Takeishi Junior High School Captain

While Mitsui was constantly adjusting his shots, groups of people came into the basketball hall, lowering their voices and slowing down to watch Mitsui's mesmerizing shooting performance. It could be called a masterpiece of shooting art. The silence continued until Tokuo broke it with a worried message, "Mitsui, Teacher Damon didn't see you and said you need to look good tomorrow." Horita Tokuo, Takeishi Junior High School's center and vice-captain, was Mitsui Hisashi's childhood friend.

"Tokuo, you're so slow." "That's right." Point guard Takashima Hei and small forward Takashi Tokuda from Takeishi Junior High School joined the conversation.

"I couldn't help it. I wanted to defend Mitsui, but Teacher Daemon scolded me." Tokuo Horita had an innocent smile on his face. Mitsui turned around and smiled, "It's okay, Tokuo, it's for tomorrow. We'll handle it then."

"Alright, everyone's here, so let's work hard this year," Mitsui encouraged. "We also have some new students joining the club. If we have talented newcomers, our team's performance will improve."

In fact, Mitsui knew about several outstanding newcomers like, Fukuda, Rukawa, Kiyota, Sakuragi, and more, but they were not in Takeishi. Mitsui even had to find a way to persuade Sakuragi to play basketball earlier.

The trio of friends on the side whispered, "What's up with Mitsui?" "I don't know." "He seems less energetic, did he sleep during class today?" "These words don't sound like Mitsui. Ah!" "I agree!" "Yeah, Mitsui would usually shout, 'Follow my lead to victory!' That's more motivational."

Mitsui looked at the trio who thought they were speaking softly but were actually loud enough for him to hear. He felt extremely complex. When he was younger, he didn't think much about such titles, but now he felt embarrassed and ashamed.

Fortunately, the coach and the last starting player arrived, alleviating Mitsui's awkwardness. "Oh, you're all here early. Let's introduce ourselves. These are the freshmen in our class, and we have a great talent here," the coach said with a smile.

Yamada Shinichi, 51 years old, the basketball coach of Takeshi Junior High School, introduced the last starting player, No. 9, Ryoji Ikegami, who played as a power forward and defensive leader.

Hisashi Mitsui, Tokuo Horita, Hei Takashima, Takashi Tokuda, and Ryoji Ikegami were the starting players for Takeshi, all of them being third-year students. They were experienced but worried about the team's future.

Mitsui knew who the coach was referring to – Katsumi Ichiro, a second-year junior high school student, had just joined the club and was already making an impact. Mitsui and Katsumi had a history, and Mitsui couldn't help but feel annoyed by the situation.

Captain Mitsui gave his usual speech, but Mitsui didn't want to say much at this time. He introduced himself and the starting players briefly and allowed the freshmen to form teams and compete with the old players. Mitsui wanted to see Katsumi's potential and how he could help the team.

During the practice session, Katsumi's performance stood out. He showcased various impressive shots, even surpassing Mitsui in some instances. Mitsui seemed to pass the ball to Tokuo more often and played a more supportive role, which was unusual for him.

The game was chaotic, and Coach Yamada watched with concern, but he let it continue.

Halfway through the practice match, the score was 29 to 22 in favor of the old students. This raised questions among the players. Mitsui's behavior had changed from his usual self-focused approach.