95 Prelude To The Semi-Finals

After the Round-3 game, all of the players ate lunch together.

They all sat around in the locker room.

Shun looked up from his food and asked.

Shun: "Hey guys, Why can't basketball players go on vacation?"

Everybody looked at each other and shook their heads.

Yuki: "Don't know."

Shun smiled and said.

Shun: "They aren't allowed to travel."

The coach, who was sipping tea, spit it out while laughing.

Coach: "Hahaha, that was a good one."

He wiped his face with a napkin and said.

Coach: "Okay, I will tell you one.

Why should you never date tennis players?"

Everybody once again shook their heads, and Shun asked.

Shun: "Why?"

Coach smiled and answered.

Coach: "Love means nothing to them."

Everybody looked at the coach, and then at each other.

Coach, who saw that, explained.

Coach: "You know, love means zero points in tennis."

Everybody tilted their heads.

Coach exclaimed when he saw no reaction.

Coach: "Oh, come on. That was golden. You kids don't understand good comedy."

Kaitani raised his hand and said.

Kaitani: "Okay, my turn.

One Saturday afternoon, the grasshopper, the snail, and the centipede were sitting around the grasshopper's house drinking cola.

They ran out of cola, so they decided one of them should go out for more cola.

The snail said, "I'd go, but I'm kind of slow. Besides, Grasshopper, this is your neighborhood, so you know where to go."

The grasshopper said, "I don't mind going, but my hopping will shake up the cola, and we'll get sprayed every time we open one."

So, they decided to send the centipede; and the grasshopper explained how to get to the nearest convenience store.

An hour, or so passed and still, the centipede hadn't returned, so the snail and the grasshopper decided to go look for him.

Where do you think they found him?"

Sora shook his head and said.

Sora: "No idea."

Kaitani looked at everybody and answered.

Kaitani: "They got as far as the front door and found the centipede sitting there putting on his shoes."

Everybody smiled and nodded and said.

All: "Yeah, that was good."

Then the coach chuckled.

Kaitani looked and asked.

Kaitani: "Coach, you liked it?"

Coach looked at Kiatani and said.

Coach: "Huh. Oh no, I was laughing at my joke. That joke was funny."

Kaitani sweatdropped at that.

And everybody laughed at that.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Shun slept for a while, and when he woke up, he and the team made their way to their assigned court.

On their way, they found that the crowd had increased in the stands, and Hyakuzawa asked.

Hyakuzawa: "There is a lot of people here, huh."

Shun glanced at Hyakuzawa and said.

Shun: "Semi-finals are really crazy here in Tokyo, all the teams go bonkers trying to advance after the strategic Round-3 game."

Hyakuzawa thought and asked.

Hyakuzawa: "Will you be playing on offense this game?"

Shun smiled and nodded.

Shun: "Yeah, I will be actively taking part in scoring."

Shun stretched his arms as he walked with Hyakuzawa.

Shun: "Semi-finals will be a good time to show our full capabilities."

Shun grinned and said.

Shun: "Playing without holding back would be fun. Let's let loose and have some fun."

He looked at Hyakuzawa and said.

Shun: "You don't have to focus on defense in the semi-finals if you don't want to. Our score would be too great for the defense to make any difference."

The next game would be the first time Hyakuzawa would truly witness what Shun could do offensively on the court.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

On the Tokiwadai's bench, the coach looked at his students and started.

Coach: "As we all know, we will be facing Yukigaoka Middle School. Yukigaoka is a team of shooters; the small forward and point guard shoot from mid-range, shooting guard shoots from the three-point arc, and the power forward and center shoot from the perimeter.

Their coach's philosophy is total offense, and because Yukigaoka didn't get tall players for a few years, he switched the team policy to guard-type player training regiment. And, shooters are all there are in Yukigaoka."

Coach stroked his chin and continued.

Coach: "Yukigaoka's players are all volume shooters, they don't go in for layups, they just shoot. On a good day, when their shots go in, they are a menace for teams to keep up to their score, but on a bad day, they get the crap kicked out of them."

He laughed as he said the line, and continued.

Coach: "This tournament session, they are on a role. Yukigaoka's players have been shooting pretty well. So, we need to put up more points on the board today, in case their streak continues."

As he finished, Shun raised his hand and said.

Shun: "Don't worry coach, I will be going on the offense this game, so we don't need to worry about not being able to keep up."

Shun smiled as he said.

Shun: "In the second half, I will start stealing passes, they will be too busy defending that they won't be able to focus on offense."

Then he maniacally laughed after he finished that.

Mibuchi smiled and said.

Mibuchi: "Calm down, Kageyama-chan. We are planning to win a game, not to conquer the world."

Shun waved his hand and pulled on Sora and said.

Shun: "Come on, Sora. Laugh like me. Mmmmmuwwwwahahahahahaha!"

Sora smiled and laughed.

Sora: "Mmmmmuwwwwahahahahahaha!"

Then Kaitani joined on his own.

Kaitani: "Mmmmmuwwwwahahahahahaha!"

Three of them laughed together.

Shun & Sora & Kaitani: "Mmmmmwwwwahahahahahaha!!!"

Yuki held his head and covered his face, Aone turned his head away, Hyakuzawa pulled away from the three, and Mibuchi massaged his temple as he looked around to see if anybody was looking.

And, as he feared, a lot of people were looking weirdly at them.

A child in the stands asked her mother.

Child: "Mama, what are they doing?"

The mother of the child; led her baby away from Tokiwadai's bench and said.

Child's Mother: "Don't look at them."

Yuki also listened to that and spoke.

Yuki: "Guys, stop. You're embarrassing us."

But that didn't work, and when the chatter among the people in the stand increased, Aone took action. He pounded all three of them on the top of their heads, and that worked perfectly.

All three of them quieted down immediately and rubbed their heads.

Shun & Sora & Kaitani: "Sorry."

The coach stood up from his chair and said.

Coach: "Okay, that is enough. It is time, get up, and get ready for the semi-finals."

Kaitani was the one who stood up first and said.

Kaitani: "Coach, I was born ready."

The rest of the members chuckled and stood up.

Mibuchi swept some strands of hair out of his face and said.

Mibuchi: "Don't worry, coach. The team is ready."

Mibuchi looked at everybody and asked.

Mibuchi: "Aren't we?"

Everybody nodded and said in unison.

All: "Yes!"