The Life Of Normal-Taro

Seeing Samuel in his dumbfounded state, Juan sighed. "Oh, come on! Are you gonna be speechless with just this? I haven't even started my hunt, you know? If this is how you're gonna be, you're gonna be gaping your mouth by the end of it." He said as he passed by Samuel.

Upon hearing this, Samuel came back to reality. "Shit, being belittled by your student doesn't feel good at all." He mumbled while clenching his fists. "Boys! Don't be scared now, okay? It's just the beginning. We'll still get a lot of chances!" He assured them.

"Who's getting scared? Don't put your personal anxiety on us, Mr Samuel. Moreover, it's exciting this way, isn't it? A terrible beginning to a very great ending. Ah, I'm getting chills just by thinking about it." Ross spoke as he gave out a bright smile.

"Exciting, huh… Sure it is." Samuel smiled as he passed the ball to Ross.

Samuel's team continued the same passing strategy from before, since that was a technique they were comfortable with. Anyhow, whilst noticing the ball's movement, Samuel was also keeping an eye at his competitors. 

It seemed as if Taro was planning the same thing that he tried when they scored a basket. He wasn't moving. His partner in crime this time around wasn't Shivani, though. It was Abhirami.

Although she wasn't quite the three-point shooter like Shivani, she was still pretty good at the layups, so it seemed that Taro was trying to get a two-pointer this time.

So, this move made Samuel's team look for a three-pointer, but they stopped themselves from doing so, since they were looking for a careful restart to their game. Therefore, since two of five would not fight them under the rim, Samuel dribbled his way under the rim and tossed the ball for an easy two—or so he thought of doing. 

However, the ball was swatted away with full force by someone. Samuel looked to his side and noticed that it was Taro. Anyhow, the swat was so hard that it looked like it was gonna go out of bounds.

But Samuel's team knew what was going on. They expected Abhirami to sprint once they saw Taro jump up and swat the ball, so they had collectively run back to protect their basket. Since it was Abhirami, they covered the base of the basket, so she couldn't do the layup.

Hence, they were kinda surprised when Abhirami didn't rush inside the two point zone. Instead, she made a throwing action in the three point line before passing the ball to Shivani, who scored the three-pointer, increasing the point gap between them.

Samuel's team weren't that concerned though. At least they didn't look like it in their faces. However, once you see their playing style, you could decipher that they were a bit concerned. At least, they looked like they wanted to win.

Rather than the passing play that they did for the last time, they did a whole team rush this time around, which was a really risky gamble, since if they weren't able to score it, the other team would definitely do so. And yet, they were willing to do it because they believed they could do it.

And the risk paid off. Samuel faked the throw to basket and instead passed it to Laxman, who passed it to Ross and they got two points.

From that point, it was just a bloodbath figuratively, of course. Both teams started scoring baskets on a regular basis. However, the initial lead saved Taro's team for the longest time… Until the final twenty minutes.

Sujatha, who was protecting the rim, got tired and wasn't able to pull off jumps, and Samuel's squad pounced on the one member's fatigue to the point that they actually got the lead before the last twelve minutes. It was a monumental comeback—at least for them.

They didn't celebrate excessively like they did in the beginning of the game. But they were still happy about it. Victory seemed pretty close to them.

"Ha…" Juan sighed as he witnessed this scene. "Mr Sadanandan. Seems like you've been passing less and less for me, you know?" He pouted as he spoke.

"Well, that was kinda deliberate. I wanted my best player to straight up wreck the opposition in the final ten minutes." Taro smiled.

"We could've just widened the lead into something greater that they couldn't win, even if they scored basket after basket in the last ten minutes. Why didn't we do that?" Juan asked.

"You know, I like theatrics. Very fond of it. So imagine it. An underdog team dominating for the most part, thus reversing the roles in that one game. People cheering for the new underdog team who kept on with their desperate fight. And in the end, they got the lead in the very end. Then they string up a few successful attacks, cementing the other team as the underdogs this time around. Then one man changes the entire game. Delightful story, eh?" He asked.

"Hmm, too many twists." Juan replied.

"Well, sometimes that just gives the story a unique charm." Taro spoke.

"But you really think that people would treat me as a great guy who saved his team. Wouldn't I be the freaking last boss if it was some game?" Juan asked.

"Well, I guess that would be the case. But isn't being the last boss quite a fun position?" Taro asked back.

"Hmm, an antagonist of utmost importance. I like it!" Juan smirked.

"Then let's begin our ambush!" Taro smiled along with him.

What followed next was a massacre per se. Because of the faint presence Juan had for most of the game, they gradually thought that Taro and Juan weren't on good terms, so they weren't passing the ball to each other.

But the last ten minutes told a different tale. Every single time the ball was in Taro's hand, he always passed it to Juan, who would always score. This way, they scored almost thirty points in that last ten minutes, without allowing Samuel and co to score even a single basket. The once close contested match became a one-sided affair in the end.

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