Chapter Ninety-Five: Best Actor
"Sorato!"
"Yagami!"
Ryonan's players frantically surrounded Yagami, checking his injuries. Coach Taoka rushed onto the court immediately.
"Are you alright?" Taoka's heart lurched when he saw Yagami's pained expression, his face instantly turning pale. "Get him to the medical room!"
Sendoh and Fukuda supported Yagami from both sides, helping him toward the tunnel.
"If anything happens to Yagami, I won't let you guys off!" Ikegami couldn't control the rage on his face as he shouted at Hanamiya and Matsumoto, still lying on the floor screaming.
"Yagami... he'll be okay, right?" In a corner of the stands, Kise unconsciously clenched his fists.
"Hard to say." Kasamatsu's expression was grim. "First he got hit mid-air and lost his balance, then landed on one foot—and it looks like he stepped on the opponent's foot... If he just can't play this game, that would be lucky."
He paused, his voice dropping. "Worst case scenario, he might miss the upcoming nationals. Or even... his entire basketball career could be—"
"Those bastards!!"
Among Shohoku's group, Mitsui showed the most fury. Nobody understood better than him how such an "injury" could easily and cruelly crush a player's future full of infinite possibilities.
Especially when it was completely deliberate!
The game was forced to stop again. The referee walked toward the scorer's table with a helpless expression, trying to use the replay to determine what had just happened.
The result was obvious. While Hanamiya's "pushing motion" might still be debatable as intentional, Matsumoto's "foot extension" was completely and utterly a malicious foul!
Except—
The replay showed Matsumoto's ankle bent at a 90-degree angle from Yagami's "step," while Hanamiya's face was bleeding heavily, appearing to be at least a fractured nose...
The two players who'd committed malicious fouls looked far more seriously injured than Yagami.
"Perhaps this is karmic justice," the referee thought to himself.
---
Ryonan's medical room.
"This... this is incredible!"
The medical staff repeatedly examined Yagami's ankle, their faces filled with disbelief.
The swelling was far less severe than expected. His range of motion was basically normal. There were no signs of soft tissue damage either.
"Landing single-footed on someone's instep from that height—normally that's at minimum a torn ligament..." He shook his head while wrapping Yagami's ankle with elastic bandage. "But some players are just born with special body structure. Tendon elasticity and bone density far beyond ordinary people—this kind of injury resistance and recovery ability is itself the most precious talent."
"You've got superstar potential, young man." The doctor patted Yagami's calf in admiration.
Yagami nodded. He was feeling a bit shaken himself now. He'd certainly prepared for this, but hadn't expected their moves to be even more severe than he'd imagined. If he hadn't gripped the rim to maintain his balance while getting a clear view of his "landing spot," he might actually be lying in a hospital bed right now...
"Doctor, could you wrap the bandage a bit thicker?" Yagami asked quietly.
"..." The doctor gave Yagami a strange look. His face was completely innocent.
Eventually, Yagami sat on Ryonan's bench, his foot wrapped like a dumpling.
"This time you just got lucky. Don't ever do something that dangerous again." Taoka's expression was unusually serious. When he'd seen Yagami get flagrantly fouled, he felt his heart stop for a moment.
Knowing the opponent's tactics were dirty, yet deliberately charging into the paint and jumping right in front of them—it was almost like he was inviting them to foul him!
Wait...
Inviting?
Coach Taoka looked at Yagami. The rest of Ryonan had just learned his injury wasn't actually serious.
"I understand! I definitely won't do that again!" Yagami smiled with a completely harmless expression.
"Leave the rest of the game to us." Sendoh said calmly. "Next time something like this happens, a first-year shouldn't have to be the one dealing with it."
"Coach, let me play too!" Uozumi said.
Uozumi was also fine—his eye wasn't injured. The blood came from a cut on his eyebrow, which had been bandaged.
"Uozumi-senpai should rest. Sendoh and I are enough to finish the game." Fukuda said seriously.
"But..."
"Uozumi-senpai should just watch from the bench." Yagami held him back. "Looks like Kirisaki will be down two players too. Sendoh-senpai and Fukuda-senpai can definitely win."
"What about me? You didn't mention me at all!" Ikegami complained.
"Oh right, and Ikegami-senpai..." Yagami rolled his eyes.
"And us too!" Uekusa and Koshino said in unison.
"Alright, alright!" Coach Taoka waved his hand. "Just win the game. We absolutely cannot give up this victory!"
---
The game resumed. Yagami's dunk before the stoppage counted.
Ryonan 55 - Kirisaki Daiichi 48
The referee called a Flagrant 1 on Matsumoto. Ryonan got two free throws plus possession.
Kirisaki's Hanamiya and Matsumoto were subbed out due to severe injuries, replaced by two second-year bench players. Yamazaki, whom Ryonan expected to return, was completely absent from Kirisaki's roster.
For Ryonan, with Yagami and Uozumi out, Uekusa and Sugahira entered the game.
Sendoh took the free throws, making both.
Immediately after, Uekusa inbounded from the sideline. Sendoh shook off Furuhashi and rose up from beyond the arc.
Still good!
Ryonan 60 - Kirisaki Daiichi 48
The gap quickly widened to 12 points.
From that point forward, the referee's whistle became much stricter. This was a high school game—no more bloodshed would be tolerated.
After losing Hanamiya and Matsumoto, Kirisaki essentially lost their backbone. Meanwhile, Ryonan still had Sendoh running the show. They couldn't stop Fukuda's drives either. The gap in team strength was enormous, and the margin continued growing.
In the fourth quarter, Uozumi couldn't resist checking back in. He played even more ferociously in the paint, hammering through contact and throwing down vicious dunks, occasionally accompanied by wild roars.
The referee finally had enough and gave Uozumi a warning. Only then did he calm down.
Ryonan 99 - Kirisaki Daiichi 72
In the end, Ryonan won decisively, becoming one of the Inter-High Kanto Final Four.
Kirisaki Daiichi became the first team from Tokyo to be eliminated in the quarterfinals.
---
Around noon, the Ryonan players grabbed a simple meal at a restaurant near the venue instead of returning to their lodging. The reason was simple—Court A had an afternoon game worth watching.
Shohoku versus Seirin!