Chapitre 86: Preliminaries, Once Again.
Tokiwadai first-string gathered in their gym. All the players knew the reason for the gathering.
Today was the day the coach was going to address them about the Tokyo Preliminaries.
Coach Koetsuji walked to the front of his charges and smiled as he saw them excited for the upcoming tournament.
Coach: "We all know what we are here for, but to clarify, we are here for discussing the Tokyo preliminaries."
The coach then proceeded to explain the preliminary system.
Coach: "Tokyo preliminaries go longer than the other prefectures because we have so many teams here in the capital, but that also means there are rest days in between."
There was a board behind him. He picked up a marker from the sill of the board, uncapped it, and wrote Block-A and Block-B on the board.
Coach: "There are two Blocks; Block-A and Block-B. We are in Block-B this time."
Then he wrote Day-1 and Day-2 on the board.
Coach: "The prelims are a six-day affair, and on Day-1 and Day-2, both teams will play there Round-1 and Round-2 games. Block-A will play both of their matches on Day-1, and Block-B will play on Day-2."
He wrote Round-1 and Round-2 in front of Day-2 and then circled Round-1.
Coach: "Tokiwadai is a seeded school, so we get a bye for Round-1. We will only play Round-2 on Day-2.
The advantage of being a seeded school is that we will be playing a team that has already played a match, while we still have full stamina."
Coach wrote Day-3 and Day-4 on the board and turned to the group, and then wrote Round-3 and Semi-finals on the board.
Coach: "Day-3 and Day-4 are tough."
He circled out Round-3 and continued.
Coach: "Round-3 is the game teams take easy and preserve energy. The scores are the lowest in Round-3, but then comes the game from hell."
He palmed the area near Semi-finals and said.
Coach: "Semi-finals are tough as teams go all out to come out on top, there is no holding back. Semi-finals here at Tokyo are more intense than our Finals."
He wrote Day-5 and Rest Day next to it.
Coach: "As there is a rest day on Day-5, there is no use for any preservation. Teams duke it out and give it their all, without thinking if they would be able to move after the game."
The players, who joined the first-string this year gulped as coach told them about the Semi-finals.
Older members were also affected as they remembered the hustle during the last year's prelims.
Coach smiled as he saw the nervous faces of his charges.
Coach: "Finally, we arrive at Day-6, the Finals. There are two finals, one for each block. Two teams that one gets the ticket to the Nationals."
Coach wrote FINALS in bold letters.
Coach: "Our goal, of course, to win that ticket and go to Nationals."
He smiled and addressed all the players.
Coach: "We are a strong team, we have a deeper bench than last year, but I don't want you guys to become overconfident and take your opponents lightly."
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Same as every year, the preliminaries were going to be held in Tokyo Metropolitan Arena. There was a large hype around this year's Tokyo preliminaries as Tokiwadai and Teiko were two super teams, and a lot of people wanted them to play.
Many high school basketball fans were also interested in the Tokiwadai and Teiko games.
It was almost a certainty that all of Tokiwadai and Teiko's matches were going to be held in a larger arena to accommodate the viewers.
There were even quite a few sports journalists there to watch their matches.
A lot of people were gathered in the lobby of the Gymnasium. You could see groups of people in the same tracksuits, loitering around, mingling with each other.
Hustle-bustle brightened the place as people hurried, talked, laughed in the area.
It was then someone caught sight of a group of people in black and a dark shade of purple entering the lobby.
The person shook the elbow of his friend and said.
Person One: "Hey, look."
His friend, who was talking to other people, turned to look.
Person Two: "What?"
Person One pointed at the group in black and purple.
Person One: "Tokiwadai is here."
A lot of people reacted to the short sentence. Almost all of the people in the lobby turned to look at the group.
And behold, it was what they expected.
A jersey that was immediately recognized as the signature of Tokiwadai Middle School in the Tokyo Middle School Basketball scene.
Teiko and Tokiwadai; the two powerhouses of Tokyo, both teams were strong, but the way they dressed was completely opposite to each other.
Teiko's jersey was white and light-blue, giving a light and refreshing feel to look at, but Tokiwadai's jersey was black and dark-purple, giving out an imposing vibe.
The people in the lobby murmured among each other, as Tokiwadai passed through the lobby.
Person: "They sure have tall guys in their club."
Aone and Hyakuzawa towered over everyone in the club, shorter than they were Mibuchi, Yuki, and Shun, and even those two were considered tall for Middle School standard.
Person: "The third-year Mibuchi Reo and Aone Takanobu are an inside and outside duo. Mibuchi has high accuracy, but when he does miss, Aone is there to rebound the ball.
Doesn't Aone look bigger than last year?"
Aone hadn't grown in height from last year, he was still 187 centimeters, but his frame had widened a little because of his training and growth.
Person A: "Look, there he is!"
Person B: "Who?"
Person A pointed at the silver hair in the group of Tokiwadai and said.
Person A: "Second-year, Kageyama Shun; King Of The Court."
Person B hadn't heard of the title, so he asked.
Person B: "King Of The Court, what is that?"
Person A looked at Person B with a surprised expression.
Person A: "You don't know? Kageyama Shun can play anywhere on the court, play any position, and does it better than anybody.
Plus, he is the point guard for Tokiwadai, so he controls the playmaking for the team, that makes him in charge of the team on the court."
Person B was a first-year, so he didn't know much about Shun.
Person B: "Is he really that great?"
Person A laughed at his clueless friend and mocked.
Person A: "If winning all individual awards along with the MVP last year is not great, then I don't know what great is, plus he scored 100-points in a game once."
Person B was shocked by the sudden information.
Person B: "One hundred points!"
The crowd continued to chatter long after Tokiwadai had left the lobby.
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
FictionOnlyReader
FictionOnlyReader Now, this is a chapter that I want you to guys to judge by commenting on how much I have changed from the start of the novel.
Please compare this with,
Chapter 6: Preliminaries, Here I Come!
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Next chapter we move to the first game of the preliminaries.
It will not have much of Shun in it. The teammates will take the spotlight in the following games.
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Just like always,
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