Chapter 26:
Moving on
Sora felt that the team was finally a bit more coordinated. They had been practicing for one hour as of now. Honami-senpai had felt that the sudden addition of two new members would be bit of trouble at the beginning. And she wasn't wrong.
There was initially a bit of confusion among the regulars as to what their positions and jobs were. Chihaya, who was a center provided more opportunities for the team as they could switch from a style that was nearly completely offense oriented. But initially Akira and Chihaya had suffered a bit of confusion because previously Akira had covered the area under the hoop as well whenever she could. And Eru too had to get the ball herself a lot because the others simply weren't used to passing to her. But now it had been sorted out.
Even though Teiko had come through the prelims with flying colours, Honami was more concerned about the big picture. It wasn't enough for her if they won the finals. She wanted them to win 'decently'. Eru-senpai had dropped a hint or two about Honami's standards. It wasn't going to be easy.
Sora had also found out that the girl's team apparently did have a coach afterall. She was on a long holiday. But the senpais didn't talk about her much.
Honami had gone completely overboard and even calculated which teams they would face and when though it's accuracy was yet to be seen.
"Tired so soon, kouhai?"
It was Chihaya.
"Nah, senpai..."
"Good. There'll be time enough to rest after practice."
"Yup!"
"Oh! Heads up!" said Chihaya as the ball came whizzing towards them from nowhere.
Sora shook herself and reminded herself that she was in the middle of a match.
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In the locker room:
"Woah... I'm beat. Now that I'm back... School life is dull after all..." said Chihaya.
"Not so fast, Chi-san! Remember the festival! And not to mention... The field trip!"
"Festival! Field trip!" chorused Akira and Sora.
"All in good time, kouhais," said Chihaya.
"And none of you are going to forget the tournament finals..." reminded Honami from one corner of the room.
"Looks like I have to take back my statement after all..." muttered Chihaya.
"Field trip?" said Akira to Sora quietly. Sora nodded.
"We'll ask our info agent," she said with a wink.