And here's part 2! As an added bonus, for anyone who had hatred for Kirisaki Daichi, you're gonna love this chapter.
~*Cutting Loose: Part 2*~
Mira faked one way before rolling another. Kasamatsu was barely able to keep up with Mira who pushed off hard the other way and jumped up for a shot. Moriyama collapsed to help Kasamatsu, which is what Mira had been waiting for. She passed the ball behind her back to Chance who was waiting for his chance to bust a far off shot. Mira's adaptability was hard enough to deal with by itself, let alone her ambidextrous shooting. Add that to her now unpredictable moves with her original team that knew to never slack off around the girl and it was a lethal combination. Kasamatsu could see how they had held their own against the Generation of Miracles.
"It's nice to know my replacement gives it her all every time." Kasamatsu said as he brought the ball in.
"I appreciate the compliment. Tell me, how much longer are you going to torture Kise?" Mira snickered, motioning to a frustrated Kise standing off to the side.
"He's gets to play you every day. I wanted to check you for myself." Kasamatsu made a move to break past Mira who stuck to the boy like glue.
Mira came to a stop, surprising Kasamatsu who was even more shocked when Jason reached out and tipped the ball away from him. Malacai picked the ball up and tossed it out to Mira who shot it before anyone had a chance to block her. With that, the buzzer for the game went off. It was Beasts win with 48-35.
"I hope I didn't disappoint." Mira winked playfully before being assaulted by Kise.
"Mira! How come you never switched marks?" The boy whined in his usual manner. And just like in the usual manner, Mira elbow him in the gut before smacking him upside the head.
"It's called playing the position dumbass! Both Kasamatsu-san and I are point guards. It makes no sense to mismatch ourselves and put each other at a disadvantage when Chase can handle you just fine. Besides, your senpai wanted to make sure that I was up to snuff. It'd be rude to spit on that request and just go one on one with you." Mira scoffed at Kise who was currently rubbing his sore head. He was pretty sure he was going to have a bruise before this day was over from all the abuse he'd obtained from the two point guards.
"You get her everyday anyways!" Chase called out, pointing at Kise with a look of jealousy on his face.
"For once you aren't getting your way." Chance smirked deviously.
"And that's why Takao-kun and Imayoshi-san don't affect her. Those two are the literal definition of 'double trouble'." Malacai shivered in fear.
Jason for once didn't have the heart to mess up Mira and Kise's playfulness. She was happy. She was her old self. Things were going her way. Jason wasn't about to spoil the mood. Not unless Kise crossed the line. A light chuckle drew Jason's attention to the spectators where a crop of red hair stood out amongst the crowd.
"Akashi-san. Glad you could make it." Jason walked up to shake the boy's hand. He was one that Jason held a lot of respect for in helping Mira during her trying time.
"It seems I haven't missed much." Akashi grinned as the others finally noticed.
"Akashi!" Mira bounced over and into Akashi's arms. The others looked to Kise for an explanation who couldn't offer one. He was just as shocked as the others.
"Aka-chin sees Mi-chin as his imoto-chan." Murisakibara clarified for the others. When he'd wandered over they didn't know.
"How are the others doing Atsushi?" Mira called up to the tall boy.
"The others are still in. We just got knocked out by Shutoku." Kiyoshi chuckled. Even he balked at the sight of Mira still hugging Akashi.
"We were just knocked out too. Speaking of which, who do you play next?" Kobori asked Malacai who was checking the bracket on his phone.
"Who knows? We play here next though. We got a few minutes before our next game so if you guys wanna go see how the others are doing and let us know that'd be great." Mira grabbed her bottle and took a swig while catching her breath.
The group turned to see the players of Kirisaki Dai Ichi standing on the court, already warming up. A bad feeling immediately ran through those who knew the team's dirty tactics. Considering that this tournament already allowed for some rough play, they couldn't see things going well for them. Sensing the dangerous air, the Americans turned to face their opponents to show them that they weren't impressed. It was just another game to them. How bad could it get? They had yet to really meet a team that even remotely took advantage of the lax foul rules.
"Mira be careful. Those guys are known for playing dirty." Kise warned. All playfulness was gone, showing just how serious he took the team on the court now.
"You heard him boys. Play like we normally do and we'll adjust accordingly." Mira called out to her team.
Whispers ran through the crowd as word of the match just now starting spread like wildfire. The two teams bowed before setting up. Jason won the jump and snapped his wrist towards Chance. They were hoping to start the game out by busting a three (A/N: worth two points remember). His guard had other things in mind. As Chance shot the ball, Kojiro (fish eyes) turned to box him out there. He stepped on Chance's foot hard and stuck an elbow into his chest. Similar rough play occurred beneath as Jason was elbowed, Malacai was kneed in his leg, Chase was almost elbowed in the face during the rebound as he managed to get the ball and kick out to Mira. She easily dribbled past Hanamiya and went up for one of her shots. Just as his teammates blocked the ref's view, Hanamiya brought his arm down hard and knocked Mira to the ground. She sunk her shot and scored her team the first point on the board.
"Foul!" "Come on that's too rough!" "Cheap shot!"
Calls rang out from the crowd around. It didn't affect Kirisaki Dai Ichi however. They were used to the negative criticism. If anything, Hanamiya fed off it. This is what he'd wanted. A chance to break everyone's new favorite girl. He turned to give Mira a fake apology in his usually condescending tone. A light giggle kept him quiet though.
"Heh. I see. So this is what they were talking about." Mira pushed herself off the ground and to her feet. There was light bleeding on the scrap on her head and a nasty case of road rash on her left side, but nothing too serious.
"Are you okay?" The ref asked, looking over Mira who was holding the bottom of her shirt to her wound to stop the bleeding.
"I'll be fine. It was my fault ref." Mira smiled brightly. The ref was a bit surprised by her statement. While he hadn't seen the actually play, he knew that someone didn't fall to the ground as hard as Mira did without being fouled.
"Are you sure?" He pressed, locking gazes with Mira who released the pressure to see if she was still bleeding.
"Yeah. It wasn't a foul. I'm good." Mira smirked widely at the man who froze once he understood her message. "Don't worry. I'm not going to do anything worse than them."
"Akashicchi is she?" Kise asked, sensing the air around Mira.
"She is." Akashi confirmed. His eyes widened in excitement. While he hated being on the receiving end of what was to come, it never failed to peak Akashi's interest.
"Ha?" Murisakibara asked, wondering why the two seemed so tense. He would soon find out why.
It was Kirisaki Dai Ichi's ball as Hanamiya started up top with Mira guarding him. A bad feeling began to grow in him. One that he couldn't explain. He'd been waiting for Mira to cry out in pain. To call him a cheat, to say that he played dirty, to do something to label him the villain. Yet, she'd giggled and brushed it off. Even her own team didn't seem too worried by the rough play. There was a visible shift in the air though. Something Hanamiya couldn't pin down. He shook off the bad vibes and made to continue with the game. Everyone on the sides watched as the ball was moved around quickly on the outsides. The Americans weren't giving them a chance to move from where they were pinned down. Only one was relaxed on defense. Hanamiya intended to make Mira pay for it.
"Fool." Akashi said softly when he saw Hanamiya take the bait.
He pushed in hard as Mira finally began picking up her defense. Once they were lost in the scuffle of bigger bodies, she made her move. Mira made to steal the ball as she swung her hips hard and stomped down on Hanamiya's foot at the same time. The guy was sent flying to the ground and ended up falling into another one of his teammates. Mira tossed the ball behind her head as Jason slammed it down with more force than necessary. It would seem the others hadn't escaped unscathed either. Taking a page from their opponent's books Chance, Malacai, and Chase had dealt some blows of their own.
"Oops. Did I hit you too hard?" Sarcasm dripped from Mira's voice as she walked over to Hanamiya who was just now picking himself up off the asphalt.
"That was a foul!" He called out to the ref whose eyes were hard. The guy who'd done the same thing earlier was now crying wolf?
"Let me explain something to you…" a hard edge slid into Mira's voice as she looked up at Hanamiya. "while I don't go out of my way to play dirty, I'm not above playing dirty right back. And I can promise you I'm much better at it than you'll ever be."
The bad feeling Hanamiya had felt earlier came out in full force. He'd picked a fight with the wrong team. Small yellow rings had appeared around shrunken violet orbs. Mira's demon mode had activated. He looked to the others on her team and saw the same look reflected in their eyes. They were daring them to keep playing rough. Because they would be just as happy to dish it right back.
_._._
Kagami and Aomine were bickering per usual as they and the others made their way towards the court Mira was playing on. To their surprise, quite the crowd had formed. And when they heard who exactly was playing them it prompted the boys to push through the people in order to see just what was going on. Kagami and Himuro feared the worst when they finally broke through the throng of people. Kanika prayed things were okay as fear began to creep up in her throat when she looked up at Aomine's worried face. Even the Seirin boys managed to push through to see just how bad the damage was. After their own run in with the dirty players, they didn't wish that rough play on anyone.
Cheers rang out for the Americans as Malacai was currently in a dribbling match up with Seto (greaseball). He was having fun embarrassing the boy and making him look stupid in front of everyone who was cheering him on. He broke past easily and dumped the ball off to Chase who took his chance to deliver some punishment of his own. He drove in and rolled hard, catching Hiroshi (orange haired guy) with a shoulder and knocking him back. He pulled off an under the hoop layup with the crowd roaring to life in response.
"What's going on?" Kiyoshi asked, looking for someone to explain.
"They're giving Kirisaki Dai Ichi a taste of their own medicine." Aomine breathed, already on board with the idea. One look to Mira told him exactly what was going on. Kirisaki Dai Ichi had been stupid enough to summon forth a demon.
"How is the ref allowing this?" Kimura looked to the ref who watched with passive eyes.
"Mira got the ref on her side from the first play. As long as nothing too rough occurs he lets it happen. No one has any sympathy for them." Akashi spoke up from where he stood. Scaring the players near him since they hadn't expected him to be there.
As if to prove his statement correct Mira drove in, forcing Hanamiya to work at his position rather hard. She timed it right and chunked the ball at the backboard for a formless shot. Hanamiya barely moved his head in time to avoid getting smacked in the face. Jason down below performed a hard box out on his man in preparation for the rebound. By now this wasn't a game. It was a lesson for Kirisaki Dai Ichi and the court was the classroom. Bruises covered both sides, but the Americans didn't slow down from the rough play. They appeared to be enjoying. They wouldn't shy away from a hit, they would deliver harder hits of their own, and they made sure to show Kirisaki Dai Ichi that they'd pick a fight with the wrong team.
It was then Hanamiya had enough. He stood up top with Mira sticking close to him. He was pissed off that Mira had embarrassed him so thoroughly in front of so many people. He gritted his teeth hard in anger. There was only a few seconds left, but he was going to make sure he got the last laugh. Hanamiya moved like he was going to pass the ball to his left with Mira moving accordingly with him. A sneer crossed his lips as he jerked his arm back hard with his elbow stuck out. He was aiming for Mira's unguarded face. Kagami, Himuro, and Aomine all gripped the metal make shift fence as they prepared to hop over and take the guy down. With her lighting quick reflexes, Mira had reacted before anyone else could. She caught Hanamiya's elbow and held him there with ease. Hanamiya glanced down at the girl, ready to yell some kind of insult at her until he saw her eyes. Fear froze Hanamiya in place as he stepped away from the girl just as the buzzer for the game rang out. With the score of 75-38, Mira's team were the victors.
Cheers rang out from all over as Mira broke contact with Hanamiya to turn to her teammates. Jason picked the girl up as the others all cheered as well. They were beaten, battered, and bruised, but it was nothing they couldn't recover from. Once Mira was put back down on the ground she walked to the ref and bowed before him. Her friends copied the action as the ref stood in shock. It was there way of thanking him for allowing them to fight like they had. Another volley of cheers rose up once more as the court was cleared out for the next game.
"Mira!" Kagami hollered, wrapping his cousin up in a tight hug.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow! Taiga not so rough!" Mira squirmed in his grip till the huge boy let her go.
"You should get checked out. That first hit was pretty nasty." Akashi suggested, moving her bangs aside to look at the cut. Cue jaw drops from those who weren't used to seeing the Rakuzan captain worry for someone else.
Not leaving it up for debate, Kise walked by and scooped Mira up and over his shoulder. Naturally the red head protested loudly and called out for help, but no one could stop laughing long enough to offer assistance before the two had disappeared into the crowd. Kise ignored Mira's protests and took her back to the canopies with all their stuff underneath. Once there he placed Mira down gently and grabbed Kanika's bag. He knew she always carried some kind of first aid on her.
"I'm telling you it's not that bad. I've gotten worse playing Taiga and Tatsuya." Mira narrowed her eyes in annoyance at Kise.
"Humor me." He smiled softly while getting everything ready.
Mira shrugged before reaching up and pulling her shirt off. It was only then Kise realized that Mira was sitting half naked in front of him with only her sports bra to cover her top. His face turned bright red as his eyes involuntarily looked over her body. His embarrassment disappeared quickly though when he saw the bruise forming around the scrape near her left hip. Mira reached out for the gauze he had in his hands and poured water over it. She gently wiped the scrape on her side and legs off, cleaning the little rocks out of her wounds in the process. Once that was done she tossed the spray to Kise and motioned for him to use it. Kise shook the spray up before applying it. Mira bit back a slew of curses as the sting rocketed through her body. Once both wounds had calmed down, Kise looked to the scrape on her head. He repeated the cleaning process before sitting back and looking her over.
"How do you feel?" Kise asked, reaching out and stopping just short of touching her side.
"Sore, but fine. I'm serious. I've had worse. You've seen it remember?" Mira said softly.
"I know." Kise reached up and grabbed the back of Mira's head. He gently pulled her head towards his so that their foreheads were touching. "I got a bit scared when I saw your Demon Zone activate."
"I don't feel even remotely bad. They shouldn't have played dirty." Mira quickly justified.
"I know. But don't scare me like that okay?" Kise pleaded softly, pulling back just enough to look her in the face. His other hand somehow found hers and wrapped around it. Giving it a squeeze to show just how serious he was.
"No promises. But I'll try." Mira promised, squeezing his hand back. Unlike the first time Kise had held her hand, this time didn't freak her out. For some reason this time felt right. There was the familiar warmth Mira had grown accustomed to.
"I believe you have a tournament to win." The two wore matching grins as Mira grabbed her shirt before rushing out after Kise.
_._._
Imayoshi's jaw dropped when he watched Mira yet again hold her own with some of the best players out there. It had come down to hers and Kagami's team facing each other. Turns out being from the source of basketball really had its perks. Instead of sticking to strategies and trying to just outsmart your opponent, you were also taught to think more creatively. Imayoshi had seen the results himself when Aomine had adopted the wild style himself. To see five people using it all at once on a small court was amazing. In such a packed area you had to think outside the box. It forced you to get creative. And clearly the Americans had the upper hand in this.
Himuro did his best to handle Mira while Kagami fought it out with Jason. Just because the punk usually hid out underneath the goal didn't mean he couldn't handle a ball. More than once the two had matched up in a one on one setting. Jason was as agile as he was big. Furihata did what he could against Chance, but struggled in keeping up with his quick shot ability that made Sakurai look slow. Since Chase, asides from Mira, was the only other one who could handle Kuroko due to his ability to match rhythm's with another player he was doing his best to keep the shadow pinned down. As for Malacai? He had to commend the effort Fukuda was putting in to try and stick with him. It was clear that his skills were no match for the natural born streetballer that was like the American version of Aomine. But the guy didn't give up. The buzzer for the game finally went off with a final score of 60 to 48. Having the experience of playing in a confined area and knowing how to move inside it as a unit had played to the Americans' advantage.
"I guess my street ball skills are rusty." Himuro chuckled, watching Mira and her team celebrate off to the side.
"I swear that little shit's gotten better." Kagami growled. There wasn't any bite in his words though. He smiled, watching Mira with the others as they all made their way to the main court.
"We could have our work cut out for us during the Winter Cup." Kuroko noted as Nigou yipped in agreement.
"Aw Shin-chan, are you still mad you didn't get to play her?" Takao teased a very peeved shooting guard.
"He's not the only one apparently." Imayoshi chuckled, glancing back to Aomine who was wondering if he could con Mira into a one on one since Kagami's team had been the ones to knock his team out.
"Don't forget, Mira isn't the only one you should be worried about." Kise reminded the others.
"It shall be an interesting tournament to say the least." Akashi agreed.
"Huh? I wonder if we'll play Mi-chin, Muro-chin." Murisakibara pondered. After watching Mira's performance today, he'd been another one who'd found himself wanting to step on the court and cross blades with her.
All that would have to wait however. Once the awards ceremony was over, the main event began. The dunk contest. All those that could dunk had lined up for the event. All except Murisakibara. They'd been afraid he'd break the goal if he competed and got too into it. Thankfully, Mira kept him pacified with sweets as the event began. Contestants were given three tries to sink their dunks before being knocked out. Kiyoshi and Otsubo were some of the first ones out since they couldn't quite pull off some of the flashier dunks. Himuro and Wakamatsu were next off the court. This left Kagami, Aomine, Kise, Malacai, and Jason. This is when things got interesting. Alley oops were performed, balls were bounced off the backboard, between the legs, windmills, turn arounds, anything that could be thought up was done. Jason had even called Mira on to the court to toss the ball up for him as he ran and jumped over her before doing a dunk. But thanks to Kise's copy ability he was able to make it further than most. If someone failed their dunk, he would perform the same dunk and succeed. He would've won it too had it not been for the staggered alley oops Malacai had the twins perform. One shot from the three with the other shooting not too long afterwards. Malacai dunked with one hand, pushing himself off the rim and high into the air so that he could grab the other ball with his opposite hand and dunk it as well. There would be no copying that.
"We have our winner folks!"
As the ceremonies began winding down, it was only their group left. The crowd had dispersed by now. Kise let out a defeated sigh before feeling a light nudge in his side. He glanced down to see Mira grinning mischievously up at him. She motioned with her head towards Malacai who was standing there with a brand spanking new ball as his prize. Mira darted ahead first with Kise following right after her. She knocked the ball free from Malacai's hand, ruining his celebration as he rushed after Mira to steal his ball back. The red head tossed the ball up at the backboard with a slight curve, making it to where Malacai couldn't reach it. Kise came flying through at the right time though as he slammed the ball hard through the goal. He hung on the hoop for a bit before landing back on the ground.
Wanting to get in on the fun, Momoi grabbed the loose ball and held it up before running towards the court. She tossed it into the air with Aomine rushing up and pulling off a dunk of his own. This time Riko got it and tossed the ball off to Hyuga who was positioned near the three point line. He shot, only to have Izuki jump and try to block the shot. Takao got the rebound and tossed it behind his back to a waiting Midorima. Before he could shoot, Akashi jumped in front to guard him. Midorima ended up holding the ball too long as Murisakibara stole it from his hands. Jason was the only one able to steal it back in the air, only to have Kuroko knock it away from him on the ground. It turned into a free for all as the ball was passed, stolen, shot, rebounded, and replayed. No one was thinking to the future of the upcoming Winter Cup. No one saw the other as a rival. No one saw divided schools. All that mattered in that moment was a group of basketball idiots having fun.
So everyone got to see why Mira was so scary, we got to see her demon mode, as well as a dunk contest to end the day out. I'd say it was a nice warm and fuzzy scene. Especially since we all know it won't stay like this for long hehe. Anyways I'm gonna take a longer than usual break since finals just ended so if you don't see a new chapter for a while, you know why. Let me know what you all thought!
