T/N: If you're wondering, this arc ends on chapter 154.
The referee blew the whistle, signaling the beginning of the second half.
Similar to the first half, Umi quickly marked Arae-san who received the ball from her teammate.
“…Hello, sorry to bother you again.”
“You’re so persistent.”
“Yes, I am a sowhat persistent person.”
During the first half, they double-tead Arae-san, but now, they added a third defender.
Since they pulled three people to defend her, the other two mbers had to deal with four people from Arae-san’s team, but since Arae-san never passed the ball to anyone except her single follower on her team, the strategy seed feasible.
Like in the previous half, Nakamura-san and Umi clung to Arae-san, the new defender was standing by behind them, probably to make sure that Arae-san wouldn’t be able to catch them off guard with a feint again.
Looking at this situation, no matter how amazing of a player Arae-san was, there was no way that she could get out of this easily.
“Tch… Get away from !…”
“…Oof.”
She tried to force her way through, but she used too much force and Umi fell down. The referee declared that as a foul.
Arae-san clicked her tongue for the umpteenth ti after hearing the referee’s whistle.
“Ouchie…”
“Are you okay, Asanagi-chan?”
“I’m fine, I just lost my balance.”
Umi stood up with Nakamura-san’s help. I was worried for a second there since she made a loud sound when she fell down, but it didn’t seem like she was hurt anywhere.
Since there were no reserve mbers, they wouldn’t kick you off the court no matter how many fouls you made. Instead, they’ll give the opposing team a free throw every five fouls you made.
During the first half, class 10 made three fouls in total (Arae-san’s fouls) and this would be the fourth foul. Umi would definitely take the free throw, so it was pretty much a guaranteed point if she fouled again.
In this situation, Arae-san had to play more cautiously. Instead of trying to break through, she would probably try to shoot from the three-point line instead.
Of course, shooting from that far away would definitely lower her chance to score.
“!”
“Nakamura-san, please!”
“Here I go!”
After the fourth foul, Umi, probably thinking that Arae-san wouldn’t try to force her way again, told Nakamura-san to get the rebound.
Amami-san moved to hinder her, but there was only so much she could do against the taller Nakamura-san.
Then, a petite girl quickly ran toward class 10’s basket. I think her na was… Shichino-san? She calmly took the ball from Nakamura-san and scored, creating a gap between the two teams’ scores.
“Don’t worry, Arae-san. I’ll do my best to get the ball for you next ti, you should only concentrate on shooting.”
“…Noisy… I know what I’m doing…”
Five minutes minutes into the second half, Arae-san’s forehead was covered in sweat. It seed like her stamina hadn’t completely recovered yet.
Slowly, the point difference between the two teams got even wider, anwhile Arae-san’s state got worse.
Of course, Umi didn’t hold back because of this. She fully intended to break her down completely.
“Arae, foul.”
“What? I didn’t push her!”
“You made contact with her and I saw you leaning over. That’s a foul.”
“Ugh…”
I wasn’t close enough to see what happened, but the mont Arae-san applied a little force forward, Umi lost her balance and fell.
…She should be able to handle that much force though?
Got you…
I saw Umi mouthed those words before sticking her tongue out.
It was up for debate whether her move was smart or cowardly, but all that mattered was it was enough to frustrated Arae-san.
Since this was the fifth foul, the referee gave two free throws to class 11.
“…Alright!”
Umi scored both shots as expected and the gap was now in the double digits.
“Just because you can’t win, you have to resort to small tricks like this? Amazing, it really shows how pitiful of a person you are…”
“Thanks for the complint.”
Umi answered Arae-san’s poisonous words with a relaxed attitude, probably because it was a fact that her team was ahead.
…Still, a pitiful person? Has she ever looked in the mirror?
“It’s fine, Arae-san, there’s still ti! If we start attacking together–”
“…Oi…”
“Hm? What is it?”
“I’ve told you that I don’t need that sh*t, right?!”
Arae-san raised her voice before slamming down the ball from Amami-san’s hand.
Her voice echoed through the gym, even the girls who were playing volleyball looked over to the basketball court because of it.
“…Umi…”
“Got it.”
I called out to Umi and moved closer to them so I could stop them imdiately if sothing happened.
Both of them were probably frustrated at how things were going, not to ntion the tension between the two of them at the mont. But still, lashing out in front of the teachers like this wasn’t a good idea.
The teacher went to the scene not long after, but Amami-san just smiled at them.
“It’s okay, Sensei, this isn’t a big deal.”
“But, Amami…”
“Everything is fine, Sensei. Just treat this as a child throwing a tantrum.”
Said Amami-san with a smile. Her words were sharp though.
She really was frustrated, huh?
Well, of course she would be, she was a normal human being, she had emotions too.
“Huh, I thought you’ll cry to your friends about this, so is this your true nature?”
“I’ve always been like this, I just happened to have a higher tolerance toward bulls**t than my friends…”
This was probably the second ti I’ve seen Amami-san’s anger. Last year’s lottery incident was the first ti and it had already turned into a distant mory for . But it seed like she was even angrier than back then.
“Arae-san, can’t you see how childish you are right now? You’re acting stubborn and lashing out at people for no reason, causing trouble to those around you. If that isn’t childish, then what is? You called Umi pitiful, but have you looked at yourself in the mirror?”
“Huh?!”
“I don’t know why you hate in the first place and I honestly don’t care. You could hate all you want, I don’t give a sh*t. But, if you hate then, just hate . Why are you bringing other people into this, huh?”
“…”
Arae-san kept her silence, probably taken aback by Amami-san’s sudden outburst.
Actually, Umi was the sa.
“…S-Sorry, I got a bit emotional… The thing is, I could keep calm because my friends were the ones who got angry for , but that doesn’t an that I don’t have any feelings…”
“…Shut it, I’m sick of hearing you talking. Just stop treating as your friend, we just happened to be in the sa class–”
“I’m not treating you as a friend… We aren’t friends, but we are still teammates. Teammates help each other out, it’s not a hard concept to understand, right?”
“…The people who’ll just slow down don’t deserve to be called teammates…”
“Huh?”
Everyone who was nearby heard that mutter ca from Arae-san’s mouth.
Her overbearing profile turned weak for a second there.
“…Whatever… I’m tired… Sorry, Sensei, I don’t feel so good… I’m going to take a break.”
When she realized what she said, Arae-san ran toward the direction of the girls’ changing room.
“Sorry, Sensei, we wasted too much ti. I think it should be okay to start the next match imdiately, let’s just say that we lost this ga… We’re going to cool our heads for a bit…”
Then Amami-san apologized to the rest of her teammates with a weak smile before going straight to the water fountain outside.
The result of the match was class 11’s victory. Their strategy worked out well and technically won them the match, but Umi seed unsatisfied.
“Where are you going, Asanagi-chan? We have to record the scores and clean up after this…”
“Sorry, Nakamura-san, I’m a little thirsty…”
“Got it, just leave the clean-up to us then. Amami-chan is your best friend, right? Go comfort her~”
“Mhm… Let’s go, Maki…”
“Mm.”
Both of us then left the gym to console the depressed Amami-san.
Fuel my gacha addiction please
Reviews
All reviews (0)