Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no Basket. I'd be super rich if I did.

Note: English isn't my home language, so you'll see mistakes. Consider that as I'll take full responsibility.

Warning: OC, Gender swap, OOC. Read it for your own risk. I'll accept your comment, good or bad, but no flames.

Pairing: Haven't decided yet.

Note 2: I'm not planning to let Teresa injured from Teiko ... at least physically. There are some pain that even more painful than being hurt physically, don't you agree? But sometimes, I'm such changeable person.

Chapter Four: Counting on you.

"It's hard to beat a person who never gives up."

― Babe Ruth.

Silence fell upon them after Kagami's discovery. They were staring at three of them: a grinning Kagami, an annoyed Teresa for her hair being rubbed and a silent Kise. It took Hyuga two seconds to discover his voice again.

"Kagami's powerless against Kise, but his weakness is..."

"Aside from passing..." Riko was astounded. "... the weakest player on the court, Teresa-chan?"

Teresa was still glaring at Kagami, who hadn't withdrawn his hands yet. She absolutely hated it when people rubbed her hair. So, it wasn't her fault that she suddenly wanted to hit something, or someone, preferably a loving-basketball idiot with red hair, weird eyebrows, namely Kagami Taiga.

Kise had a conflicted expression on his face. "So?" His frown slowly turned into a smirk. "It's true that Teresacchi's playing style is the only one I can't imitate." Finally, Kagami withdrew his hands, much to her relief (and Kise probably sensed her anger too, as the slightly disappoinment flashed his face. Ha, he knew she would hit Kagami!). "But what does that change?"

"The first quarter is over! 2 minutes of break!" a referee announced.

"It changes everything." Kagami replied confidently. "We'll bring you tears in the second quarter."

As Takeuchi still lectured Kaijou about letting Seirin close the gap score between them, a new plan had been settled. Riko was delighted as she nodded: "I see, that could work. Kagami-kun, looks like you finally cooled down."

"No. I was calm from the beginning."

The senior just sent him their disbelieving looks. (it was hard to know about Saiyuri's, actually.) Hyuga and Izuki half-yelled at Kagami (in unison):

"You were completely pissed off!"

"But Kagami-kun and Teresa-chan, your coordination will be the key." said Riko, eyes serious. "Can you do it?" she inquired.

"Yeah... probably." Riko narrowed her eyes at his answer. At that moment, the redhead felt a sharp pain at the bottom of his left rib, which was Teresa's doing. Two birds one stone, for being uncertain and carelessly rubbing her head.

"We are going to defeat, Kise, right?" She asked him. Kagami glared at her as if wanting to kill her with his eyes, before striking her rib with the same force. "Of course!" Teresa tried to keep her straight face. Somehow it wouldn't be strange if Kagami actually forgot she was a girl. But before she could do anything else, the silent manager smacked Kagami with her notebook, hard.

Kagami furiously turned his head back to the elder girl, whose jaw set. He asked: "What was that for, Kokaji... senpai?" He added afterthought.

"It isn't a way to treat a girl!" She yelled. "You mustn't stab her rib! You're back from America, right? They must have taught you how to treat a lady!" Her voice was getting higher and higher. And Izuki, being intelligent and understanding as he was, covered her mouth with his hands. He said:

"You can punish him later. Kagami, watch your back." Despite saying that, he wasn't sure himself as Izuki could sense his childhood friend's temper had become worse.

"Kaijou will let Kise score and do a man-to-man defense." Saiyuri said, but not before elbowing Izuki hard in his chest. She pushed her glasses. "So, Mr. Captain and Kagami, we count on you on the offense. The gap and your stamina will be decreased."

Kagami subconsciously hulped. Even when he couldn't see her eyes flashing with anger or whatever, he was still scared of her absolutely calm voice while predicting their limit. Even he hurried onto the court, he still had the feeling of being watched, as if something... someone tried to burn him alive. Conclusion: It wasn't good to anger your manager, who had glasses and long hair and pale skin.

"Let the second quarter begin!" The fear of Saiyuri instantly disappeared in the redhead's mind upon hearing that. Riko smirked behind them:

"Well, take care of the counter attack."

"Go! Push them!"

"Take down, Seirin!".

Riko glanced at Saiyuri. Sometimes, she still had the urge to use force to take that annoying glasses off. But no one needed to see Saiyuri's face to know her mood. Riko counted it as one of the girl's special ability, to make them corcerned despite not seeing her eyes clearly.

"What's with you today, Kokaji?" To be honest, her mood swing was tiring.

"Nothing."

Therefore, Riko gave up, paid her attention to the match. Kise constantly scored for Kaijou. 29-39 with Kaijou in the lead, and Seirin was still having hard time. Izuki, who had received the ball from Hyuuga, was immediately guarded by the Kaijou Point Guard, and quickly passed the ball over to Kagami, who was eventually guard by Kise.

"Something's changed, right?" Kise asked. The redhead ignored him, speeding down to the court with Kise right beside him. 'Just another drive?' Kise wondered. 'Maybe another fade away?' Kagami was panting. He waited until the path behind him was clear and suddenly passed the ball behind to where Teresa was standing. Kise turned to her, but she had been faster, passed the ball back to Kagami through a different path. 'A coordination play? With Teresacchii?' Kise thought in shock, eyes widening. He had seen that kind of play before, but with Kagami?

Kagami then performed a two-pointer shot, making the score now 31-39. Riko cheered quietly while Tsuchida grinned: "Nice shot!"

Kise was panting hard. When he had attempted to prevent Kagami, Teresa passed the ball to Hyuga, who made a three-pointer that immediately went it. Kaijou team was confused at the sudden change, while Seirin was slowly catching up.

"34-39, it's fine." Saiyuri nodded.

"Teresacchi..." Kise seethed.

"Kise-kun is strong." She replied calmly with those eyes which seemed to see through people. "I'm powerless, and Kagami-kun can't stand against you. But when we work together, we have a fighting chance." It's teamwork that Teiko has forgotten.

Kise frowned. "You really have changed, Teresacchi. We never played basketball like this at Teiko, but you still can't stop me! I will be the winner!"

"I can't call the way we played at Teiko was the true basketball." She said to him, avoided the eye contact, thus not seeing Kise's eyes for a moment had saddened.

But he wasn't going easy on her for sure. With that thought, Kise moved to receive the ball. Kagami smirked. "Not so fast." The Small Forward was shocked to see Teresa mark him.

"That girl's on Kise?" questioned Yukio.

"Finally..." Saiyuri murmured. Sometimes, Teresa could be cruel without knowing it.

Kise tensed. He didn't kind of expect this.

"I never dreamed we'd play together like this, Teresacchi. " But somehow, he couldn't help grinning.

"Neither did I." Teresa nodded curtly.

"I don't know what you're up to, but you can't stop me, Teresacchi!" The model said as he passed the girl with ease. But Kagami was already there to prevent him.

"Wrong, we're not gonna to stop you."

"We're taking the ball." Riko grinned from her own side.

Teresa stole the ball in Kise's hands from the back, immediately passing it to Izuki who was nearby, and he immediately took off down the court.

"It doesn't matter how amazingly you play against us." Kagami stated. "Since our objective here is letting you through!"

Izuki scored the ball into the basket, and the Seirin side cheered at the bench. Kasamatsu scowled:

"Damn it, a simple double team would've been better..."

"We just don't like the word simple, do we?" The manager sighed.

"To think that you know all of it is scarier." Koganei corrected and yelped in pain as she struck his ribs.

Kise challenged, slightly annoyed as he bounced the ball with his right hand. "I just won't run by you, then. No one said I couldn't shoot a three pointer." He was in the position to make a three-pointer. Once again, Teresa was faster as she appeared in front of him, stopped him momentarily before Kagami umping up in the air and knocked the ball from his hands. 'Teresacchi's covering below, and Kagami's covering up top.'

'An outside shot takes too much movement. These guys are a pain!' Kasamatsu thought in disbelief. 'And that Kuroko's the one making this happen. Even though she's the weakest one on the field, and can't do anything by herself. I don't believe this!'

"Fast break!" Kagami yelled. Kise growled, turning quickly in the hopes to retrieve the ball before Seirin could score, but he didn't notice that Teresa was still behind him, not moving from her spot. His fist swung back, hitting her right in the forehead, which sent her falling to the ground rather roughly.

"Ah!" She gasped slightly as she hit the court. All eyes were suddenly on her, as Seirin was in utter shock.

"Teresa!" Riko exclaimed and Hyuuga immediately turned to the referee. "Referee! Time out!"

Much to their horror, the red liquid dripped down her face and over her eye, which she had closed to keep the blood out. The red color looked more painful and frightening against her pale skin. "Are you okay, Teresa?" Hyuga hurried over to her, in which she responsed:

"I'm a bit lightheaded."

Hyuuga took her face into his hands, and examined the injury closely while Riko ordered: "Get a first aid kit!" Saiyuri immediately threw it to the coach.

"Hey, are you okay?" Kagami asked in worry.

"I'm fine." She replied. "The game is just getting started..." The sentence was left unfinished as she started to lose her balance on her feet. But before anyone could move, Kise was the one to catch her arm, stopped her from making another contact with the cold ground. His hands were shaking, his lips were still trembling and his face was pale as he whispered in horror:

"I... I hurt you. I was supposed to protect you from harm... You're already..." His words seemed stuck in his throat, not even noticing Hyuga took Teresa gently from his arms. It wasn't not until a hand place in his arms that he snapped out of it.

A very familiar aura which he knew that Teresa didn't want to remember.

"Your team needs you. We'll treat her, don't worry." Saiyuri assured him before leaving with the rest of Seirin team.

So familiar, yet so different from his former captain.

"Let me handle it." Saiyuri said as she kneeled down, examining Teresa's injury and started treating the wound with her best knowledge of mediocre. A folded towel was tucked under her head like the pillow. Everyone could partically see her brain killing itself to make another plan.

To save her and the team as well, Hyuga asked in corcern:

"What are we gonna do?"

"Teresa-chan can't play anymore." said Riko as she faced the rest. "We'll have to made do with the players that we have left."

"Make do…?" Kuwahara asked.

"Isn't this gonna be tought without Teresa?"

"Are you a guy? How can you count on a girl?" Saiyuri snapped without thinking. "Er… Sorry, Fukuda! I was just thinking!" She sighed. "Oh well, yes, this is gonna be tough."

"Stop thinking to much." Riko struck her shoulder, hard. But to Saiyuri, it was impossible not to think. She was born to think and calculate! Obviously, the coach sensed it as she continued as quickly as possible. "The second years will be our offensive core. It's only the second quarter, but we can't let them get too far ahead of us." She glanced at Hyuuga. "I know it's early, but it's game time, Hyuuga-kun." Hyuuga nodded. "Kise-kun will just copy you." Riko told Kagami. "So don't play offense. Focus on defending. Do everything you can to stop Kise-kun from scoring."

Kagami was shocked at the plan. He questioned doubtfully:

"Are you sure this will work?"

The nerve!

"It'll be fine. Have some faith." Hyuuga told Kagami, annoyed. 'Are you looking down on your seniors?'

"But…"

The nerve of him. An angry mark could be seen on Hyuga's forehead.

"I said that it'll be fine, dumbass." Hyuga said, smiling brightly. In truth, it was way too bright. "Listen to your seniors once in a while, or I'll kill you." His smile was too bright to be real. And the captain continued grumbling as he headed to the court. "Jeez… the freshmen these days. You should show more respect for your seniors! And get on your knees!" At that, Saiyuri couldn't understand why they called her evil. They should have looked at Hyuga first!

Kagami's jaw hung open. 'Is he bipolar?' Great, what was with the team?

Izuki called after Hyuga. "You're showing your true colours, Captain". He then turned towards Kagami. "Don't worry about him. He's always like that during clutch time. When he speaks his mind, he won't miss many of his shots. Leave the offense to us. You just defend like your life depends on it!"

As the third quarter began, Izuki starting off with the ball and Mitobe and Koganei were quick to screen some of the Kaijou players. Izuki then immediately passed the ball to Hyuuga who made a three-pointer flawlessly with a smirk on his face.

On the sidelines, Riko was grinning ears to ears.

"Sorry, but none of them is good at giving up. An average guy when he's nice! But when he snaps, he's awesome! And scary! A clutch shooter with dual personality, Hyuuga Junpei! Calm and composed, never panicking! The cool control tower! But you would never imagine how much he loves puns! Izuki Shun!"

As if on cue, Izuki said: "Nice icy hot salon-pass. Oh man, that was a good one." Which, of course, caused Saiyuri twitching.

"In short, he's a pun-maniac." Upon hearing that, Izuki retorted:

"It's not your place to comment."

Riko felt the need to explain more.

"But since Kokaji's attitude irks everyone at the first sight, we can't really blame him for glaring at her." She ignored the protests. "The hardworking unsung hero, whose voice no one has heard, Mitobe Rinnosuke! He can do everything and nother, jack of all trades, master of none, Koganei Shinji." Koganei cried as Riko finished.

Takao Kazunari was annoyed. Scratch that, he was very irritated. It was said that nice people always had happy life, but his was totally screwed. His misery started with a green haired guy and a rear-car, which he was using all his best to pedal. For God's sake, that guy was taller and heavier than him!

"Damn it, we were supposed to trade at the signal." He complained loudly, ignoring the stare he got from people purposely. "You haven't even pedalled once!"

"Of course I haven't." Midorima Shintaro replied calmly as he held hisdrink in his left hand, his fingers bandaged as usual. "Today's 'Oha-Asa' horoscope predicted the greatest of days for Cancers like me."

"What does that have to do with this?" Takao shouted at. "Anyway, if we're coming all the way out here just to watch a practice match, your middle school teammates better be good!"

"It's the copycat and the invisible girl." Midorima answered evenly.

"Are they good…—hold on, girl?"

Midorima ignored his companion's question. "Hurry up, or the game will be over."

"It's your fault for reading horoscopes!" He groaned in frustration.

All green head were evil.

But Takao couldn't say that he regretted.

As expected from Seirin Captain, he didn't miss any shots. And their offensive team was making Kaijou players grimace. Still, it was troublesome for them since Teresa wasn't there.

"Three minutes left in the third quarter!" The referee shouted when the timer hit 2:59 as Kuwahara turned to Riko, asked:

"Coach, isn't there anything we can do?"

"Don't let Hyuga hear that." Riko sighed, but worried as well. "They don't have any energy left for play after the first half's pace. If only we had Teresa-chan."

Speaking of devil.

"Very well." A small voice said and Riko turned around in surprise.

"Ah, you're awake." Saiyuri said, supported Teresa to sit up properly and ignore when the younger girl slightly flinched at her touch. And Teresa, being her usual self, didn't let it appear on her face.

"Good morning." Teresa replied, her eyes a little groggy as she spoke. "I'll be going, then." She let go of Saiyuri's hands.

"Hey, wait." Riko said as she stepped in front of the bluenette "What are you doing?"

"But you just told me to go." Teresa said evenly. Saiyuri laughed quietly. Apparently, Teresa just 'forgot' the 'if only' part.

"I didn't tell you to do that! It just slipped out"

"Then I'm going."

"Hey!"

"If I can change anything by going out there, please. Besides, I promised Kagami-kun I would be his shadow."

'Light and shadow, huh?' Saiyuri thought as she waved her hands at Riko, earning the coach's attention.

"Don't worry Ri-chan, let her go. You can't really force a stubborn girl to sit there and watch. Teresa." She turned to the younger girl. "Remember to win. I really hate losing after using the trump card. Oops!" She yelped in pain as Riko jabbed her from the side 'for joking in the serious situation.'

"Fine. But if I think you're in trouble, I'm switching you out immediately." Nonethelessly, the coach gave up.

Such a stubborn girl.

"And…" Riko sent the manager her deadliest glare. "You will have to take full responsibility."

"What? You're being unreasonable!"

As Teresa came back to the court, Seirin was supported with an unknown strength as the match became as intense as the first quarter. Her misdirection had returned to its full power, making Kaijou twitch. Teresa stole the ball easily and passed it to Hyuga, who shot the, hearby bringing the game count tp 82-82.

"They're tied!"

Takeuchi was twitching like mad, while the Seirin bench was cheering.

Kise stared on in shock. 'We're tied?' he thought. 'Am I…really going to lose here?'

Saiyuri startled. 'What's that feeling?" She shouted:

"Watch out! Kise is…!"

Too late.

Before they could register what was going on, Kise Ryota took off down the court very high speed (which was a big understatement.) Teresa widened her eyes, unable to move from her spot as Kise passed by her. 'That's…'

"Teresa!" Kagami's voice snapped her out of her trance as the bluenette hurried over to steal the ball, but Kise had been faster, much to their surprise, and dunk it into the goal.

'What's with that uneasy feeling?' Saiyuri involuntarily grimaced. 'This is… Generation of Miracles?' If that was true, then she honestly didn't know what she would have to deal anymore.

Kise looked determined: "I won't lose. Not to anyone. Not to Teresacchi."

And it took Saiyuri all her willpower not to recall his words before.

Winning was everything.

"This isn't good." Hyuuga grinned wryly. "Give it your all, everyone. This'll be just like the first quarter from here on out. A back and forth run and gun game!".

And as the time went by, now with fifteen seconds left to spare, both teams were tied at 98 points each.

"These resilient bastards!" Kasamatsu shouted angrily, holding the ball tightly. "Finish them!"

"There's no time left, get them!" Hyuga ordered as he, Izuki and Mitobe hurried over to steal the ball. "If we don't take the ball here, it's over." Kagami was about to hurry after them, but Teresa stopped him.

"Kagami-kun, if we can get the ball, there is one more thing that we can do that Kise-kun can't copy." She said, glancing at the blonde. "It is a simple strategy that can work only once though."

'There's less than ten seconds left.' Riko thought. 'We don't have the strength to play in overtime.' "You can't just defend! Take the ball!"

Seven seconds left.

Hyuga cursed as Kasamatsu leapt up into the air, about to shot. Fortunately, Kagami appeared and blocked it. Hyuga grabbed the ball, tossing it down the court towards Kagami and Teresa's direction, with Kagami grabbing the ball. Kise quickly jumped between the two and the goal, but Kagami passed it to the girl, shocking the blonde.

'Teresacchi can't shoot!' Kise thought. 'With only two of them, she'll have to pass it back to Kagami!'

However, Teresa ended up shooting, shocking everyone. And…

Two seconds.

"No…!" Kasamatsu shouted as the realization hit him.

"It's…" Saiyuri yelled in surprise.

"An alley-oop!" Kasamatsu voiced her thoughts loudly.

"I won't let you!" Kise shouted as he jumped up behind Kagami, reaching for the ball. But then, he noticed that he was falling faster than Kagami, who was still staying in the mid-air. 'You're kidding! We jumped at the same time, but I'm falling first. How can he stay in the air so long?'

"I don't need you to return the favour!" Kagami shouted. "Because—! This ends now!" And he dunked the ball just in time the buzzer went off, and the whistle blown.

100-98, with Seirin in the lead.

It was a pregnant pause until Saiyuri spoke up, closing her ultimately secret notebook.

"As expected of Kaijou, they didn't let us triple their score." No one took her words before the match seriously, anyways. As she thought of the match, she inwardly sighed heavily. 'I have many things to think of then…'.

Once everyone had changed from their uniforms, they all met back in the gym. Kaijou dealt with their loss well. The atmospheres surrounding the two coaches were entirely different though. Takeuchi looked livid, whilst Riko was practically glowing, with flowers and cloud appearing around her.

"Because we're in different districts, if we play again, it'll be at Inter High." Kasamatsu smiled, shaking hands with Hyuga.

"We'll be there," Hyuga nodded. "I don't want to confess my love butt naked." Riko's grinned became larger (if it was possible) whilst Kasamatsu looked confused for a moment.

"Let's go!" Hyuuga ordered.

"Yes sir!"

"Hey, where's Kise?" The question caught Teresa's attention.

"Beats me…".

Meanwhile, Kise was standing at one of the sinks, running his head under the cold water in hopes of calming himself down. It shocked him that he had actually lost, he – a member of the famous Generation of Miracles. Perhaps he would continue sulking about his lost to Seirin if he didn't heard footstep approach.

"Gemini's horoscope predicted terrible luck for you today, but I didn't think that you'd actually lose," .

Just great, he knew this voice all too well. Even if the owner didn't have bad intention, it somehow irked him to no end.

"You came to watch, Midorimacchi?" Kise sighed.

Midorima Shintarou replied without even slightlest sympathy in his voice: "Well, either way, it was an unfortunate game. Even a monkey could have managed those dunks. It's no wonder fate didn't choose your side."

Kise sighed inwardly. Honestly, it was like Midorima would die painfully if he didn't insult Kise.

"I haven't seen you since Teiko." In the end, Kise decided to ignore Midorima's last comment. "It's good to see you again. And I see that you haven't stopped taping your fingers. Anyway, who cares if I dunk as long as it goes in?"

"That's why you're no good," Midorima said in annoyance. "Getting the ball in from up close is easy. Getting it in from far away has true value. Didn't anyone teach you to 'do the likeliest and God will do the best'? Optimal effort makes you worthy of fate's grace." He threw a green towel to Kise who caught it easily. "I always do my best, and I always keep the Oha-Asa horoscope's lucky item on me. By the way, today's item is a toy frog. That is why my shots never miss."

Okay, that was it. Even Kise was used to the green haired teen by now, he still couldn't understand what the hell Midorima was talking about. Horoscopes? Lucky item? How comes that Midorima strongly believed in that?

'I've never understood that last part.' Kise thought in exasperation. 'And to think that this is the Generation of Miracles' number one shooter.'

"Shouldn't you be talking to Teresacchi instead of me?" Now he was curious.

"There's no need." Midorima replied. "B-Blood types like myself and A-Blood type like her never get along. I not only acknowledge her style, but respect it. But I cannot accept her decision to attend an obscure school like Seirin. I simply came today to check up on her."

Kise stared at Midorima. But before he could even question why Midorima bothered to care, a shout was heard and they all saw an angry Takao riding the bike towards them. The blonde looked at the rear car, but decided against asking.

"Midorima, you bastard!" And this wasn't the first time Kise had heard someone yell at Midorima for being so selfish and irresponsible. "You left me alone in the middle of traffic! Do you know how embarrassing that is?"

Midorima didn't look sorry at all for Takao and turned to Kise again, "I just came to watch the game today. But allow me to apologise. There is no way that we'll lose to Seirin. I regret to tell you that you should give up on your revenge. Oh." Kise invisibly cringed. He didn't like what was about to come at all. "Which reminds me…" As if on cue, a punch made contact with his face in the jaw, making Kise have to use all his power to balance himself. (Why did they always attack his face? He still had a job!) Midorima adjusted his glasses, glaring at him. "What did you think in that small brain of yours to hurt Teresa like that? We all know how fragile she is. Everything happened to her was worse than injured physically."

Kise lowered at his head in shame. "I know. I prepare to get whatever you guys throw at me." Not that he really wanted to anger his former captain, though.

Speaking of which…

Kise ignored whatever Midorima was saying about how lucky the model was because of his lost to Seirin and decided to inform instead:

"Midorimacchi, have you ever heard of someone named Kokaji Saiyuri?"

Midorima looked at him blankly before replying flatly:

"No. Another girlfriend of yours?"

Great, let she hear that… Kise didn't want to face that girl, either. He decided to tell the truth:

"It's just that… the atmosphere around her… For brief moment, I thought I've met him through her."

As soon as the doctor said Teresa's injury was fine, Koganei could no longer restrain his excitement:

"ALL RIGHT! We won!"

"Let's get something to eat on the way home." Izuki suggested.

"What do you want?" asked Hyuga.

"Noodles!" Saiyuri answered immediately and Hyuga thought it was necessary to tell her to shut up. They really didn't have time to deal with her obsession with noodle-related food.

"Something cheap." Kogane replied. "I'm broke."

"Well, how much does everyone have after transportation costs?" Everyone turned to Riko upon hearing her question and started digging out their wallets to count their money only to realize that they were really broke.

"Let's go home." Hyuuga said finally, staring at the two ten yen coins in Riko's hand.

"Yeah." Koganei nodded, clearly disappointed.

But a nice smile appeared on Riko face as she said cheerfully, which wasn't good. "It's fine! Let's go get some meal with a zeal!" Everyone stared at her, and she pointed at a sign which showed: 'SUPER VOLUME! 4KG PRIME STEAK! IF YOU CAN EAT IT IN 30 MINUTES IT'S FREE! YOU FAIL, YOU MUST PAY 10,000 YEN!' Saiyuri paled. No matter how much she liked steak, it was way too much! (Actually, she didn't hate any kind of food? Why did people hate food? Food solved everything.)

The smile never left Riko's face as she told them sweetly:

"What's wrong? Don't hold back."

The team felt their hope slowly disappeared as they shared only thought. 'This is too much!'.

"What are we going to do if we can't eat all of this?"

Riko blinked at Hyuga's (perfectly sane) question:

"What?" She crossed her arms, pouted slightly. "Why do you think I make you run everyday?"

"But I don't!" Saiyuri protested, and Riko glared at her again, which successfully shut her mouth up.

'For basketball?' Another shared thought.

The captain thought to himself in exasperation, digging into his steak. 'Damn it, I should have known by now that is how she is!"

Izuki made a pun as he stared at his. "This steak is steakalicious." Saiyuri restrained an urge to throw her shoes at his head. Really, making puns at that time? Koganei voiced her thoughts out loud:

"Sorry, but this shit is really annoying right now. And wake up, Mitobe."

"Excuse me." Teresa said, catching their attention. "I've finished." As if to proven her point, she pointed at her disk, which was clear. And she calmly drunk her water as though nothing happened. Saiyuri cleared her throat.

"Okay. Calm down, this steak can't beat me."

"It isn't a match."

"Just shut up, Shun." With that, she digged in. "Yeah, it's good."

While she was eating like there was no tomorrow (Just 4kg, she refused to hold back!), the others had given up, muttering something sounds suspicious like 'I'm dead'. And suddenly, Kagami commented.

"This is delicious. Maybe I should get some more." The others stared at him, even Saiyuri had to stop. When Kokaji Saiyuri suddenly stopped eating abrubtly like that, you knew something was gone bad. "Huh? If you're not gonna eat that, can I have it?

'HE EATS LIKE A SQUIRREL!' Thanks to Kagami, Teresa and Saiyuri (she managed to finish it ridiculously fast at the final five minutes.), they escaped the fate of washing dishes to pay back.

Izuki said. "I never understand. If you like steak that much, why do you keep on eating noodles?"

"Because noodles is delicious." She answered after a moment of silence, as though thinking to herself if her best friend had gone nut.

As they relaxed in the restaurant (and argued amongst themselves), Teresa took her chance to go outside, inhaling the fresh air. It had been a long time since she celebrated the winning with her teammates, since she had such intense match. As she closed the door, she stopped, surprised to see Kise standing their, waving at her.

"Kise-kun?"

Kise grinned at her. "Do you have a minute to talk?"

"Yeah... I've think I've eaten too much..." Kagami said as he walked out the restaurant with Seirin team.

"Thanks for the meal." Riko shouted happily while the owner grumbled about something that they'd better not come back to his restaurant. "Well then, let's go back! Is everyone here?"

Hyuga started looking around, asked: "Eh? Where's Teresa?"

"I'm sure she's near the back, just like always…" Izuki paused as Kagami and Hyuga turned their head, only to find the blue hair girl missing.

"She's not there…"

hr

After searching for about an hour, Kagami appeared with Teresa, which surprised everyone. As soon as Riko recovered, she lectured the younger girl, making Hyuga have to restrain her, which Teresa was thankful for completely.

"Yuri, we should…" Izuki paused again as he stared at her hands, which was currently holding two bags of noodles.

"What?" Even though everyone couldn't see her eyes, they all knew that she was blinking innocently.

"I give up." Was Izuki's response.

"Good thing. Because I don't listen anyways."

As Teresa came home, her grandmother had already prepared the dinner.

"Welcome home." The old woman smiled warmly, which Teresa responsed with a nod. The delicious smell inhaled in her nose.

"You cooked bacon?"

"Because I know you have a match with Ryota-kun."

Silence.

"I'm… sorry…" Teresa said hesitantly. She didn't want to upset her grandmother, who had denied her idea of playing basketball, saying it wasn't a game for girl. Despite that, she loved the old woman dearly.

She started regretting for not listening to her in her second year at middle school, but not now.

"What was you sorry for? You're stubborn in nature. But still, it's my luck to have such a good granddaughter. Now, take a bath and eat."

The old woman sighed heavily as she stared at the retreating form of Teresa. She said:

"Like father, like daughter. Seijurou-kun seems right again."

….

To be continued.