A day later, after the eventful match where the freshmen had most definitely earned their stripes on the renowned team, Hikigaya found himself along with the first string players sitting down on Meikō's court, waiting for Head Coach Hiroshi to give the evaluation of the last game.
After that, they could all enjoy their day off after a very long and demanding game.
He could see clearly the exhaustion on both Noboru and Kazama's faces as they both yawned, not bothering to hide their fatigue.
Next to him however was a blond haired boy who was sprawled out on the ground, his light snores being heard. And from what Ogiwara had said, Momoharu also did this during the class.
'Well, this is our first game this year and the intensity was very high.' Hikigaya pondered, trying to justify his friend's condition to himself.
"I'm soo tired! My back aches!" Ogiwara exclaimed as he massaged his lower back muscles slowly.
It didn't take long however for the Coach Hiroshi and Asuka to arrive, clapping loudly to wake all of the players up.
"Okay guys! I know you are tired. So let's do this fast! Here is the scoresheet of the game, Asuka-chan has recorded all your stats on slips of paper which will be handed to you." Hiroshi spoke as everyone perked up at this.
Asuka handed out the slips of paper to each player.
As Hikki took the paper, he looked at his stats.
In particular, he looked at his and his friend's stats.
–––––Meikō Basketball Club–––––––––––––––
Hikigaya Ryouta (PG): 11 pts, 19 asts, 1 rbs, 7 stls, 1 blks, 0 TOVs, 5/5 FGs, 1/1 3PTs, 0/0 FTs, 0 Fls, 28:16
Mibuchi Reo (SG): 19 pts, 5 asts, 2 rbs, 3 stls, 1 blks, 0 TOVs, 6/6 FGs, 6/6 3PTs, 1/1 FTs, 0 Fls, 28:16
Ogiwara Shigehiro (SF): 12 pts, 5 asts, 3 rbs, 4 blks, 1 TOVs, 6/6 FGs, 0/0 3PTs, 0/0 FTs, 0 Fls, 28:16
Hanazono Momoharu (PF): 35 pts, 3 asts, 3 rbs, 7 stls, 5 blks, 0 TOVs, 17/29 FGs, 0/0 3PTs, 10/10 FTs, 0 Fls, 28:16
Masahiko Isame (C): 0 pts, 10 asts, 19 rbs, 5 stls, 21 blks, 0 TOVs, 0/0 FGs, 0/0 3PTs, 0/0 FTs, 0 Fls, 28:16
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Hikigaya nodded, satisfied with the stats and impressed of Asuka's talent to gather information this well.
He could see clearly that a lot of his teammates were satisfied with their results.
After spending five minutes of silence, with all the players reading the scoresheet, Hiroshi finally spoke out.
"Okay guys! You can read it later, keep them as souvenirs from the last game so that you know where to improve. But for now, let's talk about hte game!"
All of them straightened their backs, ready for the evaluation session.
"Okay, any of you want to say it first?" Hiroshi eyed the current seniors and the starters of his team expectantly. Unexpectedly, it was Takaheshi who was the first to raise his hand.
"Hai, Takaheshi?"
"We were out of shape." The point guard spoke. "I noticed that all of us seniors apart from Kazama-sama had gotten rusty in skill. The only people who were able to last through to the end of the game were our freshmen. Us seniors couldn't survive the high intensity game."
"Thank you Takaheshi," Hiroshi replied while eyeing his team. "What Takaheshi said is true. Our physical conditioning was way too poor. However, I have no doubt that you'll gain your previous strength back in time for The Nationals. Which is why I'll be increasing the training intensity. I also have several development plans here which I would like to discuss with several of the upperclassmen.
I'd also like to discuss a certain issue which I saw was apparent.
The defense is limited only to the best defensive players. I'll take Hikigaya-kun for example. He is the shortest player in the first string, however his defense is up there with Masahiko-kun's. Not on the same level but up there. You upperclassmen are putting the defensive burden on either Kazama-kun, Tanaka-kun and Noboru-kun. Which is also why we'll be working on your defensive.
So for the next month, the areas of training we will focus on is physical conditioning and defense. Of course you can inprove other areas in your own time, but in team practice, we will be focusing heavily on physical conditioning and defense.
But..Other than that. The strengths of our team and our new additions was apparent. So, with that victory, you guys have the next day off, go have fun!" Coach Hiroshi exclaimed as the players cheered, seemingly reinvigorated with excitement.
Hikki's family owned several restaurants and café's in Japan, one of these, Bamboo Garden Hikigaya, was only ten minutes away from the school. This was a five star restaurant owned by Hikki's family and that's where the team had went to celebrate their victory, getting the food free if charge thanks to our white haired protagonist.
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TBC
