Words: 1, 947 (just realised that the previous chapter's 2, 947 words long; I'm getting lazier and unmotivated.)
((Adding author's notes and bloopers make this chapter 3, 000, not inclusive of this statement. Lol.))
Storyline taken from: Chapter 5
Warning: A lot of unnecessary stuff, and un-edited; I just want to upload this ASAP.
Oh, and I would like to sincerely thank Guest who kindly reviewed KnR 2 days ago. That was the main drive for this chapter.
And thank you all to those who followed and favourited KnR in the time that I was away and lazy hehe! I'm really happy and curious that despite not updating for A YEAR OMG I still get emails *sniffs*
Chapter 4: I always return a favour
The match resumed, with Kise as a part of Kaijou's current line-up.
"He's finally here..." Hyuuga could only grit his teeth in wry amusement and wariness.
Izuki Shun huffed in slight astonishment, "Such a pressure now that he's serious, you wouldn't think that guy is actually a model."
From the sidelines, Koganei gulped. "… Don't worry, with Beauty-chan's analysis and strategies, we should be able to breeze through this game… maybe."
Aida Riko scrutinised the Miracle more closely. Even if Kiseki has prepped and warned us about his abilities, now that I see him again… Height, one-eight-nine. Weight, seventy kilograms. Power, speed and flexibility are all in top notch. Even if these statistics are estimations given that he's wearing his shirt, I'm pretty sure it's rather accurate in terms of his skills and strength… As I thought, he really is a monster!
"Kya, Kise-kun!"
"W-what the hell?" The sudden, overly loud, girl shriek disrupted the brunette's deep thoughts.
Kasamatsu Yukio merely sighed in annoyance, as he had gone past the initial stage of being utterly flustered and tongue-tied at the sudden horde of females swarming into their practices. One certain shooting guard on their team still waved at them readily though, making the captain wonder for the umpteenth time if Moriyama had actually joined basketball to get a girlfriend.
Looking around at Seirin's stunned faces, he helpfully, and begrudgingly offered an explanation. "His fangirls. That always happens whenever he's playing. Actually…" Swirling around to deliver a roundhouse kick aimed straight at the model's back, the point guard finally screeched. "How long are you going to keep waving at them?!"
"Ouch! I'm sorry!"
"I'll hit you!"
"You already did!"
"Moriyama you idiot, stop it too! We have a game to play!"
Kaijou High School Basketball Club's captain, Kasamatsu Yukio. A point guard at 178 cm, he has been playing basketball at least since middle school, and is always known for his temper…
…and competitiveness.
Dragging the small forward by his ear, Kasamatsu whispered harshly. "Do you even understand the situation now, Kise?" Letting go when Kise's whine ("My ears are precious to me and everyone!") got more annoying than he could handle, he continued, "Since they've introduced themselves in such a great way… it's rude if we don't return the favour."
The blonde finally stopped his relentless whimpers and his eyes shone seriously, getting Kasamatsu's hint.
At the sound of the buzzer, Kasamatsu dribbled the ball down the court effortlessly, without any unnecessary movements. Kagami immediately marked Kise, but just when the model dashed sideways, the red-haired was screened by Kaijou no. 5, Moriyama Yoshitaka.
Momentarily free, Kise crossed over to his team's net, and after receiving a swift, straight pass from his captain, clutched the ball tightly and jumped for the shot, muttering, "Here comes our greetings too."
Don't tell me—
Kise followed Kagami's introduction shot and produced a stronger, faster, smoother dunk than Kagami's, earning Kaijou two points.
As Kagami was still reeling from Kise's dunk, Kasamatsu hid his satisfaction and kicked their ace once again. "Moron you should have broken it like them!"
"Ouch, that hurts, Kasamatsu-senpai! I got back the points, isn't that all that matters?"
"While it is true that Kise copies his opponent's moves, it does not mean it is perfectly the same. Because his strength differs from others, even Kagami's, and is usually stronger, this means that the same dunk would be more powerful, much faster, and sometimes—"
"Depressing to watch." Kagami recalled Komeze's warning the night earlier.
Combing his hair back in a way which made the girls scream, Kise gave his patented, professional, model smirk.
"While I can't promise the same thing with girls, but in basketball, I always return a favour."
Puffing out a rather heavy breath, Kagami could only matched the handsome grin with a frustrated one. What a cocky bastard.
"Fine by me! Kuroko, the ball!"
Kuroko smoothly bypassed a frustrated Kasamatsu, received a fast pass from Izuki and redirected the ball straight into Kagami's waiting hands as he already made his way towards the hoop.
Where is that brat appearing from, since earlier?!
Never one to admit defeat so early in the game, the power forward responded to Kise's challenge with another strong dunk, his second one within the first forty-five seconds of the game.
As if I'll let him have his way, we'll go at full power too! I need to make more shots than him and –
Kagami sucked a deep breath when his shadow suddenly jabbed his stomach painfully.
"W-what the hell, Kuroko?"
"Please don't be reckless, Kagami-kun. Or have you forgotten Komeze-san's advice?"
"A-ah, shit, I got too caught up in the match…"
"Kagami, remember that while you may be able to keep up with Kise Ryouta physically, the rest of us are not on equal grounds with the both of you in terms of both physical and mental state. Kaijou are trained enough to be able to at least keep up with Kise's pace, moreover so when they are a nationally-recognised offense team.
"With that said, you should also take note not to get rope into Kaijou's pace; the moment you set your mind to chase after and try to keep up with Kise, you might lose all rationality and the rest of the team will be unable to follow up. The rest of us should also keep our cool."
As the game progressed, the power forward realised that Kiseki's warning was insufficient in mentally and physically preparing the team to go against Kise. Every now and then, whenever he gained enough conscious of his teammates' morale, he noticed their gritted teeth and frustrated eyes more and more. This is especially the case for Hyuuga, as Kise made it a point to score similar three-pointers every single time the second year scrapped by with gaining threes for his team.
…shit. We don't have any chance of keeping up with them… they always match whatever points we earned with a copied move. That definitely does not sit well with me, but as a captain, I don't have any capacity to boost the team's morale. Damn it, even when we are following Komeze's plans to a T…
Komeze grew fidgety and anxious, and clasped her hands together in front of her as she tried to concentrate.
It should have been a simple game, go about with a primary man-to-man marking, with Kagami on Kise, and find the right timing to stop Kaijou's scoring attempts.
Dribble.
Kaijou is essentially an offensive team, so to make our playing ground more even, it is logical that we should focus more on our defense.
Dribble.
Our offense is better than our defense, but we would get nowhere if we keep trying to score points and close the gap.
Dribble.
But despite learning the opponents' quirks and habits, is our team still struggling to snatch the ball away?
Squeak.
Is it really that hard? Just what is it that they are unable to grasp? The speed? The reflexes?
Dribble.
Focus on the ball. That should have been all there is to it.
Squeak.
Rely on your guts and break through their offense.
Squeak. Squeak.
Why isn't it working?
Dribble. Squeak. Dribble.
I can't think.
Dribble. Dribble. Dribble. Dribble.
I can't –
"Kiseki, are you alright?" At the sound of a concerned voice, Komeze blinked once and turned to stare at Riko, all the while noticing her hands were quivering slightly from the way she was holding them tightly.
Shivering slightly as she released tension from her arms, she nodded mutely. "It seems that I have… miscalculated certain aspects of the game."
Aida Riko blinked once, twice before giving an amused snort. "Obviously not everything will go according to plan, girl. And who was the one who said we should keep our cool? Even you have to strike off your predictions as mere possibilities when you stated them in percentages, although I have a feeling the percentages are actually made up."
"Who knows?"
"You would."
Kagami grew more and more infuriated when Kise delivered the same shots, but stronger and firmer, every single time the red-haired scores, without fail. He bit the inside of his cheek in an effort to calm himself down when the model successfully attempted a fadeaway, with a stronger cut right after Kagami's shot, as Kuroko eyed the exchanged worriedly.
Kagami-kun won't be able to heed Komeze-san's warnings when he's too into the game. If he gets angry and starts challenging Kise-kun, at this rate, Kise-kun will only answer with even more strength, and we will then only be able to afford chasing after them while the situation gets worse. Even if the pace is doable as of now, the sight of Kise-kun effortlessly copying our moves is still mentally draining. I think we should ask for a timeout.
It seemed that their manager and coach are on the same train of thought as him, as the whistle blew just then, indicating a timeout for Seirin.
Clearing her throat, the manager collected her thoughts as the boys gathered around.
"The only reason I asked you guys to be on defense is because I didn't want a fast-paced game so early into the match. If you guys, especially Kagami, had gone all out with the offense, we would have scored more points yes, but Kaijou would have retaliated as well and scored even more. However, it seems like holding back is still not an option when you guys are still mentally exhausted.
"Of course, Kaijou is also holding back as well, but from the first five minutes it's clear that Kise is the core of their offense, with not many other tricks up their sleeves, since it's apparent they have gotten used to having an ace on their team. Once we shut him down, we can then close the point gap."
"If we can shut him down." Koganei helpfully (or unhelpfully) chirped in.
"Our focus so far has only been on Kise," Hyuuga started, "but even without him, the pressure created by the other four is still insane! The only reason why we are still not completely thrashed is we have Kuroko and Kagami! But even with the first-year duo, the point gap is slowly widening, and he follows Kagami's shots with better, smoother ones too…"
Nodding in agreement, Riko added on. "Hyuuga-kun is right. Not only are the other regulars strong enough that we still can't intercept an anticipated pass or shot, we need to stop Kise from copying any of our moves to maintain our motivation and morale. But does the Generation of Miracle have any weakness at all?"
"What's with the mess, guys?! How many points are you going to let them score? We may be leading, but for a newbie team they are holding out a lot better. The point gap should have been way more by now!" Takeuchi Genta screeched.
"…You may say that, but the two freshmen are seriously troublesome." Turning to Kise, Kasamatsu acknowledged, "You're handling Seirin's number ten well, but… what the hell, that transparent guy isn't normal…"
Brightening up, Kise gestured excitedly. "Right, right? See, Kurokocchi is actually awe—"
"Why are you acting all happy for, stupid idiotic model!"
"Ouch! I-it'll probably alright, the balance will be destroyed soon, because he –"
"For Kise-kun, since even Kagami-kun can't handle him, should we get one more player on him?"
Upon hearing this, Komeze frowned, while Kagami vehemently refused, "No, don't do that! I-I meant, wait a damn second… p-please!"
Standing up, Kuroko cleared his throat to get attention. "…There is actually a way out of this. He –"
"— he has a weakness."
/
Author's note: I wanted the update that I've been delayed for OVER A FREAKING YEAR to be longer, but my brain is malfunctioning, I'm tired, and currently suffering an overdose of procrastination after lazying around for four months.
And do follow this fanfic because frequent refreshing and checking of the KnB fanfiction page won't guarantee an update from me, but an email from informing you that I've updated will.
Feel free to PM me as well, although I won't answer ALL types of questions!
Oh, and I'm sort of (not really) active on tumblr, if you guys are teeny-weeny interested.
Oh, oh, and I hope I don't sound like I'm currently PMS-ing (because I'm really not).
I'm just mentally drained, like Seirin. Meh.
AND I DON'T EVEN HAVE ANY EXCUSES WHAT EVEN—
Okay, it's 12.10 am here, it's still early, but good night.
BLOOPERS BELOW OKAY THANKS BYE
/
Bloopers
1. I don't even
Komeze grew fidgety and anxious, and clasped her hands together in front of her as she tried to concentrate.
It should have been a simple game, go about with a primary man-to-man marking, with Kagami on Kise, and find the right timing to stop Kaijou's scoring attempts.
Dribble. Dribble. Dribble. Dribbledribbledribble.
Dribble. Dribble. Dribble. Dribbledribbledribble.
Kaijou is essentially an offensive team, so to make our playing ground more even, it is logical that we should focus more on our defense.
Dribble. Squeak. Dribble. Dribble. Dribbledribbledribble.
Dribble. Squeak. Dribble. Dribble. Dribbledribbledribble. (Clap)
Our offense is better than our defense, but we would get nowhere if we keep trying to score points and close the gap.
Dribble. (Clap) Squeak. Dribble. (Clap) Dribble. (Clap) Dribbledribbledribble.
Dribble. (Clap) Squeak. Dribble. (Clap) Dribble. (Clap) Dribbledribbledribble.
But despite learning the opponents' quirks and habits, is our team still struggling to snatch the ball away?
Dribble. (Clap) Squeak. Dribble. (Clap) Dribble. (Clap) Dribbledribbledribble.
Dribble. (Clap) Squeak. Dribble. (Clap) Dribble. (Clap) Dribbledribbledribble.
Is it really that hard? Just what is it that they are unable to grasp? The speed? The reflexes?
Coach said to fake right, and break left.
Focus on the ball. That should have been all there is to it.
Watch out for the pick and keep an eye on defense.
Rely on your guts and break through their offense.
Gotta run the give and go, and take the ball to the hole.
Why isn't it working?
But don't be afraid to shoot the outside "J".
I can't think.
(gasp) Just keep ya head in the game.
I can't –
(gasp) Just keep ya head in the game.
"I can't freaking keep my head in the game if you can't shut it in my head! Urgh my childhood this is not the time to relieve my childhood!"
2. Kuroko is a fan
Never one to admit defeat so early in the game, the power forward responded to Kise's challenge with another strong dunk, his second one within the first forty-five seconds of the game.
As if I'll let him have his way, we'll go at full power too! I need to make more shots than him and –
Kagami sucked a deep breath when his shadow suddenly jabbed his stomach painfully.
"W-what the hell, Kuroko?"
"Please don't be reckless, Kagami-kun. Or have you forgotten Komeze-san's advice?"
"A-ah, shit, I got too caught up in the match…"
"A second chance, we have to grab it and go…"
"Yeah, I won't be reckless the second time—"
"—Maybe this time we will hit the right notes."
"U-uh, sure. We can figure out their weaknesses soon—"
"—Wait a minute, it is not the time or place."
"… not the time or place for what?"
"Wait a minute, get my head in the game."
"…"
"Wait a minute, get my head in the game."
"…Wait…"
"Wait a minute…"
"Wait a min—"
"Wait a minute."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"I have to get my, get my head in the game."
"Oh my god, are you for real—"
"You have to get your, get your, get your, get your head in the game—"
"Stop it Kuroko! If you want to suddenly break into H*gh School Musical crap at least get rid of your formal tone and don't sing in a flat tone as well! Just when I thought those days in Amercia were over oh my goodness Kuroko you—!"
"You gotta get'cha, get'cha, get'cha, get'cha head in the game!"
"…" Kagami suffered yet another whiplash from the girl's sudden presence behind him, as well as a whack to his head for, well, for not getting his head in the game.
/
I had to include the bloopers when I was reviewing the chapter and saw the dribbling scene again. Heh. I might add more bloopers if I can think of any. Oh, and I had to listened to the song introduction numerous times to get the dribbles and claps correctly. I hope I did justice to the show.
Heh.