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Chapter 20

It was a Sunday morning, and RimFire's household was drowning in gloom. Yesterday had been Tokyo and Kanagawa's championship league matches. Both Seirin and Touou played two matches, both against Senshinkan and Meisei. Kaijou were in a similar boat as well. And thus, because of these match-ups, Tanaka and Kotarou went to Kanagawa to support Yukio and Kise, while Shige and Kazunari went to support Tetsuya and sometimes Shouichi.

However, unlike Kaijou and Touou's matches which overpowered their opponents to win, Seirin had lost twice, to Meisei and Senshinkan. But, no one cared about that. What they were concerned about was Tetsuya. He missed all his passes, he made numerous amounts of mistakes…in essence, the person that Shige and Kazunari saw playing was most definitely not Tetsuya.

"It was a doppelganger who was doing a poor job at his passes." Kazunari joked. But, even though it was said as such, the underlying tone was serious. "It was so unbelievable. I mean, I couldn't understand what happened out there." He was rubbing Nigou behind the ears.

"Hmm, could it be that the wounds from the Touou match haven't fully healed as yet?" Kotarou then asked. "I mean, he had seemed fine when he was practicing with us, but I guess being in a real basketball match must've dredged up those memories."

"And most likely, people wouldn't be able to bounce back from something like that so fast." Kazunari added. "That match was pretty nasty."

"Shit! I can't believe that we didn't notice!" Yukio cursed. The boys were sitting in the living room while Tanaka was in the kitchen. Tetsuya was still in his room.

"Maybe it wasn't that of 'we didn't notice' but maybe Tetsu didn't even realize himself until he was in that match." Shige added. Yes, RimFire had made him leave his house at this hour in the morning just to discuss Tetsuya's behavior. "Think about it, in a situation such as this, he may have thought that he was fine, but he when stumbled upon that obstacle, he must've realized…"

"But what are we going to do now?" Shouichi sighed. "I mean, just teaching him won't make him better. The moment he steps into another basketball match then…" he trailed off with a smile. "When is the next competition?" he then asked.

"This Saturday." Shige replied. "And my high school team will be participating." He seemed to pale at this.

"Well, the only idea I have is to make him face his fear head on." Shouichi said as he leaned backwards in his chair. "And what better way to do this than streetball?"

"Add to that a high school team is participating." Yukio added. "This is all the better."

"So, the cure for Tetsuya's dilemma will simply to let him play streetball? What if he seizes up again?" Shige asked. "Maybe he's traumatized."

"Of course we'll be there to back him up!" Kazunari said. "Even if he's traumatized, once he sees Aomine gets beaten I'm sure he'll lighten up." He said looking in the direction of Yukio.

"Well, I've been practicing hard these past days, and so too is Kise. Aomine has to go down!" Yukio said forming a fist. "For once, my main priority is to have Kise beat that conceited brat. I know I can't do it, so I'm leaving it to him."

"Well said," Kotarou grinned. "But I really do hope that Rakuzan meets Touou first. I'd like to see how the bastard will fare against my Lightning Dribble." The blond started to chuckle darkly.

"That would be quite the sight to behold indeed." Kazunari snickered. Meanwhile, Tanaka, who was in the kitchen, shivered after hearing their conversation.

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Tetsuya faced the wall in his room. He was lying in his bed, but the moment he closed his eyes, he kept remembering how useless he was once again in the championship matches.

Even though he had learnt and still is in the process of learning from the others, he hadn't been able to reproduce any of the things he had been taught. In the middle of the matches, his body had frozen, and the moments of the Touou match flashed before him. It got even worse, the times when he received the ball to redirect it to someone preferable, he ended up sending it somewhere else. At one time, the ball had crashed into Seirin's bench, even though he had intended to pass to Tsuchida-senpai who was in that general direction.

"What happened to me?" he asked himself as he buried his face into the pillow. But then, he heard a knock on the door. He didn't answer. He didn't think that he could face them.

"Tetsuya," the voice said. It was Shouichi. "Breakfast will soon be ready."

He still hadn't replied. He then heard decrescendo footsteps which told him that Shouichi had walked off. He let out a sigh.

"Tetsu-chan!" Tetsuya jumped as he never expected that. "We have a competition to conquer on Saturday! Maybe you could those matches as your guinea pigs for your new skills! So what do you say?"

He wanted to answer but he didn't.

"By the way, breakfast is almost ready!"

He sighed once again.

"Tetsuya, can I tell you something?" this time it was Yukio. "You must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration*." There was a pause. "If you don't face it, you'll die. You're too skilled of a player to go down like this. It's fine that you froze up in the match, we all experience some sort failure in our basketball careers. But remember that you have us. Talk to me. To us." There was another pause. "By the way, breakfast is almost ready, Tanaka-san's cooking. I'm sure you can smell it, right?"

Tetsuya sighed once again. It was true that he could smell Tanaka's cooking but it doesn't seem like he has any appetite.

After everything had returned to normal and it seemed as though they all had retreated downstairs, he had a sinking feeling. Kotarou was the only one who has yet to say something. Usually, he and Kazunari would speak together, as they were the ones who were overflowing with energy.

"Are they planning something?" he knew them too well to know that something was off. And given his feeling, Tetsuya knew something was going to happen.

Just then, he heard footsteps. The 'pat pat' sound they made indicated that the owners were running.

"Heave! Ho!" now that was Kotarou's voice. Before he could even register what was happening, he heard bang against the door and a cracking sound. "Heave! Ho!" it rang out again. Something banged against the door and the cracking sound he heard was the door being destroyed. It was wooden after all.

"There he is!" Kotarou said. "I have travelled across these perilous lands in order to rescue you! It's is I, Hayama Kotarou, Imperial Knight of the Rakuzan Empire! These are my comrades," he then turned to face the others, "Takao Kazunari, the Imperial Archer of Shutoku Republic and the one who possess the coveted Hawk-eyes! Ogiwara Shigehiro, the Imperial Lance of Kitamura Republic the one who possess an undying will for justice! Kasamatsu Yukio, the Prince of Kaijou and astounding Magician and Imayoshi Shouichi, the Prince of Touou! He has the most wanted Mind-Reading Magic!"

"Ano…" Tetsuya started. He really wanted to laugh at their antics.

"We have heard the plea of the King of RimFire, Adachi Tanaka that, his Prince has fallen ill due to a nasty curse! And thus, we are here to lift that wretched thing!" Kotarou once more announced.

"Let's go! Yu-chan, Shou-chan, use the binding magic to hold him in place! Shige-chan, put up a barrier so that the curse will not escape!" Kazunari instructed. Yukio and Shouichi then stood on both sides of Tetsuya while Shige then held him from behind underneath his arms. When that was done, they then placed their right and left arms around Shige and Tetsuya and then Kazunari and Kotarou came forward.

They hugged him.

Tetsuya was at a loss for words at this.

He could feel the love and warmth and care radiating off these boys and honestly, he was starting to feel bad that he didn't answer them earlier.

"Umm…does anyone know what to say?" Shige then asked. "This is a sensitive moment right? Shouldn't someone say something sentimental?"

"Perfect way to ruin the mood, Shige." Shouichi sighed. "We don't need to say anything sentimental. The hug was enough."

"Come on Tetsu." Kotarou then said in a small voice. It seemed to everyone that he was going ahead with the sentimental thing. "Tanaka-san is cooking. You don't want to be cooped up in here, now do you?"

They paused.

"Seriously, Kotarou?!"

"You should have just kept your mouth shut, Ko-chan." Kazunari said with a sigh.

But then Tetsuya managed to worm out of Shige's grip and then hugged Yukio. He was on his left hand side either way.

"Thanks Yukio-Onii-chan." He said. Seeing this, the others flew into a fit.

"Tetsuya! I'm your Onii-chan too! Yuki, how could you betray me so!?" He said as he snatched Tetsuya from Yukio.

"Give him back! He wasn't done!"

"No! I'm next! I'm the childhood friend here!" Shige shouted, making a lunge for the boy.

"No! I'm his roommate!" Kazunari shouted.

"I'm the Knight in shining armor!" Kotarou said. "I was the one who broke down the door to free him from this prison!"

And so, the battle began. In fact, Tetsuya was going to hug all of them individually, but it seemed as though they couldn't wait. So, he managed to slip away from them and sat on Kazunari's bed, watching them battle it out with each other.

"Boys," Tanaka said as he stood in the doorjamb. He wore a smile but his face was darkened. They paused immediately.

"Kotarou was the Knight in shining armor who broke it down to free Tetsuya from his prison." They all said, pointing towards the boy.

"How could you?!" he shouted back.

"But I remember hearing about an Imperial Archer and Lance, as well as Princes."

There was silence.

"Quick! Get the escape rope! The Demon Lord has arrived!" Kazunari then shouted. "To think we were tricked! He impersonated the King and led us here!"

Kotarou then dived underneath Kazunari's bed to take out sheets that were wrapped together forming a rope.

"We'll hold him off! Just get the Prince of RimFire out of here!" Shouichi said.

"Mwahha! I shall not let you escape!" Tanaka laughed evilly playing along with them. But he was still upset that they broke down his door. While they lowered the sheet-rope, they noticed that Nigou was outside barking at the window.

"It's no use! His summon is out there!" Kotarou shouted. "We're trapped! To escape we have to fight him!"

"Oh no!" Yukio said.

"Oh yes." Tanaka said. Then, Tanaka began mumbling something incoherent while stretching out his palms towards them. After he was done, they fell to the floor pretending to be in pain.

"Guh, as expected, he was…too…strong." Kotarou said faintly.

"To…think…we'd fail…" Yukio said, pretending to be struggling to speak.

Shouichi coughed. "Blood gushes out." He said, indicating that he supposedly coughed up blood. "I'm…sorry Prince…" he said looking at Tetsuya.

"Now, what should your punishment be for breaking down the door?" Tanaka then said. By this time, they were getting up. "Ah! None of your favourite dishes for a month."

They paled.

"NOOOO!"

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And so the school week began, Tetsuya feeling a little bit better due to RimFire's antics yesterday. But as soon as the week started, it had ended.

Throughout the week, however, Tetsuya's training resumed which the boy was both happy and sad for. Happy that he'd get to improve his skills some more and hopefully don't freeze in a match, but sad that Kotarou had to leave which meant that Kise would taking his space like prior.

But strangely, the blond had seemed to take this seriously, as he never tried to hug him or anything of the sort. He wasn't whiny either; instead his eyes were full of focus. Tetsuya inwardly smiled. Whatever it is that RimFire threatened him with was working like a charm.

Their dribbling session flowed rather smoothly, and by Wednesday, Tetsuya was able to do it like a pro. Kise had also taken the liberty to teach him the hesitation dribble and crossovers which the latter proved to be a bit challenging for the light-blue haired teen.

By Friday, though, when Kotarou arrived, he hadn't even waited; he headed straight into the dribbling. Kise had told him that he was teaching him the hesitation and crossover. Kotarou then picked up where Kise left off, and poor Tetsuya felt like his arms were about to fall off. Hayama 'The Dribble King' Kotarou was brutal when it came onto that. In addition to that, as a reward for helping Tetsuya, Kotarou decided to teach Kise the Lightning Dribble on the condition that he'd never use it against him, but against Akashi. Kise agreed wholeheartedly, Yukio almost smashing Kotarou's face in the ground at that preposterous proposal.

Tetsuya's shooting sessions went on smoothly as well, Shouichi drilling into him the basics of shooting once again. After that, Tetsuya then practiced his new style of shooting, holding the ball at his chest and pushing it off. It was thanks to Yukio and Kise who used Moriyama as a base for their idea. After many trial and errors, Tetsuya found a shooting style that fits him.

Many times, it bounced off the rim of the net, but everyone present kept hanging their mouths open. They kept losing track of the ball whenever Tetsuya shoots it.

"Well, shit," Kazunari had said. "This will certainly be a pain in the ass during a match."

"Tell me about it." Yukio sighed.

His shooting skills then improved further now that the boys knew just how Tetsuya could be able to shoot. But one thing was for sure, he wasn't ready to attempt shooting threes as yet. By the time was done, out of ten attempted shots, about three would go in. It wasn't an outrageous figure, but in the eyes RimFire, it was still a great accomplishment.

Tetsuya's defense also improved with the help of Shige and occasionally Kise (if he was there as usually Tanaka would bring him home after his job was done). Kise would be opponent while Shige would instruct and demonstrate how to pass such a defender or how to stall them. This, though, would sometimes end up into a one-on-one between Shige and Kise, which obviously, Kise would win. But Shige's spirit wasn't dampened though.

And lastly, Yukio and Kazunari would assist Tetsuya with his point guarding. They'd break up into teams of threes which Tetsuya was of course being neutral. In this instance, he'd have to alternate between the teams that he'd be point guard for. But, in essence, he was slowly becoming dangerous in that aspect. While he may not be as strong as Yukio who's famous on the national level, or quick-witted like Kazunari, Tetsuya developed his own style and thus, proved to be lethal once complete.

And thus, the school week ran off quickly.

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At home, RimFire lazed in the living room.

"Man, I'm tired." Kotarou yawned. "You were really right, Yukio. Kise is a fast learner!"

"Well, he isn't called the 'Copy Cat' for no reason." He shrugged. "I still can't believe you'd do something like that!"

"I just wanted to see Akashi's face when Kise blitzes past him with the dribble that's all."

Yukio shook his head. "I can never understand you."

"Guys, we shouldn't be talking about this now!" Kazunari said. "The competition is tomorrow! I can smell victory already!"

"I can smell my high school life ending." Shige mourned.

"Oh, right," Tetsuya said. "Kitamura is participating you say, right?"

"Yeah. And they know me. I'm pretty sure that when we meet and they see me, come Monday, they're going to pressure me into joining the team."

"Then why don't you?" Shouichi asked.

"I don't know." Shige said. "I guess I…I just don't know!" he threw his hands up for effect.

"I see." Kotarou said. He then looked up at the clock and saw the time. "It's Tatsuya time!" he shouted. Without hitch, they dashed up the stairs and into Kazunari and Tetsuya's room, since it was the easiest to access due to the door being gone.

When they booted the laptop, grins appeared on their faces as they waited. After some minutes, a disheveled boy appeared on the screen making them bust with laughter.

"You know it's terrible manners to laugh at the person you woke up, right?"

"Oh no." Kotarou grinned. "You should really see yourself."

"I know I look terrible. So, what's up?"

"Let's start with what we've been doing with Tetsuya." Yukio said with a grin.

And just like that, RimFire chatted with Tatsuya, informing him of all that they've been up to.

* quote is by Frank Herbert.

Thank you for reading! Don't forget to review! Streetball competition coming up next!