Extra Basket

Chapter 313 300: Vorpal vs Wildcats (12) The sweet and preparation

Coach Fred Mason paced up and down the room with a clipboard, beads of sweat rolling from his temples even though he hadn't played a minute.

"Alright alright, okay boys listen up we're doing… something. I just need to remember what that something was…let me… let me check my notes"

Coonie placed a hand over his face.

"He forgot his entire speech."

Ayumi whispered under her breath,

"Of course he did…"

Ethan stood, wiping his arms with a towel, voice steady, strong, commanding.

"Coach, I've got the plan."

Fred Mason pointed at him with sincere relief.

"YES, exactly this is what I was going to say Ethan will now explain the plan go ahead Ethan just like we rehearsed which we did not but I trust you anyway."

Ethan ignored him.

He stepped to the center of the room, and the chatter dropped instantly.

Even Louie shut up.

Ethan looked at each starter then each bench player making eye contact with every person until they held their breath.

"Miho's True Sync… it's not just rhythm. It's submission."

Josh's jaw tightened.

"…Meaning?"

"Meaning he's about to force the court to beat at his tempo. One heartbeat. One pulse. All five Wildcats moving as if they're one person."

Brandon frowned.

"So it's worse than Mirage Flow."

Lucas answered before Ethan could.

"Mirage Flow was misdirection. True Sync is oppression."

Coonie made a face.

"Cool. Love that for us."

Ethan continued.

"He's betting on one thing, that our bench won't be able to survive the opening minutes of the second half."

Louie blinked.

"…Wait WE'RE the starters."

Ethan nodded.

Louie immediately grabbed Jeremy and shook him.

"BRO WE ARE SO DEAD"

Jeremy gently removed his hands.

"Please stop shaking me…"

Josh rubbed his temples.

"So what's the plan?"

Ethan inhaled.

"We stall."

Every head snapped up.

Stall?

Louie raised a hand.

"Like we hold the ball and cry?"

Ethan shook his head.

"No. We disrupt their sync. We mess with their pulse. We change spacing every possession, we alter passing angles, we break our own rhythm before they can absorb it."

Lucas leaned forward.

"Make ourselves unpredictable."

Ethan nodded once.

"Exactly. We survive the first three minutes. That's it. Three minutes. Then the main lineup checks back in."

Ryan grinned like a hyena.

"Damn… that's actually kinda brilliant."

Brandon placed a huge hand on Louie's shoulder.

"You'll be fine."

Louie sobbed theatrically.

"BRANDON BELIEVES IN ME, I MUST NOT DIE…"

Ayumi rolled her eyes.

"Oh, shut up and drink water."

On the other side of the room, Kai Mendoza raised his hand proudly.

"Guys, no matter what, I believe in you!"

Coonie patted his head.

"Thanks, golden retriever."

Jeremy looked at Ethan.

"What about you? And Lucas?"

Ethan paused.

He felt the pressure under his ribs again the echo of Miho's stare, the weight of identity crashing into identity.

He remembered Miho's words before halftime.

"Let me show you what it looks like…

when only one heartbeat controls the court."

Ethan closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them.

"We'll be waiting. When you finish your three minutes…"

Lucas smirked beside him.

"We'll finish the war."

Ayumi looked between the two and whispered, almost too softly to hear:

"…You guys are insane."

Across the hallway, Wildcats' locker room shifted into a different atmosphere entirely.

No chaos.

No jokes.

Only control.

Only synchronization.

Miho sat at the center bench with his elbows on his knees, eyes forward as if he were already seeing the second half unfold.

Armi leaned against the locker, spinning the ball lazily again.

"You're really doing it? True Sync?"

Miho gave no dramatic pause.

"Yes."

Davis Conner crossed his arms.

"That'll burn stamina."

"We won't need it if we end them early."

Jun Seo clicked his tongue.

"They're getting bolder."

"That's why we finish them," Miho said.

Kenji Takeda swallowed hard.

"What if they break it?"

Miho finally looked up at him.

Not with anger.

With truth.

"If they break True Sync… then they're truly our rivals. Not the Orlando Hoops"

Silence fell.

Not uncomfortable.

Heavy.

Weighted.

A silence shared between warriors who all understood the stakes.

Finally, Miho rose.

"Let's go."

And no one doubted.

No one questioned.

They simply followed.

The gym lights brightened as both teams emerged from opposite tunnels.

The crowd roared to life, a wall of sound crashing into the court.

"LET'S GOOOOOOO VORPAALLLL—!!"

"WILDCATS KILL THEM!!!"

"MIHOOOOOOO!!!"

"ETHANNNN!!!"

Evan Cooper stepped behind Ethan and whispered,

"Be careful."

Ethan nodded.

"You too."

Louie walked past Ayumi and pointed at her dramatically.

"AYUMI, if I die from happiness tell Lucas I left my anime collection to him—"

Ayumi didn't even look at him.

"I'm telling him you left him debt."

Josh snorted.

"Rip Louie."

Brandon lumbered forward, stretching his neck.

"Let's do it."

Coonie flipped his hair dramatically.

"If I'm starting, I better look gorgeous."

Jeremy tightened his laces, nodding toward Ethan.

"Leave the first minutes to us."

Ethan smiled.

"I trust all of you."

As the buzzer sounded, and the players took their places, Miho stood across from them with arms behind his back, posture relaxed, expression serene but eyes sharp enough to carve the court in half.

He tilted his head, acknowledging Brandon Young at center court.

Then, a whisper too soft for the crowd, but somehow loud in the players' bones:

"You're not the ones I'm after.

But you will do."

Brandon gulped.

Louie froze.

Coonie rolled his eyes.

"He's dramatic."

Josh cracked his neck.

"Shut up and focus."

The referee held the ball.

The gym went silent.

Ethan and Lucas watched from the sideline eyes locked, fists clenched, hearts drumming with anticipation.

Because the second half wasn't just beginning.

It was detonating.

The referee tossed the ball upward.

Brandon leapt, slapping it back toward Louie's waiting hands.

VORPAL 46 – WILDCATS 39

Louie Davas caught the ball like it was a spotlight dropped straight into his hands.

And for one glorious, shimmering second, he believed—

This is my moment.

Louie wasn't just a shooter.

He wasn't just the loudmouth, the hype machine, the chaos child of Vorpal.

On the streets, under flickering lamps and cracked concrete, he was a prodigy.

The kind who played with older men twice his size.

The kind who broke ankles before breaking puberty.

The kind who trash-talked in three languages and invented two more.

Tonight, under the hot gym lights of 2010 California, he wanted the world to see it.

"Time to cook!" he hollered, spinning into a low dribble that snapped the air with swagger.

But Miho Park moved.

Not fast.

Not powerful.

Not even human.

He moved like rhythm itself bent to give him a path.

Louie's eyes grew wide.

"OH NO HE'S ALREADY HERE!"

Miho's shadow overlapped his.

His hand hovered just hovered over Louie's dribble.

It was enough.

The ball trembled.

Louie skipped a beat.

And True Sync began.

Kenji Takeda shifted left at the exact same microsecond Miho tilted forward.

Jun Seo mirrored the slant of Louie's body like a perfect echo.

Armi collapsed inward, cutting the passing lane before Louie even looked at it.

Davis Conner sealed Brandon with a solidity that felt like the court itself turned to stone.

There was no whistle.

No shout.

No coordination call.

Just one heartbeat

Miho's heartbeat.

And every Wildcat moved as if plugged into it.

Louie felt the court shrinking around him, the angles disappearing, time contracting.

"No way—" he muttered, sweat shooting off his forehead. "This is cheating. This has to be cheating."

Miho's voice slid into his ear like quiet thunder.

"Show off," he said softly, "but show off honestly."

Louie froze.

Something in Miho's tone wasn't mocking.

It was permission?

A challenge?

Before Louie's brain caught up, his instincts detonated.

He snapped into a street-honed spin.

A second dribble between the legs low, slippery, filthy.

A shoulder fake that sent Jun Seo flinching.

A behind-the-back reset that twisted Armi's footing.

The crowd gasped.

Vorpal's bench jumped.

Coach Fred Mason screamed something incoherent but encouraging.

Louie grinned wide.

"YEAH BOY! TRUE SYNC MY—"

Miho cut him off.

With one step.

He didn't steal the ball.

He didn't block.

He didn't even poke it.

He just stepped into Louie's rhythm owned it and Louie's dribble died like a snuffed candle.

The ball slipped.

Miho took it in one gentle motion.

Louie stumbled forward, arms flailing.

"BRO WHAT?! WHO TURNED OFF MY HANDS?!"

The gym roared with laughter, even from people who shouldn't have been laughing.

Even some Wildcats chuckled.

Miho didn't smile.

His face stayed quiet, unreadable, like a monk walking through chaos.

He passed the ball to Kenji without looking.

Kenji to Jun Seo.

Jun Seo to Armi.

Armi to Davis.

The ball didn't move fast

but perfectly.

A single breath, a single rhythm.

True Sync.

Davis finished with a soft, brutal drop-step that Brandon couldn't stop.

VORPAL 46 – WILDCATS 41.

Brandon landed hard, gasping.

"Okay… that's different. That's real different."

Louie put his hands on his knees, wheezing dramatically.

"I swear someone just unplugged my life. Ethan, bro, I think Miho hacked reality."

Ryan Taylor on the bench shouted, "Louie, your reality is already hacked—your brain runs on 3G!"

Coonie Smith snarked from beside him, "No, 2G. On rainy days."

Josh Turner rubbed his temples.

"This is the first minute of the second half… we're doomed."

Jeremy Park shot back, loyal as ever, "Shut up! Josh! Believe!"

Kai Mendoza clapped like an overexcited puppy.

"LET'S GO!!! LOUIEEE YOU LOOKED COOL FOR LIKE HALF A SECOND!!!"

Louie pointed furiously at him.

"HALF A SECOND IS STILL COOL, YOU LITTLE—"

But Ethan rose from the bench.

Silence rippled through Vorpal like a quiet wave.

Ethan's eyes locked onto Miho across the court.

Miho looked back.

Two leaders.

Two geniuses.

Two rhythms waiting to collide again.

Louie swallowed and whispered to himself, "Damn… Ethan's about to cook something."

Lucas stood too, cracking his neck.

"Then let's get ready. True Sync or not… we're not folding."

Josh adjusted his jersey.

"Yeah. We fight."

Brandon took a long breath.

"Always."

Jeremy raised his fist.

"For Vorpal."

Coonie smirked, flipping his hair.

"For drama."

Ryan winked at a group of girls who weren't even looking at him.

"For my fan club."

Kai yelled, "FOR FRIENDSHIP!"

They all stared at him.

He cleared his throat.

"Okay, fine. For Vorpal."

On the other side of the court

Miho stood with his team.

Armi bounced the ball off his elbow without looking.

Jun Seo cracked his knuckles, eyes sharp.

Kenji exhaled, nerves electric.

Davis rested a steady, calm hand on Miho's shoulder.

And Miho…

Miho watched Ethan like the entire court didn't exist.

He whispered only one sentence:

"Let's see the rhythm you bring next."

The referee blew the whistle.

The ball floated into Louie's hands again.

He froze.

The entire Wildcats' True Sync aligned.

Waiting.

Hunting.

Louie gulped.

Then grinned.

"ROUND TWO, BABY."

He dribbled.

Miho stepped.

And the war for the second half began in full.

To be continue