The boys and the girls were at each other's necks throughout the 2nd quarter. For the remaining five minutes of the 2nd quarter, both teams did not throw away the chance to strike.
The fact Kaijou was still in the lead did not throw away the girl's will to keep going at it. This fact made Kasamatsu respect Shiki; she kept motivating the others not to mind the gap between the points and continue to focus on the game. Today's practice match with Sky was unexpected but Kasamatsu, Kise, Moriyama, Hayakawa, and Kobori did not mind it one bit because the girls were worthy opponents.
Harumi threw the ball up in the air for Natsuhi to throw it all the way to Kaijou's post. This time, Hayakawa was ready to take the ball.
*Swish*
The ball went in, giving no chance of rebound.
60-49, the buzzer sounded the end of the 2nd quarter.
Kobori looked at Natshi with a surprised expression; he didn't think she was able to make a three pointer just by throwing from very far away.
"Who said I can only hit the post?" She answered his question herself. She walked back with her teammates, getting tackled by a rather excited Harumi.
"Natsuhi-senpai, you should do that more often!"
"I can't always get it through the basket..." Natsuhi explained to her.
Both teams returned to their bench, having a quick break before the 3rd quarter officially start.
Natsuhi searched through her bag to find that she does not have a 2nd bottle of drink inside. She frowned; how can she forget? She always have 2 drink bottles in her sports bag...
"Here." Kobori handed her a bottle of Pocari Sweat.
"Kobori-kun, thank you." She thought it was very nice of him to be very generous.
They were on the opposing side but that doesn't mean they can't be nice to one another.
"Does Aozora know you guys are here."
"No they don't." Natsuhi said to him, "We're not even supposed to be here..."
"Playing against guys is not something the girls' team should be doing, I guess..."
"A team, huh...?" At the mention of the girls' team, Natsuhi and the other girls looked a little down.
Kobori realized his words must have stung each of them by accident so he apologized on the spot. When he looked back at his team, his teammates were looking at him with suspicious eyes.
"Guys?!"
"Kobori, you look like a kind fellow but you can upset girls..." Moriyama smirked.
"That's not true at all!" Kobori will not allow Moriyama to say nasty things about him.
Unknown to Moriyama, Akina was looking at him, wanting to talk to him too.
"Yoshi-"
"Alright! Let's go and win!" Kasamatsu suddenly stood up and shouted.
"In your dreams! We are the ones who are going to win!" Shiki fired back at him.
Akina sighed, it will have to wait...
The third quarter started with Kaijou's ball. Moriyama passed the ball to Hayakawa. Hayakawa dribbled for a while but he passed right away knowing Shiki will use her steals against him. The ball was passed to Kasamatsu.
Kasamatsu and Kise were the perfect people to pass to since they can keep up with Shiki's steals.
Kasamatsu passed the ball to Kobori but Natsuhi intercepted it and passed it to Fuyu. Kise used Shiki's steal on Fuyu, successfully stealing the ball from her to break her drive.
"I already know your weakness!" Shiki got in front of Kise, preparing a one-on-one with him. The girls covered for Shiki, making sure the others wouldn't be able to disturb them.
Kise was about to use Fuyu's drive but Shiki jabbed the ball from his hold.
'What the-?!' The Kaijou members did not expect the copy to fail! Did Kise do something wrong?
Shiki took the ball and threw it up into the air above her and ran for it. Natsuhi jumped up and launched the ball to Kaijou's basket from half of the court. Natsuhi's luck shone through when the ball went through the basket.
Kise stood there in confusion, looking at Sky's captain with a look like a lost puppy.
A light tap came onto his shoulder. Kise looked behind him to see a smiling Harumi. Was she comforting him?
"Don't be so disheartened." Harumi comforted him, "Shiki-senpai is the captain of the team, of course she would know how to surpass her own teammates. She's the captain for a reason, you know?"
'That means her skills surpasses her own teammates...' Kasamatsu thought as Shiki walked past him.
"Kasamatsu-senpai, please pass the ball to me again." Kise requested.
Kasamatsu can tell the junior has a plan behind those determined eyes.
"Go for it." That was all Kasamatsu can say for Kise.
The game started again. Passes and steals happened then and there. Just like what happened before, Kise got the ball and accepted a one-on-one with Shiki again. Shiki prepared herself for Kise.
'Just try it! Copy me if you wish!' Shiki was prepared for him.
"Seems like Shiki has worked out Kise's weakness..." Natsuhi explained to Kobori. Seeing that the taller boy looked confused, Natsuhi explained for him, "Kise is only copying our moves. Shiki is used to them, of course she would be able to counter them. On the other hand if Kise copies Shiki..."
Shiki was able to steal the ball at some point. Kise tried to steal it with Shiki's quick steals but Shiki switched the ball to her other hand before that can happen.
"Shiki will surpass the her that he copied." Natsuhi was really confident of Shiki's skills.
"You're really confident of your friend's skills..." Kobori smiled, "We believe in Kise too."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Kobori said he and the team believed in Kise, they were serious about their words; Kise was able to use Natsuhi's half court launch with 100% accuracy, unlike Natsuhi who would occasionally miss. The girls were unable to believe that Kise was able to copy the skill but take out the misses and only keep the accuracy!
Kasamatsu fist bumped Kise, proud of him.
The score was already 81-56...
'Kise is more than just a copycat; he can beat down a player's confidence by copying the moves that we trained so hard for with little to no efforts!' Shiki was running out of ideas to outplay the boys.
'Natsuhi-senpai's accuracy is getting worse. Is it because Kise has perfected the Half Court Launch she has pride in?' Harumi looked at her senpai with a worried look.
Natsuhi noticed her kouhai's worried face and she quickly smiled at her.
"Harumi, don't look at me for so long, you're making me nervous."
"Senpai..."
"Hey, it's okay. I mean, it's obvious Kise is a better basketball player than I am..." Harumi can tell the blonde was hiding her now lowered confidence. It made her a little sad that her senpai was sad.
"Harumi..." The pink haired girl turned to Shiki, "Don't worry about Natsuhi."
"But-"
"Don't forget what I once told you..."
"Shiki-senpai..."
Of course she hasn't forgotten. There's no way Hanamichi Harumi could possibly forget what Shiki once said to her...
'I am the 'Ace', my job is to turn the game around...' Harumi thought to herself, 'I promised Shiki-senpai I would win for her...'
"Harumi!" Natsuhi faked the Half Court Launch and successfully passed to Harumi.
"Senpai, I won't let you through!" Kise exclaimed in a defensive stance.
However, Harumi was able to go past Kise in a blink of an eye.
A light blue electrical current emitted from Harumi's right eye...