"How can it be like this?" Kogure Kiminobu looked totally defeated, as if the world had turned against him.
Akagi Takenori didn't say a word, but the slight tremble in his eyes betrayed his thoughts.
He was clearly just as shaken inside.
Ayako's eyes went wide with disbelief. She couldn't help blurting out, "What the hell is with this bracket? Who was the idiot that arranged this?"
Mitsui Hisashi frowned deeply, a trace of worry in his eyes. "This doesn't feel good at all."
Sakuragi Hanamichi looked around at everyone's stunned, heavy expressions, totally confused. He scratched his head. "What's going on? Our first match is against this school called Toyotama, right? Are they that strong?"
Mitsui answered without thinking, "Not Toyotama. Look at who we're playing if we win the first match."
Sakuragi followed his finger and mumbled aloud, "San Oh Ko Gyo…"
"It's Sannoh… Kogyo. Sannoh Kogyo," Mitsui corrected with a helpless sigh.
Still clueless, Sakuragi asked, "Is this Sannoh Kogyo really that strong?"
Akagi's face turned grim. He said seriously, "Sannoh Kogyo were last year's champions."
Ayako added with concern, "Not just last year. They were also the champions the year before… and the year before that…"
Everyone held their breath after hearing that. It was like something had clogged their throats.
The train car went dead silent.
Sakuragi's eyes glazed over as he kept staring at the bracket. Then he asked again, "If we beat San Oh Ko Gyo, who do we face in the third match?"
"I told you—it's Sannoh Kogyo…" Mitsui muttered, clearly annoyed.
Kogure chimed in, "If we really manage to beat Sannoh Kogyo, then I think… let me see… the third match should be against Aiwa Gakuen."
Mitsui murmured, "Sannoh Kogyo… Aiwa Gakuen… You could say we've been dropped into the group of death."
Shimizu Kanon, though, looked completely calm.
That was normal. Even though it was her first national tournament, she didn't seem too worried about the matches.
As long as Aoi Kunisaku was there, she was totally at ease.
She turned to glance at Aoi, but the moment she saw him, her expression froze. Her eye twitched, and her face filled with silent resignation.
At some point, Aoi Kunisaku had already leaned back and fallen fast asleep with his eyes closed.
"I should've seen this coming," Shimizu Kanon sighed quietly, feeling a bit helpless.
Just then, a group of people suddenly walked up to the Shohoku crew.
Leading them was a teen with long hair tied in a ponytail.
Honestly, he didn't look much like a teen. So why call him that?
Because the group behind him all wore the same color and style of uniform—clearly a team.
The ponytailed guy walked straight up, wrapped an arm around Kogure Kiminobu's neck from behind, and spoke with a hostile tone. "You guys only talked about Sannoh and Aiwa. That really pissed me off. Do you think Toyotama is just some no-name team?"
"Who the hell are you? Let go!" Kogure grabbed the arm choking his neck and struggled in pain.
The rest of the Shohoku players finally realized what was happening and started to step forward.
But before they could act, a voice called out.
"Oi! Kishimoto, knock it off. What the hell are you doing?!"
The shout came from a well-built man in his thirties, sitting not far away.
Hearing the voice, the ponytailed boy—Kishimoto—glanced back, then clicked his tongue and reluctantly let go of Kogure.
The man who had spoken quickly walked over, looking apologetic. "I'm sorry. Are you all alright?"
"Coach, why are you apologizing? They're the ones who disrespected us first." Kishimoto grumbled in protest.
"Oi! You guys are noisy."
Just as the tension peaked between both sides, a lazy but irritated voice suddenly cut in.
Everyone turned toward the sound.
Not far away, Aoi Kunisaku was sitting with half-open eyes. His gaze looked like a blade ready to fire. It felt like the moment his eyelids lifted fully, that blade would shoot out and cut through the air.
"Who the hell are you?" Kishimoto snapped, annoyed that someone had interrupted him again. His tone toward Aoi was equally hostile.
But Aoi didn't even look at him.
He glanced at the older man instead and said coldly, "Keep your dog on a leash."
That single sentence was like a bomb, dropping into the middle of the silence and blowing everything apart.
Even the air seemed to freeze. Everyone's expression changed in different ways.
Even the man who had stepped in to calm things down was stunned by the audacity and rudeness of those words. He opened his mouth but had no idea how to respond.
The ponytailed boy was startled for a second. Then, as he processed it, he burst out laughing—though his laughter was clearly out of rage, wild and twisted. "Hahahaha… Oh, that's rich. You've got a death wish, huh, kid…"
"Enough, Kishimoto. Don't make trouble. We're here to play, not fight," the man said, finally snapping back to his senses and cutting in before things got worse.
"Oi! Kishimoto, let's go," another voice called out from the distance, halting the ponytailed boy just as he was about to throw out more threats.
Kishimoto clicked his tongue in irritation. He shot a fierce glare at the Shohoku crew, then turned toward Aoi Kunisaku—who had already closed his eyes again like nothing happened.
Then he turned to leave, mumbling darkly as he walked, "A bunch of frogs at the bottom of a well… dreaming of beating Sannoh? Hmph… I'll make sure you all crawl home in shame after the first match."
The Shohoku players stared after the retreating group, fists clenched tight in fury. Every one of them looked like they wanted to sprint over and knock out Kishimoto's teeth.
Shimizu Kanon watched Toyotama's players leave. Calmly, she began, "Toyotama High School's starting power forward, Kishimoto Minori. Third year. Height: 188 cm. Weight: 85 kg. Wears jersey number 5. Excels in fast breaks and mid-range jump shots. Has decent driving skills—very strong offensively. Defense is weak, though. Poor help defense awareness too. He's got a hot temper and gets triggered easily by trash talk. But he's really close with their captain, Minami. On court, just a word from Minami can snap him out of his rage and reset his focus."
As they listened to Shimizu Kanon's breakdown, everyone on the Shohoku team twitched—eyelids jumping, mouths spasming.
Here we go again. That familiar feeling.
Ayako looked at her in admiration. "You really gathered all their intel too, huh?"
Shimizu Kanon gave a modest smile, like it was only natural. "I've got info on the rest of Toyotama too. Want to hear it?"
Ayako had just raised her hand to decline when Sakuragi Hanamichi suddenly shouted, "Yeah, yeah! I wanna hear it. I wanna see what's so great about those arrogant jerks."
Shimizu Kanon nodded slightly and continued. "Let's talk about Minami next. He's Toyotama's captain. Small forward. Third year. Jersey number 4. Height: 184 cm. Weight: 84 kg. He's their ace. Won top scorer in this year's qualifiers. His three-point shot is on par with Mitsui-senpai. But more than that, he's infamous for using dirty tricks to injure key players. He's known as the 'Ace Killer.'"
Everyone's brows furrowed at that.
Such dirty tactics—deliberately injuring opponents? It was disgusting.
Shimizu Kanon kept going. "Itakura Dajiro. Point guard. Second year. Height: 183 cm. Weight: 82 kg. Third top scorer in the Osaka qualifiers. Averages 25 points per game. Likes to provoke opponents using taunts."
"Center, Iwata Mitsuaki. Third year. Jersey number 8. Height: 190 cm. Weight: 86 kg. No standout skills. Average offense and defense."
"Shooting guard, Yajima Kyohei. Third year. Jersey number 7. Height: 180 cm. Weight: 77 kg. Good at setting screens and off-ball movement. Helps create scoring chances for teammates."
…
When Shimizu Kanon was about done, she added one more thing. "The guy who helped Kogure-senpai earlier is Kanehira. He's Toyotama's basketball coach. Rumor has it the school only gave him two years to take the team into the national top 8."
Seriously, how does she even know this kind of thing?
The Shohoku team was dumbfounded. Cold sweat slid down their foreheads as they stared at Shimizu Kanon like she'd grown devil horns.
So scary.
Time ticked by.
While everyone kept chattering and gossiping, the train finally arrived.
Shimizu Kanon woke Aoi Kunisaku up.
The group quickly made their way to the site of the national tournament—Hiroshima Central Gymnasium.
As they stepped into the plaza in front of the venue, the first thing they saw was a massive bulletin board.
Posted right there was the official tournament bracket for the National Championship.