Chapter 43 - Unexpected Encounter (2/2)
Tsugawa shook his head.
Tsugawa: ”No, you attack first. I will defend first.”
Shun: ”Ok~.”
Shun gave Tsugawa the ball they got in front of the top of the key.
Tsugawa passed the ball to Shun. Shun caught the ball and bent forward a little with the ball in both of his hands.
Shun started to dribble the ball and suddenly cut to the right, but Tsugawa was fast and was able to stop him from passing.
Shun: 'Good, this is good.'
Shun stepped back a little and was ready to try again. Tsugawa also reset his form.
Shun dribbled one step to the right. Tsugawa followed him, but Shun pulled back and passed Tsugawa from the opposite side.
Tsugawa: 'Crap, what a sharp pullback.'
Tsugawa was quick, but he was not quick enough to stop Shun. Shun passed him cleanly and scored with a simple finger-roll layup.
Shun smiled and said.
Shun: ”One point for me. My turn to defend.”
Both of them returned to their initial position, and Shun passed the ball to Tsugawa.
Tsugawa was nothing special on offense. Shun could shut him down every time, but this wasn't an official game, and they were playing for fun, so he let Tsugawa pass him once in a while.
But on the other hand, Shun didn't let Tsugawa block him on his offense.
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Shun had the ball, and Tsugawa was in front of him defending.
Shun dribbled forward and pulled a crossover by switching the ball between his hands. The moment Tsugawa leaned in one direction, Shun passed him from the other side and scored with an overhand layup.
Shun looked at Tsugawa and thought.
Shun: 'He has a good defensive form, but he falls for fakes too easily.'
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Shun even decided to test his post defense.
Shun had his back facing both Tsugawa and the basket.
Tsugawa: ”I am not letting you score this time.”
Shun chuckled and replied.
Shun: ”We will see about that.”
Tsugawa was staying extremely close to Shun and had his arms spread wide, trying to hinder any movement he made.
Shun decided to be a little flashy.
Shun: 'Let's go with that.'
Shun got ready for his attack and started by passing the ball between both his and Tsugawa's legs. Immediately after that, Shun did a spin on his left foot, ducked under Tsugawa's spread arm, caught up to the ball, and layed in the ball, easy and simple.
The whole movement was extremely fast, and Tsugawa had no time to react to what happened.
Tsugawa: ”What was that!”
Shun laughed and explained.
Shun: ”Tsugawa you're good at defense, you stay nice and close to the other player, you never lose your defensive form, and you don't give up after being passed once.
It is said that offense requires talent, but defense requires d.e.s.i.r.e. I can see that you enjoy defense more than offense.
You have a good base, but you fall for fakes too often. You need to look out for fakes, or else you will get crossed continuously.”
Tsugawa said nothing, so Shun continued.
Shun: ”As for the exchange right now, being dominant in the post requires either power and height, or overwhelming skill and speed to make up for the lack of power and height.
As we can see, you don't have the height or the power, so you need to be skilled enough to not let anyone pass, and if someone does pass you, you need to be quick enough to catch up to them and block their scoring attempt.”
Tsugawa sighed and said.
Tsugawa: ”As expected of the MVP of the Nationals, you know your stuff.”
Shun raised his eyebrows and asked.
Shun: ”Oh, so you knew me from the start. Why didn't you say something?”
Tsugawa laughed and replied.
Tsugawa: ”I recognized your silver hair and purple eyes immediately. I saw one of your matches in the Nationals. As for why I didn't say anything, I wanted to see how good you actually were.
You held back on the defense, didn't you?”
Shun scratched the back of his head and said.
Shun: ”Yeah, I didn't want you to leave because you weren't having fun. I was afraid if I shut you out, you would leave, and that wouldn't have been fun.”
Shun looked at his clock and saw that it was very close to lunchtime. He looked up and said.
Shun: ”It was fun, but I got to go now, it is almost lunchtime, and I promised my mom that I would be home by then.”
Shun stuffed his ball into his bag, and slung the bag onto his back and said his goodbye.
Shun: ”Tsugawa, this was fun. Let's play again when we meet next time. Bye~.”
Tsugawa: ”Sure, that sounds like a plan. Bye, until next time.”
With that, both their separate ways. Shun reached home on time and enjoyed the meal cooked by his mother with his family.
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A/N -1: Yukihira Soma is from the series, Shokugeki No Soma. The link will be in the comment section.
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A/N - 2: Yukihira/Saiba Joichiro is also from the series, Shokugeki No Soma. The link will be in the comment section.
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A/N - 3: H-O-R-S-E is a game played by two people on a basketball court. The idea of the game involves matching baskets. The player who makes shots that the opponent does not duplicate wins the game.
For example, the second person shooting must duplicate the first person's shot if it is made. If the second shooter misses, he/she receives the letter H. If the first person's shot is missed, the second shooter may attempt any shot. If his/her shot is made, the opponent is obligated to duplicate it.
Each time a shooter misses, a shot that he/she attempted to duplicate, a letter is awarded. The game continues until one person acc.u.mulates five letters or H-O-R-S-E.
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A/N - 4: Tsugawa Tomoki is from Kuroko No Basket. The link will be in the comment section.
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