"Let the practice game between Seirin High and Kaijo High begin," The referee called out, letting everyone know to have the starting lineups out on the court.
"Alright, let's go!" Hyuuga said, so the starting lineups stood in front of each other. Sasaki felt like yawning, but held himself back.
"Uh, we're about to get started, so Seirin please have your five line up," The ref said after a moment, not seeing the blue haired boy as usual.
"There's five of us," Kuroko spoke up, shocking the ref and the other players on the opposing team. The white haired male stifled a laugh, that never gets old.
"What the hell?"
"He's got no presence!"
"He's one of their starters?"
"He was right in front of me and I didn't even notice him," Their number eight muttered. "What about you, Kasamatsu?"
"Me neither," Their number four and captain answered.
"This is ridiculous," Kaijo's coach grumbled. "After all of their boasting, I thought they'd have some decent players."
"We'll see," Kise said from beside him, causing Takeuchi to look at him in confusion. "You might be right. They're not just decent."
Soon after, the ref stood in the center of the half court, holding the ball as everyone got into position for the tip off. Sasaki gave a thumbs up to Kagami, who was going to be jumping since he was the tallest out of everyone on their team. The redhead nodded back, a silent word that he would give him the ball.
However, that's not quite what went down. The whistle was blown and the basketball thrown into the air. Kaijo's player touched the ball first and shot it towards their captain. He started dribbling, his pointer finger raised like the usual point guard. "Alright, one. Let's keep it up."
That didn't last long, however, because Kuroko easily stole the ball. Having expected this, Sasaki was waiting and starting driving towards the hoop with everyone eating his dust.
Oi, get over to the hoop, Sasaki thought. How does an alleyoop sound right about now?
Just as Kasamatsu was about to catch up, Sasaki passed the ball behind him, almost straight up before spinning out of the way.
Grasping the ball, Kagami slammed it into the basket hard enough to break it. Sasaki was not expecting that, and neither was anyone else.
"Alright!" Kagami cheered before startling himself by looking at the hoop in his hand.
"Wow!"
"What? He destroyed the hoop!"
"You're kidding! I don't believe it!"
"That thing's dangerous," Sasaki whistled as he looked at the now hoopless board, "one of the bolts is rusted."
"Even so, that's not normal," Kaijo's captain said, making the other male shrug.
"Eh, this is a normal Wednesday at our place," Sasaki winked at Kagami, who looked like he had a lot of questions.
"Eh?!"
"I'm so sorry!" Riko apologized to Coach Takeuchi as Kuroko, Kagami and Sasaki walked over to them.
"I'm sorry we broke your hoop," Kuroko bowed as Kagami just looked smug, "Since we can't play like this, could we use the full court?"
Sasaki held himself back from laughing at the poor coach's absolutely livid face because he knew that would be mean and he wasn't trying to be mean, it was just funny.
Soon enough, the full court was prepped and ready to go. "Sasaki, what was that earlier?" Kagami asked quietly.
"What was what?" The white haired male played dumb.
"I heard your voice in my head! That's what!" He hissed, "You said to get over to the hoop and do an alleyoop, right?"
"Can't hide anything from you, huh?" Sasaki joked with a grin, "Yeah, that's right."
"How'd you do that?!"
"I'll explain after the game. Just make sure to listen to my instructions when I give them, okay?" Sasaki made eye contact with the redhead, who swallowed then nodded.
"Got it. As long as we win."
"Of course," Sasaki smirked before seeing Kise head over towards them.
"Now that's what you call a beating," The blonde said, "I've never seen the coach like that before."
"You should tell him that's what he gets for underestimating us!" Kagami growled, then Sasaki flicked him with his thumb and pointer finger. "Ow!"
"Be nice," Sasaki told him before nodding to Kise. "That wasn't long, now was it?"
"Barely three minutes," Kise agreed, his lips quirking up higher.
"How much do you think a replacement hoop will cost?" Kuroko suddenly spoke up.
"Huh?" Kagami's face drained of color, "We have to pay for that?!" Sasaki chuckled at his expression before everyone was called over to resume the game.
"Let the game resume!"
Gasps were heard as Kise stepped onto the court, smirking. "Sorry to keep you waiting."
"Right back at you," Sasaki replied, "now then Kisecchi, how about you show us everything you got?"
"Only if you do the same, Sasakicchi."
"Oh don't worry, I plan to," The two stared at each other so hard that sparks were flying. Suddenly, however, they were interrupted by a bunch of squeals. Sasaki sweatdropped at how many girls there were watching.
"Huh?! What's all that?" Hyuuga flinched.
"Thanks for coming!" Kise waved to them, wearing a bright smile, which only made the squeals turn into screams.
"Oh, that?" Kaijo's captain sighed, "This happens every time he plays. Give me a second," He darted over to him, kicking him right on the back which made Sasaki wince. "Quit waving to them! I'll hit you!"
"Pretty sure you already did so maybe add an 'again' there," The white haired male mumbled, chuckling.
"Ow! You already hit me, Kasamatsu-senpai!" Kise complained, holding his back, only for his captain to say something to him that Sasaki couldn't make out.
Then his voice raised, "Who the hell is number ten?"
"Number ten?" Kise seemed confused, then glanced at Sasaki, frowned, then moved his gaze to Kagami who, low and behold, was wearing that exact number. "Oh, that's Kagami," He answered.
"Kagami? I've never heard of him."
"Forget about him," Kise said, excitement seaping into his voice. "The guy who stole the ball, number 11, that's my teammate from Teiko, Kurokocchi! Not to mention Kasaicchi, number 14! I haven't actually seen him play very much yet but-"
"Why are you so happy?" Kasamatsu punched him right in the gut, once again making Sasaki wince. How violent. Then he muttered something to Kise lowly, soft enough that the white haired boy couldn't hear it. Taking a peak at his mind, the boy almost chortled.
Alright then, game on.
The game resumed, Kasamatsu having the ball and dribbling back towards their goal as Kise ducked and weaved through the Seirin players. Since Sasaki wasn't on him and no one had asked him to change marks, he stayed on Kasamatsu.
The Kaijo captain passed the ball through the white haired male's legs, which he wasn't exactly expecting, which led to Kise getting the ball and slamming it into the hoop.
More squeals went up as Kise dropped down from the rim. A second later, Kasamatsu kicked him in the back again. "You idiot! I told you to break it!"
"Sorry!"
"Well now," Sasaki hummed to himself from beside Kagami, both looking at the hoop Kise had just dunked into. "Looks like I'll need to put more effort into this than I thought."
"I can't say the same for girls," The blonde Kaijo player said as he returned from being pummeled, "but I've never failed to return a favor on the court."
"Bring it on, pretty boy," Kagami growled as Sasaki took a deep breath and cracked his neck. The air temperature dropped as his eyes focused.
"Alright, I'm ready to go."