Different Composition

The footsteps that took turns one by one entered the field accompanied by boisterous voices from the crowd filling the venue. Slowly but surely, the two teams that will compete match face to face with each other gazing at an aura of strong rivalry.

Today is a continued match for the team that won the previous round to compete with each other for strength and strategy to reach the next round. In this match, Cyoku High School will face Nidou High School, which has often represented the Masara prefecture in a National match to fight for tickets to the Interhigh final eighth round for the Masara prefecture. For the 3 teams that won 1st, 2nd and 3rd winners will have the opportunity to represent the Masara prefecture in the race for the National Interhigh champion.

Gyo let out a long sigh accompanied by a wry smile watching his teammates eagerly getting ready in their respective positions waiting for the referee to throw the ball held as high as possible. No less bleak with Gyo's attitude, beside him sat Ren bowed listlessly like a sick person who was ready to wait for his death to arrive.

"Huft ... There is no hope anymore !! The position that I have been occupying is now owned by someone else," Gyo said lacking enthusiasm.

"What else can we do? It's our destiny to break the agreement," Ren replied.

The two friends felt helpless because they had not been played since the beginning of the match like some of the original matches. But what power can they do, the coach's decision cannot be contested.

In the field Shin was seen preparing to jump ball with an opponent numbered 7 from Nidou High School meanwhile, Raito who was in the middle of the field as a power forward began to warm up so that his lightspeed ability could be active and in front of him stood Ryu who replaced Gyo as the point guard . On the left and right sides of the court stood Hiruka as a shooting guard and Kaze as a small forward preparing to receive the ball.

Priiiitttt .....

The long whistle sounded the referee accompanied by throwing the ball up as high as possible made Shin and the opposing team member number 7 jump as high as possible while fighting over the ball.

"Clay immediately passes the ball to me," the opposing player numbered 5 said.

The opposing player with the back number 7 tries to grab the ball but his jump is too high with Shin which makes Shin more free to get the ball.

"So you named Clay, sorry I think I won this jump ball," Shin said, reaching for the ball in the air and trying to pass it to Hiruka who was preparing to receive the ball.

Shortly after reaching the ball, suddenly the ball in his hand slipped as if the ball was like an eel that was hard to catch.

"When it comes to skills, I admit that you are more talented, but if it's a technical problem I won't lose," Clay said in response to Shin's challenge.

It turned out that before Shin reached the ball, Clay had already used his ability to make the ball slippery when held so that it eventually turned towards the opponent.

"Nice Catch Ogure," Clay said to his friend with number 6.

Apparently Clay can easily control whether or not the ball is slippery with his abilities.

"It's okay Shin, this is just the beginning," Raito said encouragingly.

The match resumed but with the ability Clay used, the Cyoku High School team couldn't even take the ball from the opposing team's hands and could only do defense.

The match became even more fierce when a member of the Nidou High School team named Kiriya immediately broke into the Cyoku High School team's defense and what was surprising was Kiriya passing the ball to Shin who was standing under the ring as a center when defending.

"What did he do? Why did he pass the ball to his opponent?"

Gyo who watched from the spare seat was amazed by what the opposing team did until finally Shin who received the ball returned to pass it to Kiriya.

"Hey, what are you doing? Why did you pass the ball back instead to him?" Gyo shouted from outside the field.

Kiriya who returned to get the ball now freely lay up and score points for his team.

"What are you doing? Even though the ball you are holding is not slippery and you pass it back to your opponent," Raito said irritably.

"I don't know what happened. When the ball was in my hands suddenly my body moved by itself," Shin said explaining.

"Never mind, that must be the ability of your opponent. Remember that the team we face today is a team that often represents the Masara prefecture competing at the National level," Hiruka said trying to calm down.

With a heavy heart, Shin picked up a nearby ball and passed it to Raito who was now preparing for his lightspeed ability. Raito accepts the ball freely and immediately runs while doing drible with incredible speed but when it reaches the middle of the field, suddenly the ball he holds becomes slippery and makes the ball slip from his hand so the ball freely bounces irregularly.

"Let me take it !!"

Ryu immediately chases the ball but at the same time, Kaze has taken the initiative to take the ball which is now bouncing towards him so that an unavoidable collision occurs between Ryu and Kaze.

"That must hurt," said Ogure seeing the collision in front of him.

It wasn't even 2 minutes before the match but the Cyoku High School team even made a fatal mistake.

"Are you all right?" Raito asked trying to confirm the situation.

"Just a little dizzy but I'm fine," Ryu answered.

In contrast to Ryu who responded to Raito's question, Kaze who was now standing just shook the dust from the basketball uniform he was wearing.

"Although maybe their individual abilities are very good, in a team match like this it will only make all the strategies arranged in such a way chaotic," Clay said while picking a free rolling ball.

The match continued until the end of the first quarter but the Cyoku High School team couldn't even score even one due to Clay's lack of cooperation and troublesome abilities.

"Coach let us play or our team will lose here," Gyo said, trying to beg the coach to play.

"Punishment is still a punishment !! Whatever happens and even if you lose you will not be deployed in this match," answered Mr. Yagami firmly.

"We just need a different composition to win this match," he continued.

The first quarter finally ended with a one-sided position because the Nidou High School team managed to score 34 points while the Cyoku High School team could not even score one.

With heavy breathing, Gyo and Ren could only see their team being in shambles and a very chaotic game as if to indicate that they would lose here.

"It seems like in this match the captains Yasu and Daren don't have to bother to make moves because the three of us are enough to defeat them," Ogure said after finishing his drink between breaks.

"Yes, even Ogure only needs to pass the ball to us when he gets the ball without having to bother using ability," Clay continued.

A few moments later the second quarter mark whistle immediately began but the Cyoku High School team looked like they could not get out of the slump.

Will they lose here? Or will they slowly rise?

to be continued