The first semi-final of the prefectural tournament.
My name was Nitori Sanae, a member of Tachibana Middle High's basketball team. Our team managed to win the match safely and advanced to the finals. The team was a newly formed one and our morale was high since we were about to achieve what our senpai were unable to achieve last year, winning the prefectural tournament.
The final match would start at 2 p.m., so we had to keep our morale high until the game.
"Good game, Sanae~"
"Good game, Manaka. So, what's the plan, Captain?"
"The second match will start in twenty minutes, so feel free to take a break until then. After we're done watching the second match, we'll hold a strategy meeting."
"'Kay. Shall we take a breather outside?"
"Sure."
The winner of the prefectural tournament would be decided today, so the gym was filled with excitement from both the participants and the audience. That was why the air inside felt somewhat stuffy and hot even though the AC was working.
Outside wasn't really any better since it was summer, but at least there was fresh air. After we got the Captain's permission, my best friend, Houjou Manaka and I, left the locker room together.
"Sanae."
"Hm? What's up?"
"Our match just now… It was surprising."
"…I know, right? When we were losing in the first quarter, I thought that we were in deep trouble."
Our match against Joutou Higashi Middle High finished just a few minutes ago. The final score was an overwhelming victory for us, but it was a hard game. We could only win decisively after the opponent completely lost their willpower in the fourth quarter.
The biggest threat to us was their Captain. I think her name was Arae-san. She single-handedly led their team to win the regional tournament last year and advanced to this tournament's semi-final this year. (T/N: Idk why the raw said regional)
Their team had amazing momentum and it was troublesome to deal with. Even though we prepared ourselves pretty well for the game, we still had trouble dealing with them.
Arae-san in particular, was good at everything. Handling, feints, shooting, you name it. Not only that, she also had a unique rhythm that made it hard to defend her. She was at least as strong as our Captain, possibly even stronger.
During the first half, Manaka and I tried to guard her closely, but we weren't good enough to stop her. Half of our attempts to stop her ended in failure.
In the end, we managed to suppress her with our team's joint effort in the third and fourth quarters. Though that didn't change the fact that the match was tough. If there was one other decent player on their team aside from her, we probably wouldn't have won the match.
Thinking back, that girl really loved basketball. I could still remember the look of her face when she made a particularly stunning shot right through our defenses. It was so beautiful.
I envied her. I loved basketball too, but I couldn't devote my life to it the way she did. I only joined the basketball club because my parents told me to. Manaka was the same too.
Arae-san was the second person I knew who loved basketball that much.
"Manaka."
"What?~"
"Do you think that the girls from Joutou Higashi are still here?"
"Hmm~ Maybe? Arae-san should still be here at least… What, do you want to meet them? Shall we go together, then?"
"Okay, thank you, Manaka."
"No biggie~"
I gave my thanks to Manaka, who immediately understood my intentions. Well, it was natural that she did, we had been together since we were kids after all.
After buying some sports drinks from a vending machine at the entrance of the venue, we went to the locker room where Arae-san and her teammates were.
The lights were on and I could hear people's voices from inside. Manaka was right, they were still here.
"Are they in a meeting? …Let's wait for them then."
"'Kay."
We leaned our bodies against the wall and waited for their meeting to end.
I started to wonder what I should say when we meet. I should praise her at the very least.
There was a chance that she would take my words the wrong way, but if that actually happened, I could always apologize.
After a while, the voices behind the closed door finally subsided and just when I thought Arae-san would be coming out soon…
Bang!
"Eh?!"
Two girls in jerseys came running out of the room.
I recognized both of them. One of the girls was the starter of their team while the other one was Arae-san.
Both of them were glaring at each other.
"…What? I dare you… Say that again?"
"Like I said,I'm sick of your selfishness! Which part of my words didn't you understand?!"
There were items scattered on the floor, perhaps they were the belongings of the girl whose collar had been grabbed by Arae-san.
Were they fighting? I heard that this happened to some teams when they suffered a devastating loss, but this was the first time that I've seen a fight this big happening with my own eyes.
"Just think about it! Why the hell should I work this hard for mere club activities?! Our school is just a regular school! Normally, girls my age would go shopping on our days off, but what am I doing on mine? Practicing like a madman!"
"Then why did you even put up with it? You could always quit! Besides, you weren't the only one who suffered, everyone did! We practiced from early morning until late night to win the prefectural tournament, didn't we?!"
"Yes we did, but things simply went wrong after we got into the top eight! That stupid coach just used you as a standard and pushed everyone to do masochistic training like you always did! Because of you, he did such a useless thing!"
"But, if we didn't work that hard, we wouldn't have gotten this far! You know that too, don't you?"
It seemed like the other girl was complaining about their practice routine. From what I understood, their practice sounded tough, but I personally thought that you needed to put in more effort if you really wanted to win.
In other words, I agreed with Arae-san here, but that was my opinion, everyone was entitled to theirs.
"Of course I know that, but honestly, it isn't like I wanted to win the whole thing or anything. I just wanted us to get a win or two so that we wouldn't be an embarrassment. But if I were to say that, who knows what the coach would say. And of course I didn't tell you about it since you're the coach's favorite."
"…In other words, you did all that just because?"
"Yes. Well, the practice isn't all that useless. I got better and now I can raise my nose higher. But still, I'd prefer to not do that practice ever again. If only we lost before we got to the top eight, my life would be more enjoyable. I didn't need to feel bad for suffering such a miserable loss…"
She was probably talking about our previous match.
At the beginning of the game, the score was pretty much even and the audience was excited. But as time went on, the gap increased to ten, twenty, thirty and by the time it hit forty, the audience's gazes changed from heated to pity.
'Is this really the semi-final? It's so one-sided…'
'Their Captain switched out for a second and suddenly the gap widened this much… Ah, that's a hundred points for Tachibana…'
'Poor Captain, she's the only one who's hanging on. Where's the rest of her teammates?'
I could hear a lot of voices saying such words near the end of the game. Even though there wasn't much difference between the strengths of our teams, there was no way that the audience would be aware of that fact.
"…Are you seriously saying that? What about the rest of the team?"
"Most of them have the same opinion as me. Don't you realize that you're the only outlier here, Nagisa? You're a genius, you can never understand our feelings."
"…I see. I thought that we could be together until high school but if that's the case… Whatever. Do whatever shit you guys want."
After saying that, Arae-san ran out of the gym while still looking disheveled.
The right course of action to take here would be to chase her, tell her that they played really well and cheer her up.
But neither Manaka nor I were able to do that. We could only stand there in silence.
We didn't have the courage to reach out to the girl, who was running away with teary eyes. Even if we did, we wouldn't know how to comfort her since we weren't even her acquaintances.
"…Sanae, it's time. Captain called us already."
"Mm…"
That was the last time I ever saw her. Of course I never saw her on the court again either.
…That was one of Nitori Sanae's greatest regrets.