Six miracles: Crossed paths

Chapter 18 || Rakuzan High

Rakuzan High

"You look preoccupied, Sora."

Sora shook her head. "It's nothing..."

The selection for the starting lineup would begin in a few minutes, and Sora felt nauseous. Kuroko had kept up his end of the promise and trained hard, even defeating one of the g.o.m. Sora had to get into the one available slot somehow. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to meet Akira and the rest during the matches. Akashi, on the other hand seemed totally nonchalant, even though the coach would be consolidating the starting lineup for the boys too.

Sora saw Hayama waiting near the door. He winked at Akashi, who acknowledged it with a nod. Akashi paused with his hand on the door's handle.

"Get into starting lineup. Somehow."

"I know," said Sora, rolling her eyes, "Good day, Hayama-senpai."

"Yo."

"I'll be on my way then."

Sora entered the court, to find a small crowd sitting in the gallery and swallowed. The starters were sitting in the front, and Sora spotted Honami, who gave her a small thumbs-up. Ayumi on the other hand, refused to acknowledge her. She sat, jotting down notes into a tiny notepad.

Rakuzan's coach, a tall woman with frizzy brown hair, stood at the center of the court, waiting for everyone to arrive. Pretty soon, it was time to start.

They were asked to play a series of one-on-ones. The winners would face each other, and the process would go on until only one person was left.

Sora's first opponent was a six-footer. She tutted in frustation.

"The return of Tamotsu Akira," she muttered.

Luckily, she had a lot of practice because she had played one-on-one with Akira plenty of times. Sora found her first two matches pretty easy. However, her third match was pretty interesting.

Sora recognized the girl from her class. She was quite close with her roommate. Sora knew she was in the basketball club, but she didn't know that she was in the first string. If she recalled correctly, her name was Izumi.

Sora was on defense. Whoever scored three first would move on to the next opponent. Sora watched her dribble, and felt like something was off. Sora decided to let her pass, and take the ball using a back-tip. Sora stood, alert, as she came in. Unfortunately for her, the girl switched hands while she passed Sora, rendering her plan useless. Sora groaned internally. She dribbled almost effortlessly with her left hand.

"You should really learn to use both your hands to dribble, Sora. It's a huge advantage, especially when your opponent doesn't know," said a voice in her head, which sounded uncannily like Akashi.

Sora mentally snapped at the voice to shut up, as she took the position for offense. Sora went in with a low dribble. She ducked under the girl's arm as she tried to block and scored.

1 - 1.

Sora took up defense again. She flinched as the girl came in dribbling using her left hand. Sora let her pass, and then looped back around her, trying to take the ball. However, the girl simply switched hands. Sora ran to the front again. She waited for her to come to the triple threat position before taking the ball.

1 – 2.

Sora was on offense this time. She went in with a low dribble again. Sora was met with minimal resistance when she went towards the hoop and it made her suspicious. She kept to the girl's left as she shot, but unfortunately, she simply used her left hand to knock the ball out of Sora's hand.