Third POV
Today was finally it. The final day of the Winter Cup Preliminaries. These games would determine which two teams would be going to the nation wide competition. And naturally, that attracted other teams from around Tokyo. Just outside the building as they made their arrival, onlookers watched as the Touou Academy starting players entered the gym...with Susa dragging a giant bag.
A giant bag that looked to be moving and talking...strange.
Down on the courts, Seirin was just beginning their warmups, chanting 'let's go!' as each of the starters grabbed a ball, practicing layups, dunks, and three pointers. Stepping off to the side to sit down and stretch a little bit once she had felt satisfied with her baskets, (Y/N) got into a middle splits position, leaning from one side to the other, grabbing her feet, and holding it for a couple of seconds.
Releasing each stretch after a couple of seconds, the triple threat sat back up and noticed that her phone had lit up from its spot on top of her bag. Grabbing it and looking at the screen, the tall girl noticed that Masaru had sent her a picture. Oh lordy, what chaos was he up to now?
Arching an eyebrow, the (h/c) haired girl unlocked her phone only to be met with a picture of her younger cousin taking a selfie with a big smile and a thumbs up. In the background where he was pointing his camera, the triple threat saw that the other starters from Touou along with Momoi were with him. But it was the large purple bag that intrigued her. The message written below gave more context to the situation.
'We have successfully captured Aomine!!'
"Oh my gosh," (Y/N) snorted as she covered her smile with the back of her hand.
Oh, this was what she needed right now as the girl tried not to snort or break out in a full on laugh. Masaru, your comedy mission was a success. It definitely took away some of the girl's tension, especially considering who Seirin's opponents were.
Up in the bleachers, the Touou starters had finally made their appearance as their captain let out a satisfied sigh.
"Looks like we made it just in time," Imayoshi smiled, taking in the nearly full gymnasium.
Now it was time to release their 'kidnapped' victim. The pink haired girl was the one who took on that responsibility.
"Okay, we're here now," Momoi told Aomine as she untied the knot keeping the bag together.
The dark purple fabric soon fell around the miracle ace as he sat there, looking a little more than displeased as he scratched the back of his head.
"Come on, that was a real dirty trick ya pulled," Aomine complained, thinking back to how he had ended up in this situation.
"You're the stupid one who fell for it, Aomine," Imayoshi reminded the navy haired boy.
"Yeah, you're easier to catch than a sparrow," the ace's childhood friend added on.
What was that brilliant plan to catch the miracle ace many may ask? It wasn't as complicated as you may think. All the Touou team needed was a basket and a swimsuit model magazine. Aomine was just casually walking, spotted the magazine, bent down to pick it up, and that's when the trigger was pulled.
The miracle ace was soon trapped in the basket and dragged here to the gym like a sack of potatoes. But that's not even what Aomine was mad about.
"This isn't even Mai Horikita, it's Mako Horiuchi, dumbass!" The ace yelled as he held up the magazine used as bait.
Oh, Aomine and his tastes. His very perverted tastes.
"So? What's the big deal? They're both cute, who cares?" The glasses wearing captain asked, really seeing nothing wrong since he had caught the navy haired sneaking so many of those Mai Horikita magazines onto the campus of their school.
Again, Aomine had his own...weird tastes.
"So, I need me some big bazoongas!" The navy haired boy shouted, making a gesture to show just how big he liked them.
Masaru wasn't so impressed. For a guy who claimed to love looking at models with larger boobs and all of that stuff, Aomine sure had his eyes set on one girl in particular. The gray haired twin had seen the miracle ace's screensaver on his phone. And the boy could recognize that bright smile belonging to a particular girl he knew very well. But still, the navy blue haired ace still had his moments.
"You're such a pervert," Masaru stated the obvious as he folded his arms behind his head while Sakurai let out a nervous laugh from beside him.
On the other side from where Touou had just entered, another Winter Cup participant had made their arrival as their blonde haired copycat took the head of the group.
"Come on, hurry up, guys," Kise excitedly ushered the rest of the team as he looked back at them.
"Don't rush, we're here. Look, they're all still warming up," Kasamatsu told his blonde child in order to get him to calm down.
Looking down to the court, the Kaijo captain could see the red and black team still doing regular warmups, but for some reason, he could tell something was off. He just couldn't put his finger on it.
"Anyway, Kasamatsu," Moriyama broke the captain out of his thoughts.
"What?"
Kasamatsu had no idea what he was in for. But at the same time, he should've seen it coming from his fellow third year. Looking over to the flirt, the Kaijo captain saw Moriyama putting his hand over his eyes as he began actively searching for someone.
One could only guess who that someone was.
"Where's Bashira? I have to wish her good luck!" The flirty third year declared as he tried to find her down on the court.
You wouldn't think it'd be hard since she was the only female player down on the courts. But for her sake, it was probably a good thing Moriyama couldn't spot her right away.
"Wha-?! Would you stop chasing after her?!" Kasamatsu yelled as his cheeks turned a little pink, his mind kind of going back to when she had comforted him after Kaijo's loss against Touou.
Yeah, the captain was going to keep that little intimate moment to himself and sell bragging rights later. But serious, Moriyama was kind of being a little bit of an embarrassment right now. And he wasn't the only one.
"Oh, I'mgettingsopumped today! I'mgettingall the rebounds!" Hayakawa rambled on loudly, mashing his sentences together to where you could only make out every couple of words.
"We just came here to watch, now quit screaming!" The captain once again yelled at one of his teammates.
What was he, a babysitter? Kind of felt like it in the moment since it was like he was trying to get all of his children to quiet down. Which the Kaijo captain still wasn't finished with since a certain blonde copycat had spotted two familiar figures in the crowd all the way on the other side of the gym from where the blue team had come in at.
"Hey, Momoicchi! Aominecchi!" Kise waved while also screaming the names of his former teammates.
Kasamatsu didn't hesitate to raise his foot up and kick the copycat in the back with enough force to knock the blonde miracle to the ground.
"That's goes for you too, Kise!" The captain was now screaming himself as his blonde victim let out soft cries with crocodile tears poured down his cheeks.
Okay, Momoi knew Kise and Hibiki were probably the most overtop of her friend group, but even she had to sweat-drop at how loud the whole Kaijo team was being.
"Oh, wow..." the pink haired girl let out.
Well, speaking of Hibiki, she hadn't heard his voice or even saw him jumping around with his teammates. Kasamatsu noticed it too, and he thought it was odd. Especially when it came to his twin sister's games, the captain would've thought the boy would be all over the place full of excitement to see his triple threat sister playing.
The captain had heard from them both that Seirin and Shutoku's game had been one worth watching. Hibiki had even snapped a pretty good picture of (Y/N) when she had shot that long three.
But this was different, and the captain didn't really understand what was going on yet.
However, there was one person from Touou that had spotted the youngest Bashira son and started getting excited from seeing him since it had been a little while.
"Hey, there's Hibs. HI, HIBS!!" Masaru soon showed his loud side as he began waving like crazy from his spot next to Momoi, almost standing up in his seat.
Hibiki recognized the voice, and obviously heard it as did everyone else in the freaking gymnasium. The gray haired twin's voice was pretty distinctive.
Still, it was able to put a smile on the younger twin's face as he began waving like Kise had back over in Touou's direction.
"Hey, Masa!"
Yep, there was the last child Kasamatsu had to reprimand. And because of the others, the captain was even more harsh as he turned towards the (h/c) haired boy, a red light flashing over his steel colored eyes.
"Hibiki Bashira, I swear..." Kasamatsu growled, enabling a squeak to come out of Hibiki as he froze in his spot, not daring to move or utter a single peep in fear for his life.
Touou's center was feeling the same way, having almost gone deaf. Wakamatsu soon grit his teeth together as he sharply turned back towards the loud gray haired twin.
"Masaru! I gonna frickin' tape your mouth shut!" The pale blonde warned as he clenched his fist.
Masaru quickly got the message as he sunk down in his seat while Sakurai was holding a very irritated Wakamatsu back from pouncing on the first year.
Down on Seirin's side, literally everything was heard and reverberated throughout the entire vicinity. Riko and (Y/N) knew those voices alright, though they should've been used to this by now. You would think, but neither of them probably ever would. Both girls sweat-dropped as they just sat back and listened.
"Oh, we love our crazy family, don't we, Riko?" The triple threat turned and asked her cousin, all finished with her stretches.
The second year coach soon leaned her arm on the taller girl's shoulder, crossing her left leg over the right.
"Oh, yes we do," she kind of sarcastically, getting the joke between the two of them.
They truly did, but holy smokes, there was never a dull moment when it came to their crazy family. Well, back to warmups for the triple threat. It wasn't like she wasn't feeling it for this game or anything like that, but the girl knew exactly what she and the rest of the team were up against.
Up in the bleachers, once Wakamatsu had cooled his head, Touou was now sitting continuing to watch the players do their warmups. But Aomine noticed something as he kind of sat up a little bit, getting that feeling he hadn't felt from one player in particular in quite some time.
"What is it?" Momoi asked the navy blue haired ace, noticing his slight change in appearance.
"I couldn't care less about today's game but, Seirin seems awfully bloodthirsty," Aomine answered.
The miracle ace was getting that feeling more so from the sole female player down on the court as she made another three pointer. Which was odd because as far as he knew, the girl really didn't have any connection to Kirisaki Daiichi. Oh, if only he knew.
As they continued on with making baskets, Hyuga had barely made a successful three pointer during this entire time, and it was the same story with the next one as the captain grit his teeth with frustration. It was a little concerning to the others, to say the least.
"I hope Hyuga's gonna be okay. I've never seen him miss this many shots before," Koganei expressed his concern to Izuki as the cat faced second year grabbed another ball.
"Well, I understand he's a little on edge. But we're up against them today," the punster stated, narrowing his eyes as he looked on at Seirin's opponent's side.
Kuroko noticed the tone that Izuki was using, and it was clear to the phantom that the other second years also had the same feelings about Kirisaki Daiichi. There was no telling what was going to happen today, and no telling who was going to be their target. It was only natural that they'd be tense. The light blue haired boy even noticed that (Y/N) was way more quiet and more tense than she had ever been. If that didn't tell anyone something, he didn't know what else would.
Seconds later, a ball from Seirin's side of the gym had bounced off of the backboard and began rolling to the other side of the court, finally stopping as it bumped into someone's feet. Kiyoshi had gone over to get it just as the person the ball had bumped into turned around and picked it up.
"I take it this ball belongs to you?" Hanamiya asked the second year center all innocently.
"It does, thank you," Kiyoshi thanked as he ran over to the captain of Kirisaki Daiichi.
Hanamiya threw the ball back and seemed to act like he hadn't recognized the second year center at first, that smile on his face having a dark undertone to it.
"You're very welcome. Oh, hey. You seem to be better," the captain almost seem to mock Kiyoshi, seeming to try and remind him just exactly what had happened the year before.
But Kiyoshi didn't seem to let it get to him, even if he knew very well just how he had gotten injured and just how dark and malicious Hanamiya could be.
"Yeah, all thanks to you," the Seirin center responded back in his usual polite way.
But Hanamiya didn't think that would be the case for any of the other members of Seirin that knew very well what had occurred. And there was one member, in particular, who wanted to make sure the captain of Kirisaki Daiichi knew very well just what he had done.
"Hold on a second!" Hyuga's voice stopped Hanamiya in his tracks as the boy turned back to find his fellow captain glaring him down.
"Don't think we forgot what you did. And you better not have forgotten it either," the glasses wearing captain barked.
Oh, this was exactly the reaction Hanamiya lived for whenever he performed in previous games. The boy couldn't stop eating up that anger and tension, it only gave room for him to play his mind games, including the victim card.
"Why are you being so mean? I don't know where you got the idea that I did something. Honestly, the way I remember it, he hurt himself," Hanamiya faked an offended tone of voice while still keeping that disturbing smile on his face.
And to add a cherry on top, he snapped his fingers. Hyuga knew very well what that meant as he grew furious, his fists clenched as he was ready to throw down with Kirisaki Daiichi's captain right here and now.
"You bastard!" Hyuga growled, taking a step forward.
"Jun," a much calmer voice called out to him, stopping the boy in his tracks as he felt a hand place itself on his shoulder.
Looking out to his sides, the glasses wearing captain saw the first year trio standing beside him and Kiyoshi, all of them glaring down Hanamiya.
"Give me a break. This scum bag's even worse in person. No matter what kind of trash you try to pull today," Kagami was the first to say as his voice took on a growly tone.
"We'll win," Kuroko finished the red head's sentence with his own sharp look adorning his features.
Standing in between the two boys and by Hyuga, (Y/N)'s own fierce expression was made up of a sharp yet blank stare as she made sure she had eye contact with Kirisaki Daiichi's captain to make sure he knew what he was up against.
"Count on it, Hanamiya," the triple threat sealed the fate of Seirin's victory.
Look at her getting real ballsy, that was what Hanamiya was thinking. In his eyes, he could still see that scared little girl he had encountered when he had finished his first masterpiece. Little did he know, the boy had another thing coming if that were to be his thoughts.
"Just try to crush us if you're such hot shit," the tiger finally challenged as he narrowed his ruby gaze.
However, the malicious uncrowned king only thought that to be an adorable little challenge. He was getting exactly what he wanted and he didn't have to work that hard for it. Still, he was going to push that even further when it came to playing his little mind games.
"Oh my, so assertive. I've heard quite a bit about your first year trio. You three should be careful. Especially you, (Y/N). I wouldn't want something to happen to you after your recovery from that horrific incident," Hanamiya commented, returning the girl's gaze and making reference to her incident with Okami.
But that right there was taken as a threat by all four of the boys standing there. Kuroko soon took the girl's hand as Kagami got right in front of her while Hyuga began glaring even harder. Kiyoshi had even begun giving the Kirisaki captain a sharp look.
They knew he was mocking her for what had happened, and by no means was that okay in their book. Like he had any idea what kind of hell she went through, so he had no room to talk. The red head began to clench his fists as his brows furrowed even more than before. Not on his watch.
"Hey, I'm gonna tell you this right now. You'd better stay the hell away from her. If you even look at her wrong, you're gonna pay for it, big time," Kagami warned, trying his very best to hold back from getting up in Hanamiya's face.
Kuroko squeezed the girl's hand gently to see if that would spark any kind of response from her. Peeking over to see what her reaction and body language were doing, the phantom saw kind of the same expression Kiyoshi had earlier, eerily calm and collected. But the aura around her was telling a very different story. It almost kind of imitated the tiger's.
Hanamiya was getting a little annoyed now. He hated it when people told him what to do, and it seemed like the others were starting to figure out he wasn't trying to be the nice guy when it came to the sole female player.
"Quite the guard dog you have there, (Y/N). For your information, she's always been the one to pick fights with me," the Kirisaki captain decided to accuse the triple threat to see what her teammates would do.
Looks like Kagami had the biggest reaction as he eyes became that of a wild and anger tiger, his teeth grit tightly together as he let out a growl and took a step forward.
He was not, in any way, going to let a scum bag like Hanamiya talk about his girl like that. No way in hell because none of it was true. Before the red head could snap back, he felt a soft hand grab his arm, gently pulling him back a little bit. Turning back, Kagami saw (Y/N) standing her ground, smirking a little bit as she stared down Hanamiya.
"And I'm the one that finishes most of them. And we'll finish this one too, so you better watch it," she warned the captain.
She saw him click his tongue and scoff, that was the reaction she was looking for out of Kirisaki's captain. Hanamiya finally just decided to drop it as he turned and headed back towards the rest of his team.
Rolling her eyes, the triple threat let go of Kagami's arm and gave everybody around her a quick smile to try and assure them that she was fine and that she wasn't going to let Hanamiya get to her now.
Still, even though she was trying to calm their nerves, the tall girl could still see this was getting to Hyuga more than anyone else, a small glare still etched on his face. As the others began heading back over to the bench with warmups coming to a close, (Y/N) came up behind the glasses wearing captain, throwing herself onto his back as he stumbled forward.
"What the heck are you doing, Kiddo?" The captain questioned as he turned back to see the girl's long (h/c) hair hanging over his and her shoulders.
The triple threat was giving him her usual bright smile before getting off of his back and coming around front to grab her brush.
"Well, I'm waiting for my amazing hairstylist to give me one of his masterpieces," she answered, putting one hand on her hip and using the other to hold out her hairbrush to him.
That's right. Hyuga had been so caught up in facing Hanamiya and the rest of Kirisaki Daiichi that he had completely neglected his promise he had made the girl before the prelims. With his eyes softening a little bit, Hyuga let out a small laugh as he took the hairbrush out of her hand. Oh, his goofy little girl always knew how to make him feel better.
"Alright, Kiddo. Your wish is my command."
Letting out a small laugh herself, the triple threat followed the captain over to the bench where she plopped herself down and felt the glasses wearing boy begin to work his magic.
"I'm gonna try something a little different, 'kay?" Hyuga let her know as he brushed through her long locks of hair, getting an idea of what he wanted to do in his head.
"Oh, go for it, Jun. I trust ya," (Y/N) waved off his concern, completely trusting the older boy to make her look fabulous.
Now Hyuga had thought about this beforehand, but considering they were going up against Kirisaki Daiichi, he didn't want her hair to become a target for them to do something. And he thought they would too, that's just how dirty they played.
Finally coming up with something, the glasses wearing captain began Dutch braiding two strands of the girl's hair before grabbing the rest of it and twirling it up into a bun. Fixing any stray hairs or bumps in the bun, Hyuga finally tied it with a ponytail and patted the girl's shoulders.
"There ya go."
"Ooh, I like that, (Y/N)," Riko spoke up as she went behind the triple threat to get a better look.
Grabbing her phone out of her pocket and turning the camera to where she could see her reflection. And the triple threat loved what she saw as her jaw dropped a little bit. Hyuga had intricately braided two strands and made them into a bun.
"Oh, Jun. This is one of my favorites. Thank you!" The girl smiled back at the captain before standing up to go and grab her armband and headband from her back.
Yep, Hyuga still had it. And he was pretty proud of himself too for this masterpiece. It wasn't every day he could perfectly plan out a look in his head and then be able to pull it off.
There would be a little twist to Seirin's gameplay this time, however. Riko had thought long and hard about this decision, but the coach wasn't going to allow the triple threat to get hurt again. And if Hanamiya could pick up on Kiyoshi's injury, then he would more than likely do the same to (Y/N).
It took some real hard convincing, but the triple threat finally agreed to let Izuki start out in her place until Seirin could break down Kirisaki Daiichi a little bit. But the tall girl was determined to play, and Hanamiya's words only made her want to get out and beat him even more.
Finally, a few seconds later, the buzzer sounded off as the teams put the basketballs in a cart before they all went back to their respective sides. Taking a seat at the end of the bench, Kiyoshi didn't waste any time in getting some athletic tape out and began to wrap his injured leg. Little did he know, the boy was about to be confronted by some others that wanted to help.
"Kiyoshi. We can tape up your legs for you," Kawahara suddenly offered as the second year looked up to see the other first year trio standing in front of them.
"That's right. Please, let us help," Furihata added on, kind of being a little more assertive than he usually was.
It definitely caught the second year center off guard at the sudden offer and determination of the first years that wanted to help him out.
"Uh, okay," Kiyoshi finally agreed, handing the three boys the tape.
"There isn't much that we can do, but you, well uh..." Fukuda started before the three of them faced their senior with determination and confidence on their faces.
"Please go out there and win this!" the trio encouraged in sync.
However, Kiyoshi was finding this to be a little sus. Kind of sounded like they had figured out what was going on between him and Hanamiya. Arching an eyebrow at them as the trio bent down to work on his knee, the center turned towards Seirin's captain as the glasses wearing boy began stretching his arms, folding them from one side to the other.
"Hyuga, you didn't tell them did you?" Kiyoshi asked the captain.
"Just Kuroko and Kagami. Kiddo also told them what happened before that with Naoki. It's nothing to hide," Hyuga answered, not trying to hide the fact that he had revealed the past to the tiger and phantom.
Well, Kiyoshi didn't want to worry anyone, which is why he never said anything. But it made sense as to why the terrific trio of Seirin had come to his aid earlier. And it also kind of explained why Kagami and Kuroko had gotten rather protective of the triple threat when Hanamiya had made reference to her injuries. Honestly, the tall brown haired boy wasn't okay with it either, so he was glad Riko had decided just to bench her for now.
Peering over at the tall girl, Kiyoshi saw her making small talk with the rest of the second years, her newly healed knee having two strips of black athletic tape wrapped around it for a little extra support. He could tell she was ready to throw down just by the fact that the girl was sneaking glances at their opponent's side.
It warmed his heart that she was worried and that the others were too, that much was clear. Knowing that was able to put a smile on the boy's face as he looked down at the three first years just as they had gotten ready to present their masterpiece.
"Finished!" the three of them announced, revealing Kiyoshi's...blocky leg that was wrapped in layers of thick bandages.
It was safe to say that Riko wasn't too impressed as she came over with her paper fan aimed and ready as she raised it to smack Fukuda, since he was the closest.
"What do you guys think he is, a mummy?!"
(Y/N) gave her friends an A+ for effort, but she soon came over and unwrapped the thick wrapping around her friend's knee. Once she had done that, the tall girl then began to gently wrap the tape around the center's knee. She looked real focused as she did it too, making sure that she got the wrapping just right to make sure he had the most support she could give him.
About a minute later, the triple threat ran her finger along one last piece of tape across the center's leg before patting it to let him know she was done.
"There you go, Teppei," the (h/c) haired girl told him, trying to make her tone of voice sound as normal as possible.
Riko had been standing behind her, watching on as her cousin worked her magic. Crossing her arms, the coach let out a sigh as she thought back to the other trio's attempt to wrap the boy's leg.
"I swear. Don't push too hard. If it starts to look bad, I'm benching you," the brunette informed Kiyoshi as he stood up, moving his leg to make sure the wrapping wasn't too tight.
It felt perfect as far as he was concerned.
"I second that," the tall girl spoke up from her spot sitting on the ground.
Hell, the triple threat would probably literally walk out onto the court and drag Kiyoshi's butt off if she had to. Because she knew very well that he was going to be stubborn about this. Well, she could be just as stubborn when it came to her friend's safety. As she looked back up to the center, (Y/N) felt his large hand rest gently on her head for a few moments as he smiled down at her.
"Right. Thanks, you guys," Kiyoshi showed his gratitude as he walked over and patted the heads of the other three first years, causing them all to smile.
It was able to put some of her concerns at ease for now as Riko helped the tall girl to her feet. Now, now it was time for war. The starters had gathered in a team huddle with their arms around one another as the other players that were staying on the bench gathered around them as well, putting their hands on the starters' backs.
"Alright, we're gonna get that win! Seirin, let's fight!" Hyuga yelled out in order to get everyone hyped up.
"Yeah!"
(Y/N) quickly came over to Izuki, the two of them performing their handshake as he gave her a quick smile before he made his way out onto the court.
Now, it was time for her usual routine. But this time, the girl wasn't as smiley as she normally was. No, not when they were going up against them. Kuroko and Kagami watched as the stone faced girl made her way over to them, taking in a deep breath through her nose and replacing that stoic expression with a look of determination as she held out her fists confidently.
"Go kick some frickin' booty and wait for me to come out," the triple threat told them.
She wanted to be out so badly, but she had to respect the others' wishes to keep her safe for now. So she just had to trust them all to do their best till she could get out there to help them.
The other two members of the trio smiled at her confidence in them, and they were gonna make sure they did just that. Kagami and Kuroko soon bumped their fists against hers.
"You got it," the tiger told her as the phantom nodded, both of them trying to put her nerves at ease.
And it seemed to work as (Y/N) saw that confidence in their expressions. The girl was able to let out a smile just as she watched them make their way out to center court. God, she was hoping nothing terrible would happen.
On Kirisaki's side, Kazuya Hara blew a rather large bubble with the gum he was chewing, blowing it until it popped all over his mouth. He had heard from the red and black team's side and it was safe to say it got on his nerves.
"They're so annoying. Watching them makes me dizzy," the #10 grumbled as he began picking the gum off of his face.
Standing behind him, the team's hothead, Hiroshi Yamazaki was getting rather irritated at the member sleeping on the bench as a large red tick mark appeared on his forehead.
"The game's about to start, wake the hell up!" The hothead yelled as he kicked the boy's side, but the deep sleeper didn't move an inch.
"He's not a starter. Why don't you leave him alone?" Hara stated, not really in the mood for any of this.
"It's quite sad, isn't it? The harder those poor fools try to win, the more brutal the outcome will be," the dead eyed Kojiro Furuhashi spoke his thoughts as he looked to the captain of the team.
None of them really liked this whole concept of Seirin's teamwork, it was so cringy and irritating to them. However, this was exactly the kind of team Hanamiya was prepared to crush as a sinister smile appeared on his face. It was showtime for Kirisaki Daiichi.
"The game between Seirin High and Kirisaki Daiichi High will begin shortly! Bow!" The referee announced as the starters stood across from each other, the game about to begin.
This was going to be the deciding factor of whether or not Seirin was going to the Winter Cup.
"Let's have a good game!"
The two tallest players, being Kiyoshi and Itsuki Matsumoto, stood in the center, waiting for the ball to be thrown up. Once it was, Seirin's center didn't hesitate to fling himself into the air, smacking the ball to Izuki.
"Yes! Now go!" Riko cheered as (Y/N) clapped from beside her.
Seirin had the ball, and it was time to make their move. Izuki quickly passed the ball to Hyuga, who didn't hesitate to pass it to Kuroko. The phantom quickly caught the ball, throwing off Hanamiya and everyone else watching. Even Aomine kind of perked up, being that this was the first time he had seen his old teammate catch the ball instead of misdirecting it.
"He's using it now?" Kise asked out loud, catching Kasamatsu's attention.
That's right. The captain hadn't been informed of this new technique that Kuroko was using. Heck, Hibiki was sitting on the edge of his seat as he watched his old friend getting ready to perform his stunt.
"His Vanishing Drive!"
"Go, Tetsu!" (Y/N)'s voice could be heard as she cupped her hands around her mouth.
Yamazaki was the first to come face to face with the phantom. He knew for a fact that no one could possibly disappear, he was determined to find out the truck behind this.
"You're staying here, brat!" The hothead roared, not even hesitating to call the light blue haired boy a name.
Oh, but there was nothing Yamazaki could do now except for stand in his spot and watch. Plus, Kuroko had a little something to pass along to the orange haired player.
"I'll ask once," the phantom started out.
Yamazaki literally watched as the boy before him disappeared from view and reappearing behind him with the ball still in his hands.
"Don't call me that."
Well, Yamazaki was just even more pissed, but that didn't matter. Kuroko quickly dodged Matsumoto and threw the ball up in the air where Kiyoshi was waiting before he slammed the ball through the hoop in an amazing alleyoop.
"Alright!"
"First basket's ours!"
Seirin's other players were celebrating the fact that they had gotten the first basket of the game, since that helped a lot with how the flow of the game would go. Kiyoshi was quick to catch up to Kuroko, giving him a bright grin.
"Nice job!" The larger boy patted the phantom on the back, though it was a little too hard, causing the light blue haired boy to stumble a little bit.
Up in the stands, Aomine couldn't help but to look a little stunned at what he had just seen. No doubt (Y/N) probably had something to do coming up with something crazy like that.
"So that's Tetsu's new technique Satsuki was talking about," the navy blue haired boy said to himself.
And then, a smirk appeared on his face as he kept looking down at the court. Still, he found it kind of weird that Seirin didn't have the triple threat starting. What the heck were thinking there? Oh, but this first stunt of the game only made Imayoshi let out a loud laugh as Sakurai turned to look at the captain.
"One thing's certain, Seirin's games are never boring," the glasses wearing third year let out.
"Their teamwork's really impressive," Momoi agreed as she kept her sights glued on the court.
Teamwork, something Touou didn't have. Still, that wasn't to say they didn't find other teams working together impressive. Especially if that team was Seirin.
"WOAH!! That was nice!" Masaru cheered as he leaned down over the back of the seat behind Imayoshi.
The gray haired boy could figure out exactly why the triple threat was benched. And while he was worried about the triple threat, Masaru knew Riko would make sure she could do all that she could to ensure that the tall girl wouldn't feel Hanamiya's wrath.
"Right out the gate and they're already top gear. These guys are one of the most aggressive teams in Tokyo as well. How will Kirisaki Daiichi deal?" The Touou captain questioned, thinking about how his old schoolmate would deal with a team like Seirin.
Well, right now, not so hot on Kirisaki Daiichi's end.
"Damn, these Seirin guys are stronger than I expected. Kiyoshi, the Iron Heart, two players from the rookie trio, Kagami and Kuroko, Hyuga, the clutch shooter, and Izuki, the control tower. Each one is strong across the board. Not to mention," Yamasaki stopped for a second as he looked off to the side to see the most famous one of them here.
(Y/N) was celebrating the first point, clapping as she let out a couple of hollers. This girl, oh, she was something else.
"We'll have to deal with her at some point. The Triple Threat of the Generation of Miracles, (Y/N) Bashira. She's gonna be a tough one."
Yamazaki's little presentation of his concerns was interrupted when he heard a small snicker coming from his right side. Hanamiya didn't look at all concerned, not one bit.
"So what's your point? What do I always tell you? Prodigies, geniuses, I don't care. They're all just trash in the end anyway," the captain stated in a dark tone.
Now it was time for them to show what they had. It was Kirisaki's ball and Hanamiya had it in his possession. Izuki was quick to act as he got in front of the captain. The punster knew very well who he was up against, an uncrowned king that resorted to underhanded ways in order to win. He didn't know what type of tactics Hanamiya would use, but Izuki refused to lose to someone like him as he narrowed his eyes.
Off to the side, Hyuga and Furuhashi were trying to go up against each other, but the Kirisaki starter noticed just how much tension was coming off of Seirin's captain, a harsh glare settled on his face.
"You look awfully aggressive. The game's only just started. You can relax, you know," the dead eyed boy assured the glasses wearing boy.
But Hyuga only thought that was weird on top of his eyes looking like that of a dead fish's. This guy was new to the team, that was for sure. Seeing the ball coming towards him, Furuhashi caught it and started heading down to make a basket. Hyuga quickly turned to follow, but was met with Hara literally body slamming into him in the form of a screen. That had to be a foul, right? Well, it wasn't if the ref couldn't see it.
Furuhashi quickly ran to the three point line and shot the ball, only to realize something as he fell back to the ground.
"Oh my, perhaps I took relaxing too far," the boy spoke to himself as the ball hit the rim.
Definitely a rebound for sure. And Kagami was ready.
"Alright-"
The red head then quickly noticed something, he wasn't able to jump, there was something pressing down on his foot. Looking down, the tiger saw that Hara was stepping right on his foot, putting more pressure on it as he kept his hair covered gaze on the ball.
"Son of a-" Kagami growled.
He wasn't able to jump, and the boy's foot was right in the ref's blind spot, so it wasn't able to be called as a foul. Hara quickly took advantage of that and jumped, slammed the ball through the hoop. Now the score between the two teams was even, 2 to 2.
"Sorry, dude," the pale haired boy 'apologized' to Kagami as he walked past him, waving it off as he blew another bubble with his chewing gum.
Oh, that only pissed the tiger off even more. He could tell those were fake emotions, Hara intentionally made him miss. And that was something that infuriated the tiger as he turned back and glared harshly at the boy.
"Right. I bet you are," the red head growled sarcastically, gritting his teeth together.
"Calm down, Kagami. Don't get worked up," Izuki quickly rushed over to the flaming hot red head.
It wouldn't be good for anyone if he got all fired up in a bad way now. Though, Hyuga couldn't blame him. He was also pissed that Hara had slammed into him earlier, Kirisaki Daiichi was starting to pull their strings by attacking the players from the inside.
Over on the bench, the other remaining second years had decided to look at what had happened during previous games to see if this was actually a trend. And to their horror, it appeared to be as Koganei took in a sharp breath while looking over Mitobe's shoulder at the clipboard in his hand.
"Is this data for real? According to this, every team that's gone up against Kirisaki Daiichi have walked away with injuries," the cat faced second year read out, which made him pale slightly.
"From the looks of it, they always take out the aces and star players," Tsuchida added as he looked at the player's names from Kirisaki's game with Senshinkan.
To their horror, it looked like the team that had hurt Kiyoshi the year before had become even more ruthless. And that was also clear to see in their triple threat and coach as both girls had hard gazes locked in the game in front of them.
"They were just another powerful school until last year. Hanamiya and the other second years becoming the driving force really changed things. After what he did to Teppei last year and Naoki, filthy scum like you couldn't be anymore disingenuous, Makoto Hanamiya," Riko spat as she narrowed her brown eyes at the said captain.
Over the last couple of minutes, (Y/N) hadn't said a word. And she was watching the other team's players like a hawk, not once taking her eyes off of them. But her bouncing leg was giving a glimpse into what she was really feeling right at the moment.
Hearing those results really didn't help, but it gave the tall girl something to look out for so she could alert the others in case something big did happen.
Back out on the court, it was another rebound from Kirisaki Daiichi as the ball hit the rim and bounced off to the side.
"Rebound!" Kiyoshi called out as he went to jump for it.
But like Kagami, he was unable to do so since there was a Kirisaki player standing right there on his foot. Furuhashi was the one that leaped up in the air and grabbed the ball. However, when the dead eyed player began falling back to the ground, his sights were set on Hyuga as he held out his elbow just a little more than normal. Kagami saw what he was doing and quickly alerted the captain.
"Watch out, his elbow!"
Hyuga found himself unable to move, so all he did was brace for the impact. But it never came. Opening his eyes to see what had happened, the captain saw there was someone standing over him, putting his larger arm up and blocking Furuhashi's elbow.
"Kiyoshi!"
Kiyoshi had taken the hit, but the center almost didn't feel it. Instead, he was more angry as he glared at Furuhashi.
"Have you forgotten we're on the court? Beat us at playing basketball," the second year center snapped slightly.
Though the dead eyed player didn't seem at all intimidated. In fact, it kind of annoyed him a little bit.
"That is what I'm doing," Furuhashi responded.
Before anyone could say anything else, Kuroko watched as Hanamiya sped past him and straight towards Kirisaki's basket in the form of a counter. Furuhashi quickly passed the ball to the captain as Izuki caught up with him. But Hanamiya just kept smirking as he weaved past the eagle eyed second year before making a quick layup. Kirisaki had now taken the lead.
Kiyoshi stood in his place just as the Kirisaki captain began to jog past him. But the dark haired boy stopped just short of the center's side.
"That was close. If it weren't for you, Captain Specs could've been crushed there. Now stay out of our way," Hanamiya threatened in a dark tone of voice, causing Kiyoshi to finally realize what was going on.
Over on the bench, someone else was starting to figure out what was going on as she clenched her fists up against her mouth, her teeth grit together.
"Oh, that son of a..." (Y/N) growled under her breath as she glared piercing daggers over to Hanamiya.
God, she wished she was out there on the court. That way, she could make sure the others wouldn't get hurt. In many ways, the tall girl was a lot like Kiyoshi when it came to that.
The center was beginning to become upset that Hanamiya's under minded way of playing was beginning to show and target his friends. Kiyoshi's nails began to dig into the palm on his hand as he kept his back to Hanamiya.
"I don't care if I'm the only one who gets hurt. However, I'm not gonna stand by and allow you to injure my teammates," the center started, catching all of the Seirin players' attention.
The second years, especially, didn't want a repeat of last year. And by the looks of it with Kirisaki beginning to play their cards, it was beginning to look like that way. But it wouldn't be, not if Kiyoshi had a say in it.
"Hanamiya!" The tall center called out to the jogging captain.
Surprisingly, the dark haired boy stopped in his tracks and slowly turned back to look at Kiyoshi, malicious intentions written all over his face.
"Mark my words, I will defeat you!" The brown haired boy declared as he turned back and furrowed his eyebrows at Hanamiya.
Kirisaki Daiichi would be going down, no matter what. Kiyoshi said it himself, even if he knew were destroyed, he was still going to play. Once again, the glasses wearing captain missed yet another three as soon as the game got back up to speed.
Kagami and Kiyoshi were the ones under the net with their marks, but it seemed that Kirisaki Daiichi was beginning to isolate their target as the player marking Kiyoshi hit his injured knee. And it wasn't like they were trying to hide it from the audience. Up in the stands, Kise could see it plain as day, and it pissed him off.
"What's the referee doing!? Is he blind?!" The blonde let out as he glared down, getting frustrated that none of these rough plays were being called out.
"No, they're hiding it from him. In a way, it's kind of impressive," Kasamatsu spoke up, but it wasn't like he was going along with this whole gameplay.
It was sick, not a way that teens should be playing basketball. Hayakawa didn't waste anytime in expressing how he felt as a large tick mark appeared on his forehead while he held out his fist.
"Wellinsteadofbeing cheatingpunksthey shouldpractice normally!!" The boy stated in his own unique way.
Not that anyone could understand what the heck Hayakawa had just spewed out of his mouth.
"Yeah! Ditto to whatever he just said!" Kise agreed.
The Kaijo captain continued keeping his hard gaze down to the red and black team. If it were him, he'd be feeling really upset and tense just going up against scum players like that.
"We would be fine. But for a team like Seirin that barely has enough players, that's gotta be tough," the Kaijo captain explained.
"Either way though, games like this aren't fun to watch," Moriyama commented, seeing that no one was really enjoying their time down on the court.
"It's only gonna get worse. That's just how sick and twisted Hanamiya is," Hibiki suddenly spoke up for the first time during the game.
Now the way the younger twin was speaking definitely wasn't like him at all. He had kept this hard yet piercing gaze the entire time and seemed to be watching solely Hanamiya. Kise still hadn't heard what the uncrowned king's involvement was with him or his sister. But by the feeling of everything, the blonde copycat could feel the girl's tension from all the way up where he and the rest of Kaijo were sitting.
There had to be a reason as to why she was benched too, more than just the team not thinking she was needed for this game. That wasn't even an option for Seirin when it came to their starters.
Back down with the two teams, Hanamiya didn't waste any time in charging in with the ball, passing it to Yamazaki. The hot head soon jumped up and shot the ball just before Hyuga could steal it back. Luckily, the ball had bounced off the rim of the hoop instead of going in.
"Rebound!" Kiyoshi called out once again.
It was Kagami and Hara once again. Looking down to the ground for a split second, the tiger could see the bubble blowing boy's foot coming right towards his.
Yeah right, the tiger wasn't falling for that again.
"Nice try!" The red head acted quickly and moved his foot out of the way before Hara could stomp on it.
Oh, but if the tiger thought he was in the clear, he was mistaken. The shaggy haired boy had more devious tricks up his sleeve.
"Well, boo~ I guess I'll resort to screening you out," Hara smirked before ramming his elbow right into Kagami's chest, knocking the air out of his system.
"Kagami!" Kiyoshi called out, seeing what had happened.
Hara quickly jumped back up and pushed the ball through the hoop, giving Kirisaki two more points. The red head hadn't moved from his spot as the shaggy haired boy sauntered past him. But (Y/N) could feel it as she quickly shot up to her feet and began jogging over outside the boundary lines were the tiger was standing.
Oh, Kagami was ultra pissed. No one got to elbow him just to get a basket and get away with it. The red head slowly stood up and Kuroko was able to see the dark and furious expression on the red head's face.
Hara felt it too, but he only smirked as he turned back around, seeing Kagami's fist coming right towards him. The other members of Seirin let out gasps as the triple threat began making her way out onto the court since the game wasn't in play.
"Kagami! No! Don't do it!" Fukuda yelled to the tiger just as his fist grew closer to Hara.
However, before he could land a hit, the angry tiger felt a hand wrap around his ankle, causing him to lose his balance and face plant on the ground. And the person to stop him was none other than Kuroko, himself.
The others kind of sweat-dropped that the phantom could just do that. But to (Y/N), the tall girl placed a hand on her chest as she let out a sigh before making her way over to the two boys just as Kagami got to his feet. The tiger was holding his face as small tears gathered in his eyes from him smacking his nose on the hard wooden floor.
"Why'd you do that?!" The red head barked back at the phantom as he continued to hold his face.
"To stop whatever you were trying to do," Kuroko answered in a very calm tone of voice.
"But why?!"
Kagami was getting even more worked up by the second. First, Hanamiya threatened the (h/c) haired girl, started going after Kiyoshi, and now they're beginning to pull dirty tricks in order to get the ball and more points. It wasn't right. Kagami just wanted to pound in their heads just to make himself feel better.
"Calm down. Or you're gonna ruin everything," the light blue haired boy told his partner, his brows furrowing ever so slightly.
The tiger then halted his roll when he heard those words coming from Kuroko. He could tell the phantom was getting upset, though the boy was much better at controlling his emotions.
"Those guys are making me angry too. But, out of respect for the upperclassmen, you shouldn't go around hitting people. We should beat them at basketball," Kuroko stated rather firmly to the red head to remind him exactly why they were there.
Seirin wasn't there to pick fights, they were there to prove that they were going to be the best basketball team in Japan. And that didn't include slugging people. Now Kagami was beginning to calm down a little bit, but he had another little lecture coming for him as he saw the sole female player approaching them.
"Listen to Tetsu, Taiga," her voice came from behind the light blue haired boy.
Kagami could see the serious expression on her face, an indicator to him that she was getting upset at this too, but like the phantom, she was staying as calm as she could. Though she had to admit, it was getting really hard for her to do. Because that hotheaded part of her wanted to pound the crap out of every one of the Kirisaki players that had even thought they could lay a hand on any of her boys and get away with it.
Once she took her spot beside Kuroko, the tall girl took in a breath before continuing on.
"Trust me. I can see what's going on and it pisses me the hell off too. But getting angry isn't going to solve anything, plus, that's exactly what Hanamiya wants. Don't give that to him," (Y/N) was more so instructing Kagami to do.
Because him getting worked up would only fuel Hanamiya's engine, and once that engine got rolling, the results would be disastrous. The red head could tell there was a worried undertone to the girl's voice. She was more so lecturing him so he wouldn't be come a target and get injured.
The tiger had to respect that not only for his two partners, but for the upperclassmen as well. Looking down to his feet, Kagami finally cooled down a little bit.
"Yeah, you're right. Sorry," he apologized as he relaxed his clenched fist.
The red head quickly turned back around and bowed to Izuki and Hyuga.
"I'm sorry! You can kick my ass later!"
The two second years were a little caught off guard by the sudden apology since it very much wasn't like the tiger at all.
"I mean, I almost-"
"Don't worry about it," Hyuga tried to reassure Kagami, cutting off the red head's words.
"That isn't good enough!"
He needed something in order to smack him out of his thoughts. And (Y/N) wasn't going to do it just because of her good natured spirit. Oh, but someone was going to, alright. There was a timeout for Seirin, and when the tiger made his way back to sit down on the bench, Riko's fist made contact with Kagami's skull.
"The hell are you thinking, Kagadummy?! With you on the bench, we might've lost a game we could've won, otherwise!" the coach scolded the red head as a large bump appeared on the boy's head, causing some players to flinch a little bit.
Yeah, they all knew Kagami was gonna get hit by her anyway. No surprise there. However, Riko's reasoning behind it would come as a surprise to some. To her cousin, not really.
"If you're gonna do it, don't be obvious about it!" The brunette in fact gave the tiger advice as she pointed to the red head with an irritated look on her face.
"What, that's what you meant?!" Izuki questioned the coach.
(Y/N) decided just to leave it as she put a cold towel around Kuroko's neck in order to cool him down just a little bit. But that didn't mean Hyuga's sudden scrunched up face was hidden from her.
"Dammit. Hey, get me an ice pack," the captain instructed Furihata to do as he held his now bruised arm from when Hara body slammed him towards the beginning of the game.
"Uh, yes, sir," the shy boy complied.
Kiyoshi saw the bruise, he knew he wasn't able to protect his teammates. And that was beginning to eat at him. Well, the center had an idea, and he was ready to use it to make good on his declaration.
"Kagami, attack from the outside while we're on offense. And on defense, you don't need to get rebounds. I'll handle the inside on my own. So I'm leaving the outside to you four," the center suddenly requested as the other starters looked at him with bewilderment.
And the triple threat felt her heart almost leap out of her chest. Because that meant Kiyoshi would become the target of all the rough play, just what Hanamiya wanted.
"You want to do a one-in-four-out strategy?" Izuki asked for clarification to make sure he had heard the center right.
Kuroko soon felt (Y/N)'s hands leave his shoulders as she came back around the bench to face Kiyoshi in order to voice her opinion on the center's idea. The horrible, horrible idea.
"Teppei, are you nuts? No way, not when they're starting to pull crap like this," the triple threat became very vocal about her concerns.
The girl will be damned if he gets hurt by this scum bag once again. And she was going to make sure she was heard, even if the center wanted to be as stubborn as a mule. Hyuga felt the same way as he shot up to his feet, standing beside the triple threat.
"What are you saying, Kiyoshi?! The inside is where these jerks are the most brutal! If you go through with this, they're gonna focus all their attacks directly on you!" the captain shouted in order to make sure Kiyoshi heard him, and heard him loud and clear.
But the center wasn't going to budge as he kept his gaze away from the two people who were the most concerned about his well-being. He had made up his mind, and he wasn't going to change it.
"Well, it's better than seeing my friends get hurt," Kiyoshi began to argue back with the captain.
(Y/N)'s eyes widened at the center, did he not realize what this could do to him? Did that not matter? Did anything that she and Hyuga said the night before not matter anymore? The tall girl was absolutely stunned that Kiyoshi was even beginning to show this side to him. Riko seemed to be siding with her cousin and the captain as she gave the center a pointed look.
"Hey now. Let's not forget you already have an injury. So no, we'll sub you out instead-"
"You can't stop me. Sorry, Riko," Kiyoshi suddenly cut the girl off with a harsh tone of voice, one that he had never used before.
Kiyoshi wasn't backing down now. He had made up his mind and there would be severe consequences for anyone who got in his way.
"But-" the coach tried to get through to him once again, but it was no use.
"This is what I came back for. You switch me out now, and I'll hate you forever," the brown haired boy suddenly growled in a deep voice, making a threat towards the coach and anyone else that would stand against them.
And that included both Hyuga and (Y/N). Kuroko saw his close friend's expression suddenly shift to that of a look of pure terror, but she wiped it away before anyone else could notice. Oh, the girl's anxiety was now leaping, and if she could, the girl would literally kick, scream, hit, or do anything to get Kiyoshi to change his mind. But the triple threat could do no such thing, the buzzer had sounded off. Time to get back to the game.
"Now then, let's have some fun," Kiyoshi repeated his signature line as he stood back up, but this tone didn't fit it at all.
Knowing they couldn't do anything at the moment, the starters hesitantly made their way back out to the court. Even the other teams saw that this was a weird and dangerous tactic that Seirin was using as Izuki passed the ball to Hyuga. The captain was set up for another three, but when he went to shoot the ball, it had rolled around the rim before falling back out and toward the ground once again. Hyuga grit his teeth together in frustration, how could he keep missing?
Watching the ball fall, Kiyoshi was right in the middle of Hara and Matsumoto, both boys elbowing and kneeing him every chance they got, trying to immobilize the center as he let out a couple of pained grunts.
"I don't know what you think you're doing," Matsumoto glared down at the gentle soul of a center.
"But this plan of yours is real dumb," Hara finished with a spat.
Seriously, he was just making it easy for them. But Kiyoshi wasn't going to let that overtake him. Letting out a shout, the center then lunged up and grabbed the ball before landing back on the ground and performing another jump to slam the ball through the hoop in a powerful dunk. Two more points for Seirin.
"Kiyoshi!" Hyuga called out with worry in his voice as he rushed over to the center, who had his hands on his knees while catching his breath.
"Don't worry. Trust me on this, Captain, that was nothing at all. You can leave the inside to me," the brown haired boy reassured the glasses wearing boy with a smile.
Though it did anything but. And the others were starting to become worried too, this was going to end badly if they kept up with Kiyoshi handling the inside on his own. But the center was putting up one hell of a fight. As the game kept going on, Kiyoshi kept taking every hard hit from the elbows and knees of the Kirisaki players while continuing to defend the inside and making dunks on offense.
It was impressive, but at the same time, it wasn't without its repercussions. After a couple minutes of Kiyoshi working hard on the inside, the others could tell it was wearing him down quite a bit. The center had newly formed bruises all over his arms, legs, and probably his side where Hara and Matsumoto had dug their elbows into him. And his breathing was becoming even heavier. This wasn't good, not one bit.
"This sucks. Can we seriously keep playing like this?" Kagami asked with frustration.
He didn't like this idea any more than anyone else did. But there was one person who was prepared to take the brunt of stopping it. From her seat on the bench next to Riko, (Y/N) had thought long and hard about what Kiyoshi had told the older girl just before the game started back up once again. And the triple threat had also made the decision as soon as she saw the first hit on her friend once he had taken charge of the inside.
"Riko," the taller girl softly called out to her cousin.
Turning to look at (Y/N), the brunette saw a look on the usually happy girl's face that she hadn't seen in a while. It was a mixture of anger yet it had sort of an accepting appearance to it as Riko's eyes made contact with the triple threat's (e/c) orbs.
"If you're alright with it, I'll make sure Teppei gets taken out of the game if it starts to get really bad. He can hate me, not you," she suddenly proposed, which caught everyone off guard as their eyes shot directly to the tall girl, thinking twice if they had really heard what she had just said.
"Woah, what're you saying, (Y/N)?" Tsuchida was the first to ask questions as Mitobe nodded along.
Was she serious? That was, like, the opposite of what the cheerful and kind girl was all about, making sure no one was upset or hateful towards one another. Even Riko didn't know what to say as she stared at the younger girl.
"Exactly what it sounds like. I'm willing to have Teppei hate me rather than Riko when it comes to dealing with Hanamiya. I will be damned if I let that boy touch my friend ever again. And because of that, I'm willing to deal with his anger if it comes down to that," the (h/c) haired girl explained as she stood up to go and observe the game at different angles.
"Wait, (Y/N), you can't be serious!" Riko finally found the words she wanted to say to her cousin, getting the taller girl to stop in her tracks as she kept her back to the others.
Oh, but she was. More serious than she had ever been. The triple threat soon looked over her shoulder, her eyes becoming blank.
"I'm not gonna let you go through the same pain you did last year because you felt like you didn't do anything and having someone you care for despise you. You don't deserve that. So even if Teppei hates me for it, at least he'll still be able to play in the future."
That was all she said before turning and heading over to find a spot to watch the game closely so she could make her call. But the others weren't so sure they should allow her to do that. Riko had seen what had happened when she lost her friends during middle school and to possibly have that happen with Kiyoshi concerned her greatly.
"Just give me the ball!" Hyuga's sudden shout snapped everybody out of their thoughts as they turned back to the court.
The captain quickly got into position as Seirin went into play once again. Izuki threw it over to Kuroko, the phantom misdirecting it into Hyuga's hands.
"He's wide open!" Koganei let out.
That would be a good thing in a normal game. But this wasn't a normal game. As Hyuga held the ball, he noticed none of the other players weren't coming towards him and that they were still ganging up on Kiyoshi. It absolutely infuriated the glasses wearing boy as he watched the Kirisaki players continue their assault.
He was also starting to pick up on what Kirisaki was doing. One guy would run and block the ref's view while the other two were free to do whatever the hell they wanted to Kiyoshi.
Hyuga's plan of attack?
Get one guy off of Kiyoshi, and in order to do that, the captain was going to take on the responsibility of scoring as much as he could from the outside. He was not going to let it end here and break his promise.
The captain quickly got into position and shot the ball. It was the same story, unfortunately. Another missed basket, and another rebound opportunity. Hanamiya had to smirk, this was going just according to his plan.
Hara quickly hit Kiyoshi's injured knee in order to prevent him from going anywhere as Matsumoto jumped up and got the ball for Kirisaki.
"Hyuga, come on. You gotta stay calm!" The vice captain hollered over to Hyuga as the two of them got ready to defend.
This was the one game where Izuki expected the glasses wearing boy's clutch side to make it's really ugly side appearance, and he had to make sure he kept that in check.
"Yeah, I know. Just keep giving me the ball," the captain retorted back to Izuki, which only prompted the punster to glare back at his teammate following the sudden demand.
"I will if you make your shots when you're open."
"What'd you say?" Hyuga snarled over to the punster.
(Y/N) saw and quickly took action as she got over to an area where the two of them could hear her. Putting her pointer finger and thumb between her lips, the triple threat let out a quick whistle before clapping her hands together to get their attention.
"Hey! You two, knock it off!" She reprimanded the two upperclassmen.
Yeah, she kind of had the balls to do that when it came to Hyuga. And she knew Izuki had a point as well, but the two of them arguing wasn't going to solve any of their problems. The two second years didn't turn to look at her, but they had heard the tall girl, thus ceasing their argument.
With his own twin telepathy, Hibiki kind of tensed up as he sat up in his seat once he had heard his sister's holler.
"Ooh, that's not good," the younger brother kind of shrunk down a little bit.
The others noticed it to and heard his mumble.
"What's wrong, Hibs?" Moriyama asked Hibiki as he observed the (h/c) haired boy keep his sights on the sole female player down on the court.
It wasn't a secret that there was a lot of tension down on the court between the Seirin players, but it was one player on particular who had a very scary little temper that had the possibility of coming out during a game like this. And Hibiki had witnessed it first hand as he watched his sister crouch down and put her hands together in front of her mouth.
"It's bad enough that Hyuga and Izuki are getting upset, but Sis is starting to get real heated real fast. And that won't end well if she does," the younger twin explained.
Just the mention of it made him shudder with fear. Kise too as he thought back to the one time he had seen her really angry side make its presence known.
"I can feel her tension from all the way up here," the blonde added as he looked down at his friend.
He was kind of worried about what her connection was to the captain of her opponents. Because he had gotten the signal right away that it wasn't a good one. Kasamatsu kept his arms crossed as he redirected his gaze to the triple threat. She was doing a damn good job at keeping those emotions on the down low, but the captain knew she could only hold them in for so long.
"I don't think she's trying to let it cloud her judgement, but even I've seen her temper make its appearance at times. It never ends well unless she calms down," Kasamatsu spoke up, thinking back to times where Texas Temper had come out.
The girl become a completely different player when it comes to that. It was definitely intimidating, but it was all about when the time was right for it to come out. Now, definitely wasn't one of them. The captain hoped she wouldn't let it come loose for her and the rest of her team's sake.
Back down in the game, Kuroko had successfully smacked the ball out of Yamazaki's hands and right to Kagami. The red head didn't waste any time in charging down the court in order to make a basket. But someone was already there waiting for him.
And that person was Hara, of all the frickin' Kirisaki players.
"Oh no, you don't," the shaggy haired boy smirked just to rile up the tiger.
Not only that, but he was trying to set Kagami up for a little trap of his, figuring out that he was quick to tick.
"You're in the way, move!" The red head yelled, continuing to try and butt through.
But Hara took one step and ended up causing Kagami to bump into him, sending the player to the ground as the referee blew the whistle and stopped the game.
"Charging foul! White #10!"
The other players on the bench let out groans, but they weren't all that surprised considering this was Kagami they were talking about here.
"That giant idiot," Koganei sighed.
On the other end of the sidelines, still staying crouched down, but she was actually okay with Hara being shoved to the ground. Not that she promoted violence or anything but...
"Well, he kind of deserved it," she muttered to herself while shrugging a little bit.
Kagami kind of cursed himself a little bit for falling for that. He was already getting worked up as it was, so a foul was the last thing the tiger needed right now. As he stood there brooding, the red head soon felt a familiarly large hand place itself on his head. Turning around, Kagami saw that it was Kiyoshi smiling down at him.
"Pay attention to your surroundings. Izuki was wide open," the center told the ace.
But the red head was a little clueless as to why Kiyoshi was so calm about this. He figured he'd be mad that these guys were doing all of these things to him, but there was no sign of anger on the center's face.
"If we're gonna play, we should do it our own way, right?" Kiyoshi asked the red head and the rest of the team.
He had a point, being angry was not the way Seirin played ball. And the others had to realize that too. Them getting all worked up and angry with each other wasn't going to get them to victory. Hyuga finally took a deep breath and turned towards the others.
"Right! Let's get ready to defend!" The captain ordered the others.
"Yeah!"
Hanamiya, well, he only thought that to be funny as he scoffed while watching the center come right towards him.
"That's pretty big talk for a giant walking trash can," the captain insulted, ending with a deeper tone of voice.
What shocked the dark haired boy was that Kiyoshi didn't seem to react in any way as he continue to jog past the captain. That's what irked Hanamiya. That same old goodie goodie attitude pissed him off. Well, he's waited long enough.
As Kiyoshi took charge of the inside once again, the Kirisaki captain decided now was the time to play some of his more deadlier cards. He was getting impatient.
"Ugh, geez. I'm bored," the captain groaned.
Just as he said that, (Y/N) felt something had changed as she perked up. Oh please, she was hoping her gut was wrong. But they were soon confirmed as the ball bounced off the backboard, the players on the outside getting ready for another rebound.
"If you wanna die so badly, when then die."
*SNAP*
(Y/N) saw it, she heard it too as she froze. Hyuga did too as he looked back at Hanamiya.
"No..." the triple threat let out.
And everything went in slow motion after that. Furuhashi had jumped up and grabbed the ball, and had put his elbow out, aiming right at the center's forehead. Kiyoshi wasn't able to dodge it. In fact, one of the other Kirisaki players had kicked out of the boy's feet from under him, causing the center to fall on his back.
The last thing his brown eyes saw was the elbow coming down on his forehead.
"TEPPEI!!!" A scream echoed throughout the entire gymnasium.
A blood curdling yell that caught Aomine's attention immediately as Momoi notice him looking even more alert. Looking towards the source of it, people saw the sole female had fallen back on her bottom, her hands covering her mouth as her breathing became shallower.
This was just like Naoki's accident, so all of those memories were now flooding back. The pit in her stomach dropped, (Y/N) heard a small ringing in her ears. She didn't even hear the whistle blown as the referee went over to check out Kiyoshi's condition.
"Referee timeout!"
"Kiyoshi!"
"You okay?!"
The others quickly rushed to his side, but the center remained motionless. Even the audience members were worried. Especially when they heard that scream.
"Too far," Kise glared down at the Kirisaki players.
"It got even uglier," Kasamatsu added on.
"That dirty bastard," Hibiki growled under his breath.
This was the very reason why scum like Hanamiya shouldn't even be allowed to play basketball. The type of playing he was presenting just made people sick. Kise quickly directed his attention to the sole female player. That scream shook him to his core and told him right away the move Hanamiya had just pulled was one of the reasons why she had been so tense.
Back down on the court as the refs started checking on Kiyoshi, Hyuga didn't waste any time in going over to confront the captain who had ordered the attack. His teeth were bared, ready to pounce as he approached Hanamiya.
"Are you serious? What's your problem?!" The second year captain confronted the dark haired boy.
And like always, Hanamiya was going to throw in the victim card as he gave Hyuga an innocent smile.
"Come on, enough of the false accusations. It wasn't me, just an accident under the net. Things happen, I mean-"
Hanamiya cut himself when he saw Kiyoshi's finger twitch.
Honestly, that smack in the head made the center think back as to why he had come back to Seirin in the first place. Kiyoshi was really excited to hear from Riko about the new recruits, especially when he had heard the triple threat was coming.
It also made him happy to hear that the others were improving and because that was happening, Kiyoshi wanted to do whatever he could to make sure that new light that was shining brightly and would continue.
"That's why I made the decision...that if one of my comrades is ever about to break, I'll be the splint that holds them together. If they ever find themselves in a dangerous situation, I will be their shield. I will always put myself on the line," the brown haired boy stated as he shakily began to gain his footing.
He was battered and bruised, and there was a newly opened wound on his forehead, a stream of blood running down his face. But his expression was that of strength as he put his arms out to the sides in front of the other players. He had made a promise and he intended to keep it.
"To protect the members of Seirin! The whole reason I came back, was to save them!"