Disclaimer: I do not KnB!

Chapter 36

"Looks like Shuutoku won." said Misaki, as she drank some water from her bottle. She didn't need to turn around, because the sound of the cheering was enough.

That means...it's finally time. Thought Kagami.

"We both have one win each, so the winning team will seal it's advacment to the Winter cup and the loser... will be greatly distanced from it." said Misaki.

The second clash of Seirin high and Shuutoku... have begun.

"We don't have time to celebrate. Tomorrow will be an extremely tough battle, without a doubt." said Hyuuga.

"But...! We got Kiyoshi-senpai and we're completely different from before." said Fukuda.

"We won last time too..." added Furihata.

"...I don't think so." said Kuroko.

"Eh?"

" I have a feeling the next match will be even tougher, because of that." said Kuroko.

"Looks like Kuroko-kun isn't disillusioned." said Riko. "We won last match by pure luck; in terms of strength, they're much higher."

"But they won't be thinking like that anymore." said Hyuuga. "The opponents who should be looking down on us with authority, are coming at us with everything they've got."

"And may I remind you guys, that Shuutoku has a member of the Generation of Miracles." said Misaki, as everyone swallowed. "What makes it even more tougher, is when a memebr of the Generation of Miracles loses, the first time... the second time, they'll be even more stronger." Everyone shivered as they realized the fact. As they passed by a hallway, Misaki and Kiyoshi caught somone sitting there.

"...Sorry everyone, go ahead before me." said Kiyoshi.

"?, Alright, we'll be waiting." said Koganei. As everyone went on ahead, Misaki looked at Kagami and Kuroko. Kagami got what she was thinking and nodded.

"Good to see you again, Hanamiya." said Kiyoshi.

"Hey...I was dying to see you!" said Hanamiya, as he smiled evilly at Kiyoshi.

"Kiyoshi-san...did he forget something?" asked Kagami.

"Well it's something like that..." said Hyuuga.

"...You mean that guy sitting in the corner?" asked Kagami.

"Oh, Kagami you noticed?" said Hyuuga.

"I felt that he's pretty capable..." said Kagami. "Besides, Audrey seems to hate that person a lot." Hyuuga and the others knew that Misaki had escaped them and went back to check on Kiyoshi.

"Well... it's nothing to hide." said Hyuuga. "Misaki seems to have done her research, so she knows what'll happen."

"I saw you during the match. You weren't playing against Shuutoku on purpose." said Kiyoshi.

"Yup, something wrong?" said Hanamiya.

"I don't care if it's right or wrong. I just don't like it." said Kiyoshi.

"...Fuhahaha...as usual, your goody-two-shoes act is so lame, Kiyoshi."said Hanamiya. "If I try hard and reveal all of my cards today, then all 3 matches will become serious fights, and that will be tiresome. I don't care about the immediate victory. Since in the remaining two, you guys will lose by yourself."

"If he came by to say Hi, are they close?" asked Furihata.

"It's the opposite. To begin with, he's something of a polar opposite of Kiyoshi." said Hyuuga. "If we were to call Kiyoshi the most honest man in basketball, then he would be the most dis-honest man in basketball."

"...?what does that mean?" asked Kiyoshi.

"Oops- I said too much." said Hanamiya. "Shuutoku's next, right? Please do your best. I'll be cheering! Please heal your wounds quickly; I'm pretty concerned, you know!" as Hanamiya was about to pat Kiyoshi's shoulder, he stepped back when there was a scissor near his face. Kiyoshi barely blinked as he saw Misaki holding a scissor, glaring threateningly at Hanamiya.

"Oohh... it seems you have a protective underclassmen." said Hanamiya. He stepped back as he started to walk away, giving a lazy wave.

Misaki lowered her scissors, glaring at Hanamiya. Kiyoshi gave a tiny grin as he patted her head. "Were you worried?" he asked.

Misaki gave him a look before sighing. Kiyoshi merely laughed at her expression, as they started to walk back to the others. "Well, thanks for the consideration."

The next day...

the rain was pouring down from the sky, as Midorima sat in the locker room. "Ah, that's right, last time too, it rained..."

"It's time, let's go." said Takao.

"Yeah..."

"Oooh, here they come! Seirin and Shuutoku! The most anticipated match of the finals league." Kagami-kun...Misaki-san...did you see Midorima-kun's face when he entered?"

"...Yeah." He looked completely different person from last time... thought Kagami.

"It's probably because... he wants to..." said Misaki.

"Destroy them. That's the only thing that is in my mind right now." said Midorima.

"Yeah...me too." said Takao.

"Right. Let's go!" yelled Otsubo.

"Ha- thirsting for victory much?" said Kagami.

"They aren't the only ones who suffered painful losses." said Hyuuga.

"Yeah. You're right." said Kiyoshi.

"Losing once is enough." said Misaki.

"We thirst for victory." said Kagami.

"As well." finished Kuroko.

Misaki looked ahead as she saw Kagami and Midorima glaring at each other.

"Sorry, but looks like this time, he has no room to care about you." said Takao, to Kuroko. "This time around, he has completely accepted Kagami as a rival. And that's the same for me and my team mates too."

"...That makes me happy...but then even more so, we can't lose...!" said Kuroko.

Riko looked at Shuutoku, as she sighed. "As expected, they don't have a single bit of carelessness. Assuming Shuutoku's strategy is the same as last time, in order for us to win taking care of Midorima-kun is necessary. His super long 3-pointer most likely has a limit to how many times it can be used...!"

"Eh?"

"It's an incredible distance. He would need to put all his force into the ball just to get it into the hoop." explained Riko. "To prove that, when I looked back at the last match, each sucessive shot took slightly longer for him to get ready. Even if we can't stop him completely, if we manage to push him to that extent, his accuracy should drop down drastically!"

"If that's the case... we've got the guy who's fully capable of tormenting Midorima...! And this time, he's fully charged!" said Koganei.

"How naive." everyone snapped their heads, to see Misaki looking infront of her. She was hunched over, with her arms up and her fingers together, as she hid the bottom of her face. "As much as I would like to say, your theory is correct, coach... I think you're missing a couple of gaps."

Riko looked shocked. "Gaps?"

"What do you mean?" asked Kawahara.

"Have you ever heard 'people learn from their mistakes'?" asked Misaki. "In the first place, the generation of Miracles never played with 'teamwork', as you re-call from Kise and Midorima... they, themselves, never acted with their team mates, instead their team mates placed everything onto their shoulders." said Misaki. Everyone looked at her, as she leaned back. "They're not that stupid to do the same tatics... even more so, to the school who beat them in the first place. Have you ever considered, that they would interacted with their team mates now? If we had problems with just the Generation of Miracles, think about with everyone in their teams."

Everyone froze as they realized what Misaki was telling them. "We're not going against a weak team, if we take out the members of the Generation of Miracles. The Generation of Miracles, except for Kuroko, all went to strong and famous schools. Forgive me for saying this part, you are becoming stupid naive fools!" she hissed. Everyone saw the look in Misaki's eyes, and they realized what Misaki was telling them. "Of course...this is just a simple theory of mine." Riko looked at Misaki, as she begun to think.

Misaki...she's... acting different than usual... almost as if she's desperate.

"AND NOW, WE'LL BEGIN THE WINTER CUP PRELIMINARY, 2ND MATCH OF THE FINALS LEAGUE, THE MATCH BETWEEN SEIRIN HIGH SCHOOL AND SHUUTOKU HIGH SCHOOL!"

"BOW!"

"LET'S HAVE A CLEAN MATCH!"

"Yo. This is our first high school match." said Kiyoshi, to Otsubo.

"Yeah, I won't hold back!"

"Kagami-kun." Kagami turned to look at Kuroko.

"Looks like Midorima-kun is hoping for a one-on-one battle with you." said Kuroko. "In the first place, you're the only one who can match him. So I apolgize, but is it okay if I entrust Midorima-kun to you alone?"

Kagami grinned. "Ha. -F course! I was planning to do just that all along."

Midorima glared at Kagami, as he got ready to go against him. "...Kagami!"

The whistle blew as the ball was thrown into the air, as Kiyoshi and Otsubo jumped. Misaki and the others widened their eyes as they had both touched the ball at the same time and height.

"The ball... A Tie?"

"THE BALL GOES TO SEIRIN!" as Izuki caught the ball, he suddenly felt the ball missing from his hands. Izuki widened his eyes as he realised Takao had hit the ball away from Izuki's hands. "WHAT?"

"Got it! Nice, Takao!" yelled Kimura.

Shoot! thought Hyuuga.

Kimura begun to throw the ball to Miyaji as he yelled. "FIRST BLOOD, HERE IT COMES!"

Seirin widened their eyes as they waited for Kimura to throw the ball, but suddenly they saw the ball being knocked out by Kuroko.

"Yes, Good work!" yelled Riko. Misaki lowered her eyes as she saw the ball bounce on the floor. "BUT THE ONE WHO PICKED UP THE BALL IS... MIDORIMA!" yelled Fuirhata and the others. Midorima picked up the ball and went for a three-pointer. Everyone blinked as they saw the ball being blocked by Kagami, as he slapped it.

"Alright~ Nice block!" yelled Hyuuga. Misaki saw the ball, hit the wall, as the referee blew his whistle. "OUT OF BOUNDS, SHUUTOKU'S BALL!"

The crowds cheered, as Nakatani widened his eyes. No way... no, although it's only a little, it was definitely higher than last time...!

"Don't think that you can freely shoot, such slow shots while I'm here!" yelled Kagami. Midorima merely looked at him, before turning around. Kagami rose an eyebrow, as Misaki remained silent.

Everyone gaped as they saw Midorima shoot again but it was knocked away by Kagami.

"So that's his plan. A weak one, but a simple one." said Misaki.

"What?" said Kawahara.

"He plans to keep shooting until, Taiga can't jump anymore." said Misaki. "In other words, a test of endurance."

"...It's strange." said Kuroko.

"What's wrong, Kuroko?" asked Kiyoshi.

"I can't say for sure..." said Kuroko. "But it's not like Midorima-kun."