[A/N]: Please read and review! Thank you Nulova De Demone for adding this to your story subscription list! I'm so sorry that I can't list the names of the other three amazing kind souls who added this to your story subscription list too, because someone hacked into my email and I deleted my email shortly afterwards :( once again, thank you so much and I'm sorry! Sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes.

X

Misaki panted heavily as she finally managed to reach a particular high school, gleaming as though it had been just polished the day before. She had to specially travel from the Kyoto train station to the Tokyo one, then – with very heavy bags and a tired soul – journeyed to the Kanagawa station just to help an old friend of hers.

And she was still wearing that dratted school uniform, which would obviously alert everyone that she was an enemy. Urgh.

She felt her phone vibrate for a second in her pocket, and pulled it out, eyeing the message with a big sigh.

Misacchi, where are you? Hurry up! Senpai-cchi wants to kill me! He kicked me twice for looking at my phone for calls already! My face and back hurts! Save me! AHHH

Smirking despite her situation, Misaki replied cynically, before slipping her phone back into her pocket. No pity at all for the hyperactive friend. He was always annoying the people around him without fail.

At least I'm actually coming to help you. And shut up. I'm sure you deserved it. Plus, tell your senpai that I really like him. Should I meet him to discuss strategies on how to annoy you?

She entered the school, slipping past the suspicious-looking security guard which stood near its gates, and started to look around for any signs. Spotting a vending machine, Misaki made her way there as a starting point.

Based on her experience, vending machines were usually close to the cafeteria, or any sporting area. She just stood there, peering for anything that would help her.

Then, a black-haired, somewhat familiar-looking tall player passed by in a sports jersey, drinking Pocari heavily and making his way in her direction, likely to buy some more drinks.

She narrowed her eyes and stared at him closely. There was the number '5' at the back of his jersey, and it was definitely the one of the Kaijou basketball team. She had seen this dude before.

Moriyama Yoshitaka. Third Year Shooting Guard. After extensive research, she had finally gotten to see him up close. The internet didn't tell you anything, after all. And Kise, being clever enough, hadn't provided her with anything incriminating to help her in data analysis.

About 80kg. Around 165, 166cm? His muscles look stronger. Likely after more intense training. That means Kise would have grown as well.

He looked a little flirty. Perfect for her to approach him without seeming suspicious. A little hesitantly, Misaki walked up just as he slotted a few coins into the machine and pressed a button, letting a bottle slide out from the flap at the bottom.

Putting on her most natural yet innocent-sounding voice, Misaki started to attempt to start conversation.

"Uh… Do you know where the basketball courts are? I'm here to visit a friend of mine who is in the basketball team. He's a regular…"

Wow, how sly I can be.

Misaki's voice trailed off as Moriyama turned around in surprise at her voice, before smiling at her, in a way that seemed really cliché and overused. She could just imagine his thoughts then.

Yes, yet another new girl on whom I can use my pickup lines on.

Wow.

As expected, Moriyama Yoshitaka moved forward and somewhat suddenly, gripped her hand with some gentle force. Misaki jerked back instinctively with a flinch, a little surprised, before recovering and smiling back at him, with a little flush on her face.

She should have been prepared for that, but still, it was just so… new to her.

She wasn't particularly touchy-feely or friendly to people she didn't know very well, so whenever someone not close to her touched her suddenly, her nerves would prick and she would flinch.

Although Misaki thought it seemed a bit rude, the boy before her just looked even happier. His eyes looked beautiful, full of hope – though it was likely because he had a new prospect of attracting a girl…

Well, they just seemed glistening and happy compared to others' eyes. She knew too well what crushed hopes looked like.

"Ah, yes! I'm too happy to guide you there, since I'm a basketball player myself. A regular as well! What is your friend's name? And what is your name? I'm sure I haven't seen you before… Ah, what pretty hair you have! I'm Moriyama Yoshitaka, Shooting Guard, Kaijou basketball team…"

Apparently Moriyama hadn't noticed the obvious difference in colouring or badge of Misaki's school uniform yet, or else he was just too attracted towards girls and too busy trying to think of pickup lines to even care. Misaki gazed not-too-subtly towards his shoes.

They seemed slightly big… Information coursed through her mind as she examined his body closely with her eyes, as the player before her tried to get her attention urgently, thinking that she wasn't paying attention.

"Uh… Thank you… Oh, sorry. I'm…"

She hesitated. She didn't want to reveal all her details. He might have remembered the Touou basketball team captain's name.

"Misaki. Although you're probably going to think I'm a fangirl, I'm here to help Kise. I come from another high school… uh… that's quite nearby. I've watched one of Kaijou's matches to support Kise, my friend."

Maybe being horrible at lying was going to end her up in trouble one day, shit.

Moriyama's smile immediately turned into a big frown the moment he heard his kouhai's name. But something must have told him that Misaki wasn't an ordinary fangirl, and he smiled – with teeth that looked like they had been bleached – before gesturing towards the back, showing her the way to the basketball gym.

"We're practising here, after you! Ladies first, after all~"

Misaki silently rolled her eyes as she stepped in front of him, walking towards a tall rectangular building on its own that looked like a gym.

It was grand and impressive, and although she could tell that its paint was a little chipped and worn out when she neared it, it was obvious that it had been a nicely furnished, beautiful new building when it was constructed at first.

Hesitantly stepping inside the gym entrance, Misaki peeked inside, her head popping in. All she could see were flashes of royal blue jerseys, worn by tall and fit players who were running about, evidently in the middle of practice.

She peered at the sea of people in front of her, and before long she managed to spot a mop of bright yellow hair that unmistakably belonged to one of her Teikou friends, and immediately ran in his direction.

"Ki-"

Before she could say anything, a rather big-mouthed brunette with very thick eyebrows came running up to her, and used his hands to make a big cross in front of her and started spouting words like a watering spout with water gushing out, gesturing frantically.

Thanks to her good hearing, Misaki could just manage to understand what he was saying, and at the same time examine his body closely for any clues. Almost like a stalker, but she needed to do it in order to help her team. Still, the boy's fast and loud words affected her concentration a little.

Hayakawa Mitsuhiro. 185cm, around 75-80kg, Power Forward…

"S(orry), s(orry), I'm afr(aid) you just cann(ot) come h(er)e! Senpai c(ap)tain will k(ill) m(e) if I l(et) you in! And… Plus… S(orry)… A(re) you Ki(se)'s f(angi)rl? I've s(ee)n you b(efo)re at the gym, r(igh)t?"

Misaki managed to catch the last question and stared at Hayakawa almost scarily, her indigo eyes almost protruding through his body like laser lights. The teen before her gaped, momentarily startled, and stopped his fast flow of words.

Apparently he had assumed wrong. Her eyes were like jewel-plated spears, terrifyingly beautiful, and as dark as midnight.

"I'm his friend from Teikou, and definitely not his fangirl. Right… uh, Moriyama-kun, right?"

Moriyama nodded, and clasped Misaki's hand in his tenderly as yet another gesture, with the latter gaping at him in shock with a blush on her face, her hand struggling to withdraw itself and getting strong resistance. He was even more flirtatious and outrageous than she had thought.

"Of course not Kise's fangirl! Misaki here is too nice for it, and besides, she is here to visit him, not to admire him. Besides – "

"MISACCHI~~~"

Moriyama got cut off by a lemon-haired, cheery guy with a single earring, who instantly bounded towards the pair and wrapped his arms around his indigo-haired friend, hugging her with as much force as possible.

Misaki smiled a little in spite of herself. Kise was always so happy, no matter how bad anything could get. The eternal little sun that orbited around all the planets in the solar system. Then she sweatdropped as his hold started to get a little suffocating.

"Kise, please let go of me…"

Grudgingly, he did so, and Misaki turned to face him, before digging for something in her school skirt pocket. She had come all the way to Kanagawa just to do this for him, survived a flirty senpai trying to attract her and managed to not let her ears explode from a certain loud-voiced senpai – another one! – and hopefully he would be at least slightly appreciative.

Then, Misaki placed a small pencil in her palms and handed it over to Kise a little grumpily.

"Do you know how much effort I needed to put in just to get you this? Besides, you're smart enough. You're lucky I got you this stupid pencil. You don't need to study any more. More like I need it."

"Ne, Misacchi… Everyone deserves a little luck, right~ And you're way smarter than me, so you don't need this! Arigato, Misacchi! I can't believe you came all the way from Kyoto for this! Looks like you regard me more highly than I thought~"

"Urm, I did say I was going to attend a match – "

Yet again, the bright ball of sunshine thrust his arms around her before pressing his head onto her shoulders, sighing in contentment.

"Misacchi, your body is so warm… I miss this…"

Moriyama could just stare at Kise and whisper in agony, eyebrows arched, and silently dying inside with a little annoyance and anger at himself.

"Why does he always get the good ones…?! Why didn't I think of this…?"

And Hayakawa just stared and started hyperventilating, trying to think of warm and happy thoughts, just anything really, that didn't concern Kise and his obsession with warm bodies. Was he cold or something?

Did he mention that last time Kise interacted with a girl, he held hands with her for the entire lunch period just because her body temperature was warmer than most?! And that was because she had a frigging fever.

And the blonde model just made the girl faint with happiness, before he began running away from the crowd of indignant and loving fangirls. All filmed inside his phone.

X

Even more dramatically, a certain angry-looking Kaijou captain ran forward, almost steaming. His kouhai was trying to hug someone again by the looks of it, a dude with seemingly-long indigo hair. And Moriyama was nearby for some reason, looking as if he had constipation.

Hayakawa's face was even redder than usual, which was saying something, and his hands were cupped near his face…? Thankfully, Nakamura and Kobori were still beside him drinking and raising their eyebrows at the odd situation.

Kasamatsu Yukio took his team and practice seriously, the most in the entire Kaijou team, and that was why he was the captain.

If there was anyone trying to interrupt the Kaijou basketball team's training, he was going to kick them in the face with his iron legs, rain punches on their body, inflict wounds on their bare skin till they were sorry that they were attempting to disrupt Kasamatsu and his team.

"KISE! I need to kick you, getting distracted again! Hey, you there. Stop trying to disrupt – "

Only when Kise pouted and turned around, person in hand, and when Moriyama looked longingly at the person with his brain formulating new cheesy things to say with that oh so familiar gaze of his, then Kasamatsu realised that the so-called guy he was bear hugging was in fact a girl.

A girl.

Kasamatsu interacting with a girl would just be like a famous pop star talking to his or her most obsessed fan.

One side slightly embarrassed and full of silent pity for the other person, and the other turning as red as a tomato and steam going out of his ears, before collapsing or running away, utterly and completely overwhelmed. Basically, disastrous.

And what made matters worse, was that the girl in question was a very familiar one. The indigo-haired girl who had approached him outside the Kaijou locker preparation room after the Touou match and had requested to see Kise.

The one whom he had fainted in front of, almost choked in front of, and practically died internally in front of.

Here she was yet again, looking at him with a seemingly pitying gaze directed at him that made his internal organs turn into slush, and his muscles that helped speech become immobilised.

Absolutely un-useable.

It didn't help matters that he could feel Kobori's gaze on his back, as if burning him silently for his inability to interact with the opposite gender.

"Hello Kasamatsu-kun, I think we've met before…? Remember me, at the Touou match? I'm Kise's Teikou friend."

Kasamatsu was just about to tremble and run away, before he noticed some extremely familiar lettering on the front of her school jacket. Those school colours were way too familiar to be a coincidence, and the school crest as well. He narrowed his eyes at her.

Rakuzan High School.

Just the most prestigious school in the basketball circuit, the Emperor from Kyoto, the one who had been the dominator of all high school basketball tournaments since they actually began taking place. And what was she doing there, exactly?

Suspicion boiled in him.

Still, Kasamatsu struggled to find appropriate words to say to a girl.

"Urm… uh… You're from… Rakuzan! Right…! And… why? Are you… from the basketball team?"

Kasamatsu let them out in a rush, still stammering and stuttering a little, his face turning a little redder from the effort of speaking to a female. He was slightly calmer than usual, as the words RAKUZAN reminded him that the girl was potentially dangerous.

But… this was a girl.

"Not exactly. I'm their manager. It's okay! I'm not here to spy, I'm here to pass something to Kise here… it may sound odd, but it's a lucky rolling pencil. It's to help him in passing exams…"

Misaki continued explaining, stepping slightly closer to a tomato-faced Kasamatsu, till she was invading the personal space of the captain, in Kasamatsu standards, which defined personal space as one metre for females.

Anyway, whenever a girl was within one metre of him, he would start to hyperventilate and well… the outcome was all too likely. As expected, his hands cupped his chin, and he started to breathe heavily, sweat pouring down his forehead, not from exhaustion, but from sheer anxiety and nervousness, and well… anyone could guess what would happen next.

The usually powerful, serious and stern Kaijou basketball captain Kasamatsu Yukio, who took no nonsense from anyone at all, fell onto the floor, right in front of a girl that just approached him to talk to him about something that was related to his position as a captain.

Not even vaguely conversational.

Misaki's lips twitched with some amusement, but also felt a little guilty. After some conversation with Kise about his captain, she had already known about Kasamatsu's shyness with girls, but she didn't really mean to aggravate that condition of his, right…

Poor Kasamatsu. The complete opposite of Moriyama Yoshitaka, that outright flirt and female-lover. According to her friend and his kouhai, "Moriyama senpai-cchi was a pitifully handsome guy".

Another brunette came up and started carrying his friend, bridal style. Misaki instantly recognised him as the one who did the same thing on the day of the Kaijou vs Touou match. Kobori Kouji. Centre

She really kept running into the same people. At least she would have the chance to properly analyse their statistics and that would help Rakuzan in future matches.

Sigh.

TIME SKIP

A particular green-eyed and bespectacled, extremely tall teenager made his way to one of the areas behind the spectator seats in a large gym, accompanied by a smiling black-eyed friend who was too busy trying to catch the other's attention to see anything that was going on below them near the basketball courts.

The megane brushed his friend off impatiently and tried his best to ignore his loud annoying remarks, trying to spot a few people amongst the crowd of people who had arrived near the playing area.

Actually, they were mostly spectators coming to watch. The players were likely in their preparation rooms, but he just wanted to see when the people he knew were going to come out.

The main reason why he wanted to watch was because he wished to see a particular ex-teammate of his play. Two of them, actually, but it was mainly because of one of them, who had somehow become captain of the team in second year.

His current manager seemed a lot more mature than the old one – but still with an especially childish mentality – and perhaps, his old personality had come back to life.

Something about that girl told him that she could tell that one of her players was unique, and had an odd personality. She would be the one with the most power to intercede. Still, the Rakuzan captain didn't like people prying or attempting to defy anything of his.

It would certainly be intriguing to watch the two managers of opposing teams fight it out off court. Momoi was known for her Scan abilities and analysis, but Misaki had experience and… well, she had learnt a lot from Momoi in middle school by hanging out with Aomine and her so much, and practising with Kuroko and Aomine.

Midorima was irritated at himself for not noticing such a girl sooner. Someone who knew the shadow and the light of Teikou, someone who managed to be a good friend to Aomine without exploding with impatience, someone who was the first mentor of Kise… Extraordinary.

Takao Kazunari was amused at his friend. Shin-chan could be way too funny. The tsundere had insisted that he had something on that afternoon and couldn't come with him to watch the match, then in the end was the one who made Takao come. Takao did want to come, but preferably with someone with him.

In the end, just as he thought that his friend had abandoned him at the match, he saw the green-orbed Shuutoku Shooting Guard stand at the back of the gym, using the exact same disguise as before, when he was watching a different match.

Did Shin-chan really think that he, his best friend, wouldn't recognise the superior glint in his eyes, that ridiculously colourful crop of hair, that height of his and a super childish toy in his hand? Nah. Takao knew what Shin-chan looked like, and that mysterious stranger standing there looked exactly like him, just trying to hide from Takao.

Then just as he was going to crack another joke at Shin-chan, the players came out.

Rakuzan came out first, almost smugly.

Their coach, Eiji Shirogane, with a frown and grey temples. To Takao, he was one of those old discipline masters whom everyone was scared of in middle school. Never smiling, looking a little too stern and imposing to be a regular high school basketball coach.

Their manager, Mi-chan, a scary-looking smile on her face, and her hair bundled up into a high ponytail, very oddly holding a bag of potato chips and eating them hungrily, predatory eyes darting back and forth, looking a little too cold and quick to be a regular high school basketball manager.

Their first-year Captain, Akashi Seijuurou, with heterochromatic eyes that seemed to pierce into everyone's souls, intimidatingly striding towards the Rakuzan bench, looking a little too scary and young to be a regular high school basketball captain.

Rakuzan on the surface seemed normal, but with a little more observation, they were anything but.

FIVE MINUTES BEFORE

TOUOU

Momoi Satsuki stood in front of the Touou Gakuen team as they put on their jackets with her hands on her waist, muttering darkly and occasionally glancing out of the locker room.

The match was about to begin in less than twenty minutes' time, and as Rakuzan was in Kyoto, she hadn't gotten any chance to analyse them and find out their statistics. She would only have about ten minutes during the teams' warm-ups to figure things out, unlike in the match with Seirin.

Anyway, without even looking at the Rakuzan players, Momoi knew that they were a tough bunch. Rakuzan was a school which emphasised victory and strength, success in everything, and basically that meant that their teams would have more than enough preparation, and way above the national average.

Add Misaki, a strict and totally ruthless manager that would be sure to push the players to the limits, to the equation, and Rakuzan was a monstrous team.

There was a reason why that year's line-up was labelled as the strongest yet, even without the presence of Akashi Seijuurou. Although he was obviously Rakuzan's best bet and their ace, Momoi knew that his abilities didn't represent the entire Rakuzan.

They were better than that. And after knowing Akashi's plans to not let the Kiseki no Sedai play, Misaki and their Kantoku Eiji would have started planning long ago. Not to mention that Touou didn't have their ace as well.

"We're facing Rakuzan today, the strongest basketball team ever. It's our toughest match yet, and don't be miserable just because Dai – I mean, Aomine isn't playing. Akashi isn't playing for Rakuzan as well.

"And we're strong on our own, so make no careless mistake today, because it'll cost a lot. They'll exploit every single little flaw of ours if they ever find one. Good luck. And, um, I almost forgot. Stay away from the Rakuzan manager. She's… a little like me."

As expected, Ryou Sakurai just nodded and immediately began chanting some complicated instructions to himself to remember, before apologising almost immediately for making any unnecessary noise.

Wakamatsu Kousuke grunted heavily and began flexing his arms, mumbling something about 'a useless sitting duck', probably referring to a special kouhai of his who annoyed him the most.

Yoshinori Susa was quietly sitting there thinking to himself. Imayoshi Shouichi was cleaning his glasses and smiling eerily to himself, as if wondering how to make his sister lose her cool and make Rakuzan lose, in the most tragic way possible with his little mind games. Satsuki sometimes wondered how Imayoshi Shouichi could be related to that sister of his.

Momoi sat down, sweating with nervousness. Her boys were going to play that day, and hopefully they would win. It was going to be almost impossible, but they were going to try. It would be interesting to go against her old best friend from middle school, though.

Despite knowing Misaki for so long. Momoi still didn't understand Misaki's analysing abilities fully. Maybe she was more dangerous than she had thought. No chances taken.

She turned to look at her childhood friend. He was sitting on the bench twirling a basketball on his finger impatiently, as if waiting for something. Momoi wasn't fooled by that nonchalant stance of his.

She could tell that Dai-chan was waiting for Misaki to come out. To see his old middle school friend, and to see what she had become. After all, the two friends hadn't been in contact since third year. And in third year they barely communicated at all.

She, as well, missed the old Misaki dearly. Something had changed within her in second year. She wasn't as happy or carefree anymore. Misaki became a little too emotionless, and kept her feelings hidden, all bottled up inside.

She used to laugh a lot, joke, go out with her friends and was generally the definition of happiness. Then her smiles started turning painful and her eyes began hiding her true emotions, hiding herself away from the rest of the world.

And Momoi really couldn't bear to see her best friend for three years act like that. In third year she had been slipping away, and now as she was in a different city and only saw her once a week or fortnightly, the gap between the both of them was only going to get bigger.

She had slipped from Dai-chan's grasp a long time ago, and though they had feelings for each other, they had no choice but to keep it away to stop the pain from getting to them once again.

Dai-chan…

When will you two patch it up?

X

Sorry, no fluff here, but there are more of hilarious moments with Kaijou. Next chapter Misaki and Aomine will finally start interacting and he wouldn't be portrayed as such a shitty guy anymore. Aomine lovers, good!

Look out for cuter and fluffy moments.

Sorry for such a short author's note, but honestly, this basically sums up this chapter.