"Beep!"
The final whistle sounded.
The practice match between Todai High and Touou High officially ended.
The scoreboard displayed a crushing result:
46–90.
And that was with Touou clearly holding back.
The two teams lined up at center court.
"Thank you for the game!"
"Thank you for the game!"
Unlike when they arrived, the players from Todai now wore grim expressions.
After changing in the locker room, the team boarded the bus in silence, following Coach Shinkawa. No one spoke during the entire walk.
On the other side of the gym…
Seeing Midorima, who had arrived late, along with a panting Takao, Kise waved casually.
"You're late, Midorimacchi."
Midorima adjusted his glasses and looked down at the court being cleaned. His eyes moved to the scoreboard, and he frowned slightly.
"No resistance at all?"
Hearing that, Kise glanced back at the scoreboard.
"Not exactly… Anyway, I'm heading out. Let's hang out sometime."
He waved and left, leaving Midorima looking puzzled.
"Not exactly…?"
Midorima glanced at the lucky item in his hand and pushed up his glasses thoughtfully.
Behind him, Takao collapsed onto the bench.
"I hate Touou… That campus is way too big. I had to pedal a tricycle forever just to get here…"
"Let's go," Midorima said calmly.
"Huh?! Wait up!"
Takao scrambled to his feet and followed.
On the subway ride home…
Seeing Kuroko unusually quiet, Kagami spoke up.
"Kuroko, what's wrong?"
Kuroko shook his head slightly, saying nothing.
He turned toward the window, lost in thought.
He found himself wondering about Todai's No. 1, Sora
The other boy seemed… shorter than him.
On the bus back to Todai…
Sitting quietly in the back, Ueno looked at his exhausted teammates, then at Kurumiya Sora, who sat with his head lowered in silence.
He didn't know what to say.
Even if today was only a practice match…
It was still the first real game since the basketball club was formed.
It should have been meaningful.
Instead, they had lost badly.
The defeat hit everyone hard.
From the front seat, Coach Shinkawa watched the team through the rearview mirror and sighed inwardly.
Todai had existed for several years, but the basketball team had been formed less than a month ago.
He had expected today's result.
Still, Ueno's strength surprised him — and gave him hope.
But no matter how strong one player was, no one could win a championship alone.
And Todai's overall level was still far too weak.
At this rate, even passing the preliminaries would be difficult.
Most likely, they would just make an appearance in the summer tournament.
As Ueno recalled the coach's words, the silent Sora beside him suddenly spoke.
"Ueno… I'm sorry."
Ueno blinked in surprise.
"Sora? What are you apologizing for?"
Without lifting his head, Sora spoke in a hoarse voice.
"I held everyone back."
After Ueno was substituted out, Sora had been matched up directly against Aomine.
Even a tired Aomine was far beyond his level.
As Touou's ace, Aomine handled most of the scoring.
Nearly all of those points came through Sora's defense.
Ueno shook his head gently and smiled.
"Sora… this isn't your fault. It's mine."
Sora's body trembled slightly, but he said nothing.
For Todai, this practice match would never be forgotten.
Because without Ueno on the court…
they only scored three baskets.
And even those three were shots Touou intentionally allowed.
Silence returned to the bus.
Even the normally energetic Osaka sat quietly, wrapped tightly in his jacket.
The bus slowly pulled up to the Todai school gate.
Coach Shinkawa remained seated for a moment before speaking.
"The true charm of basketball isn't about winning."
"If winning is all you think about, you'll miss many important things."
He stood and stepped off the bus, leaving one last sentence behind.
"We lost this time. Next time, we win it back."
Several players' eyes reddened.
Todai High School.
Stretching lazily, Ueno glanced carefully at the teacher lecturing in front of the classroom. Seeing he hadn't been noticed, he secretly relaxed.
Then he yawned.
Five days had passed since the practice match against Touou.
The summer tournament was less than a week away.
During those five days, the Todai basketball team had completely changed.
They used to arrive at the court around seven in the morning.
Now, the gym lights were already on before six.
Ueno had also been pushing himself hard, especially with conditioning.
Team practice during the day.
Extra training alone at night.
So he kept getting sleepy in class — fortunately, his grades were good enough.
Otherwise, he'd probably be failing several subjects already.
As for the rest of the team…
Aside from Miyara Ichi and Kyoichi, most of their grades hovered between passing and failing.