Looks of confusion, annoyance and sleepiness clouded everyone’s features as they stared up at a hysterical Ryota, and then at Sendoh and Maki, who also looked worried.
“Would someone care to fill us in?” Muto said inquisitively when he realized none of them was going to say anything without instigation.
Everyone slowly rose into a standing position.
“Isn’t it obvious? Ayako’s missing. Ryota’s scream pierced right through my head.” Takenori rubbed his temples.
Everyone exchanged frightened looks with each other.
“Well, what are we waiting for then? Let’s go look!” said Fujima, seeing that nobody was going to act anytime soon.
“There’s no need for that.”
Everyone turned in the direction of the familiar voice. There stood Ayako, closing the door of a dorm room that she had evidently come out of, her hair neatly done and her clothes fresh. Her backpack was slung over her shoulder.
“Where were you Ayako?” Ryota jumped in front of her before anybody could say anything. “Do you know how worried everyone was? How worried I was?”
“Relax, Ryota. When everyone decided to take a nap, I decided to get some rest myself. And I did, and in more hygienic conditions than this. Now we can get back to looking for Maki’s flashlight.”
Miyamasu was pale.
“I had a nightmare. I saw Mrs. Marilyn – in a blue suit! She was walking toward me.” He shivered.
“I see her first appearance to you has had a dreadful impact,” said Maki.
The early light of dawn illuminated the hallway sufficiently so that the group could comfortably resume their search at the point at which they had left off.
“Come on, Sendoh,” said Maki.
Sendoh had drifted away into his own thoughts, standing where Ayako had been standing a few moments ago.
A few rooms later:
“Hallelujah!” yelled Maki, brandishing a large flashlight in one hand and jumping up and down in joy. He planted a slobbery kiss on it. “I found it!”
Enormous sighs of relief were heaved.
“I’m really glad for you, Maki,” said Sendoh. “Let’s go back to the gym now, and get some real rest.”
As they headed downstairs, Sendoh noticed that Ayako’s gaze was directed downward, and that she was shuffling her feet as if deep in thought.
“What’s the matter, Ayako?”
“Huh?” She took a moment to register what Sendoh had just said. “Oh, nothing, nothing at all.”
Sendoh raised an eyebrow, but said nothing more.
Everyone (especially Kaede) slept soundly in the foldable beds that had been laid out in the gym.
It was 7:15 AM when everyone awoke.
“Good morning, everyone!”
They looked up at the smiling face of Kainan’s Coach Takato.
“I trust you’ve slept well?” He obviously had no idea what they had been up to last night.
“Yup.”
“Great. I was thinking we could play some ball after breakfast.”
The idea was appealing. They washed up, and went to the cafeteria for breakfast while Takato presided over the cleaning of the gym.
“I find it hard to believe that not two hours ago we were all that haunted dormitory place looking for Maki’s stupid flashlight,” said Mitsui through a mouthful of French toast.
Several pairs of eyes glared at Maki.
“Well, at least we did find it,” said Ayako. “Who knows how much longer we might have been wandering around in there?”
“I for one hope we don’t ever have to go back there again,” said Fujima.
“Keep your voices down, guys,” hissed Hanagata. “We don’t want them to hear us.” He jerked his head in the direction of the coaches’ table.
Coach Takato had invited Coaches Anzai and Taoka over for breakfast and tea that morning, before the basketball games.
Sendoh had been silent all the while. He hadn’t even touched his breakfast.
“What’s the matter, Sendoh?” said Ikegami. “Sendoh?”
Sendoh started.
“Huh, what? Oh, nothing, nothing at all.” He absently stuck a fork into his scrambled eggs, breaking the pieces into smaller pieces without eating them.
The gym had been cleaned by the end of breakfast.
“Ah, Hasegawa, Takano, Nagano!” Fujima greeted his teammates. “I see you’ve come for the basketball match?”
They nodded.
“And we’ll probably stay back for the remainder of the week.”
“Good!” Fujima smiled.
Coach Takato cleared his throat.
“We’ll meet back here in a couple of hours. Can’t start playing this soon after breakfast.” He laughed. “The first game is between Shoyo and Ryonan.”
Two hours later, the Shoyo and Ryonan teams had warmed up, and lined up to begin playing.
Uozumi easily got the jump ball, and hit the ball toward Fukuda, who was being guarded by Hasegawa. Fukuda faked a shot, and passed the ball to Koshino, who did a neat layup, scoring the first two points for Ryonan.
Shoyo’s ball was then intercepted by Uekusa, who passed it to Sendoh, who went for a three-point shot.
“Nice, Sendoh!”
The score was five to none.
Fujima, however, was not going to sit quietly. He went for a fast break, and scored. It wasn’t long before Ryonan and Shoyo were tied at eight points.
“Score, darn it, SCORE!” boomed Coach Taoka. “Sendoh, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING OUT THERE?!”
Sendoh then decided to become a scorer again, and by the end of the first half, the score was 43 to 39 in favor of Ryonan. Sendoh had scored 22 of Ryonan’s points so far.
These games were not just friendly games, they were very friendly games. The hostility the air had been thick with during the regional games was gone, so the players could actually enjoy playing the game now.
In the second half, Fujima decided to guard Sendoh. The Kainan and Shohoku teams were snickering, because Sendoh would always pass the ball or shoot well over Fujima’s head.
“HAAAA!” Uozumi cried, as he blocked Hanagata’s layup, and glared down at Shoyo’s scrawny center.
Hanagata went for a dunk next, but Uozumi blocked the ball again, and sent both ball and Hanagata crashing down to the floor.
“Toru! Are you all right?”
Fujima rushed over to the dazed Hanagata’s side.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“That’s how it looked when he did that to you,” Ryota pointed out to Hanamichi, referring to their game against Ryonan in the regional tournament. “Ouch! It looked really painful from out here...”
Hanagata took two free throws, both of which went in. The score was now 51 to 46, still in favor of Ryonan.
The tables began turning soon after. Fujima would constantly pass it to the Takano-Nagano duo, who skillfully passed the ball between each other, and managed to get past Uozumi time and again. It helped that Uozumi was being markedly more cautious after his last foul.
The score was tied once again at 57, when Coach Taoka called a timeout.
“What the hell are you doing, Uozumi? You’re supposed to guard our basket with your life! And you, Sendoh! Why aren’t you helping out your teammates? You and Uozumi are the only ones who can match Shoyo in terms of height. Fukuda, switch out. I want Ikegami to go out there, and guard Hasegawa. Sendoh, I want you to guard Fujima. Uekusa, you just help Koshino out.”
Uekusa felt a tinge of self-pity at being denied a glorious responsibility, but it was against his nature to protest.
Then they resumed playing.
It quickly became apparent that Coach Taoka’s strategy was working. Uozumi did not allow Takano or Nagano anywhere close to the basket, and Ikegami’s impressive defense totally shut Hasegawa down, thus limiting Shoyo’s offensive capabilities to Fujima and Hanagata.
Sendoh did his best to guard Fujima, but the little boy was just way too agile. Hanagata used his signature fade-away shots to score over Uozumi’s head.
The score was 64 to 67 in favor of Shoyo, with seven minutes left in the game.
“Okay...” said Sendoh to himself, preparing himself to give it his all.
Takano threw the ball in toward Fujima, but lo! It was intercepted by Sendoh.
Sendoh went for a fast break, and neatly scored with a layup shot.
Sendoh was determined not to let Shoyo win, and scored a series of three-point shots that impressed even Mitsui and Jin.
Then with four seconds left, Sendoh made an impressive slam dunk.
Ryonan had won 81 to 76, and Sendoh had scored 42 of those points. Needless to say, Coach Taoka was very proud of his team, especially Sendoh.
“You make my life as a coach meaningful.” Coach Taoka placed a fatherly hand on Sendoh’s shoulder. “And Uozumi, I’m proud of you, too.”
He permitted himself the rare indulgence of praising every member of his team.
“Great game, you guys,” said Fujima.
Shoyo and Ryonan repaired to the benches while Kainan and Shohoko prepared for their game.
“Who’re you rooting for?” Uozumi asked Hanagata.
“Neither, or both,” said Hanagata cryptically.
“Oh... I’m supporting Shohoku. Takenori can’t lose to Kainan again. (Because I lost to Takenori, and if Takenori loses to Kainan, that’ll means we’re weaker than Kainan!)”
Takenori easily got the jump ball, hitting it toward Kaede.
Kaede’s primary goal in this game was to outscore Sendoh, apart from winning the game, so he wasn’t going to let go of the ball anytime soon.
“Excellent, Kaede!” Hikoichi said as Kaede scored under the outstretched arms of Takasago and Kiyota.
The swift and agile Ryota stole the ball Muto had meant to pass to Jin, and tossed it to their reliable captain.
“Gorilla Dunk!” Hanamichi cheered as everyone present in the gym (players and coaches alike) marveled at Takenori’s power.
“Hanamichi, go guard Jin,” said Ryota.
But it was too late, since Jin had already released the ball. It went into the basket, and Kainan now had 3 points against Shohoku’s 4.
The best point guard in the prefecture was not Ryota, but Maki. Maki deliberately let Hanamichi foul him when he shot the ball, and got to score another basket, raising their score to seven points.
The game went on in this fashion, with each team constantly at the other’s throat, scoring almost in alternation. Soon the score was 24 to 21 in favor of Kainan.
Hanamichi had fouled Kiyota, but the psychological pressure the Shohoku team put on him (“Miss the shot,” “Miss the shot...”) made Kiyota miss both free throws.
“Be careful, Hanamichi,” said Ryota. “If you get fowled out, we won’t be able to get any more rebounds.”
“AHAHAHAHA! So you need this Genius after all! The King of Rebounds! AHAHAHAHA!”
Kaede had forgotten about the strategy he had used against Ryonan in the regional tournament: To save his energy for the second half. He was exhausted at the end of the first half as a result.
The score was 32 to 29 in favor of Kainan at half-time – very close indeed. Kaede had scored 14 points, which fell short of Sendoh’s score against Shoyo. He told himself that Sendoh had ‘only’ played Shoyo, while they had to face ‘the’ Kainan.
Shohoku’s new strategy was to sub Kogure in for Kaede while the latter rested up so that he could go on his scoring rampage all over again in the second half.
Now that Kaede had been benched, Mitsui became Shohoku’s primary scorer. With Mitsui scoring three-pointer after three-pointer and Hanamichi effectively (and energetically) guarding Jin, Shohoku had developed something of an advantage against Kainan for the first time. They even had the lead: The score was 46 to 47 in Shohoku’s favor.
Maki then took matters into his own hands, and raised Kainan’s score to 48.
When the score was 61 to 57 in favor of Kainan, Kogure was replaced by a reinvigorated Kaede.
Kaede’s only goal at this point was to score as many points as Sendoh.
With only three minutes left, the score was 71 to 69 in Kainan’s favor. Both teams were tense – especially Kiyota, who looked as if he needed to use the restroom really badly.
Coach Anzai called a timeout at this critical phase of the game. His strategy was that Kaede should guard Maki, while Hanamichi or Mitsui guarded Jin. Takenori could easily take care of Takasago, while Ryota could deal with Muto. They did not need to concern themselves with Kiyota.
Kaede was both tall and agile, so he had the advantage in dealing with Maki. But a high-school MVP and champion for three consecutive years is not someone to mess with.
The score was 77 to 74 at the end of the game. Shohoku had lost, but this time, there were no hard feelings. Everyone had enjoyed the game, though Kaede was disappointed that he had only managed to score 26 points.
“I see you haven’t lost your touch,” Takenori said to Maki, who grinned.
Kiyota had darted off to the restroom several moments before the referee had blown his whistle.
“All right. Now you guys can take a break for two to four hours (whichever pleases you), after which we’ll assemble back here for the other two games of the day. That is, Ryonan versus Kainan and Shohoku versus Shoyo.”
“I seem to recall that we have a score to settle, Maki.” Sendoh smiled at the Kainan captain.
“And you can be sure that I’m not going to fall for your tricks this time, and get kicked out again,” added Uozumi.
Maki only grinned.
“Finally, we get the chance to make you pay for beating us...” Fujima said to the Shohoku team.
“Yeah right,” said Hanamichi. “You guys lost to Ryonan. There won’t even be a contest.”
A nerve twitched in Uozumi’s forehead.
“Are you saying we’re weak?”
An angry Uozumi, who stood two whole inches taller than an angry Takenori, was definitely not one to be messed with.
“No, no, no, no, no, Boss-monkey!” Hanamichi tried placating Uozumi. “I didn’t mean that at all.”
“Well.” Coach Takato grinned. “We’ll just have to wait and see if Shoyo can beat Shohoku and Ryonan can beat Kainan, though I wouldn’t bet on the latter.”
◄ Chapter 4 ● Nights at Kainan ● Chapter 6 ►
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