Replies for reviews
opfan474 – Thanks. I hope you enjoy the next chapters.
GokuBlackSSJR2310 – Thanks. They're all good and I can't honestly tell who's the best since they have their own signature skills. (But scoring wise, Aomine's the best scorer among them.)
Preparations were needed to facilitate three teams as the teams from Touou and Yosen began to go down from their seats and went straight to the locker rooms of Sobu to get changed quickly. The rest of the hastily-formed national team began to warm-up as Hikigaya was busy shooting some jumpers alone while the rest were in the bench for the moment as Aomine and Kise are stretching while Murasakibara was eating his potato chips. Midorima was holding a golden chain as a lucky item for the day while Akashi was speaking with Nijimura at the moment.
"Neh, Hikigaya?" Ogiwara suddenly called him out as he joins him in his warmup. "Why are you not wearing your jersey?"
"What jersey? Be specific." Hikigaya gruffly answers as he banks a shot off the board.
"Your Sobu shirt." The brunette said as he began to dunk the ball with force. "I get it that you didn't join the basketball club here but…"
"I'm not a member in the first place so I don't feel the need to wear it." Hikigaya retorts. "Besides, it's only Akashi's stunt that I was forced to put up with it."
"But Akashi-kun also gave you the excuse to attend here…"
Hikigaya almost had a mini-heart attack as he heard Kuroko's voice in his back."Guh…I never experienced that for a long time. By the way, I have heard that you have gained a quasi-Emperor Eye like Akashi, Kuroko."
"Not in a sense that I can do it alone, Hikigaya-kun." Kuroko replied, blinking. "I can only use it with people that I have played I have great trust on."
As they continued walking, Akashi then walked away for the moment in the court as he was speaking in his phone. This leaves Midorima in charge as he then orders the whole team to gather around him for the moment. Aomine can see that their former Teiko shooting guard seemed to be not in the mood to take over as they all watch Akashi fade away in the tunnel.
"Yo, Midorima. You looked like you wanted to kill someone?" The Touou ace can't help but ask.
"It looks like Akashi had again lumped me with this responsibility of watching all over you." Midorima sighed as he pushes up his glasses. "But he'll be back just in time for the game. But right now, we needed to discuss a strategy. Murasakibara, is your current team able to block my shots like you did?"
Murasakibara was busy searching through his bag for potential snacks, causing their vice-captain to twitch in irritation. "Hmmm….don't think so. Does anyone have any more snacks? I have run out of potato chips."
Midorima ignored their center's last comment as he turns his head to Aomine. "Aomine, may I inquire your team? I know very well that your team is very offensive-minded but is there any particular threat that we should look out from them?"
"Ah? They relied on me a lot for offense but by themselves they can be reliable in scoring for themselves." Aomine scratched his head. "Imayoshi specializes in stealing balls, performing double clutches and he's smart that it makes him a total creep especially that way he looked at me a while back. I don't even know why he's here even if he had graduated already. Then there's our former captain Wakamatsu who is good at rebounding. Then there's Ryo who's good at doing fast three-pointers. In the current team, it's probably me and Ryo who passes to each other to confuse the defense."
"His quick release would really be something we should keep an eye on." Midorima nodded his head.
"Are there any other things we need to know about any of these schools?" Kise asked while rolling a ball in his hands.
Kuroko spoke up as he raised up his hand. "Wei Liu-san of Yōsen can do tip missed shots and he's dependable on defense as well. Murasakibara-kun's other teammates are also tall. Their small forward is even taller than Aomine-kun and Midorima-kun. Their ceiling would be hard to challenge." Midorima nodded as he removes the white tape on his left hand fingers.
"I see. Then we'll just see who would be free and let him do the first move against these two teams." The Shutoku ace said. "We'll also establish our roles once the scrimmage starts. Kuroko would be in charge of stealing the ball with Akashi and Aomine occasionally helping. Murasakibara would stay under the opponent's basket to block their ball and catch any rebounds. He would also be tasked of clogging the area under the ring. Hikigaya, you'll be coming off the bench to relieve Akashi."
"Oh…then it's not fun at all…"
Every one of the Generation of Miracles jumped up in fright to hear the voice of Akashi coming back as the redhead captain puts back his phone in his pocket.
"What was that Akashi?" Midorima asked.
"My father just asked me on how things are going here." Akashi said before he turned his sights towards Yukinoshita, who was silently eyeing their group. "It's just that my father had discovered just now that Hikigaya's clubmate is his rival's other daughter."
Hikigaya didn't know what to say as he simply stared into the direction of Akashi, who just smiled at him. "How he knew it, it's his secret. By the way, I'll scrap what Midorima said. It's much better if we're the ones who'll come off the bench."
"Talk about being dumped into your responsibilities…" Midorima muttered to himself in irritation as Akashi began to explain what he wants to happen.
"All of us except Hikigaya would be coming off the bench." Akashi said in a manner that no one dared to talk back. "Hikigaya, you'll be starting at the point guard position while we select who'll start among the rest of those who came to complete the fifteen-man squad." Akashi then looks at Kiyoshi and company as they were warming up on their own. "Perhaps, we can use this moment for me to know how to rotate our players in the real tournament."
"I see your point." Hikigaya muttered as he rolls the ball in his hands. "Though I'm curious as to why you have to bring up Yukinoshita's father at this point?"
"He just told me to be careful." Akashi sounded like he was threatening anybody. "By the way, Hikigaya would be starting at the point guard position, Kuroko will start at the small forward, Mibuchi-senpai would be the shooting guard, Okamura-senpai and Kagami will play center and power forward respectively. Any questions?"
None of the GoM replied as they understood why Akashi made this happen.
"Okay. I'll gather them now." Akashi then clapped his hands twice and loud to get the attention of the rest of their teammates who are still warming up. In no time they all dropped the orange orbs that they were dribbling and they walked to where the GoM and Kuroko are standing. "We've decided to start four of you guys along with Hikigaya." Akashi said to them the moment they had joined their teammates. "Kagami, Okamura-senpai, Mibuchi-senpai, and Kuroko would complete the starting five for the scrimmage."
With that decided, the team just proceeded to cool down chat until Coach Shirogane had finished the preparations for the game. The coaches had set up the scoring and official's table as the janitors had just finished mopping the whole gym. Their head coach signalled Midorimato start the game and told Akashi the signal and he agreed. "It's going to start soon. Let's go."
Up in the bleachers, rows of sits began to be filled with student of Sobu as Yuigahama had heard what they were whispering all about. From what she understood, most of them only came to the game to see if Hikigaya would do something funny or embarrassing. "Here, I even brought a camera to record it." The tinted-hair girl heard a buy suddenly say as he brought out a camera.
But on the other hand, the seat has been filled with players and students from the schools of the Generation of Miracles who had heard of this game and they decided to go for the sake of watching basketball.
"So Hikigaya-kun will start…" Yukinoshita commented as she saw their clubmate shake hands with Touou's Imayoshi, who came originally as a spectator. "But it looks like most of the Sobu students here didn't really come to watch basketball…"
"Looks like it, Yukinon…" Yuigahama replied.
Cheers from Seirin, Touou, Yosen, Kaijo, and Shutoku erupted as the teams had lined up to greet each other as a part of the pre-game ritual. The starting five of Hikigaya were calm on the exterior, although Akashi could see that four of them were slightly nervous. They have never tried to versus two teams before. That would mean that they had to make escaping marks and screens much harder and the fact that there could be twice the number of defenders was already making the odds stack up against them.
"Aomine, rest for a while first since you were in the zone. The rest of us will be be playing off the bench early." Akashi ordered. Aomine-kun frowned but he followed his captain's orders nonetheless. On the other side of the courts, Hikigaya could see Yosen and Touou's teams talking. A reserve member from each of those two schools had joined too.
"Ahhhh I'm so excited! I can't wait! I just can't sit still here! It's going to be so fun!" Kise exclaimed, jumping around in their bench.
"Ah, shut up Kise! I'm already not allowed to play for now because I entered the zone just now!" Aomine complained loudly and then added softly. "All because of that goddamned captain of ours. Tsk."
"Did I hear you say something, Aomine?" Akashi had a menacing aura around him as he questions the startled ganguro. Aomine gulped and shook his head. "None, Akashi..."
The referee for the match was the Kaijo's coach in Takeuchi. He started the ball in the middle of the center-circle. Both teams' centers leapt up. Both Okamura and Yosen's small forward-turned-centers, Wei Liu. The former Yosen captain, despite being an inch shorter, was able to caught the ball first and he whacked it down for Hikigaya to catch.
"Pretty fired up, are we?" Hiratsuka smiled as she watched his student began to dribble the ball the moment he had received it.
"Is Hikigaya-kun playing streetball?" Haruno suddenly asked. "His tempo is a bit different from how I normally see from guys his position."
"Yes, nee-san. At least, that's what Kuroko-kun said." Yukinoshita felt compelled to reply.
The teams of Yosen and Touou were using a two-on-one defense. Normally, that would be difficult to break through. However, Hikigaya still knew how to break past marks even if three years had passed since he stopped playing. The moment he saw Sakurai coming towards him, he then stopped moving as he continued dribbling the ball. Sakurai then stiffed for the moment as he also stopped but the moment the latter came to a halt Hikigaya suddenly dashed pass him and he dribbled between his legs and spun against Imayoshi, who also came down in the floor. He then spotted Kuroko waiting and he passed the ball. Hikigaya continued to run as Kuroko received it and passes it back to the Sobu student as Hikigaya gets the ball back and bounced it once before scoring a layup.
Hikigaya's team had scored the first two point of the game.
Imayoshi had the ball as his teammates began to run towards the goal of their opponents. Facing off against Hikigaya, he then passes the ball to Touou's former center and captain in Wakamatsu as the latter gets the ball. Wakamatsu then passed the ball to Sakurai, who was completely free and that no one had marked him yet. But the moment he got the ball and had jumped for the release, a hand suddenly appeared.
The shooting guard was nearly had a heart attack as Hikigaya sprang up to block his shot. "Too slow…" He casually said as he stops the apologetic mushroom's famous quick release shot and the ball ended up in the hands of Kuroko who passes it to Kagami who makes a quick fast break as he runs to dunk the ball.
However, Wei Liu was fast as well and before Kagami was able to smash the ball, the Chinese exchange student managed to block it and he got the ball to his former captain, Fukui Kensuke. But even before the later got the rock, Hikigaya had come from behind the steal the ball back to their possession. The fish-eyed player then stalled for the moment as he waited for their offense to regroup. The moment he made his move, he sent a bullet pass into Mibuchi's hands. The Night Demon then shot the three-ball and the leather orb swished into the hoop. Hikigaya's team is now up by five to nothing.
"He knew how to utilize his teammates." Atsugi approved Hikigaya's decision to pass. "This would be interesting."
"It's already a good game from him." Hiratsuka added. "They're scoring this easily even if they're facing off against two teams."
This time, Fukui had the ball as e began to dribble slowly in order to slow down the pacing of the game. The moment he got in the top of the three-point arc, he passes the ball to Susa Yoshinori who diverts it to Sakurai. Hikigaya, however, was there so he feared that he might swat it again so Sakurai passed it to Wei Liu, who holds the ball as he backed down against the shorter but brawnier Kagami. Seeing that he can't push him down, the Chinese opted to bounce the ball towards Imayoshi but the moment he had pushed the ball off, Kuroko swooped in and intercepted it instead. Once their opponents saw the bluenette with the ball as he spins, they knew what is coming but they're not even that fast enough to reach the other side of the court as the Phantom Sixth Man rocketed the ball towards a running Hikigaya using a Cyclone Pass and the latter had caught the ball. He then passes the ball to Okamura, who dunks it via an alley-oop pass.
For the moment, it was surprisingly easy for Kuroko to break out of his marks and pass the ball. His defenders were not use to his weak presence yet, which was a good thing for his teammates. The score difference just got wider and wider, with the Hikigaya spearheading the offense and Mibuchi, and Kagami scoring heavily either by creating their own space or from Hikigaya's passes. However, Touou and Yosen suddenly changed tactics once the score of their opponents was already at 25 and they realized that two-to-one defense would not work.
Instead, they began to mark Kuroko three-to-one and stunningly, they began to change their marks as they can for the four other members of Kuroko's team. "Good grief…they're now copying our stealth all court man-to-man defense." Izuki chuckled as they were now catching up on the five.
"Just shows that they're desperate enough to stop Kuroko and company." Hyuuga replied as he eats his popcorn.
On the bench, Nijimura can't help but chuckled at the composition of the team that they sent off to start the game. "This got to be the funniest team that we can make. We had a gluttonous jumping machine, a gay, an anti-social and introvert, an invisible guy, and a gorilla-like guy with a weird haircut."
"Now that you say it, you're somehow correct." Akashi smiled.
Back to the game, no matter what Kuroko tried, he just could not break free of his marks this time. They were getting used to his presence and thus they were not changing marks like the others. They surrounded him in a triangle and thus blocked each other's view of the other members of his team in case Kuroko wanted to use Vanishing Drive. What was worse was that Susa, Imayoshi and Wakamatsu were the ones marking him and since Kuroko had used Misdirection Overflow on them two years back when they were still playing in high school, they were already used to his presence.
We should take a timeout now. Hikigaya thought as he shoots a jumper over Sakurai. I'm calling it now.
The moment the ball had sunked into the net, he then signalled to Takeuchi that they needed a timeout. The Kaijo bench tactician responded by blowing his whistle. "Prrrrrt! Time Out!"
Once they all got to the benches, Hikigaya slumped into his seat as he was already sweating hard from the defensive scheme that the two teams were applying. That man-to-man defense was just crazy. But on the other hand, it's better than facing weak opponents.
"Hikigaya, good job in calling for the timeout." Akashi nodded in approval. "Since this is just your first game, I'll say that you did a good job for a team that just cobbled up together. Sit down then. Aomine, Kise, Midorima, Murasakibara. Get ready. We'll take it from here."
Akashi then looks at Kuroko. "Kuroko, they have been constantly marking you a lot so sit down for a while."
"Yes, Akashi-kun."
As Hikigaya sit down, Aomine high-fived with him as they are re-entering the court once their timeout is finished. He had not played such an intense game since their time together at Teiko Middle school. It was then that he realized that he had longed to play with his former teammates once again. He smiled secretly as he could finally play with them together, not worrying about surpassing another or the stress about losing against a former teammate. They were finally a team again.
"Did Hikigaya-kun always play like that?" Haruno asked in wonderment. Understandable, the elder Yukinsohita haven't seen Hikigaya play basketball and right now, she is savouring any moment she had watching the boy play. Even before the three from Touou started to mark Kuroko and their opponents began to apply the man-to-man defense, Hikigaya had been very good in supporting his teammates as his passes were always accurate, smooth, and in the right spot and timing for the receiver. He can even pass to the smallest space that is presented to him. In terms of offense, he had been receiving passes from Kuroko, be it using a normal pass or an Ignite Pass. Haruno was also amazed that he didn't hesitate scoring even if he had a taller mark blocking him.
"Oh yeah. You haven't watched him play." Hiratsuka noticed the frown on Haruno's face. "But this good…nope. I think they're truly the only ones who could bring out Hikigaya's full potential. Did you see how he set up his teammates before passing for the easy layup? That's incredibly good communication."
"Sensei, I don't think communication and Hikigaya-kun is compatible together…" Yukinoshita Yukino still found the time to insult him. "So I'm quite surprised that this game is much better than the last one."
"Maybe Sobu's not really the best school for a talented guy like Hikitani-kun…" Hayama whispered although everyone heard him. "I mean…he's the one set us up back in our P.E. class even if I'm scoring for the team…" It surprised his clique considering it came from Sobu's High School Prince.
Yuigahama frowned at her acquaintance's words as she joined in. "If you feel that bad for Hikki, what about me? I can't even shoot that well…"
"Well yeah…Yuigahama…" Miura sighed. "I mean…you can't even shoot at that time to save your own life..."
The students then refocused their gazes on the match.
The point difference was slowly decreasing with more people to spare since they did not need three people just to mark Kuroko. However, none of the Generation of Miracles were even pushed to be in the zone even if they are already taking the match seriously. Now it was just an eight-point difference.
"Dammit! I know I should have expected it but their defense is so irritating!" Aomine moaned. Yes, he had scored many points already since he was inserted but Yosen and Touou were not called the best defensive team and best offensive team for no reason. While the Yosen team marked each member of the Generation of Miracles, the Touou team took care of scoring majority of their points. It came to the point where it really was getting onto each miracle's nerves.
"Shit!" Aomine cursed as the other team scored another basket courtesy of Sakurai's quick-release three-pointer so Murasakibara had little time to defend the shot.
Akashi gave a glare to their ace as he chided him. "Aomine, mind your foul language. Let's change our tactics. One pass and then score. Maximum is two. Pass it on." Akashi told Aomine as he ran past the tanned player.
Nodding and whispering a "Yes, Mother Akashi" to their captain, he informed Kise about the change in tactics as the blonde ran past him. He noticed that Akashi had already told the other two. So far they had been passing on the spot to a free player since they have been marked so tightly, but now Akashi wanted them to break free of their marks and shoot the ball.
There were still five minutes into the second quarter and two Yosen players were marking him.
Akashi passed the ball to him and he caught it. He was not called the super scorer of the Generation of Miracles for nothing. Not really thinking, Aomine just casually dribbled the ball and dashed pass his two defenders. Most of his teammates were near to the net and it was a little crowded so he just formlessly shot the ball in from the three-point line. That should do it. At least, they didn't have that idiotic Bakagami or else, I might be forced into Zone in a wrong time.
Running back to the center of the court, he saw Akashi steal the ball once again and did an Ankle Break on both of his defenders. The rest were all marked tightly so Akashi just dribbled the ball, breaking past his defenders and made a double-clutch shot as he landed on the floor.
Imayoshi then used the dull moment to throw an outlet pass to a standing Sakurai, who was prepared to shoot the ball. Midorima was fast enough, though and when Sakurai had released the leather, the Shutoku shooter managed to swat it and when he got the ball as he landed in his feet, he shot a high projectile shot as the ball went upwards. Haruno and Yukino both watched the ball slowly arc downwards as it crashed in the net.
"That shot still gives me a heart attack…" Hiratsuka commented.
However, the next time Sakurai got the ball, he threw it faster than before and Midorima could not catch it but Murasakibara instead blocked the hoop entrance. The pressure from the match felt as the Yosen-Touou team got only fired up as they don't have any intention to lose this one.
At the end of the second quarter, the point difference went up to fifteen. "Hah, hah, hah! Running and having to split the double team is just tiring!" Kise complained once again as his arms felt a bit strained.
Akashi, without even sparing at glance at Kise, said emotionlessly. "Well then, do not worry Kise. Tomorrow's training shall be stamina training then. Kise, yours will be tripled."
"Eh—but…"
A sharp pair of scissors was pointed at his neck and Kise just shut up. They did not even spot a scissors just now in Akashi's duffel bag. Where the hell in the world did it come from? "Midorimacchi! Why did you even give Akashicchi you scissors last time?! Now it's his personal weapon and it's scary! You're so mean!"
"Quadrupled Kise. Or do you want it to be quintupled?" Akashi replied amused. Kise still had the intelligence not to even rebut against their captain. "It's a ten minute break. Let's go to the Service Clubroom." The others obediently scampered after Akashi.
Once in the Service Club room, Akashi began to speak as they all drank their sports drinks. "I believe they will stop marking us two-to-one. They will be putting the Touou players on their scoring side while the Yosen players on our scoring side. Basically, they would be focusing in putting stops on our offense as a whole."
"How do you know?" Aomine asked foolishly.
Akashi scoffed. "I am always right." Aomine hid his snort. "Aomine, Kise, and Murasakibara go into the Zone if you like. Are any of you tired?"
"None…" Hikigaya spoke for the first time since they were in the court.
Akashi nodded as he looked at Hikigaya and Kuroko. "Kuroko and Hikigaya, you two are up for the third quarter. For the rest of you, if you are able to, try to get into the zone or at least, remove any distracting thoughts. In the Olympics, we may not know how powerful our opponents are so I want to make sure you all are at your tip-top form. Now go hydrate yourselves before we return out there."
The others quickly went to drink more drinks. Running over back-and-forth against a team that is composed of two schools for twenty minutes really tired many of them.
The third quarter was just amazing. Even in the zone, Aomine still passed to Hikigaya and Kuroko, showing that he had learned his lessons from the past and is now showing teamwork. With Kuroko on the court once again and with Aomine in the zone as well as Hikigaya setting up their offense, the difference in scores just shot up more than what their opponents can handle. Murasakibara had apologized to the redhead in the sidelines, saying that he could not enter the zone—for now.
As the game wore on, Wakamatsu and Fukui can only seethe in anger as they watch Hikigaya lob a pass to Aomine, who scored by shooting behind the backboard. Even if Aomine himself is a player of Touou, they really didn't know how to handle a beast like him as their four-one-one defense backfired since it caused the tanned player to enter Zone easily. Using his speed that only few could catch up with, Aomine passed the ball to Kuroko (and occasionally, to Hikigaya) who then passed it back to him to break free of his defenders and jam the ball into the hoop with his amazing strength and caused it to rattle dangerously. Running past Kuroko, they bumped fists again. This caused to Kuroko smile brightly—something that Ogiwara himself noticed from the bench and can't help but chuckle.
"Since middle school, this was my first game with these guys…" Hikigaya inhaled heavily as he had the ball. He then dribbled pass Imayoshi and was about to shoot the ball when he saw the Chinese raised up his hands to block the shot. Hikigaya then simply passed the ball backwards as he knew Midorima is waiting for the ball. The latter got it alright as he shot the ball to add to their total tally.
For the remaining part of the second half, Aomine took over as he had shot and dunked savagely, causing the team's scores to rise to above 100. Everyone, save Kuroko and Hikigaya, had already completed their old quota of having twenty points each once before Kise was subbed out in the fourth quarter for Akashi.
The other team, on the other, had lost to the Generation of Miracles as their score was almost doubled at 160-77. Takeuchi blew his whistle and both teams lined up as the Kaijo bench tactician announced the winner. Hikigaya shook the hands of the two team's captains and they stormed back to the locker rooms.
But as they were walking in the tunnel, he was stopped by Haruno, who seductively whispered to his hear. "Hikigaya-kun!"
"Yu-Yukinoshita-san…" Hikigaya almost stumbled backwards as he was ambushed by the older Yukinoshita, who was waiting for him at the tunnel. "What do you want?"
"Come with me for lunch. You can even bring Nijimura-san and Ogiwara-san or Kuroko-san with you."
"Hah?"
Sneak Peak: Haruno invited Hayama's clique and Hikigaya's Service Club for lunch as well as Nijimura and Ogiwara, who wasn't even expecting it. Hikigaya found it awkward as Ogiwara simply tried to play along. Nijimura raised his eyebrows on this and Akashi…he began to suspect against Haruno's schemes. Prior to that, there has been talk of a training camp for the Akatsuki Five. Just where will they conduct it? And who were the ones that are invited (aside from the obvious ones)?