"Kise's sitting out? With Kota on the court, a team like this won't last five minutes."
Even on game day, Coach Takeuchi hadn't dropped his smug attitude.
Although Kota had convinced him to start the regular lineup, he still left the injured Kise on the bench to rest — which Kota silently agreed with. If Kise's injury got worse, that would be the real disaster.
"Huh? Their captain's not here" Kasamatsu muttered, scanning the other half of the court during warm-ups.He noticed the Ikawa captain from last night's footage was missing.
Kota gave the opposing team a glance, but didn't say a word.
Everyone knows pre-game banter with the protagonist squad leads to disaster. Besides… everything about this team just made him uncomfortable.
BEEP—
"Both teams, please line up and bow."
"Let's have a great game!"
Kota straightened up after the bow and immediately froze.
"Why are they all staring at me like that??"
Every member of Ikawa was burning holes through him with their eyes. Kota hadn't even started trash-talking yet!
"Hello, Kota-kun! Let's have an amazing match!" One of the players — the one with the brightest, most blinding smile — stepped forward and held out his hand cheerfully.
"…Uh… sure."
Kota shook it politely… and got another dumb, sunshine-filled grin in return.
"Are you the protagonist of some shounen sports anime or something?"
Kota walked away with a twitching eye and took his place for tip-off.
"Tanaka! Go get that jump ball!"
"YOSSHAAA!!"
On Ikawa's side, the energy was blazing hot.Their center, Tanaka, hyped up by his teammates' cheers, puffed out his chest and roared.
This set off Kaijo's center, Kobori.
"I'm not losing to these guys!!" he screamed, slapping his cheeks hard enough to turn them red.
Kasamatsu had had enough and smacked Kobori in the head.
"Why does our big man suddenly match their energy so well?" Kota wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. The vibe was already chaos.
The referee stepped in, ball in hand, motioned for the jumpers to get ready——tossed the ball, blew the whistle, and stepped back.
Both Tanaka and Kobori leapt into the air.
Kaijo won the tip.
With Kise sidelined, the usual "first play goes to the ace" rule didn't apply.
Kota called for a 6, signaling the classic Horns play.
Kaijo's players instantly broke into motion. The crowd erupted. At this point, Kaijo had become the most popular team of the Winter Cup.
"Incredible… is this what an interhigh champion feels like?"
Ikawa's bespectacled player was in awe, clearly overwhelmed by the scale of the arena.
"It's fine! We won't lose when it comes to spirit!"
The smiley guy stepped in front of Kota, full of passion.
"For our dreams… I will stop you! Kota, I'm going to shut you down!" he announced with conviction.
Kota: …
"Bro… do you even know what secondhand embarrassment is?"
Kota cringed hard. His big toe was curling in his shoe like it was drilling into the floor. This kind of hot-blooded speech worked in anime — in real life, it was unbearable.
He took a screen from Kobori, pulled up for a jumper… but missed.
"REBOUND!!!"
Smiley Guy roared like this one board would win them the championship.
"Kasamatsu-senpai… let's switch. I can't handle this smiley guy anymore."
"Stop giving people weird nicknames, you— Wait. You didn't even say who and I knew exactly who you meant."
Kasamatsu sighed but went with the switch. Even he had to admit it was spot-on.
Kota felt relief wash over him. If he had to stick with that guy much longer, he might start hallucinating.
Unfortunately, things only got worse.
"So you're the champ point guard, huh? Hah! When it comes to speed, I'm unbeatable!"
Another Ikawa player — slick hair, flashy movements, loud voice — practically danced in front of Kota.
He looked exactly like a certain kind of guy Kota remembered from his past life — the greasy, "high-effort male influencer" kind.
"Kasamatsu-senpai… this one too."
"AGAIN?! Are you trying to end up guarding their center?!"
Next up, the glasses guy.
He pushed up his frames and said with robotic calm:
"Statistically, your team has a 99.99% chance of winning. Our captain is injured. Logically, this is a dead end."
"Hmm. A voice of reason, finally."
Kota nodded slightly, grateful for someone normal.
"So you're forfeiting then?"
"No. Because 0.01% is not zero."
The glasses guy looked him straight in the eye and asked:
"Do you believe in miracles?"
Kota: …
"Kasamatsu-senpai. Again—"
"SWITCH WITH WHO?! WHAT'S NEXT, YOU GUARDING THEIR CENTER?!"
Kasamatsu exploded. Kota had already rotated through half the team in just one possession.
Kota looked over to the paint, where Tanaka and Kobori were roaring at each other like wild animals.
"…Alright, fine. I'll take Smiley Guy again."
"Thank god their captain's out today…"
"I guess you were underestimating us, huh?"
Smiley Guy grinned as Kota stepped back to defend him.
"Underestimating you? Nah, I think I gave you way too much credit…"
Kota sighed. He should've listened to Coach Takeuchi and just sent in the bench.
In just a few minutes, he'd been emotionally wrecked by their cringe-inducing anime energy.
"Well, can't blame you. You guys are champions. We're nobodies. If we don't make the Semi-finals this year, our club gets shut down."
Smiley Guy crouched into a low stance, ready to drive.
"But even nobodies have dreams! We practice late every day! We're serious!Even small fries can defy fate!!"
He roared and drove forward.
To be fair, his moves were clean — not bad for a high school player.
But for Kota?
"This is nothing."
Without even baiting a mistake, Kota slipped a hand into the dribble during a crossover and cleanly stole the ball.
"Don't flatter yourself. Practicing late into the night is just the minimum requirement to step on this court."
With a flick of the wrist, he launched a long pass downcourt to Kobori, who bulldozed Tanaka and banked in a clean layup.
Kota turned his gaze toward the glasses guy.
"Oh yeah. About that 0.01%…"
"Sorry. But against Kaijo—"
"There are no miracles."