Eh? Ah, Sou. [Kise R.] ✓

「 十八 」

「 十八 」 Listen To Me

A practice match? What a sudden and unplanned thing. Nevertheless, Coach Takeuchi humored Yohime. Or rather, Yohime gave him no choice but to humor her.

And so, on a unspectacular Wednesday afternoon, Kaijou received the basketball team from Itachiyama High School into their gymnasium for a match.

While once upon a time, Itachiyama would have been an opponent to the Blue Elites, that was in a bygone era, and the school had faded into obscurity— as did most schools who lacked a Miracle, an Uncrowned King or someone just as talented. Their basketball team declined, losing much-needed budget to their more popular, more impressive volleyball team, and never recovered since. So for the Kaijou team, the news of the practice match was not received with so much as a whisper of excited energy. If anything, there was an air of confusion and boredom. The burning question in everyone's minds: what was going through the mind of Nijimura Yohime?

And truthfully? At that moment— not very much.

She sat idly, like a porcelain doll on a shelf, relaxing on the bench and fiddling with her phone after fulfilling her duty as manageress by greeting the visiting team. Ever so often, she would take a few sips of strawberry milk from her milk box, completely at her leisure. As casually and with the surety of April showers, she shattered minds with a single, unbelievable statement:

" Oh, Kise plays. "

The regulars, and indeed everyone else, wondered if the first year had suffered a traumatic head injury.

" What exactly are you trying to accomplish from this? " Kasamatsu queried with a look of suspicion. A devilish smirk touched the manageress's lips.

" Who knows? " She hummed. A shiver ran down his spine. If only he knew then it was a premonition of suffering.

The team realized that something was woefully wrong when they began to lose.

It wasn't all that obvious at first. A few silvers of three pointers here and there, hard earned by their opponent despite the lackluster defense. But all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Kaijou's defense was completely shut down. It was like Itachiyama knew exactly what moves they would make and what countermeasures they would take, and when. Thus, a cold hand of fear reached up and grasped the Kaijou team's heart as a sense of desperation filled the air and fueled their plays. By the end of the first quarter, they were behind by 20 at 39 to 59. Even with Kise playing. Coach Takeuchi was petrifying in his anger and confusion.

" How?! " He hissed, clutching his clipboard with a death grip. " What is even happening here?! "

Unfortunately, neither he nor the first stringers (downtrodden, confused and sweaty from exertion) had an answer for that question. No one did— save for Yohime.

" Exactly what I had expected, " she responded calmly, flipping her hair over her shoulder casually as she lounged. " I handed them your stats and gave them a play-by-play, after all. " Eyes bulged.

" What?! "

Coach Takeuchi was on the brink of an aneurism. " Nijimura, you better have a damn good— " Yohime can cut him off coolly and ruthlessly. Ignoring the middle-aged man, she stood from her perch and paced forwards towards the betrayed regulars with a look of deathly seriousness.

" The point I'm trying to make, is that you have to trust me, " Yohime declared. " My plays are unorthodox, and what I say might seem ridiculous, but it doesn't mean they aren't viable. If I don't have your full trust, I can't help you win. "

A small pang resonated within the first stringers. They had known for awhile of their doubt in Yohime. Never having a manager and never hearing so much as a silver about her knowledge in basketball before she had swept in and began spitting commands at them; they had never really questioned, but never really accepted her. Even Kise, in his infinite craving to be accepted by Yohime, never really accepted the notion that Yohime knew 100% what she was doing. And so—

" Do you trust me, or not? "

" Help us win. "

They sought to trust her completely.

Letting out a breath, she nodded solemnly, then began:

" Their center has a weak right ankle, it shows by how he favors his left. His reaction speed for heading in the left direction is 3 seconds behind that of the right. Attack to the left of him. Their point guard is relied too heavily upon. Cut off their point guard and you shut down their entire offensive play.

" When you do so, their power forward will make a move to deflect attention away from the point guard to himself, but do not take your eyes off of the point guard. Their shooting guard isn't that good under pressure, if you squeeze him into a tight spot, he won't know what to do. Oh, and their small forward hasn't been playing for longer than a year, the callouses on his hands aren't thick enough, he used to be a volleyball player, you can tell by his jumping power and instinctive block-ready position. Pressure him enough and he'll be muddled between the sports. "

Nodding once, her head held high, she sat back down on her perch and picked up her drink box once more, a casual " That's all " signaling the end of her two minute long tirade. Kise's jaw dropped.

" That's all? That's all?! I barely even understood that-ssu! " He yelped. It would have been comical, had everyone else not shared his sentiments. They scarcely even began to process the amount of information that was offloaded onto them. Hell, the only one in their immediate region who seemed to grasp what she was saying was Coach Takeuchi, who had a large and weird grin slapped onto his face. (Kise and the rest of the first stringers assumed he must have finally snapped.)

Ruthlessly, Yohime refused to repeat herself— " That is all. "

At the sound of the buzzer signaling the beginning of the second quarter, she flashed her team a wry smile.

" You're break is over. Go win now. "

And so they did.

Kaijou won. 260-98.