The two teams from the Tokyo region to qualify for the next round were to be decided today. In the other bracket, after defeating Kaijou, Kirisaki Daiichi would face off against Touou. The first match for the day however would be Seirin versus Shuutoku.
The second years were feeling the jitters as this was going to be their first match against a team with a miracle. They would not be playing the full match but the possibility of being subbed at any time had them anxious. Furihita continuously recounted the match last year against Rakuzan where he had to go up against Akashi and many of the first years listened with rapt attention.
While Seirin was walking towards their locker rooms, they ran into Kirisaki Daiichi who were being rowdy and loud as usual.
"That was the school that caused one of our senpai to be hospitalised." Koganei whispered to a junior as Seirin passed by.
"Last year, their captain got so pissed off at Kuroko that he tried to slam an elbow into Kuroko's face. Luckily, Kuroko managed to dodge. Their captain is the dark haired one with the bushy eyebrows. Don't look!" Seirin hurried past, heads down, eager to relieve themselves of the tension.
Reminded of the story, Kuroko thought about his current relationship with the violent captain of Kirisaki Daiichi. How was it that the two of them have come to a point where Kuroko would willingly allow the other to hurt him willingly? Why did Hanamiya even want to be friends(?) with him? The captain always treated him with respect and their relationship was one built of fair trade. Kuroko couldn't understand Hanamiya's reason for ankle breaking him to that extent. The shadow did not go back to the courts to practice since that night. It was rather petty but Kuroko felt justified. After all, the bruises hadn't faded and neither had his anger. Sure it wasn't out of character for Hanamiya and not totally unexpected for the captain to be violent. But it wasn't a trade of equal value and that was what had Kuroko perplexed.
Why was he so concerned and confused about his relationship with Hanamiya anyway?
Maybe it was all part of the spider's stupid little game and Kuroko had been played.
Whatever the reason, Kuroko's eyes found the green ones of Hanamiya as they passed each other in the corridor. Hanamiya hadn't texted him since then either so Kuroko didn't feel the need to do anything. The captain had a Maji Burger cup in his hands and was drinking out of it. The older boy didn't even acknowledge Kuroko as Seirin walked past.
Fine. Whatever.
Kuroko hurried on with his team only to feel something brushing his hands and a pressure against his palms. Unconsciously, he grasped on to the familiar shape pressed into his palm. Without stopping, Seirin passed Kirisaki Daiichi.
Instinctively, Kuroko took a sip of from the cup of vanilla milkshake in his hands. It was full, Hanamiya was totally fake drinking from it. He looked down at the cup. It was a normal cup, nothing written on it. Not that he expected there to be.
He smiled.
Ahh. So the other had understood the unfair payment for the ankle break practice.
Suddenly, it felt like all was right again. Kuroko didn't think too much about how the whole incident had affected him but he focused on the peaceful sentiment floating in his chest.
In the distance, He heard one of Hanamiya's team mates ask for a sip of his drink only to realise Hanamiya had 'tossed' the cup away already. Kuroko grinned, and was proud of himself for not chuckling.
The team settled into the locker room quickly. Warm ups and a pep talk from Hyuuga started.
"We've beaten them before, we can do it again!" Hyuuga started. "They've got an amazing three-point shooter but Seirin has one too!"
"That's not for you to say!" Riko slapped the Seirin shooter on the back of the head and gave the team a proper strategy talk. After that, the team left the locker rooms with a "SEIRIN GO!"
Stepping onto the court, Kuroko's eyes searched towards the opposite team's benches to look for his green-haired friend.
'Aquarius's lucky item of the day is a brass coin. 5yen will do. – Ryouta-kun.'
Kuroko had received the message earlier in the morning and kept a 5yen coin in his pocket which he took out at this moment to taunt Midorima with. Midorima was on the opposite bench but after seeing Kuroko's lucky item, he frowned and walked over to exchange their customary pleasantries.
"Hmm. Seems you came prepared." Midorima glowered and gestured to his own lucky item on the Shuutoku bench (a stick of lip balm) "So did I."
"I hope all your shots today are successful then, Shintaro-kun." Kuroko goaded with a little grin on his face.
The Shuutoku shooter snorted, but copied Kuroko's grin. "I hope you'll make all your shots successfully today too." Midorima's eyes gleamed with humour.
"Wish me luck then." Kuroko couldn't help but let out a little bit of excitement in his tone despite Midorima's mocking gibe. He looked forward to seeing their faces later.
Scanning up in the stands allowed him to spot Kise easily in the crowd. The blond was waving crazily and cheering for both teams. He gave the Kise a small wave. Aomine's team huddled near the exit towards the locker rooms, trying to get a glimpse of the match before their own. Kuroko gave the Touou power forward a small nod in acknowledgement too.
He really couldn't wait to see the look on their faces.
The match started with Shuutoku in possession of the ball and scoring the first basket from running down the centre quickly. Izuki immediately took the ball, passed it to Kuroko who bounced it to Koganei, breaking through Shuutoku's defence, leading to Seirin's first points.
Back and forth they went with the score keeping even until Takao dropped a signal to Midorima to start increasing the gap. In a flash, Shuutoku adapted and changed their formation to suit the three-point play. Defenders screened for their ace and Takao's hawk eye helped with directing plays leading to Midorima sinking threes after threes. Seirin fought back by enabling Hyuuga but no matter how Seirin's captain tried to even out the score, it was simply not enough to keep pace with the miracle that was Midorima Shintaro. Without Hyuuga in clutch mode, Seirin lost the first half 28 to 41.
The starting players headed back to the bench, sweat soaked and demoralised.
"Alright, team, focus. That was just the first half! Let's go with Kuroko's shadow zone for the next quarter. If we can't stop the threes, we can at least stop the ball from getting to Midorima-kun." Riko directed to keep the team's mind on the game. "Izuki-kun, shift places with Kuroko. I want every ball inside the semi-circle to be blocked or stolen, and every ball outside to be in Hyuuga's hands. We'll close the gap this round."
Kuroko gave Riko a firm nod but noticed that the second years were a little worried about being able to close such a large gap.
"Hey! We've made it this far. We can do this." Hyuuga declared and the starting team nodded.
"Yeah! SEIRIN GO!" and the team walked back out onto court.
Kuroko watched Takao's eyes light up as Kuroko stepped into the point guard position. He knew how Takao played. He knew what sort of passes Shintaro-kun needed. He knew he could make the shadow zone work for Seirin against Shuutoku. Kuroko felt his body start to shake from the nerves.
Knowing and believing were two different things. He had something to prove. But being able to do it successfully was a total unknown. But he had to. But he was just a shadow.
Mako-tan would call him a little shit if he saw how much Kuroko was shaking and doubting. Focus. Think of nothing. Focus on the emptiness. Be a void. Just. Do.
He took a deep breath.
"Yaaa, I was wondering when you guys would pull out the new formation." Takao raised his arms to defend Kuroko with the usual mocking grin on his face. "I'm really excited to test out how my hawk eye fares against your shadow zone."
Focus.
Kuroko didn't reply, but sent a look over Takao's shoulder to Mitobe and he was off. Takao turned to follow but spluttered after running into the screen that was Mitobe and couldn't keep up with Seirin's new point guard. Another exchanged glance with Koganei, and suddenly Shuutoku's attention was pulled away towards Koganei's sudden change in direction, leaving Kuroko to pass the ball smoothly to Hyuuga. When everyone's attention focused back on the play, the ball had already sunk in from the three-point line.
This was Kuroko's shadow zone where everything within a small area would be affected by his controlled misdirection supported by the rest of the team.
Takao quickly regrouped and send the ball flying back into the court. Shuutoku's forward dribbled onwards but the moment he got into the paint, the ball was stolen and sent halfway down the other end of the court from one of Kuroko's passes. The next few times Shuutoku had possession of the ball went similarly. Somehow, every pass or dribble into the semi led to a stolen ball through some form of misdirection or screened defence. Takao had snarled in frustration after finding himself in the semi-circle of Kuroko's shadow zone and being unable to pass the ball out or forward several times.
Kuroko was getting slightly tired from watching the movement of everyone around him. A little shift from Hyuuga getting into position meant that he could signal for Izuki to get into the paint and a bounce pass from the blindside of his defender would get the ball to Izuki to shoot while everyone's attention was on his captain who looked like he was preparing for a three.
Kuroko was in control of all the plays. He had learnt how to predict. He knew what to watch out for. He had learnt how to use his teammates in a similar was Mako-tan used Kirisaki Daiichi in a spider web. All his time playing basketball, he had depended on a light. This time, he was the one in control. For the first time he felt like he didn't need a light and it was exhilarating.
When it seemed like Shuutoku was going to pass to Midorima, Izuki's eagle eye would pick it up and he would run to help Mitobe double team the shooter. Kuroko processed the move and knew he would have to use misdirection on himself to steal the ball from the free player in the semi. While Kuroko's peripheral vision took care of the shadow zone, Izuki's eagle eye focused around the other team's star player and that was the foundation of Seirin's new formation.
The Shadow Zone - Kuroko made sure to give the play a name so people would be misdirected from the fact that it worked almost identical to Kirisaki Daiichi's spider web.
The second quarter counted down with the ball in Shuutoku's hands but with Takao unable to pass the ball safely, they ran out of time to pass. The whistle went off, 50 to 51 with Seirin in the lead.
The halftime break saw Seirin in a better mood and Kuroko smiled a little, feeling accomplished. He was tired both mentally and physically but there was a glimmer of hope that Seirin could really win this match.
The third quarter brought some more challenges. Takao had found a way to work around the shadow zone. Everyone took a few paces backwards out of the semi and suddenly passes and shots were more effective. Kuroko found it hard to watch out for player's movement when they were more spread out around the court. Midorima was shooting from almost at half-court, his lucky item, the stick of lip gloss, glinting in the light after each successful shot.
Riko must have seen that the Shadow zone wasn't as effective so Kuroko and Koganei were both swapped out, while Furihita and Kawahara were called in. Both second years were more pumped up from Seirin having the lead in the second half and were not as nervous going into the match. In the end, Seirin still managed to keep the gap and by the end of the third quarter, the score was a difference of 1 but in the favour of Shuutoku. It was a close game.
Kuroko had some time on the bench to think of a new strategy but the team was wary and worried.
"We need to do something. We won't be able to win if they keep shooting threes like that." Izuki started.
"It would be better if we can get them to shoot twos instead of threes. Make sure that the ball doesn't get to Midorima." Riko shifted some of the pieces on her board to show the new formation for the last quarter.
Koganei sighed. "I can't help but feel Kagami's absence on court. We all have to run more and switch into defence and offence more smoothly now that Kagami isn't here."
"Baka! We can't rely on him anymore. We can't be lazy." Hyuuga admonished.
Koganei exchanged looks with Mitobe, "Eh!? Don't joke about that, Mitobe. There's no way coach can increase our menus any more without us keeling over!"
"Boys! Focus!" Riko scolded.
For some reason, in every other match, someone had to bring Kagami up. Kuroko couldn't help but feel sore about it. Kagami was part of a duo. Why couldn't the team rely on him in a situation like this? Seirin was leading after the second quarter mostly due to his contributions! After all the changes to his playstyle, was it still insufficient? He couldn't help but feel bitter about all the hard work he had put in that had gone unnoticed by Seirin.
It wasn't his fault they were not strong enough to utilise his specialties.
No. Alright. He needed to stop thinking about it and start focusing on the solution. Deep breaths. Feel the emptiness. It's not like this was the first time his teammates didn't need him. It's not like he'd never felt this useless before.
Kuroko felt a shiver going down his spine and a voice calling him an idiot for being a depressive brooder. He really needed to focus on the moment and sort out his thoughts later.
From the corner of his eye, he spotted something shining in the dark.
Hanamiya stood alone in the shadows along the corridor leading to the locker area, casually applying lip gloss. The teen looked ridiculous leaning against the wall with his legs artfully crossed as if posing, left hand in his pocket while his right applied the gloss to his lips. The shimmery surface of the lip gloss caught the light and glinted teasingly. The captain smacked his lips a few times as if tasting, then brought the lip gloss closer to his eyes as if to read the contents in the gloss.
Kuroko blinked a couple of times, then took a few seconds to process the scene before snorting in amusement. Only Mako-tan could give an encouragement of this calibre. Kuroko felt for his own lucky item in his pocket, thankful for the reminder of what he needed to do.
"Coach." Kuroko spoke up and all eyes turned to him.
"Geh! Sorry Kuroko, I forgot you were standing there. That freaked me out a little." Both Hyuuga who stood next to him and Izuki jumped a little.
Kuroko resisted rolling his eyes. "Please leave Midorima to me. Let's go back to the first quarter's formation with Izuki-senpai as point guard. Do your best to defend as per normal but don't let the ball get to Shintaro-kun. I'll defend him personally."
"Do you have a plan, Kuroko?" Riko asked.
Kuroko tried to give an assuring smile. "I'll try to shoot as much as I can as well. Please pass the ball to me whenever you see the signal. Let's try to keep the score difference as minimal as possible. I will guarantee us a win."
"You won't be Kuroko if you didn't say things in such a straightforward manner." Hyuuga sighed but gave Kuroko a pat on the shoulder, while the rest of the team gave him nods of assurance. "Alright! You heard our miracle! On three!"
"SEIRIN GO!"
Kuroko chanced a glance back to the corridor but no there was no one there. A quick check towards Shuutoku's bench showed an absence of Shintaro-kun's lucky item too. Kuroko didn't know what Sagittarius ranked today, but he knew Seirin was going to rank first.
Shintaro-kun didn't have his lucky item after all. The win was Seirin's.
The whistle sounded and Izuki started off with the ball. Takao took a moment to acknowledge the change in point guard again but adapted quickly. Kuroko kept up with Midorima and made sure to steal from others whenever he could.
At one point, he managed to score back to back with his phantom shot from within the painted area. ("I can't phantom how Kuroko is shooting so accurately." "SHUT UP IZUKI!")
Another pass from Izuki led to a redirected pass to Hyuuga but with a defender crowding over the captain, Hyuuga had to pass back out to Kuroko who then made a shot from just within the semi. Three consecutive shots in a row for the player who hadn't made a shot the entire game. The crowd was going wild. Kise's voice rose above the others and Kuroko felt his spirits sore.
This was going to be his highest scoring game ever. Kuroko felt the jolt of adrenaline and couldn't help but twitch his fingers, ready to steal or shoot at any moment. It was addictive being in the light.
"You're getting better with shooting." Midorima had noticed his jitters and commented.
"And I'll keep getting better. You'd better watch out for me, Shintaro-kun." A smirk tried to bubble out onto his face but Kuroko kept it in. Anticipation seeped through him but he knew he had to wait for the right time to make the appropriate shot to make it poetic – so much so that Mako-tan would appreciate it.
The game continued with the scores being close. The two teams took turns taking the lead but when it came down to the final few seconds, Seirin was down 2 points. Izuki had the ball but Shuutoku's defenders were surrounding Hyuuga forcing a two point play with a foul at worst. Izuki directed everyone into position, passing to Koganei then to Mitobe but neither could score with assurance. Hyuuga was not an option and the clock was counting down.
Kuroko knew it was time. He couldn't have asked for a better scenario. The phantom finally allowed the smirk to crawl out on his face. He must have given something away because Takao quickly directed his team to defend after seeing the crazy smile on Kuroko's face and said something along the lines of "be alert, something's up!"
Kuroko was standing just a step outside the semi but sent a glace at Izuki who looked confused as to why Kuroko wanted the ball outside the semi. No one in his team knew about the late nights training with Mako-tan to perfect this.
Izuki passed him the ball anyway.
Everyone on the team had a defender while Hyuuga had two. No one bothered to defend him. He was the only free man on court. Shuutoku thought they were forcing him to shoot a two or try passing. Either way Seirin would lose if that were the only two options.
Too bad Shintaro-kun hadn't heeded his advice.
With the borderline insane smile on his face, Kuroko tilted his body sideways into a shooting stance with his body slightly lower than normal as if he were going to propel the ball further.
He was.
As the timer ticked down to the split second, Kuroko released the ball in an arc not at all similar to Midorima's. It went more forward than up, hit the backboard, and rebounded into the net noisily. It didn't have the grace that Midorima's had, but a three was a three nonetheless. The buzzer sounded just as Kuroko's shot went in.
102 to 101. Seirin had won and Kuroko had shot the winning shot.
In Mako-tan's words, 'Fuck yeah.'
The feeling of watching Shintaro-kun's jaw drop, and frozen on court would forever be archived in his memory. The shooter hadn't even bothered to defend Kuroko despite all the warnings. Kuroko wanted to blow a raspberry at the other but knew it would be too childish and it might really send Midorima into a stroke.
Ahhh… so this was how it felt to sink a buzzer beater. This electrifying, hot, bursting sensation that crashed through his mind and body.
Kuroko finally realised the court was silent, and it wasn't just Shintaro-kun's face who was locked in surprise. The whole of Seirin and Shuutoku were stunned frozen. Up in the audience, Kise, along with several other players from Kaijou, had stood up and was half hanging out of the railings but frozen as well.
The referee finally blew the whistle and called for Seirin as the winners with just a one point difference. Seirin's bench seemed to have finally woken from their shock and started to cheer and run on court towards Kuroko who had started laughing very uncharacteristically from the high. The seniors who had finally snapped out of their daze started to scream ecstatically and ran to pile onto Kuroko and their juniors who were all hugging the blue-haired teen. The crowd started to cheer crazily with Kise leading the cheers for Kuroko. At some point in time, someone lifted Kuroko onto their shoulders to parade around.
He felt like he was flying.
Kuroko couldn't believe the happiness and adrenaline bubbling from within. If this was what his lights felt every match, no wonder they loved playing basketball so much. It was crazy! It was amazing. It was a drug.
He was put back on the ground when the referee called for the team to line up to exchange bows. Midorima looked at him with pride and respect and Kuroko couldn't help but beam at the other.
"It's the first time I've seen you smile like that, Tetsuya." Midorima was smiling despite the loss. They shook hands. "I could tell you were definitely confident in that last shot and it wasn't just a fluke. You've been training hard."
"Of course. It's hard to make shadows shine." Was Kuroko's reply.
"We will definitely be ready for your dunks too next match. I look forward to it."
"Thank you, Shintaro-kun." It seemed like his smile was somewhat infectious as Midorima was smiling as well and felt the affection to even ruffle Kuroko's hair in public.
Seirin was in a celebratory mood back at the lockers.
"You've been holding out on us, Kuroko!" the second years swamped him. "You've definitely been practicing your shots after hours, haven't you?"
"What was that form though! That was crazy!"
"Yeah! I've never seen you do that during practice!"
"Yeah what the heck Kuroko! I heard that you can dunk now too?"
"Has Kagami been giving you tips from America? Or is it Aomine who's been training you?"
"That was seriously amazing! Did you see Midorima's face? Takao's too! They didn't even think of defending you!"
"I guess the hawk eye isn't twenty-twenty. Only hindsight is!"
"Shut up, Izuki!"
"I can't believe we won!"
"Let's go celebrate!"
"Yeah!"
"Hey, has anyone seen Kuroko?"
"…. EH?!"
Without Seirin knowing, Kuroko managed to sneak off. The Kirisaki Daiichi vs Touou game was going on now and that was where everyone else was leaving the court that they had just played their match in empty. He made his way closer to the scoreboard. 102 to 101. Kuroko smiled.
With his back to the scoreboard, he pulled out his phone to take a selfie.
'Image of Kuroko smiling with the scoreboard in the background. I finally beat the buzzer. – Kuroko.' He sent it along knowing that with the time difference, it was around 3 in the morning for Kagami and he wouldn't receive a reply anytime soon. He really couldn't help the smile plastered on his face, what happened during the match passing like snapshots through his mind. It was a high he wanted to keep going.
'Image of Kuroko smiling with the scoreboard in the background. I will go all out in our match if you win Touou. Hope you at least made sure that Midorima hadn't used that lip gloss before. Heard he gets ulcers easily. – Tetsu-tan.'
'Go all out? I look forward to the little shadow's attempt at playing the spider's web better than the original. Call it whatever you want, you stole my web technique but I've been using it longer than you have. Watch out for sharp elbows and ankle breaks, Tetsu-tan. Let's hope nobody gets too hurt. – Mako-tan.'
Kirisaki Daiichi managed to exploit Daiki's injury and won Touou by just three points thus proceeding into the next round to play against Seirin. Kuroko and Hanamiya continued to exchange trash talks through text but they have yet to meet up since the semi-final match.
That weekend, Kuroko spent his time on a neighbourhood street court watching Aomine, Kise, and Midorima vent their frustration through basketball. Many were shocked at how the three prominent teams with the famous miracles were all out of the running. Momoi had found out that even Akashi expressed his surprise at the final match for the interhigh qualifier from the Tokyo region. Apparently, Akashi was not informed of Kuroko's new ability and had made wrong calculation.
Whatever it was, whether uninformed or lack of faith in Kuroko's abilities, Kuroko was excited that he managed to knock the miracles off their pedestal once more.
On court, Aomine, Kise, and Midorima continued to rant and make fun of each other to get over their misery. Their plays were really sloppy and the three were more focused on fooling around than challenging each other. Kuroko wouldn't call it a waste of time but it was definitely amusing to watch Midorima try to do a lay up then bending his back backwards in an attempt to mock Aomine.
Momoi and Kuroko sat by the side sipping milkshakes in the shade. Momoi would cheer and jeer occasionally while Kuroko chipped in with insults.
"Shintaro-cchi is going to attempt a dunk? Let me stand on the side casually doing nothing because it's impossible that he's going to score." Kise taunted failing his arms around pretending to defend nothing.
Midorima, knowing it was a jibe from when he didn't defend Kuroko's three, shot back at the blond. "Oh look at me I can copy anyone!" Midorima folded his body in half backwards and attempted a half-assed shot from behind the backboard. "The only one who can copy me, is me." He announced really seriously and pushed his glasses up as a habit.
"Shin you asshole!"Aomine growled and snatched the ball away to shoot at the hoop at the other end. Aomine copied Midorima's form and the ball went insanely high but over the board to land in the bushes. Aomine then mirrored Midorima's signature glasses-push-up. "Today's lucky item is no shit, so I'm going to miss every shot today."
Momoi burst out laughing but went to fetch the ball as Midorima and Aomine continued to bicker. She dribbled a little towards the three and decided to join the fun.
"I am absolute! Kneel." she announced in the deepest voice she could manage. Aomine, Kise and Midorima exchanged looks before pretending to fall to the ground - as dramatic as possible in Kise's case, and as half-assed as possible in Midorima's case. Aomine crashed to the ground lazily and groaned.
"Ahhhh my ankle is broken!" Kise cried theatrically, prompting Aomine to launch a kick towards the model's face in annoyance at the overacting. Kuroko couldn't help but be amused, but also surprised at the light mood his friends were in despite losing their matches. Never in his dreams would he ever thought they would recover so quickly from a loss. He thought back to last year when the miracles were hardly friends and everyone only had faith in their own abilities. He remembered the tears shed when they each had lost for the first time, and to see them so positive and eager to play again brought a smile to Kuroko's face.
The others must have seen the look on Kuroko's face and were spurred to continue the silliness.
"I'm so lazy to move unless someone feeds me. So I'm just going to lie here and defend." Aomine announced and started waving his arms and legs on the ground as if he were a starfish.
"Misdirection!" Momoi called out before stepping on top of Aomine's stomach, kicking off, and then attempting to shoot at the basket in some weird form.
"Satsuki you asshole! Don't step on me that hurt!"
"Wow Daiki-cchi I cant believe how rude you are. Ankle break!"
"You fucking shit! Don't kick at me!" Aomine tried to dodge but tripped over himself trying to get off the floor.
"The only one who can trip me, is me."
"Shut up Shin! Don't make me eat your lucky item of the day!"
Kuroko managed to snap a couple of photos which he sent off that night.
'Image of Daiki-kun, Ryota-kun and Shintaro-kun in the midst of falling to the ground while Satsuki-chan approach them with the ball using ankle break because she is absolute. Hope you feel proud of how much Satsuki-chan has learnt from you, Seijuro-kun. – Tetsuya.'
'Image of Aomine failing around on the ground like a starfish. Atsushi-kun, did you teach Daiki-kun this move? Please educate him on better ways to defend, please. – Kuro-chin.'
'Image of Ryouta-kun, Daiki-kun, Shintaro-kun and Satsuki-chan facing forward standing side by side looking really serious, all in the same pose copying Kuroko's three-point shot form. Look at the lights I need to deal with while you're gone. – Kuroko.'
'Image of Ryouta-kun, Daiki-kun, Shintaro-kun and Satsuki-chan facing forward standing side by side looking really serious, all in the same pose copying Kuroko's three-point shot form. I have created an army. They call me senpai. – Tetsu-tan.'