The Finals
#3 of FCAA Tournament - Underwood
Hiro and the rest of the Underwood team take on the final rounds of the tournament, but exhaustion and pressure are finally taking their toll.
The Furry Basketball Association is a collaborative project, and the creation of Buck Hopper.
Underwood College, PJ Zarr, and Josh Green are the creations of Christopherac.
Connor Caracal, Bruneau St Claire and Cassandra Cassiano are creations of Beau.
Hiroyuki Matsuura is mine.
Hiro glanced up as he heard the door to the locker room open. PJ looked as surprised to see the shrike there as Hiro felt upon seeing the hare. The two just stood there staring for a few moments before Hiro spoke.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"Don't you have a class right now?"
"Yeah. Don't you?"
Hiro blinked, then laughed. "Fair enough, man."
The hare entered the room fully and headed over to his locker. Hiro just remained where he was, sitting on one of the benches. He still hadn't gotten changed out of his jersey from their practice earlier that morning. He was quiet while PJ got changed back into his own jersey. It was PJ who broke the silence.
"So what's going on?" His voice was awkward and uncomfortable. Hiro was surprised that the hare was even speaking; the two of them had rarely spoken since PJ had joined the team earlier that season.
"Huh?"
"I never see you here during classes. Some of the others, sure, but I've never seen you here."
Hiro eyed the hare for a long few seconds. "So you come here during classes often?"
"Of course I do." The hare's voice was matter-of-fact. "I mean, I tried going to all my classes for the start of the year, but then I thought, 'Who cares? I'm out of here at the end of the year anyways.'"
"Does Stein know that you're skipping?"
"Of course she does." The hare shrugged. "Do you really think she cares, though? With how much pressure she's under for us to win this year?"
Hiro pushed away the memory of the scolding Stein had given him the previous year, after one of his profs had complained about him nodding off during classes. Instead, he focused on PJ. "So that's it? You're completely decided on declaring for the draft this year?"
"Of course I am. What are my other choices?"
"Staying here, getting more experience, and getting a degree."
The hare snorted. "Oh please. Get a degree? Really?"
"You seem smart enough to do it."
"No shit I'm smart enough." Hiro blinked, stunned by that response. "I'm not an idiot, Hiro. I can't stay here for three more years, though."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm getting soft."
"What?"
"You wouldn't get it."
Hiro shrugged, then gestured around the empty locker room. "We're both skipping class. We've got lots of time. What do you mean you're getting soft?"
PJ hesitated, and for a moment Hiro was afraid that the hare would just walk away. This was the most he'd heard his younger teammate say since he'd met him. PJ had always been distant, from the moment he'd stepped onto the court during their first practice of the school year. The hare played with a cool detachment that had at first worried Hiro. For some reason, Josh was the only member of the team that could get PJ to say more than three or four words at a time.
"When you grow up in a feral community, things are simple." PJ was leaning back against one of the lockers, his arms crossed over his chest. "You're useful or you're not. You're better or you're worse. You're a predator, or you're prey. So when you grow up with people always calling you prey, and assuming you're weak, you've got two choices. You can take it, or you can choose to become a predator."
"So you're a predator." Hiro tried to keep his voice flat. It wasn't easy; he'd never been comfortable with those kinds of terms. "What does that have to do with you declaring for the draft after just a year of college?"
"Like I said; being here is making me soft. Yeah, sure, I could spend three more years getting a degree. But when we started competing in this tournament..." The hare shrugged. "It makes me feel more like myself than I've felt since coming to this school. If I wait here for three more years, I might get a degree, and I might have sharpened up my technique a bit, but by then I will have lost what makes me... me."
"So instead you're just going to bet it all on this year?"
"That's the plan."
The two of them were quiet after that. After a brief period of silence, PJ spoke again. "I'm going to run drills. Care to join me?"
"Yeah, I'll be out in a bit."
The hare nodded, then left the locker room. Hiro let out a sigh and leaned back on the bench. Well, he'd managed to distract PJ enough to make the hare stop asking about why he was there. What he'd learned, though, wasn't helping his stress at all.
So Stein was fine with PJ skipping out on classes to train. From what PJ had said earlier, it sounded like several of the other team members were doing the same, albeit less frequently. Hiro couldn't judge; he wasn't a great student at the best of times. He at least made the effort to show up for class, though. Stein had always been concerned about her players' grades in Hiro's previous years with Underwood. Her sudden lack of care was disconcerting, to say the least. Adding to that all of the pressure of the past few days...
Stein had not been happy after Underwood's performances in the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight. Their single digit win against Flock was bad enough, but the tight overtime victory against SMU was completely inexcusable. The media coverage on the games had all been positive when it had spoken of Underwood's performances, but that didn't matter to Stein. She was entirely focused on winning the entire tournament, and any threat to that goal was not to be tolerated.
So all of the days of practice since then had been intense. Stein had scheduled an additional hour of practice every morning for the entire team, and required all of the starters to come for evening practices as well. At the end of each practice, she made sure to remind them of the stakes. It was all for Underwood; they were playing right now for Underwood's future, and for the benefit of all the potential future students that Underwood could help. By this point, she was speaking as though the school itself would burn to the ground if they didn't pull out a thirty point victory in the finals.
It was all ridiculous, of course. Even if the school's funding did take a significant cut due to the 'poor' performance of the basketball team, it wasn't like it would spell the destruction of the entire school. Maybe a few programs would have to be cut back, but that was about the worst case scenario.
Stein's obsession was getting dangerous, though. Hiro had tried pointing it out to Cassie; the team had had barely any rest during the three weeks of the tournament. Though Stein made sure they had enough time for sleep, they were all growing mentally exhausted.
Even Connor had received only two days of rest after his injury. Stein had brought him back on for light physical drills, and all of the strategy and planning sessions. It was Thursday now, and though the lynx was assuring the rest of the team that he was back up to full form, they all noticed the occasional winces when he fully extended his arm.
The worst part, though? Hiro wasn't stopping him. He wasn't speaking up about it. When the shrike had told Cassie, the sheep had brushed off his concern with her usual positivity. After seeing the barely concealed bags under her eyes, Hiro hadn't pushed her on it. He didn't have the energy.
He was just pushing all of the concern to the back of his mind, back to some dark place until after the tournament was over. That was all he was thinking of. He just had to win the game tomorrow night, and one last one on Sunday. After that, he could let the worry go.
Before the start of the final quarter, Cassie beckoned the other four starters over. They didn't have long to speak, so she made her message brief.
"We have to keep Connor off the court. Don't let Stein think you're tired. Don't let it show."
"Why don't we just let Caracal play?" Bruneau was speaking between heavy pants.
"He's not doing well. If he keeps playing like this he might injure himself again."
"Yeah, exactly. Might make him a bit less smug."
Cassie shot him a look, and didn't back down until the corgi looked away and muttered something. She kept her glare on him as she said, "Alright, let's go. Twelve minutes, guys."
The five of them stepped into position, and Bruneau took the ball to start off the quarter. Underwood moved forward cautiously, the players getting ready to be back in the swing of things. They were tired; even more tired than they should've been going into the final quarter of a game.
True, part of it had to do with the team they were facing. Pack Territory University had a history of churning out almost as many FBA players as Underwood, and it showed in their playing. The canine school's team was disciplined, and they played with the serious focus of professionals. In many ways, they were different from most of the other teams that Underwood had faced so far. Whereas previous teams had been built around their one or two star players, PTU worked as a unit. There was never a moment that Hiro felt as though he was going up against only one opponent; he knew that there were always four more opponents waiting to lend help. PTU's centre, a tall wolf, was nowhere near good enough to match Hiro on her own. He'd managed to dodge by her or beat her to balls using his one flap quite consistently throughout the game. Each time, though, one of her teammates would be there waiting for him, challenging his hold on that ball he'd fought to catch.
The Underwood team's exhaustion had to do with more than just the difficulty of playing against such a strong team, though. The lack of any real rest time over the past weeks was catching up to them. It wasn't enough for an untrained eye to notice, but Hiro and the others were beginning to make small mistakes. Most of the time, the mistakes weren't too significant. On one occasion, Josh had almost tripped bringing the ball down the court. The squirrel had managed to catch himself, thanks to his quick reflexes, but the momentary lapse had clearly shaken him.
None of them were having a harder time than Connor, though. The lynx was playing as hard as he did in every game, but every once in a while Hiro caught him wincing as he extended or strained his arm. Clara, the team's trainer, had looked over Connor's arm during halftime, but the lynx refused to say it was hurting him. He insisted on playing.
That was why the five Underwood starters were pushing themselves so hard now, after they were already exhausted. There was no chance that Stein would send somebody other than Connor to fill in for them.
On top of the exhaustion, anxiety was eating away at all of them. The score had been close for the entire game, with the teams trading narrow leads back and forth. The tension had all of their nerves on edge, making an already difficult situation almost impossible.
Well, for most of them, that was. PJ... well, PJ was another matter altogether.
As the rest of his teammates grew tired, PJ seemed to recede further and further into himself. By halftime, he wasn't even speaking to Josh. He just stared forward, panting hard. Hiro might have suggested to Stein and Clara that they pull him from the game if, well...
If he wasn't the only reason they were even keeping up.
PJ had already been the most aggressive player on the team, but now he was positively exploding with aggression. Something about the pressure, and maybe even their canine opponents, had lit a fire in the hare. He was driving the offence, and was facing down much larger opponents with no trouble at all.
As the fourth quarter wound on, PJ's energy ramped up even more. After one particularly aggressive block against one of PTU's forwards, Hiro and Cassie exchanged looks. They were both thinking the same thing: one of them should talk to PJ before he managed to foul himself out. What good it would be trying to talk to the hare when he was in that state, though...
As the minutes stretched on, the score narrowed further, until Underwood and PTU were just trading 1-point leads back and forth.
Hiro jogged back towards Underwood's key as PTU went onto the attack. His lungs were burning with the effort, and his legs wanted to give out under him. He checked the scoreboard for what felt like the hundredth time this quarter. Just over three minutes remaining in the game, with PTU leading 86-85. The shrike shook his head. It felt like it had been minutes since he last checked the time, but only a few seconds had passed. This was stupid. He needed to stop, needed some water, needed to sleep.
He pushed those thoughts away and settled into a ready stance as PTU came onward. It was almost done.
PTU took up their positions, and Bruneau went forward to square off against their point guard. The two canines feinted back and forth once or twice, and then PTU's point guard turned and passed out to the side.
PJ lunged in, seemingly out of nowhere. The hare grabbed the ball out of the air, and then took off down the court. The point guard looked stunned, but she was already taking off after him.
Both full teams gave hard pursuit. PJ was out ahead of everybody else, but that point guard was hot on his heels. The hare and the dog were going full tilt, leaving the rest of their teams far behind. The crowd was erupting, sensing a shift in momentum. If PJ managed to land the basket after a steal like that...
PJ was running out of court. The point guard was still at his heels; he wasn't going to have time to stop or even slow down to line up his shot. The hare waited until he was just shy of the key, and then shot. He almost stumbled trying to slow his own momentum as he went past the foul line.
The ball went up, hit the backboard, then bounced off the rim and away from the basket. It was going out in a high arc as Hiro and PTU's centre approached the key. Both of the teams were in PTU's end of the court now, but with the rebound going high, all of the players were keeping out of the way of the two centres. Hiro and the wolf had been pressing against each other for the entire sprint down the court, and Hiro's shoulder brushed against the wolf's as they each jumped for the rebound. Hiro gave his flap, and he pulled ahead just enough to scoop the ball out of the air.
He heard the wolf give a snarl of annoyance as they both landed. Hiro ignored her; they were in the key now, and Hiro had landed a step ahead of her. He pivoted on his right leg, already beginning to jump for the dunk.
He was just leaving the ground when the wolf hit him. She slammed into him bodily from the side, sending him sprawling. The ball bounced away as he landed on his right foot. There was a soft pop in Hiro's ears.
Pain lanced up from his knee, and his leg gave out under him. He let out a piercing shriek as he hit the ground just beneath the hoop. The shrike balled up, grabbing for his knee. He could hear yelling; the unintelligible roar of an outraged crowd, and the more distinct yells of his teammates. Hiro's lungs filled and emptied themselves in great heaves as he squeezed around his knee.
He'd still been pivoting when he'd landed. The pressure of twisting one way and being pushed another...
"Hiro."
The shrike blinked, then looked to the source of the voice. Cassie was crouched next to him. From the way she'd said his name, he guessed that she'd had to call him more than once. The crowd was still roaring, and there was angry yelling on the court. Hiro could make out PJ's rough voice, getting raw from forcing out an outraged growl.
"Hiro." Cassie again, more insistent.
"Yeah."
"Are you good?"
Hiro opened his beak to tell her that he didn't know. He hesitated as he got a better look at her. Cassie's laughing eyes had heavy bags under them, and her grinning face was creased with worry. She looked worn down in a way that Hiro had never seen before. The way she'd spoken, too... When she'd asked if he was good, it had been like she was begging him. Pleading with him to be good. To just...
"I'm good."
"Are you sure?"
Hiro sucked in another few breaths. His knee was throbbing. "Yeah."
The shrike rolled over onto his front, and pushed himself up to his hands and knees. He placed all the weight on his hands as he got his left foot under him, and then gingerly went up to his right as well. He had to bite back another squawk as he put weight on the knee. He took his time straightening up, knowing that Cassie's eyes were on him the entire time.
By the time he was standing, Clara had jogged up to the two of them. The short otter looked tiny on the court surrounded by all the players. The trainer put her fists firmly on her hips as she glared at Hiro. "Get off of that leg."
"I'm fine, Clara."
"Bullshit."
"No, I swear, I'm fine." He tried to put force into the words. Cassie was looking between him and Clara, her face showing her uncertainty. Clara was just glaring at him, managing to erase the foot and a half difference in height between them.
Hiro had to sell this. There were only a few minutes of play left. They were down by a point. Connor wasn't in good enough shape yet to play at his full ability, and Underwood's bench centre had had so little playing time this season that he wouldn't be much use. If they were going to win, Hiro had to play. Hiro had to make them believe it. "I'm good. Let's keep playing."
Hiro held his breath while Clara kept eying him. At long last, the otter shook her head and let out a sigh. "Alright. I trust you, Hiro."
The shrike bobbed his head. Cassie looked satisfied, and she turned away to join the others gathering around the key. Clara began turning away. Before she could fully leave, Hiro spoke.
"Could you do me a favour?"
The otter turned back, raising an eyebrow. "What?"
"Don't let Stein call any timeouts."
He turned away and started walking towards the free throw line before he could see her face or she could stop him. He clenched his beak each time he set his right foot down. Painful twinges ran through the entire limb in reaction to the pressure, stretching further with each step. By the time the shrike reached the charity stripe, he was actively holding in whimpers from the pain. He couldn't let it show, though. All eyes were on him. He couldn't tense, couldn't crack now.
"Oh come on, Hiro, you're better than that."
Vic Hockner's harsh voice. Underwood's previous captain and starting centre had never been delicate with his words. Hiro turned and faced the hoop. Everybody else was gathered by the key, waiting for him to take his two shots. Hiro didn't even see them. In his head, Vic Hockner was still speaking. The big pelican was giving his usual tirade from whenever Hiro had a weak game.
"You're a bird trying to be a centre, Hiro. You're going to get the shit kicked out of you sometimes. 'It hurts,' isn't an excuse for you. Either you play through it, or you're worthless to your team."
Hiro fixed his eyes on the hoop. The ball was in his hands. He didn't remember the ref passing it to him. It was just there. The shrike took a deep breath. He raised the ball in his hands.
Pain lanced up his leg as his body extended to shoot. He bit back the squawk, but he couldn't hide the wince as he shot. Fortunately, everybody's eyes were focused on the ball as it went wide. It bounced off of the backboard and away, not even touching the rim.
"You know I'm better than you."
The shrike let out a sharp breath, and cursed whatever part of his brain had brought that voice back to him. That voice, that memory. He could almost see the palm cockatoo standing right in front of him, ready to block his shot. He managed to keep himself from glaring at her. The ball was in his hands again.
"The others can think whatever they want. I'm alright with that. Both of us know I'm better, though." Her voice was matter-of-fact and removed, as it always was whenever she spoke of her superiority.
"Shut up Catherine..." he muttered to himself, loud enough for only himself to hear.
He cupped the ball in his hands.
"Just breathe, Hiro."
The shrike raised his arms.
"Ignore everything else."
He pushed away Catherine, Vic, and the thousands of eyes watching him.
"Don't even think. Just breathe, and shoot."
He breathed. He shot.
The ball rose in a perfect arc and landed in the hoop.
Hiro let his breath back out, and as everybody else started moving around him, he let Vic and Catherine's voices back in.
Every step he took was accompanied by a small flap, taking weight off of his right leg. Throughout it all, he heard his former captain's barked orders from two years of games and practices: flap harder, move faster, be more aggressive. Hours upon hours spent learning how to outmanoeuvre bigger and stronger centres and get as much lift from one flap as possible. Entire days of just watching how avian players like Miguel Mendoza, Maximilian Piers, and Ozzie Templeton moved. It was Vic who had shown Hiro the full potential of an avian centre, Vic who had helped teach him that when others tried to throw their weight around, avians just had to jump and flap around or over them. Hiro was in the air as much as he was on the ground, and he landed and took off on his left leg more than his right. Whenever he could, he kept himself out of the jostling in front of the hoop.
When he was forced to get physical, Vic Hockner's voice faded away, and Catherine DeMille's crept back in. He would remember the countless days of playing against her after school, or on their high school team, or at her house. The aggressive fire she lit in him came back, and he threw it into all of his movements. Whenever he was forced to push off on his right leg and it quaked with pain, he remembered the months he spent playing against her on a court covered in Vancouver's slush. He remembered learning to balance when his body wanted nothing more than to slip and hit the ground.
In the moments that the pain started creeping in past the haze of Vic and Catherine, he breathed, and forced himself back to the old court near his family's apartment in Vancouver. He made himself stand in the failing evening light, and listen to his dad giving him soft, calm advice from the sidelines. Breathe. Push it all away. Focus.
He wasn't fully aware of the other players around him; of his teammates or his opponents. The roaring of the crowd was muted. The pain slipped up and down his leg from his knee again and again, each time threatening to make him collapse. He breathed it away, and then listened to Vic's orders and Catherine's derision.
The buzzer sounded. Hiro stopped dead, stock still as the world began flooding back in towards him. He turned to look up at the scoreboard. The shrike stared, his beak hanging open as he panted for breath.
Underwood 94, PTU 89.
An arm wrapped around his shoulders, and a hand slapped down on his shoulder. "Hiro, that was ama--!"
Cassie's voice stopped as Hiro's leg gave out underneath him at the added pressure. Pain shot through it, almost shattering his concentration. He was clenching his beak again to hold back the piercing shriek in his throat. Cassie's arm squeezed tighter around his shoulders, and she took some of his weight.
"Hiro?"
"I need you to help me walk off the court."
He had his eyes down, so he couldn't see her face. He sighed when he heard her say, "Josh? We need a hand." Another arm was wrapped around him, taking more of his weight. Hiro straightened his back, and the trio started walking. Most of their teammates hadn't noticed yet; the short back and forth had only taken a few seconds, and the others were busy celebrating the victory.
PJ jogged up to them, a big grin on the usually reserved hare's face. He seemed to have come out of whatever trance he'd been in during the game, and was celebrating with the rest of the team. One look at Hiro was all it took for his grin to falter. He looked to Cassie, and she said, "Get Clara and Stein."
Hiro heard all this through a haze. His own breathing was blocking out most other sound as he tried to get that control back. He just had to get off of the court and into the shelter of the hallway... that was it. Just had to get off the court...
Before Hiro realized it, they were in the hallway. The shrike forced himself to take a couple more steps before his leg buckled. Cassie and Josh stumbled as his weight fell fully on them, but they managed to keep him up. His breathing was raw as he hung in their grip.
He had trouble following the next few minutes. The rest of his teammates, after following the three of them off the court, started to crowd around. A barked order from Stein made them all back up, and then she and Clara were there. The mare helped Cassie and Josh lay Hiro out, and Clara grasped Hiro's knee firmly. She lifted it just a bit, her fingers squeezing around at it.
"Ice," was all she said, and then she took his leg and lifted it, keeping the knee unbent. Hiro flinched at the occasional jostles as she held his leg pointed up. She braced it against her shoulder while she knelt next to him.
Somebody must have fetched some ice, because the otter wrapped a cool pack around his knee. She squeezed gently, watching the shrike's face all the while.
Throughout all this, everybody else was quiet, watching the otter work. Hiro kept his gaze fixed up at the ceiling, clenching his beak whenever the pain got worse. He tried to relax, but the calm he'd felt out on the court was gone. He didn't know if it had actually been the controlled breathing, or just the shock of the injury that had carried him for the last few minutes of the game.
"Everybody head to the locker room and get changed." Stein's level voice echoed a bit in the silence of the hallway. "No need to crowd him. Cassie, please stay behind in case we need help moving him."
The others did as they were told. Hiro listened to their footsteps shuffling away, growing more quiet as they headed down the hallway. Once he felt that they were far enough away that they wouldn't be able to hear, he coughed once.
"Fuck."
"Language." Stein's voice was sharp, but Hiro didn't hear the force behind it that would normally mean she was serious. "Clara, what are we looking at?"
"ACL."
"How serious?"
"Won't know until I can take a closer look."
"You let him play on that?"
"He said he was good to play. I trusted him."
The two of them fell quiet. Eventually Stein walked around until she could sit just next to Hiro's torso and head, looking down at him. Her voice was soft when she spoke. "What were you doing, Hiro?"
The shrike was surprised by how dry his mouth felt. "We needed to win that game. You guys needed me."
"That's your knee, Hiro. You're declaring for the FBA draft this year. You can't afford to take chances like this."
"I know."
"This might ruin any chances you had of going pro."
"I know."
"Then why did you do it?"
"...I don't know."
"No, I've been coaching you for four years. You're smarter than this. I've taught you better than this. Why?"
"Because you told him to!"
Hiro blinked, and Stein turned sharply to stare in Cassie's direction.
"What? What are you talking about?" The mare didn't sound angry when she responded; more surprised.
"How many times have you told us that this is all for Underwood? That we have to push through the pain? That failure isn't an option?"
"Pushing through pain and playing on an injured knee are completely different things!"
"Well what about Connor? Do you really think that he's fit to play right now?"
"Connor's fine."
"No he isn't! Were you watching his face while he was playing tonight?" As she spoke, Cassie's voice was taking on more of its Italian accent. Hiro wanted to tell her to stop and to calm down, but he didn't think she would have stopped to listen to him. "Connor's arm isn't fine. He's just playing because he's afraid of letting everybody down."
"But why would he do that?"
"Because of you! Because we're all terrified that Underwood will collapse if we don't!" Cassie paused, and silence reigned for a few long moments before the sheep went on. "You have no idea what this has been doing to us, do you?" Stein didn't respond, so Cassie went on. "It's PJ's first year playing at this level. Bruneau and Josh both have anxiety issues as it stands. Hiro and I have been trying to hold all of them together, but we're exhausted too. We've been going at this pace for months. It's amazing none of us have hurt ourselves until now."
Again, Stein was quiet, but Cassie didn't continue. Hiro risked a look down at Clara. The otter's head was down as she held his leg aloft and pressed the ice to his knee.
Stein's voice drew him back. "Is that true, Hiro?"
"I don't know if..." He stopped himself, and then swallowed. "I mean... Connor and Bruneau have been at each other's throats even more than usual since that interview. Josh's anxiety is showing more than I've seen it in years. PJ's convinced that if he doesn't make the FBA this year, then he never will. I'm..." He swallowed again. His throat felt tight. "I'm tired. I can't... I'm sorry, I know I should be able to and that it was stupid, but I just can't right now."
Stein's eyes were unreadable as she looked down at the shrike. It felt like she sat there forever, just staring at him. When she finally moved, it was to stand and look towards Clara.
"I'm going to speak to the team. Will he need to go to a hospital?"
"No. We'll get him back to the hotel for tonight, and just keep compression and regular ice on the leg until the morning. We can decide where to go from there."
"Alright. Cassie, stay with the two of them in case Clara needs anything."
With that, she walked away. Her footsteps echoed with finality as they moved further and further away.
Stein called a full day practice the next morning. Nobody was surprised when Hiro was excused from it; his knee had swollen up painfully by the morning, and he was in no condition to walk. More than a few eyebrows rose when Stein also announced that Connor wasn't required to come to the practice, and that he wouldn't be playing in the final game.
It was a long day for Hiro. Clara stayed at the hotel with him, and she was in his room most of the day making sure he kept off of his knee. Whenever Hiro needed something, she went to get it for him. Partway through the morning, Connor came to the shrike's room. The two didn't speak much; mostly they just watched whatever was on TV while they waited for their teammates to return.
It was getting towards early evening when the door finally cracked open. Bruneau walked in, his head already buried in his phone. He glanced up once he was fully in the room, and blinked upon seeing the lynx and the otter in his and Hiro's room. There were bags under his eyes, and his fur looked matted in places. There was a long moment of silence.
"How did it go?" Connor asked, his voice drawing out the last word a bit.
"About as well as can be expected, trying to get a player with little playing time up to speed with the rest of the team the day before the finals."
"So not great."
"That's being generous."
The corgi flopped down onto his bed. Not long after, a knock came at the door. Connor got up to answer it, and moved aside to let Cassie, PJ, and Josh in. The trio all looked just as exhausted as Bruneau as they filed in. Cassie immediately looked to Hiro, whose leg was raised on a small pile of pillows.
"How's your knee?"
Hiro chuckled. He tugged back the cuff of the loose athletic shorts he was wearing to show the knee. It was still visibly swollen, and the skin showed red through his feathers. "What do you think, Clara? Am I going to be good for tomorrow night?"
The otter rolled her eyes. "Right. Good luck with that." She let her eyes wander over the six players, and she stood up from her chair. "I'm going to get myself more coffee. If Hiro tries to stand up, I give all of you permission to restrain him." She walked out of the hotel room, leaving the six of them alone.
There was silence after she left. The room felt crowded with all six of the tall furs in there at once. It was Connor who spoke first.
"Any word on who you..." He paused. "On who we're facing in the finals?"
"Canis State." It was Bruneau who answered. When the others looked at him, he gestured with his phone. "Scores just went up."
Silence fell again for a few moments.
"So..." PJ muttered, glancing around at the others, "we're screwed then, right?"
"PJ!" Cassie snapped.
"What? I'm just saying what we're all thinking. We're down two of our best players, and Stein hasn't given our bench enough playing time to be useful for anything. We aren't winning this one."
"Our bench is..." The sheep hesitated as the other five looked to her. She deflated, then nodded. "Alright. We're down Hiro and Connor. Our bench is good, but none of them have played with all of us enough to keep up. Things aren't going to be easy tomorrow. The games have already been tight leading up to this one. We can still do this, though."
"Glad that one person on the team thinks so." This was Bruneau. The corgi was still looking down into his phone as he spoke, acting as though he wasn't interested. "Stein did not look too motivated today."
Hiro looked to the others at that, but none of them moved to correct the corgi. It was a surprise to the shrike; even after their more bitter defeats, Stein had always been solid in her driven attitude.
"What's the plan?" Josh looked around at all of them, before letting his gaze fall on Cassie. "We've still got a game to play tomorrow."
The rest of the eyes in the room turned to Cassie, too. The sheep hesitated, but when she spoke, her voice was hard. "We play. If it turns out that we can't win this one, well... we make Canis State fight for it. Sound good?"
It was far from the most motivational speech Cassie had ever given. One by one, though, the others nodded. Even Hiro and Connor did. Cassie waited until they were all finished, and then added,
"Besides. Second in the country isn't exactly a bad showing."
Josh chuckled, and the others looked to him. He shrugged, a grin on his face. "Nothing. Just thinking about Dean Carothers' face when we get back."
To everybody's surprise, Bruneau laughed. "'Sorry Miss Carothers, we know you wanted first place, but they were all sold out. We got you this second place instead, though.'"
A few of them chuckled at that. For all that it was subdued, it had lifted the tension a bit in the room. At last, Cassie stood up.
"Alright, we should all get some sleep. No matter how the game goes, it's a big day tomorrow. Remember, guys: we're not done yet." With that, she headed for the door. The others followed soon after, leaving Hiro and Bruneau alone in their room.
By the next afternoon, the swelling in Hiro's knee had gone down enough for him to be able to fit a compression cuff over it. Clara had managed to find a crutch tall enough for the shrike, and she insisted that he use it.
He and Connor suited up for the game, but it was all for show. They both knew they weren't going to be taking part. The pair assured the teammates that hadn't seen them the day before that they were fine, but there were more than a few eyes cast over at Hiro's covered up knee.
From the moment that the game started, Hiro knew that they weren't going to win. Canis State University had a strong team. Very strong. One on one, Hiro guessed that CSU's starters would match up about evenly with Underwood's starters, even with Cassie, Josh, PJ, and Bruneau out there.
The thing that made the difference, though, was teamwork. Cassie had been right in what she'd said the night before: Underwood's bench players were all good. It was rare for a player to get onto Underwood's team if they weren't good. The bulky wolf that was filling in for Hiro could hold his own against all of CSU's players, and he was no stranger to performing under pressure. That said, a trained eye could easily pick out that he wasn't used to playing with the rest of the starters. He lacked that intuitive knowledge of where his teammates were at all times, and the trust that they would be able to follow through on their actions.
It wasn't a huge difference, but against a team that was as tight a unit as CSU, it proved fatal. The momentary pauses whenever the wolf checked to see if one of his teammates was in position were all that CSU needed to shut down Underwood's plays. Things got worse whenever any of Underwood's normal starters had to switch out for breaks. Without Connor around to fill in the gaps, the difference in playing level only stretched wider.
By the end of the first quarter, CSU had already opened up a five point lead. They slowly stretched it wider throughout the game. As the gap in the score grew, Underwood scrambled more and more on the court. From the sidelines, Hiro could see his teammates struggling. PJ was getting too aggressive and making mistakes. Bruneau kept getting frustrated with the non-starters, and would avoid passing to them. Josh was trying to keep his breathing controlled, but even he was getting twitchy and nervous.
Throughout it all, though, Cassie managed to keep up her confident, positive attitude. She congratulated her teammates on each successful play, and shrugged off the failures. Hiro knew that she was as exhausted and frustrated as the others, if not more. She never let it show, though. Even after Stein gave a very subdued and uninspiring speech during halftime, Cassie managed to rally the team behind her.
Still, the conclusion was clear by the end of the first quarter. CSU closed out the game with a 12-point victory. The Underwood team stood by as CSU celebrated, and a few of them offered congratulatory applause. Their hearts weren't in it, though.
Nobody, not even Cassie or Stein, said a word in the locker rooms, or on the bus ride back to the hotel.
Hiro and Bruneau looked up from their packing when the knock came at the door of their hotel room. They glanced to each other, and the corgi raised an eyebrow.
"Is our room just the team meeting place, now?"
Hiro shrugged, and Bruneau went to get the door. The corgi jumped when he opened it to see Stein standing there, waiting. There was a long, awkward silence as Hiro and Josh stared at their coach, and she searched for words.
"Hey coach," Bruneau finally stammered, breaking the silence.
"Good evening. Have the two of you finished packing?"
Bruneau shrugged, recovering from his surprise at the question. "Well it was just a weekend. Not like we had loads to pack."
Stein nodded. Hiro noticed her eyes flick over to him, and then down to his knee. Then they returned to Bruneau. "Would you mind if I had a few minutes to talk to Hiro? Alone."
The corgi hesitated, then glanced over his shoulder at the shrike. Bruneau's expression was that particular brand of questioning that roommates learned to use with each other; it asked if Hiro needed Bruneau to come up with an excuse to stay. The shrike shook his head, and Bruneau shrugged.
Once the corgi had left, Stein stepped fully into the hotel room. Her eyes wandered to Hiro's leg again. "How's your knee feeling?"
"It's not too bad. Better than it felt this morning."
Stein nodded. Silence reigned again, and the horse sighed. Finally she sat down on Bruneau's bed, facing Hiro. The shrike felt uncomfortable; he'd never seen his coach looking anything other than completely confident. When she spoke, her voice was hesitant.
"I failed all of you this year."
Hiro actually blinked, then rushed to reply. "Don't say that. You--"
"I failed you." Her voice was sharp, and carried a hint of a warning in it that made Hiro snap his beak shut. "Underwood has a strong history of athletic excellence, yes. But that history has been built on a tradition of teamwork and co-dependence. I failed all of you this year by pushing you to be something other than a team. I failed the team, and _you_payed the price."
She fell silent, and Hiro knew better than to respond. Even if he wanted to make her feel better... he had to agree. When it came right down to it, everything that had happened that season could be attributed to the pressure that Stein had put on them. Sure, Hiro might have still gotten injured, but he never would have played on the injury. At the very least, he hoped he wouldn't have.
"Now, the FBA's Draft Combine is in less than two months." Her business-like tone snapped Hiro out of his reflections. "There have been scouts and agents at all of the games so far, but you missed out on a lot of them by not playing today. That said, the combine is what really counts. That's where the official rankings and major judging will take place. I've spent four years teaching you to be one of the best centres in college basketball. Damned if I'm going to let you compete in the Draft Combine in anything less than top condition.
"So I've spoken with Clara. For the next two months, she's going to be giving you personalized daily physio. As soon as she's cleared you for training, I'm going to be working with you one on one. You're planning on going back to Vancouver this summer, yes?"
Hiro just stared at her for a few seconds, his beak hanging open. He knew that Clara and Stein didn't work for free. Underwood College payed both of them very well for the work they did with the basketball team. The type of personalized training that Stein was talking about should be costing Hiro a small fortune. He finally managed to cough and then speak. "Coach, I can't accept--"
"I wasn't asking." Her eyes were sharp as she cut him off. The mare was sitting with her back straight, and though she was a good half-foot shorter than him, she was making the shrike feel very small. "This is my pride on the line, and you're in no position to turn down help. Now again: you plan on going back to Vancouver this summer?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Alright. I have a colleague there that I'll contact in the coming weeks. You and he can work out a schedule, and he'll be your personal trainer for the summer. Is that understood?"
Again, Hiro stared, unable to respond at first. He was in a daze, and though he wanted to say no, that this was all too much, he knew better than to say it. So instead...
"Understood, coach."
She nodded to him, then stood to leave. "Very good. We'll discuss a schedule for your physio when we get back to campus." She turned and headed for the door.
"Coach?" She stopped, and glanced over her shoulder at him. Hiro was frozen for a second, but he forced himself to stumble on. "I know that you think you failed us this year. I think... well, you might be right. But I need you to understand." He swallowed. No turning back now. "I wasn't alright when I came to Underwood. I think a lot of us on the team weren't alright at first. I didn't have many friends left, and I'd just lost my dad. So I need you to understand me when I tell you that I don't know if I would still be here if it weren't for you and this school taking a chance on me."
Hiro stopped, his beak clamping shut. He could hear his own heartbeat in his ears. Stein was still looking over her shoulder at him, her face betraying nothing. When she spoke, her voice carried its usual cool confidence.
"I know." She gave a small shrug. "And that's why I'm taking my failure this year so seriously. Now finish getting packed. The bus is leaving in half an hour."
She walked out of the room, and left Hiro sitting on his bed. He stared after her, his eyes wide. His breathing was heavy as he thought about everything she'd just said. He rolled it over and over in his head, never really getting anywhere new.
At long last, he just swallowed. He'd been hoping for some time to rest after the March Madness tournament was over. Now it seemed like he was only going to buckle down even harder. He felt strangely excited about the prospect, though.
"The Draft Combine," he muttered to himself. He glanced down at the compression cuff on his knee, and carefully unbent his leg. There was a twinge, and he clenched his beak tighter. "Alright. Let's do it."