(Preview!)
"Tetsu-kun? Are you ready? Is it done now?" You turned to the phantom man.
The group was a bit confused about why you asked him that.
"Yes. And I am ready." He nodded, "Coach." He called out to Riko.
"What?" Riko asked the first year.
"I think I can do it now. My new drive." Kuorko told the coach.
"Tetsu-kun!" You called out to him.
"Yes, (Y/N)-san?" He responded, turning to face you.
You said something that got him to smile, "Of course."
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"I believe in you, Tetsuya. I've always had."
Your words brought Kuorko into a new state of play, ready to help out his team.
"Kuroko, are you ready?" Hyuga asked the phantom man.
"Yes." Kuorko replied to his captain before getting shoved by Kagami, "Of course he is."
"You're sure you can scare them, right?" Kagami asked, a smile apparent on his face as he knew what Kuroko had up his sleeve.
Smiling back, Kuorko gave a nod, "Yes, of course."
Shutoku thought Seirin was desperate to put Kuorko back into the game. But Midorima stated it was the opposite. Kuroko always comes back into a game with something up his sleeve to show his opponent.
"Mainly, it came from (Y/N). She's always cautious and knows when and where to play her plays when it comes to strategy. Her ability and Kuorko's go hand in hand. To which I'm not fond of." Midorima stated, mumbling the last part to himself.
Takao took notice of the glare Midorima gave When Kuorko spoke to you so casually, 'Ah, right. Shin likes her, too.' He soon smirked, 'Well, no hard feelings. She's a unique one that's for sure if she attracted Shin. That doesn't mean I won't fight for her attention as well.'
43 seconds left in the third quarter.
Seirin - 68
Shutoku - 76
'Go get 'em Tetsu-kun!' You thought in your head, seeing him being marked by Takao.
'First off, we do a screen with Kagami to get Takao-kun off of Tetsu-kun.' You started, 'Then, we get him to use his trump card on Shin-kun!'
To use his Vanishing Drive!
"He got past him!!"
"Nice drive, Tetsu-kun!! Nice dunk Kiyoshi-san!" You praised the players.
Izuki and Hyuga were able to steal the ball from Shutoku and pass it to Kuroko again, "No, you don't!" Takao ran to block him but he was shocked by Kuroko's Vanishing Drive.
Passing it to Hyuga, Seirin scored a three. Now there was only a 3-point difference.
Miyaji tried to pass to Takao but he forgot Kuroko was there as well. Seirin has the ball now and made a counterattack.
It was the end of the third quarter, and both teams were tied.
"Kagami, are you okay?" Izuki asked the first year, "I'm fine. Besides...I can't give up before him."
"Geez! It's always competition with you and the Generation of Miracles! Don't forget that you're worrying the others and myself too, Kagami-kun!" You hit his head as he flinched, "OW!"
"I know! You always say that when we play against a strong team! And you always hit me for some reason!" He retorted.
The others only laughed at the exchange between the first years.
"Anywho. Keep at it, everyone. Shutoku's coach probably already knows our plan with Riko-san's as well. All we have to do is keep up and try to score ahead of them. You got this!" You gave him some motivation.
"Our manager is right! Go out there and show them that you're the different Seirin they played again last time!" Riko told the team.
"You heard them! Okay, let's go!" Hyuga told the boys, "We'll go hard in the remaining ten minutes! Seirin, fight!"
"Yeah!" The team all cheered together and gave a high-five.
Before going on the court, the starting lineup gave you a high-five, "Thanks for that, (Y/N)." Starting with the captain of course.
"Of course! I can't let the captain and the others fall behind. And, we're gonna crush them with everything we have!" You gave a sinister smile that made Hyuga return it.
Your evil laughs scared the team, "They're at it again..." Izuki sighed.
"(Y/N)-chan! You better cheer me on, okay?" Izuki smiled at you.
"Mhm! Of course, King of Puns!" You both cheer together, "Yay!"
"(Y/N)...don't pity him like that...he'll get an ego bigger than his field of vision..." Koganei muttered.
"She's going to cheer on her team, not only you, Izuki. So move your ass!" Hyuga ordered Izuki who was being dragged by him, "But you're dragging me on the court!! How can I?!"
"Figure it out!"
You laughed at their exchange before giving a high-ten to Kiyoshi, "Keep at it, Kiyoshi-san! That was an amazing block and dunk you did back in the third quarter!"
He beamed even more than he usually does thanks to your compliments, "Aw, shucks! You're saying too much, (Y/N)-chan!~ That warms my heart!"
"He's someone that can't control his happiness, huh...?" The first years asked in unison, seeing the third year have a boyish smile.
"Ready for the final round, Kags?" You asked your friend who gave a smirk and a nod, "More than ready!"
"Yeah! Squash them all like insects!" You both cheered while laughing.
"Uh-oh...The siblings are getting demonic again..." Furihata mumbled.
"Kagami! Stop getting (Y/N) to be evil and move your ass on the court!" Hyuga was heard yelling at him, then he pointed at Kuroko.
"YOU TOO KUROKO! I SEE YOU HIDING BEHIND OUR MANAGER!"
"I didn't think he'd see until later..."
"HUH?! YOU EXPECTED ME TO NOT FIND YOU?! GET ON THE COURT NOW!"
"Tetsu-kun, d-do your best!" You stuttered a bit since for some reason, when he turned to look at you started to blank out.
'I've spoken to him lots of times! Why is it now that I'm stuttering?! What is this...?!' You kept a poker face to not raise suspicion.
But of course, like every protagonist, you had a horrible poker face, "Uh...(Y/N)-san...? What is wrong with your face?"
You flinched and soon smiled nervously, straightening your posture, "NOTHING!"
Kuroko blinked in confusion but smiled regardless, patting your head, "Thank you for your words back there. You cheered the team up as usual. And myself, thank you for that. You are a ray of sunshine in my eyes."
And at that, he left to join the others. Riko saw the moment and blushed, "Oh my...! How romantic!"
"And we lost our coach..." Koganei sighed in defeat.
It was time for the last 10 minutes of the game.
'Firstly, we are going to do our usual run-gun style with the ball at the start of the quarter. To try and get the game flow to our advantage.' You said in your head, writing down the notes to improve the players in the future.
Miyaji thought he was going to steal the ball from Izuki's pass to Hyuga, but forgot Kuroko was in the game. The light blue-haired man moved the ball trajectory towards Kagami, who was already at the basket.
"Go!" The team cheered on the first year who went to jump and dunk the ball.
"Kagami! Be careful!" Hyuga warned him, seeing two blockers.
"It's fine...Kags knows what his strengths and weaknesses are. Even though he doesn't like to address them. One thing he knows for certain is... He can get past those two blockers!" You assured the team on the bench who looked in worry.
As you predicted, Kagami scored despite having two people block the net, "All right!" The team cheered.
"Nice shot!" Kiyoshi patted Kagami's shoulder.
"You're lucky it went in!" Hyuga hit him on the head.
Shutoku went to make a comeback as Takao passed to Midorima.
"Don't get ahead of yourselves." Midorima, of course, shot a three despite Kiyoshi and Kagami being on him.
"Seirin! Seirin! Seirn! Seirin!" The crowd cheered as the players went head to head against each other.
Hyuga went to get payback and shot a three, "We're not here to lose!"
"Shutoku! Shutoku! Shutoku! Shutoku! Shutoku!" The crowd went back and forth cheering on the teams.
"Neither are we!" Takao responded, getting 2 points in.
"Nice block, Kagami!" You praised the red-haired male for blocking Midorima.
Thanks to Kagami stopping Midorima, Hyuga was able to make a three and score.
Both teams went head to head to get as many points as they could to get ahead and win.
"29 seconds...and were one point ahead..." you mumbled before seeing Ōtsubo score.
'Now they're ahead with one point.' You used your clipboard to cover half of your face as the fast-paced game is giving you anxiety.
"There's no time!" Koganei shouted, "Get them!" Tsuchida shouted right after.
"Izuki-san!" You called out in worry as Kimura stole the ball from him, the ball was going to be out of bounds, "Oh no! It's going to be their ball."
You were shocked to see Kuroko catch it in mid-air, "Tetsu-kun!" You smiled in relief when he used his Vanishing Drive against Takao after getting back on the ground.
"All right!" Riko cheered, "The Vanishing Drive!" The benched players beside you cheered as well.
"Nice pass, Kuroko!" Kiyoshi smiled at the first year after catching the ball.
"Go!" The players on Kiyoshi's team yelled.
"His legs!" You and Riko yelled in worry before you gasped seeing Midorima there to block him, "And Shin-kun's right behind him to block the dunk!"
"No way, Iron Heart!" Midorima shouted at the center.
Luckily, Kiyoshi was able to maneuver his hand and let go of the ball as Midorima was going to be fouled. The ball hit the rim and missed the net.
"Defence, pushing! Shutoku! No. 6! Free throw, two shots!" The referee stated.
With two seconds left in the game, these two shots are the only things in between Seirin's win or loss against Shutoku.
"Screen them out! Don't let them get the ball!" Hyuga told his team after seeing how much Kiyoshi's legs were shaking.
"We're just being prepared. We're not telling you to miss, of course." Izuki smiled at Kiyoshi.
"Of course. Making both of these is the fastest way to win." Kagami said.
"Let's have some fun," Kuroko stated.
Seeing his team prepared and determined got Kiyoshi to smile, "That's what I'll do."
"Two shots." The referee gave the ball to Kiyoshi.
"Come on, Kiyoshi-san..." you muttered as it grew silent while Kiyoshi prepared to shoot.
He shot the ball as Shutoku's bench prayed for him to miss, while Seirin prayed for him to make it in the net.
"It went in!" Seirin cheered.
"We're tied! 104 to 104!"
Now it was for the last shot, Hyuga noticed something while Kiyoshi was present for his last shot.
It felt like it was in slow motion when the ball was heading for the net.
It missed!
"Rebound!!" Both of the coaches yelled at their players.
"Yes, Ōtsubo!" Shutoku's coach yelled at the captain.
"No! It's our ball! Go, Kagami!" You smiled, standing up and yelling at your friend on the court.
Kagami and Midorima were in the air trying to push the ball either in or away from the basket.
You saw a vision and were shocked by the results...
Is this...real...?