Chapter 66 - Sora (1/2)

Shun snuck into the second-string gym without anyone noticing. He got up to the second-floor corridor and sat down so that he was less visible.

Shun rubbed his hands and chuckled.

Shun: ”Let's see who in the second-string has the potential to be promoted to first-string in the future.”

Shun was here to scout the first-years, who had the potential to be in the first-string in the future. He didn't want the members in the second-string to behave any differently, so he made sure that none of them noticed him.

He was here just in time to see the second-string's mini-games.

Shun: 'Nothing is better than watching players playing in a game. You can see their performance without any filters.'

There were a reason scouts and coaches based their reports on actual games rather than just stats. A player's true worth could be decided on the court. No matter how good they were in practice, it all amounted to nothing if they didn't perform in games.

Shun also had an ability that helped him perform exemplary as a scout. Shun's copy ability's application perfect profile could help him to understand a player better than they did themselves.

Sure he didn't have Aida Riko's physical scouter or Satsuki's analytical ability, but Shun could still discern players' skill and potential at a high level.

Shun rested his chin on his hand and started to absorb the information that his eyes saw. Every players' skills, timing, habits, which area of the court they preferred, which move did they preferred in clutch time, what made them tick, their ability to work with a team, every single detail was being recorded and stored by Shun.

Shun had been coming to second-string mini-games for a while. According to Shun.

Shun: ”There is no way watching the player once would be enough. Everybody has their ups and downs. I need to observe them for a while to make a decision that would satisfy me.”

Today was Shun's last day coming to the second-string for a while. He was going to make a recommendation to the coach, which would be later taken into consideration when promotions would be decided.

Shun was watching when he saw something unusual that he had not seen before from a certain player.

Shun looked towards a first-year. He had been playing as the shooting guard for the time Shun had been watching him play, but know he was playing as the point guard.

The first-year junior had lowered his scoring from his previous games and was now focusing on playmaking. He continued watching all the players with first-year on a high priority.

As he was watching Shun's eyes widened, he had to turn all his attention to the first-year that was playing point guard.

Shun stopped watching everybody and turned all his attention to that game.

The first-year was extremely short.

He was shorter than Kaitaini, and that was saying something. But despite that, he had something that attracted Shun's attention to him.

Shun: 'I didn't think someone other than me would have that ability in Tokiwadai. He can see it, the court.'

Shun looked at the plays been made by the first-year, he looked at the passes, and he could see what everyone was missing.

Shun: 'He has it. The court vision and spatial aptitude. Those could only be provided by those eyes.'

Shun had noticed that after the game against Aiwa, his court vision and spatial aptitude had been raised to the level of Hawk Eyes.

Shun looked at the wielder of the Hawk Eyes and smiled till his lips couldn't skip anymore.

Shun: 'This could be a game-changer.'

-*-*-*-*-*-

Shun's smile turned upside down as he continued to watch, a frown appeared on Shun's normally relaxed face.

Shun kept looking at his target and saw skill, decent speed, enough stamina to last a game, but he also saw piss-poor quality plays that weren't worthy of a player with the wielder of the Hawk Eyes.

Shun: ”What is he doing? Why is he doing no-look passes if he can't position the pass correctly.”

Shun also saw attempts to be tricky backfiring splendidly.

Shun: ”Don't do passes in positions that your teammates can't catch.”

As he kept looking, he found a player that had good personal skills, played with teamwork, but all of that ruined by piss-poor passing skills.

Shun: ”He is completely screwing up his gifts.”

Shun tried to stay still until the game was over, but it was getting difficult to stay still. Shun started to rock back and forth to release some frustration he was feeling.

Shun: ”Don't shout. Don't shout. Don't shout...”

Shun kept repeating the same words again and again. For Shun, who aspired to be the best playmaker out there, this was too hard to look at.

If it had been a different person who didn't have the Hawk Eyes, he wouldn't have been bothered, but a player who had the ability, but was screwing up royally, was too much for Shun to watch.

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

Shun: ”FINALLY!”

Everybody in the second-string looked up to find Shun standing there looking like he had escaped hell.

The members started to whisper amongst them, trying to figure out what Shun was doing there.

Shun had been so stealthy that no one knew that he had been there. Real ninja-level stuff.

Shun glared at the first-year and pointed at him.

Shun: ”You!”

The first-year looked around him, trying to figure out who Shun was pointing at.

Shun: ”Where in the world are you looking at? I am talking to you, shrimpy.”

The first-year got scared when he realized that Shun was talking to him. He pointed at himself and asked.

First-year: ”S-Shrimpy?”

Shun moved along the corridor and said.

Shun: ”Yeah, you! Wait right there, don't move! I am coming down there.”

Shun got down and stomped his way to the first-year.

The first-year was shaking in his shoes as he saw Shun making his way towards him. He had heard about Shun.