After entering the venue, Xuan Yu Fei Shang and the others went to their designated rest area.
Aizaki Shogo, Kuroko Tetsuya, Momoi Satsuki, and three senior players were already there.
Momoi Satsuki was the manager, and the other five were the substitutes.
Due to time constraints and introductions, only the coach and the starting players were allowed to enter the field as representatives for each team.
Everyone else had to enter by themselves.
Xuan Yu Fei Shang and the other five arrived and started taking off their jackets and pants.
They were about to go on the court.
The white jersey of Teiko appeared.
Xuan Yu Fei Shang stretched out his hand to hold open the basketball pants and put on the jersey.
The others were doing the same.
Then they started checking their basketball shoes and wearing some protective gear.
Like wristbands, kneepads, and so on.
Once they were ready, the game officially began.
“Everyone! Do your best!”
Kuroko Tetsuya stood up and looked at Xuan Yu Fei Shang and the others with excitement in his eyes.
Suddenly, Kuroko Tetsuya felt his voice sounded a little lonely. He turned his head and looked at Aizaki Shogo and the others.
They all had their arms crossed in front of their chests, with blank expressions.
Seeing Kuroko Tetsuya looking over, Aizaki Shogo was taken aback.
After a moment, he raised his fist and whispered, "Do your best..."
Seeing this, the others reacted similarly.
Kuroko Tetsuya was speechless.
They were encouraging them, but why were their voices so soft? Could the starters hear them?
And why were they all staring at him while whispering their encouragement?
This was getting a little awkward...
Seeing this, Momoi Satsuki whispered:
“Kuroko-kun, please sit down. This is their first formal competition. Don’t put too much pressure on them. Don’t let it affect their performance!”
Hearing this, Kuroko Tetsuya immediately sat down.
At the same time, he thought.
Yeah!
If it were my first competition, and someone encouraged me, I would definitely be even more nervous!
How to eliminate this feeling and perform at the usual level?
One way is to try to make the environment as familiar as possible. A familiar environment will naturally reduce people’s psychological pressure.
Kuroko Tetsuya thought he understood, so he sat quietly and tried to minimize his presence.
But it wasn’t that simple.
The enthusiastic audience, the unfamiliar opponent.
All of this was a sign that it was different from usual.
The reason why Aizaki Shogo and the others were so calm was simply because they had confidence in Xuan Yu Fei Shang and the others.
Only the weak encourage themselves!
The strong are confident and invincible. They play for real!
After entering the court, the two teams went to the center.
The referee whistled, and when he saw them standing in position, he shouted:
“Bow!”
Both teams bowed and shouted in unison, “Please take care of us!”
After bowing, the looks they exchanged were not like they were going to take care of each other.
The referee called Xuan Yu Fei Shang and Kuga Takuhai together.
“Coin toss. Heads for Teiko, tails for Sansho! Heads, Teiko chooses the court, tails, Sansho chooses the court. Understood?”
Of course Xuan Yu Fei Shang understood, but this referee seemed to have skipped a lot of steps!
Shouldn’t he have chosen heads or tails first, then who would win, and then choose the court?
Whatever, it didn’t matter.
It was perfect this way. It saved him from having an OCD attack!
Seeing that they had no objections, the referee flipped the coin. It hadn’t even flown high before he caught it with his hand.
Xuan Yu Fei Shang guessed this guy was afraid he couldn’t catch it if he threw it too high...
The referee opened his hand. Heads!
“Teiko chooses!”
Eh?
Xuan Yu Fei Shang had just said he was avoiding an OCD attack.
And here it came!
“Referee, can I borrow your coin?”
Xuan Yu Fei Shang said as he took the coin from the referee.
The referee had never encountered anything like this before. He watched helplessly as Xuan Yu Fei Shang took it.
“Well, then it’s heads on this side, tails on that side!”
Xuan Yu Fei Shang said as he nodded to the referee and Kuga Takuhai.
The two of them were stunned to see Xuan Yu Fei Shang’s actions.
It’s just choosing a court, you are performing a whole ceremony...
After halftime, they would have to switch sides anyway. It was basically the same no matter which side they chose.
It wasn’t an outdoor court, so there wasn’t a need to consider lighting or other issues.
Xuan Yu Fei Shang looked solemnly at the coin in his hand, flicked it with his finger, and the coin flew high.
As the coin flew, all three of them looked up at it.
The coin rose to its highest point and then began to fall back down, landing back in Xuan Yu Fei Shang’s hand, where he caught it immediately.
Damn! So cool!
Kuga Takuhai suddenly understood why this kid had done all those things.
He was showing off!
Especially after the referee’s actions, the contrast made his actions even more impressive.
The referee was speechless.
Was this kid trying to criticize me?
Was he mocking me for being bad at flipping coins?
Xuan Yu Fei Shang didn’t notice. He was focusing all his attention on the coin in his hand at this moment.
He opened his palm. Heads!
“You all saw it. We choose this side!”
After saying this, Xuan Yu Fei Shang flicked the coin with his finger and sent it flying towards the referee.
Seeing the coin flying towards him, the referee was startled.
He immediately stretched out both hands to catch it.
“Slap!”
His hands came together.
But the coin dropped through the middle!
The referee’s forehead was covered in more black lines!
The atmosphere changed drastically!
A little man even popped out of his shoulder! He began to rant and rave in a crazy way.
“Aaaaaaaaah! I knew it! I knew I couldn’t catch it! You think I’m throwing the coin so low for no reason? It’s because of countless painful lessons!”
Time was short, and the little man hadn’t finished ranting when the referee forcefully pushed him back down.
The referee took the ball and went to the center line.
Game on!