Chapitre 64: Tokiwadai Welcomes A Giant
Hyakuzawa Yudai was tall, standing at the height of 190 cm when he was still in the second year of middle school, made him tall in ninety-nine of a hundred people's eyes.
Heck, even Hyakuzawa considered himself to be tall, all his life, he had been described with the tall. So, the one thing Hyakuzawa Yudai was confident in it was his height.
Hyakuzawa never disliked his tall height. He always was a little uncomfortable with the unwarranted attention that his height got but that all changed when he joined the basketball club in middle school.
Hyakuzawa excelled in the basketball club. His height got him admission to the second-string of the club despite him being a complete newbie to the sport.
Basketball was a sport of height; tall players were strong. It was the truth of the sport, even if it wasn't fair. Hyakuzawa, who was naturally gifted in that area, and was a promising prospect in the eyes of the coaches at Tokiwadai Basketball Club.
Someway along the way, Hyakuzawa got a tad bit overconfident in himself, all the praises from the coach, the looks from his teammates made Hyakuzawa feel that he was good at the sport.
Hyakuzawa: "You know, shooting is hard, and all, but basketball is pretty simple."
Hyukuzawa had problems at the start, but when he got the basic down, he instantly became one of the strongest players in the second-string.
So, when Yuki and Kaitani got promoted to the first-string, he wasn't thrilled at the idea. He could see why Yuki was promoted to the first-string, but he couldn't comprehend why Kaitani was promoted over him.
Hyakuzawa knew that Kaitani was faster than him, and he had trouble catching up to him on the ground, but when it came to scoring at the basket, Kaitani wasn't able to do anything against him.
Hyakuzawa: "You can't win the match if you can't score."
And finally, in the first month of his second year, he was promoted to the first-string.
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Currently, Hyakuzawa was experiencing the difference between the first-string and the second-string.
Coach Koetsuji: "Hyakuzawa! Why are you stopping? You still have two laps around the court left."
Hyakuzawa had his hands on his knees and was breathing hard, and sweat covered his body and clothes.
As he looked at his new coach, he couldn't help but think.
Hyakuzawa: 'What is this! The practice wasn't this hard in the second-string.'
Hyakuzawa was shocked when he found that the practice in the first-string was almost twice as tough as that of second-string. By the time the physical workout was over, he was already winded, and his throat and lungs hurt.
He went to one of the walls of the gym and sat down with the wall supporting his back. As he caught his breath, a bottle of water came into his view.
Hyakuzawa looked up and saw Yuki standing with a water bottle in his hand.
Yuki: "Drink some. It will not be good for you to be dehydrated and collapse on the first day of your practice."
Yuki handed him the bottle and sat down beside him. Hyakuzawa glanced at Yuki and asked him.
Hyakuzawa: "Is the practice always this tough, or is this some newcomer hazing."
Yuki laughed and replied.
Yuki: "No, it's nothing like that, the difference in intensity of practice in first and second-string is immense, I too was winded on the first day. I remember collapsing on my bed after my first day."
That was a lie!
Yuki Tetsuya always practiced late after practice, so there was no way he was this exhausted on his first day. True, he was more tired than usual, and it took him a dozen days to go back to his usual schedule of practicing late, but he wasn't as tired as Hyakuzawa.
Yuki Tetsuya was a nice guy. He lied so that the new guy wouldn't feel bad, and it worked Hyakuzawa felt relieved that he wasn't the only one who was this tired on their first day.
But this was just the start Hyakuzawa was going to know the real why it was so hard to get promoted to the first-string, and even those who got here fought there hardest to be on the bench.
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It was time for the mini-game of the day. Hyakuzawa was on the team with Yuki and three first-string members who were not on the bench. On the other side were Aone and Kaitani, with three other bench members.
Shun looked at the match-up from his court, then looked at Coach Koetsuji and sighed.
Shun: "He really is a good coach."
Mibuchi, who was on the same court as Shun asked.
Mibuchi: "Why so suddenly?"
Shun pointed with his chin towards the Hyakuzawa game.
Shun: "All of the second-string knows that Hyakuzawa-kun was not happy when Kaitani was promoted earlier than him. Now that both of them are in the first-string, the coach has put them against each other in their first game.
Hyakuzawa will know how much Kaitani has improved, and Kaitani will be tested against a tall opponent, who is a few centimeters taller than Aone-san."
Mibuchi, as the captain, also knew what was going on down in the second-string. He also knew that Hyakuzawa was a tad bit overconfident in his abilities.
Mibuchi: "A perfect chance to show Hyakuzawa that a smaller player can also contribute on the court."
Shun nodded but continued.
Shun: "That is only one of the objectives."
Mibuchi raised his eyebrows and questioned.
Mibuchi: "There is another objective?"
Shun looked towards the court and said.
Shun: "Coach wants Hyakuzawa to know what it means to be a center for the first-string at Tokiwadai."
Mibuchi finally understood and smiled.
Mibuchi: "Ah, that's right. It seems Hyakuzawa is going to get beaten at his own position, and badly at that."
Both of them looked at the current starting center for the first-string, Aone Takanobu.
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[A/N [1]: Team Hyakuzawa will be written as TH, and Team Kaitani will be written as TK. Positions will be as such, TH's point guard, or TK's power forward.]
The game was had started, and the game didn't start with tip-off but with the ball in possession of team Kaitani.
TK's point guard bought the ball to the half-court and then passed the ball to TK's shooting guard. Yuki got to the shooting guard to defend him.
TK's shooting guard tried to get away from Yuki but was unsuccessful. Then he saw Kaitani away from his defender, so he passed the ball to him.
TK's SG: "Kaitani!"
Kaitani received the ball and yelled.
Kaitani: "Leave it to me!"
Kaitani dribbled the ball his defender caught up, but Kaitani passed him effortlessly. Kaitani slowed down and looked at the basket. His guard moved closer to contest the shot, but Kaitani dut past him the moment he came close.
Yuki smiled and said.
Yuki: "He sure is quick as ever."
The next obstacle in front of Kaitani was Hyakuzawa. Hyakuzawa came in front of Kaitani and said.
Hyakuzawa: "You're not passing me. I will stop you as always."
Kaitani smiled and said.
Kaitani: "Yeah, but you see, things are different from before."
Kaitani stopped and hopped. With his ball hand raised above his head, he pushed the ball upwards, showing a floater.
Hyakuzawa jumped to stop the ball, but the ball went above his reach and dropped in the basket.
Hyakuzawa: "Wha-!"
Hyakuzawa looked at Kaitani, as he said.
Kaitani: "Things will be different from now on."
Kaitani pointed at Hyakuzawa and declared.
Kaitani: "I will not be going down without an effort, so give it all your to stop me."
Hyakuzawa's eyes widened as he clenched his fist.
Yuki, even though he was on the opposite team, smiled.
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The TH's offense was a fast-paced pass play.
TH's point guard passed the ball to Yuki, who dribbled forward and threw a laserbeam pass to Hyakuzawa. The ball got from point guard to Hyakuzawa in a short few seconds.
Hyakuzawa got the ball in to paint and then jumped.
Hyakuzawa: "I will show you the real power of height."
Hyakuzawa held the ball in both hands and jumped up a dunk, but a figure came in front of him.
The figure kept ascending up and up till the figure's hand was above Hyakuzawa's hands. The hand then came down on the ball, striking it away from Hyakuzawa's hands.
Hyakuzawa was shocked by the sudden block and looked at the player who had blocked him.
Hyakuzawa saw Aone standing in front of looking at him.
Hyakuzawa: 'Why is it? Why does he look bigger than me even though I am taller than him?'
Aone's wider frame made him more powerful than Hyakuzawa, who had a wiry frame. The short height difference was covered by Aone's higher vertical reach, combining that with Aone's higher skill. Hyakuzawa was outclassed in a center matchup.
As the game continued, Hyakuzawa was able to stop Kaitani a few times, but he didn't feel any comfort as this meant that Kaitani had progressed more than him.
Hyakuzawa: "Damn it!"
But that wasn't the main problem, Hyakuzawa was so outclassed in the center matchup than Aone that it wasn't funny, rebounds, scoring, blocks, screens, whatever you took, Aone was leading.
Against Aone, Hyakuawa felt something he hadn't felt since he had started basketball. He felt helpless for the first time while playing basketball.
Hyakuzawa looked around the gym and saw people who had worked harder than him, and spent more time playing basketball than he did.
Hyakuzawa finally felt that basketball wasn't easy, and he wasn't that good at it.
Coach Koetsuji looked at Hyakuzawa and thought.
Coach Koetsuji: 'Now that he knows where he stands, I wonder how will he grow.'
Hyakuzawa had indeed felt that he needed to work harder. For the first time in his one year of playing basketball, he had an obstacle he needed to cross and a challenge to face, and he was not going to back from it.
Hyakuzawa stood up straight, looked at Aone, Kaitani, and all other members of first-string and thought.
Hyakuzawa: 'I will not be left behind.'
Aone looked at the determined Hyakuzawa and nodded to nobody, indicating that he approved.
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
FictionOnlyReader
FictionOnlyReader The center for next year is here. (Actual appearance, he was introduced before.)
He will be used as a sub this year, as Tokiwadai didn't have any player to substitute last year.
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I made him a little overconfident because of his height and then brought him a peg down, doing some character development.
Kaitani showed his skills.
Aone is a beast.
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Shun wasn't in this chapter much.
The reaction of Shun's 100 point game will take a while.
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Just as always,
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