The updates for this story will be unspecified because my motivation resembles a roller coaster. Take that as you will.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko No Basuke
Text within "" - Speech
Italic Text - Thoughts
Note: The names in this fanfic are structured with the given name first like in anglophone countries. This is how it was done in the wiki, so I'm doing it that way as well.
Chapter 7: Lighting Embers
"ISO! ISO!"
"Oh, you think you can take me one-on-one Mamoru? HUH!?"
"Not like it'll be very hard Hinode!"
Mamoru faked left and went right but Akira didn't fall for it, getting between him and the basket and forcing Mamoru to stop in his tracks. Not letting up the pressure, Mamoru grabbed the ball before shooting off a quick step-back three that went right over Akira's outstretched hand, cutting through the air before swishing cleanly into the 8-foot tall rim.
Mam89oru laughed before waggling a finger toward Akira.
"What was that about taking you on one-on-one? Not so loud now are you?"
"It was a lucky shot and you know it. Besides I'm blowing past you on this next possession."
"We'll see about that Hinode."
"Oh, you'll see it alright"
Akira laughed before catching the ball Teruo threw his way from out of bounds. Slowly dribbling up the court, Akira watched the opposing players and their positions. This time Teruo and Minako were on his team while Yoshino, Mamoru and Koji were on the other, each covering one of his team's players.
"Come on Hinode, you can't let him get one over on you like that."
Akira rolled his eyes at Koji, who smirked in response before returning his attention to the court. Letting out a breath and centring himself, he smiled eyeing down Mamoru who stood confidently just behind the arc of the three-point line.
"Alright Mamoru, round two. ISO! ISO!"
(~)
Akira wiped himself down with a towel and the rest of the students before Instructor Ikeda walked over, with a slight smile on his face.
"Alright kids, you're not doing half bad. Don't let that go to your heads though, especially you Mamoru. Your skull's thick enough as it is."
"Yea, yea instructor."
Akira had to bite down a laugh at that while Koji didn't have the same restraint, slapping Mamoru on the back as he laughed. Off to the side, even Teruo and Minako had slight smiles on their faces while Yoshino looked amused from afar.
"Now, you're all eight years old now, which means you can enter into official competitions at this point. The local Osaka under-12 league's season is officially starting in two months and if none of you have any complaints, I'm thinking of registering you six as a team."
Akira looked around him at the other members of the program, who now all seemed to be paying rapt attention to their instructor. Akira turned to face Instructor Ikeda as well, with stars in his eyes just like the rest. This was it, they would finally get to play against other teams.
"Looks like you've all come to a decision. I'll get started on the paperwork. From now on, you all are officially part of the Taisho Sports Center Braves."
Akira felt excitement swell up inside him. This was the next step forward. A full-on competition with other teams. From now on, it would get real.
"Though I will have to say, you'll have to get used to playing as a team of five instead of in teams of three. You've all only played five-on-five games rarely and against much older people so from now on we're going to be running drills focusing on playing as such."
With that Instructor Ikeda walked away, likely to go fill out some forms.
Akira turned toward the rest of the stu- his teammates now.
"...finally. LET'S GO!"
Koji jumped up onto his feet before making circles around the group. Mamoru followed suit, clambering to his feet before looking at Akira.
"This is it Hinode. We're winning this thing!"
"Calm down Mamoru, we're not even in the competition yet."
"Oh come on Minako, as if anyone can beat me."
Akira laughed
"Oh, yea Mamoru? I don't know if you remember this but I did have more points than you today."
"What was that Hinode? My hearing right now's about as bad as your defence was."
"He's got you there Hinode!"
Akira rolled his eyes at Koji's remark before responding to Mamoru.
"Don't understand why you're talking, Yoshino here had way more rebounds than you did."
"It's not my fault he's so tall."
"I'm not tall, it's you guys that are short."
"Yea, yea, whatever."
"Come on guys, calm down."
Mamoru put a hand on his chest as if offended.
"Us, excited about playing in a tournament for the first time Minako?"
Minako sighed but couldn't keep the small smile off of her face.
"Alright fine. I'm pretty excited myself."
"HA! Knew it."
Koji laughed in Minako's face before she pushed him away, causing him to stagger before popping back up with that same wide grin on his face.
"We're going to win this thing for sure!"
"Of course we are? See Minako? Koji agrees with me!"
Minako rolled her eyes as Akira smiled at the scene.
"Look Minako, Mamoru may be full of himself but he's not wrong. I'd say we're pretty good for our age."
Minako turned to Akira, a sharp glint in her eye.
"But it's not just eight-year-olds we'll be going against. The tournament is for under 12s. That means we could be facing full teams of eleven years olds. No matter how good we are, they're going to be taller, faster and stronger than us."
"So that may be Minako but I'm still sure we can do this. We've all been giving our best. Well maybe aside from Koji on shooting drills."
"HEY! They're boring and you know it!"
Akira laughed before looking at Minako again.
"We'll be fine, don't worry."
"I agree with Hinode. I'd say we have a good chance at this."
Akira smiled at Yoshino who loomed over both of them with his height before Mamoru spoke up again.
"Well if Hinode and Yoshino think we can win this thing, then there's no way we'll lose."
"What he said!"
Mamoru and Koji high-fived each other as Akira, Minako and Yoshino looked on before Akira looked over at the one person who hadn't joined their conversation.
"Hey Teruo, what do you think?"
"Oh me? Hmm, I think we'll do well if we try our best."
"Look at that even Teruo agrees with me!"
"I don't think that's what he meant Mamoru but whatever you say."
"Well Hinode, I just read between the lines if you have to know."
Akira pointed at Mamoru.
"Don't lie, we all know you can't read."
"I'd believe it."
"Hey don't agree with him Minako! That's unfair!"
"Mhm."
Akira looked on as Instructor Ikeda came back with the ball. They would get the chance to prove their worth soon. It was only a matter of time now.
(~)
The days passed. School was about as easy as it always was. If there was one thing that having a previous life helped with, it was that. It still felt boring and really didn't interest him all that much but it was tolerable. In the end, that was all he asked for.
About a month after making his announcement, Instructor Ikeda informed them that they were all set to go for the tournament.
They all cheered that day, even Teruo and Minako. It was quiet but Akira had heard it all the same.
After that, they practiced as they had never practiced before. All the drills were team drills, aimed at getting them used to five-on-five games. It was a bit challenging at first but they grew used to it quickly. They were a team now, not just a group of individuals and it showed. Though any real progress would be shown on the court instead of during practice.
The team grew closer outside of basketball as well. They were friends before of course, but the binding idea of a team brought them ever closer together. That much was evident when one day Teruo of all people approached him after one of their practices.
"Hey Hinode can I talk to you?"
Akira blinked in response before nodding, slightly confused. Out of all the people on the team, Teruo was the most quiet.
"I've just been thinking. How are you so confident we'll win?"
"...hmm wouldn't it be better to ask Mamoru about that?"
"I would but he's really loud and hurts my ears sometimes. The same goes for Koji. Honestly, they're both pretty annoying sometimes."
Akira was taken aback but couldn't help but let out a laugh.
"They can be like that sometimes... hmm I guess I'm confident because we've given this game our all. That's got to count for something right? We have to believe in ourselves or we'll never get anywhere. We can cry if we lose but until then we're invincible."
Teruo seemed to mull that over before he simply nodded to Akira and walked off. For his part, Akira wondered whether that had actually happened before shrugging his shoulders. Trying to figure out Teruo was too much work for his post practice mind.
The day passed. Then the next did as well.
Eventually, the time for their first game had come.
(~)
"Hey Hinode."
"What's up Mamoru?"
"We made it."
Akira deadpanned.
"Mamoru, this is an under 12s tournament purely in Osaka. I'm not sure if they can even refuse the teams that sign up."
Mamoru pouted.
"Hey! Come on you have to admit this sports center is amazing."
"Well I guess I can't disagree with that."
Akira looked up at the building in front of them with some measure of awe. Their sports center was great, it really was but this one was clearly bigger and newer. In fact it took up a space the size of multiple skyscrapers near the center of Osaka, meaning it must have cost a fortune to build.
"Alright kids, we're here. Welcome to the Osaka Central Gymnasium or OCG as most people call it. They hold a lot of events here and many professional athletes in Osaka come here to train. As for us though, we'll be heading off to the left down towards the basketball courts. They've built their hoops in a way that they can raise it up to the competition standard of ten feet or bring it down to eight for kids like you. Now, are you ready?"
"YEA!"
It wasn't much of a surprise that Koji was the first one to yell but Mamoru soon followed with Akira only a second behind. Minako simply nodded while Yoshino pumped his fist in the air. Meanwhile in the back Teruo was gazing up at the gymnasium but eventually gave a small nod as well.
"Alright then, lets head in."
Instructor Ikeda led the team through the gymnasium's doors.
The inside was just as modern and fancy as the outside had been. Yet while some of his team members marveled at the sight, Akira had his mind on another matter.
He was about to play in an official basketball tournament after all. He didn't know if it was important enough to get recorded outside of pen and paper but it was official all the same. After this day he could say that he had participated in a tournament, no matter how small or unimportant it was.
Soon enough, Instructor Ikeda had brought them all to the basketball courts. From his eight year old viewpoint, it seemed massive. Perhaps it would shrink in time but there was enough space for there to be two full sized basketball courts in the middle of the room at once. Additionally, there were bleachers on either side of the courts that looked like they could fit a few hundred people. There weren't many people there of course, mostly just parents here to watch their children play but an audience was an audience no matter the size. In fact, Akira could actually make out his own parents in the crowd waving at him from afar.
Akira waved back before Instructor Ikeda dragged them to their designated spot in the room. Akira looked around.
In total he saw thirteen other teams on the floor. Most of them were larger than his, numbering more than ten people however there were also a few that had around the same amount of players as his team or in one case much less at four. Fourteen teams in total including his.
Akira mulled the number over in his mind. Fourteen meant that two teams would get a buy in the first round. So those teams would play a maximum of three games instead of four. Considering that the event was spread over two days, and the fact that the games were half an hour long instead of the standard 48 minutes, it wouldn't be as large of an advantage as normal but it was still one nonetheless.
Akira didn't want his team to get a buy though. For his first tournament he wanted to experience every single game he could.
Akira snapped to reality when he felt someone tapping his arm. Turning in the direction from which it came, he noticed Minako hovering next to him.
"Yea Minako, what is it?"
"I was right."
"...about what?"
"They're all bigger than us."
"Ah that."
Akira turned his gaze from Minako back toward the crowd. His eyes scanned the players he would soon face, taking in what he could.
"You're right."
They were all taller than their team members were. Yoshino, giant of an eight year old that he was, was the only player on their team who could compete in terms of size with the much larger and older eleven years old's that most of the teams fielded. Meanwhile, Koji looked downright diminutive compared to some of the taller players on the other teams.
"This isn't going to be easy."
Akira smiled, turning toward Minako once more.
"Who ever said I wanted it to be?"
"Yea Minako, just because they're taller and older than us doesn't mean they're better at basketball. Our chances of winning are still a hundred percent!"
"Mamoru's first point isn't wrong Minako. We'll be fine."
Minako raised a hand to her chin in a contemplative manner which didn't exactly produce the look she was going for before replying.
"Guess we'll see."
(~)
"Alright Braves, from this moment on you represent Taisho Sports Center on the court. Do your best and don't let me down."
"YES INSTRUCTOR!"
"Now, the team your playing against is Nakajima Elementary, they're a school based in northern Osaka. Now I haven't seen them play before but their players are all older than you lot so you'll have to pull ahead on skill. Teruo your on the bench for the first bit. If we need to make any adjustments, you're the best player to do it with. Now, GET OUT THERE!"
"YES INSTRUCTOR!"
With that Akira, Minako, Yoshino, Mamoru and Koji stepped onto the court as the other team did the same. For a second, Akira took in the experience of playing in an official match for the first time before jogging over to his position.
In the center was Yoshino, preparing to contest the jumpball against the tallest person on the opposing team. His opponent had a good few inches on him, but Yoshino looked determined to get the ball regardless. Meanwhile to Yoshino's left was Koji, ready to leap into a full sprint at a moment's notice. Akira was on Yoshino's right, ready to do the same as Minako and Mamoru stood behind Yoshino ready to catch the ball if their teammate won the jumpball.
For a moment Akira looked at the opposing players before shaking his head. Trying to analyze what his opponents could do before even playing was a fool's errand. He would just have to find out during the match like everyone else.
The match official stepped forward with a basketball in one hand and a whistle in the other. Turning to look at both teams in turn, he nodded his head before he blew the whistle and threw the ball in the air right over the half-court line.
Yoshino and his opponent both jumped at once, feet leaving the ground as they outstretched their hands towards the floating ball.
For a moment Akira thought that Yoshino would get it, but in the last moment his opponent managed to win the race, tapping the ball backwards with his superior height and reach back towards his teammates behind him.
Akira heard Minako tsk as Yoshino landed before all hell broke loose on the court.
AN: So it's been half a year and I'm not sure if you guys are still here but I'd just like to say thank you for a hundred followers on this story! Also as of this chapter, this fanfic has broken 20k words which makes it the longest piece of writing I have ever worked on. Though, again I can't really say when the next update will be because that depends entirely on my motivation. I didn't work on this fic for months straight before starting this chapter yesterday and finishing it today. I will continue this fic though, don't think it's dead just yet.
Anyways this is the first chapter of the next "arc" so to say of this fanfic which will probably last around 4-6 chapters (if I get to that point). Still a long way to go before we get to the main cast.