"True Strength, and Full Strength" is the thirty eighth chapter in Ahiru no Sora.
Chapter Summary[]
The Tip-Off
The highly anticipated practice match between Kitasumi High and Kuzuryu High is about to start. Both teams line up at center court and greet each other. Koga, Kitasumi High instructor, notices that Kuzuryu High is wearing their teams’ practice jerseys and not their official uniform. Koga then instructs his players not to wear theirs. Tarou and his teammates express their disagreement with their coach, and then similar to Kuzuryu High, decides not to wear their teams’ jerseys. Before heading to the court, Tachibana, Kitasumi High power forward, tells his teammates that one of the members of Kuzuryu High, referring to Kenji, has a tattoo on his right shoulder. They see the engraved words, greased lightning and find it cool, and interesting.
Natsume calls his little sister Juri and informs her about the practice match. Momoharu heads to the court furiously, Konishi notices his senior’s expression and feels excited to play against him. Before heading to the court, Chiaki gets in his unusual antics mode and jokingly expresses his affection towards Nao and informs her that he will try his best for the sake of love and victory. Masahiro tells Nabe and Yasuhara that in comparison to the Shinmaruko High practice, he doesn’t feel anxious or nervous this time and is confident that Nao’s training regimen will surely help them attain victory. Nao informs Sora that all his team members are at the court and he should hurry. Kurumatani messages his mother to inform her about the practice game and then lines up at the court.
Meanwhile, at the Kanagawa Hospital, Yuka sees her son’s message and feels happy. She requests her nurse, Sumi Yabuchi if she can take her outside for a short walk. Sumi tells Yuka that the head nurse specifically instructed her not to that. Yuka responds, it will be our secret. Sumi gets a bit nervous and tells her that she might get fired if she does that. Yabuchi then asks is there a particular reason she wants to go out. Yuka smiles and tells her nothing special and gets a bit excited again seeing her son’s message about the practice game.
Tokiwa impressed by Kuzuryu High recent progression
The practice match starts, Momoharu easily grabs the tip-off ball and looks confidently at Konishi. Upon witnessing, Tokiwa gets impressed by Hanazono’s jumping ability. However, Kuzuryu High is unable to attain possession of the loose ball; one of Kitasumi High’s players grabs it and scores the first point for their team. Nabe is amazed by the quick response by Tarou and his teammates. Nao instructs her squad not to worry, and Chiaki, while dribbling, sees an opening and passes the ball to Natsume, who then scores the first basket for Kuzuryu High. However, within few minutes, Katsumi High answers right back by scoring another basket. Chiaki quickly passes to Sora, who then scores a three-pointer. Upon leaving, Tokiwa is impressed by Sora and teammates' recent progression, and he looks forward to meeting them in the upcoming Inter-High Preliminaries. Koga, Kitasumi High instructors, calls for a quick timeout and instructs his squad to wear their teams’ official jerseys. Koga then apologizes to his players that he underestimated Kuzuryu High. Tarou agrees with his coach's misjudgment and informs Koga that he and his colleagues were planning to go all out with their full strength at the start of the match.
Characters[]
- Koga (debut)
- Ryuuhei Nabeshima
- Masahiro Saki
- Yasuhara Shinichi
- Shingo Katori (debut)
- Tachibana
- Manabu Konishi
- Kenji Natsume
- Hasebe
- Momoharu Hanazono
- Nao Nanao
- Chiaki Hanazono
- Masayoshi Satsuki
- Sora Kurumatani
- Sumi Yabuchi
- Yuka Kurumatani
- Tokitaka Tokiwa
- Tarou Kabachi
- Madoka Yabuchi