A/N: Thank you all for your faves, reviews and follows!

To OR: Ogiwara/Momoi is for plot reasons only.

Enjoy!

Chapter 26

"There's a difference between something you were
born with out of pure luck and something you won
after busting your ass for it."

- All Might from 'Boku no hero Academia'.

Winning against Garin, Meiko was now heading off to Round two of the Winter Qualifiers. Their second game was against Ryukyu Middle, a team that was well balanced between offense and defense. Kise and Kuroko played in this match, and even though the two transfers used every fibre of their being to restrain themselves, Meiko still managed to crush them 73 – 51. Kise had played as the centre substituting for Mochida, Kuroko was point guard subbed on for Abe. That said, they were immense pains for Ryukyu as nothing could get by Kise's defense, Kuroko's passes were too precise.

Thus, their third game was against Keio Shonan, the best school in the prefecture. Meiko's line-up didn't change from their previous match, but this time, Kikuchi didn't play any at all. Instead, he recorded the necessary data on both teams so that they can have a post-game discussion afterwards. In the end, Meiko won 65 – 63 but that woke them up to the harsh reality waiting for them in the actual tournament.

Their fourth and final game was against Nishimachi Middle, which was pretty much decided from the end of the first half. Abe worked his teammates with magic, Hoshizumi's threes were flawless, Masato was coming on as well when he was subbed on. Hayato and Ogiwara's teamwork was spot-on, so much that Abe and Masato were twitching from jealousy. Mochida as usual kept their basket safe, and stalled any defender from intercepting passes. Yet again, Kikuchi, Kise and Kuroko didn't play. But they still won, 70 – 68.

And just like that, Meiko booked their spot in the Winter Tournament.

xxxx

The gym was quite noisy; sneakers squeaking against the floor, the ball bouncing quite loudly. The boys of Meiko were currently engaged in a four-on-four match; Kise, Mochida, Hoshizumi and Hayato on one team, while Kuroko, Ogiwara, Masato and Abe were on the other.

Abe was at the centre-circle storming towards the net but then he made a pass to what seemed to be open space. However, they all knew that that wasn't the case and within a blink, the ball was on its way to Ogiwara.

But, knowing their small forward, Hayato moved up to block him and that's when he passed it to Masato, who continued towards the net. Mochida stood firm as the centre, but then, Masato spun on his right leg to avoid him. He then jumped for a layup, however…

"Masato! Stop!" Abe shouted. But it was too late.

By the time the ball rolled off his fingers, he saw two hands come into his view. They knocked the ball from his hands, sending it bouncing outside of the court. When all was done, Masato was staring into Kise's smirking eyes and Mochida's triumphant gaze.

It was the two boys who had blocked him.

After their string of qualifying matches, this has become a regular in Meiko's gym. Teamwork was being emphasized, and amazingly, it was bearing fruit. There were times when (just like today), Kise and Mochida would team up to stop a shot. Whenever he teamed up with Ogiwara, it would be to increase their defense, stopping the opponent before he reaches into the paint, while with Masato or Kikuchi, it would be to increase offensive power. But Kise's best partnership would be with Kuroko of course, as when they're on the same team, they're basically unstoppable.

Other times, the other boys work with each other quite well. Hoshizumi and Kikuchi or Ogiwara would use like a lure tactic on their opponents. Hoshizumi would receive the ball at the wing area and pretend to shoot, however, in the moment that the defender comes up to block, he'd pass the ball to Kikuchi or Ogiwara (whichever one) and they'll make the shot.

Hayato and Masato have created a nasty combination which is bound throw anyone off their game. The two boys would sprint parallel to each other and when the time is right, they'd cross each other's paths and in doing so, giving the ball to the other. It took a while for them to get that right, and seeing the effectiveness, Ishikawa thought of adding Kuroko in the mix. That's when it's even worse.

But there were times when the reality would dawn on these boys, remembering that they aren't prodigies or geniuses or great players. It would dampen their growth sometimes and luckily, Ishikawa, Kise and Kuroko would take charge. But more so, Kise. Being from the prodigious side (which they don't know yet), he would viciously point out their weaknesses breaking them down further only to build them right back up with their good points. It would take a lot of the blond to cook up these speeches, and when done, they'd tease him saying that he should become a motivational speaker for all the teams aren't Teikou.

But overall, the Meiko team is improving steadily with one goal on their minds: to defeat anyone who stands in their way.

When practice was over, they were all sore and exhausted, but for once they were grinning like fools. They had fun, and according to Ogiwara: scheming has never been so much fun.

After they've been to the locker rooms and changed, they teased Ogiwara about his 'relationship' with Momoi, since the two would always text each other after practice. The team knew that they were just friends, but they liked to be teases, worst since they knew that Kise and Kuroko were together (when Ogiwara found out, he was quite displeased), they hoped that maybe more drama would arise. This continued until they had to go their separate ways, Ogiwara warning Kise that he shouldn't do anything to Kuroko that he wouldn't approve of.

But the blond would counter and say, "You don't approve of anything."

"That's the point!"

And just like that, the team splits off in their directions.

"Kurokocchi, do you think Momocchi would fall for Ogiwaracchi?" Kise asked. "I mean, wasn't she head over heels for you in our previous lives?"

"Well, it is a possibility." Kuroko said. "Previously, I was the one who gave her the popsicle stick. That was what made her fall for me. This time around, I gave it to Ogiwara-kun, and in turn he gave it to her."

"So, Momocchi would still fall for the guy who gave her the popsicle stick, huh? No matter who it is. Somehow, I get the feeling that the timeline is trying to stick as closely to the previous one as possible."

"Me too." Kuroko nodded. "It was the same convenience store too."

"Would you look at that?" Kise sighed. "What else is going to change?"

"Let's just hope nothing catastrophic will change soon. I don't think I can handle it."

"What I'm worried about is the miracles. I wonder if everything's alright." Kise then took out his phone and scrolled down to Aomine's name. "Maybe I should call Aominecchi to see what's up."

"He'll challenge you to a one-on-one that's for sure." Kuroko chuckled.

"Ah, yeah," Kise locked the screen and placed it back into his pocket. "I'll call him another day. I can't handle a game now. My legs are tired."

Kuroko didn't answer, instead he chuckled. Kise then took a hold of Kuroko's fingers and entwined them grinning like an idiot. Kuroko didn't mind this, and so the two headed to the station in peace.

But, little did Kise know that if he had only made the call to Aomine, it would have delayed a disaster.

xxxx

Meanwhile, over by Teikou, things were turning bleak. Practice went on as usual, but these days, Nijimura has either been absent or late. The reason being, his father has gotten hospitalized. The coaches were already prepped on the issue and didn't make a fuss about it. After all, they knew the boy loved basketball and had served Teikou well.

It was one evening that he had returned to practice that he caught the Miracles practicing. He had already known, but they worked well together under Akashi's guidance. Seeing this, he thought to himself that his brats were in good hands. After all, Akashi was his vice-captain.

So that very evening, after practice was done and most had gone home, Nijimura made his way to the coach's office.

"Nijimura? What brings you here at this hour?" Shirogane asked.

"I have something I want to discuss." The raven-haired boy replied with a straight face.

"Have a seat."

"Thank you." Nijimura sat and without wasting a second, he began, "Seeing how things are now, I think it's better if Akashi was made the captain."

"What brought this on?"

"For one, ever since my father's been hospitalized, I'm not able to come to practice as I should."

"But that's understandable, Nijimura." Shirogane said, leaning forward. "No one is complaining about it."

"I know. But Akashi can do better job as well. I've seen how he works with the other first years. There is a different atmosphere about the team and I feel like I'll disrupt that." He said proudly. "He is my vice-captain, so I think he'll make a very good captain."

Shirogane sighed. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, I am."

And after that, the next practice, the announcement was made to the entire club, that Akashi was their new captain. Nijimura wasn't there at the time, once again visiting his father. No one objected to this, the boy was a good leader still.

The days passed by, practices carried on as usual, with some inter-string matches in the mix. It was here that a rift began to form between the Miracles and the other club members, unbeknownst to them and the coaches. Onlookers could only see the overwhelming strength of the regulars and not the despair of their opponents.

They've had external practice matches as well, and only one word could describe what they did: annihilation. Aomine and Haizaki's speed proved to be faster than any defense, Murasakibara's strength could blow past any amount of defenders that marked him, Midorima could shoot from anywhere on the court, the centre-circle being his widest range. And Akashi…his passes could get to his teammates whenever they wanted it.

But throughout all this, Shirogane and Sanada noticed just how strong these boys are becoming. It made them awe with pride, but little did they know that they were going out of control.

xxxx

"I have a proposal." Akashi said. "This team is strong, even the seniors say it's the strongest team to date."

"So what?" Aomine asked, totally uninterested, poking at his food.

"At the same time, it's often the case that when victory becomes a forgone conclusion, our team's motivation visibly declines. But just as coach said, regardless of who our opponents may be, it is proper to give it our all when playing. I propose we establish a fix quota. By this, I really mean something simple. It may vary depending on the opponent, but as a general rule, everyone must score at least twenty points."

That drew the attention of everyone at the table.

"Of course," Haizaki drawled. "Are you ready to lose Daiki~?" he said in a sing-song voice.

"Ha! You're on, you bastard!"

"Let me make this clear." Akashi started again. "When I say it's clear that our motivation has been deteriorating, I meant you two in particular."

"Huh?" they both said.

"I've noticed that you two are lacking interest in some of our games, I'm just trying to prevent laziness further down the road."

"Akashi-kun…" Momoi started, she couldn't believe her ears. However she couldn't utter another word. This was something that she would have never imagined, and to say she was in shock was an understatement. But, not wanting to hear any more of this conversation, she turned on her heel and left, tears threatening to leave her eyes.

The school day progressed smoothly; once again, it was time for practice. The conversation from lunchtime weighed heavily on Momoi. It was so much that her eyes lacked the vibrancy that it once had. Even though he eyes were focused on her clipboard, she wasn't seeing anything. All that was going through her mind was what they were becoming. The boys who had once loved basketball and played with foolish grins were disappearing if they weren't already gone.

By this time, the Miracles had all entered the gym and immediately practice started. On this day, they were having a mini-match against other members of the first string. So far it was going smoothly until…

"You let me waltz by you every damn time!" Aomine roared at one other member. "Even if you can't stop me, backup won't do shit unless you do something!"

"But I'm trying!" the boy argued. "It's just that you're too strong! There's no one who can stop you!"

Aomine felt like something dropped on him. He was done with this. He's had enough. "I'm not dealing with this." He turned and left, ignoring the calls of everyone around him.

Momoi looked on with horror. Add to that, Nijimura isn't here due to him visiting his father. She wanted to call out to him, but nothing came out of her mouth.

"Everyone, don't stop practicing!" Sanada said as he was about to make for the exit. However, he was stopped by Shirogane.

"Let me talk to him." With that, the older man followed behind the tanned ace. However, Aomine was fast. Shirogane made a chuckle seeing how one of his players' speed is coming back to bite him. After questioning the students around, he finally made his way onto the roof where Aomine was. Shirogane saw the boy hunched at the bars, looking over.

"Aomine-kun," he called out.

"Coach? What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Shirogane said as he walked over to him. "To talk to you."

Aomine fell into silence. Shirogane then stood beside the ace and followed his gaze onto the field below. There were students (who they thought to belong to the track club) racing against each other. They could hear their laughter and squabbles all the way up there.

"Aomine-kun, what's wrong?"

"I love basketball but I don't think I can play anymore." His voice sounded like it was about to crack.

"And why's that?"

"Because, in all our matches so far, no one tries to stop me! They give up halfway through! Whenever we play against other strings it's the same! Against other schools it's the same! Nothing changes!" he ranted.

Shirogane sighed. "It's still too early to think that Aomine-kun. There's the Winter Tournament, and there're many more schools entering. Chances are there are teams that will surprise you."

Aomine looked at him with wistful eyes. "I don't think so. It'll all be the same. Only Kise." Aomine turned to look at the coach. "Only Kise…He's the only one who actually puts up a fight! If it's him then…"

"Kise? Who's that?"

"He was in the third string, but he transferred out in June." He responded. "After practice every day we'd have one-on-ones, we'd work up so much sweat, we'd be so engrossed in our match that the janitor comes and tells us to leave. It was fun. Wonderful, even. And the thing is, even though I'm better than him, he never gives up. He comes back at me with eyes blazing, full of vengeance." Aomine let out a chuckle, "he was quite ferocious." Shirogane then saw him grip the bars with much force, hung his head low. "I miss him so much."

A smile played on Shirogane's face. But what he found sad was that he doesn't know this 'Kise'. He was also appalled at the boy's fighting spirit. He knew from the offset that Aomine was a skilled player, but for someone in the third string to be playing with him one-on-one everyday is most astounding. Add to that, Aomine admits that he misses the boy. It even sounded as though he was in pain from it. The ace has never spoken about anyone like this before, not even fellow first-stringers.

"Coach!" Shirogane was taken out of his thoughts by Aomine. "Can't you arrange a practice match between us and Kise's school? Please! If it's even for just ten minutes!"

"I…" Shirogane trailed off. He wanted to decline, to get them to focus on the Winter Tournament that's coming up. But seeing Aomine's eyes and knowing the predicament that he's in currently, Shirogane couldn't decline. If playing against this 'Kise' would bring Aomine back ―save him, then by all means, he has to give it a shot. It all depends on whether or not the other party accepts. "…I'll see what I can do. But we can't have a match if the other school isn't willing to."

"I know, but…!"

"What's the name of his school?"

"Meiko!"

"I see." Shirogane nodded. He then placed a hand on Aomine's hair, ruffling it. "I'll try to get in contact with them immediately. Just go back to the gym and inform Sanada that I'll be in my office."

"Hai!" Aomine perked and dashed off with glee.

Shirogane sighed. He's never seen Aomine with a look like that outside of a basketball court, which proves just how much he wants to face this 'Kise'. He just hoped that his persuasive skills hasn't dulled over the years, as he has a gut feeling that he'll be needing all the strength he has.

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