Chapter 54: They Shouted 'Kings” and Charged In

This battle for the top seed in Tokyo didn't disappoint the fans. Both teams entered the zone from the get-go, delivering a fierce, high-level showdown. At least, that was true for the first quarter. Even Tendou saw limited action that period. The ball stayed mostly in Nijimura Shūzō's hands, and he didn't disappoint—dropping 14 points in the first quarter. It was his way of punishing Seihō for disrespecting him. After all, he was Teikō's captain. And yet Seihō chose not to double him, instead sending extra defenders at his junior? Wasn't that underestimating him a little too much? Shirogane Kōzō was extremely pleased with his captain's early performance. "Well done, Nijimura," he said as the players came off the court, being the first to offer praise. "I was just doing my part, Coach," Nijimura replied calmly—though with a hint of dry humor. "Thanks to Tendou, no one bothers to defend me properly anymore." This wasn't the first time. During the group stage, Tendou had drawn all attention and scouting efforts to himself. The moment they saw Seihō doing the same thing, Nijimura and Shirogane knew exactly how to exploit it. End of the first quarter: Teikō 23, Seihō 20. The score gap hadn't widened, but the game had been intense, and the energy in the stands hadn't let up. It was also the first time Teikō had scored under 30 points in a single quarter—proof of Seihō's tough defense. ... At the start of the second quarter, Shirogane didn't burn out his starters. Instead, he made his usual rotation, sending Akashi and the bench unit onto the floor. "I'm counting on you two—Akashi, Haizaki," he said. Akashi nodded, understanding his job wasn't just to hold the lead, but ideally stretch it. "Tch." Haizaki scoffed in frustration. He couldn't believe he was coming off the bench behind that damn Tendou. But he'd lost the scrimmage. He had no choice but to swallow his pride—for now. He'd get his revenge eventually and take that starter spot for himself. So when the second quarter began, people were stunned. Teikō swapped out most of their starters early? Against Seihō, who had "King" in their nickname? Seihō was furious. They were the kings—well, the Junior Division of the kings—and yet Teikō wasn't even taking them seriously? No one liked being looked down on. Especially not Kasuga Ryūhei. He had already been promised a place in Seihō's prestigious high school team next year. No matter how good Teikō was, this kind of disrespect was unacceptable. But reality was cruel: neither Akashi nor Kasuga got their way. The score still didn't budge much. On one hand, Seihō was legitimately strong. Any team that survived the group stage was no pushover. On the other hand, Teikō's bench was insane. Not even counting Akashi, the other three bench players had been starters last year, helping Nijimura dominate the circuit. And now, they'd even added Haizaki to the mix—like a rare Pokémon catching itself. At this point, Teikō no longer had a clear split between "starter" and "bench." They had two full lineups of starter-caliber players. ... Five minutes into the second quarter: Teikō 34, Seihō 31. Still just a 3-point difference. Haizaki walked off the court with an annoyed look. He'd run into another hard counter. That bald-headed first-year who came on for Seihō—Tsugawa Tomoki—had completely neutralized him. The guy was like Jokic in that one game where the Lakers kept switching and he spent the whole match looking around like, "Wait, where's the center?" Only to realize there was none—Davis had already been traded away. Haizaki's stolen moves had no effect, and he couldn't even find a rhythm. To make things worse, he was getting bullied on defense—and all with a creepy smile. Yes, bullied. To Haizaki, Tsugawa was even more disgusting than Tendou. The guy would smile and say things like "Wow, you're really strong, senpai," while completely shutting him down. That kind of politeness was 100 times more infuriating than outright trash talk. Haizaki couldn't believe his debut game had gone this badly. And before he could even get revenge, he got subbed out. Shirogane only gave the second unit five minutes. Just enough to rest the starters without letting them go cold. Too long on the bench, and the rhythm would be gone. The moment the subs came out, Seihō's coach made a hand sign so elaborate it looked like Kakashi copying Zabuza's Water Dragon Jutsu—he even threw in like 88 hand seals. ... Game resumed. Nijimura took the ball and tried to run another isolation attack like he had in the first quarter. But Seihō had changed tactics. Now, he found two defenders closing in. "Because of that first-year?" He glanced over at Tsugawa. That bald-headed brat had held Haizaki to 1-of-4 shooting in five minutes. And Nijimura ranked Haizaki on par with Aomine in raw talent. ... "Shirogane, this year's Nationals—it's ours," said Seihō's head coach, relaxing a bit. This year, Seihō had made some amazing discoveries—not just Kasuga's breakout, but also the emergence of Tsugawa Tomoki, a monster in the making. He never imagined someone could love defense more than offense. And during his very first tryout, Tsugawa had practically made the whole team puke from frustration. The way he smiled after suffocating someone on defense—it was straight-up demonic. After getting over the initial horror, the coach was ecstatic. With a guy like Tsugawa, what did they have to fear from Teikō? Tsugawa had no previous game records. He had been held back just for this moment, to surprise Teikō. The coach believed that with Tsugawa clamping down on Nijimura, and the rest of Seihō maintaining their signature iron wall defense, they could shut down even Teikō's most elite offense. What he hadn't counted on was this: Teikō had their own monster freshman. Tendou Kageyoshi. Because of him, Seihō was now forced to restructure their defense. They put Tsugawa on Tendou, while double-teaming Nijimura. But with that, Seihō's airtight system had to open up gaps—it was no longer perfect. Meaning... they could no longer guarantee victory. Still— "Go all out. We are Seihō, the Kings!" --- Vote with some power stones in this story. By using them on this book, you guarantee bonus chapters weekly.