AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ah, the twelfth chapter. Please enjoy, I put a lot more effort in this chapter than usual~

CHAPTER TWELVE

Tetsuya listened to his teacher halfheartedly as he looked down at his notes. Notes about the regulars and the second and third string players as well. But there's not much time to rest when they're going to prepare for the Winter Cup. And all he could think of was ways that he could help the players get stronger and improve. He wondered how his two former female managers manage to come up training menus for them and tactics that is best suited for the team. Same goes for the other teams as well. He had used a week to observe the regulars' practice and took note of their strengths and weaknesses. But one week of observation isn't enough for him to determine what each of the player should do to improve their own potential. All he had done so far before the IH was improve their strength as a team by proposing children's games that allows them to hone their reflexes, awareness of their surroundings, and of course, team work. But individual skills are important as well, and Tetsuya decided that this is the perfect time to come up with some ideas together with the Coach, to push their potential.

Ah, he is very much thankful for his lack of presence at the moment, as the teacher scolds the student sitting beside him for not paying attention. And the one sitting in front of him, a certain blonde, is trying to concentrate on the lesson while trying hard not to look at the teal haired male behind him.

They had study period next, another thing Tetsuya is glad for today. He looks at different kinds of Physics books, sports books, and other more to get some inspiration or give him some ideas of what he can contribute to the team. Seirin and Kaijo are two different teams with different specialties. He had noticed how Kaijo have a more balanced set of Offense and Defense, while Seirin was more of an Offense team rather than Defense. But both teams have great teamwork, and he has no doubt that that will be their biggest obstacle against Seirin. Tetsuya knows that best. The teal haired teen sighed. He should stop comparing the two teams. It's making him a little homesick.

Yukio-niisan is a very skilled player in terms of physical ability, his quick thinking of creating unstoppable drives, have great stamina and commendable mental strength. But he could be easily shot down with players with special techniques, Tetsuya thought as he recalled the Seirin and Kaijo practice match at how he was able to catch the older Kasamatsu down. He instantly thought of Izuki-senpai and his Eagle eyes, Takao Kazunari from Shuutoku with his Hawk Eyes, and Akashi-kun with his Emperor Eyes. Players with incredible eye sight that may detect the slightest amount of movement would be able to stop his nii-san from using his techniques.

Moriyama-senpai is the shooting guard of the team, so it's no surprise that he is skilled in shooting, even if his form is unorthodox to most, but it has become his best weapon against other players seeing as this unusual form is hard to block. But he has the lowest physical ability among the team, and it would be hard for them if Moriyama-senpai gets too tired to shoot in the later quarters.

Then Kobori-senpai, their Center, proven to be a very strong one during the Touo match when he was against Touo's Center, Wakamatsu Kousuke. And like Yukio-niisan, he also lacks in creating special skills. But his overall evaluation in physical, technique and stamina and mental strength are above average.

And when it comes to stamina, Hayakawa-senpai is the one with the most in the team, even more so than Kise-kun, Tetsuya thought in amusement. If he thought that the blonde was like a puppy, then Hayakawa-senpai is more like an overgrown dog with too much energy. But that's good for his position. And his aggressiveness reminded Tetsuya a little of the Seiho player, Tsugawa Tomoki's style. But senpai has little knowledge in techniques other than rebounds despite being a power forward, and he promises to himself to look up to what his senpai can do other than just rebounds without disrupting the balance of the team.

Kise-kun is more or less the ace of the team. He's adapt to different kinds of plays, since he's the type to learn through observation and watching other people. And so long as he believes he can do the moves he sees, he can execute it. Aside from that, since the IH, Kise-kun was able to manage to copy Aomine-kun's style, even if it's just for a fraction. That gave way for the small forward for more options. It's more than possible for Kise-kun to copy the other Kiseki no Sedai, including himself. If Kise-kun managaes to copy the other Kiseki no Sedai, he should be able to combine some of their skills to a terrifying degree and it would be hard to stop him, Tetsuya thought.

But...he knew that such a thing would have a price. If someone like that is capable of doing such a feat, it would be physically and mentally taxing. And Kise-kun is only sixteen, he shouldn't push his body too far or else...or else he might injure himself. Tetsuya nearly shuddered at the thought. He wouldn't want that for the blonde. Especially not now, when he was just starting to enjoy basketball again with his team.

The teal haired teen sighed. Analyzing the team won't do much for now, he also need to analyze the other teams who are going to participate in the Winter Cup. He's not as good as Momoi-san when it comes to information gathering on players, or Coach Riko when it comes to physically enhance players. but he has more than experience in playing inside the court as a player, he can put himself into the shoes of the players. That's one thing that the two women cannot do easily. Predicting one's progress and increasing progress isn't all that there is to a player. There's also the heart and teamwork, something he specializes in.

For now, it's for the best to think of ways in enhancing what the players lack, and helping them grow individually, and then some more team building once that it complete.

Coach Takeuchi was already planning a training camp anyways.

"Kurokocchi, you don't look so good."

Kise may not notice his friend's presence sometimes, but when he does, he tries hard to notice everything about his friend. And what he's noticing right now, are the dark circles forming around the teal haired teen's eyes. He sincerely hoped that the other was still not hung up on losing against Touo during IH, because there's still a chance in the Winter Cup. But he shook the doubts of his friend thinking of such, knowing that the other was much more stronger than that. Perhaps he was thinking of ways in strengthening the team? Yea, that's more like it. Very Kurokocchi-like thing to do.

Tetsuya turned to his much taller friend and gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm sorry to have worried you Kise-kun, but I've been thinking and gathering information on our team and others as much as possible. I'm not sure how Momoi-san do this without sacrificing so much time." He have so much respect to the rosy haired girl's ability back then, and it just grew when he realizes that it was so much more hard work than that.

The other laughs and places his hand gently on the shadow's head. "Please don't overexert yourself too much. We wouldn't want you to collapse because of lack of sleep."

The shorter teen was almost surprised by the gentle pat on his head. Kise-kun was usually more...rough than that (not that he appreciates the gentleness, it somehow reminds him of yukio-niisan a little), so he made no motion of rejecting or pushing the other's hand away.

When they have arrived at the gym for practice, the rest of the team was already in the changing rooms.

"Hurry up you two, Coach has some announcements before we start conditioning." Yukio said as he pulled his shirt over and fixed his compression socks.

"Alright, as you all know, right after Inter High, we prepare ourselves for the Winter training camp. We're going to our usual trip to the mountains."

Then the older man turned around to search for his manager. "Where the hell is-HOLY MOTHER OF #%&*! Since when were you there?!" This would be the first time that the Coah experiences the phantom's infamous 'appearing out of nowhere' scene. He clenched the front of his shirt, trying to calm his beating heart down. Is this what other people experience all the time?

Tetsuya offered no reaction to their Coach's own reaction to his sudden presence. "I've been here the whole time." is his automatic answer.

Kise chuckled at the familiar scene, but the reaction of their coach so far has been one of the funniest he has ever seen.

Coach Takeuchi coughed into his fist as he recomposed himself and turned to the players. "Manager Kasamatsu have come up with several new training regimen; individually and for team effort. We may have lost in Inter High, but we can still take the Winter Cup. Alright, that's all, start practicing!"

The players started to group up and started their usual drills before their coach or manager give them instructions otherwise.

"Hey Yukio, how about we go get some grub outside? My parents aren't home right now and won't be for a while." Moriyama asks his best friend as they changed back to their uniforms after another gruelling training.

The older Kasamatsu turned to his friend and thought about it for a while, then nodded. "So long as you don't hit on girls, yea, sure why not." They haven't hanged out in a while, but his mind immediately turned to Tetsuya.

"You can bring Tetsuya-kun too."

Problem solved.

Yukio is for some reason, is not comfortable in letting his younger brother out of his sight for long periods of time. But it's a different matter if he's with Seirin. That's different. He has the most utmost trust in the team when it comes to taking care of his younger brother, but he just can't seem to trust the rest of the world when it comes to Tetsuya. Not only the younger teen lacks so much presence that he fades, he's also overly polite (he's actually pretty mischievous around the people he's comfortable with, like with Kagami for example; he saw how their friendship works) and doesn't raise his voice.

The older teen suddenly realizes what was happening.

He's...he's developing a brother complex. Yukio slowly turned to his friend with a grim expression on his face. "Yoshitaka, I'm...I'm-"

Moriyama laughs out loud at his friend's sudden concern of becoming a brocon. Even moreso when the other says that he doesn't trust the entire world with his younger brother. Damn, who ever thought that Yukio would become even more responsible from taking care of a sibling? "Wow Yuki, never thought I would see the day that you would become so protective of someone! Well, you never had a brother before so you wouldn't know. And it's not like a bad thing! Isn't it more like a good thing? For Tetsuya-kun especially? Kid needs all the attention he can get." He had noticed that about the teal haired teen since the practice match with Seirin that they lost. His play was unique and the player even more enigmatic and by the way Kise had practically worshiped the smaller teen, well he got a little curious about what kind of person the kouhai is. And now he can ask questions from the older brother himself. But for now, he has to assure his friend that there's nothing wrong in becoming protective of his brother. Just not over protective.

The older brother continued to be in shock at the discovery of developing some brother complex over Tetsuya. But his friend is right. There's nothing wrong with how he starts to become protective with his younger brother. Tetsuya deserves to be pampered. And he also needs someone he can depend on. The younger teen is too independent for his own good. His lack of presence isn't going to allow others to be able to observe him to observe his body language if something is bothering him (it also doesn't help that he has such a good poker face).

"Yukio-niisan? Moriyama-senpai? Have you been waiting long?"

The shooting guard practically felt his lungs in his throat. Damn his lack of presence is practically unreal! How can he just appear out of nowhere?!

The older Kasamatsu turned to the teal haired teen with a smile and shook his head. "No, we didn't wait that long. Come on, let's get something to eat. I've already called mom that we'll be eating out."

Tetsuya returns with a smile of his own. "I see, so where are we headed?"

Moriyama was half surprised to see an expression from the usually expressionless faced teen. Huh, having Yukio as his older brother seems to be doing good for him. "We're heading to a steak place that we go to a lot. You like steak, Tetsuya-kun?"

The teal haired teen suddenly recalls the last time he had steak in Kanagawa. Kagami-kun's squirrel cheek face...he was half-tempted to laugh out loud, but refrained from doing so. "I do. How about Moriyama-senpai? What kind of steak do you like?"

The older teen hums in thought as the three of them started to make their way towards the steak house. "I really like hamburger steaks. Especially the ones my mom makes."

Tetsuya turns to his older brother. "Then how about Yukio-niisan? What kind of steak do you like?"

'Uwah, these two are adorable' Moriyama thought as he watched the Kasamatsu brothers interact.

The entire time they walked towards the steak house, Moriyama watched in amusement at how the brothers interact. He's never seen brothers who are close as they are in real life. One would never expect that the two of them would ever get close like this. Actually, he's glad that those two have met. Yukio's pretty serious and down to earth guy, and takes his responsibilities seriously as well. His childhood friend's hobbies are playing the guitar and the occasional street ball by the public court. Moriyama is very determined to bring more fun into his friend's life.

The younger Kasamatsu jolted in surprise when his senpai suddenly left their side and approached a female student and proceeded to...hit on her. The teal haired teen was so surprised that he turned to his older brother with an expression that says 'What's-going-on-and-how-do-I-react'.

Yukio sighs but gave his younger brother a reassuring smile. "Yoshitaka is like that all the time. Once he sees a girl that fits his type (which doesn't have that much range, really) he goes ahead and hit on them."

Ah, first name basis, Tetsuya thought, very much over about his senpai's antics when it comes to the female gender. They must be close, he mentally added. The teal haired teen hardly sees people he calls by their name except for him and his family. He wonders how close the two are and...

Oh.

Tetsuya recalled Yukio-niisan telling him about his childhood friend when nii-san used to play baseball instead of basketball. That must be Moriyama-senpai; that pretty much explains everything. Then he will make effort in trying to get to know more about his brother's close friend and becoming his friend too. Wait, isn't this like...Tetsuya tried to compose himself at the thought of him being a clingy brother, trying to get to know his older brother's closest friend as if he was some kid with brother complex. Oh dear god he hopes he's not developing a brother complex.

The three of them ate their dinner relatively in peace, with Moriyama occasionally flirting with the waitresses. Aside from that, it was a peaceful and happy dinner.

Moriyama got to know more about his friend's new younger brother, and can't help but think at how different he seemed the last time he saw (well, they never really talked or were introduced to one another but he could still remember how the other was like. Ghost-like, pale, skinny, and expressionless as if it's illegal to express his emotions) the younger Kasamatsu. But it's a good change, that much he can tell.

"Hey Tetsu-chan, you going out with that cute manager from Touo?" the shooting guard asks with a smirk. He recalled how the pink haired girl clinged and squealed about how she missed her 'Tetsu-kun'.

The teal haired teen tilted his head with a deadpan expression. Why does everyone ask that? And what's with the sudden use of 'Tetsu-chan'? "No, Momoi-san is only a friend."

"Then how about introducing her to me?" He's never seen anyone as pretty as her (well, the Seirin's coach is pretty cute too but she scares the hell out of him).

The younger Kasamatsu gave him an amused smile. "You have to go through Aomine-kun first. He may seem be like a jerk sometimes with her, but he actually treats her pretty gentle. He also don't usually meddle with the guys who she chooses to like but he still pretty much 'threatens' you with incredible amounts of pain if you dare to hurt her."

'Except you.' both Moriyama and Yukio thought. They have noticed how much the power forward regrards their manager highly during the IH. Besides, their manager was the perfect model of a perfect boyfriend. Tetsuya is smart, polite, thoughtful, and isn't bad looking.

"Ok, aside from that, I'm also pretty curious about the Kiseki no Sedai. Why did you guys go to separate schools?"

Tetsuya was surprised to hear the question. Not even his former team mates back in Seirin asked that.

Yukio quickly delievered a swift punch to his friend's stomach, forcing a loud groan from the shooting guard. "Yuki! That hurts!"

The action reminded Tetsuya of how he would give Kagami-kun a jab on the abdomen. The teal haired teen shoved his sudden feelings of loneliness and how he misses his partner. He gave his older brother a reassuring smile. "It's ok Yukio-niisan. It's not like it's a secret or anything."

"It's simply because together, we've simply become too strong for other teams. Too overwhelming. And that the only ones who can match them were...themselves. So Akashi-kun decided that it's best for them to go to separate schools to finally see who is the best. That was our oath. A competition to see who's the best." And now he's playing in the competition off court and is allied with Kise-kun. It's not like its against Akashi-kun's rules for him to be in the same team as Kise-kun anyways. So long as they don't play together, it will still be fair game for everyone.

Yukio frowned. It sounded like the entire high school basketball teams were only pieces of pawns that's only necessary for them to be with so that they can play in this game of theirs. And then he realized at what Tetsuya was exactly planning by being in Seirin. The other team highly regards teamwork and absolute trust in one another above all else. That's the kind of team Tetsuya is best suited in. And also the best team to kick the Kiseki no Sedai off their thrones, he realized. Damn what a circumstance intervention. With Tetsuya out of Seirin, he has no choice but to depend on Kise to play his part.

"I may be off court, but that doesn't mean I'm off the game, right? Basketball just doesn't only revolve around the players in the court and the ball. There's also strategy. So I'm going to give my all in that section."

Ah, the ever hard-working and optimistic Tetsuya.

Moriyama laughs. "Those Kiseki no Sedai are impossible. At least Kise changed for the better, huh, Yuki?"

The teal haired teen turned to the older Kasamatsu. "If you don't mind me asking, how was Kise-kun like when he joined the team?"

The shooting guard barked out in laughter. Oh he'll never forget that day. Yukio twitched at the reminder of the day when the small forward joined their team as a regular right away.

"Hello?"

"I'm sorry Kagami-kun, did I wake you?" Tetsuya whispered to his phone as he stuffed himself inside his comforter with Nigou behind him.

"Nah, I'm still awake. I just took a shower."

When the Kasamatsu brothers got home, the younger one ushered his older brother to take some rest. He himself took the opportunity to take a short shower and get some sleep. But before that, he wanted to talk to his partner and hear to his voice again to quench his loneliness.

"Kagami-kun, I think...I'm developing a brother complex."

On the other end of the line, Kagami wasn't sure whether to laugh or be concerned. He decided for neither and tried to comfort his partner.

The next morning, Kagami couldn't concentrate hard in practice when all he could hear in his head was the concerned voice of his partner worrying about developing some brother complex.

And Riko wouldn't have any distraction in practice. "Bakagami! Ten laps outside the gym!"

The red haired teen groaned.