A mont later, Akira finally arrived at the building, just to find out that not a single player took notice of his appearance. They all were too busy gathering around the two freshn, chatting and laughing as if they were long-lost friends. Not that he couldn't bla them, though. Hell, a small, fond smile even ford on his face as he watched their interaction, feeling relief that no one made a fuss about their kouhai entering a professional team.
He wiped out that smile quickly, though, as he walked through the court and coughed, stopping all the interaction there. "Well, good to see that everyone has already gathered here. For now, let's sit down first and talk about our future."
This announcent alone was enough to make all the players move from the spot and sit in front of the coach. Even though the playful expression from chatting with each other was still there, Akira could see the focus was back on him, and he nodded in a satisfied manner for that.
"Okay, first of all, congratulations to Yuki and Riku who managed to break through the Thunder U-19 main team and showed a good performance for the last couple of weeks. Now, they are on almost all the professional clubs' radar and would be treated as a professional player too." Applauses followed the explanation as everyone looked at the two rookies in awe. "Now, is there anything you both want to share from your experience there?"
The corner of Riku's lips twitched in annoyance and Yuki could see why. They both ca here under the impression of going for an ergency eting, yet the first thing Akira did was throw them under the bus.
"Well, how should I say it…" Yuki pondered, taking over the conversation. "No offense to you guys, but even though we are just in the U-19 competition, everyone was a level higher than in the Inter-high tournant. The players there know how to fight for their own and do not always rely on their teammates, and even the specialist players are still better overall compared to us."
Riku also nodded in agreent.
"What about Konan or Matsukita?" Ogawa suddenly asked. "Can you compare those two teams with the pros?"
"This…" Yuki and Riku stared at each other, hesitating. However, it wasn't them who answered that question, but Akira.
"I don't know about Matsukita, but Konan is definitely stronger than so of the teams there." He said it solemnly.
"Eh?!" This ti, even Yuki and Riku were surprised by the decisive answer. "Why would you say that, Sensei?" One of them asked.
"Because before the U-19 competition this year started, they had a pre-season tournant and invited Konan-High as one of the guest teams. Guess what is their result?" Without waiting for an answer, he continued, "In a knockout format with 20 teams participating, Konan won four of their five, only losing in the final against Kyoto Castle. Hell, they even won their ga against Nagano Eagles U-19, which was the second-best team in the competition. That should tell you how capable they are, right?"
If anything, this only instilled more fright in the players about Konan High.
Even though it had been a long ti since their ga against Konan, all the Tsunemori players still rembered the horror of being dominated by the best school in Japan. However, after spending the entire sumr break to improve themselves, they had an illusion that maybe, this was enough to catch up with those teams on top. Unfortunately, the new information from Akira woke them up from their daydreaming, forcing them to realize that they were still far from the top.
"Wait, if they are that good, how co not a single player from their school joining the professional team?" Yuki suddenly asked.
"Because their school also has their own arrogancy," Akira answered shortly. Yuki was too dumbfounded to react, so the coach continued, "You have to rember that the U-19 competition is still pretty new here, and not a lot of people are optimistic about its state. For the top schools like Konan and Matsukita, they still believed that they could ensure their players' competitiveness without letting them wander around in an unknown competition like that, and they also had a lot of connections to ensure that the players who wanted to be pros would be scouted, not just by teams from Japan, but also several more from abroad."
This…
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Even though it sounded arrogant, Konan and Matsukita had the right capital to do so. They weren't the best team in the country for nothing. Just one word from them would be enough to gather so many professional scouts from all over the country. Their school was even dubbed by the public as a superstar factory considering how many national players ca from them. That was the strength of the best team in the country.
Akira shook his head quickly, trying to banish that thought for now. Looking at the downcast expression on his players' faces, he clapped his hand loudly to gain their attention.
"Okay, that is a story for another ti. For now, let's focus on what we are going to do first." Even though the negative aura still lingered among the players, they all put it aside to focus on the coach one more ti. "Well, thanks to Riku and Yuki for sharing their experience. Now, let's jump onto our main topic, the winter tournant."
All of them straightened their back imdiately at that.
"As all you know, the winter tournant will start in the first week of November, which is still two months from now. However, we will start our preparation from tomorrow."
This stunned half of the players there. "From tomorrow?" Koji repeated the coach's words hesitantly. "But is it a bit too… Early?"
"I know." Akira nodded in acknowledgnt. "But here is the thing. I heard from soone that Konan High and Matsukita had already started practicing for the winter break a week ago. So, if the two championship teams have already been one step forward, how would you chase them if not by working twice as hard as them?"
At first, most of them were startled, but their spirits burned imdiately when Akira ntioned them chasing the two championship teams. Although they knew they were still far from those two teams, having been improving themselves during the sumr training had given them the confidence to think about it. And now, with their two super rookies back on the team, they finally dared to dream more.
"Good expression." Akira nodded in approval. "For now, go back ho first and rest well, because after this, I will not show any rcy for you all. The training will be started fifteen minutes after the school is over, and whoever cos late will have to clean the gymnasium after the training is over, is that acceptable?!"
"Yes, Coach!"
And that was the beginning of a new story, of how Tsunemori High tried to repeat their miraculous performance for the Inter-high to the winter tournant. As for how it went, well, who knew? But as long as they worked harder than anyone else, they all believed that they would achieve sothing at the end of the journey.
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