On the morning of August 3, Hikoko woke up early in the morning because he had slept too early the day before.

I looked at the clock hanging on the wall, and it was only half past five. However, Hikochi really couldn't sleep anymore and decided to get up. He sat up cautiously, for fear of waking Futian and Guan Ping.

But as soon as Hikoichi made a move, Fukuda opened his eyes.

The two looked at each other for three seconds, then Hikoichi pointed to himself and to the door.

Fukuda watched Hiko get up together, and actually got up with him.

"You're not sleeping?" Hikoichi gently closed the door and asked in a low voice.

"I went to bed too early yesterday and couldn't sleep." Fukuda rubbed his hair.

The two decided to go outside together to find a place to move first, but when they walked to the hall, they saw a person already sitting there.

It was Xiandao, who propped his chin and stared at a tree in the courtyard.

"Yo, don't you beat the gel today?" Hikoichi went over and patted Sendo on the shoulder and laughed.

“？” Xiandao turned his head to see that it was Hikoichi, picked up the fisherman's hat on the table, and asked with a smile, "Can't you sleep too?" ”

"yes, why don't you go and do some activity together?" Hikoichi flipped the basketball in his hand.

"Let's go."

By the time the three of them returned to the hostel, everyone had already gotten up. After breakfast, everyone set off to the gymnasium.

Everyone in the car was silent, and the atmosphere was not as relaxed as yesterday when I first arrived in Hiroshima, and it seemed that the first race was still putting pressure on everyone.

At 9:00 a.m., everyone from the Lingnan team arrived at the gymnasium.

Today's stadium is much bigger than the two who went to see the match yesterday, as the two seeded teams, Lingnan and Sanno, will play here.

There was a lot of people outside the stadium, and there were a lot more spectators today. Outside the stadium is posted the match that will be played here today:

10:00, Ryonan (Kanagawa) Manomiya Nishi (Iwate); 11:30, Sanno Industry (Akita), Xiangbei (Kanagawa); 13:00, Kanayama Commercial (Shin) Ota Mori (Shiga)

In the locker room, the Lingnan congregations sat quietly.

Hikoichi tightened his shoelaces again and pulled out a pair of white wristbands from his bag.

"Huh? New wristbands? Chiba was standing beside Hikoichi and asked out loud when he saw this.

"Yes, my sister gave it to me." Hikoshi smiled.

At the opening ceremony that day, Yayoi came to Hikoichi and handed over a bag before leaving, Hikoichi went to the hotel and opened it, which contained a pair of wristbands and a note.

Chiba Mihikoichi touched his wrist guard very much, and the hand in his pocket tightened.

"Bang Bang!!" Coach Taoka clapped his hands and let everyone look over, "It's going to be on the court in a while, everyone's first national competition is about to start, and of course this is my first national competition." I have only one request for everyone: try to win every game! Can it be done? ”

"Yes!"

"Did you see it, there was a lot of audience today. But to be honest, how many people in it came to see our Lingnan game? Coach Taoka looked at the players, "They didn't come to see you, they didn't come to see me, they came to see the Sanno." ”

“”

"Behave well and let the audience remember us."

"Yes!"

It was also the first time for Hikoichi to stand on such a big stage, and it was the first time in his past life and this life.

The crowd of spectators in the venue, the noisy human voices, the harsh headlights on the roof of the hall and the reflective floor made people feel slightly dizzy, all of which made Hikoichi a little uncomfortable.

The calmest thing in the Lingnan team is the Immortal Dao. Xiandao is usually not a person who talks much, but today he is a little too calm, and he silently warms up with a mid-range jumper.

In fact, such a scene is not completely unfamiliar to Xiandao, he once participated in the "National Junior High School Basketball Tryout", referred to as "Quanzhong", and it was also the game in which Mitsui Shou won the title of "National High School MVP".

In the third year of junior high school, Xiandao, who was the core of the team, led the team to overcome obstacles all the way through the all-high school competition, and won consecutive victories until they met the team led by Eiji Zebei.

At that time, Xiandao's playing style was similar to that of Rukawa Kaede now, and he was alone when he took the ball. Before meeting Zebei, he had never met an opponent, and he singled out one team and broke one team on the field. After meeting Zebei, he was finally suppressed.

To say that there is not too much, but Zebei is a little faster and more accurate than him, and it is this little gap that makes Xiandao fully at a disadvantage.

Xiandao is not a person who easily admits defeat, he fought with Zebei for a whole time, even if he was stealed, blocked, **, and forcibly buckled, he insisted on fighting Zebei one-on-one.

In the end, Xiandao, who tried various methods, still swallowed the bitter fruit of failure, and the core of the team was suppressed, and how could the team win.

It was the most complete failure of the Immortal Dao.

Xiandao has a good talent and a very easy-going temperament, and he has always regarded basketball as a hobby, and he has a lot of fun from basketball. Whether it's the sense of solidity in training, the joy of victory, the struggle in times of adversity, or the sadness after losing, Sendo takes them as a kind of fun to enrich his life.

But that day's race was really not fun. In the past, even if he lost, Xiandao could play very well, and he could only blame the opponent team for being too strong. But that time, Immortal Dao was completely suppressed by one person in the counterpoint, which was the first and only time.

Originally, this matter may have been buried in the bottom of his heart forever by Xiandao, but he didn't expect that Xiandao met Eiji Zebei yesterday, and these memories all came out at once, and they have been haunting his mind since yesterday.

"Tick!! The game will start in three minutes! ”

The two teams gathered on the sidelines, and Coach Taoka still used regular starters for this game, Hikoichi, Ikegami, Sendo, Fukuda and Uozumi.

"Everyone give it their all, don't be nervous, and don't take it lightly." This was Coach Taoka's last words to the crowd before going on the court.

Coach Taoka knows everyone very well, and after watching the game yesterday, everyone has a certain understanding of Ma Miyanishi's strength, which is very average. So most of the nervousness today is because it is the first time to participate in the national competition, and it has nothing to do with the opponent.

The two sides stand in the middle circle and are about to start jumping the ball.

"This is the team that replaced Hainan as the seed in Group B this year?" There was talk in the audience.

"Yes, Lingnan team! I don't know what the strength is, but this year's Hainan team didn't qualify, I think Kanagawa has declined! ”

"I can't say that, the Mu and Shen of the Hainan team are still in the team, how can Hainan's strength be poor, I think this team must have two brushes!"

"Let's take a look at this game, although Ma Gongxi's strength is average, he is also a frequent visitor to the national competition, and he will know what is going on after watching this game."

"That's right, the center of this Lingnan team is so tall!"

"yes, and that number seven, so handsome!"

The audience didn't know the Lingnan team yet, and most of the attention was on Yuzhu and Xiandao. Naturally, Hikoichi couldn't hear the audience's discussions, the gymnasium was too noisy right now, and his attention was now focused on the game.

"The national competition, Lingnan Tsushima Palace West, starts now!"

"Beep!!" The referee threw the ball into the air, and the first national tournament of the Lingnan team began!