Stealing Spree

Chapter 2830: Coach

When the echo of Nagisa’s shoes finally faded, Satsuki yanked me back to her.

“You okay?” She asked, a tinge of concern in her voice. Her expression remained the same, playful yet pouty. But it’s easy to pick up that she was also a bit miffed that we were interrupted.

I reached for her cheek and pinched it before saying, “You know how shameless I am. So, you’ve met another girl from my past.”

“Are you bragging, idiot?” Satsuki grabbed my hand and stretched it open before letting it cup her cheek instead of a pinch.

“Alright. I’m not that shameless.” I replied, pulling her in for a quick kiss.

The girl didn’t dodge it but she bit my lower lip before I pulled back.

“Psh. It’s annoying that I had to see you act like that. It was refreshing and irritating at the same time. Next time, I’ll beat you up first before letting you talk to them.” Satsuki expressed as her lips curved up playfully. “Now open that damn storage room door. Halftime break is almost over and I still need to ‘warm up’ properly before I go back out there and destroy them.”

Despite everything, I couldn’t help but chuckle as I wrapped my arms around her and carried her into the gym storage room.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Satsuki kicked the door shut behind us with the heel of her sneaker. The lock clicked automatically and the sudden absence of hallway echo made every small sound feel louder.

We could hear our breathing, our heartbeat, the metallic groan of the stacked chairs we bumped against and the rustle of her jersey as she twisted in my arms.

Satsuki hooked her legs around my waist, ankles crossing at the small of my back. Her arms then wrapped around my nape, pulling me in for another kiss before teasingly asking.

“Still thinking about her?”

I shook my head once. “Nope. You’re all I can think about now.”

“You better be.” With a triumphant grin, the girl urged me to start. To fill her with motivation before the game.

—

Since it’s just a practice game, the halftime break was a generous hour, allowing those who played for the entirety of the first half to also regain some energy. After all, teams would like to give their regular starters a proper breather before the second half grind to gain more experience.

When we showed up in the designated locker room for our team, Satsuki’s jersey was slightly askew. One of her socks was pulled higher than the other, her hair noticeably messier than when we’d disappeared.

Although I helped fix her a bit, her cheeks still carried that post-exercise-plus-something-else flush and her usual grumpy expression had softened into something close to smug satisfaction.

“You’re finally back. Onoda-kun, please. We need your guidance.” Kawakami-senpai opened up with that as their eyes focused on me.

I looked at Ryouko-san, who simply nodded at me, giving me permission to take over her role as the coach for the next half.

Yeah. I won’t just be a manager of this club now. But then again, looking at every pair of eyes in the room that settled on me like warm spotlights, I couldn’t help but feel the weight of expectation.

And knowing they believed in me this much, I didn’t want to disappoint them.

After taking a deep breath, I put on my usual smile and clapped my hand once.

“Alright. Since you’re putting your trust in me, let me help you win this again.”

As soon as I said that, cheers erupted from everyone as they started calling me Coach Onoda. Well, I saw the one who started it, my birthday girl, Ria, who was mischievously hiding behind Ryouko-san.

I’ll let her have her fun.

Soon enough, the whole team gathered in front of me after Ryouko-san passed me the whiteboard to better convey what I wanted to say.

Even the girls who had barely played in the first half as substitutes squeezed in close, sitting cross-legged on the floor or leaning against the lockers. All of their attention was on me like I was about to hand them the holy grail instead of a half-time adjustment talk.

I pulled the whiteboard close and uncapped the marker, drawing a quick half-court diagram with our positions roughly sketched in blue and Hirari’s usual starters in red. Naturally, I’d also have to account for their substitutions too. Good thing I paid a lot of attention to their roster both now and back during the Interhigh finals.

“First thing,” I started, tapping the red dot representing Sakuraba Mikan. “Their point guard remained the greatest threat. Treat her as an engine that was making their entire composition run. Earlier, I had you exploit her curiosity about me. Unfortunately, we couldn’t use that anymore. Still, you can mention me. Anything about me and hope for a reaction. Just don’t let her bait you into personal match-ups.”

“Kawakami-senpai, whenever Sakuraba has the ball, let the other seniors mark her. Make her relax and force her to pass early.”

Kawakami-senpai nodded slowly, already visualizing it. Sweat had dried into faint white lines on her temples but her eyes were bright again.

“You mean, we’re gonna do a fakeout tactic to confuse her?” Kawakami-senpai asked.

“Something like that. But ultimately, she’s not their scorer. She’s a playmaker. Still, you cannot leave her open because no matter how little she tries to score herself, her field goal percentage is still more than 80%.”

Ria signaled that data to me. She was keeping track of it in her head.

After that, I drew two arrows converging on the red dot labeled Takamine.

“And this girl. Takamine is a beast at mid-range and she can also land baskets outside the three-point line. More importantly, she’s left-handed. When Sakuraba drives right, like she loves to do, just trap Takamine on one corner and force her to move and receive a pass on her weaker side. Then the help defender slides over and contests without fouling. Prevent fouling them as much as possible. If she gets frustrated and starts forcing contested shots, that’s where we know we’re doing it right.”

One of the second-years raised a hand timidly. “But... what if Sakuraba just picks another from their team instead?”

“If that happens, just do it the normal way. Apart from her and her friend, the overall average of their team was at the same level as you, seniors. You said it back then, their strong lineup last year had already graduated. If not for Sakuraba and her friend joining, they wouldn’t be as strong as before.” I drew a small arc beyond the three-point line. “Anyway, she’s not going to risk a three-point shot when we will have both Kanno-senpai and Satsuki under the basket.”

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the group. Even the benchwarmers were nodding like they could already see the rotations.

I glanced at Satsuki. She was sitting with her knees drawn up, arms folded on top, chin resting on her forearms. The earlier flush had mostly faded but her eyes still carried that motivation I injected into her. When our gazes met she gave the tiniest upward twitch of her lips as though telling me, ‘good job and leave it to us.’

I cleared my throat and continued before anyone noticed the quick eye contact.

“Next. Offense. We’re switching to high-low actions. Kanno-senpai, you’ll be our main scorer...”

Starting from there, I gave instructions to them one by one. And to make sure I didn’t miss anything, I also reminded the substitutes what they could focus on if they got subbed in midgame.

Everyone listened to me intently. They truly saw me as a Coach now, rather than just the guy who gives a good pep talk to motivate them.

Soon, I drew one last set of arrows. A quick cut along the baseline.

“Lastly, when we’re in transition... push hard but smart. When you’re certain you can get into a favorable spot, drive it there but if not, let Kawakami-senpai dictate the flow of the game. We want quick lay-ups or open corner threes before their defense sets. They’re tired. We’re not. Let’s make them pay for every possession they waste showboating.”

With that, I tapped the whiteboard one more time before capping the marker and looking around the circle of faces.

Most were nodding. A few were already looking excited, itching to get back out there. Kawakami-senpai met my eyes last.

The earlier uncertainty was gone, what replaced it was the same steady stare she had given me when she jumped into my embrace earlier..

.

“Thank you, Onoda-kun,” She said quietly and sincerely. “We’ve got it from here.”

Kanno-senpai clapped once. “You heard the man. Let’s go steal another one from them.”

The locker room exploded into movement as they prepared to set out.

Ryouko-san gave me a small, proud nod from the side while Orimura-sensei muttered something like ‘I should’ve brought you to the Volleyball Club too’.

Well, aside from Sachi. I don’t know anyone from there. And it’s far too late. They got eliminated early during the Interhigh, so... there’s no prefectural tournament for them.

Lastly, Ria came to my side again, grinning like she’d personally orchestrated the entire scene.

“Dumb-senpai did great. They’re going to win now. I can feel it in the math already.” She whispered before her lips curved up slyly, “But let me come with you later when you meet Nagisa-senpai. I heard what happened from Sister Satsuki.”