8 points lead and the momentum is still on their side, Furihata decided to just give it to Kagami.

'It would help him to get his touch back faster, and he would be less annoying. That's a win for me.'

Much to his surprise though, Uchida decided to come forward, challenging Kagami in an isolation game.

'Two players with similar playing styles. Interesting.'

And it seems, the sentiment was also shared by Kagami, as the red-haired boy grinned widely.

"Follow me if you can!"

Right after that, the power forward charged into Meisei's territory with Uchida following him pretty tightly. Kagami tried to shake him off with a double crossover move. However, Uchida didn't bulge even for a second and kept his eyes on the ball. Seeing that it doesn't work, Kagami spun his body to the left, and when he saw Uchida stuck into his movement, he retreated back and was ready to pull up a fadeaway jumper.

"Ha! I got you!"

But the moment he leaped into the air and was ready to release the ball, a hand appeared in front of his face, blocking his sight from the basket. Furihata who saw that shook his head in astonishment.

'Damn.. I am sure he was fooled for a moment. But his reaction is incredible. He is the least experienced version of Red. This ball would not go into the basket. Better be ready for the rebound.'

And right to his predicament, the ball hit the board hard before it bounced back to the court.

*Clank!*

"Nice defense, Uchida!"

"Rebound!"

Unfortunately for Meisei, there is someone who is faster than all their players combined, and he has already moved even before the ball hit the board. And that person is... Koganei.

Yeah. He followed Kagami's movement pretty close and get ready to set a screen for the red-haired boy. But when he saw Kagami is about to do it alone, he decided to move to the paint area and box-outing everyone there, prepared for the rebound. Luckily, his effort was proven to be fruitful, as the ball went straight to his direction.

"Nice rebound, Koganei!"

"Defense! Don't let him shoot!"

Two Meisei players come in his direction, trying to prevent him from shooting. But Koganei with his unusual calmness sent the ball to his left side, and Mitobe who is free from his guard lays the ball into the basket easily.

"Nice shoot, Manitoba!"

"Good play, Koganei!"

"Red, what the hell was that? You were being locked in?!"

"Shut up!"

While all the Seirin players are bickering and celebrating the last play, they didn't notice they were going to be hit by their own weapon. And true enough, a second later, they heard the shout from Meisei's side.

"Uchida, Run!"

And just right after that, just like lightning traveled down to earth, Meisei #7 charged forward, leaving the stunned Seirin players frozen in their place.

"Damn!"

Kagami was the first one who was snapped from this surprise attack. He runs back to Seirin's area quickly, trying to chase down Uchida and stopped him from scoring. And his attempt was proven to be useful, as right when Uchida leaped toward the basket, Kagami also did the same, extending his right arm to the air, trying to slap the ball from Uchida's hand.

"Don't think you can do that, bastard!"

But something unexpected happened. Instead of making a fake attempt to avoid Kagamis' block, Uchida is unfazed. In the aerial duel, he managed to overpower Kagami, and a second later,

*Brugh!*

*BAAAMMM!!*

A powerful one-handed dunk! And not only that, right after the ball went in, the sound of the whistle getting blown by the referee could be heard, indicating there is a foul happening here.

"Seirin #9 defensive shooting foul, one free throw for Meisei #7."

And right after that, a burst of cheers followed from the audience seat, as almost everyone gave Uchida standing applause at the powerful play he had done earlier. Kagami who fell into the ground after getting posterized could only stare at Meisei's opponent in front of him, his mouth gaped wide.

But what he just saw, it sends a shiver through his spine. There, Uchida stares at him coldly, as if he wanted to suck Kagami's soul from the body right in that spot. But right after that, a small infuriating smirk could be seen on Uchida's face, triggering Kagami's bad temperament.

That was a blatant provocation by Uchida and Meisei! Using Seirin's infamous play to get them close the gap, it takes a lot of guts to do that! And after seeing that infuriating smirk, Kagami also vowed inside his heart, that he would return this humiliation ten times worse than what he feels right now.

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Author note:

Sorry, not too much basketball played in this chapter. Next chapter, I will make it full of action. Also, If you want to support me more, you can visit my Patreon page on patreon(.)com/ZetaFaes

You can also read this fanfiction up to chapter 107 on that page. Thank you! :)

-Zeta Faes-