Summary
Time is winding down until the game ends. Despite doing her best to lead her team to victory, Kaori falls short and they lose. As the other team discusses their easy victory she observes her disappointed teammates and they retire to the changing rooms, where she starts lecturing them on how they could improve. Because they had been worn down prior to beginning the game, they should focus on stamina improvement; however two of her teammates argue that she's only a good player because she's played basketball since she was little. It isn't them who deserve a lecture anyway- and they give a quick glance in Miri's direction. Kaori sees how badly her friend looks and she says nothing, suggesting they stay to practice. But with both girls bailing due to cram school, she and Miri return to the gym.
There, Kaori begrudgingly admits in narration that she is full-aware of Miri being the reason they play horribly. She's slow at improvement and doesn't seem to be contributing much despite how much effort she gives. But she is also her friend and she believes in her, so when Miri resigns herself to failure, she quickly snaps her out of this by reminding her that despite her shortcomings she contributes as much as she can and as long as she keeps working hard they will win someday. Touched by her friends words, Miri begins to cheer up as she recalls those similar words Kaori said back when they met.
It's then the coach comes by and suggests that the girls head home due to the weather. Kaori agrees and takes off with him in order to get the recording of their game from him when Miri stops her to say something; only to change her mind. Kaori heads off and observes the cloudy sky before wishing for something that will let them start winning.
The following day Kaori is horrified when her mother wakes her up with the news that Miri was killed. Her corpse was discovered headless!
A memorial service is held in Miri's honor at school. Kaori remains stunned as she hears various people discuss the incident. The basketball nets back-board fell, and while the school had been planning on renovating the gym for sometime, they never got to it. But the strangest part is that her head was never found...
Time passes and soon spring arrives, and while their coach reminds them that they will need to start preparing for the upcoming tournament- Kaori is only reminded of Miri and finds herself unable to focus. But after seeing how much her team needs her, she forces herself to remind them that they need to focus. They should play harder for Miri's sake and because of how hard they and their new teammates have been working as of late.
However... she remembers her last exchange with Miri and feels heavy remorse for not speaking to her about what it was she wanted to tell her.
On the first day of the tournament the team remains downhearted, but after a ball rolls over to her she reminds her team of her words and the game begins. The Aomaki team is sure they will win due to their easy, prior victory, but for some reason the ball is behaving oddly; it's like it has a mind of its own. Despite how they throw it or pass, it's doing exactly what they are trying to achieve, and to everyone's surprise Akimaki wins the game!
While Kaori doesn't understand, she's delighted that their efforts have paid off. But she feels sad knowing their improvement might be because of Miri no longer being there after all. She wishes she could be there with them, but she can't deny that her death helped them and how she actually wasn't necessary.
From then on, Akimaki went on to win every single round within the tournament until eventually the final match before the actual Finals arrived. In this time, Kaori decides to count over the supplies within the storage room when she happens to notice there is one ball too many. She finds it odd but says nothing, freezing on spot when she believes that for a instance she heard Miri speaking to her. But she only finds her teammates waiting for her. She joins them back in the gym to see that a high school coach has shown up to watch them play for possibly scouting.
The game begins, but for some reason the girls sudden improvements begin falling short. The ball appears to be moving around on its own again and it isn't behaving properly and is causing them to lose. Kaori grows frustrated but she keeps playing, wondering what is going on until -to her shock- she sees the ball she was holding has transformed into Miri's head.
In fright she throws it straight at the net and falls back, suffering from a sharp, sudden pain as she remembers how Miri's corpse was found and suddenly it dons on her: the ball is Miri!
She can't understand how or why, but it explains why the ball was beginning to sabotage them: because of her saying they were doing better without Miri being around.
Seeing the daze she is in, her teammates attempt to snap Kaori out of it by reminding her of the game and continuing to play, but Kaori sees a vision of Miri's last moments. Like her, she asked God to let her do something that would contribute to the team winning and improving. As she paused for a second to take a break, she heard the back-board creaking and looked up- just as it fell towards her.
Kaori cries as her teammates run to her side and check on her. She recalls her exchanged words with Miri once more...
- - - -
Five years have passed since that game, and in this time Kaori went on to become a professional basketball player. Currently she is in the middle of an interview when they bring up her amazing 100% win streak. Kaori happily clutches her cherished ball and explains that she will always come out on top.
Tropes:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Both Kaori and Miri asked for the team's improvement. While the story ended positively, Kaori did lose her friend.
- Break the Cutie: Miri is full-aware of her terrible skills and is convinced she could easily be replaced. Not only is she constantly reminded of it, but she spends several hours, days, trying to improve and isn't getting any better. Just as she makes a desperate wish to help the team do better, she gets killed.
- Foreshadowing: This story didn't hide the plot-twist very hard. There's the cover page, which features Kaori holding a bloody basketball. The side panels of the story foreshadow the twist as well.
- At one point the girls notice they have "one basketball too many".
- Karmic Twist Ending: One of the only positive examples in this series.
- Poor Communication Kills: Kaori feels remorse for not staying to talk to Miri, who wanted to say something the last time they spoke. This led her to wonder if her death could have been prevented if she did.
