A speedy update... and... FANARTS! A big thank you to those who have contributed; they're wonderful :D You can copy and paste the links, but don't forget to take out the "dot", then add "." and remove any spaces for the links to work ^_^

By Athium: dinachuus-art dot tumblr dot com/post/148521698176/okuma-tomoko-aominekkid-i-hope-you-like-it

By The Flightless Girl: deviantart dot com/art/Okuma-Tomoko-626571172 (her version of Tomoko) AND deviantart dot com/art/Dancing-Peony-s-Tomoko-626759717

By TheParadoxicalOxymoron: deviantart dot com/art/Cheerleader-Tomoko-625683067

By TranquilNinja: wattpad dot com/293991806-fan-art-oc

Disclaimer: All canon characters and canon events belong to Fujimaki Tadatoshi.

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SPARK

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Aomine made his way up to his usual napping spot on the roof. He yawned as he reach the top, only to be stopped by a long pair of legs. He glanced up with disinterest, "Huh?"

"Aomine-kun!" Momoi had her hands on her hips and a frown on her pretty face.

"Satsuki, get out of the way. I'm sleeping now," he yawned again.

"Don't tell me to move! I told you we'd be going to see the championship league today!"

The miracle frowned as well. He was really sleepy and had no energy to go to a pointless game. "I've already beaten them. What's the point of watching them play? Move aside..." he looked back up at the pink haired girl briefly when he heard her sigh in defeat. Realizing that he was getting a pretty good view of the girl's underwear from where he was standing, he shamelessly pointed it out. "Satsuki, are those your lucky panties? You wear some crazy stuff."

The girl immediately took a few steps back and covered herself in angry embarrassment. "You pervert!" she shouted as she swung her leg at Aomine, but he skillfully dodged her foot while lifting himself up to the roof and headed towards his napping spot without even batting an eyelash.

"Sheesh! Aren't you even the slightest bit curious?" she glared at her childhood friend's antics. "Midorin aside, Tetsu-kun's opponent is the king of the west, Senshinkan!"

"King? That title's worthless," Aomine closed his eyes to fully bask in the warm rays of the sun. "Seirin will obviously win. The results are apparent based on their performances, so what's there to be interested in?"

"But..." Momoi pouted, still hoping that the lazy male would somehow change his mind.

"If there's anything worth watching, it's Tetsu and Midorima's match," Aomine said before twisting his body away from the girl. That, or... But he left the conversation to end as that.

"So what do you guys think? This Seirin team should be pretty good to make it this far," Mibuchi Reo asked his teammates when they learned about the four teams chosen for the championship league. The impossibly-pretty shooting guard handed the piece of paper to his captain gingerly.

"Here, Sei-chan~"

"I doubt they're that strong," Nebuya Eikichi, the Rakuzan team's tall and muscular center, grunted from the side, peering at the paper himself. "Didn't Senshinkan defeat them twice?"

"Whoever they are, I'm excited to play them!" Hayama Kotarou shouted energetically. Since Seirin didn't make it to the top during Interhigh, the blonde never got a chance to meet the team, nor did he really felt the need to. "If they make it that far this time," he added with a snicker. Unless there was a good enough reason for him to care, he was content with not finding out what his opponents were like until he faces them.

His reasoning was simple—it adds excitement for when he actually faces them off on the court.

Meanwhile, their captain, who had been silently staring at the team brackets for the championship league, had a unreadable smile on his face. "Hm, it'll be interesting to see Tetsuya and Shintarou play against each other," he murmured to himself, passing the paper as well as the day's training regimen back to Mibuchi before excusing himself for the time being.

The Rakuzan team looked at each other and merely shrugged at their captain's odd behavior. They have learned to not question the redhead; after all, he was capable enough to become the captain of the team as a first-year, and not to mention that he was a dangerous one to cross.

"...We won!"

Tomoko cheered happily as she ran up to her teammates, going in for the usual post-game hug. She was so proud of her team! With a score of 78 to 61, Seirin finally managed to defeat Senshinkan and pay them back for the two previous losses.

"We did it! You guys were so great out there!" she rambled on, a proud grin etched on her face as her team smiled back at her fondly.

"Amazing! They destroyed the king!"

"Seirin's really strong!"

On the other side of the gym, Takao glanced over at the celebrating team as he dribbled the ball between his legs. Oh, they won? He turned back to his own struggling opponents, Kirisaki Daiichi. This game's over, too. I'd like to say this is what we expected, but they didn't even give us their key players. Did they throw this game?

The ravenette passed the ball to his awaiting partner. Midorima jumped from his spot and scored just as the buzzer rang. The audience looked at the score with amazement; it was kind of surprising that Shutoku was leading by such a large margin since their opponents were known to be a strong team, but then again...

"Eh? Why is Kirisaki Daiichi's first string sitting over there?" a member on another team pointed out to his friend in surprise.

"What? Where?"

The two males looked over to Seirin's side of the bleachers and saw the entire first string lounging casually in the seats, watching the game instead of playing in their own. The five key players were watching Seirin for some reason.

"Shouldn't they be playing Shutoku?"

"Guess not..."

Not really understanding the reason behind the team's logic, the two males went about to do their own thing again.

Little did they know, the captain and coach of Kirisaki Daiichi, Hanamiya Makoto, threw the game so he could analyze Seirin closely. There was a satisfied smirk on the second-year's face as he watched the team below shake their defeated opponents' hands. At the same time, the final buzzer for the Shutoku-Kirisaki Daiichi game signaled the end of the match as well and the score turned out to be 123 to 51. Shutoku's win.

Hanamiya wasn't the least bit worried about being defeated by Shutoku. Hell, none of the other four that was with him were; they were more nonchalant and disinterested than anything.

"We lost to Shutoku, but our remaining two wins have been decided," he mused to his teammates sitting around him. He looked at a certain person below and chuckled darkly. "We're done analyzing here."

As the five first string players of Kirisaki Daiichi made their way out of the gymnasium, a pair of glaring emerald eyes was watching them go.

"Let's go, Takao," Midorima grumbled as he passed by Takao who was drinking some water. He's a talented player and Uncrowned King, just like Kiyoshi. However...

"They did not do everything they could. What a disgusting game."

The raventte blinked and followed behind his angry green haired companion. He knew that Kirisaki Daiichi completely threw the game, but he didn't know why. It wasn't a good thing to see Midorima so thoroughly pissed at that team, either.

"Is there something up with you and that guy?" Takao boldly asked when he caught who the miracle was glaring at. "You don't seem to like him."

"He's an extremely unpleasant player," Midorima answered without sparing the confused ravenette a clear explanation. Instead, he looked at Seirin, the team Hanamiya seemed to be so interested in. He's especially dangerous when he has his eyes set on something, or someone...

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twenty-five

win some, lose some

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As the Seirin team filed into the locker room to clean up, the celebratory mood faded from their minds as they focused on what's to come. Their next opponent will be Shutoku.

"Our next game is sure to be a difficult one," Hyuuga glowered from his seat on the bench as the rest of the team packed up their belongings. Just like Seirin has grown since summer, Shutoku was stronger and more dangerous than ever.

"But we have Kiyoshi-senpai," Fukuda started to say and Kawahara nodded in agreement.

"We're better than we were before! We beat them last time after all."

"I wouldn't be so sure."

All eyes landed on Kuroko once he voiced out his thoughts. He was sitting besides Kagami and Tomoko and there was concern evident in his eyes. "Our win last time is precisely why I think the next game will be difficult."

Riko nodded, pushing herself off the wall, "Kuroko-kun seems to have the right idea. Our previous victory was too good to be true. They're absolutely better than us."

Silence filled the locker room as the team took in the brunette's words. It was no secret that Seirin only won by a sliver during their Interhigh match. Kagami was pushed to his jump limit and had it not been Kuroko coming up right behind Midorima, Shutoku would have taken the win.

"But as the superior team, they aren't looking down at us," Hyuuga then said, his forehead creased with tension. The look that Shutoku gave him and his team before they left the arena was unforgettable—and it unnerved the black haired captain. "They'll be coming at us with everything they have. On top of that, we'll be facing a member of the Generation of Miracles... This won't be easy."

Fukuda gulped and took a step back. The truth was terrifying.

"Well, one thing is for sure..." it was Tomoko who spoke up as she stood from her seat. There was a grin plastered on her face, "We'll be trying our absolute best against Shutoku."

"Okuma-chan's right!" Teppei added in agreement. Right now, the team just need to brush off any doubts and disillusions they have about themselves and their upcoming opponent and just be prepared. He picked up his gym bag and swung it over his shoulder. "Tomorrow's battle is won during today's practice! We'll just have to work harder," he encouraged.

The rest of the team made hums of approval and filed out of the locker room with the second-year. They needed ample time to prepare for Shutoku and time was one thing they didn't have. Though that thought occupied their minds, they were fueled by the spirit of the team.

"What kind of new techniques do you think Shutoku learned over the summer?" Furihata wondered as he walked behind Kawahara and Fukuda. The two first-years shook their heads.

"They beat us at every practice match during camp... Other than that, I can't really tell."

"Whatever it is, we'll find a way to crack it," Hyuuga called from the front, drawing his eyes across each member before stopping at Teppei briefly. Instead of addressing the serious look on the center's face, he continued to walk.

A phone suddenly went off and the guys paused once they realized it was coming from one of them. Tomoko dug into her bag and pulled out the ringing device. "Oh, it's my mom," she said before answering the phone. As she talked, Hyuuga and the rest waited patiently. After a minute or two, Tomoko ended the conversation and turned back to the team.

"Something wrong, Okuma-chan?" Riko asked. Tomoko shook her head and smiled.

"Nothing really! I just almost forgot that I promised my mom I'd go to the corner store and pick up a few things for the house after our game."

"We can come with if you'd like," the older girl offered, looking at the rest of the team to get their consent. They all nodded in agreement but Tomoko declined the offer.

"Don't worry about it!" Tomoko assured. "I can get home from here so you guys go ahead."

"Yeah, go on without me, too."

"Eh?" Riko and the others turned to Teppei with bewilderment, but before anyone could ask for his reason, Hyuuga intervened and gathered them away.

"That's fine. Come on guys, we should go home and get some rest."

"Okuma-chan, get home safely, okay?" Riko addressed, following behind Hyuuga. She then paused again and turned to give Teppei her usual glare. "And you too, don't dilly-dally around like an old man and get some rest after this. Got it?"

"Yes mam," Teppei waved.

"See you guys tomorrow!" Tomoko said with a wide smile.

Kagami looked to be a bit reluctant to leave, especially since he sensed that Teppei seemed to be hiding something, but he also complied and left the two to their own business. Once the whole team left, Teppei turned to Tomoko and gave her a friendly pat on the head.

"I'll see you, Okuma-chan."

"Are you going to meet up with someone?" she asked, surprising Teppei and stopping his tracks. He looked down the side hallway briefly before trailing his eyes back to the caramel haired manager.

"Something like that," he replied warmly. "Hey, you should head to the store before it gets dark."

"Oh!" The girl took a peek out one of the windows and realized that it was indeed getting late. "Bye, Kiyoshi-san!" she quickly bowed and headed out, nearly crashing into a pillar in front of her.

She sure is endearing, Teppei thought before letting out a small chuckle. Drawing his attention back to the problem at hand, though, his pleasant smile turned serious. He walked towards the sitting figure.

"It's been a while, Hanamiya."

The person he addressed lifted his head and revealed his face in the dim hallway. "Hey," the male greeted with such an air of friendliness that people would think those two have been friends all their lives. "I've been dying to see you."

But the calculating smirk that then stretched across the male's face said otherwise.

"Did Kiyoshi-senpai forget something?"

Hyuuga looked back at Furihata. They were outside of the gymnasium when the first-year finally spoke up. "Yeah, something like that," he replied.

"Is it about that guy at the corner?" Kagami approached the black haired captain and asked. He didn't think the senior would stay behind if not for that figure sitting there in the side hallway. The concealed figured looked to be waiting for the senior.

Standing besides the redhead, Kuroko seemed to recognize the person he was talking about and furrowed his brows.

"Oh, you noticed?"

"Just that he's pretty good," Kagami grunted. The captain sighed as his expression turned dire along with the rest of the second-years.

"Well, it's nothing to hide," he began. "In the world of middle school basketball, Teiko's Generation of Miracles were the best. Needless to say, they're the five prodigies whose stunning power led to three national championships," the look on his face was grim as he looked towards the gymnasium again. "However, there were other one year older. Five talented players capable of going head-to-head with the Generation of Miracles. If they'd been born in another era, they may have been called the Generation of Miracles. Including Kiyoshi, the five of them are known as the Uncrowned Kings."

Silence filled the air as the rest listened with awe. Kagami seemed to be in deep thought as he mulled over this new revelation. He always knew that Teppei was strong, but he didn't think the senior had that kind of title with him. And there are four others that are just like the Generation of Miracles...

"That guy was one of them as well," Hyuuga continued. He did not look happy at all about that fact. "The Bad Boy Hanamiya Makoto."

"Bad Boy...?" Furihata looked confused. "But, if Kiyoshi-senpai went to greet him, they must be friends, right?"

The captain shook his head, "It's just the opposite. You can say he's the antithesis of Kiyoshi. If Kiyoshi's the most honest basketball player..." his brows furrowed in displeasure as a flashback resurfaced. "Hanamiya's the most dishonest."

The two second-years stared at each other for a short moment before one of the finally broke the silence.

"I saw you during our game. You chose not to participate in the Shutoku game," Teppei revealed.

Hanamiya didn't break eye contact as he took in the Seirin center's disapproving expression. "What's wrong with that?"

"I'm not saying it's wrong. I just don't like it."

"You're as honest as ever," Hanamiya chuckled. "How disgusting. If I'd played today and shown all my cards, that'd make all three games serious pains in the ass," he said with a devious grin. "I don't care about the victory right in front of me. You'll lose the remaining two games on your own."

Though it sounded innocent enough, Teppei knew the shady captain and knew that his words shouldn't be taken lightly. "What do you mean?" he asked cautiously.

The Kirisaki Daiichi captain disregarded the question and stood up, "Whoops, I've said too much. You're playing Shutoku first, right? Good luck then, I'll root for you." He slowly walked past Teppei. Just before he rounded the corner, however, his footsteps stopped.

"By the way, I hope your injuries heal soon. You shouldn't let your precious teammates worry about you so much."

Tomoko struggled to hang the multiple bags on one arm as she reached for the ringing phone in her shoulder bag. Her mom had texted her last minute and added a few more things for her to buy, and it turned out to be heaver than she anticipated. Quickly pressing 'answer' before the line went dead, the sound of her mom's voice came through.

"I'm on my way home now, mom! Yup, I got those too... Mhmm, see you!" she said as she walked away from the checkout line. The automatic doors of the store ding'ed and opened for the girl as she walked out, not at all paying attention to her surroundings while she stuffed the phone back into her bag.

"Ouch."

Startled, she realized that there was something—a shoe, to be exact—under her foot and jumped backwards. "Oh no, I'm sorry for stepping on you!" she cried and bowed to the person she stepped on.

"It's okay, I'm not that hurt," the person chuckled, his tone friendly. Tomoko sighed and raised her head to meet eyes with the person and he smiled back playfully. "Would you like some help?" he offered when he saw the plastic bags bunched in her arms.

Tomoko shook her head, "I'm fine by myself! It would be unfair to ask you to help when I'm the one who carelessly stepped on you."

"I wouldn't mind, Seirin Manager-chan."

"It's okay—" she then blinked, Eh? How did he...

The male chuckled again and lifted up his black and teal varsity jacket, "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Hanamiya Makoto, Kirisaki Daiichi's captain. You'll be playing us after Shutoku."

Recognition flashed across Tomoko's salmon eyes and her expression became troubled. She had heard about Kirisaki Daiichi losing to Shutoku, but only because the key players didn't show. If he's the captain and he's here in Tokyo, why didn't he play?

"You must be wondering why none of the first strings played today, right?" Hanamiya asked. Even though he naturally sported a mischievous face, his expression towards Tomoko showed sincerity. When the girl nodded in surprise, he sighed. "The players on our second string had been practicing incredibly hard during the summer to prepare for our upcoming games, however, they never get the chance to play. Now, as the captain and coach of my team, I couldn't let all their hard work go to waste, so I gave them this game."

"So that's what happened..." Tomoko murmured to herself, her mind spinning with thought. Although she felt like the Kirisaki Daiichi captain threw the game, she couldn't oppose to the captain's wish of allowing all of his players a chance to play. Though, he makes me uneasy for some reason...

"...Am I wrong to do that, after all?" Hanamiya asked solemnly with something akin to guilt glazing his grayish-brown eyes. She snapped out of it and quickly shook her head.

"No, it's... Thoughtful. Even though there was a bigger chance at losing, you still let them play. Your teammates must trust and respect you a lot."

Trust?

"You can say that," Hanamiya chuckled. Internally, the devious captain smirked at her gullibility. She's trusting, huh. "Well, Manager-chan, I'm sorry for keeping you. I'll be anticipating our game; good luck with Shutoku."

Tomoko gave him a small smiled and waved, "I'll be going then. It was nice to meet you, Hanamiya-san, and sorry again for stepping on you!"

After the girl left, Hanamiya dropped his hand and finally allowed his sinister smirk to return to his face. Heh... He was sure going to have fun with this one.

The much anticipated Seirin-Shutoku game finally came, and not even the gloomy clouds and heavy rainfall could deter the fans from coming into the gymnasium to watch the epic rematch. The mass of cheers welcomed both teams into the court, and without anyone voicing it, the question of which will be the winning team hung in the tense atmosphere.

"Seirin and Shutoku are here!"

"They're the teams to watch in the championship league!"

Kise Ryouta walked into the stadium at the same time as both teams filed out of their locker rooms. He spotted his former teammates as well as Tomoko and smiled. He couldn't wait to watch how this match will unfold.

Down on the court, the light and shadow duo were doing some stretches as Tomoko started to set up all of the necessities for the team. The girl glanced at the opponent team for a while before returning her glaze back to her own. "Midorima-kun looks intense today."

Kuroko and Kagami nodded tensely. "He seems like a different person now," the redhead revealed.

"The members of the Generation of Miracles we've played until now were undefeated and intelligent. They say some defeats are meaningful and losing makes you stronger," Teppei said while tying his shoes. He raised his head towards Kagami, "For living creatures, victory is life, and defeat means death. It's an extreme example, but humans retain that instinct. Those who know the terror of defeat..."

Teppei paused, and the team trailed their eyes to where Midorima sat. Everyone could feel that the aura around the miracle was different, and they knew why.

"To those who know, they hunger for victory."

On the other side of the court, the pure concentration and silent turmoil that Midorima was emitting caught Takao's attention. He had noticed that his partner has been like this since the morning. "What's wrong, Shin-chan? Are you scared?" he joked, "Or maybe you're just too excited to see To—"

The expression on the miracle's face caused Takao to shut his mouth. As stoic and uptight as Midorima was, the ravenette has never seen that look of hunger on the miracle's eyes before.

"Don't talk to me," Midorima ordered, causing Takao to gulp nervously. "I'm on edge. I don't have time for your jokes."

They say starving beasts are dangerous... I think I know what they mean.

"I will beat them. That's all I can think about right now."

At that vow, the ravenette grinned, "Yeah, me too."

"They're not the only ones who've suffered a loss," Hyuuga said as he stood from the bench. There was a fire lit in his eyes and his team members all mirrored it.

"One defeat is enough for me," Kagami said with guarantee, "They're not the only ones..."

"...Who are starving," Kuroko finished for him. They looked at each other with determination and got ready to enter the court with the rest of the team, each stepping towards their positions.

Tomoko smiled when she noticed that this time, Midorima's eyes were trained on Kagami, as if one missed second will allow the redhead to disappear from his view. Midorima-kun isn't looking down on Taiga-chan anymore. This will be a good game.

"Looks like he doesn't have time for you this round," Takao observed as he walked towards the shadow player. "Unlike last time, he's completely accepted Kagami as his rival. The rest of us feel the same way."

"I'm glad to hear that, but that's all the more reason we cannot lose," Kuroko said softly; his eyes didn't betray an ounce of his determination. Takao nodded and faced his opponent fully.

"Bring it on, then."

"The second championship game of the Winter Cup preliminaries between Seirin High and Shutoku High will now begin. Bow!"

The crowd roared as both teams bowed and the whistle blew. In the section where Shutoku's dedicated fans sat was especially loud with cheer.

"Jump, jump, Otsubo! Jump!"

Facing the Shutoku captain was Teppei, and he sported a happy and respectful grin at his opponent as they waited for the referee to throw the ball. "This is our first high school game," he said with determination.

"Yeah, and I won't go easy on you," Otsubo replied, returning the same fire.

"Kagami-kun," Kuorko called for his partner besides him, "Midorima-kun is looking for a one-on-one against you. You're the only one who can handle him. Can I ask you to handle Midorima-kun by yourself?"

As Riko had told the team, Shutoku would most likely play with the same strategy they used last time, so shutting down Midorima will be the key to their win. Like Kagami, there's a limit to how many long three-pointers Midorima could make since it required the entire body's strength. It was crucial to push the miracle to his limit. Kuroko understood that it had to be someone that was on par in strength and endurance, so Kagami had the best shot.

And this time, he was equipped with full ammo.

The redhead looked at the green haired miracle and grinned, "Heh, I planned to do that all along."

"Kagami..." Midorima challenged just as the ball flew up and his team captain along with Seirin's center jumped for the first touch. A loud bang was heard, but with the speed the two jumpers displayed, the other players and audience momentarily lost sight of the ball.

"That was so close!"

"Where's the ball?!"

"There! Seirin's got it!"

Thanks to Izuki's sharp eagle eyes, he was able to quickly pinpoint exactly where the ball would go and grabbed it before anyone else. As he got ready to pass, however, a hand snaked towards him and jutted the ball towards Kimura. There was not even time for Izuki to gasp at Takao's extreme location precision as the ball was already on its way to be passed again; but, he quickly realized that because Takao was with him, that meant Kuroko was open and was able to steal back the ball.

"Nice!" Riko and the rest of the benched players shouted. Their cheer was short lived, however, as Midorima stepped up and gained possession of the ball.

"Midorima-kun has the ball!" Tomoko shouted and that was enough for Kagami to appear right in the shooting guard's space as he prepared the three-pointer. The ball flew towards the ground.

"What?!"

"Alright! Nice block!" Hyuuga shouted.

"Out of bounds! Orange ball!" the referee announced, and the crowd went wild.

Koganei sagged with disbelief at the sidelines. Before this year, he would never have imagined that his team would be able to keep up with this kind of pace, but with the addition of Kuroko and Kagami, as well as the return of Teppei, he guessed that this was reality. It was barely a few seconds into the first quarter... "S-Sparks are flying already," he remarked in awe.

"I forgot to breathe," Furihata admitted, letting out a relieved breath.

The difference is slight, but I'm sure Shutoku has noticed, Riko smirked from her seat. Up above, the blonde model who came to watch also unknowingly agreed with the Seirin coach.

He's jumping higher than before.

"Don't think you can make any slow shots while I'm around," Kagami declared in Midorima's face. However, instead of replying him with any kind of response, the miracle simply ran past him. What's up with him?

As Takao waited for Kimura to toss the ball to him, he thought back to what Midorima had said to him at practice one day. He knew what Midorima was planning, and it was going to be useful in defeating Seirin.

"Now that Kagami's potential has been fully awakened, his jumps are a terrible match up for my shots. No matter how many times I try, he'll block every last one of them."

Takao gave the miracle a wary frown, "Oi, what's gotten into you? It's creepy when you act weak, Shin-chan."

"Don't jump to conclusions, fool," Midorima turned to give him a glare. "There is only one answer..."

After a series of passes starting from the ravenette, the ball finally reached Midorima's awaiting hands. He positioned himself and got ready to shoot, but with extreme speed, Kagami was already jumping forward to block it.

"Out of bounds! Orange ball!"

"Kagami's so amazing!" Furihata cheered. "He blocked Midorima again!"

While the benched members rooted for the redhead, Riko sat silently with wonder. Despite the block, this time she felt that something was off. This isn't sitting right with me, why is that he's not changing the way he's shooting? It looks exactly the same. It's as if...

"Either Midorima-kun didn't pick up any new skills, or he's not revealing something," Tomoko commented besides her, having picked up the problem as well. "Why?"

Riko furrowed her brows and raked her brain to think of a possible answer. "The only reason he'd continue to let Kagami-kun block his shots..."

While the ball was being retrieved, the two rivals stood for a stare-down. Then Midorima was the one who spoke. "Just so you know, I have no new skills. The only thing I've done until now is endurance training. You may be a bad match up for me, but don't underestimate me," the miracle informed with a positively dark glare. "My shots aren't so cheap that I need some kind of stopgap for you."

Suddenly, the brunette coach's eyes shot up in realization.

"I'm sure you've noticed, but I cannot take those shots endlessly," Midorima stated. "However..."

"Taiga-chan can't jump forever..." Tomoko finished after she picked up on what Midorima was telling the redhead. Riko nodded with a frown. "...And Midorima-kun is trying to deplete both of their energies to see who's the last one standing."

"Heh, so this is a test of endurance," Kagami chuckled after the big reveal. He balled his fists together and looked at the miracle excitedly. "Give me everything you've got."

"I do not intend to lose a second time. You have the right to be worried."

-Midorima Shintarou

to be continued (on Akashi's appearance)...