Natsuhi and Fuyu continued to take turns to intercept Shiki's passes. Shiki had no idea what was going on with them but she did not say a thing against their plan because the gap between the scores were decreasing bit by bit. Shiki was not angry of the two taller girls because she's the captain; who's going to trust her teammates if she's not going to trust them?
Akina scored another 3 pointer when the ball made it to her. Akina had no idea what was going on but she was glad Natsuhi and Fuyu were guiding the ball to the right players at the right time. Not that Shiki's job as a Point Guard was going off, but it was to confuse the quintuplets.
"Time Out!" Tsuchi Academy's coach called the quintuplets back. Everyone was allowed to have a short break. "What the hell was that?! You're letting them beat you! Drink up and get back out there!"
On the other hand, Kumo was telling the girls to continue as they were.
"I don't know about that plan you two came up with but I am very happy you two are in the spotlight now. If we can win the 3rd quarter with the plan you two came up with, we wouldn't need Harumi here use the Zone."
"Natsuhi-senpai, Fuyu-senpai, you two are amazing!" Harumi pumped a fist up, "With such reliable senpais, we can win this!"
"Natsuhi, Fuyu, ready to take the spotlight?" Shiki stood up and looked over her shoulder, "Let's go!"
The game resumed once again. Harumi looked at the quintuplets and she noticed something a bit off.
"Shiki-senpai, psst!"
"Yes?"
"Look at their faces...if that's not the face of a predator, I don't know what is!"
"Well why don't you look at my face?" Looking at Shiki's face, Harumi can see a kind smile. However, Harumi can feel a dangerous aura, a much scarier aura!
"Um...Shiki-senpai is scarier!"
"I wonder what Harumi-senpai and Hakanai-senpai is talking about..." Kise asked Kasamatsu with wonder.
"I bet Shiki is asking who is scarier, those girls or her." Kasamatsu answered with a smirk.
"Is that a trick question?! That's like asking if you're scary or someone else is scary!"
"And what's your answer?"
"You obviously!"
"Good answer." Kasamatsu finished his sentence with a hit to the head for the blonde.
Shiki noticed the change in aura from the girls. What was this feeling? Those girls were looking more fierce than before. She asked Harumi who was scarier in a joking way so she wouldn't notice it but Shiki would be lying if she said she wasn't lying.
The game resumed and the quintuplets has suddenly gotten very fast in reaction and techniques, so fast that Shiki was overwhelmed when one of them performed a drive right in front of her.
"Ah-!" Shiki lost her balance and she landed on the floor as one of the girls performed a three pointer behind her.
"You're 100 years too early to be competing with us!" The usually quiet girl suddenly snapped at Shiki with a lot of ferocity, "We are the winner! Stay down!"
"Tch..."
"Shiki-senpai!" Harumi helped Shiki up, "Senpai, are you okay?"
"I am fine." Shiki got up from the floor and she looked at the Tsuchi Academy girls with a challenging look, "I don't know what has changed but I am not one who will stay down!"
The game resumed. Shiki barely managed to use her drive to get past three sisters. What was this feeling? Why did they suddenly have a sudden power boost after their breaks? She didn't care for the answer and she passed the ball to Akina, but Natsuhi intercepted the path of the ball and forced it to go to Harumi. However, before Harumi can get the ball, one of the sisters managed to get the ball.
'They read the course of the ball?!' Natsuhi couldn't believe it! They were somehow able to predict where she will intercept the ball!
Fuyu and Shiki tried to steal the ball from the girl but it was a useless effort. Another three pointer for the other team.
'What's going on? They shouldn't have been able to predict where we will intercept the ball...' Before Fuyu can think otherwise, Natsuhi high-fived her, a signal to say 'intercept the next pass'.
The game resumed again. Akina couldn't perform a three pointer with the heavy defense against her. She had no choice but to pass the ball to the open Shiki. Shiki got the ball and she quickly looked to see who she can pass the ball to. The heavy defense was about to reach her but she passed the ball to Natsuhi, but Fuyu intercepted in between and forced the ball to go back to Akina. Just like before, one of the girls intercepted the ball again and performed another three pointer on the spot; the plan to intercept Shiki's passes has been broken...
"No..." Fuyu and Natsuhi didn't think the girls would be able to react very quickly. Their reaction time has increased so much!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I see...the 3rd quarter has ended." Nakamura was at the hospital, standing a few steps away from Fuu's room. He was told of the huge score gap between Aozora and Tsuchi, and things were not looking good for the girls in white, black, and gold. He turned off the phone after saying good bye to Moriyama. "How will I tell Fuu..."
Fuu was told she will be fine. She's got the medical treatment already and she was told she will be fine after getting some rest. For now, she won't be jumping and playing basketball.
"I'm so bored..." She doesn't like lying in bed without anything to do, she's a free wind who doesn't know how to stop! "Oh, you're back, Senpai! How is the score?!"
"Don't move so much. The score...your senpais are doing their best."
"It means the gap is huge, right?"
"Eh?!"
"Haha...Senpai, you're 1000 years too early to lie to me!" Fuu laughed at Nakamura's attempt to hide it from her.
Nakamura looked down at the floor in disappointment that he can't comfort Fuu; was she thinking she should be there?
"Hey, don't look dejected, Shinya-senpai." Nakamura looked at her again to see, not a sad look, but a look with strong belief and confidence.
"Fuu..."
"I have the most reliable senpais. Even if I am not there jumping around on the basketball court, I am sure they will do well!" Fuu believed in them so much, even if the odds were really against them. "Just like when Seirin looked like they were clearly winning, we all believed you will all make a great comeback!"
Nakamura did not know Fuu felt this way. He knew she was right; no matter how the odds looked very bad, you have to have a strong faith in your team!
"Senpai, I believe they will win!"
"You're right."
"If they win, let's go on a date as a celebration~!"
"Eh?!"
The break was over and the Aozora girls were at it again. The score does not look good at all...78-110...how can they catch up?
Kasamatsu was worried about Shiki. This match meant a lot to her and the team! He wanted to see her win no matter what! His fist tightened when he watched the girls on the other team giving Shiki a hard time.
Shiki didn't see it coming when she performed a drive, one of the girls stuck her foot out for her to trip on. Unlike Fuu's situation, this one was full of intent to trip Shiki up and injure her. The ball flew forward and she couldn't reach it anymore...
"SHIKI!!!" Kasamatsu stood up from his seat and shouted out Shiki's name, not caring if everyone looked at him.
Kasamatsu's shout snapped Shiki out of everything. Before she landed forward and injure herself, she put her hands to the floor and used the forward momentum to do a forward flip.
The ball bounced once on the floor, Harumi did not let one of the quintuplets get it because she blue electrical current emitted from both of her eyes. She beaten everyone to it and she threw the ball back to Shiki.
Before Shiki landed on her feet again, she grabbed the ball and used the momentum to throw the ball towards the basket. She didn't expect the ball to go in, when it went in, she was surprised by the standing ovation she's receiving.
"I did not expect that at all..." Shiki then looked at Harumi, 'She's in the Zone...I'm not sure how long she will last but we have to make sure we score more before it wears off!'
The girls from the other team looked like they were standing on the borderline of sanity and insanity, they looked like crazed predators, unlike before. Sometimes their eyes would twitch and mumble incoherent words.
"Is it just me or they look like they're high on something?" Ying said, "Look at them, drinking that water like hell..."
"Kumo-san, what do you think?" Yang asked Kumo, who was looking at the girls from Tsuchi academy with concern.
'Those girls...can it be?' Kumo wondered if he was right.
Back in the game, Harumi was in the spotlight, using her Zone to make sure all of the missed shots will land into the basket. She was so fast that the quintuplets could not stop her. The five sisters tried to trip or even hurt Harumi, but she was moving so fast that they could not react to her at all.
'Amazing...' Kise smiled when he can see Harumi has entered the Zone! Even if Harumi has entered the Zone, she did not promote individual play, she continued to play the role as the team's Ace and support for the team. Kise wanted to be like her, a basketball player who can stand on her own but also take everyone else with her.
Shiki's passes were connecting again thanks to Harumi bridging the passes with speed; Natsuhi was able to perform her Half-court Launch because Harumi passed her the ball at the right time; Fuyu was able to use her drive because Harumi prevented the other players from getting close to her, and Akina was able to use her three pointers when Harumi was able to bypass the heavy defense on Akina.
The audience cheered for Harumi and Aozora to win, everyone wanting to see them win since they can all feel their fighting spirit.
"That bitch..." One of the quintuplets were getting angry. She walked up to Harumi with intent to just end her on the spot.
Shiki looked at the approaching girl and she quickly made her way to Harumi.
"Hm?" Harumi looked behind her because she felt a huge shadow creeping upon her.
The girl suddenly lashed out a punch, but the hit reached Shiki instead of Harumi.
"What the hell are you doing?!" The coach from the other team grabbed the girl off the court and started to reprimand her for the violent impulse.
However, the girl shouted a very long tirade to the Aozora team, saying that a team who destroyed many dreams and motivations do not deserve to stand at the top, and that it would embarrass everyone to see them standing at the very top. "A team like you shouldn't even be here!"
Shiki prevented Harumi from saying anything back by holding her arm out.
"Don't. Just keep playing."
"But Senpai...!"
"She can bitch about it all she wants. We'll talk about it after we win."
"Senpai..." Time and time again, Shiki always jumped in to help the team members from getting injured. Harumi was sick and tired of seeing Shiki always being the one to get the hit. "Senpai, if anyone hurts me, I want you to stay out of it!"
"I can't do that."
"Senpai!"
"Harumi, you're the Ace. It's fine if I am out, but I can't have you out yet. You're special because you can force the Zone out..."
"S-Senpai..."
"For a Captain like myself, just making sure the ball gets to the right player is enough. Also, it's the captain's job to protect the team. You can rely on me no matter what!" When Shiki returned to the court, the other three stared at her with wide eyes. "What are you three looking at? We have a game to win..." Shiki couldn't feel it but she has triggered it, she has entered the Zone without realizing! "Why are you staring at me? Do I have something on my face?"
The score was 100-110, Harumi closed off most of the gap, maybe a miracle will come now that Shiki has triggered the Zone without knowing it. Her will to protect her teammates and her renewed passion for the sport made her trigger it.
Shiki got the ball and she bounced it for a bit before she started to perform a drive.
"What the-?!" Kasamatsu gasped with his team at Shiki's drive! It looked like she just walked past them! How did she do that?
'Hm? Did time slow down or something?' She was still unaware of what's going on around her, she passed the ball to Akina, who looked very surprised to receive the pass before she quickly performed a three pointer.
Floating like a butterfly, but strike like a bee! She's unaware she has entered the Zone, but she's fine with that! "Seriously, why is everyone looking so surprised?"
'She's unaware she has entered the Zone!!!' Akina, Natsuhi, and Harumi were left mouth agaped; how can she not notice?!
"Shiki-senpai, can you not feel it?"
"Oh, I'll tell you what I am feeling, Harumi, I feel great just knowing I will get that kiss at the tip-off point!"