Disclaimer: 黒子のバスケ © 藤巻 忠俊
Mibuchi watch with disgust as Nebuya squeezed his bottle, letting the liquid enter his awaiting mouth.
"Drink your water more appropriately Nebuya." He scolded, his own container clutched in his palm.
"Aw~ Kise was so slow just now." Hayama complained.
Hanamiya was on one side of the bench, deep in thought. His mind replayed what had happened during the first half. Without anyone witnessing him, he then clenched his right fist very tightly.
"Actually, I think they played rather well." Kiyoshi praised with his ever-present smile. His teammates stared at him with interested faces.
"You faced the purple head right? He was pathetic. He did not obtained a lot of rebounds. They were not much considering the fact that they are the 'chosen ones' and how the captain had spoke highly of them." Nebuya denied strongly and scoffed.
"At the very least, he caught some, which enabled his members to score. They had played far out of our expectations." Shuzo interrupted whilst watching the electronic scoreboard.
The 'uncrowned kings' immediately showed respect to the recently appeared captain by straightening their backs and hung their heads slightly lower.
"It is how Shuzo said. Those kids have got spunk in them, I have to admit." Hanamiya distastefully agreed.
"Although," Mibuchi glanced at the opposite side, where the GOM was assigned. "now their wills are completely crushed," a wide smile pasted on his face. "I wonder how are they going to continue?"
Shuzo had long given up on reforming his team bad habits and personalities alike. "No matter what, do not ever let your guard down." His words, sent him a group of confused eyes. He took a deep breath and sighed heavily.
"I know my sister very well, too well in fact." He told them, glaring at them like a hawk the whole time. "If it is one thing she is good at, it will be her personality to never give up. Be careful, her tactics are lethal." He warned.
Kuroko Tetsuyu.
That name alone made people wonder things like, 'Was there a person like that?' or 'who is she again?'. It was a given. Combine her lack of presence with her small size was enough for people to dismiss or overlook the harm she may bring and underestimate her.
"Yet, instead of being discouraged by it, she uses it fully to her advantage." Shuzo thought grimly, a little bit proud. He had seen far too many opponents dropped down to the floor, devastated, defeated by her, just because of a one miniscule miscalculation-they undermined Tetsuyu. He is not a part of them and will not be, whether in the near or far future.
He is completely aware of her talent. However, he was not sure if his charges understood the meaning in depth of what he had just said and on top of that, he himself, had not seen the true extent of Tetsuyu's abilities. All the while, he was shown only the tip of the iceberg. Meanwhile, what worries him the most was, Tetsuyu had not initiated any instructions corresponding to her strategies. At that moment, he had a flash of one of Tetsuyu's frequently uttered quote.
'In sport, nothing is concrete until the game ends.'
Shuzo held his shirt in the front of his chest. He had a bad feeling on what is going to come. What was more troublesome was that his gut feelings was never wrong.
The buzzer cried once again, signalling the end of the break. The 'uncrowned kings' walked majestically, while the GOM strolled into the court, faces down, their bangs shadowing their eyes. A lot of the audiences were already laughing, obviously enjoying the what they took to be their despaired faces.
From afar, both Shirogane and Sanada examined with keen eyes. They knew that their student 'queen' had an ace or joker in her sleeves. Like Shuzo, they were suddenly reminded on Tetsuyu's eerily truthful quotes,
" Kantoku, the quiet ones are the one who should be looking out for."
" Shirogane-sensei, a cornered and pressurized cat could transform into a tiger, anytime and anywhere."
Shuzo sent a quick look in Tetsuyu's direction. Tetsuyu remained in her seat, with her usual deadpanned expression. That should be what an average person's perspective. On the other hand, what Shuzo saw was definitely contradicting. His eyes became enlarged. 'Even though it was faint and quick, I am very sure I saw her contented expression.'
His eyes focused onto the 'battlefield'.
There were no apparent changes made to their positions nor strategy.
Aomine was still marking Nebuya who had a smug look, Akashi with Hanamiya who was a bit wary of him, Midorima, his glasses fogging, with Mibuchi, Murasakibara with Kiyoshi and Kise who had determined golden pupils, with Hayama.
'What is the different?! Don't tell me you are so pushed you did not thought of the consequences? Those kids would be crushed.' Shuzo pondered with frustration. He pushed his neat hair up allowing him to think more clearly. 'I do not know what are you thinking about, but I know it is something that will lead to our downfall Tetsuyu.' He tried to search something in his sister's eyes after relaxing his mind. Eventually coming out with nothing, he decided to study the game and later on, maybe guess the development made, if he got the hints his sister loved to drop.
"Hey, you guys are planning something, I can sense that clearly." Hanamiya addressed Akashi, the latter turned his head at him. "However, let me give you a warning as a nice senior should." Akashi gave him a peculiar expression.
"Don't bother to do anything funny, you can try very hard but in the end, this game is ours." Hanamiya let his tongue stretched out, jeering the fire-head. " We would never lose."
On the contrary, the said boy did not even respond to his 'caring' senior's provocation. Instead he showed him a big, wide smirk.
" I wonder about that," Akashi had muttered before focusing his attention on the ball.
Nebuya pushed backwards at Aomine, placing a lot of effort into getting his position.
"Hmm." He said as Aomine did not budge, immobile as a rock.
"You lowered your center of gravity." He deduced.
"Bingo, that is the correct answer." Aomine mocked, which agitated Nebuya.
The ball came to Hayama's hands, as he dribbled the ball with four fingers, making the occupants of the gymnasium cover their ears because of the loud sound it produced.
Unlike the first half, Kise barely snatched the ball and passed it to Midorima who was standing at the mid-line.
Mibuchi gritted his jaws as Midorima successfully evaded his oncoming attack.
Midorima analyzed the situation around him. His teammates were each being blocked by their own respective marks.
He stared directly at Mibuchi, "I'm afraid that I had listened in your point guard's statement to Akashi earlier and I have to disagree."
Midorima took his shooting stance and jumped.
'Impossible! Is he trying to score a three?' Mibuchi cried with exasperation.
The gym was silent as the time moved slowly, everyone's vision was directed at the orange round ball. They all observed as the ball made a high trajectory arc and proceeded to go in.
I'm very sorry but I'm not that good at describing games.
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