"Akashicchi~" Kise Ryouta sang as he flopped down into the seat next to Akashi Seijuurou, followed by Midorima Shintarou, Aomine Daiki, Murasakibara Atsushi, and Momoi Satsuki.

"Why did you ask us to gather here?" Midorima questioned, stuffing the frog keychain that was his lucky item of the day into his pocket.

"You're just in time." Akashi gestured towards the match in progress on the court below where they were sitting.

"Huh? Akashi, this is a volleyball game. Why are we even watching it?" Aomine yawned. "Just let me go back to napping on the roof already..."

"You actually asked a good question for once, Ahomine." Midorima adjusted his glasses and stared at Akashi, awaiting the redhead's response.

"What did you just call me?!" Aomine growled.

"I agree with Mine-chin, this is annoying~ I ran out of snacks on my way here," Murasakibara grumbled.

Kise sweatdropped. "And here I thought you were also thinking about why we're here, Murasakibaracchi... why don't you give Himuro-san a call? He can bring you some more."

He sweatdropped again when all he got from the giant was an 'it's too much trouble', before returning to look at the volleyball match taking place on the court out of sheer boredom. "What's this... Aoba Jousai High versus Karasuno High... third set... 22 to 24... Karasuno's set point..." he began mumbling.

"I see you do know about volleyball, Kise," Akashi noted.

Kise shrugged. "Not a lot, but I once subbed for a left wing spiker of our junior high team because the original guy broke his arm. That was before I joined the basketball club, of course." The blond's eyes widened. "Whoa, a service ace! That guy has a sick jump serve!"

Oikawa Tooru, the captain of Aoba Jousai VBC, smirked and high-fived Iwaizumi Hajime, who was standing next to him in the current rotation.

Chants of "Oikawa-saaaaaaan! Nice serve!" were heard from a crowd of girls several rows below where the Generation of Miracles were sitting.

On the other side of the court, Sawamura Daichi, the captain of Karasuno VBC, called out to his team. "One more, guys, and we take this set!"

"Yeah!"

Nishinoya Yuu, Karasuno's sophomore libero, received Oikawa's spike-like serve this time. Daichi sent the ball over to Seijou's side of the court, only to have Kindaichi receive it. Watari, their libero, leapt and set the ball in Oikawa's place. Hanamaki spiked a cross, which Nishinoya caught and sent into the air once again. "Ooh, they're all running up to hit the ball together?" Momoi observed.

"Seriously, Satsuki? You're actually watching it?"

"It looks exciting. Though I don't really know anything about volleyball at all."

Kageyama Tobio, Karasuno's genius setter, raised his arms, his palms facing the ceiling. The Seijou players' eyes darted from one Karasuno spiker to the other. Who would it be? Azumane? Tanaka? Sawamura?

"Oh, here it comes." Akashi had switched to his other personality for a moment and had already seen through Kageyama's moves with his Emperor Eye. "Watch." With a single word of command, even Murasakibara snapped awake and stared at the court through dreary half-lidded eyes.

The blockers in the front row narrowed their eyes in concentration. Perfect, Kageyama thought, sending a falling toss to his partner, who was already in the air.

Hinata Shouyou grinned broadly and spiked it between a shocked Hanamaki and an appalled Kunimi, whose eyes had barely landed on the orange-haired middle blocker when the ball hit the ground with a resounding thud. The whistle sounded as the scoreboard became 23-25. The entire Karasuno team, having taken two out of three sets, broke out in cheers as they patted Hinata and Kageyama on the backs. "I wasn't sure using the first-tempo synchronized attack as a decoy would work, but I'm glad it did!" Sugawara Koushi smiled like a proud mom and ruffled the first-year duo's hair.

"Shouyou! That was amazing!" Nishinoya exclaimed, eyes shining. "The guys on the other side never could've seen you coming! You should've looked at yourself running from the back line and catching up before any of the others arrived! They were so focused on shutting down the synchronized attack that they didn't see you coming from the side at all!"

"Noya-san!" Hinata glowed at the compliment as they both bounced into the air, ecstatically chattering about the success of their new tactic.

"Those two really have unlimited stamina, huh?" Their ace, Azumane Asahi, laughed.

"Hey, you two, calm down, we're leaving now, other people are gonna use this court -" Daichi was cut off by Suga, who punched him playfully in the arm. "Stop nagging, old man. We won; they deserve to celebrate," he teased.

***
Akashi relayed his plan to his fellow Miracles, leaning back to see their responses. "Well?"

"So basically, you want to recruit #9 and #10 as the new light-and-shadow duo for our game against Seirin at the end of this event?"

"That #9 doesn't have Kurokocchi's misdirection though... is that still okay?"

"A light-and-shadow duo can come in forms other than that - just take a look at Midorima and his partner Takao-kun. They're like Shuutoku's own brand of a light and his shadow, aren't they? A shadow's job is to make his partner's light shine brighter through making coordination plays with the light that enable the latter to score," Akashi explained. "Misdirection isn't necessary for performing normal assists. #9 and #10 over there have the potential and talent to become our secret weapons; since this is supposed to be a bonding event between us basketball players and the volleyball guys, we're required to recruit someone from the volleyball teams present here for that Seirin game. Under the guidance of our coaches, their godlike quick can be modified - it may prove to be a valuable asset to our victory. Our offence will be greatly strengthened with those two on our team."

"If you put it that way... I guess we can try getting them on board," Midorima commented.

"For a dude his size, that shrimp can jump, I'll give him that. I'm definitely a hell of a lot faster than he is, though," Aomine said.

"With proper training, his jumping ability may even be on par with Seirin's Kagami-kun."

"I don't care~" Murasakibara shrugged.

"With Kagamicchi? That's probably a bit far-fetched... but their quick really is fast! And that #10's got plenty of stamina. We can give it a try. But what happens if they don't agree to join us?"

"We'll just find replacements. Or... resort to more... drastic measures."

Momoi shivered. "Wait, you don't mean blackmail or something, right? That's illegal!"

Akashi just smiled. "Now come on, we've got to catch up with them."

***
"Ah~ I'm so hungry now! Is it lunchtime yet?"

"You're always hungry after a game," Kageyama rolled his eyes. "We've still got a match against Fukurodani before lunch, dumbass," he stated, before his own stomach began rumbling.

"We've got a break before that, though. Can we get some food first?" Hinata asked Daichi.

"Just be back 10 minutes before our next game starts. Suga, you mind going with them?"

"In case they forget when to come back? Yeah, okay."

"Let's go!" Hinata grabbed Kageyama's hand and pulled him along, Suga trailing after them. "Kenma said there's a Maji Burger nearby, I was thinking about getting five double cheeseburgers for a snack..."

They had barely walked out of the gym when they encountered the Generation of Miracles. "Ah, we've been looking for you. Hinata Shouyou-kun and Kageyama Tobio-kun, right? I'm Akashi Seijuurou, the captain of Rakuzan High basketball club." Akashi smiled and extended a hand to Kageyama, who was scowling.

Suga knocked the back of his kouhai's head. "Come on now, don't make that face at strangers. You'll give them a bad impression."

"He put that dumbass' name before mine..." Kageyama muttered, shaking Akashi's hand reluctantly.

Akashi moved his hand in front of Hinata, only to find that the shorter male was shaking, his mouth agape as he stared at the other GoM members. S-so tall... most of them are over 1.9m tall! That purple-haired guy... is he a giant or something?! "Hinata-kun? Are you okay?"

Murasakibara cocked his head to the side and pressed a hand on top of Hinata's fluffy mass of orange hair. "Hehhh? He's even smaller than Kuro-chin. I feel like I can crush him in seconds."

Hinata squeaked in shock and fear. "P-please don't c-crush me... I-I'm only sixteen! I s-still have my entire l-life ahead of m-me... I don't want t-to die -"

"Don't take that seriously. 'I'll crush you' is just Murasakibaracchi's catchphrase!" Kise chuckled, swatting Murasakibara's hand off Hinata's head.

"Oh, Hinata gets intimidated by tall people easily," Suga explained. Kageyama snorted. Hinata glowered at the other half of Karasuno's oddball freshman duo, silently screaming 'you picking a fight with me or some shit?!'

Bring it, Kageyama returned a similarly intense glare, before their faces were pushed apart by Suga. "Stop with the eye fucks, you two." He turned to Akashi, smiling apologetically. "I'm Sugawara Koushi, a third-year at Karasuno. These two are a handful most of the time - our captain basically sent me to be their handler."

"This guy reminds me of Muro-chin," Murasakibara remarked. "But Muro-chin has a mole under his right eye, not his left."

"It's fine, Sugawara-san," Akashi dismissed the disruption with a wave. "I'll cut to the chase; I would like to invite Hinata-kun and Kageyama-kun to join our team as our secret weapons for our finale match against Seirin High basketball club."

"Eh?" The volleyball players were all confused. "You wanna recruit us for a basketball game?" Hinata asked. "But why?"

"Mainly because we need a new power duo to face off against Seirin's light and shadow. It's to increase our offensive power, since we're inferior to Seirin when it comes to teamwork and making combination plays. If your quick is tweaked to fit the principles of basketball, it can be a fairly menacing weapon. Training will be take place during the free practice period every day, it won't clash with your usual volleyball practice. The training sessions won't be too long - the coaches of our respective teams will be supervising them in turn. With their assistance, we can whip you into shape by the end of the summer."

"Light and shadow?" Kageyama frowned, bewildered. "Is that a metaphor of some sort?"

"It is. I'll explain further if you consent to joining us. Oh, and to make this a fair trade, your team is also scouting for some basketball players to play in your final match against Shiratorizawa Gakuen High, yes?"

"We are?" The Karasuno freshmen turned to Suga, whose eyebrows were raised in disbelief. "Uh, yeah... Daichi and I have been on the lookout for new talent, but we haven't come up with anything yet. But how'd you know that?"

Akashi smiled vaguely. "My father runs the hotel we're all staying at; he's a major sponsor of this event. Of course I'm informed of the details of it. Anyway, concerning our trade. We'll also play for your team during the Shiratorizawa match."

Aomine frowned. "Wait, what? I never -" He gave a howl of pain as Momoi and Kise pinched his arms from either side of him. "Shut up unless you want to get stabbed," Momoi warned. "I see scissors in Akashi-kun's pocket."

"Sugawara-san, what do you think about coming to oversee our practice tonight? Take your captain and your coach if you'd like to; Hinata-kun and Kageyama-kun should come as well. We'll come and find you afterwards; please do make a decision there. Now, I must depart to meet up with my team. Rakuzan has a game against Haizaki's Fukuda Sogo. We'll see each other soon, Karasuno."

Akashi inclined his head at the Karasuno trio and left the scene, the wind sweeping the jacket he wore over his shoulders up like a billowing cape.

"Dang. I think this is the first time I've ever met someone with an even more commanding presence than Kageyama and the Great King."

"What? I don't have a commanding presence," Kageyama protested.

"Says the King of the Court himself," Hinata mumbled.

If looks could kill, Hinata would've been reduced to nothing but a pile of bones on the ground by Kageyama's glare. "Don't. Ever. Fucking. Call. Me. That."

"Akashicchi isn't called the Emperor for nothing. I'm Kise Ryouta, by the way!" The blond gestured to his companions in turn. "That's Aomine Daiki, Midorima Shintarou, Murasakibara Atsushi, and Momoi Satsuki! We look forward to working with you!"

"Wow, your names all start with different colors! Colors that somehow correspond to your hair colors! That's awesome!" Hinata marveled.

"I know, right? Before Akashicchi became our captain in junior high, a senpai called Nijimura Shuuzou captained us! A guy with 'rainbow' in his name!"

"Whoaaaaa!"

Midorima looked at the two enthusiastically exchanging their thoughts on their names. "How simple-minded must they be to get so worked up over simple coincidences?"

"Beats me," Kageyama shrugged.

"Big words from a simpleton idiot like yourself," Suga replied quietly.

"Eh?"

"Nothing."

"And they're already bonding. Do people with similar hair color get along well together by the law of nature?" Aomine raised an eyebrow at the duo with light-colored hair.

"Whaaaat? I thought Mine-chin and Kuro-chin clash when it comes to things other than basketball."

Midorima pressed his glasses further up his nose bridge. "That's a whole load of crap, Aomine. Your hair color doesn't play a role into who you acquaint yourself with. A major reason why you and Kuroko aren't compatible outside of basketball is because of your blood type. Kuroko's type A and your type B tend to clash with each other, which leads to why I also don't get along well with Kuroko and why you always fight with Kise."

"Yeah, yeah. As if that bullshit's got any more logical proof than my point," Aomine rolled his eyes.

"Ohhhhhhh! Wait!" Hinata suddenly exclaimed out of the blue. "I remember hearing Izumin talk about you guys with his basketball teammates back in junior high! He said something about wanting to go to the nationals so that he could go up against this strong team in Tokyo called Teikou, who's been the dominating powerhouse in junior high basketball for as long as it's been in the game! And in the same year as us, there's this team of prodigies with sick abilities and different-colored hair dubbed the Generation of Miracles -"

"Miracles? Seriously?" Suga gaped.

Kageyama scoffed. "Whatever. Basketball ain't got anything to do with me anyway."

"Ehhhh? But they agree to play for us if we play for them! And if they're called 'miracles', their athleticism must be exceptional, right?"

Midorima stared Kageyama in the eye. "Since Akashi has said it himself, you certainly are welcome to observe our practice tonight. 9pm sharp."

"Geez, just how desperate are you and Akashi about recruiting these furballs?" Aomine jabbed a finger between Hinata and Kageyama.

Midorima eyed Aomine down. "We're not desperate. We're just offering them a chance to play with us. It's a blessing to most, really."

"This guy's getting on my nerves," Kageyama muttered. "He looks like he expects us to kneel and worship him the next second."

"We're actually on the same page for once," Hinata replied, a tick mark appearing on his forehead. "And he kinda reminds me of someone."

"Tsukishima and his holier-than-thou speech patterns? Yup."

"Don't listen to Midorin, Hinata-kun~ I think we'll have fun together!" Momoi winked at Hinata.

C-cute... pretty... she's got the tits too! A goddess! Just! Winked! At! Me!

Hinata's face flushed red at an alarming rate, his hair standing on end.

"Dumbass blew a fuse!" Kageyama yelped.

"Again?!" Suga groaned. "That happened once with Shimizu, didn't it?!"

"If he keeps blowing fuses whenever a girl flirts with him, he's never gonna get a girlfriend," Kageyama sneered.

"Yeah. Or, you know, he could try swinging the other way." Suga poked Hinata's stiff back, wriggling his eyebrows at Kageyama. "If you know what I mean. He seems perfectly fine when he's alone with you."

"What the -" Kageyama spluttered, at a loss for words. "We stay behind for practice, Sugawara-san! Nothing more, nothing less!"

"Sureeeee you do."

"Anywayyyy, I look forward to seeing you all again tonight! Aominecchi, Momocchi, we've gotta get going. I mean, our schools do have a game after Akashicchi is done with his. Kasamatsu-senpai texted and said they're starting warm-ups." Kise winced as he read the rest of the message. "'If you don't arrive within fifteen minutes, I'll personally see to it that you won't be able to walk tomorrow.' Oh, shit. He sent that ten minutes ago... gotta run...!"

He bolted down the corridor leading to the gym where the Kaijou VS Touou game would take place. Aomine stretched and began walking in that direction as well. "Eh, I guess I can see that Haizaki bastard being beaten to a pulp by Akashi if we arrive early. Let's go, Satsuki."

"Do you just have to hold such a grudge against Shougo-kun?" Momoi sighed, jogging to keep up with Aomine.

"That dildo stepped on Kise's foot during their WC match. I don't tolerate people who cheat in such a cheap way," Aomine barked over his shoulder.

"Or are you just being protective of Ki-chan?"

Aomine grunted in response and quickened his pace. "E-eh? Dai-chan, wait up!"

Suga glanced at his watch. "Oh, we'd better go too! There are only fifteen minutes left before we have to get back! It was nice meeting you guys! I'll show up at your practice tonight!"

Hinata broke out of his trance. "Fifteen minutes...! Aw man, guess I'll have to get three cheeseburgers instead of five."

Kageyama took off running out of the sliding glass doors of the building. "Race you to the fast food place! Loser buys lunch for the other!"

"Eh?! No fair, you had a five-second head start! But I'm gonna catch up anyway, so you're onnnnn! You'll be paying for the katsudon I'm planning to order this afternoon! And I'm ordering four!" Hinata hollered, sprinting ahead as well.

"Wait, you two!" Suga facepalmed. "You don't even know the exact location of that burger place! You're gonna get lost, and Daichi will kill me! Why did I even agree on coming along, I should've sent Ennoshita instead..."