Chapter 11: Kiyose vs Tokiwadai (I)

After lunch, it was time for Tokiwadai and Kiyose's match to begin.

While warming up, Kageyama Shun looked at the part of the stadium where the members of the Tokiwadai basketball club were sitting and saw his parents. Smiling widely, he waved his hands towards them.

Shun's parents saw their child smiling, and they too smiled and waved back.

Satisfied with the crowd's reaction, Shun looked back at his teammates and thought about how he could conduct his team and work together with them.

Aone and Mibuchi were scoring monsters. While Aone scored from the inside, Mibuchi scored from the outside. They were the spears of the team that would penetrate any defense.

If they were the spears, then Otsubo would act as the shield of the team. Even Shun himself was sometimes amazed at how Otsubo was able to pressure the opposition's offense by himself by defending.

Then there was Ishida. To Shun, Ishida wasn't anything 'special'. He didn't specialize in any field, but he acted as an all-around player that was neither very good nor very bad at anything.

He could supplement either defense or offense when in time of need. Before Shun had entered the team, Ishida was restricted to support. But with Shun now capable of handling support, he could spread his wings wider on the court.

Sometimes it would work as an advantage but in this match...Shun didn't know what to think of it.

"Tokyo's preliminaries final match for Block A will begin shortly."

As soon as the announcement was heard, Shun's coach yelled, "Huddle!"

"Yes, sir!"

Very much unlike Kiyose, Tokiwadai was a colossal team filled with vigor and discipline. Every action is filled with respect towards each other and their coach, and no sloppy behavior like Kiyose's team was allowed.

"Kiyose Junior high is strong; there is no doubt about that. They won every game they played in the preliminaries with at least a 30 point gap, and that was against another strong team like Shoei. They might be a dark horse, and we had also won games with more than a thirty-point lead, but that doesn't mean this will be an easy match.

To be honest, I have no idea what to expect from them. Unfortunately, Kiyose arrived way too fast for us to collect any substantial data. All we know is that each of their individual skills is excellent, and while they don't show much of it, their teamwork is also perfect. They work well together and don't make many mistakes."

The coach paused for a while before sighing, "They look identical as well, so I cannot differentiate between any of them until the game actually starts. But we are Tokiwadai, and we will not lose! Otsubo-kun, I am counting on you to hinder at least the boy with insane drives and speed."

"Which one is the boy?"

"You'll know when the game begins."

"Yes, sir!"

"Kiyose might be strong, but they have a weakness we can use against them. They are not very tall compared to the seniors we have on our team, so use that height advantage and crush them! Mibuchi-kun, I want you n offense today. Don't hesitate to call for passes, and I want to see you lead in scoring today."

"Yes, sir!"

"Ishida-kun, I want you to help out on offense from outside and blocks today. Help out anywhere you can."

"Yes, sir!"

"Kageyama-kun, you will be point guard today, and make sure to set plays to be more offensive. Don't bother focusing on support today; we will be crushing them using our height advantage."

"Yes, sir!"

"Today will also be your first time playing against another team filled with monster first-years like you. How are you feeling?"

"Confident!"

"Good."

Shun was satisfied with the coach's strategy today; stealing and blocking were good ways to bring down the opposition's morale, but sometimes it was more fun to turn the game into an offensive brawl.

But Shun was very curious about Kiyose, for a reason different from the rest.

As far as he was concerned, the original anime that this world was based on didn't show a hint about any quintuplet team. Not from the past, not from the future.

Kiyose Junior High team was an abnormally Shun had never predicted to arrive.

'Is this part of a butterfly effect because of my presence?'

They didn't seem to stand out in any area like how the future generation of miracles did. They were good, but they were boringly good. They only stood out because of their massive score differences, but they didn't have any special moves like Perfect Copy, Emperor Eye, Misdirection, or any monster physique.

And that was where the weird part came in. Despite a seeming lack of everything except for extraordinary basketball talent, Kiyose's quintuplets didn't seem to be able to lose.

Why? In which part of their seemingly extraordinary talent stood out?

He had Perfect Copy, God-speed impulse, and a physique that he had adjusted to his own preferences, and even so, his team couldn't win with a 100 point difference like they did.

Sighing, he slapped his cheeks and shook his head to eliminate all the excess thoughts and concentrate on the game once more.

As for Kiyose's situation, he would learn more about them when the game begins.

Against Kiyose, who seemed pretty balanced, a balanced strategy to counter their balance would be more effective, given the height advantage they held. But that was if no other factors were included.

Tokiwadai had an extra factor that made the offensive strategy more viable in this game, which was momentum. Tokiwadai might not have as many points gained during their games, but they had a high-scoring season in their own right.

And their high-scoring season resulted in more confidence in their scoring ability, leading to playing more freely while being on the offensive.

"If we win this match, we will be going to the nations, where the teams there would be as strong as Kiyose. Don't think I am exaggerating when I say Kiyose is strong. You might think they got here through luck, but sometimes, luck plays more of a role than you might have thought."

The coach rounded all of them one last time as he slapped each of their shoulders, "Remember, Kiyose is strong, but we are by no means weaker than them, and that is all there is to it. So if you think Kiyose got here by luck, well, prove yourself right, and crush them all. So go win this match, and then we will conquer Nationals once more."

"Yes, sir!"

*****************

Somewhere in the gallery, a group of young boys was currently waiting patiently to see the game between Tokiwadai and Kiyose. All of them wore the same white tracksuit with a sky-blue outline. It was similar to Kiyose's tracksuit design, but with their colors flipped and a lighter blue.

Teiko had not returned to their school after their match in the morning, instead opting to stay back after lunch to observe the final game for Block A.

"So, who do you guys think will win the finals?" The second tallest person present spoke while looking at the first years sitting with him. He was Nijimura, the captain of the Teiko basketball team.

Ever since they had joined the regular lineup, he had a feeling that they would surpass him in no time. Those feelings of being chased by these not-so-little prodigies, ahem, Murasakibara, had motivated him to work harder.

"Both teams are strong. Tokiwadai is a balanced team; they have tall members and can quickly switch between offense and defense if the situation demands it." The shortest member amongst them spoke, "But Kiyose if a peculiar team. Despite not having anything that stands out for them, apart from the fact that they are quintuplets, they can destroy almost every game they play."

"I agree with Akashi. Tokiwadai's outside shooting is strong; Mibuchi and Ishida provide with more than enough firepower, and Otsubo is a great player in the post."

"What about Kiyose?"

"Kiyose...one of them has a great jumping ability, one of them is really fast, one of them is good at snatching and drives, one of them is good at ball control, and one of them is good at defending. But..."

"But what?"

"Since I can't tell apart them from their looks, I tried looking at their jersey number to tell them apart. But I don't think they ever wore them consistently since the person who handles the jump ball had a different number for each of the 4 games that they had played."

"Isn't that illegal?"

"It should be, but no referee ever notices it. And since nobody complained, they didn't do anything to stop it as well."

"Wow..."

"Kiyose is a good team, but I'm more interested in Tokiwadai's first year. I wanna play against him!"

Only the purple-haired giant didn't say anything. He continued munching on his after-lunch snack, but his eyes narrowed at the six freshmen on the court.

'I will crush all of them anytime I want. But I got snacks now, so...'

"Anyway, we don't have much data on any of them, and if what Midorima said is true, then that means both the quintuplets and Kageyama Shun played a different role every game. Either way, we will know what kind of players they are after this match."

*****************

Players from both teams gathered midcourt, with Otsubo and Sora in the middle of the tipoff. Otsubo was in his third year, and naturally, the height gap was evident to everyone in the fully-packed stadium.

It was obvious who would win.

One of the game's referees raised his hand before he shouted out, "Let the final match of Block A Tokyo Preliminaries begin!"

Signaling both jumpers to prepare themselves to jump, the referee approached the middle of the court, and at the sound of his own whistle, he tossed the ball up.

This sprung both players into action as they attempted to slap the ball towards one of their team members.

Obviously, no matter how high Sora could jump, he could not make up for the difference of 10+cm of height. Otsubo was able to win the tipoff, and he immediately passed towards their first year, Kageyama Shun.

Shun, who had gotten the ball, dribbled it past the halfcourt immediately and scanned the court. Deciding what to do, he did a crossover dribble and moved past Asashi with some difficulty.

'As expected, it wasn't easy to get past him.'

Shun had to immediately pull back sharply to go in the opposite direction, only to meet another quintuplet in his way.

Smiling wryly, Shun had no choice but to pass the ball to Mibuchi, who was already at the three-point line waiting for the ball. One of the quintuplets was already risky enough; if they were to double-team him, he would likely lose possession.

Shun had checked with his Eagle-Eye that if he had tried to move past his defender, a third quintuplet would definitely move to intercept him, causing the chance of losing the ball to spike up to 100%.

His prediction proved correct as, despite the one-second gap, Mibuchi had almost lost the ball if not for his ball-handling skills.

"Tch." Mibuchi clicked his tongue at how close his defender was, and not wanting to risk his chance of scoring, he passed to Ishida, who managed to score from the box.

2-0 in favor of Tokiwadai

"Wow, Tokiwadai is truly different. Any other person would have tried to brute force their way through, but you?" Asashi let out a feral grin as he fell back to get the ball.

"Kageyama-kun, I'm watching you."

*****************

A/N: The quintuplets do have a power of their own, but it is not awakened yet. Their talent will blossom at about the same time as Shun and the GoM, so look forward to it.

Btw, I'm not making Kageyama evil or jealous or anything. I like him, and they would all be friends with the GoM and Shun later on in the series. Unfortunately, Shun wouldn't go to the national stage until his year 3, where the original author stopped writing...rip.

This would be my last chapter for quite some time as I really cannot focus on all 6 fanfics at once. Please go to my patréon and read the notice posted that is released for the public for more information.

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https://www.patréon.com/spirits_everywhere.