Chapter 56 - Tokiwadai vs. Aiwa, Part 1 (1/2)

Aiwa Middle School, based in Saitama prefecture of Japan, was a powerhouse school of the prefecture. They regularly attended the Nationals and every year trained a stable team.

The coach had been in the Middle School basketball scene for many years and had built connections with the schools in the Tokyo prefecture and the nearby prefectures.

When the coach was searching for schools to schedule a practice game against, he had a few schools in mind.

At first, he thought of their finals opponent Teiko Middle School, but then he remembered how Shun had to pull the team all by himself and that a game against Teiko would restrict the team as a whole, and that wouldn't be much of practice for the whole team.

Next in line was their preliminaries finals opponent, Shoei Middle School, they had an extremely talented third-year center, Kiyoshi Teppei in their team and their coach had built a solid team around Kiyoshi Teppei.

He had almost decided on them, but then his eyes caught the sight of Aiwa Middle School.

A team from another prefecture. Tokiwadai had no idea how they played, and they were being led by another extremely talented player, Hanamiya Makato.

The coach did hear that they were extremely good at team play and had many unusual plays and strategies that they deployed during games, making them a difficult opponent to play.

The coach didn't have any contact with Aiwa Middle School, but this is where Tokiwadai's reputation came in handy as, after only one phone call to Aiwa Middle School, they now had a practice game with them.

All of the team was excited about going to another prefecture for a practice game.

But, Shun was a little worried about his team playing against Aiwa Middle School.

Shun: 'I don't know if Hanamiya played rough and dirty in Middle School. If he is playing dirty, then he would have all the control over his team he needs as the captain.'

He was worried that if his fears were true, there were chances that his teammates would get injured.

His eyes turned cold for a second.

Shun: 'Let's hope he doesn't pull something stupid, or else.'

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Tokiwadai was greeted by a faculty member of the school who was in charge of the basketball club at Aiwa Middle School.

The coach asked why the coach of the basketball wasn't here to guide them.

Teacher: ”The coach quit last year after the Nationals, and we haven't been able to find a person to find to fill his position.”

Shun's eyes narrowed to the extreme when he heard that Aiwa didn't have a coach since the Nationals.

Shun: 'Kirisaki Daiichi too didn't have a coach, and Hanamiya was coaching the team himself.'

The faculty member guided them to the gym, where the game was going to be held.

When Shun entered, he saw that a group of people was isolated from the rest of the members.

Shun was getting more and more sure that this was going to be a similar team to Kirisaki Daiichi when he saw that Hanamiya was part of that isolated group.

The group turned out to be the regulars of the Aiwa team, and from the looks of it, the rest of the members were avoiding interacting with them.

Shun: 'This just might turn out to be an ugly game.'

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Shun and the rest of the team were getting ready to play.

Shun looked at the coach and the Aiwa's teacher talking to a hired referee. Aiwa had hired a referee for the practice game.

Shun: 'Now it's final, they are planning something.'

Shun clicked his tongue and decided to warn his teammates.