The girls' match will be up after the winner and the loser show itself before them. They have watched the interest of their heart fight their way to get to this stage only to have their journey come to a halt; Kaijou was defeated by one point by their rival, Seirin...
"They have lost..." Shiki closed her eyes; seeing them losing just by one point was painful. She knew how much Kasamatsu wanted to win, how he wanted to prove himself by taking everyone to the point where his senpais could not reach. "You haven't won but you have taken the team to a height where your senpais didn't reach, right?" Shiki opened her eyes and Kasamatsu was in front of her with a tired smile.
"It's a shame but I lost..." Kasamatsu said to Shiki after telling Hyuuga to keep going to the top for their sake.
"You did well. It was a match worth seeing."
"Ah."
"Any regrets?"
"No."
"If the river doesn't reach the top, the sky will reach it in your place."
"I'll leave it to you, Shiki..." Between their exchange 'go and win' was passed onto Shiki from Kasamatsu.
Kasamatsu went to support Kise after both teams were called to line up. It was over for them, their path to go to the top has officially came to a stop. They were disappointed that they didn't get the win but they all have a sense of relief; they played with their all, that's all it mattered.
The girls watched the boys leave the basketball court, hearing Kise's cries about wanting to win with everyone...
The girls' match will begin right after the basketball court were cleaned. Their next match will be against Tsukisasu, a team that has never reached the stadium until now. They looked all have the heights for the sport and seem to have good sportsmanship so it's no doubt they must have worked their way up.
"I'm going to the toilet." Harumi said to the others.
"Don't get lost, I can't have the ace being stupid right off the bat."
"Shiki-senpai, you are so cruel..."
"Hell yeah! Semi-finals! You girls are going to kick some ass!" Ying was very pumped up despite not being the one to play, "Go and kick some ass!"
"You're too loud! Shut the hell up!" Shiki wanted to hit him but she decided to save her strength for the game. "Tsukisasu...what do you think, Kumo?" Shiki asked their Coach.
The handsome man put on a thinking face before he looked at Shiki with a confident smile, "I have no idea!"
"If you have no idea then shut the fuck up!" Shiki facepalmed at the amount of idiots within the locker room; how did she survive this long without committing murder?
"You're one step away from winning, Shiki. We're just making sure you're level headed." Yang said to her. "You and the girls will be fine."
"...that is a given." Shiki got up and she looked at her teammates, seeing that none of them looked happy. 'What's up with them?' She wondered to herself.
"Argh! I can't stand this silence! I will definitely do my best!" Fuu looked normal...why does Shiki have a feeling she's forcing herself? Maybe they were a little nervous before the game?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After getting changed into their casual clothes and drying their tears, the boys went to their seats to watch the game between Aozora and Tsukisasu. They still can't believe it was all over for them but they have to accept the reality before them.
"They don't look happy..." Moriyama said as his eyes focused on Akina.
"Is it because they saw us lost that they are nervous?" Kobori asked Kasamatsu.
"It might be possible. Well, this is Shiki's team we are talking about so I believe they will be okay."
The game started off not looking so good for Aozora. It's not that the team was really strong that the members cannot handle it, besides Shiki, the team was making very simple mistakes that it was laughable.
The 2nd quarter was about to finish soon and the gap between the two teams were very far apart...
15-40...
'This isn't good no matter how you look at it. What are they doing?' Shiki thought as the team managed to break through Natsuhi's defense.
"What is Harumi-senpai and the others doing?" Kise can see that something was very wrong and it frustrated him to see his senpais play like that. "They are making mistakes that they would never ever make! What are they thinking, getting cold feet t such a time!"
"Pressure." Kasamatsu simply answered, "They have just watched us lose, I didn't think it would affect most of them like that."
"Natsuhi-san..." Kobori was very worried about her. He wanted to tell her it was okay but he can't at the moment.
"Snow P(r)incess wou(l)d neve(r) yie(l)d to p(r)essu(r)e (l)ike that! She wou(l)dn't (l)ose he(r)e!" Hayakawa strongly expressed so the others wouldn't make such a face, " We shou(l)d suppo(r)t them with ou(r) chee(r)s!"
The crowd roared again in cheer as Tsukisasu made another score just before the 2nd quarter stopped.
Shiki looked at the girls to see they all looked troubled.
'Can it be...?' Shiki thought to herself.
Shiki went to the toilet while the others were in the locker room. Ying, Yang, and Kumo had no idea what was wrong with the girls; when they asked the girls what was wrong, they were brushed off with a smile and a 'nothing'.
"Hey, I know you guys will win! Don't worry about it!" Ying took on the role as the mood maker for the team, trying to put a smile on their faces.
"Ying-san, thanks but we are really fine..." Natsuhi insisted.
"Yeah, you're actually pissing me off." Akina said with a deadpanned expression.
"Eh?! Please don't say that, Akina-chan..." Ying wanted to cry on the spot...
In the toilet, the Tsuksasu girls were washing their hands.
"Ever since Kaijou's game, the girls looked very affected. I shouldn't say this as the captain but now is the perfect time to get them."
"Why is that, Captain?"
"Have you seen how close Kaijou is to Aozora? Seeing their boyfriends lose is already bad enough, winning could be seen as rubbing the boys' faces in."
"Eh? So winning is not a good thing for them?"
The captain of Tsukisasu nodded and left the toilet with the team. At the same time, Shiki came out of one of the stalls.
'I need to do something about this...' Shiki thought as she went ahead and wash her hands with soap. 'My team is strong, I didn't think they would be affected by others like the Kaijou team. They must really like them." It's not that Shiki doesn't like Kasamatsu enough to be affected, she knew for sure Kasamatsu would rather see her win than to lose here.
The 3rd quarter began in a hurry. The boys were painfully watching as the gap of the score slowly become greater thn before.
Shiki was marked heavily by the team that seemed to focus on defensive play. Every time she passed to a member of her team, they would fumble and make mistakes that would make her facepalm. What was wrong with her own team? When she asked them what was wrong, they just smile it off and say it was nothing. Natsuhi, Fuyu, Harumi, and Akina were obviously not being themselves and it really pissed Shiki off.
"Seriously..." Shiki looked at Kumo and the good looking man went to the game officials to tell them of a timeout.
"Aozora, timeout!"
Being called back to the bench all of a sudden made Harumi and the other three embarrassed. They wondered why they were called just when the 3rd quarter began...
"I promised him that I would win in his place." Shiki suddenly said to Harumi and the others. "Sure, Kaijou has lost...but so what? That shouldn't mean that we have to stop here either. I don't know what you girls are thinking about, I can't read minds. Even if I can read minds, I don't want to know and I don't need to know...do you guys really think Kaijou is that weak that they can't take a loss with pride?"
Harumi looked away as she remembered what happened when she went to the toilets earlier...
"Kise-kun lost! I can't believe it..." A fangirl said as she fixed her makeup with her friends.
"I know!"
"He seems close with that pink haired girl from Aozora..."
"Is that his girlfriend?"
"No idea..."
"If I were her, I wouldn't win. They have lost! If I have lost and my boyfriend won in the same contest I entered, I'd feel humiliated!"
"You got that right!"
When they have gone, Harumi came out of one of the stalls and she looked perplexed; can winning make the boys suffer more?
"I want to win no matter what. Yukio and the others lost on this basketball court and it is because of that, I must carry on with his fighting spirit! Snap out of it and win with me!"
The others looked at Shiki, finally getting it through their heads.
"Shiki-senpai, please hit me with all your might!" Fuu stood up strongly, "Slap me with your might!"
"Now that you ask me to hit you, it makes me not want to hit you for some reason..." Shiki sighed, "Line up and let me do it then..."
After getting slap marks on their left cheeks, Shiki's teammates were ready to put everything behind them and win with pride.
"Let's win!" Shiki shouted pride.
"Yeah!" Her teammates replied with the same pride as she does.
"W-why did Shiki-senpai hit them...?" Kise asked with a sweatdrop.
"I like her methods." Kasamatsu smirked, "I can see the winner already."
"Who will win?"
"Aozora."
"Kasamatsu, are you doing anything after this?" Moriyama asked with a light smile, "Kobori and I are thinking of treating the girls out to eat."
"Is Shiki going? If she is, I'll go."
"Oh! Senpai, you are not nervous!" Kise laughed, "Only Shiki-senpai can make you normal!"
"Shut up! That is not true!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Shiki and the others were victorious in the semi-finals, the girls were surprised the Kaijou team waited for them.
"Congratulations on winning." Kasamatsu said to Shiki, "You did well."
"Thank you." Shiki looked away from him and looked at the girls getting congratulatory words from their other half. She's happy to be able to prove to them that the boys would be happier if they win...
"T-the others said we should treat you guys out to eat now...d-do you want to come along?" Kasamatsu was a little nervous but he managed to ask her anyway.
"Sure. I'd love to."