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Second half of the game. As I entered the court, the feverishly excited venue instantly froze over. Yup, as usual, Kotone’s influence is amazing. I’m just glad that there’s no one heckling.

「Let’s not mind it much.」
「I already knew this would happen, so we don’t mind it to begin with.」

This happening is within expectations. I checked to see if my classmates are doing fine, but they don’t seem very bothered by it as well. I guess they already anticipated this.

「I’ll be jumping then.」

Minagawa is the one to jump. She’s the tallest after all. I’m the 2nd tallest though. I know the first thing to do. After all, no one’s marking me. They’re really underestimating me, huh.

「Kisaragi!」

You’re passing the jump ball directly with a slam!? Yeah, it’s the fastest offence, but isn’t that too forceful? Well, it worked, so I guess that turned out well.

「This makes it a 9 point difference.」

With a three pointer, we got a quick score. It’s really easy to score without anyone marking you. Now then, will this bring me to their attention or will they think that it’s a fluke? I’m not giving them the time to think about it though.

「That’s just too obvious.」

There’s only one person that can get a pass under the basket, so the pass course is evident. Since I’m isolated here, they probably think that the earlier shot was a fluke. And shoot.

「6 point difference.」

With that, I quickly got another three pointer and scored enough for us to be able to come from behind.

「Nice play!」
「But things will get difficult from here on out.」

The opponents are looking at me differently now. I guess they finally stopped looking at me as just Kotone and, instead, an opposing player. With this, they’re not going to be careless anymore.

「Still, are they really strong enough to give the team a hard time?」
「Don’t provoke them. The other team’s players are experienced either from club activities or playing as a hobby, so they’re considerably strong.」

That’s certainly surprising. If we’re not careful, they’re definitely going to eat us up. They ignored my obvious provocation and had one person mark me. Even though I tried to shake them off, it’s not really going well.

「This definitely is intense.」
「It’s gotten much better since you’ve joined, though. Without our experienced players participating, the gap will only widen even if we play defense.」

In a sense, it’s frankly amazing that they ended the first half with a 12 point difference. I’m sure the person that I substituted for did their best too. Even though they asked for me to help, it’s a bit sad that they had to substitute?

「We really can’t play that long, you know? How many games do you think we’ve been playing?」
「Am I the only one that still has energy?」
「Wait, I know you came on a bike, but you’ve been going all over the place, how do you still have that much energy?」

It’s the fruit of my daily training. Your effort will never betray you, it’s pretty apt saying. But I still can’t win against real players though. We’re not closing in the gap, huh.

「Can’t we try for three-pointers every shot?」
「That’s impossible. Since I’m marked right now, I can’t make shots that clean.」

Even if I try, they don’t let me shoot if I’m outside the line. It seems like they’re cautious of me after what happened. There’s always one person following me, so I can’t move as I want. In exchange, my teammates have more leeway but we’re still lacking a conclusive move.

「Two minutes left. At this rate, we’ll lose.」
「Meanwhile, the other team’s going for a substitute. Now, will it be to our advantage or not.」

I really don’t understand why they’d substitute now. If they continue this stalemate with their current team, they’d undoubtedly win. And yet, they’re substituting, so I guess one of them is out of stamina.

「Hm? She looks somewhat familiar.」
「Huh? Was she also an experienced player?」

Minagawa and I had a question in mind but they weren’t quite the same. Still, where have I seen her before? Think I met her as me and not past Kotone, though. It might have been a trivial meeting, since I forgot.

「Let’s go!」

The opponent’s shot missed and we got the ball, so it’s time to go aggressive on their side of the court. The person that just substituted in is marking me, but she’s not experienced. Shaking her off was easy, after all.

「Uwaah!?」

I tripped on something and fell with full force. I was just about to sprint, so I had a lot of momentum. Rather, there shouldn’t be anything for me to trip on, right? More importantly, the game needs priority, so I quickly stood up and headed to the other side of the court.

「4 points remaining.」
「More importantly, you tripped hard there, are you alright?」
「I likely only scraped my knee, so I should be fine.」

Before I could catch up, my teammate scored a shot. My knee is bleeding and slightly painful, it shouldn’t be an issue when moving. I’ll have to go to the infirmary later though.

「What is she thinking? And with all these witnesses no less.」
「If it’s just once, it might just be an accident. From the second time on, I wouldn’t be so sure though.」

And this time, I remembered. The girl that called me before was the one that just substituted. Just as Minagawa said, what is she thinking? The referee didn’t see what happened though, so it wasn’t called a foul.

「Anyway, it’s best that you be careful.」
「No need to say tha-!?」

While I was going on defence, I was tackled with full force. This isn’t f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g rugby! If you don’t feel like playing basketball, then just don’t!

「Class 1, foul!」

I’m glad the referee is a proper one. Rather, it’ll be a problem if that didn’t count as foul. This game won’t be basketball anymore.

「They’ve really done it now. Here, grab my hand.」
「Thank you very much. Frankly, with this one I’m feeling really irked now.」
「I should ask my club mates about this. About why they let someone like that on the court.」
「We let her on the court since we were told that she had a plan to pin down Kisaragi by herself. I’m really sorry about what happened.」

Someone from the other team came to apologize but if you’re not complicit, I don’t mind.

「The audience were pretty fired up too and then this instantly dampened the mood.」

The cold somber mood that I brought in earlier was gradually replaced by excitement too. Well, I guess me trying not to touch people much to avoid the possibility of being called foul worked for the better.

「Rather, the game isn’t resuming.」
「It looks like there’s a dispute. I have no idea what they’d be disputing about though.」
「That girl is the type that can’t see her surroundings when Kisaragi is involved after all.」

That’s the most annoying type. And she probably thinks that she’s doing the right thing. Everyone hates me, so doing this would be desirable. Maybe that’s how she’s interpreting this in her own mind. If that’s the case, then it somewhat explains her actions this time.

「Is it lunch yet?」
「Kisaragi, don’t say that when you’re also involved in this. Why don’t you try raising a complaint too?」
「If I do that, it’ll probably make things even messier, so no.」
「Somehow, Kisaragi’s image is really different. Though just after seeing how good you played, I started to question if it’s actually you.」

No one could’ve imagined Kotone to be able to move this much though, that’s why at first they underestimated me. Still, she’s taking a long time arguing with the referee. We’re honestly getting nowhere.

「Like I said, I didn’t see in front of me, so that bump was just by chance!」