"Hey, why are you quiet?" demanded Mayu.
"Hmm..." said Sora absently.
"Is this about the time-out?" said Kise.
"Who cares what this is about? Just let me get back in there. Oi, Himeji, don't worry, I'll beat them this time," said Aomine.
"Aho! Inspite of your loud comments, you've got to face the truth, nanodayo," said Midorima.
"What'dye mean?"
"She was right about the score. We are now behind even though we had a good head-start in the first quarter. I believe that this needs to be addressed, nanodayo."
"Oh, so now you believe us?" said Mayu.
"I trust anyone who can make accurate predictions, nanodayo. Be it Oha-asa or—"
"Since when were we discussing Oha-asa?" said Mayu.
"Can we get back to the topic at hand?" said Kise.
"Yeah, right," said Mayu.
"What should we be doing, Soracchi?" said Kise.
"I don't know..." said Sora, fiddling with her water-bottle, "If anything, I want to sit this match out."
"If it's still about that time-out—" began Kise.
"—Yes, it is!" said Sora, "Do you think that in any other scenario I would have actually called a time-out two minutes before half-time? I don't think this is working my way, Kise-kun. Let's just say that I'm not in the right frame of mind to make strategies."
"Just let it go, Ryouta," said Aomine with a yawn.
"I refuse to!" exclaimed Kise, "At this rate, I will lose—"
"We won't," said Aomine.
"Mou... I'm a horrible captain," said Kise with a moan, "Here's Soracchi moping on one side and Aominecchi openly defying me on the other. If only I was Akashicchi--"
"—If only pigs could fly," muttered Mayu, "When will we be done with the pity party here?"
"Virgo is last today, nanodayo. Maybe you could obtain your lucky item," said Midorima.
"Shut up, four-eyes!" said Aomine.
"That's it!" yelled Kise, "I am going to coach and telling her that I can't be captain anymore. I hate this job! None of you ever listen."
"Great. Tell her to make me captain," said Aomine.
"And what would you do, nanodayo?" said Midorima.
"Follow the 'Chill 'n enjoy the thrill policy'," said Aomine.
"That concept is over-rated, nanodayo," said Midorima.
"So, are none of you sad that I'm stepping down?" said Kise.
"Is this really necessary?" said Mayu.
"Oi Ryouta, let me be captain."
"Even though I hate the job, I don't want to just hand it over to you, Aominecchi."
"I admit that Gemini has the best luck today. But Cancer follows closely. I believe that I am most qualified for the job, nanodayo."
"Enough!" said Sora, "Are you a bunch of three year olds? I'm already getting a headache!"
"So you want to be captain?" said Kise.
"What? No!" said Sora, irritated, "If anything, I wash my hands."
"Wow, great," muttered Mayu.
"You too?" said Kise.
"Shut up! I'm already sick of watching four people being bratty..." said Mayu.
"Soracchi, she included you," said Kise.
"Whatever..." said Sora, wistfully looking at the opposite bench. Suddenly her brow furrowed. "Oro... They don't seem to be discussing anything at all."
"Do they need to?" said Kise, "I think they've almost won."
"Not as long as I'm here, blondie," said Aomine. Kise simply stuck out his tongue at Aomine. Sora was still looking at the opposite bench. Akira was waving to her and she returned the wave half-heartedly. "Have we... really lost?" Sora noticed Akashi's eyes flick to her. He smirked and turned the opposite way. Mayu followed her gaze. "Yeah, it looks like he has the upper hand this time. If only this was similar to shougi. Then I would say that you had a solid chance of winning. At the mention of shogi, Sora's memory went back to a rather memorable match in their second year. She remembered what Akashi said to her once.
'This isn't chess or shogi. Both sides don't have the same pieces.'
Sora blinked. She had the answer now! She had been forcing the g.o.m to confirm to the strategies which usually applied to the girls' team. They in turn had done the same to herself and Mayu. But as Akashi stated, both sides didn't have the same pieces. In short, they would have to revamp the plan so that it met the requirements of all the five members. Sora could still hear Kise and Aomine arguing about who would be the captain.
"Enough you two," she said, "Mayu-san, the pity party's over. I think you would be grateful..."
"Finally," said Mayu.
"But Soracchi, who is to be captain. If you—"
"I'm just going to say this once. No one is the captain. I can't say this is too much of a team to start with, so it's not going to matter."
Kise contemplated the idea shortly and then nodded. Aomine shrugged and Midorima straightened as if he was finally thinking about joining the conversation. "So, what now?" said Kise.
"I'm interested..." began Sora, "Tell me more about this individual play strategy of yours."
"I think I've told you a hundred times now... Anyway, we mostly take up zone defense," said Kise, "Each one of us takes one portion of the court which is somewhat compatible to our strengths and we usually confine our play to that area. This comes in handy; especially when we have tasks to complete."
"Tasks? Oh, those..." said Sora. The boys' team had come up with a plan to make their matches a bit more 'interesting' last year. Each member would have to meet a goal during a match which varied according to the strength of their opponents. They seemed to be sticking with the idea even this year.
"So, do we have anything, nanodayo?" said Midorima.
"I think I have a vague plan, Midorima-kun," said Sora, "But there's just one major problem."
"What is it?" said Kise.
"We've wasted all our time arguing. There is just one minute to the end of half-time. Even if I could come up with something..."
"So you just need time?" said Kise. Sora nodded.
"Why don't we just ask for a time-out as soon as they start?" said Kise nonchalantly.
Sora's jaw dropped. "Is that even possible? The rules—"
"You would be surprised at my abilities, Soracchi," said Kise with a wink.
Sora heard coach's whistle and sighed. She knew that whatever Kise would come up with was definitely going to be weird. That being said, they didn't have much of a choice. "Fine, let's go," she said.
Both the teams entered the court. Coach was standing with the ball for the tip off. She blew her whistle and threw the ball in the air. Both Murasakibara and Aomine jumped to take the ball. Just when Murasakibara had the ball in his hands, Kise's voice rang out across the court.
"Excuse me!"
Murasakibara dropped the ball in confusion and stumbled a bit. Sora heard Akashi chuckle next to her. "Looks like your team-mate has come up with a substitute for ankle-break, Sora."
Sora ignored him. She had a bad feeling about this. "Umm, coach," began Kise, "We need a time out. Tehe!"
Sora paled. She could hear laughter erupting all around them. There was no way she could live this out. And why did he have to add that irritating 'tehe' at the end... Coach seemed to be irritated. "No," she said shortly.
"Pwease?" said Kise, trying to use his 'puppy-dog eyes' which lead to fresh gales of laughter from the audience. Sora reddened as she saw Akashi shaking with suppressed mirth next to her. Akira was doubled up on her knees a short distance away. Mayu made eye contact with Sora. She seemed as embarrassed by this issue as she was.
"Go back and play!" snarled coach.
"Mou... Pwease?" repeated Kise.
"No."
"We'll make the match more interesting when we're back," promised Kise.
"The rest of you play," shouted coach.
But to Sora's surprise, no one moved. They were too busy watching Kise. She had to admit that the duel between Kise and coach was more interesting than any match could be. "Aren't you going to move, Seijuro?" she inquired, "You can probably get in a few—"
"No. I don't need to defeat you like this. Besides, what's going on there is a lot more entertaining."
So Sora's suspicions were right. A few of the audience were yelling 'Time out! Time out!' from the stands and Kise didn't look like he was going to relent any time soon. Coach had no option but to grudgingly allow them to go back, even though it was against the rules. Sora joined her team at the bench amidst cheers from the crowd and was surprised to see that Kise had buried his head in his hands. Sora could see that that show had cost him a lot of his pride.
"Soracchi, please let this be worthwhile," he begged.