Namaikizakari [Chapter 19]

Yuki had decided to properly face Shou. Telling him that she’ll also try to think about him, Yuki had used her utmost faint courage to convey those words to him and without a doubt, it is her true heart. Even if it is like that.. Riding the bus, Shou asks if Yuki has already thought of it. Grumpy Yuki says ..no. He asks when, tomorrow? Hatori asks if they are talking about what they are going to eat after the Interhigh preliminaries. Yuki says that they are precisely talking about that. Yuki thinks that after a week since then, Shou has been relying on his stubbornness to attack her with that ‘tomorrow?’ that it is forcing her to quickly have a nervous breakdown. Shou asks, “Day after tomorrow?” Yuki thinks that he’s noisy to death, so noisy that she got a headache. Himiko notices an adhesive bandage on Yuki’s neck and asks her what’s up with that on her neck. Yuki casually says that it is a small wound, a mosquito bite. She thinks that Shou used some divine skill and made a blood stasis[/hematoma] and it is only a blood stasis that won’t disappear. This added to her pressure. She can cover it up if she let her hair down but today, she has to look capable and experienced for no matter what, today is.. Then, Abe groans over starting to become nervous. Amamiya tells him that he’s always nervous since he became part of the main team [/force] and please don’t nose bleed.

At the stadium’s locker room/lounge, Shouji is leading the cheer that just as said before, today..finally, they’ve reached the Interhigh prelims and this year, no matter what, they want to enter the nationals..who is the Shaking/Rocking Basketball Nets[? Not sure if it is a team or some basketball internet thing so I translated that literally], it’s me, it’s me, it’s me. Himiko is surprised by that. Yuki explains to her that their opponent in the first round is Horio [堀尾] and if they win against them, they’ll probably encounter Misuzu in the second round. Himiko says that it seems that Misuzu is.. Yuki says that’s right, until now, they’ve been their opponent whom they’ve lost twice so no matter what today, they have to win. Shou calls out to Yuki. Yuki glance to the side to see half-naked Shou. While Himiko is embarrassed by that, Yuki casually asks what’s up with him, quickly change his clothes and don’t come out like that. Shou says that he doesn’t know where he put that wrist band, the black one. Yuki scowls in surprise. Shou says that it is the one she gave him for Christmas. Yuki closes the door and tells Shou that she’ll look for it. Himiko asks ‘Christmas’? Yuki tensely says that it is nothing, they should go fix up the coach seat. Yuki thinks that idiot, could it be that he dropped it somewhere, the one he got from her at that time. Flashback: Yuki throwing the gift box on Shou’s head last Christmas. She angrily thinks for him to just lose someone’s gift and say without a care ‘I don’t know where I put it’. He’s too insensitive [/thick-skinned], that stinky brat.

Furious Yuki thinks over properly thinking about it. She thinks that if in case she goes steady with him, without a doubt, it will always be like this, some senseless things making her irritated. In the end, what’s up with ‘going steady’ with someone— Then at the court’s balcony, some girls see Shizuka and his team captain Kira [guesswork name from 吉良]. They want to take picture of the two whose legs are quite long. They happily greet the two. With a smile, Kira greets them back. They go kya. Then, blushing Shizuka nervously greets them. They go kyayayaya. The girls ask each other if they’ve seen that, it seems like he’s so happy that he’s going to cry. Staring at Shizuka, Kira says that it turns out to be like that, he is displaying that kind of image. Shizuka asks what image he is referring to. Then, Shizuka hears some squeals. He glances down to see that Shou got the ball. He charges into their side of the court and scores. Screams. While tapping their plastic megaphones, the Ryuhoku cheering squad cheers for Shou, their trump card, good man!!! Gambatte!! The others think that it is such a weird cheering. Kira tells Shizuka to look, Ryuhoku’s cheering squad has been established and there is a new girl with them. Himiko is giving them water during their break while Irie tells Shou that he did good, there are still 10 minutes to go. Shizuka turns around to leave so Kira asks if he isn’t going to watch until the end because the winner will be their opponent in the next match.

Shizuka darkly says that it doesn’t matter to him whether it is Horio or Ryuhoku wins, because no matter who is the opponent, they will be the victors. And the game ended with Ryuhoku winning by six points, 79-73 points. Abe says that they got the first one. The coach says that next is finally the battle against Misuzu. Amamiya says that if they’ve lost today, it would be a third consecutive loss and his feelings would be quite heavy. Yuki tells him that it is okay, they only have to maintain today’s situation like this. She thinks that even if she say that, they’ve already lost to Misuzu twice so it is inevitable if they become coward [/timid against Misuzu]. She admits that honestly, advancing to the nationals is still a far off dream. They definitely gave their utmost strength today because for them third years, this is their high school’s last summer. In the locker room, Himiko asks what she’ll do with the used towels. Yuki tells her to leave them by the red bag and she’ll immediately get new ones. She also tells Himiko to go ahead and eat lunch with the others. She reminds Himiko to tell everyone to properly drink water. Himiko says okay and left. Yuki thinks, but, always until now, they are concentrating on what’s in front of them, the competition against Misuzu. She notices something inside the towel she is folding. It is the black wrist band. She wonders if that guy would wash it together with the towel like this.

Just then, Shou calls out to her. Yuki quickly hides the wrist band in the towel. Shou asks if she isn’t going to eat lunch. While telling him that she’ll go in a while so he go and eat first with the others, Yuki thinks that she conveniently hidden it but then, in this kind of situation, it is also awkward to just give it to him again. To her irritation, he asks if she is really thinking over that thing. Thinking that he starts about it again, she tells him that there are times when to think about it and times when not to think of it so please distinguish the time and place. He tells her that it is noon now. She angrily says that it is the preliminaries right now. Shou says that he is only asking whether she likes him or not. Or, does she hate him..doing this? He leans his head on her shoulder. This made Yuki really nervous and stiff. She thinks that his skill has level up again. She tells him hate what..that isn’t the issue. He asks then what the issue is. She tells him that the current issue is can they win against Misuzu. This irks Shou that he stands up and says, forget it, is she an idiot. Yuki tells him that it is no use to nag her. She is surprised when he says that they can only fight to win or die, and that’s it. Before opening the door, he says, “..also..the promise, next time, I’ll definitely fulfill it.” After he left, Yuki wonders what promise he is saying..could it be ‘I won’t lose to anyone, you only have to believe in me.’.

She thinks that obviously she told him ‘forget it’ and when they’ve lost, he would say that he quickly broke the promise. Obviously, it is no good to say such frustrating words. Looking at his wrist band, she thinks that he’s such a thick-faced guy. Back at the stadium, the coach asks everyone if they are ready. He tells them that after losing thrice against Misuzu, they are definitely uneasy. Someone corrects them that it is only twice. The coach says is that so, but even so, they mustn’t cower. It is okay to just fight for one point after another and eliminate the uneasy feeling. While the coach is making a mistake over Tonomura’s name even if the pronunciation is right, Shou and Shizuka glare at each other. Pfft! And soon, both teams are gathered for jump ball. Yuki thinks that they must win this time around. The referee tosses the ball. Shou and Shizuka jump for the ball’s possession. Shizuka manages to touch the ball and he pushes it towards Kira. Kira then passes it back to Shizuka. Yuki quickly goes in front of Shizuka. Thinking that like before only Shou’s speed is very fast, Shizuka says that today, his striving hard is really no good. [<- not sure if it is Shizuka or Shou who said this ^^;] Shou says that thanks to them, they’re in a sorry state...and they finally awakened. Shizuka looks surprised so Shou quickly uses this opportunity to steal the ball. Just when Shou is about to shoot the ball, Shizuka manages to tap the ball away from behind. A female reporter says that those two’s speed is quite fast, Ryuhoku’s 11 and Misuzu’s 14. The photographer says that during the Kanto tournament, those two are very eye-catching, and, by the way, this competition is quite intense.

After the first half with two minutes left, the score is 25-22 with Misuzu leading. Himiko nervously asks if a 3 point difference is considered big. Yuki tells her that it isn’t that big. Hatori says that until now, whenever they compete with Misuzu, they couldn’t tie up the score and that is always the pattern, it is such a troublesome difference. Yuki thinks that compared to that, the thing that she fears is.. Shouji and Amamiya are frustrated that they couldn’t catch up to Misuzu. Tonomura tells them that it is okay, with a three point difference, there is still 20 minutes of the latter half so they can catch up. While Himiko is distributing the water bottles, Amamiya starts to ask how come Shouji won’t throw a three point shot. Shouji retorts back that Amamiya is the one who is scared that he totally won’t go into the restricted area. Amamiya grabs Shouji’s shirt and shouts that he’s the one who’s scared for his three point shot didn’t go in during the Kanto tournament and he is always procrastinating. Shouji grabs Amamiya’s shirt and shouts that it cannot be helped for his skill isn’t good. Hatori tells them to stop it for Himiko is sandwiched between them. Realizing that everyone are indeed anxious, Yuki tells them to calm down a bit for everyone are uneasy.. Shou says no, not everyone, don’t lump him together with these obstructing[/failing] guys. This made the quarreling two vent their anger at Shou.

While Yuki is holding Himiko, Shou claims that he isn’t uneasy for whether it is 3 points or 10 points, they’ll tie and surpass them, always until they leave them far far behind.. Slapping his knees and standing up, Shou says, “Let’s defeat them, senpai.” Shouji and Amamiya are irked by that for that isn’t the attitude to talk with a senpai. Yuki wonders where that kind of self-confidence come from, and he’s really thick-faced. Pfft! Tonomura says that the second half is starting soon so calm down and quickly go. While the quarrelling two curse and seems to be saying fusion[? <- DBZ?], Yuki calls out to Shou and tells him to hold out his hand. He asks why but she tells him not to ask. Shou did as told. Yuki quickly shoots the wrist band on to his right wrist. She says, “..Quickly...quickly go..” After she lets go of him, Shou quickly holds her hand and intertwine his little finger with hers. [<- pinkie promise] He mutters, “I’m going.”  [<- uses polite language] As he let go and join the others walking to the court, Yuki remembers his promise that this time, he’ll definitely fulfill it. “No matter how many times we lose, even if we lose hopelessly [/utterly fail], but still continuing on to hold on the same promise without repentance. You have such thick-skinned face. *looking at Amamiya and Shouji going to the court each other* Pushing others continuously to move forward. *holds wrist with other hand* And I also-- *puts pinkie finger by lips and blushes a bit* no matter how many times, I’ll believe in you.”

Comment: Well, obviously if there is something that Shou wants, he can be quite persistent to the point of being annoying =P Because he asks her about wanting to only know if he likes her or not, I wonder if he just wants a confirmation or it is because for him, Yuki is giving him mixed signals or something that he doesn’t know for sure. Yuki managed to hide the hickey though it seems that she doesn’t know what a hickey is for calling it a blood stasis. ^^;; Anyway, a hard-to-get goal tends to be rewarding once it is finally reached. Whether it is the girl, or at least winning against Misuzu for the girl. =P I think that if they win or the tournament is over, Shou would finally get Yuki’s answer ^^ She would have retired by then so she doesn’t have to be conscious over what others would think about her having a malice intention as to why she became a manager. Their lovey-dovey scenes here are nice especially the pinkie promise thing ^^

As for the others’ frustration and anxiety, it is indeed understandable. They keep on working hard but reality seems to make it so near yet so far. Would it be like the same? Can we take another defeat from Misuzu and it is our final year = last chance to defeat them? Will it be once again be that frustrating small difference in points? And because of Shou’s high confidence, he managed to make the others focus on what they want to happen. It is indeed no good to tear each other apart and blame who’s fault it is or who isn’t doing well. It makes me think that at that time, Shou seems like a captain. Then, there is that photographer. For some strange reason, I suddenly wondered if that photographer is Shou’s older brother because why is there a reporter/photographer suddenly there. Hehe, Shou seems like a younger brother based on his personality. If it isn’t that, maybe it is for publicity for the two players? Still, Shou’s main reason for playing is solely for Yuki. I’m not too sure if he would still have that same drive if there is no promise to Yuki or at least, not doing it for Yuki. So, Shou might quit basketball after high school if basketball has nothing to do with Yuki later on. Scans by 红莲汉化组

Quote of the day:

Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak. ~ Thomas Carlyle