It was just 5:30 in the morning and yet, Hikigaya Hachiman was already up despite the fact the he wanted to sleep more.

I wanted to sleep more and yet, I'm feeling restless at the same time. He thought to himself as he still feel slight pain in his legs despite having iced it with the help of Momoi, who congratulated him for a good game against the Philippines. Oh yeah, I had to admit that I slacked off these past two and a half years. No wonder I was a bit rusty against Villacorta-san. Despite witnessing the split-second buzzer beating jump shot of the Filipino point guard up close with the redhead and captain Akashi Seijuro, he doesn't feel any regret or nightmares over it—at least, it was because they didn't win nor lost the game technically.

There was also the last-minute meeting with his sensei and the Service Club members, who told him that there will be others who will temporarily take over his spot back in Chiba. He remembered Isshiki Iroha saying that 'Neh, senpai! Can I be your own manager?!' The moment she said those words, he immediately left the scene in the washroom and opted to spend time with the talkative Ogiwara, the brash Kagami, and the stoic Kuroko rather than to stick around with a certain sly kouhai.

Sighing at that particular memory, Hikigaya got up from his bed quickly while his other teammates were still heavily sleeping. Guessed this is the effect of playing against a team like the Philippines. He passes by a heavily-snoring Kagami as he goes for a quick facial wash and change into his playing shoes and plain white shirt and after that, he heads out of the inn.

It didn't take long for him to walk to the court although he enjoyed the cold breeze of the wind coming from the sea, reminding him of his own lunch break spot which was facing directly at the sea. Whistling to himself, he quickly opens the doors of the gym but before he can even close the door shut…

"Anou…excuse me, Hikigaya-san…"

" #$%&!"

Hikigaya can only touch the spot where his heart is located as he nearly tripped down and a barrage of profanities shot out of his mouth. He then noticed a mop of light blue hair suddenly appearing within his eyesight and he sighed, "Dammit, Kuroko…"

"Good morning, Hikigaya-san." Kuroko politely said, mostly ignoring Hikigaya's shock written clearly in his face. "I'm sorry if I didn't notice you nor did you notice me but I was calling you back even before you left the inn but you didn't notice me at all…"

Hikigaya was about to tell him off about scaring other people but held his tongue instead. It's no use. It's Kuroko I'm dealing with.

"Yo…morning…" Hikigaya decided to greet the bluenette as a means to stave off the awkwardness stemming from the fact that Kuroko speaks to bluntly. "I supposed you're going to use the court as well…"

"Hai. I wanted to practice my three-point shot," Kuroko blankly said although from what Hikigaya can tell in his blue orbs, the Seirin captain seemed pretty worried. "To be honest, I can no longer rely purely on passing skills and misdirection alone. I needed a decent jump shot skill as well."

Hikigaya merely sighed as he cleans his ears with his pinky while grabbing a ball from the nearest rack, "If I remember correctly, Akashi only taught you all the tricks in misdirecting the line of sight and a few tips in stealing and tapping the ball and Aomine gave you the idea of that palm shot but other than that…your arsenal's pretty much non-existent."

Kuroko took no offense in that, "Back when I wasn't even a captain yet, I had thought that simply being a shadow is already enough in the Interhigh and Winter Cup wars but when I had my first taste of action against the Jabberwocks, I was only lucky enough to steal the ball from Nash-san and even then, my weak defense was heavily exploited and from the game against the Philippines, Villacorta managed to outwit me even if I was the first to catch him off-guard."

"Well, you're our Sixth Man and yes, your specialty is steals and passes but if I'm going to be honest, even ol' captain Akashi didn't seem to have the foresight to help you upgrade your game," Hikigaya sighed as he shot a perfect three pointer. "Well…there's nothing much I would say to you now but if you want help…"

He then passes the ball to Kuroko, who catches it perfectly.

"Show me your best three point shot and I'll see what I can do to help you," Hikigaya sighed as Kuroko then positions himself in the left corner of the three point line and shot the ball as high as he can. Hikigaya watched the orange orb rolled in the air and down it went…

…Until it hit nothing but air…

An airball. The hell. Hikigaya can only cringed at the sight as Kuroko didn't even react at it—as if he was expecting something like that. Picking up the ball, he then said, "But before I can even teach you how to shoot pretty well, I'll have to teach you how to even move with the ball properly." Hikigaya stressed the last part.

"That's…pretty nice of you, Hikigaya-kun," Kuroko smiled as he wipes off the sweat in his face.

"Well, we have no time to waste Kuroko if you wanted to play longer minutes than me," Hikigaya said in an urgent tone as he steps into the three-point line. The tealnette then passes the basketball to the Hikigaya, who then motions that they do a one-on-one. When both were on their feet, Hikigaya passed the ball and stood in front of Kuroko in a defensive stance as if telling him to go and try to get past him. Kuroko moved to the left then right, but every time he did so, Hikigaya would move to match him.

"Kuroko, if you're being blocked, you have to move faster and smarter than that." Hikigaya patiently explained at him. "Even someone like me would never be stopped by a simple block such as this." Startled at the statement, Kuroko paused a while and in that moment of hesitation, Hikigaya stole the ball out of Kuroko's hands. He snorted loudly as he made his way to the net, and made a smooth layup.

"That's not fair, Hikigaya-san," Kuroko frowned, "Of course, you had more skills since you're well-versed in street basketball."

"Life's not really fair, Kuroko and even I have my own fair share of misfortunes," Hikigaya shrugged. "In fact, you're only slightly better than those two buffoons you asked to teach." Kuroko just shook his head at Hikigaya. In truth, he hated it when his ball gets stolen.

"So how do you suppose I get pass blockers the way a normal player would or at least you would?" Kuroko couldn't help but begged at his friend. Hikigaya had an expression of surprise by looking at her friend's blank face, but then it changed to playful grin.

"That's quite simple, Kuroko," he began, continuing to dribble the ball. He dribbled until he reached Kuroko and looked at him dead in the eyes. "I would confuse my blockers," he said as he swiftly moved to the left and then to the right. "Moving like that, or…" he broke off, Kuroko seeing Hikigaya's eyes look to the left. Seeing his teammate shift a little, Kuroko thought that Hikigaya would've moved in that direction. However, to his shock, he went right, leaving him in a state of shock. But then he heard Hikigaya talking. "…I'd deceive them by making them think they know which direction I'm going."

"It's the eyes, isn't it?" Kuroko asked.

Hikigaya nodded as he explains. "In my past experience, my opponents are always looking at my face and not the ball as they want to know where I'm going to move next. A person's eyes often tell where they intend to go next, be it passing the ball or simply trying to outwit their marks. So if I look left, the defense is going to assume that I'm going to go left, so I would quickly cross over and go right instead."

Kuroko made a mental note of this. One way to get pass blockers is through the deception of the eyes. For the Seirin captain, that seems easy enough but he knew that the trick won't work every time, especially for the likes of Akashi and a foreign opponent like Villacorta. He then brought his mind back to reality, as he heard a swish in the net. Turning sideways, he saw Hikigaya making another three pointer quite easily.

"Hikigaya-san, you're shots are always smooth," he complimented.

But before Hikigaya can reply back…

"Dammit, you two! You could have waken me up to join you!" A rough voice which Kuroko assumed belonged to Kagami was heard closing into the gymnasium as the doors swung violently.

"So early, Kuroko, Hikigaya…" Hikigaya knew it was Ogiwara as the latter was seen bringing a guitar over his shoulders. Hikigaya can only raise his eyebrows at this sight. "Ogiwara, what's with the guitar?"

"Come on, Hikigaya. Don't be silly," Ogiwara laughed as he and Kagami quickly stepped onto the wooden court. The Seirin power forward was wearing his black t-shirt and red shorts while the former was donning his maroon shorts and tribal shirt. "I'm singing."

Hikigaya merely looked at him disinterestedly, "Just do what you want…" And he then continued giving pointers to Kuroko, who listed them down with a small notebook that he magically pulled out from nowhere. As Ogiwara sang in an off-tone voice and Kagami kept dunking his shots, Kuroko was busy practicing dribbling with his former Teiko teammate.

Some 30 minutes later, more people began to come inside the gymnasium as a certain red-haired captain watched Kagami with a slight disgust at his playing style.

"Kagami Taiga…" Akashi didn't really raised his voice but everyone heard him and they all stopped moving. "I supposed you should be practicing three-point shots rather than to rely merely on dunking. Your shooting did improved but not that much…"

"What did you…" Kagami wanted to complain but was smacked in the head by Nijimura, who scowled at him. "He wasn't wrong though, youngster," the dark-haired small forward said as he picks up a basketball and shot ten feet from the three-point line. It went in smoothly. "You're very strong in grabbing rebounds and putback dunks but did you even wonder why they were leaving you out in the three-point area? Practice your outside shots!"

"Fine…" The redhaired tiger muttered to himself as he then sulks away.

"I think I should practice three-pointers too," Kiyoshi said as he can't help but grip the ball tightly in his hands. "I missed four of them and if I had just hit one, we probably could have won the game."

"It's not only your problem, it's me and Hikigaya's as well, Kiyoshi-san…" Akashi replied. "We weren't able to close in on Villacorta quickly although if it does help, he was unbelievably fast in his feet as well as his release…"

"There's no point in talking things that already happened," Shirogane Kozo's voice was heard as he was just entering the gymnasium. Everyone then shut up and paid attention. "Right now, I'm giving out some individual training for each one of you as a result of the last game and with that…" His attention turns to both Kagami and Kiyoshi. "You Seirin boys, you'll go with our shooting coach that I hired today. Also Ogiwara. You three would be assisted by Mibuchi."

The three merely nodded and quickly followed the former Rakuzan shooting guard, who was catwalking on his way out of the gymnasium.

"Okamura and most especially Murasakibara, follow Nijimura since he'll teach you some movements under the paint. He'll also oversee your body conditioning as both of you are lagging in speed, especially in fast-break situations."

As much as the Yosen giant wanted to complain about having to do too much work, he nevertheless trailed behind his former captains in Teiko and his current school as they walked out of the court too.

"Aomine, Midorima, Kise…" If he was being honest, Shirogane didn't know what to really assign the three of the most volatile members of the Generation of Miracles as they seemed to be already perfect enough. However…

"While I can't think yet of any workout to give, you three will be jogging in the beach for one hour and 30 minutes." The tanned ace merely sighed as he knew there was no escaping from the tormenting exercises of his coach. "After that, play at the beach stands that the other coaches prepared. Kise and Aomine, both of you will only use orthodox movements for the first hour…"

"Nani!" Now, Aomine can't help but seethe in irritation.

"That sucks…" Kise cried comical tears.

Shirogane acted like he didn't hear them, "Midorima, I know you already perfected the three-point shot which is why I wanted you to learn how to become a slasher and a fast dribbler. In becoming a both an outside threat and a penetrating force, you can confuse the defense of the other teams. You can start that my asking tips from Aomine…"

The green-haired shooter from Shutoku sputtered at the thought of asking for some help from one of the three idiots in the former Teiko team of theirs.

After the initial briefing, the three were then sent out, with Midorima now angrily chastising the pair of blue and yellow, who were busy arguing as to who goes first dibs for the ball. Sighing to himself, Shirogane then turned to the remaining five who was left behind. Hikigaya was busy playing a basketball in his hands as Kuroko, Akashi, Himuro, and surprisingly, Hayama Kotaro, were all waiting patiently for their coach to say something. After a while…

"The five of you…you are the only ones who are left behind…" He said this with hesitation mainly because of Kotaro, who was a bit surprised to remain here with what can be described as the smartest of the bunch. "…Come with me…you're all playing a regular scrimmage with the coaches who are not busy…"

What? Was the question lingering in their minds.

"Anou…coach…Akashi-kun…does that mean that we're going up against the coaches from our respective schools?" Kuroko asked, not really liking the idea.

"This is the only thing we have thought off with Akashi and don't worry, they used to play for the past national teams so you would be able to get some ideas from the old timers," Shirogane laughed like a Santa Claus but it wasn't making things better for the rest of the team. "The team consists of Kagetora-san, Takeuchi-san, Nakatani-san, Harasawa-san and my cousin Eiji. Their manager is Araki-san."

Hikigaya searched his memory for the said names and realized that one of them is the current Kaijō coach. The man who was a plump as a balloon! The Sobu student sputtered, "E-eh? No offense coach, Akashi, but one of them is so rotund. How's he gonna play?"

Everyone resisted the urge to giggle as Kotaro covered his mouth to stop laughing but a sharp glare from the redhead made them all shut up. "Do not underestimate them. I am personally not sure if how he would be playing but he did not make it to the national team for nothing," Akashi said. "Enough talking. Let's go warm up."

In the middle of their stretches, the door to the gymnasium opened to reveal five men (including one fat one) and a young-looking woman. Everyone greeted their respective coaches.

A serious-looking coach coach, whom Hikigaya recognized as the Rakuzan coach, instructed, "Continue your training. We have to prepare too." Thus, they continued their trainings and such. When they came back out, they went to prepare for the match themselves.

Kotaro glanced at the Kaijo coach to see his round belly poking out of his basketball jersey. It looked similar to their current ones, just that theirs was the home jersey which is red and white. Seeing his belly flopping about while he ran was really hilarious and the former Rakuzan small forward had stopped dribbling his ball to cover his mouth.

He received a hard karate chop from Kuroko who frowned at him and said, "Hayama-san…Kise-kun's coach was known for his defense. Do not look down on them." Kotaro thought about it for a while and instead burst up laughing.

He received glares from various people, most of which had heard what Kuroko had said and knew what Kotaro was thinking. The blonde tried to explain to the perplexed bluenette while laughing, "Hahahaha…Maybe he uses his…large body width to…block the opponent!" With that, he continued to laugh.

Big mistake to say that loudly. Hikigaya thought.

Glares were directed to him, burning holes into his back. Kotaro gulped especially when he felt a demonic aura that was for once in his life not from his feared captain.

To break the tension, Akashi had cleared his throat and announced, "Alright. Let's start the warm ups now."

"What a bright Monday morning, neh, Yukinon, Komachi-san, Haruno-san…"

Yuigahama Yui had just said the most obvious as the sun was really shining, literally and too brightly. The remaining members of the Service Club was gathered in the room as they were all busy approving requests from Sobu students while Yukinoshita Haruno was just watching them with a sharp gaze as she was drinking warm coffee, which she requested from Yuigahama.

"Indeed, Yuigahama-san…" Yukino merely nodded as she kept typing at her laptop.

"So we're finished helping Tokiwa-san from the first year class checking his essay and we had already helped decorating Hiratsuka-sensei's room for a meeting later in the afternoon…" Komachi looked bored as she plopped her head on a small pillow. "I just wished that I can watch onii-chan's practice…"

It was at this point that Haruno opened her mouth, "Too bad, you'd be stuck doing chores here." She then feigned a cute smile.

"B-But that number five guy! Who knew Hikigaya and Akashi would have some trouble against him?" The image of Villacorta Calixto beating the buzzer to tie the game was still engraved in her memory. "Are there guys in Sobu's basketball club who can probably beat him?"

Komachi looked at her like she was some kind of an idiot, "Maybe in your imagination, Yui-san…"

"Now that I remember, Hayato came here with a request, right? Something involving his clique or something…" Haruno tried to sound like she was disinterested but the gleam in her eyes tells otherwise. "

"Ah…I think Tobe-kun wants to try and court Ebina-san again. That's the talk I heard from Yumiko…" Yuigahama made a thinking pose. "I mean, I don't know if he'll succeed but…"

"Ara…ara…" Haruno played with her cup as she made a mocking tone. "That doesn't sound to be a good sign but oh well…" Yukino sighed at her elder sister as she continued skimming through her laptop. "By the way, Yukino-chan, do you still plan on seeing Hikigaya-kun one of these days? Kaa-san…"

"Hikigaya-kun and Akashi are two different guys but I don't think kaa-san would see that…"

"What's going on? What does Akashi-san have to do with your mom?" Yuigahama asked, feeling left out.

"Last night, mom decided to casually visit me at my apartment with nee-san for some dinner and she didn't really have any problems with Hikigaya-kun playing basketball but when she learned about Akashi being his captain…" Yukino didn't appear to like what happened last night. "…I can see that she nearly demanded that Akashi be removed as captain…"

"She what?!" Komachi didn't expect her clubmate's mom to act like that.

"Guess you don't know at all. Basically, it's not a good idea to put a Yukinoshita and an Akashi on the same room," Haruno explains in an amused way. "Business wise, our families were always in each other's throats. It's not like it can be helped as both families wield influence…"

Yuigahama nodded as she understood. Akashi Seijuro himself had that aura that basically commanded the respect of every men in his team.

"So…what shall we do with his request, Yukinon?" Yuigahama asked, referring to Hayama Hayato. "As much as I hate to admit it, it was easier last time when Hikki had managed to solve it, albeit in a creepy way…"

Yukino can only stare at her club mate before replying. "I…I don't know Yuigahama-kun. We can only adopt a see-and-wait attitude at this point…"

At the same time, Kaitobi and Mochida of the basketball club of Sobu had just finished sprinting outside their school as part of their revamped training schedule. Their morning training consisted of the drills that they do ever since their game against Seirin, and after they were done with that, they had their break. Then, they would jog to the gym after which they would have a mini-match against each other, but when Atsugi wanted to assess their individual skills, he made them play one-on-one.

And of course, they had some few rookies that they managed to recruit over the recourse of summer and they somehow managed to play face to face with the seniors. Although it was the seniors who always win, the juniors never gave up; their freshman center was decent in rebounds. However, usually after their training was done, the senior Kaitobi would have a session with the boy, teaching him and helping him to fix what needs fixing. If Hikigaya joins, then it's all good, even for just one year as third years. The senior big man thought as he and Mochida enters the gymnasium.

He and Mochida wishes to at least participate in the Interhigh before they retire.

By the time it had reached last week, Atsugi started to see improvements in his players. After being given the notes by Hiratsuka, who gave opinions based on what she saw from the former Teiko players, he tweaked their regimen a bit to make them more efficient. He even allowed the boys to voice their opinions about their training.

But today, after they returned from their training and had taken a shower, they assembled in the living room and turned on the television, hoping to relax with their coach. Two of their rookies were fighting over the remote, so Atsugi had taken it and decided to put a CD on their DVD player. There, they got the shock of their lives. It was the practice game between Japan and the Philippines. Only the second half was recorded but the scoreboard made the boys of Sobu nearly faint.

120 – 120

Add to that, when they saw how their tallest players basically shot their way around their defenders, their center staying under the net and grabbing every missed shots with a careless yet determined gaze. The way the Philippines play, Kaitobi and Mochida started breaking out in cold sweat. But the one who seemed to appall all of them was Villacorta Calixto. The buzz-cut point guard was blitzing past Japan's defenses and he even managed to corner both Akashi and Hikigaya at one point. They all held their breaths as the Filipino guard managed to score a basket to tie the score even with pressure.

"Shit…what a game…" One player can only gasp in awe as he watched the footage of Hikigaya blocking Villacorta.

"Hikigaya and that number five guy…they're basically tied in terms of abilities…" Kaitobi managed to say.

"They're a good team. That, I can say…" Atsugi shrugged as he already expected this kind of reaction from his players.

"But still, to watch that number five guy literally demolish their defenses?!" Koga, a freshman point guard, joined in. "I wouldn't want to fight him on a one-on-one!"

"I think you all are glossing over something very important." Kaitobi said. "There's a freaking giant taller than even Murasakibara of Yosen High guarding the net all the time! How will we get pass that that kind of player if ever we encounter one?! Even Ogiwara Shigehiro of Ryonan is even taller than me and he isn't even a center…"

Mochida was at a loss, currently. Seeing the practice match had really woken them up to a new reality in their quest to finally crack a spot on the Interhigh. They knew they weren't the best but they strived to improve what they lacked. But that game—that was something even Atsugi knew they knew they couldn't match at this point. Maybe it's good that they didn't watch the Kaihin Sougou-Teiko match.

"If ever Hikigaya joins the team, then we need to have a good center and a shooting guard to actually compliment him. I mean, no offense to you Kaitobi but you won't do good against guys like Kagami or even that Kise dude from Kaijou and let's not go there against the Yosen giant," Mochida looked apologetic to their center. "But coach, will Hikigaya really join the basketball club even if it's just one year? I mean, we're graduating already and he—"

"Hiratsuka-sensei said she will persuade Hikigaya to play, at least on the Interhigh preliminaries…" Atsugi said with a fearful expression that seemed to tell about how the brusque teacher will encourage her student to join.

Momoi Satsuki was about to throw the ball up when the gym doors flew open.

"Phew! We're not too late!" a certain bespectacled college student sighed. Kuroko stared at the intruder and merely blinked in surprise. More people came through the doors.

"Akashi-san…what are all my former seniors doing here?" Himuro asked as he saw Fukui Kensuke, their former Yosen point guard, calmly walking inside with Wei Liu, whose presence was unexpected. Wasn't he supposed to practice with the Chinese national team?

Akashi scoffed. "You wouldn't think that our seniors would be ignored, would you? I've arranged for all current and former players from all of our schools to come here to watch this game. It's a good learning experience for them."

Hikigaya lazily looks around but in doing so, he spotted someone he didn't expect to see. Did Akashi just casually invited Orimoto here or did she coincidentally went here for no reason?! He averted his gaze as the brunette Orimoto Kaori waved at him from the bleachers with her best friend.

Currently, it was only Hikigaya, Akashi, Kuroko, Himuro, and Hayama Kotaro and they didn't have any bench players as they were sent away to do individual training. With that in mind, Kotaro decided to play center rather than his normal small forward position as Himuro takes the power forward position rather than playing his usual number two spot.

I don't know how well this would work out. With the exception of Kuroko, every one of us are ball dominant… Hikigaya thought as Kotaro and Harasawa Katsunori, Touou's coach, shakes hands.

When everything was down, Momoi cleared her voice to continue with the game. As the ball flew up high, Kotaro and Harasawa jumped for the tip off. Unfortunately, the Touou bench tactician and former national team ace managed to whack the ball towards their captain Eiji. Giving a small thumbs-up, he quickly dribbled the ball over to their hoops and was about to make a drive through a defender when he realized the weight in his hands was gone…

"Wha-"

"Nice one, Kuroko!" Kotaro cheered as the ball was tipped to Hikigaya, who began to run back to their opponent's goal.

"Dammit! Defense! Fast break!" Shirogane (Eiji) yelled to his teammates. As instructed, they did a fast break as Eiji went to stop Hikigaya, who was dribbling the ball behind his back.

"I was careless and didn't see Seirin's Phantom player…" Eiji cursed and with that, he tried to snatch the ball only for Hikigaya to do a crossover behind his back to the other hand on continue on his drive. "Shit!"

"Nakatani! Takeuchi!" Araki, not liking what happened, shouted as she stood up from her seat. "Don't let that goddamned brat shoot his famous double-clutch!"

Immediately, the Shutoku and Kaijo coaches blocked the free throw key lane but instead of panicking, Hikigaya merely stopped moving and quickly jumped for a simply but reliable jump shot. The ball smoothly went in, earning his first points and he first points of the game.

Grunting, Eiji got the inbound pass and was dribbling carefully as he passes to Kagetora, who answer back with jump shot of his own but was blocked by Kotaro, who passes the ball to Akashi.

The redhead quickly passes the ball to Kuroko, who quickly redirects it to Himuro, who did a normal three-pointer since he was free of his marks.

Heading back to defend, they heard some of the coaches say, "Man! How long has it been since we played together? This is so not fair…"

Then Nakatani asked Eiji, "Captain, can we go full on out? I can't let this kids outperform us…" With a small smirk, he nodded. Nakatani then did a hand signal to his other teammates. He received nods too.

"Slow down! Don't worry, we'll get those points back!" Eiji yelled as his cousin merely watches from the sideline. Kuroko tried to block him from crossing to their side but he was stunned as the used-to-be point guard had a powerful drive as quick as Hikigaya.

The point difference was just getting bigger and bigger slowly but surely. All of the male coaches were really working together unbelievably well as a unit, meshing as one team despite the many years of not playing together.

By the end of the first quarter, it was already an eight-point difference with 28-20. As the teams walked to the bench, they were surprised at the unbelievable score.

"Man, we're really down by eight? How the hell did that happen?" Kotaro can't believe that they were being pushed back by the older coaches as he was given a sports drink by Momoi.

"I see that you are still having that mindset of 'we can win no matter what'. Did losing in the last Winter Cup and the game from the Philippines dull your brains?" Akashi said in a dark voice. "You are not giving your all. Kotaro, do something about our offensive rebounds or else, you'd be doing ten times your training menu for this week." The redhead ordered. This earned a loud yelp from the Thunder Beast.

They had discussed a few plans of what to do in every theoretical situation while Momoi piped up about possible advances made by older guys after witnessing their performance. After two minutes, the referee sounded the whistle for them to head back onto the court.

So it's just really the five of them. Araki noted as she watches her boys go back to the wood court.

As the games resumed, Hikigaya was given the green light to shoot three pointers endlessly and so, he began to bombard the opposing team with his quick release. While the coaches can definitely bring back their lost points, the tide began to turn around as the Sobu student hit his shockingly sixth deep shot form beyond the arc.

"That's his sixth three pointer already…" Izuki Shun noted.

"What muscle memory he has…" Hyuuga said, awed by the perfect shooting rhythm.

"He hasn't even missed one shot!" Nakamachi Chika, Orimoto's best friend, was amazed.

"Our usual strategy isn't working! Plan B!" Eiji yelled. As the Akashi ran back to defend, he felt frustrated that his Rakuzan coach acted just like him. Being a point guard and captain too, with amazing observation abilities, really irked him. Their strategies were mostly the same too and both had the aura worthy of respect.

The people on the stands were shouting with glee as the older team had resorted to something similar to Seirin's run-and-gun style but they were standing closer to each other to facilitate passing. Furthermore, they were not as predictable as Seirin was. Fast-paced it was, it also stopped Hikigaya from continuously shooting the ball as the back-and-forth game could have sapped up his stamina.

"Fast!" Kotaro yelped as Harasawa shot a running hook over him and scored another basket for the old timers.

"Akashi-kun," a voice piped up hind the redhead. Without needing to look, he could already recognize the bluenette's voice. "Do you require me to score as well? Hikigaya-kun can't just continue taking threes as it's taking up his stamina and we don't have any bench players?"

Akashi thought about that. Truth be told, he knew that with this team, they would already win, considering the other side did not have as much stamina and also because Kotaro and Himuro were both limiting the number of shots that goes in while his own team scored as normal. However, the point of this game was to show that they were capable enough to beat national teams from other countries and that they all of them can contribute in offense.

Nodding his head, he yelled at Himuro the moment the ball went out. "Himuro-san, when Kuroko is free, pass the ball to him. We must spread their defense." With a nod, Himuro got the memo as they were on offense. Passing the ball to the bluenette, Kuroko positioned himself for a phantom shot and managed to score before Takeuchi can move.

Meanwhile, Kuroko requested as they were defending, "Akashi-kun, in the next half, could you play with me? I want to try something out with you and Hikigaya-kun. I've been working on it ever since the camp started and I want to show it to you."

A satisfied smirked formed on the redhead's lips.

Between the Lines

It was one good morning in a restaurant at downtown Chiba and one Villacorta Calixto was seen exiting it as he seemed to be full with his tummy and was ready to head back to his team's hotel.

The Filipino point guard can feel his muscles still aching out from their last game last Saturday and grimaced at the pain. It was supposed to be his day to relax and yet, he can't help as to who they will first play in the first round.

Their Philippine team was scheduled to play another tune up game one week from now in Funabashi Arena, Chiba which is why they were here in the first place.

He decided to stop by a nearby store to buy sports drinks as he realized that practice would be severe again later. Once he entered, he quickly spotted a lone grape-flavored Gatorade sitting in the display fridge. Grabbing it, he was about to pay in the counter when suddenly, he swore he just hear someone call out his name.

"Uhm…hey…"

Looking back, Villacorta got a good look as to who was calling him and he was a bit surprised at the 'stranger' who only smiled warmly at him. Wearing a simple black shirt, Lakers shorts, and basketball shoes, his arms obviously had tattoos etched at both of his arms and his hair was styled in a ponytail fashion. He was at the same height as the Filipino and he had a good body build.

From the looks Villacorta had, it was obvious that he knew this guy.

"You're Jin Min-goo of South Korea…" Villacorta curtly said.

"Spot on, sir!" Jin said too brightly that it figuratively blinded the Filipino guard.

Villacorta took the momentary lapse to scan the Korean from head to toe before shrugging, "Can't really recognize you with those tats even if you're my former batchmate at the defunct Asian Youth Hoops Conference. By the way, the fact that you're here means the South Korean team is just around, perhaps even nearer from our team hotel."

"I think so. We just came here yesterday and coach allowed us to have a one week break to settle our legs." Jin explained while he takes out a basketball and began rolling it in his fingertips.

"Funny. We're also on a one week break after our practice match with Japan." The Filipino said while opening his drink to take a sip.

The Korean player then invited Villacorta that they take a walk for the reason that he wanted to get acquainted in this new surrounding as they are going to stay here until international games begins. Not really having anything to do other than to do personal exercises which he can skip for now, he decided to go with the Korean and together, they walked around downtown Chiba.

As they were walking around, they began to discuss random things.

"So I hear that this is the first time for your team to play in the Olympics for a long time…"

"Yeah…" Villacorta answered dully. "Probably like for the first time in more or less 35 years for the Philippines. This is the first time we really had good shooters and the last time we had pure shooters in our team, our national team lost to your country back in 2002."

"Ah, that was good memories for the Koreans." Jin chuckled. "In fact, Lee Sang Min, the guy who shot the trey, happened to have coached me a few times on shooting. Now that I think about it, there's also no either Chinese team. That's news to me."

Villacorta snorted, "We barely beaten them but still, it was a sweet one because in the past, we always lose to them—and to your team as well."

The silence then followed as they were too busy observing the surroundings around them. Then…

"By the way, have some news for you…" Villacorta broke the deafening silence. "You know Hikigaya Hachiman, the lone Japanese guy in our Asian Youth Hoops batch?"

It took a moment for Jin to figure out what the other was talking about but it did clicked in his mind, "Ah, yeah, I kind of remember him. He's that quick shooter and slasher in our batch right? Even I had a hard time guarding him in one of our exhibition matches. Though I heard he had stopped playing…"

"He stopped playing for the moment…" Villacorta clarified, earning a confused look from Jin. "Then he came back to playing basketball."

"That's amazing. It's not usually easy to return from hiatus."

"What's more surprising that he played like he didn't left at all." The Filipino said, remembering their one-on-one battle. "Sure, he rusted a bit but he's as quick as ever. He even managed to block my shot. Guy still remembers our middle school battles internationally but I doubt now I don't even know if he remembers you…I don't even think he remembers me as his batchmate even before our middle school careers…"

Now, Jin laughed at that. "Then I'll just make him remember me though street basketball. Now that I said it, I was walking around from schools to schools to challenge players, whether their high school students or college…"

"Isn't that bordering trespassing school grounds?" Villacorta said, now feeling a bit concerned for the Korean's rather carefree attitude.

"If there are no trespassing signs, then I could probably play them as long as I don't cause a ruckus."

Villacorta sighed as he replied. "Look, I'll just accompany you but you're on your own when something happens…"

They kept walking and after fifteen or so minutes, they arrived at a random school and once Villacorta saw the name of the school etched in the greyish brick wall, he raised his eyebrows. Sobu? But before he can say anything that this is exactly that same school where their former batchmate goes to, Jin proudly walked through the gates. The Korean asked a female student for directions to the gym and being quite the looker, he got what he wanted easily. The two males from the Korean and the Philippine teams practically sprinted to the gymnasium (more like Jin ran off and Villacorta chased).

Making it to their destination and opening the door, both cagers saw six boys playing three-on-three while the seventh was writing on his clipboard. There were also quite a few spectators in the bleachers. None of the seven boys present noticed their presences as they were immersed in their mini-match.

"Ah, hello." Villacorta greeted rather awkwardly while he cursed himself in Filipino as to why he got himself involved in this. Immediately, everyone stopped and gaped. The boys of Sobu didn't know about Jin but they just watched the Japan-Philippines match earlier which made them recognize the second male quickly.

"O—Oi, isn't that the number five guy Hikitani-kun played…" A female student wearing glasses said in shock as everyone from her group took a look at the two newcomers.

"Neh…neh…Irohasu…does Yukinoshita knows about the arrival of these two?"

"I-I don't think so. I mean, we're just asked by the Service Club on behalf of Hiratsuka-sensei to prepare this gym for an afternoon event so none of us knows about this."

"So one of them actually knows me?" Villacorta muttered to himself as he then steps forward and bowed, "I'm Villacorta Calixto and nice to meet you. This guy is Jin Min-goo. We don't know this was the school of Hikigaya Hachiman even though he used to be our basketball batch mate." He practically said all of that to try and cancel out Jin's unexpected rudeness.

"And what brings you here?" Hayama Hayato stepped in front and asked, the others were too much in shock to speak. "And Hikigaya, as you should know, isn't here at the moment."

"I'm here because I want to play basketball." Jin smirked. He then shoved his bag onto Villacorta (who had to suppress his urge to punch the Korean for it) and made his way towards the court. "Come, is there any one there who wanted to play with me for just a few minutes?"

The members of Sobu's basketball club, Hayato's clique and Isshiki gaped at Jin's bold statement.

"Excuse me?" Mochida said, finally finding his voice. "What was that?"

"I said play me…or you can call Hikigaya if you can…I want to see how much stronger he is now…"

"Why should we? You waltz in here and started demanding things like you own the place. You're not even a student here…" Miura Yumiko somehow found managed to say, albeit shakily, as Jin looked at her in an uninterested stare.

"Haah?" Jin looked unaffected. Villacorta kept quiet as this has nothing to do with him. He's just an innocent bystander. Although he was already scanning the whole court for any signs of security personnel just in case things go ugly in the next second. I don't even know how he managed to do this with boldness. I knew Jin Min-goo's not that typical Korean player but even this is too ridiculous for him to do.

"Look, if you want to chicken out, just say so. In fact, I regret going here, seeing that most of you aren't even a challenge to me…" He heard Jin then say.

That seemed to set them off but to their surprise, it was one of Hayato's clique members who decided to rise up to the challenge rather than the basketball club members.

"That's it! You want a match, I'll give you one!" The challenger roared.

"Good." Jin grinned.

But little did Tobe Kakeru know that he just signed his death warrant.

Sneak Peak: Tobe Kakeru foolishly accepts the Korean player's challenge for a one-on-one and as it happens, everyone from the service club rushes to the court to witness it happen. Quickly, Yukinoshita Yukino phones Hikigaya about what happened. Will Hikigaya be surprised at the turn of events? Find out!