13th Quarter: "I can't ask for more."

Seirin was having a movie night at least that was the idea, although they weren't watching movie but Shuutoku's and Seihou's video, and it was not night yet. They started with Seihou's video and the seniors applauded Kagami's sharp eyes for noticing something was off with the way Seihou played. Riko explained to them it was because Seihou incorporate martial arts in their basketball, making their play unique and unpredictable. They ran the strongest defense in Tokyo, and the only school that beat them in that department was Yousen, the shield of Aegis from Akita.

Kuroko frowned when he spotted someone in Seihou team.

Riko noticed Kuroko's eyes narrowing but continued her briefing. She paused the video at the moment Kasuga and Iwamura were side by side, the two main regulars of Seihou. "Iwamura is their captain and the tallest player… he is really a strong defender, he is in the same class as Shuutoku's Ootsubo." Then she pointed at shorter player with light brown hair. "Kasuga-kun is their game maker, fast, agile with quick decision making skill…" She finished, "These two are the main pillar of Seihou, so watch out for these two."

"Coach." Kuroko called her, "Rewind the video until I say stop." Riko nodded and did as he said. "Stop."

Kagami frowned at the video that was pausing at a Seihou player with shaved head, "Oh, I notice this guy in particular is really stubborn in defense! He is really good at it! So you notice too, Kuroko?"

The seniors plus juniors stared at Kagami, 'Bakagami, of course he does.'

Kuroko shrugged, "Actually his defensive skill aside, I know him from middle school time… he played for Minamoto Middle. Tsugawa Tomoki, Shooting Guard… skill, pressure defense." He listed on.

"If you remember him, he must be an exceptional player." Riko muttered.

Kuroko always respected his opponents but starting from his third year even he started to forget miserable faces of their opponents. It was just easier to get through the national with his team with replacing their faces with anonymous face he didn't had to remember.

He sighed, "Back then… Kise-kun has just promoted to regular so he didn't have much experience but even so… this man can stop him."

"EEH?! He stopped that Kise?" Kagami exclaimed in shock.

Kuroko nodded, "Like I said, Kise-kun just started basketball for a few months back then but well…"

Shuutoku High School

"I am not surprised to see this man is in Seihou." Midorima remarked, recalling the guy who couldn't stop smiling creepily throughout the game so much it gets on their nerves, Akashi's and Kuroko's included.

Takao eyed Midorima curiously, "What kind of player he is?"

"One of the most annoying defensive players I have displeasure to meet." Midorima answered in clipped tone, silently thankful that he never had to face Tsugawa directly. "Because of him, Kise made embarrassment out of himself and Teikou for 24 seconds overtime…" That never happened in history of Teikou until Kise did it.

Takao hummed at that, "So… how your old team dealt with him in the end?" Of course he knew Teikou would win regardless of one strong defensive player, but they would never leave a debt unpaid.

Midorima rolled his eyes, "That's…"

Flashback

"I want to change mark! Someone switch mark with me!" Kise wailed in break between quarters, flailing his arms childishly.

Aomine snorted, "Yadda, even though I could I am not going to be anywhere near that creepy smiling guy!"

"I refuse." Midorima said with a tone of finality.

Murasakibara turned away from Kise, "Don't wanna… someone like that tires me out."

"So mean!" Kise wisely didn't look at Akashi at all, so his last hope fell on… "Kuroko-chi… please! Change mark with me! I still have my 20 points quota you know!"

Kuroko sighed wearily, "That's your obligation Kise-kun, and stop crying. You're embarrassing us."

"But Kuroko-chi!" Kise cried latching on his shoulder. "I don't want to do special training!"

"Kise!" Aomine growled, "Let Tetsu go! Don't dump your load on him!"

Kuroko looked at Kise's crying face, and how Kise seemed like he won't let go of him unless he gave in. "Fine…"

Kise cheered at that, "Thank you, Kuroko-chi! You're the best"

Akashi sighed wearily, "Kuroko, you spoil Kise again." He murmured, rubbing his temple. "But… you're the only one who could slip through that Tsugawa without difficulty." Or rather he won't waste time with the guy's taunting, and the only one who won't complain about it.

Kuroko shrugged, thankful that Aomine had pried Kise off of him. "True, but then again… I am not spoiling Kise-kun, because after this match he is still going to get double drill."

Kise teared up again at that, "Huwee… Kuroko-chi, that's cruel-ssu~"

End of Flashback

Takao sweatdropped at him, "So… in the end you leave this Tsugawa guy to Kuroko."

Midorima nodded, "Watching him running around the court like headless chicken to look for his mark (Kuroko) was very therapeutic." He admitted with a small smile on his lips.

'I know it, but all of them really have a sadistic streak…' Takao mused.

"But still." Midorima concluded, "To be honest not even I want to play against that guy."

Takao concurred, "Me neither, but if we face Seihou in final you have to… he might even be able to stop you."

Midorima hated to admit it but this was one of few players he had to acknowledge capable to stop them although… "Well, if Kuroko defeat him I don't have to worry about him." He decided, "Kuroko beat this guy once, I don't see why he would have any problem doing it again."

Takao stared at Midorima mischievously, 'Which mean, you trust Kuroko to beat this guy and win the game… Shin-chan is surprisingly adorable when it comes to his former teammates… he didn't even realize he admitted he want Seirin the no name school to win against Seihou.'

Back to Seirin and their Movie Ni-Afternoon

"Undoubtedly he is going to mark Kagami-kun, his short temper makes him a target." Kuroko analyzed unblinkingly.

Much to Kagami's chagrin, his team was nodding in agreement. "Oi! Don't agree with him, and don't leave that creepy sadist to me either!" He glared at Kuroko, "As much as I enjoys challenge, I don't want to face this guy!" He pointed at close up of Tsugawa's face on the screen, in which theSG was smiling gleefully at his opponent. "He is creepy!" He was excited to face a guy who could stop Kise, but not a guy who took pleasure watching his opponent's troubled face.

"I am going to sit this match out as much I could." Kuroko responded monotonously. "Just keep him busy."

"Yadda!" Kagami pouted then he added, "Desu!"

Kuroko sighed exasperatedly, recalling that even Aomine refused to face Tsugawa. He had a lot of reason to volunteer switching mark with Kise back then, primarily to shut Kise up and leaving Tsugawa on Akashi's mercy was too cruel. "It's not like we have a choice, like it or not Seihou will zero into you, our strongest scorer and set Tsugawa on you."

"But!"

Hyuuga was ticked, "Shut up! There's a reason we give you a lot of trainings to deal with pressure defense! Just deal with that bald brat!"

Kuroko rubbed his temple, they had a week to prepare for both kings and yet those seven days felt too little already. Seirin was an offensive styled team, and Seihou was their opposite. From his experience if the team was evenly matched in their respective forte, it would be a stalemate until one of them managed to get a basket and grab the flow of the game…

His eyes narrowed at the score board displayed on video, the score was 71-26. The problem was, up until now Seihou had not faced an opponent they had to go all out on so he couldn't properly gauge their strength. The problem they would face was most likely losing their strongest scorer, Kagami and then they had to fortify their defense too. Considering Seihou's prowess in defense, attacking them with run and gun was too reckless.

"Hm…" Then it was decided, the best he could do for his team…

"Kuroko?" Izuki who sat beside him inquired.

"I have an idea…" He announced, "A strategy to win against Seihou…"

Semi-final warm up session (Seirin VS Seihou)

Kuroko was well aware the tension was thick and that was partly because Midorima and Kagami were glaring at each other, or rather Midorima was glaring at his general direction. Midorima was not Aomine who could feel his presence on his bone or Akashi, but spending three years in the same team gave Midorima some sort of inkling of his weak presence. Apparently because he was Kagami's personal instructor, Midorima deemed it was his responsibility to keep the red head in line. Then again almost every time Kise or Aomine annoyed him, Midorima would glare at him and silently demand that he took responsibility.

Seriously, like he needed more incessant to keep those two in line.

He subtly gave a weak jab to Kagami's side, enough to startle the red head as a warning to stop glaring at Midorima. Kagami grumbled curses under his breath before he resumed his training. Kuroko inwardly thankful that at least among the four players he was in charge of, Kagami was the only one that he had to keep an eye on all the time.

"You're Kagami-kun, aren't you?" And here comes the first obstacle, "Uwaah! Your hair is really red! Scary!"

"Haah?" Kagami had been warned that Tsugawa would go out his way to annoy him, but to think this guy would interrupt his warm up?

Kuroko face-palmed, 'This guy never learn…'

"Uwaaah! Awesome colorful hairs you have there, you guys looks like a rainbow when you guys are standing together!' He commented out of the blue, eyeing them with childish glee.

"What?!" Aomine exclaimed, pausing in the middle of his warm up.

Midorima glared at the smiling Tsugawa, because of that comment he almost missed his shot. "Where did you come from?! Go away!"

"So, you're generation of Miracle, shouldn't you be called generation of rainbow instead?" He added, oblivious of impending danger from Teikou team.

Midorima and Aomine who were the nearest to hear him glared harder at the bald player. "Die!"

Murasakibara eyed Tsugawa disinterestedly, "Rainbow(Niji)? Nijimura-senpai… someone is looking for you."

Nijimura waved his hand in negative, "No, he does not." He deadpanned.

Kise grinned, "Wow, I can't believe he said that to our face. What an interesting guy ha ha ha!"

Kuroko face-palmed, "Kise-kun…" This guy was always oblivious of danger.

"Then." Akashi began, "Kise, he will be your mark."

"Heh?" Kise was startled at that.

"It seems." Akashi began in his smooth commanding voice no one in their team would dare to defy, "You guys will get along well… "

Less than ten minutes later Kise regretted opening his big mouth.

End of Flashback

This man had no qualm to speak out his mind, and he was downright rude about it.

"Captain, this is the guy, right?" Tsugawa waved over to Iwamura who glared at him in return, silently telling him to shut up but Tsugawa didn't get the message. "Seirin's really weak, but they have one strong guy!" He shouted, waving at his team. Kuroko could see that even his own team was shocked at his audacity to say that out loud.

Riko hummed to herself. "You've done it now~ what should we do with you I wonder?" Kuroko had warned her that Tsugawa had enough guts to insult entire team of Generation of Miracles, but to hear it herself didn't stop her blood from boiling with rage.

"Hyuuga." Izuki called his captain, "Coach is really mad now."

Hyuuga nodded, he could feel the heat of her glare on his back. "Yeah, just more reason to win this game or we're going to get killed."

Iwamura had enough that Tsugawa didn't get his subtle warning so he went to grab the guy himself. "Sorry." He said to his fellow captain. "This guy didn't know how to read between the lines, and he has no restrains to speak his mind out loud."

Hyuuga nodded, their coach and Kagami were already fuming so it was up to him to keep a cool head. "No need to apologize… we're here to prove our strength." Iwamura was going to respond him but his fellow captain was faster, "And someone asked me to say hi to you for him."

Iwamura didn't need to think long to figure out who Hyuuga was talking about, "I see… it's a pity he is not here now."

"We are playing for his part too, and we have no intention to lose now… remember that." Hyuuga drawled with conviction, reminding Iwamura that even though Seihou tripled their score last year Seirin was a strong team that was formed by someone who could give Iwamura a run for his money. His job done, Hyuuga turned around and resumed his shooting session.

Iwamura grunted, "If that guy is here perhaps…"

"Captain? Who are you talking about?" Tsugawa asked curiously and insanely loud it got to Iwamura's nerve.

"Shut your mouth Tsugawa, and go back to our bench if you're done warming up." Iwamura ordered in clipped tone.

Tsugawa grunted and did as he was ordered however his shoulder bumped to someone, "Hm?"

A pair of teal eyes stared back at him, "It's been a while, Tsugawa Tomoki-kun."

There was a long silence, and in instant all Seihou members turned their attention towards the first year. Squinting their eyes to see who Tsugawa was talking to. They had never seen Tsugawa so quiet instead of spouting his gloating in respond. "Do…. I know you?" He asked hesitantly, somewhere on the back of his mind he felt something tugging on him and he couldn't put his finger on it.

The mysterious Seirin player's eyes narrowed, his expression was blank but Tsugawa could sense something amiss. "As expected, ja… see you in the game."

Tsugawa blinked and the teal haired boy was gone, "Gho… gho… ghost!" He screamed.

"Shut up already!" Hyuuga and Iwamura yelled at Tsugawa in the same time.

"But! But!" Tsugawa flailed in panic.

Hyuuga scowled, "Shut up, you little shit! Iwamura! Get that brat out of our side before I did something I regret! He is disturbing us!" Tsugawa cowered under Hyuuga's simmering glare.

Iwamura grabbed Tsugawa by his collar roughly and dragged the stunned teen away from the fuming captain.

Midorima who had just finished his warm up session on the court across theirs shook his head in exasperation, and Takao swore he saw the corner of Midorima's lips tugged up by two millimeters.

Seihou's locker room

"Tsugawa… a ghost can't play basketball, so no, there was no way Seirin would recruit one to be their teammate." Kasuga patiently calmed his kouhai down. "I know that there are rumors about Seirin are getting quirky this year." They had paid close attention to Seirin in case their ace was back, "But as far as I know it's only their captain swearing a lot, their PG spouting lame pun and they're strangely too active asking for practice match." Kasuga listed on. "But recruiting ghost? No, I never heard of it."

Tsugawa whimpered, "But…"

Iwamura glared murderously at him, and Tsugawa cowered in fear. "You embarrass me in front of Seirin enough! First, you insulted them openly and then screaming about ghost! Enough is enough!"

"Hai! Captain!" Tsugawa saluted.

Ignoring their chastised and sulking kouhai Kasuga inched closer to their captain and whispered, "Tsugawa is a handful kouhai, but he is not a liar… not with that big mouth." He uttered in low voice so only Iwamura could hear him.

Iwamura nodded in agreement, "I know… I smell something fishy from Seirin…"

Seirin Locker

Kagami snickered, holding his pained sides. "He didn't remember you." The first years and their seniors were laughing along with Kagami, not for Tsugawa forgetting Kuroko but the part where the guy screaming ghost in the middle of the court and in front of four teams and spectators.

Kuroko closed his eyes, "I am used to it."

"But you gave him a beating of his lifetime in middle school!" Kagami exclaimed, "And yet! How forgettable are you?!" He wondered out loud in disbelief. "I am sure as hell going to remember the guy who beat me, weak presence or not!"

No one felt inclined to inform Kagami that started from Generation of Miracle's second year; all of their opponents had a beating of their lifetime.

Kuroko cleared his throat, a signal for his team to stop joking. "Senpai… you're here now."

Hyuuga and the rest of the seniors nodded, "Yeah, we're here get a payment with one year interest to the two kings." He turned towards the rest of his team. "Everyone has been working hard to get here… harder than we ever thought we would when he swore to the whole school to be number one in Japan…" Then he glanced at Kuroko, "We even got to weirdest and greatest time because of certain someone to get here, on our path to Inter-high once again…"

The clutch shooter cleared his throat, "Well! Our lost is painful… so much that we hated basketball for a while before we picked ourselves up and learned to not give up! And here we are! Today is the day we prove ourselves as the best team ever! SO! Quit moping, get the hell out of here and screw the kings!" Hyuuga yelled the last part in clutch mode.

"Your speech is moving save for the last part!" Izuki yelled at their captain, "Quit swearing Hyuuga! The context of the last part sounds so wrong!"

"Who cares? I am the captain, I can swear!"

"You're the captain of basketball team not a pirate crews!" Koganei added, "And can you at least wait for the match to begin to be in clutch mode?!"

In the end their team ended up to their rowdy and humorous routine, but Kuroko would rather have this than a depressing talk. Looking at Kagami who was bewildered by their captain's speech, Kuroko went to sit beside him and said. "Have you ever hate basketball, Kagami-kun?"

He shook his head in negative. "No."

Kuroko couldn't help but envied Kagami to keep loving basketball in spite of his own problem he had because of their beloved sport. "Hm… I have." Kagami's eyes widened in shock, "The reason is different than our senpai's though, but the pain is the same I suppose… to hate something you love is painful." He murmured, "That's why… today's game is important for them and as their juniors we have to do our best to play by their side."

Kagami scoffed, "I will play my best for their sake regardless."

"Really…" Kuroko chuckled softly, 'Still so pure and naïve… I wish you will always stay that way. Don't… never be like my former teammates or worse, the old me…' That was his prayer for the basketball idiot, Kagami Taiga.

Seihou VS Seirin (Tip Off)

Kagami eyed the ball on the referee's hand, the orange orb that decided their match. He didn't really get what Kuroko was talking about as he never hate basketball. Sure, because of basketball he fought with Tatsuya and they parted ways in sour mood but in the first place basketball was the first gift his surrogate brother gave to him. Through basketball he made many friends, and a quirky big sister figure in Alex. He could never hate basketball.

Kuroko had hated it, he said. That caught him off guard, because Kuroko was someone he respected because the teal haired boy was the one who worked the hardest in their club. He was the core of their team, pushing them from the shadow as their captain and coach lead them from the front. Someone who tried so hard and yet… even so Kagami was sure he understood how important this game for their seniors so he would do anything to help them to win this game.

"Tip off!"

Kagami jumped to catch the ball, and with his jump power he easily gained the possession of the ball and knocked it to Izuki-senpai. This was the first step of their strategy Kuroko and Coach stressed to not fail at all cost.

Win the tip off and the ball first! And next, caught them off guard!

Seihou didn't mind so much that Seirin won the tip off, but much to their shock Seirin broke their team up to two-three. Izuki-Hyuuga on Seihou's side and the rest on their own side. What surprised them the most was Izuki sending the ball deeper to Seirin's side of the court instead of Seihou's.

"What?!" Martial art training or not, it didn't prepare them to deal with a move that defy common sense in basketball. Especially when the ball suddenly came back to their side and straight to unguarded Hyuuga. In normal circumstances Seihou would never caught leaving their opponents free, but due to the shock and their attention was caught by the ball they didn't get their bearing to mark their opponents in their signature man to man defense. It was a fatal mistake that they paid dearly with losing three points to Seirin, courtesy of Hyuuga's three pointers.

Seihou: 0 Seirin: 3

Shock and disbelief colored Seihou team, and it took Iwamura a few seconds to regain his composure and snapped his team out of it. "Stay calm! We will get it back!"

Kuroko narrowed his eyes, the first step of their strategy succeeded. Seihou took pride in their impregnable defense, to get the first blood out of them worth more than three points any day. Seihou players were trained in martial art, that meant their discipline and order were topnotch. That was Seihou's greatest strength that made them could give even a team with Generation of Miracles member a run for their money in full frontal match.

Unfortunately for Seihou he was not the type of player whose strength lies in full frontal match like his former teammates.

Seihou was once again were shocked when their strongest scorer, Kagami was running pass Tsugawa who was in possession of the ball instead of blocking him. In fact Kagami went as far as saying, "See ya!" to Tsugawa as he ran pass the bald player.

That distraction was enough to delay Tsugawa from passing the ball to Kasuga for a second, and that second was more than enough from Kuroko to slap the ball off of Tsugawa's hand to Kagami who gleefully scored another point from Seihou with a dunk.

"What the!" Tsugawa gasped.

Kasuga gritted his teeth, "Again! How was that pass got through us?"

Because they valued order and discipline, they could be said as the Rome of high school basketball circuit. So they had to deal with Seihou, the Hannibal's way. Seirin's basketball that incorporated his as its base to their old style was all about speed, offense, and mixing elements that stray from common sense to their strategy. It was not an exaggeration to say they were the Hannibal to Seihou's Rome. They were the worse match for Seihou's basketball.

Outside of Tokyo Gymnasium

Kise walked towards the familiar gymnasium he had visited countless of times in his middle school days. Although he had different companion, which was no other than his grumpy captain. They were wearing uniform of Kaijou that consist of warm gray jacket, pants, white undershirt and black tie, because they came straight from school.

Since Kuroko-chi and Akashi-chi visited their match, Kise deemed it was fair to return the courtesy. Kasamatsu didn't really get how courtesy worked for Generation of Miracles, but he was sure Kise just wanted to see the first official clash of his former teammates. Kasamatsu himself was very curious of Seirin's match, although he kept reminding Kise that Seirin had to beat Seihou first to get to Shuutoku, the blond was 100% sure Seirin would win. Kasamatsu himself believed Seirin who had given his team a run for their money and beat them could do the same to Seihou. He believed they could win but not they would undoubtedly do. The king of the North was no pushover. They also a very different type of team compared to Seirin who favored run and gun offensive style or Kaijou with balanced offense and defense.

Kasamatsu frowned when he saw Kise listening a recording of some sort so intently. "What are you listening at?"

"A recording of this morning's Oha-Asa." Kise cheerfully replied. "It's their morning horoscope. When this thing's good, Midorimacchi's good."

Kasamatsu only rolled his eyes at this, after an invisible guy who also borderline physic Kasamatsu was not surprised to hear the next former teammates of Kise was a superstitious lucky shooter. "The guy from Teikou," he mused. "What's his sign?"

"Cancer." Kise said, and he was sure the whole school or anyone who exchanged words with Midorima knew that since he made it a routine to tell them about his horoscope and lucky item to anyone who cared to listen. "And Kuroko-chi is an Aquarius." He added cheerfully.

"I didn't ask." Kasamatsu scoffed.

Kise turned his attention back towards his phone, frowning slightly at the program that according to Midorima dictated his life like Akashi did their club. 'As much as I hate to believe in Midorima-chi about non-basketball things… he really is in top condition in good day for Cancer.'

"First place goes to Cancer. Congratulations! You'll have no complains today." Oha-asa announced with cheerful tone,and then it added with symphatetic tone. "Last place goes to Aquarius. Play it quiet today."

The blonde winced, "Uh oh."

Kasamatsu raised an eyebrow at this. "What?"

Kise turned to face his senior. "This is terrible…" Midorima was at his top condition today, unless someone was messing with his lucky item. "Midorima-chi is first place while Kuroko-chi is last."

The PG of Kaijou snorted, "While it matters to Midorima, does it matter for Kuroko?"

Kise beamed at that, "Ha ha ha… it does not, it's one of many reasons why Midorima-chi always at odds with him." Kise said as he and his senior entered the audience area.

Kasamatsu and Kise was greeted by a loud cheer from audience and the sight of Seirin playing against Seihou while in court beside theirs Shuutoku was also playing. "It's still the first quarter."

"What the hell?" Kasamatsu's eyes widened at the sight of the score board, 15-10 in Seirin's favor. "They're leading and…" He trailed off and looked at the game, where Seihou was running back and forth on the court with Seirin but they didn't employ their man to man defense at all in fact it looked like they were trying to catch Seirin players but before they could Seirin had run away from them. "What the hell? They're chasing Seirin instead of marking them with their signature man to man defense!"

Kise's smile was so wide that Kasamatsu thought that sparkling was real. "Kuroko-chi is so amazing! Look Kasamatsu-senpai! That's Kuroko-chi for you!"

"What did he do?!" Kasamatsu asked in confusion.

Kasuga was an experienced game maker, and he had led Seihou since his first year but he had never felt so out of his element. "Damn it." He gritted his teeth, "What's going on here?" Since the game began Seirin hardly give them a chance for defense. They were always on attacking side, and hardly had their chance on defense.

It was not like their offensive ability was low; far from it but offense and fast paced game was Seirin's bread and butter. "How sly…" He said to Izuki who was marking him. "I can't believe you force us to play your run and gun game…"

Izuki smirked, "It's a common sense to not giving your opponent a home ground advantage."

Kasuga returned the smirk with his, "Unfortunately… I am faster than you!" He declared as he broke pass Izuki with his superior speed.

"I know." Izuki said with a grin.

Kasuga didn't see that in his blind spot Mitobe purposely let Kasamoto, the SF of Seihou to break free from his mark in the same time as Kasuga escaped Izuki's. Inevitably Kasamoto crashed against their vice-captain, "Argh!"

In instant Kasuga felt the absence of the ball from his right hand, his eyes widened in shock when he saw the ball had magically teleported to Izuki who scored with a simple lay-up. "Nice shot!" Hyuuga complimented Izuki.

"Why don't you call my shot just now as hot shot!" Izuki beamed.

"Die!" Hyuga returned with his usual reply.

"Kuroko! Our Captain is bullying me again!" Izuki sobbed.

"…"

"Argh! Not this again Izuki-senpai." Kagami complained.

"Save the comedy for later." Kuroko deadpanned, "It's time for defense or…" His teal blue eyes glanced at the referee's seats, the coach of Seihou was talking with them. "Or not, it's break time."

"Seihou! Time Out!"

Seirin's bench

"Our plan is working, however…" Riko trailed off before she glared at their PF, who flinched in response. "You already got two fouls! Just how hot tempered are you?! You got foul for charging Tsugawa twice because he annoyed you!"

Kagami looked down in guilt, ashamed he had messed up a big time. "I am sorry!"

"Kuroko-kun already told you that Tsugawa is good at taunting his opponent to make mistake!" Riko reminded the red head. "And yet, you fell to such an obvious trap!"

"But we're winning…" Kagami grumbled.

Much to Kagami's shock the female coach grabbed his face and forced him to look to the right, "Look, and tell me again how is this looks like!"

Kagami's eyes widened when he saw Kuroko was soaked in sweat, the first quarter was still half-way and he was already like that. "Ku… Kuroko?"

Shuutoku's bench

"Wow." Takao whistled, "Look what happened over there, Seirin forced Seihou to call time out first... and they're ahead by seven points to boot."

Midorima adjusted his glasses, "I am not surprised." Actually he was, but he won't admit it. The way Seirin was gaining upper hand over Seihou was unexpected, but it was definitely Kuroko like.

Their coach Nakatani, was not paying that much attention to their own match either because it was obvious Ginbou that was merely a middle tier team was no match to their team even without Midorima and Takao. Seirin VS Seihou in the other hand was a match he had to watch even if he had to look away from their own match.

"So that's… Kuroko Tetsuya, the phantom sixth man of Generation of Miracles and vice-captain of Teikou…" He murmured, "Hm… this year Seirin is stronger but most of all they're unpredictable."

Midorima nodded in agreement, "Without a doubt this strategy that prioritize unpredictability and defy common's perception was his."

Nakatani hummed at that, "Every year… to break away from Seihou's defense, our team resort to overpower them in offense and training to escape pressure defense." He murmured, "But instead of those orthodox methods, his solution against Seihou is… " He trailed off.

"Not giving Seihou any chance to pick up their shield." Midorima finished. "Seirin forced Seihou to play along with their run and gun game."

Takao grinned, "And on top of that, at the start of the game Seirin gave their all to get the first blood which shake Seihou real bad mentally…" He drawled, laughing softly at his partner. "Shin-chan, your former vice-captain looks harmless but his strategy is ruthless."

The audacity of Takao to make a pun out of it, "Hmph, he is not chosen to be second in command just because he is good at disappearing." He grumbled. "When you face him, Takao… don't you dare to let your guard down."

"I won't… but it seems in Seirin's bench they're not exactly celebrating they're ahead of Seihou." Takao grinned, "As expected… that guy, at this point he is already…

Seirin's bench

"Haah…" Kuroko sighed in relief as he quenched his thirst with warm tea.

Izuki looked at his favorite kouhai worriedly, "Are you alright, Kuroko? Do you want more honey lemon? Mitobe prepared a lot!" Izuki fussed. "Is your arms alright? Your leg? You need tapping?"

"Izuki." Hyuuga hissed, "Calm down, you're our PG and the one who should keep his head cool at this situation." He reminded the eagle eyed player.

"How can I stay cool when…"

"Shh!" Tsuchida reminded Izuki about their other regular junior who was also in bad shape, but mentally.

Kagami had a dark cloud of gloom hanging over his head, "I am sorry… because of my fouls I break our momentum twice and Kuroko tired himself out to get a hold of the game flow." He grumbled in somber tone. "Sumimasen." Then he added, "-desu."

Kuroko suddenly was already in front of him and gave him a head chop, for once Kagami didn't protest because he totally deserved that one. "When I first suggested this strategy I know it will take a toll on my stamina, and in the first place I didn't expect you to escape Tsugawa unscathed." Kagami flinched at the last part. "You don't have to feel guilty, it's not about whose fault. Tsugawa is a player that even my former teammates are wary of to face directly."

Actually they'd rather not because he got on their nerves, but Kuroko opted to sugarcoat his words a little for once to cheer Kagami up. They didn't need their strongest scorer to get depressed over two fouls.

"And I am still good for another five minutes." Kuroko said with conviction, "Because of this time out, Seihou will try to regain their rhythm and that was the last thing we'd let them to do in this first quarter." He stated as his eyes narrowed to his team, stressing the importance.

Riko nodded in agreement, "Kuroko-kun is right… at all cost the first quarter have to be ours."

Hyuuga took a deep breath, "You heard that team, and we will keep going as planned."

"I will do my best against Tsugawa." Kagami promised with determination. "I will wipe that annoying smile off of his face."

Kagami didn't expect to get another chop on the head for it, he opened his mouth to protest but quieted down when he saw Kuroko's narrowed eyes. "What did we say about getting ahead of yourself again?" Kuroko reminded the red head, a small vein popped on his temple even though his face was still as impassive as ever. "Keep your head down until you get the feel of his speed, strength and rhythm. Don't bother to join our offense until you do and keep Tsugawa busy… the moment you get your fourth foul, Coach and I will bench you for the rest of this match."

Kagami swallowed, "Hai." At least Kuroko didn't make him keeping Tsugawa occupied forever.

It was frustrating job but through his months in Seirin's basketball club, he had learned that Seirin's core strength was teamwork. Kuroko had mercilessly drilled it to his head that even though he was the strongest scorer they had, he was not their ace. Seirin's ace was their teamwork, not any of their players because Seirin was the strongest as a team.

Seihou's bench

Tsugawa stared at the score board for the umpteenth time, "Unbelievable! This is impossible! Seirin is a weak team and yet…" He trembled, "They are seven points ahead of us!" For his trouble to point out the obvious, Iwamura slapped the back of his head, and glared at him to shut him up.

"If any of you think that Seirin is a weak team we triple-scored last year like Tsugawa..." Iwamura growled, "Get it to your head, they're ahead of us in points and run us ragged in less than five minutes."

Their Coach, Matsumoto Yukinoki nodded approvingly to their captain. "Hm… you get it, didn't you Iwamura?" He turned his attention to his youngest player. "Tsugawa, you didn't know but even though he triple-scored Seirin last year… they're in no way a weak team, not last year and definitely not now."

"But…"

Kasuga cut him off before Iwamura hit him again, because he was sure Tsugawa's brain cell was already on the verge of extinction as it was. "Enough Tsugawa, just do your best to guard Kagami Taiga. We're already in a pinch as the flow of this game is with Seirin now and to take it back would be difficult."

And the game begin again!

Seirin's game was always fast paced one, so to get flow of the game in their favor he had to slow the pace down. "Calm and steady…" He muttered as he dribbled the ball pass Izuki.

Izuki tried to catch up but physically Kasuga was faster and stronger than him, "Kuh!" He went for steal but Kasuga switched the ball to his left hand, swung his arm gently in scooping motion and scored. 'Scoop shot, he is the polar opposite of Iwamura who is a hard player.' Izuki grab the ball and cursed because when he turned around his teammates were already caught in their man to man defense.

"At last we catch you." Kasuga panted lightly, "You guys are really slimy this year."

"I will take that as compliment." Izuki replied. 'Damn it… five point difference, that's too little to get our plan through smoothly… and without the element of surprise even Kuroko will have difficulty to change the flow again.'

Bleachers with Kise and Kasamatsu

"They got caught." Kise remarked, resting his chin against his hand. "Seihou is starting to get a hang of this game." He grumbled, pouting.

"You can't call yourself a king just for playing good defense." Kasamatsu told Kise. "Their offense is exceptional too. Seiho may not have prodigal scorers like you or Kagami, but they're a different type of team. They incorporate old martial arts into their offense too. Seiho isn't a team of prodigies. They're a team of experts." Kise smiled at that while Kasamatsu was oblivious his kouhai was smiling for some reason.

Kise glanced at his former personal expert. "Kasamatsu-senpai… do you know why Kuroko-chi was our vice-captain?"

"Because he is good at keeping you guys in line?"

Kise sweat-dropped at that, "Uhm, I can't deny that is one of many reasons." He admitted, flushing a deep red. "Back in our Teikou days, even though we have many strong players… Kuroko-chi is special."

Kasamatsu snorted, "Way to point out the obvious Kise…"

"Kasamatsu-senpai… in basketball each five positions have different role." Kise continued, "Point Guard like senpai and Akashi-chi are game maker, Center like Kobori-senpai and Murasakibara-chi is main defense, and so on…" He drawled, "But Kuroko-chi does not belong to any of traditional position, he is the phantom player and in his own league… his role is to change the flow of the game."

"Heh?" Kasamatsu blinked, "Not passing, stealing and assisting other player?"

Kise gave him a deadpan look, "Akashi-chi is beyond perfection as Point Guard, we don't need second Point Guard even though I have to admit Kuroko-chi is kinda like a second PG but he is not." He turned his attention back to the game, "Just look for yourself, how the expert we acknowledge works." He smirked, "Seihou is not the only team with experts."

Back to the game.

Izuki frowned at Kasuga who was guarding him tightly, actually there was a gap in his defense but that gap would allow Izuki to throw the ball to random direction with no teammate to take it. He was Kuroko's second pair of eyes in the court, and he prided himself for his role. He didn't get to be Kuroko's eyes without learning one thing or two from the phantom player. His right hand moved quickly and his eyes rolled to his right, Kasuga's instinct kicked off and he moved to intercept Izuki's right side only to find no teammate on Izuki's right and no ball. The said ball had rolled off of his left hand and bounced towards Mitobe. Kasuga who was distracted by the ball gasped when he realized Izuki had escaped from him.

Kasuga smirked. 'He got me but to think he will sacrifice possession of ball to escape me is absu…' His eyes widened in shock when Kuroko appeared from out of nowhere and passed it straight towards Mitobe from Iwamura's blind spot.

Mitobe immediately took advantage of the chance and scored.

"What was that pass just now? It came back like a boomerang!" A random audience exclaimed.

"No, it didn't. It came back because someone tapped it."

"Who?"

"Saa? Who knows?"

Kasuga and Iwamura were shocked to see the ball got through with slipping through right behind their defense. Not to mention because Seirin scored, it was their turn for offense, it was Seirin's home ground again.

Bleachers with Kise and Kasamatsu

Kise chuckled. "Looks like the iron wall of Seiho's defense has never seen a pass from inside their walls before," he remarked. As expected of his former instructor, slipping through defense was one of Kuroko's fortes.

Kasamatsu narrowed his eyes, "I guess in a sense aside from being a prodigy in his own right, he is also an expert."

"Well… he is." Kise smirked.

Back to the court

"Run and Gun!" Hyuuga shouted to his team, "This is our game now! Get your engines running fast!"

"Yes, captain!"

Tsugawa gritted his teeth, "Don't get cocky, Seirin!" What was with this team! They abandoned their defense completely in favor of offense. "Kasuga-senpai! Pass!"

However the ball never reached him, the teal haired boy from before caught… no, he tapped the ball and changed its direction to Seirin players and once again disappeared like a ghost.

He didn't have time to puzzle over the ghost player as the ball was with Kagami who was cackling like mad as he dribbled the ball to their hoop. "Kagami!"

Kagami jumped for a dunk but Iwamura learned from past mistake and opted to guard their hoop, knocking the ball off of Kagami's hand. "I will not let you get another point off of us!" He yelled to the red head.

"Then." Kagami smirked, "You shouldn't take your eyes off of the ball." He recited what Kuroko repeated again and again as their priority when he was in the court with them. "Especially when that guy is around."

"What?" Iwamura's eyes widened in shock when he realized Kagami was still in the air while he was already falling. 'I jumped later than him but I am already falling! His jump is insane!'

Suddenly the ball flew to Kagami who was still airborne and the red head slammed it to the hoop, Iwamura jumped for the second time but the ball was already in. "Kuh!"

Kagami released his hold from the hoop and landed in the same time as Iwamura. "He he!"

Tsugawa who was a few feet behind him fumed, "You will pay for that!"

"You're welcome to try!" Kagami gloated as he ran to Seirin's side for defense.

"Kagami! Stop gloating and run!" Hyuuga roared.

The score was 25-16 in Seirin's favor, nine points difference.

True to his words Kagami paid for it with scoring another foul, courtesy of charging Tsugawa. If Seirin team didn't know better, they would suspect Tsugawa was some sort of Kagami's magnet or something as Kagami kept charging to him. The first quarter had not ended yet and he had three fouls already. The ball was out of bound and Seihou's to boot.

Kuroko didn't like this situation at all and as much as he wanted to leave Kagami on his own device, Kagami was not going to learn anything with how bad he was at dealing with Tsugawa. "Kagami-kun, switch mark with me." Never had he imagined to volunteer for this again and without anyone whining to him to boot.

"But!" Kagami protested.

"Don't argue with me, you already have three fouls." Kuroko reminded him and Kagami flinched, eerily reminded that the tone he used resembled Akashi's when the red head scolded Kise for overtime and not scoring enough points. "If you get another foul it will break our momentum and affect our teamwork, that's the last thing we need so set aside your pride and move."

Kagami flushed a deep red, "Hai…"

Tsugawa took a double take at the player Kagami was talking to, he was freaking real, not a ghost, and he was ordering Kagami around. "Uhm…" Wasn't this guy the one who said it's been a while, had he seen this guy somewhere? "You look weak…" He commented with blunt honesty, "Are you sure you want to mark me?"

"I am just doing my best for my team." Kuroko replied in solemn voice.

Tsugawa tensed instantly, 'I… I have heard that line somewhere… back in middle school, but who said it to me?' He shook his head, now was not the time for that! His senpai depended on him! "I don't care! I want to face Kagami, he is the one I have to kick out of the court for my team." He returned with a huff.

Even though that was obvious, Kuroko couldn't believe this guy blabbed about his team's game plan to an opponent. "I am afraid I am not going to let you." Kuroko muttered, his eyes narrowed as in the background the referee's whistle that signaled the game had resumed echoed through the court. "And I believe I am quite capable to keep you occupied."

Tsugawa snorted, "As if, a weak looking guy like you can't stop me!" Tsugawa boasted as Kasuga passed him the ball. His eyes widened when Kuroko who was one second ago was right in front of him was nowhere in sight. "Heh?" Second thing that surprised him was the absences of the ball in his hand as it was slapped to another end of the court.

Before the blue haired player disappeared again Tsugawa saw challenging glint in his teal colored eyes that said, 'I believe I have stopped you.'

"Tsugawa!" Iwamura roared, "Move! Stop him!"

"Ah! Hai!"

In their moment of shock that Tsugawa lost the ball so easily, all of their marks escaped in the same time. It was not rare a skilled player could escape their pressure defense but one of Seirin players always made a flashy escape and the other used that short moment of stupor on Seihou's part to escape in the same time. Usually that won't work but their timing was the key. It was so perfect, as if their breath and heartbeat were in synch when they escaped Seihou's grasp.

Tsugawa realized now that Kagami was not the most dangerous opponent he had to watch, it was that invisible guy! Tsugawa looked around around in panic, confusing Kasuga, the game maker. "Tsugawa!"

That guy was the culprit of Seirin's unpredictable move pattern! If he guarded that guy closely, Seirin's formation would fall apart! A blue blur passed by in the corner of his eyes and Tsugawa broke away from Seihou's formation much to Kasuga's ire, and the game maker's indignant cries was ignored.

Izuki passed the ball to Kuroko's direction, spotting his favorite kouhai with his eagle eye. To normal player's eyes he was making another random pass to get away from Kasuga, he didn't expect Tsugawa to intercept the ball. "What?"

Kasuga didn't know what happened, or how Tsugawa intercepted Seirin's pass course but… "Nice job Tsugawa!" That was perhaps the first compliment he gave his kouhai in this game.

Tsugawa grinned in return, turning around and ran towards Kuroko to get to Seirin's hoop. Much to his shock he passed Kuroko without difficulty, in fact the blue haired boy was not fast enough to block him in time. However for the umpteenth time in this quarter his hand felt lighter all of a sudden again.

True to his bad feeling, the ball was gone from his hand and teleported to the invisible boy's hand, "He!" That guy stole the ball with back tip! Tsugawa ran as fast as he could when he saw Kuroko was going to pass the ball again, this time to Seirin's captain. Kuroko was not as fast as Tsugawa so the Seihou player could easily catch up with him and reached out to intercept the pass.

However Kuroko was not going to let him do that for the second time, and a moment before he made his move Tsugawa could see challenging glint on those icy blue eyes. Tsugawa was on time to intercept the pass, had it been a normal pass where the ball moved with normal speed. However he got for the timing wrong for Kuroko's pass, which was faster than his expectation. Kuroko was slow but his pass was not.

The ball flew quickly like a bullet and caught by Hyuuga who winced a little before he shot a three pointer, however when the ball was at its highest point the buzzer went off, signaling the end of the first quarter, with the game count currently being at 27-18.

"End of the first quarter!" The referee announced.

Iwamura and Kasuga eyed their kouhai who was openly gaping and staring at Seirin's shortest player, and the guy who changed mark with their ace. Tsugawa had said stupid things to Seirin and he was not going to tolerate that, but Tsugawa for once didn't utter a sound even though his big mouth was opened wide. Tsugawa was an annoying and arrogant kouhai, but he was also their prized protégé so they were really worried with how out of character he acted.

"Tsugawa? Are you alright over there?" Kasuga asked worriedly as Tsugawa didn't move from his spot while the rest of their team was about to make their way off the court for the two minute intermission.

Hyuuga was apologizing to the guy Tsugawa was staring at. "Sorry, because my late reaction time we didn't get the last three points."

He shook his head, "It's fine captain, nine points difference is good enough for now. You did your best for our team and I can't ask for more."

Stop sulking Kise-kun, you did your best for our team and I won't ask for more than that.

At last Tsugawa said something to the teal haired player who was walking way towards Seirin's bench, and it was not an insult or anything stupid he expected Tsugawa to spout. "You are that guy from Teikou!"

As one Seirin team stopped on their track and turned to face Tsugawa, the teal haired boy was just a second slower from his teammates. "I believe you should use past tense were."

A TEIKOU's alumni?

Tsugawa flushed a deep red and Kasuga was startled to see Tsugawa looked like someone just murdered his puppy and danced on its grave. "I remember you now… you're the guy who scolded Kise Ryouta from Generation of Miracles and switched mark with him." He exclaimed, pointing at the teal haired boy with shaking finger.

"He scolded who?" Kasuga repeated in disbelief. "Wait… he is… I mean… was a regular from Teikou?"

Izuki whistled, "Oh,the cat's out of the bag." He stuck his tongue out in sheepish gesture.

Hyuuga shrugged, "Who cares, and it's not exactly a secret." They were just not feeling like to flaunt it.

Kagami laughed, "Ha ha ha ha… this is hilarious!"

"He is from Generation of Miracles?" Kasuga stuttered, gaping at Kuroko. "For real?"

"For real!" Tsugawa snapped, "Why the hell the Phantom sixth man of Generation of Miracles is in Seirin?! Aren't you guys all went to famous school like Shuutoku and Rakuzan?!"

Phantom sixth man? The Teikou's regular member that excelled in passing and believed to be a mere rumor? He was real?

Kuroko narrowed his eyes, "I am not obligated to answer that." He said in clipped tone. "Let's go, it's intermission time." He muttered and the rest of Seirin team followed the phantom players wordlessly, ignoring Tsugawa's indignant cries.

Shuutoku bench

"It seems that Tsugawa-guy just realized who Kuroko is." Takao grumbled, "I wish I can hear what the hilarious guy is yelling about."

Midorima snorted, "Revenge most likely, Kuroko ran him ragged back then and it stung his pride really bad when Kuroko disappeared before Tsugawa could ask for his name to remember for revenge and Kise was gloating that our phantom player had no time to waste on him." Midorima explained.

"Did he really?" Takao asked curiously. "He ignored the poor guy?"

Midorima wisely didn't tell Takao that Akashi could be very protective of his protégé, Kuroko who was some sort of a student even though Akashi was never officially his personal instructor. Akashi had ushered Kuroko to walk with the other first before he stared Tsugawa down to submission, Kuroko's invisibility was not the only reason why Tsugawa forgot about Kuroko.

Kuroko was too busy lecturing Kise to notice Akashi was traumatizing someone on his behalf.

Seihou's bench

"Tsu-ga-wa…." Iwamura growled, "Why is that your warning come so damn late?! And how you could forget a freaking member of Generation of Miracles who handed you your ass in middle school?!" He asked in disbelief, grabbing Tsugawa's shaved head as if he wanted to crush it.

Tsugawa flailed, "I don't know why either!" Iwamura let go of him with a huff. "It won't happen again! I will beat that guy! My revenge for him has two years' worth of interest damn it!"

Kasuga groaned to his palm, "Whatever! It explains a lot about Seirin's magical pass…" Damn! That guy made a lot of PG crying in middle school because of his steal. Then he glanced at Shutoku's side of the court. "Come to think of it… Midorima Shintarou and Shuutoku's coach aren't paying attention to their own match but ours." So the guy was watching his former teammate's match and not Seihou's, that stung their pride a little.

Okay, it was not solely Tsugawa's fault for not noticing these obvious hints.

Yukinoki cleared his throat, "At least now we know what happened… the first step to defeat your enemy is to learn about their power and strength." He glanced at Tsugawa. "What do you know about this phantom player?" Tsugawa opened his mouth and Yukinoki cut him off. "Don't tell me he is invisible or anything we know from stray rumor in middle school circuit."

Tsugawa flinched and tried to recall what he knew about the phantom player. "Uhm… it seems he is the central of Seirin's strategy. He is like some sort of second PG… even back then, his mobility is really bad." At their stared of disbelief he added. "Which matter little considering he can disappear as he please, and his pass is extremely fast and accurate."

"Hm…"

Tsugawa cleared his throat, "You see… back in second year before they turned to complete monsters, Generation of Miracles are a strong team but… well… uhm, they're not completely unstoppable." He proved it himself with stopping Kise and forced twenty four seconds overtime on the blond. "Teikou's greatest strength lies on their strategy and pass circulation… so their play revolves around their captain and that invisible guy."

"Hm…" Yukinoki hummed.

"He is very good at slipping pass defense…" Tsugawa added then gritted his teeth as he admitted. "I… couldn't stop him back then but now… I can do it! I have to!"

Yukinoki sighed, "From what you said I can't figure out a way to deal with the phantom player, but… I will let you deal with him Tsugawa."

Seirin's bench

"Nine points difference." Hyuuga grunted, "In normal situation I would be extremely happy about it since we're up against the king but…"

"According to our plan we need to get at least over ten points gap." Riko continued, "Since we didn't get it, the plan… it's risky to proceed as it is."

"We can do it!" Kagami insisted.

Kuroko looked at his seniors, it seemed they felt guilty for not fulfilling his expectation to get their plan going. "Senpai, we still have three quarters left and an unpaid debt with one year of interest, remember?" That snapped them out of their gloomy corner. "I told you didn't I? You have done your best for our team and I see no reason to ask for more."

"Kuroko." Izuki was touched, "I feel like I want to cry!"

"Save the tear after we won this." Kuroko deadpanned, "At any rate our plan shall proceed regardless of the point gap, it serve as safety measure anyway… that's not why I exert myself in this first quarter, I showed you the rope and it's up to you to take it."

Riko nodded, "You heard him team… our plan is not going as smooth as we wanted is nothing new, in fact I get worried if Kuroko-kun's plan is going too smoothly." Kuroko stared at her in disbelief, "Sorry, but I feel more at home when our plan didn't go too smoothly…"

They laughed at Riko's comment.

Hyuuga cleared his throat, "And one more thing… remember, we're here to prove ourselves." They tensed at that, recalling what Hyuuga said to Midorima last week. "Get it to your head! Plan or no plan, Seirin is the strongest as a team!"

"Hai! Captain!"

Seihou VS Seirin (2nd quarter)

Tsugawa was surprised to see a guy with cat looking lips entered the court instead of Kuroko and Kagami positioned himself to mark Tsugawa. "Why you?!"

Kagami blinked, "Uhm… we sub Kuroko out, what?"

Seihou looked at Seirin team in disbelief, they benched their Generation of Miracle member?!

Tsugawa glared at Koganei, and the cat looking player titled his head to the side in confusion. "I have a debt with two years' worth of interest with him!"

"I also want to pay you back!" Kagami yelled back.

"Like we care!" Hyuuga shouted at the two hot headed players.

Kasuga narrowed his eyes at Izuki who was marking him. "I am disappointed… on that side Shuutoku benched their Midorima because they are playing against a middle tier school, do you think you can afford to do the same with your phantom player against us?!"

Iwamura nodded in agreement, "You will regret underestimating us." He growled.

Hyuuga snorted, "Chot-to… no one is underestimating you, not Kuroko, not us, not Seirin." He informed his fellow seniors. "But you see… we are his seniors, miraculous or not Kuroko is our kouhai. We would be damned if we let him do our works for us. We have our pride as the senpai of our team!"

Iwamura and Kasuga smiled at them, nodding approvingly. "We get it, but…" They pointed at bickering Tsugawa and Kagami. "Why is he doing over there?"

"He insisted." Hyuuga sighed, "Beside… he has unfinished business with your kouhai, we have one with you and Tsugawa has one with Kuroko… it's like some sort of demonic circle so we'd better get over it now."

"Ooh..." For some reason they couldn't help but agree.

The game resumed and as expected even though their senpai was holding their ground well against Seihou, the point gap shrank. Kagami was unhappy Tsugawa kept trying to get another foul on him in hope to get Kuroko back to the court. The seniors left the juniors on their own personal contest, and as long as the two kept each other busy the seniors were content with it.

Bleachers

"Unexpectedly Seirin is doing really good on their own without Kuroko-chi." Kise commented.

Kasamatsu snorted, "Of course, stupid." He drawled, "I saw it myself in our match… I am actually pretty surprised that they didn't get higher than Final League last year but then again…" It was their bad luck to lose their ace, strategist and second mental support of the team. "The guy who was matched against me last time is exceptionally good at his job even though he is lacking in athletic department. Then again with that kind of eye, he is faring well against player with superior physical prowess."

"Eye?" Kise wondered out loud.

"Kuroko is good…" Kasamatsu admitted, "Scarily good and borderline impossible like the rest of you miraculous brats" Kise pouted, "However… half of things he did couldn't be accomplished without another set of eyes."

Seirin VS Seihou

Kasuga hissed when he saw this time it was Ooumura that crashed to Iwamura, his fellow PG was using Iwamura as a screen to escape their defense. They were faring better than the first quarter because of the phantom player's absence but this guy was impossible too. What his eyes were made of?

"Run and Gun!" Hyuuga roared.

"Like hell we will play your game!" Iwamura roared back.

However their shouting match was interrupted when the referee blow his whistle. "White number 10! Charging!"

"KAGAMI!" Hyuuga gritted his teeth, "That was the fourth one, damn it!"

Tsugawa inwardly did a little dance when he saw Kuroko said something to Seirin's coach and as expected they subbed Kagami out. However he was disappointed to see a dull looking guy with jersey number 9 entered the court instead of Kuroko. "Why you?!"

Tsuchida sighed, "Pretty obvious why right? Kagami got four fouls already…" Tsuchida's specialties was rebound but for defense he was the third best after certain iron heart and Mitobe, he was also very cautious in defending.

"But I have business with that phantom bastard!" Tsugawa pointed at Kuroko who looked away, blatantly ignoring the SG of Seihou.

Hyuuga snapped, "No one cares about your unfinished business baldy! And don't call our kouhai, phantom bastard!"

"Tsugawa! Stop talking or I will bench you too!" Iwamura added with a growl.

Seirin's bench

"Stop sulking, it's unbecoming." Kuroko said to Kagami who somberly sat beside him. "We allowed you back to the court with condition we will bench you if you get your fourth foul."

Kagami nodded, "I am so ashamed." He had twin waterfall tears on his face. "Damn it!"

Oh boy… this was his second student after Kise who cried because of Tsugawa. At least Kagami didn't wail and whine like Kise. At moments like this Kuroko felt Kagami was like some sort of quasi combination of Kise and Aomine.

"Beside… keeping you in the court is going to do more harm than good." Kuroko pointed out, "Look at yourself." Kagami looked down, noticing he was drenched with too much sweat for playing for two quarters. "He is draining your stamina with his pressure defense, we can't have that if we have to face Shuutoku after this match."

Kagami harrumphed, "I know... but…"

"Remember… in the first place we're going to put you on reserve in preparation against Midorima-kun and Shuutoku." Kuroko reminded Kagami who was snapped out of his gloom when reminded there was a premium grade prey waiting on the next game. "So cool your head and think what you have learn from facing Tsugawa, you can use it for the next match." Kagami looked at Kuroko in disbelief, "Like I said… I didn't put you against Tsugawa for no reason, he is someone we acknowledge could give us trouble after all."

Kagami grumbled, "As much as I hate owing the guy, yeah… I will learn from him to beat Midorima." He had learned defense from Mitobe-senpai the same way, and he could do it with Tsugawa too.

"Good."

Sometimes Kuroko scared the hell out of him, Kagami mused inwardly.

Bleachers

Kise nodded at Seirin's direction, "I understand your feeling Kagami-chi!" He cried, as twin waterfall of tears streamed down his eyes.

"Both of you are idiots." Kasamatsu grumbled.

Seirin VS Seihou (4th Quarter)

Something was strange, while Seirin had escaped their defense before it was because their phantom player's play catching them off guard but now they escaped on their own repeatedly. No tricks, no misdirection, just plainly finding the right time and slip through their defense.

"Yosh!" Hyuuga scored another three and the score was 84-79 in Seirin's favor.

Kasuga and Iwamura panted, "Could it be?"

They know our movements!" A Seiho player realised.

Matsumoto Yukinoki, Seiho's coach frowned. "They got us," he remarked. "I've never seen anyone study us so thoroughly before."

Back on the court, Hyuuga grinned at Iwamura. "Ha ha ha… I am glad our DVD player didn't die in vain."

Bleachers

"As their name suggests, old martial arts are ancient," said Kasamatsu, he was impressed at Seirin's ingenuity and their persistence to learn Seihou. "Their thought process is completely different from modern sports science. Applying those specialized movements to basketball is Seiho's strength, but… because it's unique, it has pattern... Seihou develop a habit."

Kise nodded in understanding, "I see… so that's why Kuroko-chi exerted himself in first quarter."

"Huh?"

Kise looked sheepish before he explained, "Erm… back in middle school Kuroko-chi switched mark with me to face Tsugawa for a while. Since… uhm I run of monkey see monkey do." He hated to admit it but that was just how his copy skill worked. "Kurokochi showed me how to deal with Tsugawa before he got us to switch mark again."

"I thought you didn't learn any basketball technique from him?" Kasamatsu queried.

"I DO." He huffed, "Even though he claim otherwise, Kuroko-chi is like that… apparently to him showing me how and teaching me are different." Kise grumbled. "Then again it's hard to learn from him in the middle of a game because he is even more invisible."

Kasamatsu sweat-dropped at that.

Kise sighed sadly, "But Seirin… Kuroko-chi showed them how in just one quarter and yet… they succeed learning from him and used it." Of course they had watched Seihou's video countless of times too, but it was thanks to Kuroko who helped them to get used to Seihou's pattern faster. "Now I understand why he chose them."

Back to the court

"However… because we are no patron of pattern." Hyuuga ignored Izuki's pun for once. "We're pretty sloppy at it in second quarter and only get a hang of it in second half ha ha ha…"

Hyuga snorted, "You guys aren't that obvious…" He glanced at Kuroko's direction. "Not that obvious for us anyway…"

Kasuga laughed at Izuki who was marking him, "I am impressed… I thought a team with that kind of member would be overly reliant on him."

Izuki snorted as he dribbled pass Kasuga, "We have our pride after all!"

"So are we!" Kasuga said as he back-tipped Izuki and the ball bounced to Seirin's bench.

It was going to be out of bound so Oumuro gave up chasing it, the ball was theirs anyway. Koganei however didn't want to give the ball up, it would broke their momentum and that was the last thing Seirin wanted! However he failed to take into account that his balance was never the greatest in team so after he tapped the ball back to the court he lost his footing and crashed against their bench.

Koganei's eyes spun and Riko analyzed he seemed to have suffered from a light concussion by hitting his head on the ground.

"Koganei-kun!"

"Sempai, are you okay?" Kagami asked with concern.

"I think it's a light concussion," said Riko, peering into Koganei's unfocused eyes. "We have to sub him out."

"Then let me play!" Kagami said immediately.

"What are you talking about?" said Hyuuga, annoyed at the red head. "You can't play! Have you forgotten just why we're conserving your energy? We'll settle this."

"But I can't just sit still—"

Kagami was cut off as Kuroko slammed his mouth closed with his hand. "Kagami-kun, what a guy with four fouls should do now?" Kuroko queried coolly and Kagami mumbled something incoherent in reply. " That guy with four fouls should just stay on the bench." Kagami glared at Kuroko, but he had to admit he was right. "And he will send you back here anyway…"

Kagami twitched. "I won't!" he argued, "That's why I've got to pay Tsugawa back for what he did!"

"Enough." Kuroko cut him off sharply. "I will pay him back as your proxy."

"What?" Kagami exclaimed indignantly. "What is that? There is no point if you beat him!"

Kagami yelped when Kuroko gave him a mean jab to his sides. "Kagami-kun… and what's the point if you get our team in trouble for your personal vendetta?"

The red head flinched guiltily, looking down in shame. "I am sorry."

Kuroko sighed, "I am understand… seriously, you should control your temper better than that.

Hyuuga glanced at the scoreboard, a frown on his face. Four more minutes, and we are ahead by five points.'

Izuki crossed his arms, "But Kuroko…"

"I can last four more minutes just fine." Kuroko assured them, "Beside…" He glanced at certain player of Seihou who didn't stop glaring at him since the time out Koganei caused. "I can't stand him glaring at our direction anymore." It was not like Tsugawa could pinpoint Kuroko, but it didn't stop Tsugawa from glaring at Seirin in hope if he glared hard enough Kuroko would come out.

"Very well," said Hyuuga. "I will leave that guy to you."

Back to the court

"Welcome back." Tsugawa greeted Kuroko gleefully. "Phantom bastard, I have unfinished debt with two years' worth of interest with you."

Kuroko rolled his eyes inwardly, "To be frank I am flattered you feel that way, there's not a lot of people interested in challenging me… but this is the second time I have to deal with you" It got tiring, seriously. "However… just like my senpai has their pride, I have my respect to them as their kouhai."

Tsugawa grinned, arms stretched to guard Kuroko. "And I will do my best for senpai I respected too."

However he got no respond as Kuroko once again was gone from his sight. The phantom player had gone to assist Izuki to circulate the ball.

And once again Seihou was thrown to utter confusion because of Kuroko's misdirection.

In spite of that Seihou didn't give up and pressed on, Kasuga didn't pride himself for his three but he took the risk and the ball went in. "Yosha!"

The score was 88-85

Izuki panted, 'I can't believe his risked a three, he is a cautious guy but then again… the king have strong pride… they're going to press us as hard as they could to score two more basket." They had one minute left, usually Izuki would opt to defend their hoop and stalled their opponent but… against Seihou…

Hyuuga caught his eyes and nodded, "There's no time to hold back! Go for it!"

Tsugawa realized if he didn't catch Kuroko soon, their comeback was impossible. Even if his senior could steal ball from Seirin, with Kuroko in the court it would just get stolen back. So he had to find the phantom player at all cost but HOW? The guy was invisible in the court for years and circulating pass like a stagehand man.

Pass? Even though the guy was invisible, the ball and his pass were not!

Iwamura ran pass Tsuchida and Mitobe's defense, dunking the ball forcefully. "Don't underestimate us! It's ten years too early for you to beat us!"

The score was 88-87

"Damn it!" Hyuuga cursed, it seemed they really bruised Seihou's pride really bad. "But we won't give up either Seihou! Last round! Offense!"

Second ticking by and now it was thirty seconds before the end of this match, and Seirin in spite of one point ahead had no intention to defend their hoop. They were as determined as Seihou to score another basket because their strength lies in their offense, they had to take Seihou on with their offense to win!

They had to succeed, which was why… "Kuroko!" Izuki passed the ball to Kuroko who was ready to tap pass it to Tsuchida.

Izuki's eyes widened when he saw Tsugawa got in between Kuroko and Tsuchida, "Tsugawa?! But how?"

"Tsugawa? How?" Kise echoed Izuki.

Kasamatsu was impressed, this Tsugawa guy was persistent. "He found Kuroko by calculating backwards from the pass course." Kasamatsu deduced. "Invisible or not the ball and the pass are not."

It was their win because he would block the pass intended to that strip eyed senior. "I win!" He declared.

"Hm." That phantom player on purpose missed the first attempted pass, it was almost inhuman he stopped in mid pass, especially a high speed pass like that, and just like that Kuroko Tetsuya managed to change his target and passed it to the captain. "No, it's ours."

Tsugawa felt the world crashing down when he saw the bipolar senior shot a three pointer and Seirin won the game with four points gap.

"We lost…" Tsugawa sobbed, "I lost."

Iwamura gave him a comforting shoulder pat. "Tsugawa, stand straight with pride… until the very end you're the one who give Seirin and their phantom player the hardest fight."

"But Seirin is…" Tsugawa gritted his teeth, "Because of that guy…"

Iwamura sighed, "Do not forget… The strong don't win. The winners are the strong ones. They were stronger, that's all… phantom player or not." He added. "Don't deny Seirin's strength… after all they benched their phantom player for most of our match and they still won."

Tsugawa swallowed, "Hai, captain… Seirin is strong." He narrowed his eyes at Kuroko who had not moved from his spot. "I will beat you next time, Kuroko Tetsuya." He declared in determined tone.

Kuroko for once didn't feel annoyed by his words. "I am looking forward for our next match, Tsugawa Tomoki-kun." He said sincerely before he turned around to join his celebrating teammates.

However he didn't expect someone blocking his path, and it was none other than his former teammates, Midorima Shintarou. "Congratulation for making it to final."

"Thank you, and congratulation for you and your team too." Kuroko could tell Midorima was sincerely congratulating him and as usual even his congratulation sounded flat and clipped. "You come here just for that?" Kuroko raised an eyebrow, "It's unlike you."

In instant the two generation of Miracles members became the center of attention.

Bleachers

"Oi Kise, what's going on over there?" Kasamatsu asked.

Kise shook his head, "I don't know… Midorima-chi never get along well with Kuroko-chi, so it surprise me too."

Back to the court

"So what do you want, Midorima-kun?" Kuroko queried, "Make it quick, my team still have post-game greeting."

Midorima narrowed his eyes, "In final match… if I win." He was sure he would win actually. "I want you to tell me what you know about Akashi." Kuroko tensed, "The Akashi we started to know in our third year…" He murmured.

Kuroko frowned, "I am not obligated to accept this bet, and what if I win? I don't think you can offer me anything I want."

"I will not bring it up to others." Midorima offered and he was pleased to see Kuroko's expression changed. "I don't like cornering you either, but it seems you keep a close contact with Akashi since our graduation and I really want that answer you refuse to answer a year ago."

"Kuroko! What's wrong with Akashi lately?!" He asked in confused voice, "You guys locked the gym and argued for hours inside! You never argue with Akashi that badly!"

Kuroko's eyes were red and he looked exhausted but Midorima was determined to get to the bottom of this problem. "Midorima-kun, don't ask." He pleaded. "I will speak with him later…"

"Speak?" Midorima inquired, "With Akashi like that I fear for your safety! This is not one of those things I shouldn't pry on and you can keep it to yourself anymore! Akashi let everyone do as they pleased! He let them loose! I don't care about getting mushy or our personal relationship with our teammate but…"

"I can't tell you anything!" Kuroko shot back. "Just… just let me deal with Akashi-kun."

"Like you don't have your hands full with Aomine?" Midorima exclaimed in incredulous tone. "Or Kise? That baka started to imitate Aomine, busying himself with modeling and fooling around!"

But Kuroko was already gone, and Midorima could only scream in outrage because stupid Kuroko didn't know his limit and dealt with every single problem on his own. It didn't stop Midorima from feeling guilty when Kuroko left for America because of them.

End of Flashback

Kuroko stared at Midorima unblinkingly and the shooter returned it with equal intensity, refusing to back down. "Very well…" Kuroko relented. "I accept it."

Unknown to both of them a pair of heterochromatic eyes were watching them from afar.

DUM DUM DUM~ things get heated up really quick!

AND please note that this is an AU, or at least slightly AU so... Kuroko's reason to leave has nothing to do with Meikou and Ogiwara-kun ^^ I wrote this before he is introduced anyway.