Teiko's basketball

Friendly match

Chapter 28:

Friendly match

"A friendly match?"

"Yup," said Honami senpai, "It'sregulars versus the regulars so it'll definitely be worth your while."

A couple of Honami's old friends from another school had met up with her. They had invited her for a casual game of street ball.

The team agreed. Partly because they were itching to have a match with someone after all their practice and partly because they were scared of Honami senpai.

The match was fixed tomorrow.

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Sora was contemplating their chances. The Kamiya high team regularly played in the semis of the tournament. At least half of the regulars had a lot of experience. Only one of them was a first year.

Their center was apparently the strongest. She and Sora had promptly got off on the wrong foot. The girl had, meaning no harm, patted Sora on the head and called her 'a cute chibi'. She hadn't noticed Akira warning her not to. This had riled her up sufficiently. Yeah fine, she was 'slightly' short... But the offense was unforgivable. She had touched a sore spot. She was going to win if it was over the opponent's dead body. No one used 'chibi' in front of her and not suffer the consequences.

They also had the luck to have a clutch shooter on their team. This wasn't going to be easy.

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Chihaya was the first to take the ball during the tip off. She passed it to Akira who went for a shot. But the center stopped her to Sora's annoyance.

"It's fine Akira-san. We'll crush them!"

"Umm..." said Akira who understood what was going on.

The ball went to the other team's power forward. Honami senpai went head to head with her and took the ball. She then passed it to Eru who scored. Akira saw a scary expression on Sora's face and shuddered. This was going to be a long one...

Next time, the ball went to the other team's center. She passed to that team's point guard. Sora went head to head with her. But to Akira's surprise, she retained the ball inspite of that. She could play formless! Formless was one of Sora's weaknesses. She couldn't match the dynamic play. Her stamina needed more improvement.

Sora was sufficiently taken aback. But her former anger was now replaced by a sort of calmness. Akira was still a bit worried though.

The next time, Honami senpai got the ball she tried to pass it to Eru. However the point guard intervened. Sora was quick enough to take it by using a back tip and she passed it to Akira. Akira went for a close range shot and pulled it off.

The next time however, it was the center who took the ball. She passed it to the small forward. Honami took the ball and passed it to Akira who went for the hoop. She was about to make it when she was stopped by the center, who took the ball. She passed it to the power forward. Akira went head on and took it. She passed it to Eru who shot. She scored!

"Hmm... Not bad..." commented the point guard.

The next time the ball was again taken by the other team's center. This time, when she passed it to the point guard, the point guard began to use formless. She took it near the hoop and passed it to the shooting guard who scored.

Both Akira and Honami couldn't match her style when she played formless. Sora had decided to step back whenever she switched to it. As a result, the other team scored a few more points.

"Don't you think it's getting a bit one sided," commented Akira.

"Akira-san, that point guard... She's about 160 cm..."

"Ohkay... So?"

"Which means I know her stride length. And she pivots while having one foot stationary..."

"Right..."

"I think I can stop her."

"Oh. Wait! Don't do anything rash! The only formless player we know is Mine-kun. And whenever you've played against him... it was with the g.o.m..."

"Trust me. And be ready."

The match resumed and the ball again went to the point guard. This time, Sora was the one who marked her. As she tried to switch to formless, Sora placed her foot somewhere close to her's. The point guard stumbled a little. When she tried again, Sora did the same thing. The point guard frowned a little.

Honami senpai whistled. "Nice..."

"Umm... Senpai, what's going on..."

"Hmm... She seems to be blocking her movements. When Sora keeps stepping this way, she sort of stops the flow of her movements. It's like she risks fouling Sora if she moves."

"Oh."

The ball was now in Sora's hand. The point guard promptly switched to offense. But Sora suddenly did an overhead pass. Akira who had been expecting madness of this sort caught the ball and scored.

The score was now 15-23.

"Nae, Honami, why don't we call a short break?" suggested the center, "We were going to play for 25 right? It's too interesting to stop... Let's play for 50!"

"Yeah!"

"How did you know to counter formless?" queried Akira as they collapsed on a bench.

"Oh... that... Remember I used to practice with Akashi-san in the first term... Well his idea of improving my stamina was to use the more dynamic styles of basketball on me. One of them was something similar to formless. Since I couldn't run around for long, I sorta learnt to do this instead...."

"Sora-chan, you shouldn't have stopped..."

Sora gave Akira a glare which conveyed more than words ever could.

"Oh, by the way, Akira-san the power forward of the team... I think she has a wound on her left leg. She sorta depends more on her right. So if you are thinking of a drive use left..."

"Rodger."

"Right, let's go!"