6 Pick-Up Game

[A/N: At the end of the chapter where it shows improvements, if a stat is shown but no improvements, that means it's being improved on in the chapter.]

Word Count: 1929

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Putting my raging thoughts about the purple hair aside, I walk up to the group with one of them in particular looking my way. He was about 5'5, with black hair, a heart-style beard with a somewhat "chubby" frame.

Just before this, they were just shooting around so hopefully asking this guy shouldn't be a problem.

"Hello, do you guys need an extra player?" I casually ask making eye contact.

The person who was now right in front of me just gave a cheerful smile, at the same time he gave my scar a little glance.

"Sure, sure! I'm Ko, what's your name son?" He asks basically spreading a friendly atmosphere which wasn't too bad of a change. 

With everyone's attention now on me I simply answer.

"My name is Ego, a pleasure to meet you all."

The other guys there started to introduce themselves one by one and it eventually left one missing. Looking at the final guy who wasn't too interested with some anticipation, others started to talk to me.

"Ego isn't your hands too big?" One guy asks.

"Yeah, it's not proportionate to your body at all. N-Not that it's bad, that's really lucky for Basketball!" Another person chimes in.

Agreeing with their words I realised that it wouldn't take long after middle school before they would reach their full size. While in thought for a bit, the purple-haired kid who was dribbling the ball got in front of me.

'My hands do feel like they're constantly holding weights sometimes.'

Letting my thoughts wander a little bit I soon found myself in front of a familiar character. Taking a good look at his face in my mind I already knew what anime this guy was from.

'So Kuruko's Basketball is another anime here, good to know.' I thought keeping that knowledge to think about later. The purple-haired monster doing a small yawn, started to introduce himself quietly.

*Yawn*

"Um hello... I'm Murasakibara." He plainly says with a small wave.

Doing a little nod to acknowledge his little introduction, it didn't take too long before teams were made. Ko who was with Murasakibara and an extra, left me with two others who were both shorter than me.

"Alright, I'll shoot for the ball. We are playing till 11 and we are counting 1s and 2s." Ko says making his way to the free-throw line.

Watching Ko get into his posture he soon after took the shot.

*Swish!*

"Nice one Ko!" 

His teammate high-fives him.

While making teams they found out that Murasakibara was the same age as me so we were naturally put up against each other which I didn't mind. Getting into position under the rim as Murasaki and I were the tallest there, my first game finally started.

Ko who was dribbling the ball on a little iso play sized up his defender. With a few dribbles, he got past his defender using some surprising speed and made his way towards the paint.

'He's not going to pass.' I thought seeing his eyes focusing on the rim.

Adjusting myself and slipping past Murasaki, I time myself perfectly as Ko went for the layup.

As he jumped I followed suit on his right side, keeping myself from bumping into him.

*Thump*

Getting three fingers on the ball, it was sent out of bounds and hitting the cage.

"Nice block Ego!" One of my teammates shouts.

Showing a small smile I take a look back at Murasaki who just had an annoyed look. Murasaki looked at the ground for a bit before running towards Ko. With me being behind him protecting the rim, he receives the inbound.

"I got this." I hear him murmur.

Squinting my eyes at his words, he starts to back me down just entering the left side of the paint. After one bump I felt some of his weight hit me.

'Damm!'

After the first bump, I take back my left foot just before his second bump making some space. Murasaki not expecting to contact the air got a confused look and a little off-balance at the same time.

Taking the opportunity I sneak around.

*Smack!*

Hitting the ball downwards from his blind spot I go after the ball, leaving him perplexed and a little shaken up. Getting behind the three-point it didn't take long for my defender to get back on me.

"Ego!" Hearing my teammate's voice, I saw that he was cutting under the basket.

Doing a pound dribble so the ball gained some height and disguised the pass, it transitioned into a swift bullet pass.

*Swoosh*

The ball went right past Murasaki's head and into a teammate's hand.

As the teammate swiftly reverse-lays it in with his defender behind him making the score 1-0.

"Nice one!"

"Good pass." He responds giving a thumbs up.

With a few back-and-forth plays by both teams with misses and makes all the same, I now found myself being defended by Murasaki on the top of the key. The score was 4-2 with my team leading. Doing a few dribbles Murasaki wouldn't budge keeping himself in front but a decent amount of space away.

Realising this, mid-dribble I adjusted my feet to which Murasaki didn't see.

As I picked the ball up to shoot, it was too late for him as my feet were set and the shot would be too fast for him to block. With the ball leaving my fingers at the same time his eyes widened in realisation.

"Gotcha."

*Swish*

5-2

Murasaki whom I've kept to zero point this whole game got a serious look making me raise an eyebrow. After a few possessions, Murasaki finally found himself backing me up just inside of the paint.

Trying to bump into him it didn't take too long before he had enough, using my lightweight to his advantage he just spun knocking me away. With an open shot, he took an extra step to hit the layup.

'Not bad.' I thought seeing the ball go through the net.

5-3

Starting off with possession this time I found myself passing the ball immediately to the side and moving to open space. The teammate who got the ball tried to slash into the paint but quickly failed because of Ko's stature.

Seeing this I get into my shooting form and call for the ball.

"Over here!"

Right after catching the ball, Murasaki sprinted towards me expecting a shot remembering the last time. But to his ire, I already thought of a counter and proceeded to dribble the ball between his legs.

*Boing*

"Damn it!" He shouts turning around.

Getting past him I grab the ball with both hands I proceed to take a few steps and get right outside the restricted area. Thinking it would be an easy lay but unknown to me the prodigy right behind didn't give up on the play.

Watching the ball leave my fingers with an inside-hand layup, someone else's hand entered my view right after trying to hit the ball.

*Slap!*

"And one!" I shout seeing the ball hitting the backboard and go into the net. Turning around I see that it was Murasaki who attempted that block.

Feeling a little sting near my wrist I just shrug it off.

6-3

"How do you do that?" Murasaki says breathing heavily and holding his knees.

'He would have blocked me if I did a normal layup.' I thought with some sweat going down my face.

"What do you mean?."

"You're fast but not really? I'm faster but I can't catch up..." 

Hearing the confused Murasaki I couldn't help but let a small smirk slip on my face which annoyed him even more. I'm not 100% sure but my gut tells me he's talking about the pace I play at, while it's normal to me, for others it might be a bit uncomfortable.

I don't think I ran the whole time and just jogged to my spots, while Murasaki ran constantly on defence and offence unless he backed me down.

"If you can beat me in a one-on-one then I'll tell you." I challenged to which he quickly accepted without hesitation.

"I can't be bothered to play basketball. I'm so hungry right now." He quietly complains with a sour tone making me chuckle. It's been a little bit since the start of the match and we all worked up a sweat together.

Taking a look and comparing my stature compared to Murasaki it was a little different. While we would both grow into similar heights his hands were big but obviously smaller than mine. His arms were pretty "skinny" right now but his legs and upper body were a little chunky. An entertaining thought was that he jogged like a big man saving stamina if that made sense.

A few minutes pass as the score was now 10-7

*Bounce*

Watching Murasaki dribble the ball I keep myself in front using [Defensive Breakdown]. Trying to get past me he dribbles to the right while slightly bumping into me.

Knocking me off balance I swiftly recover using some lateral movement blocking him off and keeping him at the key. 

"Hey, you should shoot for once." I encourage.

"Tsk..." Murasaki hearing this didn't respond but did a little spin towards baseline while bodying me. Making some space for himself he barely gets into the paint.

Expecting a shot soon I bump into him to show I won't back down while keeping my hands active. After a few more seconds he pulls up right in front of my face, expecting this I just jump up at the same time.

Blocking the shot.

*Slap!* *Bounce!*

Watching the ball go straight down and bouncing up high, I see Murasaki trying to recover. Sliding by him I tried to jump for the ball but the guy was already with me.

"Give me that!" He shouts jumping over me.

Unable to recover my position as he takes the ball away from me, Murasaki spins past me and meets my teammate in the paint. Deciding to do the same thing again he pulls up and shoots a backboard shot from four feet away.

*Thump*

10-8

"Nice one Murasaki!" Ko shouts giving him a pat on the back.

Looking at the two while wiping some sweat on my face, I could barely see Murasaki giving me a smug smile.

'This guy wants the smoke.' I thought walking to the three-point line.

With Murasaki back on defence and checking the ball up with it being a one-point game, I decide to shoot it. Taking my time to get into my form as he had no intent to block me, I took a good four seconds before shooting.

"There's no way.." Murasaki watching the ball go over his head had his heart skip a beat.

*Clank*

'Damn!'

With the ball missing the rebound thankfully was taken by my teammate as he laid it in to finish the match.

11-8

"That's game!" Ko Shouts.

Everyone hearing this started to gather up a little and say some "good game" and "well played" to each other. But Murasaki was already walking towards the other side of the court while I went to get my ball.

'I need to get stronger.' I thought a little frustrated realising how weak my body was, it wasn't fit to shoot three points at all.

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[A/N: It feels a bit weird but I'll improve my writing as I go through this story.]

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[Body]

Dexterity: F > F+

Coordination: D > D+

Endurance: F+

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[Skills]

Finishing in the Paint: C+

Outside Shooting: F+ > D-

Passing: B-

Dribble Control: D > D+

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[Techniques]

"Correct" Breathing Lv(2/5) ★ ★ ★

Klay Thompson's Shooting Form Lv(1/5) > Lv(2/5) ★ ★ ★ 

Advanced Spatial Awareness Lv(4/5) ★ ★ ★ ★ 

Defensive Breakdown Lv(2/5) ★ ★ ★ ★

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