She was serious when she said that she would pull something like this during the match.
As long as Arae-san passed the ball to Amami-san, she would pass it right back.
She stopped caring about winning or losing.
"…Are you for real, Yuu?"
"Mm. Well, I'm just applying what I've been practicing, which is supporting Arae-san wholeheartedly."
Umi, Nitta-san and I let out a resigned sigh.
Of course, this kind of play would only piss the other team members off, but no one on the team who had been practicing regularly showed any hostility toward Amami-san. Instead, they were glaring daggers at Arae-san.
'Play properly, Nagisa Arae. Stop messing around!', such thoughts were hidden behind their glares.
"Don't dawdle, everyone! It's our turn now, so let's show them the result of our practice!"
"Right! The opponent is not in a good situation right now, let's crush them!"
Amami-san's unexpected move caused the court to fall into silence, but Umi roused class 11's fighting spirit. Everyone from class 11 immediately went on the offensive.
Those girls had been practicing their coordination as a team, so there was no way that class 10, who was divided, could handle them. They broke through class 10's defenses without any trouble and scored the first point.
It only took around ten seconds for them to score. Their attack was so swift that it was unthinkable that they were actually amateurs.
"Nagisa-chan, here…"
"Ah… Yeah… Ugh, that Amami…"
Arae-san received the ball from the teammate that was a part of her cronies. She glared at Amami-san who was already standing on the opponent's side of the court.
Amami-san said that she would pass the ball to Arae-san if she were to receive it, but in the end that was the only thing that she would do. She would still play properly. Instead of standing around while waiting for Arae-san to move, she would position herself to receive the ball properly.
She was playing perfectly as a support. The other team members also acted similarly. The only thing they needed to make their plans work was for Arae-san to play properly.
"Here you go, Arae-san."
"Why are you giving it to me? No one is marking Amami-san, give it to her. Also, can't you just shoot the ball? You could do it from your position."
Amami-san returned the ball to Arae-san when she passed it to her and the same thing happened whenever she passed the ball to other members of her team. The ball would always end up in Arae-san's hand even when her cronies tried to pass it around.
'What are they doing?'
'Internal discord? Or are they actually throwing the game?'
'C'mon, if you don't attack properly, you can't win!'
'This match is boring.'
Such remarks could be heard from the audience, but Amami-san didn't care. She ignored a lot of opportunities to score to make sure that Arae-san received the ball.
It was Arae-san who seemed to mind what the audience were saying.
Because of that, she couldn't concentrate on the game at all.
"…Alright!!"
"Urk!…"
One of the opponent's members didn't miss the opportunity and stole the ball from Arae-san.
"Shichino-san, over here!"
"Here you go!"
The moment she saw that the ball was stolen, Umi immediately dashed toward the net, received the ball and made a lay-up.
Time passed and the score was now 0-20. We were currently halfway through the first half.
Only a small number of the audience remained at this point since most of them had moved to the volleyball court.
The teacher who acted as a referee was looking at class 10 strangely, probably wondering what to do in this situation.
But even in such situation, class 11 didn't hold back.
"Get them, Asanagi-chan!"
"Got it!"
Umi received the ball from Nakamura-san and shot a three-pointer.
"…Alright!"
Umi made a gut pose as the ball beautifully sank through the hoop.
The score was 0-30 at the end of the first half.
Class 11 had an overwhelming advantage due to their teamplay despite the fact that they were amateurs.
'Nice, Asanagi-chan!'
'The coolest! The cutest!'
'That's our idol!'
Umi responded to her classmates' cheers with a small wave. I could see that she was blushing.
She looked so cute and I was happy that she looked so happy, but at the same time I felt troubled because my class looked so bad compared to them.
"…"
"…"
Opposed to the cheerful class 11, class 10 was silent. Normally, Amami-san would energetically rouse their spirits whenever they were losing, but she was the reason why this happened, so her expression was gloomy.
"Here you go, Arae-san."
"…"
Amami-san picked up the ball and passed it to Arae-san, but the latter just ignored it.
The ball bounced to the opposing team's territory since no one tried to pick it up.
"…Oi, wheat gyaru, when will you stop moping?"
"Shut it, beanstalk."
"So, you're okay with being humiliated by us like this?"
"Don't say that to me."
In the end, class 11 scored another point.
The match was simply one-sided.
By far, this was the worst basketball match I've ever seen in my life.
"Yuu-chan, I don't think we should keep this up…"
"Yeah, I agree with her, Nagisa-chan. Don't you feel bad for class 11? They've been giving it their all, we should show our respect by doing our best…"
Perhaps they had enough of this situation, the team members who had been cooperating with Amami-san spoke up. Even her cronies spoke up.
But the two girls who were at the center of all this remained silent.
This was a mere class match, nothing more than an extension of P.E, if I were to borrow Arae-san's words. But losing this way would bring nothing but ridicule. There were only a few people watching them at this point, but there was no guarantee that they wouldn't start a strange rumor once this was over.
Both of them should know that there was no point in acting stubborn any longer. It would just make everything worse for both of them.
Arae-san wanted to do the minimum amount of work because she thought that everything was a hassle.
Amami-san didn't want to let her have her way.
They hadn't found common ground ever since the start of the match.
"What's the best course of action here?"
I muttered that as I looked at the gloomy faces of both Amami-san and Arae-san.
Well, there was a way to fix this situation.
If the two of them took a step back and worked together as a team, they would be able to close the score gap. After all, those two girls were formidable players. Arae-san was a charismatic captain who led her team to victory back in middle school, while Amami-san was an unpredictable player who would surprise her opponents with her sick plays.
Class 11 was formidable, but if those two worked together, they should be able to beat them.
This would make Umi happy as well. I didn't want all the time she spent on practice to turn to nothing because of this. She had been trying her best, so I wanted her to face a worthy opponent at the very least.
"How can I make them cooperate?"
I looked at Umi. She was on the opposing team, but I wanted her to win the most.
I wanted her to win against her best friend properly. I wanted to see her looking at me with a proud expression on her face and her usual peace sign. I wanted to hug her and praise her afterwards.
I wanted all that, so I needed those two girls to cooperate.
I wanted them to settle things. Everything would get better between them if that were to happen.
The smiles on their faces when everything was properly settled would be better than the frowns they currently had.
"…Do your best."
My voice was lower than usual, so I took a deep breath and raised my voice.
"C'mon, Class 10! Don't give up!"
"M-Maki-kun?!"
Amami-san noticed my voice and turned her head toward my direction. This was the first time that someone cheered for class 10, the other people at the court instantly focused their gazes on me.
That was when I knew that my fate was sealed. Umi and the others would tease me later, but I didn't care. I decided to put up with it.
"The game isn't over yet! You can make it if you try! C'mon, crush them!"
I could do nothing but cheer for them because I was just a part of the audience, but at least it was better than complaining like the other people did. This would give them the push they needed, probably.