The buzzer has sounded, signaling the start of the third quarter of the game. Shin passed the ball to Hong but the moment he caught the ball in his hands, Murasakibara, surprisingly, was up on him. Dammit! There's even more pressure now than in the first half. This intensity's crazy! Hong thought. In the midst of his thought, he hadn't noticed Hayama coming in for a steal. The ball was knocked from his hands and Hayama then passed it to Kamijou, who had dashed away from Shin.

Kim came to block him as he then extends his arms to try and stall the teen's fast break but not wanting to forget the moves he had learned in his past game, Kamijou whispered to himself, "Slow down…fake your move…Right to left crossover…" He then faked his motion as he bounces the ball to the left but immediately picks it up while turning in the opposite direction. Seeing this, Kim was left in stationary position so the spiky haired boy was able to grab the ball and pass him.

Could this be refined streetball? Kim thought as without thinking, he ended up fouling Kamijou instead by instinctively pushing him.

"Foul! Pushing! Black No. 10!" The Indian referee blew his whistle as he made the necessary hand signatures to the officials in the scoring table.

"Dammit!" Kim said in vulgar Korean. "I intentionally was trying to grab the ball but I got caught up with his fluid movements."

"That's a nice foul, to be honest." Shin said to Kim. "It's better than to let him get away with an open-wide layup."

The game continued with an inbounds pass from Hayama. Kamijou ran with the ball with Yeun trailing him. Kamijou then stopped and bounced the ball in his back just fast enough to be outside the stealing reach of the forward. Kamijou then saw Kise cutting inside the free throw key lane and quickly made a chest pass. Kise quickly took the ball and thundered down towards the net but when he was threatened by a taller Grayson, he then passed the ball to Mibuchi, who is already in his shooting stance.

"This is for my Sei-chan and everyone else in the bench!" The gay shooten said as he made his shot. It went in perfectly. Kamijou high-fived them and then went back to defend.

South Korea were not amused as Shin, who was already on his edge, is now a bit furious. The moment Grayson passed the ball to him, he effortlessly blew pass Kamijou with such speed that it left the boy appalled. It was then that Kamijou realized something.

I don't need to get intimidated. I had to overpower him, then.

He regrouped with the others and then told them of his plan. "We'll have to change plans a little bit. I'll be borrowing some movements from Akahi and Aomine to counter Shin so keep an eye out so you can get into a good shooting position once I saw an opening."

"Sure." Hayama patted his shoulder as they all ran to the goal of the opposing team.

The game restarted as South Korea had the ball. Kim had the ball until he reached the free throw circle in their half. He then passed to Grayson who then redirects it to Shin who was at the three-point line. But the ball never reached as all of the sudden, Kise stole the ball and bounced it to Kamijou, who was already running.

The blond then sped down the court and Shin decided to tail him. By the time they reached the corner, Kim had blocked Kamijou but that didn't stop him. He dribbled the ball quickly, causing the center to be unable to keep his centre of gravity. He then sped off pass him, holding the ball in his right hand. He made eye contact with Hayama for a split second so the Rakuzan Uncrowned King knew that he should be prepared.

There's something strange about his drive! Yeun thought with shock. It looks eerily similar to Shin's! He couldn't even start to forget it as he always witnesses it in their professional games.

Not wanting him to get the points, Kim jumped backwards to try to dive into the ball but ended up crashing into Kamijou, who was about to shoot a leaner shot. The referee blew the whistle again.

"Pushing! Black No. 10! Free throw, two shots!"

The Japanese crowd erupted in glee.

"Touma-kun's amazing…" Himegami didn't know how to put it in proper words. "It looks like he was playing for years already…"

But for some reason, my instincts tell me this isn't even his all. Fukiyose can't help but feel her spine suddenly sending chills. Is there still something that he is hiding even from me?

"You know what? I feel like a jerk." Tsuchimikado started with a sad smile in his face. "Maybe if we weren't being bad friends at all, he wouldn't have to leave us." He said the last sentence to himself since he didn't want to wholly admit it.

Kamijou stood in the free throw line, getting ready to make his first shot. There's no way he'll miss it as every point they score matters and every point is important to clinch their finals match against either Russia or America. He made the first shot as it went in perfectly. He then made the next one and it ended in the same result.

"Nice shot!" Kagami shouted from the bench.

"Good job, Kamijou!" Assistant coach Aida Kagetora cheered. Shirogane nodded with his arms folded.

Shin looked at Kamijou. He wasn't amused. When they were heading back to the other side of the court, the latter guarded the Korean guard while the others got into their position. Then suddenly, they heard the sound of the ball bouncing off the backboard and the swish of the net.

Everyone paused.

The entire gymnasium was in silence for a couple seconds.

And then after the buzzer sounded which signaled a basket was made, the South Korean audience erupted in cheers.

"That was a shot!? Now, it was some sort of a circus shot!"

"Shin Dong-il's proving he's here to win!"

Fukiyose started to worry for her beloved Touma, who seemed he got fazed a bit when he tried to block that shot.

Down on the court, Shin spoke to Kamijou in a terse manner. "Don't underestimate us. We'll win this before all of you knew it!"

The boy didn't respond. Instead, he moved away from his counterpart and headed over to the others.

"Kiyoshi-senpai…" He started. "I can use some help. My goddamn misfortune must be playing with me again so can you please enter?" I at least needed some familiar face before I lose my sanity. He cried internally.

"Looks like it. The shaded area isn't being clogged enough." He then looked at the clock and realized it. Kamijou then signaled to Shirogane as the brunette Seirin center walked over.

"Japan, member change!" The referee announced. Hayama stood beside him and when Kiyoshi made his way over, the two Uncrowned Kings tapped each other. The brunette then made his way onto the court and quickly got into position. This means that Kise will slide back to his original small forward position and Kiyoshi would be the power forward.

"Ugh…you again…" Murasakibara, who was holding his own, frowned upon seeing his rival come back inside. "Kami-chin, what's with the call?"

"Hah? I just felt we needed to shake up things…"

Kaamijou had the ball but Shin blocked his path. The spiky haired boy found it hard to pass the veteran play maker so he shot the ball instead, which surprised Shin. You're being too reckless, kid!

Kamijou himself knew it wouldn't go in but one thing was for sure.

Either Kiyoshi or Murasakibara would be able to secure the rebound.

At this moment, no one is better at getting offensive rebounds than those two.

Under the net, the Seirin and Yosen big men were battling with their counterparts for the ball. The moment it bounced off the rim of the net, Kiyoshi had jumped first and caught it, beating both Kim and Grayson, who were both caught off-guard by his perfect timing.

Kiyoshi then threw an overhead pass to Kise who was waiting at the three point line. He then made the trey.

With South Korea regrouping, Yeun passed the ball to Shin. He then passed the ball behind him to Hong who looked determined to make take back their points. When he released the ball, Mibuchi had run up just in time to block the shot, which stunned Hong, since no one had blocked his quick release shot in the tournament prior to this game. Mibuchi grabbed the airborne ball in time, and then passed it to Kamijou who then spots Kiyoshi and passed it to the latter.

To the surprise of those who knew him, Kiyoshi entered into his shooting motion in the three point line and made and attempt. The ball rattled in but it did made inside.

Japan then returned to defend their half. Going up against Kamijou, Shin managed to pass him by crossing from to his right as he then jumps up to make a shot but Kise saw this and tried to block it. Shin the passes it to Hong for the corner three and the latter made it.

"Let's get it back!" Kamijou said as he gets possession of the ball and began to ran back to the opponent's goal.

The boys then hurriedly got back into the game and everyone was going off to their markers with Shin coming to mark Kamijou. The raven slumped his shoulders a little bit and held the ball between his opened legs. He then bounced the ball slowly and upon the third bounce, he stepped off, dashing past the frozen Shin.

Kamijou had increased his speed.

When he broke pass, everyone was shocked as the two point guard's thundered towards South Korea's net. Kamijou then jumped to make a layup but Shin was right behind him.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, kid!" He said. He jumped to block the boy from behind but he ended up causing a foul. In that moment, Kamijou had a wild idea and prayed that it would work. Well, he already did this in the local tournaments but this one is different. Even then…

He threw the ball behind him, allowing it to curve over their heads and head to the net.

Swoosh.

It went in perfectly.

"Defense! Black No. 4! Basket counts, one free throw!" The Indian referee blew his whistle again.

In the crowd, Fukiyose wore the sweetest smile her face can make could make. Not only was she proud that Kamijou finally had become a good player, she was glad that she (somewhat) helped him become the mature player that he is.

"Wait, isn't that number four's fourth foul?" Tsuchimikado asked. "If that's the case, then he can't make any more bold plays! Kami-yan will simply have to keep attacking and attacking his defense."

"Yeah. South Korea's in a pinch now." Aogami replied.

On the court, the South Korean players started to worry. It's bad that one of their aces and captain has four fouls but it's even worse that his counterpart can still play at full power without any restrictions.

Kamijou then walked pass Shin to complete his three point play for the game. He got into position and made the shot effortlessly.

Hong bounced the ball as he made his way to Japan's net. This isn't good. The entire fourth quarter is left and we're in this situation. Japan's still in the lead!

Mibuchi came up to block Hong so quickly he passed the ball to Shin.

"Captain!" He called out when he noticed that their point guard seemed to be in a daze. Not letting this pass, Kamijou quickly snatched the ball and headed down the court. When he was close to the three-point line, Yeun came to stop him so he quickly took a Barrier Jumper move as he distances from his mark. The moment he did so, Mibuchi came up behind him and he saw Kiyoshi and Kise ready to take shots.

He passed the ball to Mibuchi and shouted. "Kise!"

The Rakuzan shooting guard flung the ball to the blonde who received with ease. He then made a three. The Japanese team and their supporters cheered. The boys made their way back to their net quickly as Shin was in deep thought.

Those four fouls were my mistake. I had to come up with something. I need to show them the pride of Korea's veterans.

He received the ball from Hong and mercilessly, he dashed towards Japan's net. Seeing the incoming threat, Kamijou quickly signaled to the others to not try to stop him. They nodded and seeing this, the audience wondered why the players weren't doing anything to stop Shin.

The latter himself didn't care as his thoughts were about recovering the points they lost. He was going to make a shot in the foul line but the moment he jumped to release the ball from his hands, a hand swatted the ball away from him, sending it bouncing away to the edge of the court.

"Tsk…this boy!" He said in anger.

Mibuchi got the ball and then passed it to Kise who then passes it to Murasakibara who was already further down the court. But seeing Grayson and Yeun already coming to stop him, he then lobs the ball into the waiting hands of Kiyoshi who made an alley-oop dunk.

It was then that the buzzer had sounded which meant that the third quarter was now over.

The teams returned to their benches and the moment Kamijou sat down, he began breathing heavily.

"Are you okay?" Mibuchi asked.

"Yeah, I'm all right." Kamijou answered.

"Okay, so far, we're in the lead going into the fourth quarter." Shirogane began to talk as he then displays a whiteboard into his lap. "But no one can be sure until the final buzzer sounds and with that, we can't be complacent with the current gap between the two teams. For this quarter, all of the former Teiko players would be playing. Akashi, Midorima, Kise, Aomine, and Murasakibara, give it all you can! Nothing's more important right now than going into the finals!"

"Hai!" The Five Generation of Miracles replied.

As the five rainbow-haired guys were reentering the court, Aomine said. "Kise, don't drag us down."

"Hidoi! I did fine in the third quarter! Maybe it should be you who should be careful!" The blonde retorted back.

"Hah? You're talking about yourself?"

"Why you—"

"Kise, Aomine, will you two shut up?" Midorima got irritated as they were not about to go to their positions.

The game restarted as Japan has the ball. It was then passed overhead to Aomine. Once more, he and Kim went head to head but Aomine was giving the older South Korean one hell of a time. After many twists and turns, Aomine managed to score a shot.

By doing a fadeaway.

It went in smoothly.

Japan went back to defend, Hong went to retrieve the ball, and then passed it to Shin. He then passed it back behind to Hong who then redirected it Grayson. When Akashi ran on ahead, Grayson passed the ball back to Shin, and Midorima came to stop him. The green haired shooter managed to somewhat cover him but Shin still managed to release his shot.

The ball rattled into the net as Midorima was unable to completely stop it.

"That was close…" Kamijou sighed as he remembered how formidable Shin is.

In the audience, Fukiyose knew that it was just right time to bench Kamijou. She didn't slightly expect, though, that they'll be palying the Generation of Miracles at this quarter and time. Something that like this reminded her of her time with Kashiwaki and how he was utterly destroyed in a practice match against the former Teiko players.

"Well, with this team, I don't doubt they would be able to hold on." Tsuchimikado said in-between his gnawing of his sandwich.

"Don't talk while your mouth is full." The Iron Wall Girl chided him slightly.

"Sorry, Fukiyose-sama…"

All of the sudden, the crowd erupted with cheers. Looking back at the match, they saw Aomine throw the ball to the hoop which bounced off the backboard and into the net.

"Didn't Kami-yan managed to do that hard shot as well one time? I mean, it looks whacky." Aogami asked.

"Yes, if I remember correctly." Himegami replied.

"What the hell?!" They heard a Japanese fan shout. They looked in the direction of the court to see Grayson slamming the ball against Murasakibara, who got shaken up a bit. They then saw Akashi immediately signal something at the others and then they saw Kise retrieved the ball, and passed it to Akashi. Aomine, Murasakibara, and Midorima had already run on ahead.

Akashi then passed to Midorima who chest passed it to Kise. The small forward then bounced it to Aomine who had Grayson in front of him. With a smirk, Aomine dashed pass him and performed a double-clutch layup against Kim which left him in amazement over his smooth shot and agility in the air.

Watching the match, Harasawa, the tanned ace's coach at Touou, almost tore up. "Isn't that kid beautiful?" He asked aloud, sniffing as well. He even pretended to wipe a tear.

His fellow assistant coaches looked at him. Well, if he wasn't completely a ganguro…

"His shots, his drives, his dribbles…everything he does is in accordance to aesthetics." Harasawa continued. "He's a masterpiece. A beautiful one."

Oh…That's what you meant. The rest of the coaches thought weirdly.

The crowd erupted. "This match is so entertaining!"

"Neither one's backing down!"

"It's a battle of two Asian superpowers!"

Back on the court, Japan were heading to defend. As they walked back to their net, Akashi addressed them.

"Aomine, you and I will be passing. Midorima and Kise should be always ready to sink threes since that's the only way we'll pull ahead. Aomine we'll take care of scoring in the perimeter." The redhead said in authority. "And Murasakibara, we'll leave the net and the shaded area to you."

"Yes, captain!"

Shin had the ball at the center circle with Akashi blocking him while at the free-throw circle was Aomine and his counterpart. On the top of the three point line were Midorima and Hong with Kise and Yeun. Under the net, Murasakibara was outboxing Grayson for position.

Even though Shin had the ball, his eyes were focused on Aomine and Akashi. The Generation of Miracles…I never expected them to be this good. He thought as then attempted to pass Akashi but Akashi didn't make it easy for him. He then called out to Yeun and made an overhead to the ace.

He then bounced the ball after which he went into a crossover. The moment Aomine saw Yeun's knees shift slightly to the left he knew that he was going right.

When Yeun moved right, Aomine slid to the right as well. I guess I'll just have to be faster. With a step, Yeun then broke pass Aomine but while South Korea were rejoicing, they miss the grins on Japan's faces.

The moment he got pass, Aomine turned and back-tipped the ball out of his hands and it bounced into Midorima's direction. The shooting guard quickly received it but Hong was quick to block.

Akashi then dashed towards Aomine, and when he was close enough, he went in front of Yeun while Aomine ran pass Hong.

He then bounced the ball to Kise who slapped it to Midorima and Shot the ball, with no one being able to stop him.

The ball went in perfectly. With that, Japan was now at 90 while South Korea was at 86. Without hesitation, the Akatsuki Five dashed back to their half with SoKor coming to score.

Hong passed the ball to Shin and he attacked straight to the net, but something strange happened. Aomine was the one who came up to block him. Looking around, Shin noticed that Japan had switched their defense. Midorima was on Grayson, Akashi was marking Yeun, Kise was guarding Kim while Murasakibara decided to go out of the shaded area temporarily to stop Hong.

But blowing that off, he tried to dash past Aomine and in that moment, he saw a flash of red and the Japanese boys running off. Choosing to ignore it, he continued but then Hong called out to him.

"Captain! The ball!"

"Huh?" Shin looked absolutely frightened. The ball was gone all of the sudden and the Akatsuki Five were storming towards South Korea's net. "Shit! I was too distracted!" He cursed. He then ran off with Hong as the rest of the Koreans were already down there.

Midorima was the one with the ball, and Hong tried to block him. He then started dribbling extremely fast as he made a rare shot in the perimeter. However, because it was too strong, the ball bounced off and instinctively, Akashi and Aomine both jumped in the air as they all battled in the air with Grayson and Yeun. Fortunately, the Touou power forward was able to grab the ball and was about to make a quick take off when he heard a loud thud in the floor. He was about to ignore it when he heard a familiar voice suddenly cry in pain.

Turning around, he was more than shocked to see Akashi lying in the floor as he was clutching on his right leg.

It looked like their captain had collided slightly with Shin at the aerial fight for the ball and in the process, the Korean accidentally stepped on the right foot of Akashi when they both landed on the floor.

"Akashi-kun!" Kuroko suddenly called out in concern as he stood up.

"Akashi/Sei-chan/Akashi-san/Akashicchi/Captain!" The rest of the team called out and followed suit with Kuroko as they all surround their hurt player while another referee of Taiwanese nationality blew his whistle. "Referee, time out!"

"Akashi! Are you fine?!" Shirogane, now worried, raised his voice as he had Kamijou help the redhead stand up.

"I'm fine…" Akashi tried to stand up on his own but he ended up holding into the shoulders of the spiky haired boy. "Unfortunately…"

"You're not fine at all." Shirogane said in a grave voice as from afar, Shin was already apologizing to the assistant coaches as he didn't mean to step into Akashi's foot. "You'll have to sit out."

As Kamijou was assisting the limping Akashi into the bench, the remaining members of the Generation of Miracles then decided to should be subbed in. "Kise, handle the point guard duties for now." Midorima, being the vice-captain, decided that it's his time to be superior and he took over the team. "There is still five minutes into the game but let's tighten it up. Aomine, slide to the small forward position."

"Hah?" Aomine can't believe what he heard. "Then that means…"

"Yes." As if already knowing what their ace will say, Midorima didn't let him continue. "In place of you, Kagami would be inserted as the power forward." He said as at the same time, Kagami is already lacing up his sneakers and was already marching into the court.

"Yosha! Let's do this!" Kagami said in a boisterous way that Aomine hilariously mocked him by covering his ears.

"Oi, Bakagami. Don't drag us down." The tanned ace scowled as he then picks up the ball. "Lest you want me to personally kick you in your butt."

"What did you say, teme?!" Kagami angrily yelled as he was held back by Kise from trying to punch him.

"Neh…neh…Kagamicchi…we still have a five-minute game." Kise had to pacify the redhead.

With the game resuming, Aomine passes the ball to Kise, who brings the ball as fast as he can. Seeing Shin was hell-bent on stopping them with less than five minutes remaining, he then activated his Perfect Copy mode and the moment the South Korean guard tried to dive in for the leather basketball, Kise saw felt Midorima now asking for the ball from his behind so he passed it backwards. Hong, who was on Kagami, suddenly stepped in too late to even stop Midorima's three as the latter didn't fail in his three point shot. The score moved to 93 – 86.

"Shit!" Kim said as he inbounds the ball but the second he did, he saw a flash of gold in his vision and in an instant, he realized Kise had intercepted the ball. The defense of South Korea was left scrambling as the blonde then passes it again to Midorima, who made another high-projectile three pointer. The ball found its mark again as the score became 96 – 86.

The South Koreans, though, didn't give up as Yeun threw an outlet pass to a running Shin, who barely managed to make a layup before Murasakibara was able to block it. "Wew, this is tough. But I can still take it." Aomine said to himself as he wipes off the sweat in his face. "Bring it on, Koreans."

The match continued but with the time now winding down to three minutes, it only got more intense. With Aomine now taking charge of Japan's offense with some help from Midorima, their speed increased, and since Kise focused on team play instead of scoring on his own, the rest of the Japanese players were able to utilize their offensive skills to the fullest. South Korea felt as though they were doing sprints as they found themselves dancing in pace with Japan's run-and-gun attack.

The Japanese audience was kept in an uproar, as they noticed that their team went on a stealing spree. The moment any other Korean player apart from Shin or Hong had the ball, after couple dribbles, it was stolen by either Aomine or Kagami. And what was even worse, the ball tends to move at such blurring speed that they kept losing track of it.

As the clock continues to count down, everyone noticed something with the South Korean players. They were getting already worn out while Japan, partly thanks to the number os substitutions, still had lots of energy as well as fresh legs from the bench.

My head is starting to go blank. Shin thought. I feel like I've been nothing but sprints back and forth, damn it.

Hong stood staring and catching his breath. However, he seemed lost to the real world. Grayson called out to him as the ball was passed as his direction. "Huh?" The ball bounced off his hand and he just realized in horror at what happened. Without hitch, Kise snatched the ball and stormed down court, with Shin following. By this time, there were only twenty seconds remaining and the two teams all ran to where Aomine and Shin had ran. The former had made a rim-shattering tomahawk dunk, raising them to 108 opposed to South Korea's 100.

"Yosha!" He yells in victory as he raises his arms. By now, there is only ten seconds left and Shin had the ball. He passed it to Hong, who makes a layup in the other side of the court before Murasakibara can even block him. Grunting, Kagami then inbounds it to Kise, who merely dribbles it out as the time finally hits zero and the buzzer was finally sounded, signaling the end of the game, 108 – 102.

Immediately, the final Japanese and South Korean fives converge into two lines in the center circle, with the former cheering together and with smiles in their faces.

"Game over! One hundred and eight to one hundred and two, Japan!"

"Thank you very much!"

The Japanese locker room was nothing short of a festival. Kise and Hayama were both squirting each other with water from their bottles as Midorima just stayed stoic in the interior but his small smile is evident if one is to look enough properly.

"We're in the finals!" Kagami shouted with glee. "We're in the finals!"

The boys who just played sat on the benches, drinking water and eating lemons. Shirogane watched them with admiration as Kamijou watched the scene with a proud smile that he has. Everyone worked hard today and that's enough to be happy. However, if there is anything bad to their win, it's the unfortunate injury of Akashi, who is now being treated to the nearby Sasaki General Hospital.

"Good job everyone." Shirogane started as he clapped. "But we can't relax for now. You must all rest for the final game."

"Hai." They chorused.

"Hey, coach, how is Akashi doing?" Midorima asked with a slight concern in his face.

Shirogane gave a grim face before replying. "While the injury isn't career-changing or anything close to that, it looks like he had sustained a bruise and a sprained ligament. The doctors are doing all they can to relieve the pain but the healing would take for at least two to three weeks."

"Two to three weeks?!" Mibuchi yelled in surprised. "But the finals is in Thursday!"

"Well…if it can't be helped…" Aomine suddenly slung his arm around the neck of Kamijou, who was slight surprised by his action. "Then Kamijou can just take over. Just easy, right?"

Everyone looked at the spiky haired boy, who then was sweating bullets. For some reason, their staring is making me look uneasy.

"We can talk for that tomorrow for one last full-practice." Shirogane said. "For now, all of you who wish to go home now can do so." Immediately, the rest of the former Teiko players (including Nijimura and Sekiguchi) plus Kagami and the three Uncrowned Kings of Rakuzan all went to the hospital where Akashi is confined. Okamura had some business to take care so he had to go home right now. This leaves Kamijou and Kiyoshi, who are now packing their objects.

"Hey, Kamijou, do you to watch the match between Russia and America with me?" Kiyoshi asked.

"Uhm…yeah. I guess I can watch a game for today." Kamijou replied. "But let me text her first before she leaves this place. We might be able to reach them." He then asked as he pulls out his phone to send a message.

"Well, we better head out now before the seats get full."

With that, the Seirin boys got up and were the last to head out of the locker room.