𝚂𝙰𝙼𝙴 𝙻𝙾𝚅𝙴 ♕ ʜᴀɴᴀᴍɪʏᴀ ♚

6

On that day, the Kirasaki Daiichi basketball team gained a powerful ally in the form of Hanamiya Makoto. Kou sighed, as she thought it had been already two years now. Lately, she found her mind wandering more often than usual to the events of her past. It all seemed easier, as the opposite to the current state of affairs. The girl even longed for the sunny weather from her memories. Well, maybe the latter wasn't the case of nostalgia, but the fact that she was cold while shivering on the bench in Töö gymnasium.
    

Miho cursed the parsimony of the Headmaster, who apparently thought it'd fit to save some money on the heating. The players weren't cold, since they've been running around like crazy, but she, taking to account the act she had to pull today, Kou thought to go all the way and dressed up for better credibility as an alleged Kirasaki Daiichi's manager. It didn't go as well as she thought it would. The skirt from her winter uniform was too short, her sweater wasn't completely covering her back and the beige pumps caused multiple blisters on her feet. As during the first ten minutes of the game Kou managed to be all giddy, while cheering up for her team, she didn't feel the cold that filled the court. Now, however, when her laziness kicked in, and she didn't feel like moving her butt from the bench, Miho started shivering.
 

She glanced at snoring Seto, who was stretched out on the seat next to her, seriously considering stealing his jacket but dismissing the thought almost instantly. She hadn't sunk to such depths... yet.

    

She reluctantly turned to the court and folded her arms across her chest. Everything was going right according to the plan. Hanamiya had been playing from the beginning. Kou sniggered inwardly at the memory of Imayoshi tripping over his feet while seeing his old schoolmate entering the court with the other regulars. To her delight, the girl noticed Imayoshi has become ridiculously paranoid about what Hanamiya and she was about to supposedly do during the game.
    

Until now, all she did was force the Töö players to work together. As their teamwork was basically nonexistent, they've lost their balance pretty easily, losing a few points to Kirasaki Daiichi. But just when Töö started to feel comfortable, the first blow came. An unfortunate contact of Yoshinori with a hard parquet floor send him on the bench bleeding and with a broken nose. A worthy replacement came but the teamwork of Töö had been affected yet once again and it all happened only in the first quarter.
    

The next one to go was Sakurai, who had a dubious pleasure of meeting Hara's elbow. A few minutes later, the boy's hand had been tightly dressed with bandages, three bones of his fingers broken.

Two down, three to go.

Kou had a plan and Hanamiya was the one to put it in the action. It had become so automatic, the thrill that she used to feel during the games was completely gone. If she had ever had any passion for watching sweaty goons chasing after an orange ball, while trying to throw it in the hoop, it had disappeared by now.

Even though, thank's to Momoi, Töö was prepared well for the game, it didn't particularly fazed Kou. The score was a little lower than she originally expected it to be but Hanamiya had everything under control. He personally took care of Aomine, who's limbs, by the second quarter, were carefully taped. It didn't however relieved a limp in his left leg. Aomine was bruised, his spirit gradually poked with Hanamiya's bullshit talk, yet he hadn't given up.

The ref whistled a basket interference. The players stopped the game, waiting for the man to call a free throw for Kirasaki Daiichi. Kou saw Aomine slowly marching on his position, Hanamiya right behind him. From the angle she was sitting, Miho couldn't make out what Makoto said, but it had the right effect. Aomine tried not to wince at his words, his body tensed however and his fists clenched involuntarily. Hanamiya's lips twisted in the trademark smirk of his, the one exclusively reserved for delivering a solid blow to his opponents. Kou felt the corners of her mouth lifting in a small smile as she saw this. Even though it wasn't fun anymore getting involved with the games, observing Makoto had never failed to entertain her.

As Furuhashi was making the free throw, she turned at the bench of Töö. She waved at Momoi, her eyes sparkling merrily. The girl waved back at her, mimicking her expression. It had become personal now... Just she against Momoi. The General and her impostor.

"As you could convince anyone about your innocence with that grimace." Seto straightened up, yawning loudly. "I doubt Momoi is as stupid as you make her to be, Kou," he pointed out, fingering his shaggy hair.

"You give people too much credit, Kentarö," the girl stated, the smile dropping from her face, as she turned to look at her acquaintance. "People are thick, believing what they see, and ignoring what they know. Momoi's not an exception."

Seto didn't comment on her statement, focusing on the last minutes of the second quarter. As the ref whistled, announcing the ten minutes break, Kou slowly got up from the bench and went to the locker rooms, Seto following behind her.