The practice started with a rather unsettling atmosphere. Both games of volleyball and basketball started at the same time and the girls were scattered around both courts. The basketball court had more spectators than the volleyball court though, probably because Amami-san was there.
The match would last for two ten minute halves. The official rule for basketball was four quarters of ten minutes each, but if they were to abide by that rule, everyone would be exhausted, which was why they cut the time down by half.
The first match would be a game between team 10-A and 11-A.
"I'm not going to go easy on you, Umi!"
"Likewise. Well, we don't have the grace of a pro-player over here, so we can't help but to do our best."
Umi knew better than anyone that class 10 was in a bad position, there was no way that she would let her guard down.
Arae-san might seem unmotivated, but that didn't change the fact that she was a good player. Who knows, maybe the incident from last time would light a fire under her.
"Who will do the tip-off? How about you, Arae-san? You're the tallest here…"
"Hm? Nah, you do it instead. Aren't you good at everything you do? Your height shouldn't matter, this should be a cinch for you."
"I'm not… Okay, I'll do it…"
Amami-san went to the center of the court.
Meanwhile on class 11's side.
"Nakamura-san, I'll leave it to you."
"Yes, it's my duty as the tallest girl in the team."
Nakamura-san, being the tallest on her team, would be participating in the tip-off.
Her height should be an advantage for her team since being tall was a huge boon in basketball.
Amami-san and Nakamura-san were facing each other in the center.
"I see, so those are the rumored Yuupai… I've only heard rumors, but now that I've seen the real thing… Yes, they're definitely a huge threat…"
"Y-Yuupai??"
"Yuu, don't mind this person… Nakamura-san, you can't say that out loud, you know? That's sexual harassment."
"Whoops, pardon me, I got carried away because of my previous conversation with Maehara-kun…"
Said Nakamura-san while giving me a sly grin. I hurriedly averted my gaze from her.
Umi shot me a suspicious look. Ugh, I had to explain everything to her later, huh?
I didn't even talk much with Nakamura-san. Hell, I was thinking about Umi's chest for almost the entirety of the conversation because she kept mentioning it.
…I had to tell her about this, huh? She'll call me an idiot again, won't she?
A no-good boyfriend point for me, I guess.
After all that happened, the game finally started on the teacher's whistle.
Nakamura-san won the tip-off.
"Here you go, captain!"
"Nice!"
Nakamura-san slammed the ball down in Umi's direction. Not only was she tall, she was also pretty athletic.
Amami-san tried her best too, but unfortunately for her, Nakamura-san had longer arms.
"Let's take it slow, everyone!"
Said Umi, giving her command. The other four players nodded before slowly moving into their positions. They probably had practiced a few times prior to this, and you could see the effort they had put in.
This was the kind of earnestness befitting of the honor students.
They moved to mark the members of class 10.
"You're here, huh, Yuu?"
"Yes, I'm here. It's my role to guard you."
The match turned into a battle between the first and second cutest girls from last year's class and this fact made the boys start to whisper among each other.
"…Yuu, I really want to settle the score with you, but… Sorry, today's not the right time…"
"Huh?"
"Nakamura-san."
"Understood, leave it to me!"
However, Umi betrayed everyone's expectations and went toward another person.
"Hello, thank you for your hospitality the other day."
"…Tch…"
She went to the ace (supposedly) of class 11.
It seemed like she wanted to settle things with her first before taking on Amami-san.
"What do you want?"
"Nothing? I'm just keeping you in check. I mean, aren't you supposed to be good at the game?"
"Don't waste your breath, if it's just you small fry, I could beat you while half-asleep."
"Sure sure."
"Listen to other people when they're talking to you, runner up."
"…Just you wait…"
At that exact moment, Umi increased her speed to try to shake off Arae-san. But that girl was an experienced player, she was able to keep up with Umi effortlessly.
I guess even after she stopped playing for a year, she was still a strong player.
"Ugh…"
"What's wrong? I thought you're going to show me something good?"
"Yes, here I go…"
"Huh?"
"Here, pass!"
Just when everyone thought that Arae-san managed to seal off Umi's moves completely, Umi passed the ball behind without looking back.
A girl who had shaken off her opponent ran toward the ball.
"Shichino-san, the course is clear! Shoot!"
"Roger!"
After holding Arae-san back, Umi sent that instruction to the girl.
The place where she would be shooting from was a little far, but since there was no one guarding her, she could take her time to aim before shooting.
"Haaah!"
At that moment, Amami-san managed to shake off Nakamura-san and tried to block the shot, but it was too late, the ball had already left the girl's hands.
The ball was sucked into the hoop.
"O-Ohh!! I did it, yay!"
"Nice, Nana-chan~"
"Nice!!"
Were they also coached by Nitori-san and Houjou-san? Class 11 easily scored their first point. The one who scored wasn't their ace, Umi, but an inexperienced looking girl. The atmosphere became more exciting because of that.
Umi glanced at me, asking for praise, or at least that was what her expression told me.
"…Mhm, you're amazing."
I nodded and gave her a thumbs-up, she smiled and gave me a peace sign in response,
…God, she was so cute…
After that, she turned to Arae-san.
"Yo, Arae-san…"
"…What?"
"I know that I can't beat you right now, so I'm just going to beat you together with my team."
"…Tch…"
At first, I was worried that things would escalate badly between the two of them, but it looked like everything would be fine. I still needed to keep a close eye on them though.
"Alright, let's get back on defense! We'll be fine as long as we remember our practice!"
""""Roger!""""
Their team had good cooperation with Umi as their leader. After Umi's command, they immediately took a defensive formation.
In team sports like this, cooperation was what made a team strong.
Meanwhile, class 10…
"Amami, ball."
"Huh? Y-Yes… Arae-san, the game's just started, we can still turn the tables–"
"No need, I can do it by myself."
"Huh, but–"
"They are just a bunch of amateurs, I could handle them alone. Give me the ball."
"O-okay…"
That seemed to have motivated Arae-san a little, but could she really beat them all by herself?