"Shadow and Light" is the seventieth chapter in Ahiru no Sora.
Chapter Summary[]
Shinjo Towa Academy scores the first point and takes the lead. Kenji requests his senior Chiaki to pass him the ball. In the spur of the moment, Kenji takes on the entire Shinjo Towa team and efficiently score the layup. After scoring, he confidently notifies the referee about the foul, and the ref sounds the whistle and states basket and one free throw. Kenji efficiently attempts the free throw, and Kuzuryu High leads the match by one point. Kenji then urges his teammates to regain their composure.
Meanwhile, Madoka and her teammates are also participating at the Inter-High Preliminaries. Their match is taking place at another tournament venue. Their opponent is the experienced and veteran team Tamagawa High. Youko, the Kuzuryu High teams’ point guard, has possession of the ball and tries to score. The opposing team player accidentally hits her, and the referee sounds the whistle and indicates that it is a defensive foul and Kuzuryu High will have two free throw attempts. The Kuzuryu High girls’ team captain, Sayuri, praises her colleague Youko for her efforts. Tamagawa requests the ref for a timeout. The people at the court praise both teams for their efforts, and one of the onlookers states that it is indeed an intense match. Only 4 seconds remain to conclude the match. Youko successfully attempts the first free throw; however, she misses the second one, and their captain, Sayuri, grabs the rebound. Madoka praises her captain and requests her to pass the ball. Madoka attempts and shoots the mid-range shot; the ball touches the front rim and misses. Tamagawa wins the match by one point with a score of 61 to 60. Madoka apologizes to her colleagues for missing the final shot. Sayuri praises her team’s ace and tells all her colleagues that she enjoyed being the team’s captain. Sayuri says her final goodbyes to her team and, in concluding, urges Madoka and others not to be dishearted, and there is always next time.
Back at the Inter-High Preliminaries main venue, Sora and his teammates face their challenging adversaries Shinjo Towa Academy. Momoharu has possession of the ball, and Yukio is carefully guarding him. Due to his poor shooting skills, Hanazono does not attempt to score and instead passes the ball to his brother Chiaki. Takahashi is guarding him, and Chiaki does one of his signature backhand passes. Sora retrieves the ball; he shoots and scores the mid-range shot. Kuzuryu High leads the match by six points. The score is 12 to 6. Shinjo Towa Academy requests for a timeout. Nao praises her squad for their diligent efforts and talks to herself that they should continue being on offence. To further widen their lead, Nao comments that they need to attempt to score some threes. Nanao then notices that she thought that Shinjo Towa Academy had three players who are 190 cm tall and sees an injured Kojima. Yukio, Shinjo Towa’s center, informs his colleagues that Yasuhara, Nabe and Masahiro are novice members of Kuzuryu High, and he believes that they just started playing basketball in high school.
A focused Nao notifies her squad that their team has the upper hand and advantage over Shinjo Towa Academy when it comes to individual skills. In concluding, she urges them to continue with their current offence and encourages them to widen their lead further. Meanwhile, at Shinjo Towa bench Kojima notifies his good friend Takahashi about the Hanazono brothers and states that the two played for Nika Middle school. Due to Chiaki’s superior basketball skills, his teammates were unable to retrieve his efficient passes, and in between the game, he, unfortunately, got subbed out. Upon hearing, Takahashi states that he doesn’t remember seeing Chiaki at the middle school tourney; however, he thanks Kojima for telling him. While heading towards the court, Takahashi urges Yanagihara to mark Sora carefully and Roku to improve his defense against Kenji. In concluding, Takahashi confidently states that he will create a window of opportunity for his team. The referee sounds the whistle that the timeout has ended, and a focused Kuzuryu High and Shinjo Towa Academy enter the court.
Characters[]
- Tamo Yukio
- Hirai Rokurou
- Masahiro Saki
- Ryuuhei Nabeshima
- Yasuhara Shinichi
- Nao Nanao
- Masayoshi Satsuki
- Kashiwagi Kazushi
- Kenji Natsume
- Shingo Katori (flashback)
- Yukinari Kojima
- Kaname Shigeyoshi