Chapter 12 • Raise the Walls

“Are we going to use our new teamplay on this game?” Yena asked Yuri as she removed her sweater to place it on the bench.

“Their dirty tactics is not worthy to be matched by our teamplay.” She explained.

Everyone in their team can see how serious their captain was. Kim Chaewon sighed and looked at her teammates. “Be careful of that Shiroma Miru. Her passes are powerful. Yujin, can you take her passes?” She asked.

“Yeah, I can. Based from that game we had when Coach Kwon saved us…” Yujin nodded in agreement.

“Jang Wonyoung, are your threes good when you're a step near the three point line?”

“Uhm… yes?”

“Cool. Our objective is to win this game and protect Wonyoung's right hand as much as possible. That new formation is for the championship. An Yujin, Jang Wonyoung, Huh Yunjin, serve us our iron walls.” Chaewon grabbed a board and soon showed them the formation they have to use for their current match. She was surprised that they have another six substitution players, they are students from the academic course that was forced to join the basketball team by none other than Lee Kaeun before she left them.

The East's starting players were An Yujin for Power Forward, Choi Yena for Small Forward, Jo Yuri for Point Guard, Jang Wonyoung for Shooting Guard, and Huh Yunjin as Center. They were wearing a swapped color edition of their jersey, the black becoming the smaller portion, and midnight blue becoming the larger portion.

On the bleachers was Lee Kaeun, Good work. Now you girls know why I brought Yunjin to your team. She mumbled as she watched her former players prepare for the jump ball.

Raise the walls, my knights. Chaewon smirked as she sat on the bench, with her team jacket hung on her shoulders. I used this tactic once when I was in middle school. This would work on an offense-focused team. No coach? I'm Titania, the queen of fairies.

The referee whistled, only the sound of the ball touching Huh Yunjin's palm resounded through the whole court. She immediately passed it to An Yujin, who then started to run towards the hoop, but was blocked by Miru and Yuuka as she was about to do a layup. But scoring was fairly easy, she did an overhead pass to Wonyoung who immediately made a three pointer.

The North had a hard time scoring since the East had three walls guarding the hoop. Their three pointers barely gets in, their layups are easily cancelled.

“Sae!” Miru signaled for a pass, when Sae attempted to pass, Yuri stole the pass just to send it over to Yena who then did a layup.

When Miru got to hold the ball again, “Yuuka!” She did her usual strong pass, she had another reason why she decided to pass it to Yuuka who was being marked by Wonyoung. If my guesses are right, Wonyoung will try to get this ball. She wasn't wrong, once Wonyoung saw the ball travelling towards their direction, as if she have never received a pass for such a long time she attempted to steal the pass.

Yuri immediately notices Wonyoung, she runs her fastest towards them and stole it again, she felt a pain on her right palm, she quickly passed it to Yena who then sent it to Yujin who did a hook shot.

Yuri saw the small graze on her right palm. “Why now?” She mumbled. She wiped the little blood coming out from the graze to her shirt then went back to their play.

The East High has the upper hand of the game, but they can't keep up with North's strong passes. Yuri, Yena, and Yujin are the only ones capable on stealing their passes. They are making sure that Wonyoung won't be forced to get the pass because of her recovering right hand. If they can't steal the pass, they'll steal it before they even pass it.

The first quarter ended with 15-09, the East high obviously taking the lead. This would be an easy game. Chaewon thought to herself.

When the second quarter started, the North were using the formation and style that they used during their game with the West in a tournament before. They started to mix it with their strong passes.

Yuri kept on stealing Miru's strong passes, Yena noticed how her face crumples a bit after passing the ball. Yuri… is she in pain?! Yena started to become worried. She tried to inspect Yuri's hand from afar but she can't see it properly. Damn it. Yena cursed internally and continued with her play.

During the seventh minute, Miru glanced at the scores for a bit. 34-19. You leave me no choice. Miru smirked as she received Sae's pass. She did a crossover dribble, like what she always did, and it didn't fail. It worked exactly like before, Yunjin was floored. Miru leaped in attempt to dunk the ball, Wonyoung jumped to stop her. As they came face to face, Wonyoung saw the smile on her face. It was a smile so dangerous she didn't want to see it ever again.

She got to touch the other side of the ball. Miru used her arm strength to push the ball through. She was smiling. I'll destroy you, I'll destroy everything. Words Miru kept on repeating on her mind.

“No!” Yuri's eyes widened as she saw Wonyoung desperately trying to stop Miru.

Yujin can't stand, she was frozen in place. I'm just right here but I can't even do what I promised to do! Damn it, stand up An Yujin! She was shaking.

Wonyoung was able to grab the ball and push it forward behind Miru, to pass it to Yena.

Yena did a layup with the ball.

As Wonyoung landed from her jump, Yujin noticed how she looked unwell. She was trying to hide it.

It happened. Their defenses went down, Wonyoung's right arm weakened. Two of the three pointers that they tried to score smoothly went in.

When Yujin had the chance to get closer to Yuri, she asked. “Can I help Wonyoung when she's blocking?”

“No, we'll stick to the plan.” Yuri answered.

“But… but…”

“We can't let our walls fall down.” Yuri went ahead.

Yujin clicked her tongue. Once again, she saw Miru and Yuuka aiming for Wonyoung's weakened defense. She went towards Wonyoung's back and jumped when the ball went past her, the quarter's about to end. I have to get this. Yujin went higher than she is. She got to hold the ball just as the buzzer rang.

“Yujin?” Wonyoung looked at her, the things around them are going in slow motion as the two of them were slowly being pulled back to the ground after their jumps.

Her teammates never saw her this angry before, she was holding the ball with her single hand when she landed after Wonyoung. She was shooting daggers at the North High players. 35-25.

“Yujin, calm down.” Yuri grabbed Yujin's left wrist with her right hand.

Yena ran towards them, she saw the blood on Yujin's wrist that came from Yuri's hand. She grabbed her hand and saw a small graze, but it was bleeding. “Yuri, get subbed out now.” Yena looked at her in the eyes.

“This is too small, I can still play—”

“No, switch with Chaewon. I'm going to hate myself if that graze continues to bleed, it might get infected. Those are too rare in basketball, but maybe her passes are just that strong.” Yena signaled to Chaewon. The girl on the benches nodded and removed her team jacket.

“Yuri, you have to disinfect that first. I'll play, since I also have something against that Shiroma.”

At the third quarter, the North started to score a lot since Yujin was covering for Wonyoung's blind spots, and she even scores for their team. She can already feel her legs giving up on her, but she can't afford to stop. Despite being able to cancel some of their shots, they weren't able to stop them from scoring 35 points during the third quarter, when their formation were starting to have holes because of the sudden changes. They were barely even able to score 10 points by the end of the third quarter, the game was taken from them.

During the timeout, Sae tried to talk to Miru about her style. “Miru, can you play properly? Your basketball never used to be like that.” Sae glared at Miru who was smiling at the sight of Wonyoung massaging her arm.

“Sae, I have to do this. I'll win and I'll make them follow me. C'mon, they're fifteen points away from us. Just a few push, and we'll be the victors. Just a few more broken bones, that is.” Miru smirked.

Sae sighed. “If you're going to keep playing like that then…” she shook her head. “Nothing.”

The fourth quarter started, at the start of the game, Chaewon noticed how their point guard, Murase Sae wasn't playing properly. Whenever the ball is on her, she can easily steal it. I can use this situation. She signaled at their club advisor, the certain sign she makes when she wants to replace a member.

“Change Jang Wonyoung into Honda Hitomi.”

“Huh? W-Why?” Wonyoung can't believe what she just heard. She's being pulled out of the game.

“Yujin's been covering up for you. Don't worry, we'll turn the tables. I know just what to do, trust us, okay?” Chaewon took a deep breath. “Your arm hurts because of what happened earlier, right? Go ahead and rest.” She smiled at Wonyoung, who was soon replaced by Hitomi on the court.

Chaewon tapped Yujin's shoulder. “Without Wonyoung in the court, you won't need to protect someone. Jennifer can block them by herself.” she whispered.

“I'm going to avenge my cheek. Just you wait, Shiroma.”

As soon as the game resumed, Chaewon took advantage of the fact that the North have reverted back to their old style, and their point guard isn't playing properly. She'd make consecutive three point shots in a row.

“Let's go! East High!” Loud cheerings from the bleachers were heard. The East High students were very supportive of their schoolmates participating in the basketball game, especially towards An Yujin who is considered as the Prince of East High School.

“Go Prince An Yujin! Oh my god! She looked over here! She's s