"Azu-chan, it was really shocking! Aomine-kun just began to score points by himself!" Himeragi listened with a complicated look on her face. She and Akashi hadn't been at the game yesterday and they didn't need to be, but hearing that Aomine's abilities were evolving, reminded her of a calm before the storm.

"How's his mood, otherwise?" Himeragi asked, before they spotted Kuroko and Aomine down the hallway. Kuroko had been calling Aomine a few times before the latter registered his voice. Aomine was too busy thinking about the hopeless looks on his opponent's faces from yesterday. He didn't mean to hurt them or bring them to despair. But he felt like he did something wrong and it was irking him. He quickly responded to Kuroko, who asked him if something was wrong.

"I heard you've been playing really well recently." Aomine wasn't pleased to hear that and gave a lukewarm response, as he noticed Kuroko observing the two boys that passed them.

"Is it just me or since developing your current basketball style, you've really been staring at other people?"

"Yes, I'm polishing up on human observation. I suppose you can say I'm practicing how to apply misdirection." Aomine didn't understand and was left even more confused, as Kuroko wanted to be a little petty and not explain it in detail to him. Before Himeragi could stop Momoi, she barged in on the scene by back hugging Kuroko.

"Tetsu-kun!" Kuroko let out an "Ugh" and Aomine stepped away to avoid them, wondering why his childhood friend was becoming weird like Kise lately. As Kuroko asked Momoi to let go of him, Aomine expressed his discontent, telling her not to interrupt them.

"But with Satsuki's intervention, maybe you'd pay more attention to Kuro-kun, Aomine." He wasn't pleased that Himeragi was also not vouching for him and apologized again for not listening to Kuroko earlier. When she saw Aomine sigh because everything was troublesome to deal with at the moment, Himeragi smiled a bit. Kuroko thought it'd be worth the demonstration to bring Momoi into the discussion, now that Aomine was more focused.

"Well then, let's see, Momoi-san." Aomine's deadpan expression and Himeragi's teasing expression watched the two of them gaze at one another. After analyzing her expression for a few seconds, Kuroko turned to Aomine. "Momoi-san seems like the type who would return someone's gaze." As Aomine asked what that was supposed to mean and Momoi continued to blush because she held eye contact with Kuroko, Himeragi deduced the extent in which Kuroko knew Momoi's feelings for him. "Seems" was the keyword that told her that Kuroko knew Momoi could act differently with people she didn't know well but she would return his gaze because it was him.

"What do you suppose Satsuki might do with others then, Kuro-kun?"

"I typically ground my beliefs in evidence." he said, as Momoi and Aomine didn't know what he was talking about again. "But I'll entertain that thought, Azusa-san. I personally think Momoi-san will look down at her feet or her body if someone she didn't know was staring at her." Momoi immediately responded that he was right and that was her habit, making her fall even more in love with him. Himeragi laughed, happy that Kuroko answered her question and unintentionally made Momoi happy in the process.

"So what was that all about earlier?"

"There are different types of people out there, like the ones that look away when someone else meets their eyes. With different reactions, there are plenty of habits and reflexes. The more I observe, the more I can sort them into categories." The girls smiled; for Kuroko, who gave everything his best, he made observations an invaluable part of his life. "When I manipulate a person's line of vision, I don't just use the universally known reactions but take into account a person's habits and what kind of person they are in general. With this, I can incorporate training into my daily life." Aomine finally expressed understanding and smirked.

"Well then, do you know my habits too?" he asked, as if it was a hard question.

"Aomine-kun is simple and therefore easy to understand so…" Aomine's reflex was to tell Himeragi to stop laughing and she did anyway because it was the most fun when Kuroko roasted Aomine. "When you lie, you always look away." Aomine couldn't hide his uneasiness, knowing that Himeragi was also by his side, possibly staring him down. But she wasn't looking at him and purposely closing her eyes, as to not observe him.

"Well damn… I shouldn't have brought it up…" Kuroko side-glanced at him once more, as Momoi hoped the atmosphere would clear up, gripping the notes in her hands.

"Just because I know that you're lying doesn't mean you have to tell me what it was about. If you ever feel like talking, I'll be here." Himeragi opened an eye, watching as Aomine's lips made a line and he let go of the tension rising in his body.

"Yeah, I got it." It wasn't Kuroko's intention to put Aomine on the spot and with that wrap-up, they both smiled. Momoi was also relieved, before she realized she was supposed to give the report she compiled with Himeragi to Akashi. Just before Himeragi could offer to deliver it to him, Kuroko stepped in front of her. She opened her eyes and returned his gaze as well. Kuroko smiled, making Momoi blush again, as Aomine told her not to blush at every little thing Kuroko did. Himeragi could feel Kuroko testing her and since it was fun for her to engage in psychological warfare, she really wanted to grin. But she didn't, as it would skew his observations of her because she didn't react this way all the time either. "So, what's there to know about Azusa?" Aomine asked, hoping to get some dirt on Himeragi.

"Azusa-san returns the gaze of anyone. The important part is which smile she is showing when she does this." When they made eye contact again, Himeragi grinned after all, making him waver in saying what he observed. Her goal was to unnerve him and he was well-aware of her intentions. "I concede. Azusa-san is slyer than I expected." It was the perfect timing, as he and Himeragi glanced at Murasakibara, Midorima and Kise who came out as well. Even though Aomine wanted to ask what Kuroko meant, he knew they wouldn't tell and sighed in annoyance.

"Aominecchi, Kurokocchi! Let's go get ice cream on the way back!" Aomine agreed, as Kise asked about Momoi and Himeragi. Before Momoi could tell them that she had to give the data she compiled to Akashi, Himeragi took the papers.

"I'll give these to Akashi-kun so go enjoy Aomine's ice cream treat."

"Says who?!" he yelled, as she flashed him a side glare. It was his loss if he didn't listen to her the first time.

"Aka-chin has really been making you do a lot of data gathering, Sa-chin~"

"Satsuki is very good at it after all." Himeragi could understand Akashi's intentions, as he was a cautious person that always wanted to know everything about his opponents and if that information could be compiled in advance, he'd see to it that it was done. After persuading Momoi to go along with the boys, Himeragi stood at the corridor, wondering what she could do, now that Aomine was beginning to have doubts. Akashi and her may get along but he wouldn't support Aomine because it was no one's job to do so. Even Kuroko, who Aomine relied on, would soon see what happens when Aomine's abilities surpass the need for a shadow. Himeragi felt she couldn't just stand around and jogged to the student council room.

"Captain!" she said, opening the door quickly. Akashi looked at her with some amusement playing in his gaze.

"Yes, second manager?" Considering her riled up demeanor, she was overthinking and came to him, regardless of whether or not he'll listen. After taking a cursory glance at the report Momoi compiled, Akashi thought it may have been a good idea to keep Himeragi around, while he watched footage of the other teams' performances.

"I'll gladly watch the footage with you and help you in any way that I can but… I know this sounds ridiculous and that our ideologies are inherently different but won't you just listen for the next ten minutes?"

"You don't typically ramble like this. You are aware that not properly organizing your thoughts is counterproductive, right?" Himeragi was surprised to see that he wasn't glaring at her for wasting his time and was still amused by her actions while he crossed his arms. In that case, she was going to make use of his good mood.

"That's why it has to be you, Akashi-kun!" She didn't finish her thought, as his lips were now drawn into a line. "I'm not asking for organization, as counterproductive as it may sound. But because it's you, I'd like for you to be my soundboard. Well… I don't want advice but just someone to listen…" It was truly beyond him, why anyone would dare to waste his time or come to ask him for a mundane thing like "please just listen to me for ten minutes." But with all factors considered, Akashi drew the conclusion that it could have only been Himeragi that would attempt to do something like this. Since the idea of Himeragi being the only person that was willing to make trouble for him, appealed to him, Akashi smirked again.

"Alright then. Ten minutes." Her eyes lit up, as he stifled a chuckle; why was she happy after the strangest requests were granted? She launched into her anxiety about the team's dynamic changing and made an analogy to trains to explain her point further.

"I think of all of the starters as individual trains. They depart from the same spot and go about their business, sometimes stopping at the same station and skipping stops based on their schedules. It's a system that is efficient enough to work almost all the time but now… one train in particular isn't coming back to the starting point." Akashi knew she was speaking about Aomine and his lack of motivation lately. Everyone noticed and she was the only one that made a particular effort to talk to him and Aomine about it, even if it was deemed useless. "Now it's an express train that reaches its goal quickly, taking in less external factors and does the job, without serving its purpose of making itself happy. I know that kind of feeling of happiness is useless here because happiness should be equated to victory, in other words, reaching the destination but I can't help but want to hijack that train and tell it to stop messing around!" Just when Akashi thought Himeragi was droning on about the trains, she suddenly dropped a shocking statement. There was a fire lit in her eyes, telling Akashi that if Aomine was here at this moment, Himeragi may have punched him.

"Well… I don't think that is legal."

"Yes, I am aware of that too." Akashi was tempted to ask her for the biggest reason why she didn't "hijack that train" if it being illegal was not the foremost reason. "My main reason for not doing so is because it's not my job to force him onto a path. I know it's not something I can accomplish, anyways. But what worries me is the downward spiral that could occur, with this train losing sight of the journey and just caring about the destination."

"Is that wrong?" Akashi asked, as he knew she didn't mean to allude to him, but the statement could also allude to him, who believed in victory above all other things.

"The other trains find purpose in reaching the destination and even if it becomes commonplace for them to reach that destination, they are able to develop different interests while they do so. But this train has no purpose and the harder it tries to do something about it, the faster it goes, forgetting its original feelings." Indeed, it was a situation that couldn't be saved by anyone because Aomine's abilities were already blooming. When they stayed in silence, Akashi took a good look at Himeragi, who was still thinking about it, despite it being clear that no one could "save" him. Didn't she find it unbearingly frustrating to think day in and day out about a scenario she had no power over? It was ironic that she was so concerned about something she didn't have control over and it didn't sit well with Akashi either. "I think we both know that setting a score quota or trying to bring Aomine back to practice won't solve the problem that only he can solve." Akashi nodded his head, as his proposal to temporarily deal with Aomine, was to impose a score quota. It wasn't a solution of course, but Akashi didn't plan to make one either. "That's why… I've been thinking about it and I've decided!" Akashi was surprised when she decreased the distance between the two of them and held his left hand, as he blinked his eyes.

"What are you doing?" he asked, not moving his left hand that was now being massaged by her hands. She gently rubbed circles on the inside of his hand and located the bones in his hand.

"Since I can't do anything but watch as you all develop even more amazing abilities, I'm just going to support you all like this." Himeragi said, still continuing to daringly grasp his hand for an impromptu hand massage. Akashi wasn't going to admit that the slight tension he felt in his muscles was being relieved by her sudden actions, as he withdrew his hand.

"You're quite the daring one, Himeragi." A few seconds passed as she processed what he meant. When she turned red, she apologized, not meaning for her actions to be taken as being sly. He knew her intentions and sighed at the bigger problem: she had no problem being so close to any of the starters when it was her that should have been careful, especially if she was alone with one of them.

"I'm sorry…"

"I appreciate the sentiment, though." he replied quickly, as she took a look at the time. The allotted ten minutes passed by a while ago and they were approaching thirty minutes on this conversation. Himeragi couldn't help but smile, thanking Akashi for dealing with her shenanigans, before he returned it with a light smirk. His predictions told him that she'd be quite the entertainment and he was right. That was why he knowingly let her continue the conversation, despite almost three times the time he initially gave her, was about to pass. "Now shall we take notes on the other schools' teams?" She nodded her head, happy to see that he looked more relaxed now.

"They're finally coming together. Their morale is also high." When Shirogane made the joke that he can just sit back and relax, Sanada immediately said it wouldn't work out that way.

"You can't take a joke can you, Sanada?" While Sanada mused that the team was "sheer perfection," Shirogane shared his thoughts. As scary as it sounded, it was true. "Perfection huh… If you want to call it that, I'd argue it's the reverse actually. They're still evolving. There isn't a limit to their capabilities." Sanada was caught off-guard by what the head coach said. For their starters to have even more capability on top of what they're already seeing… "What terrifying children. I don't know who coined it but the title 'Generation of Miracles' fits them."

"Shirogane coach, you shouldn't call them terrifying." Himeragi said, surprising Sanada with her presence by their side. The head coach smirked; he called them terrifying but what was also terrifying was this second manager. He saw what Akashi saw when he recruited her and could tell from her gaze that she was no pushover. The fact that she was vouching for the Generation of Miracles made her even weirder.

"Well the point is, they're the strongest team to date." Himeragi had to agree, watching Murasakibara dunk yet another hoop and Akashi being even faster than normal in heading back to the other side of the court. "Starting members with unlimited potential, a bench filled with seasoned third years, a manager who excels at scouting, an unusual and unpredictable phantom sixth man… and…" His words trailed off and he knew Himeragi didn't particularly want to listen as she watched the players continue rallying it out. "A manager that grounds the players and does what no one else can do for the Generation of Miracles." he whispered, as Sanada asked if he said something. Shirogane didn't want to make the fact public, as he didn't want to put pressure on Himeragi but knew that if he were unable to come back to the team, she had to be there to support them emotionally. "It's unimaginable that they'd lose. This isn't an ideal or belief. This is a fact. Right, Himeragi?" he suddenly yelled, putting a hand on her shoulder, shocking her, as the starters also looked their way. Kise lost his footing and fumbled the ball to Midorima, who was on the other team, as he scored a three pointer without thinking.

"Kise! Don't get soft! You have to score twice the points Midorima scored!" Sanada said, as he realized Shirogane purposely brought their attention to Himeragi to test their priorities at the moment.

"What is that crazy coach doing to Azusa…" Aomine asked, as Akashi was surprisingly thinking the same as him. They took another look at the strange scene of Himeragi nodding her head at anything Shirogane said, before running back to their positions. For Sanada, it was comforting to know that they were still kids who would immediately turn their heads if they found that their friend may have been in distress.

The National Inter school Basketball Tournament, which began with the district preliminaries, was here. With so much attention on Teikō because of their starting line-up, Shirogane made sure to stress the idea of "the lion and the rabbit." No matter the opponent, it was proper to give it your all on the court. Against their first opponent, Kadooka Junior High School, the five starters showed no mercy, making the arena erupt in yells that their skills were just as the rumors had described. The score was 91:32 by the third quarter, when Kuroko was subbed in.

"An alley-oop?!" The audience was confused by the pass that led to Aomine's alley-oop as Kuroko and Aomine fist-bumped like they always did. Himeragi and Momoi smiled at the dynamic, as this was the right way to start off their second national tournament. But because of the easy wins, the ace of the team, Aomine, began to lack motivation. It came to the point where Akashi enacted a rule for the starters: each of them was required to score twenty points in each game, meaning that their total for every game had to be above one hundred. Aomine's response was lukewarm, even though he was typically excited about competitions, to which Akashi simply told him to show his resolve for scoring points, regardless of the quota. The matter was wrapped up with that conversation but Momoi and Himeragi felt the same anxiety from Aomine's responses. Akashi could feel that Himeragi wanted to say something but knew that since she didn't, it was something that couldn't be fulfilled and didn't ask. The concerns began to permeate through the team when Aomine began to skip practice. Despite Himeragi severely reprimanding him, he didn't listen and continued to skip, knowing that he'd still be in matches anyway.

"I'm not yelling at you because I'm angry at you. I'm angry that there isn't anything I can do for you, who loves basketball so much." After the second lecture she gave him, Himeragi sat down in the locker room too. Aomine didn't have anything to say back and they stayed in silence for a while, before Himeragi got up to leave, telling him to rest well. Meanwhile, Kuroko enlisted the help of his childhood friend, Ogiwara Shigehiro, on what he could do for Aomine. After Kuroko explained the situation over the phone, his friend thought about it, drawing the same conclusion as Himeragi.

"Maybe it's because he loves basketball more than anyone else that he no longer comes to practice." He couldn't describe the hunch he had but Kuroko also felt it was accurate. "If there's one thing I can say that's for sure, it's that he's saved you time and time again right?" Kuroko thought back to all the moments when Aomine's energy and his fist bumps motivated him to continue to work hard. Seeing Aomine smiling while he was in the air, about to perform a layup or a dunk was indeed what drove Kuroko to continue when he felt his efforts toward perfecting his basketball technique were fruitless. "This time, it's your turn to help him. Isn't that what teammates are for?" Himeragi had also come to the park, hoping to talk to Kuroko about his current feelings and if he wanted to do anything for Aomine. As she had hoped, the bonds between guys were strong; Kuroko was already thinking about what he wanted to do for Aomine and asked someone that was able to help him obtain an answer. After promising to meet at the championship match, Kuroko ended the call. The match the next day unnerved everyone watching Aomine: his formless shots were so accurate when all he did was throw them in midair and his typical smile was nowhere to be found. Shirogane expected the change and even if Momoi did too, she felt afraid. Where was her idiotic childhood friend that loved basketball with all his heart and smiled through playing it? Kuroko had watched this unfold and also decided he wasn't going to allow this to go on. On a walk back home with ice cream popsicles, Aomine talked to him about his current worries.

"The harder I try, the more boring basketball becomes." Kuroko stopped his pace, wanting to say something to him. "In the end, basketball is just a game. I'll put effort into reaching my quota and after that, it won't matter." That made Kuroko angry enough to slide his popsicle down Aomine's back. Such a thing… it was not right for Aomine of all people to say that. He was fooling no one by saying that basketball was just a game.

"You can't do that." Kuroko didn't stop his words or help Aomine take the melting ice cream out of his clothes. "It takes everything I've got just to keep up with everyone. So I honestly can't understand what you're going through now, Aomine-kun. But no matter how unevenly match we may be, I would never want you to take it easy or for you to not do your best." With those words, the fist bumps resumed between Aomine and Kuroko and Teikō qualified for the national inter school tournament in August. The tournament was more commonly called "Nationals" and spanned three days (not including the opening ceremony), forcing the twenty-four participating teams to play two matches a day. With reporters swarming the starters and Momoi, Kuroko and Himeragi were left alone before their first match began. The gym was filled with questions about Teikō's successive wins, with no one doubting that they'd be the champions again this year. Even if Kuroko was not subjected to the same treatment as the rest of the players who, besides Akashi and Midorima, didn't know what to say, he could feel the pressure.

"Do what you've been doing, Kuro-kun. No one can take the pressure of victory away from Teikō's players but you can adapt to playing well under the pressure." Her presence was reassuring, as she flashed her genuine smile at him. It was reassuring to have someone by his side in the large gym, where it was easy to feel small being squished in between reporters.

"Kuroko!" Himeragi was surprised that a player could spot Kuroko in the large gym and accurately find him before she and the person that yelled his voice stared at each other in shock.

"Hiro-kun?"

"A-Azusa?" Kuroko was also confused by their recognition of one another before she signaled for Ogiwara to not talk about it right at this moment. Ogiwara quickly nodded his head and turned to Kuroko. "Long time no see!" he said, swinging his arm around Kuroko's shoulder. Himeragi now understood that Kuroko's childhood friend was also her friend and distant relative. As Ogiwara continued to make a fuss about not having seen Kuroko in two years and how cool his Teikō jersey looked, Kuroko quieted him down when he pointed out the rice grain on his cheek. Himeragi put two and two together, knowing that Kuroko turned to Ogiwara for advice about Aomine but the fact that Ogiwara was such a good-natured airhead made it hard to grasp that he gave advice in the first place. "Now that we've actually met up, I can't think of anything to talk about!"

"Me neither." The dry conversation picked up when they reaffirmed that they wanted to see each other again, at the finals. It was nice to see the two of them just being normal friends who wanted to see each other, even if they were rivals. Himeragi's own worries about feeling pressured to act a certain way because of the expectations for Teikō, began to dissipate too. When Ogiwara was called to leave with the rest of his team, he quickly turned to Himeragi, who he was surprised to see at the tournament.

"You haven't had any headaches right, Azusa?" he asked out of the blue, as Kuroko wondered what he meant. She cocked her head to the side and shook her head, relieving him of his worries that she couldn't decipher.

"I don't have headaches. What are you talking about?" she said, flashing a smile up at him. When Kuroko saw the blush on Ogiwara's cheeks, he narrowed his eyes. This was not what he was expecting to see when he met up with his childhood friend.

"I'm glad then. I'll have to hear the full story about you being here from you later, okay?"

"Sure, Hiro-kun." she said, sending him off with a wave, as Kuroko looked at her suspiciously, wanting to say something but not knowing how to phrase it. "Please don't look at me with those eyes that suspect that I'm playing multiple guys, Kuro-kun." The way she phrased it was already scandalous enough, deepening the incredulous look on Kuroko's face.

"In addition to Kise-kun, Midorima-kun and Murasakibara-kun, to think that Azusa-san has also charmed Ogiwara-kun…"

"It's not like that. We spent a lot of time together with my younger cousin, as kids." Neither made a move to debunk what he said about Kise, Midorima and Murasakibara because it was a discussion that wouldn't yield any resolution. Kuroko could see from her current reaction about Ogiwara, who she knew for much longer, that she didn't see him in the same light that Ogiwara saw her.

"Maybe Azusa-san is playing guys after all…" She asked him what he meant as he only continued to think about the agony guys who decided to pursue her would be in, when they realized that she was not interested in anyone or absurdly dense about their feelings toward her. Kuroko was silently thinking about which party to support as their team headed toward them earlier than expected. It would be quite the news to hear that Kuroko and Himeragi knew the same basketball player so they decided not to inform the rest of the team. "With the press coverage wrapped up, take tonight to rest." Himeragi said, as the players nodded at her words. "And tomorrow, be prepared to give all you've got to both matches!" Shirogane chuckled when she took the words right out of his mouth. Perhaps it was more reassuring to hear those words from a female manager, than from a scary, old man.