Attack on Titan (A basketball Au)

Chapter 4 : The trial game

Armin was getting a bit nervous about the match as Finn saw right through his plan and already provided counter measures.
"Armin catch", Connie's voice rang through as he passed. Armin caught the ball and began to move towards the opposite basket. As he was running, he was stopped by Finn who had his head down and his eyes covered by his bangs.
"It's just you and me now Armin", Finn said with a sinister and deep voice.
Armin being the klutz he is managed to slip a bit and lost the ball to Reiner who made a dunk over Jean.
"What a dunk!!!", shouts were heard from the audience above.
Jean looked at Armin with an incredulous expression but just shrugged it off and went back to his position.
"Armin you alright?", Eren asked and pulled Armin to his feet.
"I-I'm fine", replied Armin.
As he stood up, he glanced at Finn who had a small smirk on his face but disregarded it nonetheless.
"Reiner, as much as possible, do not underestimate Armin", Finn told Reiner.
"I'll try but he isn't much. How the hell did he even get a scholarship", Reiner replied.
The smile turned even more sinister, "You've been warned Reiner", Finn said, then walked away.

"They're good", Mike said.
"Indeed. They are definitely impressive", Erwin replied.

As the match went on, team 4 were just making dunks left and right. It was so easy as they "figured" that Armin couldn't play shit and targeted him using his weakness to their advantage.
The whistle was blown, "halftime", shouted the referee.
The score is 11-16 with Team 4 in the lead.
As they sat down, Marlowe and Thomas began to talk of how weak and easy it was to score against team 3. Marco kept quiet because he was suspicious of how the game was going and the fact that Jean wasn't really playing up to speed. Reiner also had his suspicions but didn't say anything about it. Finn on the other hand already had an idea of what was happening but didn't bother to feel worried.
"Yo Armin, how long are we gonna keep this up?", Jean asked.
"Don't worry, everything is going smoothly, a little too smooth, but during the next half we're going all out", Armin said, "so everyone next half give it your best".
"About damn time", Eren said, "now we  can get some real action".
Eren and Armin shared a look between themselves and nodded to each other.

The second half started.

Connie bounced the ball and passed it to Jean who was about to give it to Bertholt but was intercepted by Marco who passed the ball to Thomas.
As the ball made its way to Thomas it happened all of a sudden, Armin showed up from nowhere and shot the ball towards the basket which hit the rim and was in the air. But as Reiner was about to catch the rebound Eren jumped in the air and slammed the ball right through the basket.
"Wow! An alley-oop", "Amazing", the crowd shouted.
Finn was caught by surprise, he did not see this coming.
Thomas looked back to his front but Armin wasn't there, "where did he go?", Thomas asked.

"Nice one Armin", Eren said and gave Armin a high five.
"Thanks", Armin replied.

Misdirection, a rare style of basketball that a person who lacks presence or is ignored uses to play. It involves taking attention from yourself and directing it elsewhere making an opponent to lose sight of you till you come in contact with something that is of higher presence. In this case Armin is the one who lacks presence and was being ignored because of inability to perform. Really interesting, but still, Anna thought.
"Mikasa, it's misdirection isn't it?", Anna asked.
"So you know", Mikasa said
"Yeah. It's very rare but it is still a style of basketball"
"This might prove fatal for Reiner", Annie said, "the meat head doesn't observe, he just plays to win".
"But I'm impressed with Armin. I didn't expect him to be able to do that", Annie continued.
"That is his style that brings out the best in him, Eren and his team", Mikasa said.
"Hmm well it doesn't matter. It will take more than that to stop Finn. Look at him", Anna said.
They turned and looked at him a bit shocked at his face. He was smiling with his bangs covering his eyes and back bent over a bit.

"Hmhmhm", everyone in the court looked at him, "hahahahaha", he continued to laugh.
"This is great, this is great, this is the best!! Eren, Armin, you guys are the best!!. But the outcome will remain the same because the only one who can beat me is me!", Finn said, "If you want to even have a chance at winning, come at me like you want to kill me".
Eren and Armin stood looking at him with only one goal in mind. To beat him! They both said.

To be continued....

Good grief, another late update. Please don't kill me. Anyway how was this chapter and let me hear your reviews and comments concerning this chapter. This is my first basketball scene that I've written and I hope it was good enough to read and understand. More on the way and the next chapter hopefully will be better than this one as we enter the peak of the game. How was the description of Armin's misdirection and Marco's eagle eye. More skills to come in the next chapter. As always criticism is appreciated so let me know of your opinions and views.
Thanks for reading 🙏 and I'll see ya 👋 in the next chapter.
(Next chapter (hopefully 😅) : 29th of April).