Post Game Meeting And The Awakening?

Every team in their group was stunned when they saw just how dominant Kyōsen is this match. Even though they knew that Kyōsen is probably the strongest team in this whole Kansai Region, they still find it inconceivable that they're able to score twice the score as their enemy, Tenri.

While the whole team cooled up their bodies with some stretching after the game, a third year student from their basketball club, probably someone from the second string, came up to talk to Chu Lin.

"Head Coach, sir! The game between Jemboku Junior High and Nada Junior High ended with Nada Junior High winning!"

"Oho? Nada won? That's quite surprising…"

Chu Lin paused momentarily before asking a question to the third year student.

"Anyway, what's the final score? I'd guess it's around 50's to 60's."

"Yes, sir. The final score was 62-53!"

While stroking his mustache, Chu Lin thanked the third year student before taking the video recording that the former had on hand. The whole team heard their entire conversation so the ever so talkative Wakamatsu couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.

"Coach, what was it that the guy earlier delivered?"

"Oh, this? It's the match recording of the match between Jemboku Junior High and Nada Junior High. We'll be studying this match recording later during our break before our match against them."

While holding up a video camera in his hands, Chu Lin answered Wakamatsu's inquiry.

※・※・※・※

Inside the locker room of Kyōsen Private Middle School, everyone is freshening up, drinking some refreshments handed to them by Riko or Neko while listening to their coach break down the video of the match between Jemboku Junior High and Nada Junior High. When the video arrived at the part where the 177cm center is taking three point shots, Chu Lin paused the video.

"See here? This center knows how to shoot threes. So, what do you think we should do against this team?"

At Chu Lin's question, Akagi was the first to voice out his opinion.

"I think that we could win even if we play like we did last game coach. From what I've seen so far, this center's shooting percentage is not as great as the shooting guard and point guard in their team. What's more, they only won in their previous game because Jemboku Junior High have no answer to him. They can't even contest his shots because of the height difference."

"You have a point there Akagi. However, there's a much more effective way of shutting them down."

Chu Lin looked at his players one by one while stroking his mustache, waiting for someone to figure out something.

"I think we should just let Wakamatsu-senpai guard this center. This center isn't that familiar with dribbling the ball so a tight defender like Wakamatsu-senpai is a bad match for him. We could also cut the passing lanes towards him beforehand if they try to pass the ball to him. The inside game of Nada Junior High is also weak so we don't have to worry about their post plays."

Everyone looked to see who's the one who spoke up and saw Seiji who's in deep thought while mumbling some incoherent words.

"Seiji's right about that. This team entirely relied on three point shots to win their games. The point guard isn't great at driving towards the rim as his specialty is only making plays, the small forward isn't any good either as he's just running around without any purpose, while the center can't muscle in all the time since he'll run out of stamina before the match even ends," Chu Lin said while fixing his necktie.

"I've looked on the data we gathered on this team and it looks like this team have little to no stamina training in their training menu. All their coach made them do is shoot threes, among other things," Riko added.

"In other words… they're just lucky they got this far with that kind of 'outscoring the opposition' type of strategy?" Neko summarized the entire conversation with just a few words.

"That is the case. Their coach seems to be obsessed at this type of three point shooting line up. I think he'll be removed as the coach after this though," Chu Lin said.

※・※・※・※

After the meeting, Seiji went out for a bit. There's still some time before their quarter final match starts so he wanted to go look around for a bit. Just as he exited the team's locker room, Seiji came across Rena, Mia, and Kosaki.

"Seiji-sama! Are you going out? Can I come with you?"

Barraged by Rena's continuous questions, Seiji could only nod his head in agreement. This girl, when she's like this, would never take no for an answer. This is probably the bad trait that she inherited from Hanna, her mother.

"I'm going to walk around for a bit. You can come if you want to. Our game's gonna start in a few minutes so it's just gonna be short though."

"It's fine Seiji-kun. I just came here to accompany your younger sister," Mia said.

"Good luck in your next game, Seiji-kun! You were awesome last game!"

Upon hearing Kosaki's praise, Seiji couldn't help but smile slightly. Who didn't want to be praised? One of his teammates, Fukuda, likes to be praised too much that he dislikes getting scolded.

While they strolled around the arena, buying some snacks and confectioneries while they're at it, their group also didn't forget to visit the nearest artificially made forest where the sika deer are residing. When they reached the place, Seiji felt like it was the right decision to go out for a bit. His mind is incredibly refreshed due to the clean air of this forest and the sight of the duo of Rena and Kosaki cuddling with the fawns while Mia watched on the side like Seiji.

Ever since he was a kid in his 'previous' life and even in this life, Seiji always loves the feeling of being inside a forest. It's calming, refreshing, and it feels like it's soothing your soul when a gentle breeze passes by.

'A moment like this is what I always wanted. Playing my favorite sports, competition, and then having a relaxing time after that.'

Seiji savored the moment as he closed his eyes. While he is reaching the state of calmness that he never reached before, he suddenly felt something inside him stir. He's been having this feeling inside of him during their match between Tenri Middle School.

'What was that?'

He didn't know what it was but he felt like it was inside him all along, just that he didn't have the ability to unlock it for a long time. Just when he was about to give up and shelve this thought inside the corner of his mind, Seiji suddenly remembered that he have a certain ability that he never had the chance to use up until now.

What made him fell that stir during their match against Tenri? He only felt this stir when he's observing his teammates utilize their own abilities.

When he remembered this fact, Seiji immediately woke up from his reverie and said goodbye to the surprised ladies.

"I'm gonna be going first! You guys enjoy your time here!"

Before anyone could say anything, Seiji already took off like there are rockets attached on his feet. The three girls looked at each other in the eyes, not knowing what to say for a second.

"""He definitely figured out something, right?"""

※・※・※・※

Back to the locker room of Kyōsen Junior High, everybody is getting ready for the next match. They're just about to make one of the first years call Seiji but he already arrived in perfect timing while heaving.

"Alright team. Since Seiji is here already, let's start our last pre-match meeti—"

Before Chu Lin could finish his words, Seiji interrupted him mid sentence.

"Coach! Can you let me play as the primary offense later?"

Chu Lin is definitely taken aback by Seiji's uncharacteristic behavior but he just laughed it off when he heard Seiji's request.

"What are you saying? You didn't have to ask that since I'm already planning on making you be our primary scorer this game. Akagi is already quite tired in the last match since he had to take the majority of our defensive and offensive load. Since I noticed that you have quite a lot of stamina, I want you to be our primary offense this game…"

While stroking his mustache, Chu Lin directed his gaze to the team's captain, Akagi.

"What do you think, Akagi?"

"There's no problem on our end coach. We know that Seiji is the real ace of the team ever since we lost that practice game against him."

"Good. Now, team, let's go get our ticket to tomorrow's finals!"

"""Oh!"""

※・※・※・※

To be continued…

[A/N¹: You all probably have an inkling as to what awakened but we'll leave it for the next chapter.]

[A/N²: I know, anticlimactic right? However, it is supposed to be like that. This ability of his only needs him to reach a certain amount of accumulation in order for it to awaken.]

[A/N³: Up next is Block A's Semi Finals!]