The final quarter started and Kiyoshi decided to ask Riko to let him in on the last minute or two of the game. He felt like he could try again, but because his body was spent and sore, he asked Riko to help him with that. Riko had to give him a full body massage to get his muscles to stop being so stiff. It was going to be painful. Riko accepted and both of them left to the infirmary room.
Riko left (Y/N), Tsuchida and Koganei in charge while she was gone.
At the court, the game was going tensely. Kagami had been trying to defend all the two-point area by himself and Murasakibara was angry that the red haired thought he alone would be enough to stop him.
The truth was Kagami was having trouble. He kept trying, he kept jumping, he kept pushing, but Murasakibara was always scoring.
Okamura had the ball and passed it to Himuro. Himuro ran with it and stopped when Kagami was marking him. This was what the dark haired wanted, a one-on-one with Kagami. Himuro did a fake and got past Kagami, who was taken aback with his speed. Himuro kept going and if it wasn't for Murasakibara noticing Kuroko approaching him to steal the ball from him, he would have lost it to the blue haired boy.
Himuro still had the ball and Hyuuga was marking him. Himuro was angry, he thought Kagami was underestimating him by believing he could defend the inside area by himself. He would show him, then. Himuro did another fake and got past Hyuuga.
Kagami got in front of him. The red haired didn't waver, he already knew how Himuro did his Mirage Shot, and all he had to do was stop him.
The trick was: Himuro released the ball twice, the first time he would just throw it up in the air, and after that he would grab the ball and release it again, shooting it towards the basket.
But stopping him from doing this proved to be more difficult than Kagami initially expected.
Kagami delayed his jump, counting that Himuro would first do the fake release, but Himuro surprised him by shooting the ball on the first release. It turned out that it didn't matter if the opponent knew how Himuro did it. Himuro just had to adjust his movement depending on what his opponent decided to do. If the opponent jumped on the first release, Himuro would do the fake and then when he released the ball for real, the opponent would already be too late to block it. If the opponent decided to wait before jumping to catch the ball on the second release, Himuro would just shoot the ball on the first instead and his opponent would miss it. Because Himuro's moves were so fluid and he was so good at faking, his opponents had no way of predicting him, seen that the dark haired could just change what he was doing in a second.
Himuro was angry that Kagami thought he would be able to stop him just because he knew how it worked, the dark haired boy was confident no one would ever be able to defend against his trick.
Just like that, Himuro scored.
Kagami started to get angry, more with himself of course. He just kept failing! If only he got it right, if only he could be stronger again, if only he could enter the Zone again! He would have the focus and speed to stop not only Himuro but Murasakibara as well. He told his team he would defend the inside area alone, but up until now he was failing. If only he could get that extra strength he needed.
(Y/N)'s eyes widened when she looked at Kagami and realized what he was trying to do.
"I can't believe him. What is he thinking?" she asked out loud. Was Kagami seriously trying to get into the Zone?
At the stands, Aomine had realized the same thing. Kagami was trying to enter the Zone.
"What's that idiot doing?" he asked, sounding unimpressed and Momoi looked up at him curiously.
At the same time, Kaijou had just entered the area and stood at the side of the court, close to the entrance. They would have their match after this one and decided to watch the last minutes. Kise was excited, but he quickly turned serious when he looked at the game. The whole Kaijou team evaluated what was happening in the game and noticed that Kiyoshi wasn't there and that Kagami was alone in the middle. That was strange. Kise's eyes narrowed when he looked at Kagami, the red haired didn't look normal.
Because of Himuro and Murasakibara, Yosen was once again scoring and widening the gap. Less than seven minutes were left and Seirin was losing 49-58. Kagami was gasping for air and looking down, his teammates noticed he started to get reckless. They didn't understand what he was trying to do.
"What an idiot. At this rate they're going to lose." Aomine said, grabbing Momoi's attention again. "It's obvious what he's thinking. I'm sure he's wishing he could enter the Zone, but at this rate, he's never going to enter it in a lifetime." Aomine explained.
"What do you mean?" Momoi asked.
"It's harder to enter the Zone a second time because you've already experienced it once. Once you learn what it's like for everything to go your way, you naturally want to experience it again. But those are idle thoughts, that's what you absolutely can't have to enter the focused state of the Zone. If you want to enter the Zone, you can't try to enter the Zone." Aomine explained.
Murasakibara once again scored and Kagami failed to stop him. The ball went out of bounds and the game was paused.
(Y/N) frowned and approached the side line.
"Hey, Kagami!" she called and the red haired looked at her. "Stop thinking about it! This is not something you can force to happen!" she told him, sounding displeased. It was obvious he was trying to get in the Zone and it should have been obvious to him that if he kept forcing it to happen, it never would!
The others looked at her curiously and Kagami clenched his teeth in frustration. He didn't respond to her, he knew he was messing up. The red haired went to get the ball back, it had rolled to the side of the court and Kise had grabbed it. The blond looked annoyed with Kagami as well, he too knew what the red haired had been trying to do and to him that was lame.
Kagami stopped when he saw it was Kise that was standing there. Kise spoke to him, looking unimpressed.
"Why do you look so miserable?" he asked Kagami and the other players' eyes widened when they saw Kise was there. Kagami didn't answer him, he was still surprised. "Oh. I mistook you for someone I know. Who are you?" Kise asked, disappointed.
"What? What are you-" Kagami tried to ask, his voice gruff.
"I don't know any idiots who rely on anything when they play basketball." Kise said louder, referring to the fact Kagami was forcing his way into the Zone to gain advantage. Kagami frowned, he was frustrated. Kise gave him the ball back as he glanced at Murasakibara. "It looks like I'll be playing Murasakibara-chi in the semi-finals. I look forward to it." Kise said, taunting Kagami without seeming so. Kise turned away from Kagami and started to walk back to his team. "I don't know what to say, someone I know was far scarier in our practice game." Kise shot one last time and Kagami gasped.
The red haired went back to the court, still thinking about Kise's words. He kept thinking about their meaning and reminiscing on what he had been doing. Then, he suddenly understood, he finally accepted the idea. Just like (Y/N) had told him, he couldn't force himself to enter, he had to keep playing with his own known strength. He had to keep focused on the game instead of on entering the Zone.
What had he been doing? He had lost himself for a moment there.
He was back to his senses now, though.
The red haired ace surprised his team when he slapped himself in the face. No matter how much it hurt, he just had to do whatever he could now.
(Y/N) sighed with relief when she saw their ace had come back to his senses. She was thankful for Kise to have been there. She knew Kagami would come back to himself eventually, but she couldn't help but be happy that the blond decided to make an impact on Kagami and brought him back sooner.
The girl looked at Kaijou's team. She raised her arm in the air, quietly signaling them. Kasamatsu noticed first and called Kise's attention to her. The blond looked at what Kasamatsu was motioning to and saw it was (Y/N). When the girl saw she had the blond's attention, she pointed her finger at him. Kise looked curious and pointed at himself to make sure she was addressing him. (Y/N) nodded at him and proceeded to make the shape of a heart with her hands. Kise's eyes widened and he blushed furiously while he turned to Kasamatsu.
"Kasamatsu-senpai! (Y/N)-chi just sent me a heart!" Kise said loudly as he shook the older male. He was so happy.
Kasamatsu got annoyed and kicked him.
"Shut up, stupid!" the older male grumbled.
(Y/N) laughed at Kise's reaction and turned her attention back to the game. Kagami was more focused and determined than ever and it showed by how high he had started to jump.
That caught Yosen's players out of guard, how could he jump so high?
Seirin called for a time-out. Riko had sent them a message telling them to change tactics. Kuroko, Hyuuga and Izuki would triple-team against Himuro when he had the ball and Kagami and Mitobe would defend the inside. It would be better for Kagami to focus only on defending the point area instead of all the two-point area. Kagami agreed immediately and apologized for not having been able to do the same thing Murasakibara was doing (defend the whole area by himself) like he said he would. The team obviously didn't mind and didn't give him any problems. In fact, they were actually amazed by how calm Kagami was now. He really did look like himself, now. He would be fine.
The game resumed and Okamura was running with the ball. He jumped to score, but Kagami jumped higher and made him miss. Unfortunately, Murasakibara was right there and finished the move by dunking the ball. Kagami didn't let that affect him and Murasakibara noticed he was different, even his movements seemed different. Yosen were the ones putting pressure on Seirin, but it was Seirin that was giving them chills.
From that moment on, Kagami kept stopping shots, started getting all the rebounds and was even intercepting passes. Murasakibara was getting fed up with all his meddling and stole the ball from Izuki. He ran towards Seirin's basket and jumped to dunk it, but this time Kagami was on par with him. Kagami ran faster than all the others, got in front of Murasakibara's form, jumped and, with both hands, he tapped the ball from Murasakibara's hand.
He had finally overpowered him. No one in Yosen could believe their eyes.
After landing, Kagami raised his eyes and once again he surprised everyone.
"Oh my god!" (Y/N) said as she covered her mouth.
Kagami had those eyes, the same focused and steeled eyes he had when he battled Aomine. Kagami was in the Zone!
At the stands, Aomine laughed shortly.
"I knew he could do it." He said with a smirk.
Kise was also smirking. That was more to his liking - getting powerful naturally and not forcibly.
At that moment, Riko came back to the bench. She asked them what was going on.
"Kagami just entered the Zone." (Y/N) answered quickly and Riko's eyes widened. "I guess we really do get things when we're not looking for them." The girl said with a smile.
Things were a lot more serious now, and scary for Yosen.
Himuro asked Fukui to pass him the ball and with a series of elegant fake moves, he got past Kuroko, Izuki and Hyuuga. He ran forward and was ready to go one-on-one with Kagami again. Kagami got stronger, but Himuro refused to lose against him.
He positioned himself to make his Mirage Shot, but this time things weren't going to go his way, Kagami was too strong. Kagami jumped on the first release. Himuro smirked because all he had to do was fake it and shoot the ball at the second release, but his eyes quickly widened when he saw Kagami was still in the air when he had to shoot the ball for real. Kagami looked like he was floating, was he ever going to start descending? It was impossible to be in the air for so long!
Well, not for Kagami.
With his arm still extended when Himuro released the ball for the second time, Kagami blocked it. Himuro couldn't believe his eyes, Kagami had just destroyed his Mirage Shot!
The crowd and Seirin cheered. Seirin had a big chance to make a comeback now!
Kuroko had the ball and Kagami asked him to pass it. Kuroko gave him the ball and Kagami shot it at the three-point line. He was so confident it would go in, he turned around even before the ball had passed the hoop. It was incredible. What a Midorima move!
Murasakibara asked for the ball and was going to do his Thor's Hammer to dunk it. Kagami jumped in front of him and, once again with both hands, he stopped the giant from scoring. Everyone was shocked and even Aomine was impressed. Kagami's block on Murasakibara had been so powerful, the purple haired giant even fell back. It was truly amazing!
Kagami looked down at Murasakibara and spoke normally.
"Sorry, I think I used too much strength." He said and Murasakibara got furious.
Himuro had a shocked look on his face for quite a while, now. He was seeing Kagami's true power, a power he would never reach. Himuro was losing.
(Y/N), Aomine and Kise were explaining the same thing to the people that were by their side. Only someone in the Zone could stop Kagami, now. And Yosen didn't have anyone that could enter the Zone. One of the principal conditions to enter the Zone is that you stake everything on the sport you're playing, meaning that you have to love basketball more than anything. That was a requirement Murasakibara didn't have. He never really enjoyed basketball, he would never love the sport enough to be granted access to it.
"What about Himuro-kun? He seems to love basketball quite a lot and he's strong. Couldn't he enter the Zone?" Riko asked (Y/N), who frowned.
"No." she answered at once. "Himuro's problem isn't lack of love for the sport. His problem is something else." She said and the others looked at her curiously.
"What is it, then, (L/N)-chan?" Koganei asked.
"Only the chosen ones can enter the Zone. Himuro is strong, but he is no prodigy, he's only the best an ordinary player can be. No matter how much he tries, he'll never get to the other side." (Y/N) explained without pity and the others' eyes widened. "Besides, someone who so easily let's his life be controlled by envy will never be worthy of reaching the Zone." She finished with hard eyes.
"How do you know so much about this, (L/N)-chan?" Koganei asked curiously.
"I only learned about it the other day. After our game with Touou, I asked Daiki everything he knew about the Zone, while he helped Tetsuya with his shots." she explained normally and the others nodded.
Yosen couldn't stop Kagami. The red haired ace passed by Himuro with an amazing fake, even better than his ones, and when he got closer to Yosen's basket, he jumped from behind the free-throw line.
Murasakibara was there and jumped to block him, but he realized he was already descending while Kagami was still flying. This was one of Kagami's amazing talents, Air Walking.
Kagami scored and Murasakibara could do nothing.
There were three minutes left to the end of the game and Seirin reduced the gap to only four points, the scores being 60 - 64, Yosen in the lead.
Yosen called for a time-out and every player went to the benches.
Seirin's side was relaxed while Yosen's side got a bit agitated. That called Seirin's attention and they looked at Yosen. (Y/N) was assessing them with hawk eyes.
"What? What did you just say?" Fukui asked Murasakibara, he looked really annoyed. Murasakibara better be joking.
The purple haired giant was leaning back and had his towel lazily on top of his head, hiding his eyes.
"I told you, I've had enough. I quit. Sub me out." Murasakibara said, his voice dragging.
"Don't be ridiculous! What are you talking about?!" Fukui asked furiously and Okamura stood up.
"If you drop out now, we'll lose a game we could still win. Are you saying you don't care if we lose?" the captain asked Murasakibara.
"Yeah. After all, no one can stop Kagami anymore." Murasakibara answered without a problem and Okamura looked furious just like Fukui.
Before anyone could say anything else, they were shocked when Himuro punched Murasakibara in the face. Out of all of them, he was the angriest one. Himuro roughly grabbed Murasakibara's collar before he spoke.
"That's enough, Atsushi!" he said, sounding furious. "The game is not over yet!" he told him and Murasakibara looked at him annoyed.
"Ow." The giant complained. "It's so annoying when you get hot-blooded. Besides, you're even more useless against Kagami than me." Murasakibara said and Himuro's eyes widened. "Can't you tell he's better than you?" he asked him and Himuro looked down, hurt.
"I know. I know that. I've always been envious of his abilities. But you have what I desperately want and you're trying to throw the game." Himuro said and started crying. Murasakibara's eyes widened slightly. "You're making me crazy with rage." Himuro said with a defeated smile and Murasakibara frowned lightly.
"Get away from me, that's so annoying. Besides, I can't believe you're crying. I sort of noticed, but I didn't know you felt this strongly." Murasakibara said, his voice calmer. "Actually, this is the first time I've been amazed by how much someone repulses me." He said and Himuro's visible eye widened.
Murasakibara stayed quiet for a few seconds and then looked to the side. He noticed (Y/N) had been looking at them.
"Eh? What are you looking at, (Y/N)-chin?" he asked the girl, looking upset and the others looked at her too. They didn't noticed she had been looking at them.
The girl fixed him just as harshly.
"Nothing, really. I'm just realizing you're still the same as before." She told him, looking unimpressed.
"What?" he grumbled and the rest of his team looked at the girl as well.
"When things get complicated, you give up. You hide under the pretext that you're tired or that you don't care anymore, but the truth is you're just running away. You're still as lame as before." She told him and gave him a condescending smile, like he was pitiful.
At her words, Murasakibara grew irritated. Fukui didn't like that she was meddling and saying those things to him, even if he was annoyed with Murasakibara. The blond boy almost spoke, but his coach spoke to him and the others quietly.
"Don't interfere." She said and they looked curious with her decision. "We already know what this girl does and she attended middle school with Murasakibara. She might know what she's doing." She explained. This woman was really perceptive.
She was right.
After what (Y/N) said, Murasakibara stood up.
"I guess I'll stay on the court until the end of the game." He said and asked his coach for a hair tie.
The woman gave him one and the purple haired giant walked into the court ahead of the rest, while he put his hair in a low ponytail.
As he walked away, the others looked at (Y/N). The girl just gave them a small smile.
"He's so easy to manipulate, isn't he?" she asked them and they looked weirded out. Their coach was right, the girl knew what she was doing. (Y/N) looked at them and it was like she read their thoughts. "Don't get the wrong idea. Atsushi was already set on going back to the game after that guy's pitiful speech." She said, gesturing towards Himuro with her head at the end. "I just decided to give him a hard push in spite of what he did to Kiyoshi-senpai." She said nonchalantly and Yosen sweated at her hidden malevolent personality.
It didn't matter, though. The important thing was that Murasakibara was going to keep playing and he looked even scarier, now.
Seirin's players noticed the change in his behavior.
Yosen was more dangerous than ever.
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Thank you for reading!
Next chapter is the last one of Season 2!