Warning: mild language
When the third quarter started, Kaijou and Shutoku finally arrived at the area and started watching the game as well. It was sad that they arrived when things were going bad for Seirin, though.
Now, all the defeated Miracles were watching the match, waiting to see who would come out on top.
Rakuzan saw how Seirin was still determined to play despite the difficulties. They had expected that they would feel defeated after what went on in the second quarter, but it seemed that they were wrong.
It was fine for them, though. Because Rakuzan knew just what to do to crush Seirin's morale definitively.
Rakuzan was going to destroy their captain and their ace, and with that, extinguish any light that remained in their hearts.
Reo was in charge of Hyuuga, and the Uncrowned King took no time in doing what was assigned to him. It was up to him to break Hyuuga and take him out of the game.
Hyuuga already had two fouls against Reo. Three more and he would be out.
Reo started out by making Hyuuga frustrated with his failure to stop him from scoring. Reo was scoring and scoring and Hyuuga was getting more and more desperate to make him stop.
Reo smirked when he saw that Hyuuga's mental strength was holding by a thread.
That was his chance.
Reo did another Earth shot and made it seem like Hyuuga had fouled him once again.
When the referee blew his whistle, Hyuuga looked at the man desperately. The boy was almost out of his mind. He started arguing with the referee about how he wasn't the one to blame for the foul.
The referee kept telling Hyuuga to stop arguing and show respect, but the captain was lost. Not even his friends' voices calling for him made him stop.
And thus, the referee blew his whistle again and gave Hyuuga a technical foul.
That way, Hyuuga amounted a total of four fouls and was basically done for. He wouldn't be able to keep playing. Especially with the nervous mess he was now. If he stayed he was sure to make his fifth foul and be kicked out of the game.
The captain's pain spread through the entire team. Even (Y/N) had stopped talking to Kuroko about the new plan to see what was happening with him.
It was painful to watch.
But for Rakuzan, for Akashi, this pain wasn't enough. He still had one more player to break down and that was Kagami.
Akashi would take care of him personally.
Kagami was also feeling down. If only he could go into the Zone again and have that extra strength, maybe he could help his team. But no matter how much Kagami tried to focus, no matter how much he fought, he simply couldn't reach the Zone's domain again. Not like this.
When the game continued, Kagami had the ball in his hands and Akashi was standing in front of him. Kagami was starting to doubt himself. If he couldn't beat Akashi earlier when he was in the Zone, how would he be able to do it now?
Akashi saw his chance to strike.
"It's not over yet." He said with unbelievable coldness. "I won't stop until Seirin is completely dead." He told Kagami who was taken aback.
He shook his head and decided to still try and get past Akashi, but the captain immediately saw his moves with his Emperor Eye and slapped the ball from Kagami's hands as soon as he took a step forward.
Kagami was done for.
Seirin was done for.
A time-out was called by Seirin and the boys went back to their bench. Everyone could see how the boys had all their heads down and felt pity for Seirin. The boys were quiet and looked crushed, not a single drop of hope left in them.
Even Riko had tears in her eyes. She felt guilty and useless for not being able to help them.
(Y/N) was standing in front of them all, watching them. It was painful for her to see them like this, but seen that she actually had a plan of action waiting to be listened to, there was no time in her book for feeling down.
Rakuzan would get what they deserved. They wouldn't get away with what they just did to her team.
(Y/N) exhaled and walked towards the back of the bench so she was standing behind the boys. She walked down the length of the bench and harshly slapped the back of each boy's head. Even Kuroko got one for letting the others' pain affect him too.
This sure got everyone's attention and the boys looked up at the girl in shock. What was she doing hitting them at a time like this?
"Now that I have your attention, can we please get back to business?" she asked them and their eyes showed their confusion.
Before the girl could even explain, Kuroko shot up from his seat. He had tears in his eyes and looked at (Y/N) determinately.
"I'm ready for it, (Y/N)! I want to win! I don't want things to end like this! I'm ready to go!" he said emotionally and the other's eyes widened.
"Wait, what? What do you mean?" Izuki asked with confusion and (Y/N) looked at him.
"I have a plan that I'd like to tell you all about, but for some reason you're all busy crying and feeling sorry for yourselves. If that's what you feel like keeping doing, then I won't bother." She told them with a disappointed tone.
She wasn't actually angry with them, their pain was her pain, but these boys really needed to get back on track and the best way she thought of helping them do so was this.
Kagami got up and stood beside Kuroko.
"Like hell we want to keep crying!" he complained and the others got up as well.
"Tell us, (L/N)-chan. What's your plan?" Kiyoshi asked gently.
The girl smiled proudly at them, she liked the renewed determination that was growing on them. They had work to do, they couldn't let their pain keep them down.
Their manager had a plan and they would be dammed if they didn't listen to her and worked hard.
When everyone circled around her, the audience grew curious. There Seirin was, coming up with something again.
"Alright, Seirin!" someone cheered happily.
Seirin wasn't paying attention to anything outside their circle, though. Now it was time to focus and listen to their manager.
"The plan is to start by destroying that damn doll Sei created." (Y/N) started out and the others grew curious. They quickly figured out she was talking about Mayuzumi. "While I was watching him, I realized some things about him. Although he keeps quiet and is seemingly emotionless, Mayuzumi is actually arrogant, proud and competitive. And it looks like the fact that he's older than all of us makes him even more so. That guy is enjoying the fact that he seems to be better than Tetsuya. He's proud he stole the tittle from him and made sure to show it off during the second quarter." (Y/N) explained, her expression showing her dislike for the older boy's behavior. "This is what we'll use to bring him down and Tetsuya up at the same time." She said and everyone's eyes widened.
"What do you mean, (L/N)-chan? How?" Izuki asked and the girl started to explain.
"Tetsuya will go in and mark Mayuzumi. Seeing Tetsuya try to go against him will make Mayuzumi feel even more determined to show everyone just who the best between them is. His competitiveness will take over and he will try to humiliate Tetsuya the best he can. But that is exactly what we want him to do." (Y/N) explained.
"We'll make him stand out." Riko said and (Y/N) nodded eagerly. "The more he bests Kuroko-kun, the more attention he'll get on himself." Riko contributed, realizing what (Y/N)'s idea was.
"There's no way he or the rest of Rakuzan won't realize what we're doing." Kiyoshi said pensively. "The moment he knows, he'll stop going past Kuroko." He figured and (Y/N) nodded at him, accepting his input.
"He won't be able to help it." (Y/N) said with a smirk and everyone grew curious. "He's too proud of himself and too competitive against Tetsuya to restrain himself, I'm sure of it. And we can't forget that he only started using this style after Sei introduced it to him just a few months ago." She told them and they grew curious.
Mayuzumi didn't use misdirection before Akashi found him?
"Wait, are you sure? He didn't know how to use it before?" Kagami asked and (Y/N) nodded at him.
"I'm sure. I got that piece of information directly from Sei." (Y/N) told them with a smile. "So, before starting using misdirection, Mayuzumi played normally, which means he feinted, dribbled and shot against all his opponents. He can't avoid such basic instinct so easily. Having such an easy opponent in front of him – no offense Tetsuya – and the way completely cleared to score after he goes past him, there's no way Mayuzumi will restrain himself and not score for himself. He won't be able to stop himself from shinning. The moment he starts to outshine Tetsuya is the moment he's done for. The more attention he gets, the less there is for Tetsuya. This way, Tetsuya will go back to what he was." (Y/N) explained and the others were amazed.
"Incredible. If he does that, then we'll also start to notice his moves just like Rakuzan noticed Kuroko's." Hyuuga murmured and the others nodded.
"And once that happens . . ." (Y/N) added, her expression growing a painful tinge at her next words. ". . . Sei will put him aside." She told her team, whose eyes widened.
"What?" Kagami said incredulous.
"Sei made him play with Tetsuya's style just to go against us. As soon as Mayuzumi's trick stops working, he'll cease to be useful to Sei. If he's not useful, he'll cast him aside." (Y/N) explained, pained by her boyfriend's certain coldness towards a defeated Mayuzumi. "That being said, I'm sure this will help disrupt Rakuzan's flow of the game. If we play our cards well, we'll neutralized the Uncrowned Kings as well. Let's see what happens from that point on." She told her team and Hyuuga nodded with determination.
He wouldn't be playing so soon, seen that he had four fouls, but he was feeling a lot calmer and fired up than before.
"Ok, let's go with that plan and start off with getting rid of Mayuzumi!" he said strongly and the others cheered with him. Then he looked towards Kuroko. "Can you do it, Kuroko?" Hyuuga asked him and Kuroko nodded with an intense look in his eyes.
"I will do it! I want to win! I want us to be the best team in Japan!" he said as his blue eyes shined.
His emotional state moved his teammates. They would do it all together. Kuroko had a new hope. He was ready to come back and fight alongside his friends. They trusted him completely.
When the time-out ended, both teams made their way back to the court.
Kagami took a deep breath before going after the others. Before he took a step, a certain girl's voice called for him.
"Kagami." He heard her say and he tried to hide his smile before looking at her, he knew in his heart what was coming next and he couldn't be more thankful. "You're amazing." She told him once again and Kagami grinned at her.
"Yeah." He replied with determination and walked towards the court, (Y/N) smiling as she watched him go.
Everyone's eyes widened, even the Miracles', when they saw Kuroko was going back in as well.
Akashi was also caught by surprise.
What more could Kuroko do? He was finished. What could he do to help his team when they had such a large gap between their scores?
Akashi looked at (Y/N), whose look didn't soften like it usually did when he addressed her.
He brought her team down, he made sure to destroy each one of them. It was only fair to do the same to him.
"What are you doing, (Y/N)?" he asked her with a stern tone.
"Why? Are you worried, Sei?" She asked him firmly, making him narrow his eyes at her.
"Surely you're not so optimistic that you think you can still win." Akashi commented, but this time somebody else replied.
"It's not like that." Kuroko said as he appeared beside (Y/N), also looking gravely at Akashi. "We fight because we want to win. No matter how this ends, we're not running!" the blue haired boy said strongly, making Akashi's eyes shine with sadistic amusement.
"I see. Your conviction is meaningless." Akashi said with a frightening detached smile.
Neither (Y/N) or Kuroko let it get to them, though, and both refocused on their plan.
Kuroko walked towards the rest of the team and got ready to start.
The game resumed and Seirin was focused. They were ready to keep fighting and help Kuroko complete his mission.
Izuki had the ball and Reo was there to mark him. Izuki ran away from him and Reo tried to chase him, but Kuroko screened him. That way, Izuki was free to pass the ball to Koganei and the second-year playing in Hyuuga's place scored for his team.
After that, Rakuzan was the one with the ball. Once it got on Mayuzumi's hands, Kuroko was there marking him.
The crowd cheered, eager to see the confrontation between them both.
Mayuzumi looked at the younger boy with a frown. It was offensive to him that Seirin thought the blue haired boy would be able to keep him from getting past him.
In a quick move, Mayuzumi went around Kuroko and jumped to shoot the ball, but Kagami quickly appeared and jumped as well, slapping the ball and sending it away from the basket.
Izuki then caught it and passed it to Koganei again, who scored again, making it 44-65 Rakuzan in the lead.
Mayuzumi's grey eyes were wide, not having expected Kagami to be there waiting.
All too soon, Mayuzumi had the ball again and Kuroko was there marking him. Mayuzumi's eyes narrowed, careful to not let Kagami go after him again. He swiftly went past Kuroko from the side that would take him further away from Kagami. He knew Kiyoshi would be there under the basket with Nebuya and that he surely would try to stop him from scoring, but Mayuzumi would rather go up against Kiyoshi than Kagami.
To his and everyone's surprise, Kiyoshi did not move to stop Mayuzumi from scoring, so the silver haired boy did it easily, although he was confused as to why.
He still had to realize the reason Seirin was letting him score. For now, he thought Seirin was underestimating him by putting their weakest player marking him and not bothering to even defend against him. If that was the case, Mayuzumi would show them what he could do and keep scoring.
And so he did.
And the crowd cheered for Mayuzumi.
(Y/N) smirked as she sat at the bench with the others. It had been so easy.
Seirin kept their spirits up and scored a few baskets as well. Things were going smoothly.
Then, when Kotaro tried to pass the ball to Nebuya, Kuroko surprised his opponents.
The blue haired boy escaped Mayuzumi's mark on him and intercepted the pass, giving the ball back to Seirin. Kagami did not waste any time in dunking the ball and giving his team more points.
Rakuzan's eyes went wide. Mayuzumi didn't understand how Kuroko escaped his mark and the others didn't understand how they didn't see him coming up to break their pass.
Was Kuroko's lack of presence coming back?
Mayuzumi was racking his brain, trying to find an answer to what was happening.
He finally got it when he was once again holding the ball and Kuroko was in front of him.
"Here he comes! It's Rakuzan's number 5, Mayuzumi!" someone in the crowd cheered.
At those words, Mayuzumi and Rakuzan finally realized what Seirin's plan had been all along.
Mayuzumi glared at Kuroko.
"You bastard! Did you overwrite me?!" Mayuzumi asked furiously, Kuroko simply kept his blue eyes on him.
At the audience, the Miracles were explaining to their teams what Seirin had been doing. They also had realized what the plan was.
"There's actually a word for what they're doing. It's overwriting. Which means Kuroko made Mayuzumi stand out more than himself." Midorima explained.
"That's why he kept letting Mayuzumi get past him and the others let him score." Kise said to his own team.
"It's not like Tetsu completely recovered his lack of presence. It's just that a dim light is overshadowed when a brighter light appears." Aomine told his team.
"That's how Seirin dug that guy's grave." Murasakibara said.
When Mayuzumi took too long to get past Kuroko, Kotaro appeared from his right side and asked for the ball. Mayuzumi quickly passed it to him and Kotaro shot to score. Unfortunately for them, the pass had been rushed and thus wrongly executed, so Kotaro also shot it wrong and missed.
Kiyoshi caught the ball at the rebound and gave it back to Seirin.
Rakuzan was getting agitated, but it wasn't enough to rile Akashi up.
When Koganei tried to pass to Izuki, Akashi intercepted the pass and ran towards Seirin's basket.
He stopped when Kagami got in front of him. Akashi's eyebrows furrowed by how fast Kagami had gotten there.
Kagami was determined. Seirin was back on track thanks to (Y/N) and Kuroko. If it wasn't for his two friends he would have lost hope. It was thanks to their constant will to fight that Kagami was also still fighting. (Y/N) kept telling him that he was amazing, that he was the best, but to him, she was the amazing one. She, Kuroko and the others were the amazing ones. It was time for him to keep up with them.
Akashi was dribbling in place, watching Kagami. His heterochromatic eyes widened slightly when he saw Kagami's look.
His eyes had changed once again.
Kagami's will to fight and protect his team had once again triggered his entrance into the Zone.
"He has entered the Zone again?!" Nebuya asked with surprise.
"It doesn't matter. He can't beat Sei-chan. Did he forget about the first half of the game?" Reo said with a smug expression.
Akashi got interested in Kagami's accomplishment of entering the Zone once again, but he wasn't fazed by it. The outcome would surely be the same as before. Kagami wouldn't beat the Emperor Eye.
That was when Akashi was surprised once more.
Instead of charging against Akashi, Kagami took two steps back and gave Akashi space. From a distance, it would be easier for him to see what Akashi would do and retaliate.
Obviously, with the distance they had from each other, Akashi had more than enough space to shoot a three-pointer. When he made the slight move as if he was going to shoot, Kagami immediately moved along as well and Akashi realized at that moment that Kagami would be able to jump high enough and block the ball if Akashi shot it.
"He's even deeper into the Zone than he was before." Aomine commented to his team.
The deeper you were, the more focused and powerful you got.
Akashi's eyes widened with disbelief and he had no choice but to give up on trying to shoot and passed the ball to Mayuzumi.
Mayuzumi passed it to Nebuya and he scored.
Now that Mayuzumi knew of Seirin's plan against him, he decided to be careful and not get past Kuroko. He would not let Kuroko keep overwriting him.
But it was easier said than done . . .
Although he knew he shouldn't, Mayuzumi still fell for the temptation and kept getting past Kuroko. It was the basic instinct of his body as a player. It was so easy to get past Kuroko, especially if the way was cleared for him to score easily after that.
When he went around Kuroko once again, Kagami jumped and slapped the ball away, keeping Mayuzumi from scoring at the same time the boy destroyed his own invisibility.
Mayuzumi was angry for letting himself fall for a trick he knew he shouldn't fall for. Even his teammates were shocked by how stupid he had been.
"It's practically impossible for him to keep in the shadows." Kise said to his teammates, his eyes narrowed as he watched everything going on. "It takes an ironclad rationality to be capable of suppressing instinct. (Y/N)-chi knows that and used it well against him." The blond said.
"Yeah, he won't be able to stop himself from overshadowing Kuroko." Kasamatsu said from beside him.
And so it was.
Mayuzumi was done for.
Not only was he being seen by everyone, but Kuroko was starting to escape their attention once again.
Just as Mayuzumi was marking Kuroko, the blue haired boy disappeared from in front of him and escaped to pass the ball to Kiyoshi, who then scored.
With Kagami taking care of Akashi on defense and Kuroko helping the others score on offense, Rakuzan had to think about what to do. So, they had no choice but ask for a time-out.
A bit more than five minutes were left in the third quarter and the scores were 52-71.
Both teams sat on their benches and Mayuzumi had the biggest frown on his face. The fact that the Uncrowned Kings were being jerks to him didn't help. They were calling him stupid for falling for a trick he knew about and saying he should be subbed out now that he was useless.
Mayuzumi glared at them. They had never been friends, but the fact that they were nice to him when things went right and immediately turned hostile when he messed up angered and frustrated him.
He still wanted to help his team, though. But he knew he shouldn't hope for it. He was sure he was going to be subbed out, now that he messed up and had nothing more to give.
The silver haired boy was surprised when Akashi stood in front of him. Mayuzumi felt taken aback by his cold eyes, and he blinked when Akashi started speaking to him.
"They had only one way to beat you. (Y/N) figured it out and you fell for it exactly as she wanted. Very disappointing." Akashi said and Mayuzumi frowned even deeper at the ground. "But . . ." Akashi continued and the silver haired boy looked up at him again. "There is still a way for you to help the team." Akashi told him and Mayuzumi actually looked hopeful.
After telling Mayuzumi he was going to keep playing and that he still could help Rakuzan, Akashi turned his back and his eyes grew even colder.
Seirin had destroyed his new Phantom Sixth-man and (Y/N) was the reason they figured out how to do it. He applauded her feat internally, but he was angered beyond belief.
He wasn't exactly expecting this game to be an easy victory, but he had to admit that Seirin was surprising him.
Akashi smirked. (Y/N) and Seirin may have succeeded in putting Mayuzumi down, but there was still a way for the silver haired boy to be useful.
At Seirin's bench, everyone was on better spirits. The plan had worked and they instigated discord amongst Rakuzan's players. It had went well.
"You all did really well, guys." (Y/N) complimented with a smile. "You were incredible, Tetsuya." She told her friend who smiled as he dried his face from the sweat going down it.
"Thank you, (Y/N)." the boy said softly.
When the time-out ended, everyone cheered and started going back to the court.
To their surprise, Mayuzumi was also going in. That was weird. Everyone was sure the silver haired boy would be subbed out.
Could Akashi be giving him another chance?
(Y/N) looked towards Akashi, who had a serious expression on his face. Was he really being lenient towards Mayuzumi? What could he be planning?
The girl gulped and decided to wait and see.
When the match started again, it didn't take long for everyone to realize what Akashi's plan with Mayuzumi was. What the red haired had decided to do with the failed Phantom Sixth-man.
Akashi had the ball and Kagami was marking him. Kagami was focusing on the captain, waiting to react as soon as Akashi moved.
But at that moment, Mayuzumi walked into Kagami's field of vision and Akashi's eyes swiftly turned to look at the silver haired boy. Kagami's eyes followed Akashi's towards Mayuzumi and then quickly returned to Akashi's, but by then Akashi had already passed the ball to Reo, who scored a three-pointer.
For short seconds, everyone pondered if Rakuzan was using Misdirection Overflow, where Mayuzumi called attention to himself and kept it from his team.
But that wasn't the case.
This wasn't the Misdirection Overflow.
This was Mayuzumi being used as a way for Akashi to pass the ball under Kagami's nose. Mayuzumi wasn't doing anything - like Kuroko did when he used his technique - he was simply standing there and Akashi was the one driving Kagami's attention to Mayuzumi.
Now that Mayuzumi was prone to drawing attention because of Seirin overwriting him, Akashi had no difficulty in using him to divert Kagami's attention as he saw fit.
It was kind of sad to see.
Instead of subbing Mayuzumi out, Akashi decided to use his now strong presence for their benefit.
The light in Mayuzumi's grey eyes went out when he realized that the captain didn't care at all about him and, instead of giving him another chance like he had hoped for, he was simply using him.
Nobody on Rakuzan's team cared about him. Now he was just a passing tool.
(Y/N) gulped at Mayuzumi's broken expression. Even though she had been angry with his attitude towards Kuroko, she never wished something like this for him. She was only expecting him to be subbed out once he became useless. She never thought Akashi would resort to going this far.
It wasn't surprising, honestly, but this wasn't the expected outcome for Mayuzumi.
(Y/N) felt her chest heavy and she looked at the ground with a pained expression.
Why did Akashi have to do something like this?
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Thank you for reading!