"Senpai, it's very rare of you to want to watch Kaijou. Oh! is it because you are eyeing their captain?!" Harumi gasped.
"That's not true. I am just curious to see if the boys have what it takes to represent Kanagawa to compete in the Interhigh."Shiki said to her, "It is nothing to do with anything else."
"Whatever you say, Senpai."
"You..." Shiki decided to ignore her kouhai.
Akina watched Moriyama warm up for the game. She looked at her cell phone and sighed; Moriyama hasn't been answering any of her emails recently and she was a little worried about him. He must be busy because of the game, right? It has to be that...
"Akina," Natsuhi noticed Akina has been rather quiet so she offered her a lollipop. Akina looked at the candy and took it from the blonde.
"Yoshitaka hasn't answered any of my emails."
"He must be busy. Don't mind him."
"Hm."
"Moriyama-senpai, look!" Kise noticed the girls and he waved at Harumi who waved back in return.
Moriyama noticed the girls but he turned his gaze away from Akina's; if he stared into her eyes for too long, he will fall in love with her all over again.
Kobori gave Natsuhi a confident smile and she nodded at him, acknowledging the fact she has noticed the smile was for her.
"Captain! (L)eave a(ll) of the (r)ebounds to me!" Hayakawa was smacked in the face by his own captain for being far too enthusiastic before anything began. Little did Hayakawa know, Fuyu was giggling because of his enthusiasm.
Kasamatsu focused on warming up. He has to win no matter what; this rematch with Aozora meant a lot to Kaijou and to Shiki's team too. With the win, he wanted to break Shiki away from the hate she has for the Sano twins. He had a short but proper talk with Shiki; that brief encounter made him realize Shiki's not the type of person to hurt others and he wanted to break her reason for hurting others.
"Players, line up!"
When the referee called out to both teams, Kasamatsu went to the bench and took off his Kaijou sweater. He looked at the audience to find Shiki and held his fist to her, silently telling her he will keep to his words.
Seeing Kasamatsu was serious about winning, Shiki was reminded about what he sai last night.
"I'll break you away from your hate..."
He will break her from the hate she has for the Sano twins? That's not possible; as long as they hide the truth, she will continue to prey upon them. She will be the predator as long as they hid the truth from the sunlight, she will blind her eyes from right and wrong as long as it took.
Still, there was a part of her who was very happy and grateful when he said that...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Because Sano was injured by Ying and Yang, he was benched until the 2nd quarter.
Kaijou dominated the 1st quarter completely thanks to Kise's skill. With that, they will control the flow of the game.
'Seems like Kasamatsu has improved on his speed. He is almost as fast as me when it comes to steals...' Shiki has her eyes on the captain of the blue team; he was a worthy opponent and she wouldn't mind playing another game with him in the future.
"Shiki..." Natsuhi called out to her, "I have a bad feeling."
"What do you mean?"
"Look, Sano is telling his teammates something..."
Both teams returned to the court. Kaijou has no fear because they will use their all control the flow of the game to their favor.
However, just before they thought they can control the game, every now and then, Kise can feel his feet being stepped on very quickly when the referee's field of sight was blocked, his jersey pulled, stomach being elbowed, and-
"Foul! Blue #07!" Just as Kise was about to perform a dunk, one of the Aozora player placed himself in front of Kise, making Kise push him to the floor.
'He placed himself there! He fouled me on purpose!' Kise gritted his teeth at the unfair style of play all of a sudden.
'They're planning to foul Kise out of the match!' Kasamatsu can see what they're doing and he wanted to give them all a good kicking or a few hits; what kind of a captain would sit out of the game and tell their team to play without any pride?
Watching the game, Shiki and the others didn't look happy at all.
"I am actually wishing Ying and Yang killed him and threw his body into the sea." Shiki suddenly said.
"Shiki..." Natsuhi was a little fightened by what she has said.
"If Kise gets fouled out, will Kaijou be okay?" Fuyu asked.
"Kise wouldn't be fouled out, I know he will come back for sure." Harumi believe the young blonde will be fine, "He will do it."
"Harumi-senpai, you're competing in the Interhigh preliminaries too?! Congratulations!" Kise was happy for his modelling companion, "I am happy for you! Ah, what about Miharu's work then? You will be busy in the Summer..."
"For now, I want to be Harumi instead of Miharu."
"I see. I will be busy with basketball too so I wouldn't be able to see Miharu."
"Hey, but you'll be able to see Harumi-senpai."
"That's true."
Just before she got into the taxi, she was reminded of something, "Kise, if your team ever go against Aozora... Please win. We will never be able to play against them in the Interhigh but it will mean a lot to us to know they won't represent Aozora."
"Senpai, you hate them too?"
"Who wouldn't? It's because of them, Shiki-senpai is treated like the bad guy..."Seeing his Senpai upset like this, Kise told himself that he will have to win no matter what it took...
"Kise, don't mind." Kasamatsu pat his back, "Sit out of this until the last quarter."
"Wha-?! I promised Harumi-senpai I will win!"
"And you will. We will carve the path for you to win." Kasamatsu was very certain of his choice as a captain that this was the right choice. "Besides, I promised Hakanai to break her hate for Sano."
"Fine..." Kise didn't agree with the decision but he believed in his senpais that they will win. 'Has everyone promised the girls in a way?' He wondered what his senpais were thinking at the very moment...
The match resumed as normal. Kasamatsu was the next target to foul out since he's acknowledged as a National level Point Guard.
However, it was proven hard to foul Kasamatsu out since his movements were too unpredictable for the Aozora players to make a foul out of him. His skill as a Point Guard kept the ball moving to his teammates to make the points. He may not have the stature for a dunk but he has the skills to help his team score from the outside and the inside.
'As if I'd let you step on me!' Kasamatsu managed to dodge a feet stepping move. He managed to steal the ball and he passed to Hayakawa who performed a simple lay up to the basket. "From this point on, we are carving the path for them... Don't get in our way!" Kasamatsu shouted at Aozora.
'Kasamatsu...' It was as if the guy who was doubting himself last night has completely disappeared.
In fact, everyone looked like they were giving it their all for this match...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As promised, Kasamatsu and his friends carved the 4th quarter for Kise's return. Kaijou was in the lead by many points. There's no way for them to win anymore unless a miracle happened.
Sano couldn't play for even three minutes as they played into the 2nd quarter. His injuries were too great to ignore. He had no choice but to watch from the sidelines as his team's point difference increased...
When Kise was sent to back into the game during the 4th quarter, Harumi cheered for Kise to pulverize them once and for all.
As promised, Kise played with his all. Even though there's a great difference between points, he's playing for the team's sake but also for Harumi and her teammates. Harumi and the others were good people, Kise didn't like how the team he's playing against did such a bad thing to them. Kise wouldn't see himself as a hero or anything but if there was anything he can do for the girls, it was to win with pride.
"The girls are all good people and your captain did such a horrible thing to them... None of you deserve to win! get out of the way!!" With that, he performed a dunk, ending the game as the buzzer made a loud noise...
"Match is over! 28-100! Kaijou will advance to the Interhigh! Line up!"
Kasamatsu smiled. He smiled because he played the match with all he has. He did not make the final point but he was able to do his very best in the end. He looked up at the audience to see the girls making their way down to the court because their match was coming up. His eyes met with Shiki's and she held her fist out.
"Good to know you have won..." Shiki mouthed to him.
Kasamatsu held his fist out to her, "I told you, I will break you away from your hate..."
Sano cried out of frustrations. He cried because he was only able to watch from the background.
'Shiki, so this is what I have done to you... It took this moment to realize the extent of what I have done..."
Next up was the girl's match...