"Come on Iwozuka, pick it up!" Kazuki shouted from the bench, his fingers clenching at the towel in his hands as he watched the girls play. Saka was next to him, her head in her hands as she watched her team scatter about in an oddball attempt at basketball. None of them were focused in on the game, they all kept looking up to the clock on the scoreboard. Whatever was on their minds was distracting them all from playing. All except Meyer, who was starting to look as irritated with her team as Saka was feeling.

"No half measures Iwozuka, get your ass into gear!" Meyer crowed to her team, glaring at Ishimura who ran past. The small forward didn't look their captain in the eye, instead she trained her focus on the small leather sphere that was travelling up and down the court. It was the third quarter and Iwozuka was down by twenty six points. Although Takami and Meyer's combined efforts would get them to catch up in no time, Shira and Ishimura both were lagging for some reason. This pushed Jo to have to work harder than usual in defence and anyone could tell she was getting way too tired to accept the continuous, and seemingly unchallenged onslaught brought on by Touou's girls.

"What the fuck are they doing?" Saka groaned, smacking her forehead and standing up. She watched as Ishimura missed an interception and then Shira miss the block. If it weren't for Jo, Touou's power forward would have slammed the ball into the hoop. Takami was up near the other end of the court, getting antsy and looking like she was ready to implode by the lack of effort the girls seemed to be putting into the game. It was only Jo's hand on Meyer's shoulder after she sent the ball down the otherside of the court that stopped Meyer from unleashing hell on her team.

"They're too distracted by something, that's what," Kazuki groaned before looking around. They had played perfectly fine in the first two quarters, they were still playing lazily but they never let the score drop by more than two points. Then they come back onto the court and Ishimura and Shira seemed to have jetted off into space.

Ishimura passed the ball forward, Shira snatching it from the air and passing it off quickly to Takami. The shooting guard grabbed it easily, lining up to take a shot when Touou's centre was in front of her, blocking her from passing. Takami groaned and sent the ball back, it headed straight for Ishimura and then bang, Ishimura caught the ball with her face. She stumbled back but managed to pick the ball from the ground, holding her face in one hand and ditching the ball with the other. Meyer caught it before it could be intercepted and she jumped into the air, letting the ball fly. It happily fell into the basket and gave them three points, but Meyer looked anything but impressed.

She stomped over to Ishimura, grabbing the collar of her jersey and yanking the small forward down so they were eye level. Ishimura cringed back, wincing at the venomous glare Meyer was delivering to her and she grit her teeth.

"I don't know what the fuck is going on, but if you don't straighten your ass out soon I'm going to be kicking it to kingdom come! And you can forget about going to see Seirin's match against Shutoku if we don't win!" Meyer snarled before bolting to the other end of the caught, easily catching up to the small forward of Touou. She snatched the ball away as the opposition dribbled before holding the ball at her hip, asking for a time out. Ishimura cringed, knowing that her pissed off rant was only just beginning. Jo dragged her feet to the bench, flopping down beside Saka, who promptly shoved a water bottle nozzle into her mouth.

"What the fuck is wrong with the lot of you? Have you all lost your brains? Did you hit your head? Fucking act like the basketballers you are!" Takami snarled as she smacked Shira quite hard on the back. Shira turned, about ready to deliver an angry comment when she shrunk back. To say Takami was seething with fury was an understatement. The devil would be more welcome company at that moment. Takami narrowed her eyes at Shira, grabbing her wrist and tugging on it hard. "Pull your fucking head out of the clouds Shira, the way you and Ishimura are playing we're not going to be able to hold on much longer."

"Takami's right, you're fucking leaving me out there in the open and they know it!" Jo growled as she rubbed her calves. Shira crossed her arms over her chest and Ishimura's hadn shot out, covering her mouth before she said anything.

"They're right. We've both been off," Ishimura growled to Shira, stopping her from attempting any sort of protest. She turned to Jo, stretching her hand out and ruffling the centres hair. Jo scowled but understood the sentiment, grinning despite how tired she was. They all knew Jo probably had half a quarter before her legs would grow too tired and she would be risking injury.

"Shira and Ishimura need to stay back in defense with Jo, Ishimura on the centre line and Shira back towards the three pointer. Ishimura stops as many balls as she can from stepping over and if she missed, Shira has her back," Takami said, rubbing her chin with her palm. No one would argue with that plan, all of their eyes flickering to their centre. They were going to need to pull a miracle out of their asses if they wanted to win if Jo went down. "We need to alleviate the pressure off Jo."

"Takami and I will attempt to steal the ball closer to the three point line, but if we can't we'll fall back and rely on our three pointers to get us the victory. This plan will rely on you two being able to focus in on the game," Meyer continued in Takami's place. Shira scowled but nodded her head whilst Ishimura grunted in affirmation. Meyer could already tell that the latter was closing off all thoughts that didn't attain to basketball, but it was unlikely that the problem that was affecting her would be so easy to block out, especially when both Meyer and Ishimura had spotted him sitting three rows from the front during half time. Shira on the otherhand, would be a gamble. She had come into the game only half focused and as she continued, she was dropping back. "We're relying on you two, you know that."

"So no pressure then?" Ishimura grinned as the referee blew his whistle to bring the girls back on the court. Jo immediately returned to her usual place under the hoop, Shira joining her a two metres away. Ishimura settled herself dead on the centre line as Meyer and Takami settled themselves in a position that was fruitful to their respective abilities. Meyer noted that Ishimura's posture was closer to the ground, her knees slightly bent and her shoulders down, like a runner waiting for the starting gun. She knew she could trust her, but Shira still looked off.

...

"Nee, Shin-Chan, why are they playing so badly?" Takao whined as he stretched forward, trying to get a better view of the girls on the court. Midorima remained silent, watching as the girls scattered themselves among the court. It wasn't that the whole team was playing badly, it was that two were and there were no reserves. Shira and Ishimura. Midorima felt his eyebrows pull together as he watched Ishimura settle on the centre line. What were they planning?

"If Shira pulls her head out of her ass, they'll win," Katsumi commented from beside Takao. She was in her uniform, having finished a game just before Iwozuka was scheduled to play against Touou, and she had come just after and joined the boys. Midorima and Takao both looked over to her.

"What about Ishi-Chan? She hasn't been playing well either," Takao frowned and Midorima winced at hearing Ishimura's nickname. It was childish and idiotic, although with that thought it suited Ishimura slightly. Katsumi just snorted, shaking her head and leaning forward so her elbows were on her knees.

"If Shira falls behind on something, then Ishimura seems to follow her. Shira slacks of, Ishimura slacks off even if she doesn't want to. If Shira can't bring herself up to play well, they've lost three players."

"The third being the centre?"

"Because they've slacked off the other three have had to pull the weight and Jo's body can't handle it. It's too much of a strain on her," Katsumi sighed as she tilted her head. If the Queens lost because of such a stupid reason as whatever was on Shira's mind, it would be an insult to every team that has ever lost to them (in reality it would be an insult to Saka as well).

"Meyer-San looks like she is completely relaxed," Midorima said, his eyes shifting off Ishimura to the captain. She was chasing after the ball, her face almost blank as her gaze focused. She looked like this was hardly strenuous at all, but Katsumi's snort suggested otherwise.

"Tori's about to rip Shira to pieces, and Takami will follow her. But if Shira doesn't pick up the slack..."

"Holy shit what was that?" Katsumi jumped slightly at Takao's yelp. She registered that someone must have hit the ball hard, because she heard the sound of flesh hitting leather from where they were sitting. Takao's mouth was hanging open as he stood up along with the rest of the audience, all of them staring at Ishimura. The point guard who had tried to run past her was caught by surprise but Ishimura didn't just take the ball from her. In one easy move Ishimura had pushed her hand forward, sending the ball flying from the centre line straight into Takami's hands. The shooting guard didn't hesitate, jumping up and scoring a three pointer.

"That was..."

"Kuroko's pass," Takao breathed as he sunk back into his seat. It wasn't just Kuroko's pass, it was something different. It was harder, the arm that hit the ball had been stronger, and it wasn't like Ishimura wouldn't have been seen either. Takao hadn't even seen her move. One moment she was in that running starter position and the next her arm was straight out and the ball was in Takami's hands.

"It's a variation of Kuroko's pass," Katsumi snorted, "you're telling me you haven't noticed?"

"Noticed what?"

"The girls have always watched the basketball games of their competitors or of the boys. It was never because they were just interested in the match, they were interested in the plays. More importantly, they were interested in the moves."

"Meyer-San mentioned how I had inspired the team," Midorima murmured. He watched as they didn't fall back as far as initially anticipated. Was Meyer really going to leave the defence to the three players that seemed to be completely out of it? Granted, Ishimura had picked herself up pretty quickly and...

"What the fuck! How did she just score? The ball was right fucking there and then it's not!" Takao crowed as he jumped to his feet again, staring at the interception Shira had just played. This time the ball had been passed by Ishimura, over her head, but the arc had left her open for time to run back, only to be screened by a player. The ball looked like it was going to fall straight into Touou's centre's hands, but Shira had leapt up from behind them, smacking their ball away whilst curving her body so she wouldn't slam into the other player. Ishimura snatched the ball up before passing to Meyer, who in turn passed to a completely free Takami who scored another three pointer. There was only three minutes left on the clock, but if the girls kept playing like they were now then they would surely win.

"The girls are extremely fast at passing and they push the ball pretty hard too."

"They must be extremely focused." Midorima felt his cheeks flush slightly red as Katsumi started cackling. She shook her head, motioning to the Touou's players.

"They grew too comfortable in their seemingly assured victory. It's something they should all know about the girls by now, it's a little embarassing actually."

"What is?" Takao pressed, turning to look at Katsumi with fascination. Katsumi shook her head, leaning back into her chair and putting her hands behind her head. How could she explain it, what was the words Meyer always used? She racked her brain, cursing for the fact that she had heard that stupid thing before she grinned.

"That the game is not won against Iwozuka, even if you're team is fifty points ahead and there's one quarter left, until the final buzzer has sounded and you have more than they," Katsumi shrugged, looking back to Takao. He was staring at the court, watching as Ishimura continuously intercepted anyone who came too close and Shira collected any of the stragglers, effectively allowing Jo to recuperate under the net. "Touou isn't a match for Iwozuka, this is child's play."

...

"Now now, were they just playing with our dear girls?" Imayoshi pondered as he watched Touou quickly lose grip on the lead they had secured themselves. Hotaru let out a snort, crossing her arms over her chest as she tried to remember everything she knew about the girls.

"No, Shira was lagging and dragging Ishimura behind with her. Meyer must have rattled their heads around to get them off their asses."

"Hmm? Is that so?"

"I can't stand the team, but I'm not going to say Meyer's not good at what she does," Hotaru sighed, her eyes narrowing as she focused in on Ishimura. No matter what match she saw her playing, she always focused on their annoying small forward. She didn't want to miss the moment when the pressure of the game grew too much and her wrist gave out, sending her out of the game. It would have been preferred this year, considering Saka was not in the school to help them gain the upper hand, but no matter.

"And what does Meyer do?"

"Rule," Hotaru snorted before a hand gripped her shoulder. She looked over, seeing Momoi Satsuki sitting behind her, her eyes narrowed in on the game of the girls. Hotaru was surprised to see her here considering the baby she sat wasn't around.

"They have completely changed, their game style, their tactics, everything," Momoi grumbled, her eyes narrowing as she looked down to the notepad she had on her lap. Hotaru snorted, reaching over and snatching it away from her before Momoi could protest. She flipped through the pages that were focused on Iwozuka and raised her eyebrows.

"Hey this is some pretty good stuff, you have almost everything in here from this game," Hotaru commended as she read down the comments. They had everything, even the small spat Ishimura had at Takami after the latter had sent a ball flying into her stomach just before the first quarter came to an end. Momoi beemed, pleased with the praise she was being given, but it dropped when Hotaru sniggered and threw the book back at her. "Shame it's only useful for this game and nothing more."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean no two games are ever the same with these dicks. You think they're going to follow one thing and them bam, next game they go completely opposite and pin you down before you get a chance to get back up."

"I don't understand, the data suggests..."

"The only thing you have right in your data is that Jo is in defence. Jo's always in defence but she does come forward to take three point shots from the centre line if necessary. Ishimura switches between the two periodically and half the time you don't even know which she's playing as and neither does she. Shira is rarely asked to hang back in defence, only doing so if Jo's in trouble. Meyer will be wherever the fuck she needs to be and Takami spends more time analysing her opponents than actually playing, hence why she is in offence and the shooter. They are the only things that can be relied on in a game and even then, sometimes they go fuck it and do whatever the hell they want," Hotaru snapped over her shoulder. She didn't want to have to explain anything to Momoi but if the girl was going to keep trying to decipher the way the girls played she would be irritating for the rest of the game. The only time they were predictable was when they were up against an opponent that knew they could defeat easily, like Touou or Kaijo's girl team. The only interesting games they had was when they were up against opponents they weren't so sure off, but those games were narrowed down to pretty much Shutoku and Yosen, and Yosen had already been kicked out.

"To change their play completely would require them to..."

"Change their positions? Yeah, they do if Saka's playing Jo's spot. Fuck, Shira's a pain in the ass when she's in centre, she moves around a lot more than Jo can and she makes sure her presence is known."

"What about their small forward, the one who steals the balls?"

"You mean Ishimura? The most painful of them all. If Meyer sicks her onto you, you're not fucking touching that leather for the rest of the game. They can take out a team's ace no problem thanks to that bitch," Hotaru growled. Momoi leant back, shrinking into her seat and Imayoshi looked to Hotaru out the corner of his eye. She didn't like a lot of people, but Ishimura was a name that came up in conversation a lot when it came to Iwozuka. Imayoshi was surprised about the level of pure, pitch black hatred Hotaru harboured for the small forward, but he didn't comment on it. For whatever reason Hotaru hated Ishimura for was completely her own.

...

"They were so amazing, didn't you think so Sempai? They were behind and then suddenly, they were winning!" Kise cheered as he walked out of the stadium. He was humming happily, thinking about how the girls were good just like Kazuki had told them. Kasamatsu was walking along beside him, shaking his head as Kise's excited behaviour before sticking his hands in his pockets.

"We have to go Kise, training."

"I know, I know, I just, ah, wouldn't it be fun to play them?" Kise chirped, beaming as he considered it. He wouldn't go too hard on them of course, but it would be so much fun to...

"Ugh, such a let down. I was expecting Touou to put up more of a fight." Kise and looked up to the pair in front of them as the conversation cut into their thoughts. They were a pair of female players, considering what they were wearing. One was dressed in a Rakuzan uniform, the other in Yosen. They both looked like first years and Kise frowned. He thought that had been a rather good game considering Iwozuka's sudden come back.

"Yeah, I was hoping to see Touou push back hard like their male team, but nothing!"

"I just wanted to see the Queens play properly. Now it's only two games they try and even then," the Rakuzan player sighed, tugging on her ponytail. The Yosen nodded, rubbing her chin before looking up to her companion.

"Did you hear the rumour though?"

"Huh, what rumour?"

"I heard Iwozuka girls played Shutoku boys and defeated them." Immediately Kise's ears pricked up and he nudged Kasamatsu's ribs. His friend elbowed him back hard, giving him a glare but Kise just nodded ahead to the girls, realising his captain had tuned the girls conversation out of his thoughts.

"That's no surprise though, Shutoku's play has relied a lot on Midorima Shintarou right? All Meyer had to do was stick Ishimura on guarding him and voila, points for Iwozuka."

"I guess you're right," the Yosen sighed again, letting her pony tail go as she looked up to the roof. Kise wanted to ask them a lot more questions, specifically about the Shutoku game, but he knew they didn't know a lot and besides, those had just been rumours. No way Midorima would have lost to the Iwozuka girls. "You know what would be good?"

"Huh? What?"

"If the Queens played Yosen boys, or even Rakuzan. They'd teach them a thing or two."

"You're joking right? Akashi-Sempai is insane!"

"Yeah, but don't forget who the Queens are. Remember Tachi Rei?" the Shutoku laughed as the Rakuzan's face seem to fall a little. She shook her head, poking her tongue out at the memory brought up by the mention of the name. Kise frowned. Who was Tachi Rei? He had heard the name somewhere before but he couldn't quite remember where from.

"I remember very well, I was at the game remember? I know Tachi got off worse but Ishimura, man she was out cold." Kise leaned forward, wanting more information. Who the hell was Tachi Rei and why was Ishimura knocked out in a game? Had there been a fight, or had an attempt at a trick gone terribly wrong?

"Well, you heard what Asami said though right?"

"I sincerely doubt Ishimura knocked herself out on purpose."

"It would have been a good cover up for what happened though, right? No one would have suspected they did it on purpose!" Yosen protested, shaking her head. The Rakuzan looked like she didn't completely doubt it, but didn't want to completely buy it either. Kise shrunk back as they started talking about their time in middle school. He felt like there had been some big juicy steak right in front of him that had suddenly been ripped away. He pouted, running a hand through his golden hair as he looked back to his Sempai, wondering if he could convince him to run a practice match between Iwozuka girls and Kaijo boys.