Chapter 120 - The Tournament Opens
July 5th. Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
Midsummer in Tokyo. The air outside was thick and saturated with heat, the kind that made the shade feel like a minor insult rather than genuine relief. Inside the gymnasium it was something else entirely - the heat of thousands of people packed into a building where the thing they had come to see was finally happening.
The National High School Basketball Championship had arrived.
The venue held tens of thousands. Every seat was occupied. The noise moved in waves across the arena floor - school flags being waved above the stands, the rhythmic percussion of cheering sticks, the overlapping chants of dozens of team sections staking out their territory, and cutting through all of it at intervals, the gymnasium's broadcast system with announcements and schedule updates.
"The National High School Athletic Championship Basketball Competition opening ceremony will now begin. Will the competing teams please enter the arena."
Music. The enormous electronic display suspended above the court floor began rotating promotional footage and highlights from the qualifying tournaments - each school's best moments assembled into a two-minute window.
When Sannoh Industrial's name appeared, the Akita section detonated. When Rakuzan High School came up, the Kyoto contingent answered. When Touou Academy's highlights played, the Tokyo crowd produced something that filled the building from floor to ceiling.
"Ah..." Chinatsu Yuika stood in the stands wearing the Ryonan supporter shirt she had picked out carefully, a cheering whistle around her neck, looking at the arena with wide eyes. "This is what the nationals look like."
She swiveled her head in every direction. "Sorato! Has Sorato come out yet?!"
"Yuika, calm down," said Kobayashi Nana from beside her, amused and slightly exasperated, trying to keep hold of Yuika's arm. "Ryonan hasn't been announced yet. You've asked that four or five times."
"You have to cheer for him with me when he comes out."
"Yes, I know, you've mentioned it."
The announcements continued, each school name drawing its regional section of the crowd.
"Tokyo representative - Touou Academy."
"Kyoto representative - Rakuzan High School."
"Aichi representative - Meiko Industrial."
"Fukuoka representative - Hakata Shoudai Affiliated High School."
"Akita representative - Sannoh Industrial."
"Osaka representative - Toyotama High School."
"Kanagawa representative - Ryonan High School."
"THAT'S OUR SCHOOL!"
Yuika and Nana were on their feet along with the Ryonan section, the noise swallowing individual voices, cheering sticks working furiously.
"Sorato! Sorato!"
Watching the blue uniforms walk onto the floor, Yuika felt the particular combination of pride and anxiety that came with knowing the person you were cheering for was also the person carrying a piece of the outcome.
---
In the press section, Aida Yayoi adjusted her camera focus with practiced efficiency, tracking the teams as they crossed the arena floor. Her press outfit was neat and businesslike, her attention fully on the job.
"The field this year is something else, senpai," said Nakamura Heisuke from beside her, surveying the arena. "With the new bracket format the sixteen teams that qualified are basically sixteen top programs. There's almost no one here to run up the score against."
"Right," Yayoi said. "And it's single elimination. Every game is final."
"Especially for first-time nationals players. The pressure has to be unlike anything they've experienced."
Nakamura's camera had been drifting through the players on the floor. It stopped.
"Is that Morishige from Meiko Industrial?" He let out a low sound. "That build. No wonder he won the Aichi MVP."
It was a reasonable reaction. In the previous year, exactly one first-year player had won a prefectural qualifying MVP award - Sawakita Eiji of Sannoh Industrial, who was currently regarded as the best high school player in Japan. This year there were four first-years who had accomplished the same thing: Morishige Hiroshi of Meiko Industrial, Aomine Daiki of Touou Academy, Akashi Seijuro of Rakuzan High School, and Yagami Sorato of Ryonan High School.
And those four weren't the extent of it. Midorima Shintaro and Murasakibara Atsushi - both playing in the Kanto bracket on other teams - were the same profile of player, their positions in other prefectures the only reason they weren't also in this conversation.
"This generation of talent," Nakamura said, "is going to be looked back on as something remarkable. Japanese high school basketball is heading somewhere different."
"Maybe," Yayoi said. She was looking at the Ryonan section of the floor, where she could make out the outlines of her brother's team. "But it's still five people on a court. Who actually wins the championship - nobody knows that yet."
"Either way, this tournament is going to be remembered." Nakamura laughed. "I've started enjoying this job more lately."
"I can tell."
Yayoi thought about her brother, and about Sendoh Akira who had spent several days at her house watching game footage on the grounds that the facilities there were better, and about what a stage this enormous might do to players who were becoming something right in front of her eyes.
---
The Ryonan players followed Coach Taoka through the entrance and back into the building where, two weeks earlier, the Kanto regional final had been played and lost.
The place had the same dimensions. The same light. The same specific quality of air inside a large indoor venue at the beginning of a summer tournament.
Some of them felt the recognition immediately. Half a month ago. 117 to 119.
"Here we are again." Yagami breathed in steadily. "This time, we stay until the end."
"There are so many people!" Hikoichi turned in a slow circle, eyes moving across the stands. "More than the regional final, even!"
"Obviously," Ikegami said, in the tone of someone who had prepared himself for this. "This is the national championship. The regional final was the regional final."
"That's just obvious," Koshino muttered.
"Don't argue," Uozumi said, in the low rumble that was his version of a quiet voice. "Whoever we play, we play our game." He was fairly certain that his heart was beating faster than it should be, but he wasn't going to mention that.
"I wish Fukuda were here," Sendoh said.
"He'll be here soon," Uekusa said, with the gentle certainty of someone who believed it.
The day's schedule had appeared on the main display overhead:
Court A:
First game: Chuuominal High School vs Ryonan
Second game: Takamizawa vs Meiko Industrial
Court B:
First game: Sannoh Industrial vs Tsukubu
Second game: Naha Suisan vs Toyotama
Court C:
First game: Touou Academy vs Hakata Shoudai Affiliated
Second game: Iwashimizu vs Rakuzan High School
Court D:
First game: Aiwa Academy vs Ropponmatsu
Second game: Yousen High School vs Narimine
Courts A and B were the eastern bracket. Courts C and D were the western bracket. Schools from the same regional qualifying pool could not meet until the final.
Yagami's eyes passed over "Touou Academy" on the display, paused a moment, and moved on. Nothing showed on his face.
"Chuuominal. Kagawa's prefectural champions," Hikoichi began reciting from his notes. "Their starting lineup is four third-years and one second-year. Defensively they -"
"The ones to think about," Uozumi said, his voice carrying the deliberate weight of something he had been turning over for days, "are Meiko Industrial and Sannoh. Both in our half."
Hikoichi stopped mid-sentence and looked at the bracket again.
"Meiko's opponent is Takamizawa from Hokkaido - regional runner-up. Sannoh's opponent is Hakata Suisan from Kyushu - also runner-up." Koshino worked through the logic.
"I don't want to write off anyone," Koshino said slowly, "but those two aren't stopping Meiko and Sannoh."
The full weight of the eastern half settled over the group. Even after weeks of preparation, seeing the names side by side on a display in the actual venue had a different quality than seeing them on a blackboard.
"We're going to face all of them eventually," Yagami said, putting a hand briefly on Koshino's shoulder. "And look, the western half has Rakuzan and Yousen both sitting over there. Touou's side isn't exactly a vacation either."
"That's supposed to make me feel better?!"
Yagami's expression said that it should, and that he genuinely meant it as encouragement.
Koshino removed Yagami's hand from his shoulder, exhaled through his nose, and recalibrated.
"Fine. I can handle it. Whatever they bring, I can handle it."
"That's the idea," Uekusa said cheerfully.
"I know, I know," Koshino said.
---
"Please have the teams competing in today's first game on Court A remain. All other teams proceed to your designated warm-up courts."
The arena began to sort itself out, the main floor clearing as teams moved in different directions. The crowd redistributed toward the various courts according to the day's schedule.
Then a pocket of increased noise formed near the Ryonan team's position.
A group in black uniforms moved through the space. At the front was Aomine Daiki, skin darker than most, easy movement, the expression of someone who had been comfortable here since before he arrived. Imayoshi Shoichi walked a step behind him, glasses precise, the slight smile already in place.
Aomine came to a lazy stop a few meters from Yagami and Sendoh and delivered his greeting to both of them in the same breath.
"Don't embarrass yourselves. If you want a rematch, make it to the finals."
"We could say the same thing," Yagami said evenly. "Hakata Shoudai's not weak. Try not to lose in the first round."
Aomine bared his teeth in something that was more amusement than aggression.
The brief standoff between the two squads drew attention from the surrounding crowd in the way that recognizable faces always did in a place like this. The whispers moved outward from the center.
"Is that the team that beat Kaijo?"
"That's Aomine Daiki - Touou's ace. Tokyo champions this year."
"Weren't they in the Kanto final together?"
"No wonder the tension's this thick."
Then the crowd parted again. From the other side came something that changed the quality of the air in that corner of the arena without any announcement.
A group of players in white uniforms, moving together with the unhurried precision of people who had been doing this for long enough that composure was simply how they walked. At the front was a composed face that showed nothing in particular - Fukatsu Kazunari, Sannoh's captain, who scanned the assembled groups with the flat, unbothered attention of someone cataloguing information. Beside him, Kawata Masashi had the build and the stance of a center who had been the largest person in every room he had ever entered and had simply accepted it as the ground condition of his life.
"Hope we're not interrupting," said Sawakita Eiji, addressing Sendoh and Yagami with the easy friendliness of someone who had thought about this meeting with genuine anticipation. "Looks like the bracket worked out. We actually get to play in the same tournament."
"Yeah," Sendoh said, his posture shifting almost imperceptibly in a way that anyone who knew him would recognize as interest fully engaged. "Lucky us."
Sannoh's presence had compressed the noise level around them even further. The absolute confidence was something that existed in the air without being performed - it didn't announce itself, it simply was, and the people around it felt it.
Sawakita turned to Aomine. "I watched your game against Ryonan. You played well. Word is you want to be the best in the country?"
Aomine clicked his tongue. "You're not actually still calling yourself number one, are you?"
"Oh!" Sawakita pointed at him with both hands and a wide grin. "I like you."
He leaned forward slightly. "Sure, go ahead. Become the best in Japan." The smile held, genuine and competitive simultaneously. "After I win this championship and head to the States - in the Japan that's left behind, without me in it."
"Arrogant idiot," Aomine said. His eyes had gone cold.
"Those two," Yagami muttered under his breath, the particular irritation of someone watching a version of a conversation he had already had internally. They were both running a similar calculation, just about themselves.
He was about to say something when the crowd noise redirected itself.
A very tall group of players had appeared at the edge of the gathering. At the front was Murasakibara Atsushi, an unflavored stick snack hanging from his mouth, eyelids heavy, wearing the look of someone who had been mildly inconvenienced by the requirement to be awake. His height made the observation unnecessary to state.
"Aomine-chin," Murasakibara said, in the unhurried way he said most things. "Aka-chin says come by. Says we should talk before the bracket separates everyone."
"Why."
"Because with all of us in this, whoever loses is probably not going to be talking to whoever wins. That's what Aka-chin said."
"Fine." Aomine turned away without ceremony.
The gathered attention of the arena floor had found its way to this particular cluster - the various teams, the generation of first-years, the names on the day's schedules standing in proximity for what might be the last civil moment of the tournament.
Nearby, an unshaven man in a coaching jacket leaned toward the enormous player beside him.
"Hiroshi. You want to go introduce yourself?"
Morishige Hiroshi looked at the gathering with the detached expression of someone watching a scene that did not quite include him.
"Not really, coach," he said. "I'll just beat whoever I end up facing."
"You say that every time," said Tamura Eimitsuki, Meiko Industrial's head coach, with the exasperation of a man who had stopped being surprised by this a long time ago. "Would it kill you to have a little of the usual first-year excitement?"
Morishige scratched the back of his head. His smile was the kind that some people read as unsettling when they first saw it, though it didn't seem to carry any particular intent. "Basketball just feels kind of easy? Like, I always win before I'm really having fun yet."
"Hiroshi." Tamura's voice was quieter now and had the weight of a man who meant what he was about to say. "This tournament is not going to feel the way your prefectural tournament felt." His eyes moved to Kawata Masashi in the white uniform, then to Murasakibara's enormous silhouette. "Aichi didn't have anyone like that. Take it seriously."
"I know, coach," Morishige said, nodding with the expression of someone who had heard the words and was not entirely certain the concept had arrived behind them.
---
The opening ceremony music faded. The stands settled into the organized anticipation of people who had come a long way to watch something specific. The flags came down to a half-raised position. The crowd noise dropped to a baseline hum.
The arena floor gradually emptied as teams moved to their designated courts. One by one the spaces cleared, until on Court A only two teams remained.
One in deep blue.
One in a different cut, a different set of colors.
The air between them had the specific weight of a first game that both sides had prepared for and now had to play.
The Kanagawa representative.
Ryonan High School.
Against their first opponent.
Chuuominal High School.
This was enough.
Just say it.
This is enough.
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