Chapter 83: Before The Game
Night Before the Game. After dinner, the entire Horizon team gathered once more in Takeshi-sensei’s room. Ayaka came along too, quietly slipping in and taking a seat beside Sayaka.
Coach Tsugawa stood at the front, arms crossed, eyes serious.
"Tomorrow," he began, "we face Wakayama Seiryuu Institute."
The room instantly fell silent. Everyone knew what that meant. They had watched it unfold today—Wakayama’s calculated domination, the unraveling of Kobe Minami Tech like pulling threads from a sweater.
"You saw how they played," Coach continued. "They stayed defensive, quiet, even weak for the first two quarters. But that wasn’t weakness—it was data gathering. Observation. Once they had what they needed..." he paused, eyes sweeping over the team, "they crushed their opponent in the third quarter. Systematically."
The air in the room grew heavier. No one needed to ask—they remembered what they saw. Wakayama didn’t just win. They dismantled, dissected, and discarded.
Sayaka chimed in from beside him, opening a tablet and showing the lineup.
"Most of their players operate like machines—cold, calculated, efficient. The most dangerous is their captain, Teshima Akihiro. Power forward. Some call him The Terminator. It fits."
"And their point guard," she added, "Seta Naoto. Think of him as the Robin to Teshima’s Batman—but don’t underestimate him. Fast, precise, and annoyingly intelligent."
Coach Tsugawa took the lead again, eyes sharp.
"And then there’s the mastermind behind it all. Renjirō Tsukinomiya, their coach. A genius. Still in his twenties and already reshaping how basketball is played in Japan. Maybe even the world."