DISCLAIMER : Following the word itself "fanfiction", I do not own anything in this fiction and credits belong to the rightful creators of the manga: Inoue Takehiko, the publisher, the broadcasting company of the anime and etc.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPP!

Once again, the whistle signalled them to head back to the court and proceed to the match.

Both teams marched their way back, without a word, eyes set on to each other, igniting with the will power to win.

"This is where the real match starts..." Akagi supposed.

"Just a minute left... Will Shoyo make it?" Haruko anxious wondered.

"T'ch! pieces of shit..." Hanamichi scoffed before turning his back... "I'm outta here!"

"Sakuragi-kun?!" Haruko tried to call him back.

"OI! Where you goin, Hanamichi!?" Yohei as well called him out loud.

"There's no point watching this stupid match further. This bores the fuck outta me. I'd rather go home and sleep..."

Hanamichi then moved along, breaking into the crowd of people... "Outta my way!"

"Well, Haruko-chan?" Yohei as well, turning to Haruko... "I think you saw Hanamichi started rolling just now... We need to get going too!"

"Yohei kun too?!" Haruko confused, asked.

"Bye Haruko-chaaan!" They all waved as they made their way to catch up to Hanamichi. "OI! HANAMICHI! WAIT UP, DAMMIT!"

"That stupid monkey..." Akagi muttered. "Really an idiot..."

"Well then, I guess I gotta get rolling too?!" Miyagi as well, turning his back. "Jaa'na..!" Throwing a hand up in the air waving it, without looking back.

"R-Ryota!?" Ayako blurted out.

Miyagi just looked back at Ayako, winking before putting his hands into his pockets then proceeding to follow Hanamichi and the Gundan as well.

"(sigh) Even Ryota too... What a bunch of pain in the ass..." Ayako shook her head, putting her palm into her face.

"Gotta go too..." Mitsui as well, putting his hands into his pockets too followed, then walked his way out.

"What? The three of you now this time?" Kogure called out.

"You guys don't get it, do you?" Mitsui, stopping on his tracks looked back, raising a brow. "When either of them loses, the shame is twice for them knowing we're here to witness their loss..." He then smirked. "Give those guys a break.."

Mitsui then finally without looking back moved on.

"Arrogant ass troublemakers..." Akagi said under his breath, turning back to the match.

"ASSEMBLE...!"

Inside the Ryonan gym.

Uozumi, finally a week after the approval of his cancellation of retirement, back to his duty of being the Captain bid the whole team to gather around before dismissing, after the morning practice session.

"2 weeks from now, will be our Practice Match against Sannoh..." He began. "Hence this extra Sunday Pratice routine. We need to work EVEN harder. No matter if this would just be a Practice Match, and they're considered the strongest, ever winning Highschool Basketball Team in the whole nation, we still can't afford to lose..."

"'Tch, what is this? A fuckin show?" Koshino interposed. "They're the #1, what's up with challenging nameless teams like us?"

"Shohoku, a nameless C-rank team, beat the crap out of them... And you all know that. I was a witness of their greatness..." Uozumi calmly responded. "Contrary to what most people think, Sannoh was never the kind of team that underestimates their opponents. Their STRONGEST lineup in the history, being defeated by a C-rank team for the first time in their 10 years of reign, they took it as a sign to strive EVEN harder to become EVEN more stronger, and eventually get themselves back on top where they used to belong..."

"Today, at this very hour is their match against Shoyo..." Ikegami, who also cancelled retirement, being back as the Vice Captain added. "We could've just paid a visit and watched... but we also needed to strive EVEN harder for our match against them 2 weeks from now..."

"And next week's Kainan's turn..." Uekusa remarked. "It's still questionable as to why they did not invite Shohoku, the one they needed a payback from..."

"I don't think it matters now. We had to focus on ourselves... on our team instead..." Uozumi stated further.

"However, at the moment, we needed to take care of our AIRHEAD ACE, who apparently wasn't aware of today's schedule..." Uozumi stressed out, from calm to irritated.

"That bastard!... I wouldn't be forced to cancel retirement if he couldve been a reliable leader!"

"SAANNOOOH! SAANNOOOH!"... "SHOOYOO! SHOOYOO!"

The crowd is getting more and more excited, going wild. The yells and cheering had gotten louder the moment the real showdown has begun...

2nd HALF : 0:30 min left.

[Shoyo - 67 Sannoh Kogyo - 68]

Shoyo has managed to catch up with Sannoh within a few seconds, however Sannoh doesn't lose to it, still forcing another 1-point difference made of course, by their center of Offense, Sawakita, and Nobe coming back to the game, tightening the defense once again.

And there's just 30 seconds left...

"GO GO GO! WE CAN'T LOSE THIS!"

Fujima called out while on the rush, the ball on their team's hands...

"DAMMIT!"

Masashi thought to himself, feeling the pressure.

"DEFEND TILL DEAAAAATHHHH!"

"Oh snap!" Hikoichi dashing to the hallway... "I'M LATE! I'M LATE!"

He just nonchalantly rushed himself into the hallway leading to the gym, almost bumping into quite a number of people... "I'm sorry! Excuse me! Excuse me!" He apologized without looking back until...

BAAAAMMM!

His butt landed hard on the floor as he hit something on his shoulders really hard, throwing him down.

"OOOOWWWW!" He groaned, trying to pick up his notebook before standing up... "That hurt!..." And the moment he looked up to see what hit him, to his surprise...

"AAAAH! SAKURAGI SAN!"

Hanamichi with the Gundan.

"Oi... Hikoichi..." Hanamichi strangely, in a calm manner greeted him back, offering him a hand to help him up. "What're you doing here?"

"What what-are-you-doing-here are you talking about Sakuragi-san! I'm here to watch Shoyo vs. Sannoh's match!" He wailed impatiently. "I wasn't able to see your spectacular, history changing match against Sannoh so I can't afford to miss this one!" .

"WAIT A SECOND!" Hikoichi after some seconds of awkward silence blurted out. "You guys are here so... THE MATCH WAS OVER?!" He rattled. "NO NO NO NO NO!"

"It's still there..." Hanamichi again in a calm manner, pointing his thumb behind. "I left cuz it bored the fuck out of me..."

Hanamichi then started to move along.

"Hurry up before it's done. Its about just a few seconds left..."

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPP!

"HANAGATAAA!" Fujima, intercepting Sawakita's pass to Fukatsu, passed it on to Hanagata who came flying to catch it.

5 seconds...

[Shoyo - 67 Sannoh Kogyo - 68]

"SHIT!" Sawakita dashed forward to stop Hanagata who thrashed his way to the goal, aiming for a dunk...

4 seconds...

"Just stop it now! It's useless!" Masashi uttered, anticipating Hanagata's speed attack.

3 seconds...

Hanagata soared up, raising his arms high, right in front of him are Masashi and Nobe who jumped along with him, blocking his way to victory... "I'D NEVER LET YOU!"

2 seconds...

Hanagata, still up in the air, swiveled his arm down, shifting his arms to the left, throwing the ball up...

"FUCK!" Nobe gritted his teeth as he watched the ball flying towards the hoop before his feet landed back to the ground...

1 second...

THUUDDD!

The ball bounced to the rim of the ring letting out a loud thud...

"SHIIITT!" Hanagata cried out as he landed his feet back to the ground as well... "GET IIIN!" He swiftly shifted his body up once again, reaching for the ball...

0 second... BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPP!

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMM!

The sound of his hands violently slamming the ball into the ring echoed around the whole gym... leaving the crowd speechless...

The backboard shook violently after he let go of the ring, putting his feet back on the ground...

Both teams at state of shock speechless, Hanagata, Fujima and the rest stared blankly in thin air, still catching one's breath...

"BASKET NOT COUNTED! OFFENSIVE FOUL - GREEN #5!"

END OF CHAPTER 12