CHAPTER 2 – Familiar Faces
Rakuzan High's motto was "Accomplishment in both letters and arms"; meaning exceptional performance in the aspects of studies and sports, and an exemplary example of one such student is Akashi Seijuuro, a first year and captain of the Rakuzan Basketball team. No matter the occasion, this team would always be seen practicing extremely passionately in order to maintain their position as the Champions. Even though they did experience their first loss last year, it only served to further fuel their drive to win again this year, and naturally this fire burned ever so fiercely in all the players on the court in their gym.
"Nice pass!" a deep voice shouted as Akashi smoothly passed a Rakuzan first-string player and passed it to Nebuya Eikichi, an Uncrowned King known for his monstrous strength, and he performed a two handed dunk.
"Nice one, Nebuya!" Akashi commented, "Let's try again. First-string players! Your movements are getting better no doubt; however, your coordination could definitely be better!" He said sternly. The players nodded without question and quickly shifted to their original positions.
The score was now at a 103 -20, with Akashi and the other three Uncrowned Kings against the team of first-string players. Apparently, they were still trying to find a fifth member for their team.
Akashi started with the balls in his hands, and observed his surroundings. Kotaro and Nebuya being double teamed huh, he thought as he observed the player guarding him. He sighed, they still have so much to improve on, and he shifted his gaze towards the left, to which the first-string player attempted to follow, and without warning the ball already landed perfectly in Reo Mibuchi's hands. The Uncrowned King known for his shooting abilities easily made a three pointer despite two players from Kotaro and Nebuya leaving their marks to block him. It was apparent even to an elementary grade school of the difference in skill.
"Alright, let's take a break; we have been practicing for over an hour already," Akashi said serenely. "Good Job guys!"
Akashi made his way towards the water cooler, in deep thought about his current team. They were good no doubt, but he nevertheless was still worried. After all, now that all of them are in their second year, the skills of the other Generation of Miracles would have drastically improved, with already three out of five miracles being able to enter ZONE, and there's no telling if the other two could as well. If he were to truly fight against them at full power, it would have to be the other "him", although using "his" skill did not suit him well.
So how's the team, the other voice spoke.
I thought you could see it already, Akashi said to him.
But against them, it'll have to be me that will fight, no? The voice pressed.
Akashi frowned; it was true, the only one who might have a real chance at beating the Miracles in a one-on-one would be the one who is the true owner of the Emperor Eye. The other him seemed to sense his unease, and simply said, it's up to you. At this point, I'll leave it up to you. Whether you want me to play, it's your choice. And with that, the voice faded away.
Akashi sprayed water on his face and looked up. Even though his relationship with his other self wasn't exactly pleasant, but it wasn't exactly rocky as well. After all it's still him: Akashi. In that way, he knew he could trust him as much as the other Akashi trusted him, albeit the other Akashi might need some restraint due his more violent tendencies and obsessive compulsion for winning. Although Akashi could not truly forgive his actions, he still sympathized with him as he was simply an extension of his own feelings. As he made his way back into the gym, he thought to himself that maybe just this once, he could rely on his other self just this once.
"Guys, let's start again!" And the referee blew his whistle.
Despite being deep in thought, Akashi's basketball skills were still as masterful as ever. As soon as he found a slight opening, he took it. With that, he quickly passed to ball to Kotaro Hayama, another Uncrowned King known for his extremely fast dribbles.
"Level three is enough, I guess?" Kotaro mumbled to himself, before making his usual confident grin. From a commoner's perspective trying to follow the ball, it seemed as though the ball had disappeared, but then before one could even realize it, Kotaro would already be a few meters ahead of you, having already made three to four dribbles in that few seconds. His lightning dribble skill was certainly formidable. Without much difficulty, he made a basket.
The game continued with the team dominating the first string players, but yet they were hardly complaining, for being able to play with such strong players is a privilege for them.
Reo Mibuchi received the ball from Akashi, who made his signature elbow pass. He gripped the ball and aimed at the hoop, not before noticing a first year player jumping in front of him. He smirked to himself.
"Arara~ so it's an Earth Shot then?" The 188cm shooting guard said, and he took the opportunity to jump towards the first-string player. He made contact, initiating a foul, or known as foul drawing where one creates contact with the defending player to call a foul and allowing for free throws. However, the Uncrowned King took it a step further with his masterful accuracy and made a three pointer. Hence, he could easily score another free point through the free throw, dubbing his play as a four-point play.
The referee blew his whistle, and Mibuchi easily made his free throw shot, earning his team 4 points in total.
"Beautiful shot, Mibuchi," Akashi commented, causing Mibuchi to do a mini-dance akin to a playful toddler, and affectionately call out "Thanks, Sei-Chan!"
The match continued, with the point gap increasing sharply. Before they knew it, it was already half past six. "Let's play one last time before we end this, okay?" The captain called out, and everyone nodded.
With Akashi dribbling towards the hoop, he was taken aback by the sudden appearance of three first string players in front of him. He smiled, and accepted the challenge. Akashi dribbled forward, one of them attempted a steal, but failed when Akashi made a behind the back crossover, then as he tried to advance towards the hoop, the second player raised his hands in attempt to block him. Instinctively, Akashi easily made another crossover to his right and spun around to avoid him, and then encountered the third player. Upon this, Akashi attempted to drive past him before noticing the first player from before reaching the ball from behind. At the same time, the second player was at his left, and he realized he was already nearing the side line, making it quite impossible to escape this situation. Not bad, he thought, after all usually he would not allow himself to be in this position. Perhaps he was distracted from his thought of utilizing the full power Emperor Eye once more.
"Akashi!" the other Uncrowned King shouted, as the Akashi seemed to fall closer and closer out of the court.
Then, Akashi smiled and made a pass to a first string player through a small opening he found. Everyone on the court was bewildered at his action, and then suddenly the ball curved upwards towards the hoop, to which Nebuya appeared and made an alley-oop dunk, ending the game.
Everyone turned towards the space to find out the identity of the mysterious passer. Kotaro and Mibuchi smiled. Everyone else barely noticed the young man standing in the middle of the court, with grey hair, a rather skinny build, as well as empty-looking desolate eyes. Akashi walked towards him.
"Playing as an alumnus, eh?" The young man smiled.
"Alright, so guys! Here's our new Center: Shinn Asaki!" Riko announced, seemingly impressed with her own decision.
The other members clapped enthusiastically. Asaki was about 190cm, the same height as Kagami, but unlike him, seemed much more reserved and quiet. Nevertheless, the Ace noted a sort of ferocity and wild hunger burning deep within his black eyes. Despite not totally catching his trials, Kagami did see Asaki easily blocking off a two pointer from one of the members.
"He seems reliable," Kuroko said solemnly, causing Kagami to jump in shock.
"Damn it Kuroko! Don't scare me!" he snapped back, but then quickly returned to his calm voice. "Yeah… he looks strong…"
"But I feel like I've seen him from somewhere…"
It was quite ominous yet odd at the same time. Last year, the strongest players were the Generation of Miracles, but Kagami had a nagging feeling that this year's juniors would prove to be a challenge for the Miracles. Having rested enough, he stood up and walked towards their new center, whom stared at him back.
"You are… Kagami… Taiga…" he mumbled. Kagami grinned back, pulling out his hand.
"Yep, welcome to the team!" And they both shook hands. Kagami looked down and noted how firm his grip was. "If you don't mind, let's have a one-on-one."
"Wha—" There was an instant uproar among the members.
"Kagami, what do you think you're doing?" Hyuga asked, half amused.
"He's just a junior, you know…" Izuki sighed. "Don't go challenging everyone you think is strong…"
"No… it's okay… Let's play," Asaki said, dropping the soft and gentle voice. Something seemed to stir up in him, causing Kagami to smirk viciously. He picked up the ball and they both made their way to the center of the court.
"First to five wins then," Asaki said. Kagami started with the basketball. For some reason, he had the same pumped up feeling when he first faced Kise Ryota of the Generation of Miracles.
Kagami dribbled on the spot, observing Asaki, whom took on a relaxed defensive stance. In an extreme burst of speed, Kagami made a crossover towards his left hand and darted towards Asaki's right, and as expected, the center easily followed this. He had expected this; in a fluid motion, Kagami spun around, and cut towards the opposite direction, enabling him pass Asaki, whom was still twisting his ankle. The other members cheered as Kagami reached the hoop, and then he took off –
Asaki was already behind him, and his hand came down like a jackhammer, rejecting Kagami's dunk with absurd ease. The other members stared in shock as the ball landed on the polished wooden floor and rolled towards the side.
He… rejected my dunk? Kagami thought, and stared back at him. This bastard… He's fast no doubt…
Asaki picked up the basketball and returned to the centre of the court. He dribbled the ball lightly, whilst Kagami watched. Then –
Asaki suddenly made a movement directly forward towards Kagami, causing him to involuntarily take a step back. With this, Asaki easily drove towards Kagami's left with that split second gap, and passed him. However, Kagami was too fast for him, and easily turning his body, he managed a backtip that knocked the ball out of Asaki hands, causing his eyes to widen. Wasting no time, Kagami dashed forward, and in two steps, managed his way around Asaki and caught the ball in a similar fashion to Daiki Aomine's irregular play. He quickly dribbled the ball and shot the ball from the paint, scoring his first point. As he looked back, he saw Asaki observing his palm that was backtipped, and then, he smiled.
"Senpai… Let's continue…" Asaki said.
The ball flew under Kagami's legs, causing him to freeze in surprise, however, he got back a moment later, and stretched out his arms to blocks Asaki's path. In a fraction of a second, Asaki made a behind-the-back crossover, and drove to Kagami's opposite side. At this instant, the steam and air around Kagami's body grew increasing hotter, and Asaki's eyes widened. This is, the Wild? He thought, and at once his suspicions were confirmed for Kagami's instinct and senses were enhanced to the point where without even turning his head, he darted for the ball and managed to block off Asaki completely, with his back facing him and his arms stretched out.
Nevertheless, if you're blocking my left side with your back, this makes it easier to drive to your right…! Asaki quickly made a crossover to his right while strafing in that direction, and drove forward but Kagami had anticipated this and also turned his body 180 degrees to the right, his huge stature completely sealing off Asaki's path just as his right hand received the ball.
Damn it…! And with a moment of hesitation, Kagami swung his left hand with full force and thrust the basketball out of Asaki's hands. Using the momentum, he continued spinning around and then jumped and made a slam dunk. The points went to Kagami, earning him victory as the other members cheered. With that, Kagami won with a 5-3.
He shook hands with him, exhausted but satisfied.
"Damn… You're definitely strong…" Kagami grinned, and Asaki smiled back. "Glad to be part of the team," he replied.
As he walked back to Kuroko, whom was observing him, the phantom player handed him a bottle of water, to which he took a huge gulp. He then took his towel and wiped of the beads from perspiration pouring down on his face.
"Damn… he was real good… even better than me when I first started…" Kagami muttered.
"Yeah… no doubt about that," Kuroko replied bluntly, causing Kagami to stare at him irritably.
"Couldn't you be nicer?" Kagami said, looking away.
"No, I meant it," Kuroko said, "Because I have seen him before." And Kagami looked back at him in surprise. "Back in Teiko, I mean…" he added, and then said no more.
Teiko, huh? That's where the Generation of Miracles were at before… no wonder he was strong… Kagami thought. Kuroko's junior…
Once again, somewhere far way, in a large school influenced largely by western culture, stood a large purple haired young man. He was observing his own set of recruits as well, although this did not matter much to him. In fact, he was more concerned with what's for dinner at home. Feeling some drowsy, he yawned audibly, causing his coach to whack him on the head with her wooden sword.
"What's that for Masako-chin…?" Murasakibara Atsushi muttered, rubbing the back of his head even though it barely hurt.
"Call me coach!" Masako Araki snapped back, looking up at him. Despite the height difference of over 60 cm, she was not intimidated one bit. Muraskibara looked away and yawned once again, causing her to grit her teeth.
"Now now, coach," Tatsuya Himuro tapped her back. "How's our new players?" he asked calmly.
Masako sighed. "Well for one thing, they ARE tall… so we got that going…" It was obvious that some of the juniors were definitely over two metres. "But we are still doing tryouts… Thank god this region of Japan has some pretty tall guys…" she muttered as she stared at Kenichi Okumura, now an alumnus, watching over the tryouts.
"Hey… why don't our old members join as alumni…?" Murasakibara asked lazily.
"Because they are buzy," Himuro replied quickly. "Anyway I see some prominent ones…" pointing at a young man whose height was over two metres, with brown hair. "And there's another one…" pointing again at this time, a much shorter one around 1.7 metres.
"Huh…? Muro-chin are you serious? That guy is way too short…" Murasakibara said with a hint of mockery. Nevertheless, he did note that the shorter player had a fierce aura around him, although when he did his tryouts, his playstyle genuinely surprised him.
The shorter player, despite his height, was fast, which reminded him very much of his former teammate Aomine Daiki, whose skill was his agility and freestyle play, although in this case, the player mostly stuck to fast drives and cuts before passing. It was clear he could not dunk, and whilst practicing with the other tall members, shooting without the risk of getting blocked was difficult, thus he adapted his playstyle accordingly.
"Heh, I like that guy…" Masako whispered audibly. "Maybe now Yosen High can not only have an impregnable defence, but piercing offense as well…" and Himuro nodded.
After a while, the new Yosen Team was finally formed. It consisted of: Murasakibara Atsushi (209 cm), Wei Liu (204 cm), Tatsuya Himuro (185 cm), and two new members, Yukio Matsuda (206 cm), Ryo Hideki (175 cm). No matter how anyone looks at this team, they certainly look very imposing.
"Right… let's begin practice then," Masako concluded, "this new team versus…" which caused the other members to all think at the same time: Are you kidding me right now? We would lose!
Nevertheless, Murasakibara seemed to notice something strangely familiar about Ryo, as though he had seen him before. He stood out because apart from being one of the shortest players, he had a trademark, tuff of white hair amidst this black spiky hair.
"Hey… Ryo-chin… are you from Teiko…?" Murasakibara asked, causing the first-year to look back up at him. He grinned, showing his pearly white teeth.
"Yep, I was your junior back then ya know!" he said, waving his finger at him. Murasakibara raised his eyebrows. "Huh… interesting…" As always, he did not really pay much attention to anyone in the basketball club apart from the Generation of Miracles.
He then remembered that the juniors that were one year beneath them were quite good too, only to be overshadowed by the Generation of Miracles. If anything, there were a few players back then that were easily on the Uncrowned King level, a group of talented individuals with skills just a notch below Generation of Miracles.
I wonder if the rest also got our juniors… Murasakibara wondered into the air. They were pretty good… I think…
Night fell quickly soon, and in Too Academy, their very first practice just ended as well. Unfortunately, the tryouts would only start the next day, hence the team had to practice with their limited numbers. As per usual, Aomine Daiki, the former Ace of the Generation of Miracles, found some excuse to get out of practice ("sorry, my stomach is kinda hurting…" or "something cropped up at home…"), although admittedly even without practice, he could easily trounce everyone in the gym; a testament to how absurdly strong he was. Despite this, he was in fact practicing harder than he had last year, having suffered his first true defeat, which motivated him to start practicing again, although trying to play with the team had been rather difficult considering that his playstyle was extremely individualistic. He sighed and rubbed the back of his head as he entered the empty gymnasium with his Satstuki Momoi, his longtime childhood friend and the Basketball club manager.
"Dai-chan, what are we doing here?" she asked curiously.
"Training," Aomine replied shortly. "Playing with the team, passing here and there is… hard," he finished lamely.
Momoi stared at him in surprise. Dai-chan is actually making an effort?
"Anyway, since no one is here, I'm going to do some of my own practice, and you can help me," he continued and pulled an entire metal rack of basketballs towards them.
"Err… how are we doing this?" Momoi asked nervously as she observed Aomine pulling off his jacket, revealing his sports uniform and muscular physique.
"ZONE, let's test the full capacity of it."
"Eh?"
"It's simple, in a minute, count how many baskets, and while you're at it, maybe grab some of the balls and put it in this rack so I can pick them up," Aomine explained.
"Wait… I know you're speed is really, really fast, but in a minute, you're going to run to the basket and see how many…? I mean that's abit…" Momoi said, but Aomine cut across her.
"Look, just help me… I've been practicing too. I just wanna see how far I can go," he finished impatiently.
Momoi nodded, and took out a stop watch. Aomine closed his eyes and concentrated; his mind was becoming blanker…
"Ready…" he heard her voice from far away.
"Go."
His eyes flashed opened and blue streaks of lightning flashed from his eyes. Right now, he was in the ZONE. He agilely dribbled to the hoop and made a dunk, causing a loud crashing sound to echo around the empty gym. Without wasting any time, Aomine rushed to pick up another ball near the sideline, and with one swift motion, he turned around and made a one handed signature formless short, which went into the hoop easily. Aomine continued this non-stop, continuously picking up basketballs around the court and making all sorts of shots and dunks while Momoi observed him quietly, counting.
His speed was really impressive, she thought, and even though she had seen this kind of movement from him all the time ever since they were kids, but seeing them again in the ZONE is really something else. Apart from that, she was also really elated that Dai-Chan was practicing seriously again, after losing to Seirin.
In the ZONE, it is said that the athlete in question becomes so immersed in their play, that all unnecessary thoughts disappear, but yet even in the ZONE, while Aomine was fully concentrated on making his shots, occasional thoughts of his former loss against Seirin would suddenly agitate him, thus causing him to dunk or dribble more aggressively. He made crossovers look so easily, and even without an opponent, keeping track of the ball might even be difficult for a non-basketball player due his unchanging pace and unpredictable style. Aomine dribbled and jumped past the base line (behind the backboard). While it would seem absurd why he would do this, Aomine would defy common sense by simply throwing the ball upwards without looking and the ball would follow through in a perfect arc and land into the hoop.
Clearly, it wasn't a bluff when people say he can score from anywhere he wants.
However, even after a minute, Aomine kept going, so Momoi simply stood there observed. Whilst Aomine was scoring, she would even bring out another rack to supply two dozen more basketballs, and even minutes, the entire gymnasium was scattered with basketballs.
After his 50th shot, Aomine suddenly stopped and fell on his knees. His body was completely drenched in sweat and his legs were shaking. The blue streaks of lightning faded away as he exited from the ZONE, while Momoi quickly rushed to him with a bottle of sports drinks and a towel. Aomine sat on the floor completely exhausted with his legs stretched out and downed the bottle, while Momoi massaged his calves.
"How long was that?" He asked. Momoi gave him a rather gleeful look.
"8 Minutes and about 30 seconds, I think? It's about 10 seconds per shot, although there were dunks too!" Momoi said excitedly while holding up her stopwatch. "It's a record Dai-Chan! I'm really proud of you, hehe!"
Aomine however look disgruntled. So for now, his limit is 8 minutes in the ZONE? It has improved by about 2 minutes from back then when his limit was about 6 minutes during his game with Seirin High, but is it really enough? He thought deeply. Furthermore, for this session, he was playing by himself, and there were basketballs scattered all over the court, and after these 8 minutes, it would be unlikely that he could continue playing since his fatigue was at his peak. It's not enough, Aomine concluded, I need to actually train with an actual player…
At this juncture, the gymnasium door opened, causing both of them to turn their heads. It was a young man whom they recognized immediately. He had shiny black hair and was wearing glasses and a nasty tricky grin.
"What are you doing here…?" Aomine panted.
"…Imayoshi senpai?" Momoi quickly added.
The former captain of the Too Academy Basketball club strolled in, and like always, he was smiling. Shoichi Imayoshi approached them, and then squatted down in front of them.
"You, Aomine, of all people, practicing?" he said, sniggering.
"What, you got a problem with that?" Aomine retorted, and the former captain laughed.
"Well, I suppose you should be practicing after last year's Winter Cup," he continued, although his face somewhat hardened as it was his last tournament in high school as well.
"But anyway," he continued and turned to Momoi, "I just saw some of the juniors just now, they were observing your practice."
"Really?" Momoi replied in surprise.
"Yep, so watch out. For some reason, I reckon they are quite strong too…" Imayoshi muttered, his grin slightly fading.
"How do you know that?" Aomine asked, and the former captain looked back at him.
"I recognize him… He's from Teiko too…"
Aomine and Momoi simply stared back at him, although Aomine did not look as concerned as Momoi.
"Are you playing as an alumnus?" he asked.
"No… I haven't got the time with everything that I have now…" Imayoshi replied. "Maybe next time, I'll play some streetball with you guys…"
And with that, he stood up and sighed.
"Back then, if only our team was stronger, huh?" he mumbled. "Don't make that mistake of not practicing again, y'know?"
Aomine looked away, somewhat abashed of himself. Deep down, he slightly knew it was his fault for their loss last year for not practicing hard enough.
"But this year ought to be interesting, I mean, there's gonna be a lot of strong players, and everybody's fighting hard after Seirin defeated them all… …"
There was a short pause. Then he finally looked back at them.
"You'll probably need a stronger rival to practice with, well, that's what I feel anyway."
Aomine looked up at him.
"Alright, I'll be seeing you… Bye…" And with that, Imayoshi left.
"Why did he even come here…" Aomine muttered and he got up on his feet. Though somewhat twitching, he could at least still walk.
"I agree with him you know," Momoi said suddenly.
"About what?"
"You need a rival… anyway tiring out yourself every practice with ZONE won't be effective in the long run…" she continued thoughtfully.
Aomine said nothing, and then proceeded to quickly clear away the basketballs. He was deep in thought; a rival huh…
After about fifteen minutes, everything was finally packed in order. He put on his jacket and turned to Momoi.
"Satsuki, pass me my phone," Aomine said to Momoi. Momoi gave a confused expression and passed it to him.
"What're you doing?" She asked.
"Getting a trainer," Aomine answered solemnly. He didn't want to do this, but if he really wanted to improve, he did not have much of choice. He unlocked his phone, dialed a certain number and put the phone to his ears. After a moment, the person on the other end picked up.
"Aomine-cchi?"
So here's chapter 2. Definitely added much more to my prototype chapter 2, which focuses on Seirin and abit of Yosen. There's gonna be a little subplot i guess for the new members as some of them are from Teiko, so you know, new rivals and stuff and all that. Comment and Review guys!