The ball was in Meikō's possession as Hikki brought it up the court and past half court.
He looked at the clock to see there was 13 seconds and counting left.
He dribbled slowly, seeing the defeated expressions of the opponents as they wanted the game to end quickly.
'They've lost all their former confidence and vigor. All their hope is gone, only a yearning feeling for the game to end to put them out of their misery.' The white haired boy thought as he swiftly passed to Momoharu, who caught the ball.
With 5 seconds on the clock, the blond dribbled the ball swiftly down the elbow before jumping up for a mid range shot.
The buzzer sounded as the ball soared through the air before elegantly swishing through the net, not even hitting the rim.
"Nice Hanazono!"
"Great shot Hanazono!"
"Hanazono-kun sure is incredible!"
Were the shouts of Meikō's players as the teams on the court had different atmospheres.
Meikō's freshmen all had an aura and atmosphere akin to a happy family, whereas Kazami's team felt gloomy and sad, each and every one of their players could agree with one thing.
A team like theirs was no match for a team like Meikō's.
As the two teams went back to their benches, their were different talks happening on each team's benches.
On Meikō's bench, Hikki had decided to do the talking,
"Nice job guys. Now we do the same in the final quarter. We show our total domination over this game in this quarter.
Isame, Ogiwara, the defensive line will be put into your hands, I trust you'll be able to block each and every attempt at a basket inside the three point area.
While outside the three point line, Reo, Momoharu will give help by thwarting any three point attempts.
My job will be to put in steals and disrupt any plays by their point guard.
I want all of you guys to lock up and completely shut down your guard." Spoke Hikigaya as he looked over his team.
"Hai." Came the confirmation from his teammates as Hikki nodded with a satisfied expression evident on his face.
His lips curled into a smile.
"Let's give them our final effort!" The boy exclaimed with a smirk as his team cheered in agreement.
On the other side was Kazami's team who sat on the bench with defeated expressions on their face.
Not one of them could even come up with something to say.
Tokugawa looked over his team..
He wanted to say something, but the man knew his efforts would be for naught.
What could he say when he's never been in such a position.
What could he possibly say to refill his team's previous vigor and vitality, when he's never been in a situation such as this.
Where he was toyed around with kids, freshmen who had only just joined the school to be exact.
He had never been in this position before.
While he hadn't expected to arrive to the school and win considering just what school they were facing, a school who has held the top three position in the National Tournament for the past 2 decades, how could theh ever win, being a relatively unknown school.
But, he hadn't expected his team to be toyed around with like this.
"Guys, just play your best, at the end of the day, this is just a practice game.." This is what he wanted to say, but the words got stuck in his throat.
Suddenly, the buzzer sounded, signaling the start of the final quarter.
As Kazami's players stood up, there was only plain blank expressions on their faces, they had completely lost the will to fight.
Seeing this, Hikki doubled down as he ordered his team to go twice as hard as they did in the third quarter.
The 12 minutes seemed to shrink as the only team continuing to score was Meikō Junior High.
Every one of Kazami's attempts at shots were either blocked or heavily contested.
The defense of the freshman team was unwavering and they were unable to pierce this.
Though Kazami had long come to the realisation that they couldn't do anything and had begrudgingly accepted that these freshmen had undoubtedly bested them.
With that, the end of the game came quickly as the buzzer sounded with the end score of 134:48 in favour of Meikō.
Kazami didn't take long to leave the Meikō.
After giving thier polite and formal goodbyes which consisted of,
"Thank you for the game! It has been a wonderful experience!"
The captains of both teams shook hands before Kazami left the gymnasium, boarding their coach and heading back to their school.
While on the bus ride back, there was silence.
No-one had uttered even a single word.
There was only the collective feeling of inferiority...
———
TBC
