Thunder VS Shadow (Part 2)

Meanwhile, on the court.

"Cheh!",Mité couldn't help but sound his disappointment.

He had been a little too lenient in his planning just now.

This was streetball where the rules are not really enforced as much as in the official court.

If that move had been pulled in an official game, Kyotaro would surely have been fouled for charging. However, he was only given a glance by the referee in this game.

Looks like he would have to be more careful from now on.

Following that, both of them entered a series of scoring against each other. Neither of them giving in.

Soon, the score finally added up to 7-8 in Kyotaro's favor.

By now, both players were panting hard as Mité finally had possession of the ball.

Both of them were exhausted, both mentally and physically.

They had played against each other so many times until they felt like they knew each other like the back of their hands.

It had been past 15 minutes but their total score was only 15.

They had both been running around, smacking the ball out of each other's hands and scoring over their heads for minutes now.

Also, they had tried almost every one of their tricks against the other and now, it seemed almost worn out to try it again.

If by the chance, their opponent recognized the move they were going to pull, they would just be digging their own graves instead.

However, Mité did have one advantage. His fakes.

Fakes were absolute in any game and as long as you could pull them off perfectly, there will be almost a non-zero chance for error.

So, as Mité started the next round of their duel, he put a lot of effort into creating multiple fakes to confuse Kyotaro in that short span of 20 seconds.

Leaving 4 seconds to get past the defender to score the basket was an extremely risky maneuver but it was all that Mité could do right now.

Combining multiple fakes to disguise his real drive trajectory was one of Mité's trump card moves for a one vs one.

This kind of move was nearly useless in team gameplays but perfect for one on one matches albeit the small waste of time.

Still, it worked out in the end as Mité finally went drove past Kyotaro and scored with a layup.

Following that, it appeared that Mité's previous score had successfully disrupted Kyotaro's state of mind as he easily fell for Mité's first fake in the next round, successfully scoring another point and just another point away from winning.

When the next round started, Kyotaro seemed to get quite desperate with bloodshot eyes and started to use excessive force to push Mité out of the 3-point line. There was even a time when he accidently pushed Mité strong enough to make him fall on his back.

In response to this, Mité strongly complained to the referee but the only thing that got him was just the referee giving Kyotaro a warning.

Not satisfied with the referee's decision, Mité strongly argued about the referee about this. However, the referee wasn't pleased to see his decision questioned at all.

As such, he immediately declared a foul on Mité.

"Technical foul! Possession to Kyotaro!"

Everyone was agape at what happened, even Kyotaro.

Mité was usually the most level-headed of the two so it was really surprising for him to commit a technical foul.

"Haish! He is really impatient", someone couldn't help but comment.

"You won't really understand but from what I heard, his family is not in the best situation", someone else countered.

"I can't say it's right to argue with the referee but it sure isn't wrong. I would have done it as well if I were in his place"

Meanwhile, Mité had an incomprehensibly ugly look on his face.

Not only did he not get Kyotaro fouled, he had even gotten himself fouled instead.

This was bad, really bad for him.

For him, life wasn't as good as everyone saw at school or on the court.

His home life was in shambles. His father had just recently gotten sick so there was no one earning any money at the moment and there was also his mother who had been bedridden for the past 5 years.

With no income, there was no way for Mité to pay for his father's treatment and mother's medicine. As such, he looked towards the Street Ball Rumble to earn what he could.

His talent was considered good in Shibuya but on a National level, he was still no match for even the regulars of other schools outside Shibuya City so there was no chance of getting any cash prizes at the competitions.

However, while he was not that good on a national level, he was considered as one of the top-tier elites in Shibuya and luckily for him, the Street Ball Rumble was held in Shibuya.

The only major competition he had amongst his peers was Kyotaro and as such, he was able to win quite a number of these games.

On an average, he would earn about 10000 yen every 2 weeks and coupled with the family's daily expenses, it was far from enough.

However, it was just until his father was cured. After that, his family's situation would surely improve for the better.

But here's the thing, for the past 2 games, it seemed that Mité was struck with bad luck as he lost 2 consecutive games to Kyotaro.

This had severely implicated his earning ability which made him have to work multiple part-time jobs a day just to make up for that lost income.

He didn't want the same thing to happen again! Not when his father was on the verge of being cured!

Looking at Kyotaro, Mité tried to play it cool as he tried to provoke Kyotaro.

"Do you really think you can get past me. I know your every move, I know how you will move the ball. There is no chance that you will get it past me!"

However, contrary to his expectations, Kyotaro showed him a small smile instead and said in a low voice.

"There is still one more thing"

"This is my last bet. Now, we will leave this all to chance!"