"Uh… the new recruits this year really are something else."
Watching the chaos unfold on the court, even Matsumoto Yukinori, standing on the sidelines, was left speechless.
He'd been a coach for many years and had once even played for the national team. He'd seen all kinds of players, but first-years like Tsugawa Tomoki and Akashi Asuka? This was definitely a first.
There had been plenty of cocky newcomers in the past, but those who were both cocky and strong? That was a rare combination in real life.
After all, the stronger a player is, the more aware they become of their own limitations. True strength often bred humility. Usually, it was the ignorant, hot-blooded kids, too young to know fear, who would run their mouths and provoke others.
What Matsumoto didn't know was that Tsugawa Tomoki wasn't being cocky. He was just that straightforward.
As for Akashi Asuka, everything he did had a clear purpose. It wasn't a mindless provocation.
"Hmm, that new kid has already pulled down four rebounds, right?" Matsumoto asked aloud.
"Correct!" Kitayama Yuzuki replied, glancing at the stats in her hands. "From the start of the game until now, Akashi-kun has grabbed every single rebound. The Black Team hasn't gotten a single one."
"That's bad news for Iwamura and the others, then."
Tall players alone weren't scary. But tall players who also worked hard to refine their technique? Those were truly terrifying.
So far, Akashi Asuka hadn't shown much outside of his rebounding skills, but even just that was enough to earn him a starting position, not just at Seiho, but at almost any high school in the country.
Tweet!!!
Just as Matsumoto was deep in thought, the whistle blew, the first quarter was over.
The score: 16–7, White Team in the lead.
============
"This isn't looking good…"
Back on the bench, the previously furious Kasuga Ryuhei now wore a troubled expression.
Sure, he was genuinely angry about being taunted by the two rookies, but anger aside, he wasn't the kind to lose sight of the bigger picture.
"These new guys... one of them is seriously dangerous."
"Not just one," Sakamoto Kenjiro corrected. "That loudmouth brat's a real pain too. His trash talk might be grating, but his defense is no joke."
Tsutomu Iwamura stroked his chin, chiming in, "Those two also have great chemistry. Honestly, they're too in sync. It doesn't feel like they're playing together for the first time."
"Come to think of it," Kasuga said, "weren't they from the same Junior High?"
"Yeah," he confirmed. "More precisely, not only did they go to the same school, they were teammates in Junior High. They even made a deep run in the national tournament together."
"That explains it," Iwamura nodded in understanding.
It had been written in their application forms that Akashi Asuka and Tsugawa Tomoki came from the same Junior High, but that alone didn't confirm they were former teammates.
In Japan, it's quite common for students to switch sports between middle and high school. Just among this batch of basketball applicants, there were quite a few total newcomers to the sport.
"Now that we know who the core players are," Iwamura said, "it's time to make those rookies behave."
============
The second quarter had just begun.
Akashi Asuka suddenly found himself triple-teamed under the basket.
"No way! Three people on Akashi-kun? And now Kasuga-senpai's guarding Tsugawa too?"
"That's some insane pressure…"
Akashi could handle a two-on-one, but three defenders at once? Even for him, the pressure spiked dramatically.
On the perimeter, Tsugawa Tomoki struggled as well, unable to find an opening under Kasuga's suffocating defense. He was forced to pass the ball to a wide-open rookie.
That rookie tried to drive into the paint, but before he could even take a step, Omuro Yoshikasu broke away from Akashi's side and intercepted the ball.
"You're too green, rookie!"
"Crap!"
Omuro launched a long pass downcourt. The Black Team broke into a fast break. Despite the White Team's best efforts to catch up, they were a step too late.
16–9.
Black Team scored.
"Sorry, that was my bad," the rookie who lost the ball said, clearly ashamed.
"Don't sweat it. It's just one play, we'll get it back," Akashi Asuka said with a reassuring smile, patting the rookie gently on the head.
That head-pat was purely instinctive, back in his previous life, Akashi often encouraged younger teammates this way when he was a senior.
But the rookie just froze.
"Hey, you okay?" someone asked, concerned.
"I'm fine… it's just… when Akashi-kun did that, it reminded me of a senpai from my old club in Junior High."
Truthfully, the Black Team's new tactics were quite effective. Triple-teaming someone is rarely considered a smart move in basketball, since even the slightest bit of teamwork from the White Team could completely unravel their strategy.
Unfortunately, the White Team lacked coordination, and the other three players weren't contributing much.
The skill gap between rookies and Seiho's main squad was just too wide.
Iwamura and the others only had to spend a little extra effort on help defense to completely shut down the remaining White Team players, even while triple-teaming Akashi.
Naturally, Akashi's rebound success rate had also dropped.
Of course, it wasn't like he suddenly lost half his rebounds or anything dramatic like that.
No, his height advantage was still very real. Even under a triple-team, his rebounding rate only fell from around 100% to roughly 70%.
But offensively, the White Team was clearly being choked.
First, Akashi's lower rebounding rate made Tsugawa hesitate more on his shots.
Matsumoto had guessed correctly earlier, Tsugawa's confidence didn't come from himself, but from Akashi's rebounding.
Second, passing to Akashi had become significantly harder.
This was still a team of rookies, after all. The White Team had clear coordination issues. If even one player could reliably throw a high-post pass, Akashi wouldn't be so easily shut down.
By the end of the second quarter…
The score was 26–24.
==========
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