Chapter 57
Once again, thank you so much to all of your responses to my question! The general feeling I got was that you guys definitely didn't want me to skip/summarize the matches, since they were important and set the mood, but you did agree that cutting down on the details would be ideal, most of you.
I'm a little sorry to hear some of you tend to skip the matches, because you don't know enough about basketball. All you really gotta know I will list at the bottom AN. I don't know anything about basketball either, so I do believe it's pretty understandable for anyone. Also because I do add some important things, and will in this chapter too, during the matches.
I apologize for any grammar errors that I have made! Read and Review!
Disclaimer: Yup, I really don't own anything.
Earth~
Lucy moaned herself awake, feeling another pulse of pain run through her. It was only just she could collect herself enough to look underneath her long-sleeved shirt so see the markings still glowing red on her skin.
With a defeated groan, she leaned back again, feeling her muscles ache with just that simple movement. Ultear really hadn't been lying when she said opening the Second Origin would be painful. Really, she probably underestimated the pain it actually caused. She had passed out after all!
The blonde hissed when another pulse forced its way through her system painfully. It wasn't as bad as she remembered it to be in Earthland, but it sure wasn't forgiving either.
It was kind of odd how she came by, accompanied by Jellal and Meredy. Apparently the three of them had created their own little guild, Crime Sorciere, in which they would repent for their sins and crimes by taking on some of the things impossible for ordinary guilds and the Council to do, all of them having inside knowledge of the dark guilds.
The reason they even looked for Team Natsu - plus Wendy and Elfman - was because Jellal especially had been feeling some strange magic from the Grand Magic Games the last few years. And now they wanted their assistance in figuring all this out. To show their friendliness, Ultear offered to open their Second Origin, stored power their chances of ever reaching was right around zero naturally, and that apparently brought along an incredible amount of pain.
Obviously, that was really just a cover for Jellal to meet up with Erza though. What was worse, when he pulled her off to talk alone, he lied and told her he had a fiancé somewhere. It was ridiculous, he was just shy. And he had almost kissed the redhead too!
How did she know this? Well, she explored her skills as a spy, is all.
She couldn't contain a sigh of resignation at the fact that she was now stuck at Earth, would probably in a constant interval feel that pulse of pain, would probably look like someone insane in the eyes of anyone looking, with her groaning and it was only a matter of time before someone, most likely someone from the Miracles, would find her.
She was already not looking forward to it.
With yet another sigh, she took a look around to figure out where she was. With eyes widened in confusion, she found herself in a little... Wagon, of sorts. A wooden one, connected to a bike. It wasn't big, per say, but big enough to hold a single person or so.
She had somehow ended up here? At the bike-parking lot of the Winter Cup? Really? Of all places...
Pulling herself together, she actually managed to get up from the wagon, but she was forced back down as she did, landing down in the cart again. Covering her face with her hands, she gave herself just another moment.
She really had hoped she'd be feeling much better when she showed up here... It would not be fun if she stumbled into Akashi now... Not that she'd let that happen. She couldn't tell him, he would not believe her. It would only make it worse, he'd think she was just making up stories, if she told him. He'd get even more angry, he'd hate her even more.
And even though he had been so cold with her, she didn't want him to hate her.
So she would stay away from him until the time was right wouldn't make any contact at all. Then she just had to hope he hadn't told this to the others...
"Would you mind my asking what exactly you are doing here, Lucy?" She heard a voice inquire, kicking her right out of her trance.
With a jerk of surprise and a hand to her heart, she fell back in the wagon as she looked up at the intruders. "Shin-kun, Takao." She breathed out, recognizing the two faces. "Ah, you scared me." She said as she calmed herself down again.
"I'm sorry, Lucy! We didn't mean to scare you!" Takao quickly apologized. "We were just wondering what you were doing in our wagon." He explained.
So... They hadn't seen her moment of weakness, unable to stand? Well, that was good at least. Then it struck her mind. "Wait... 'Our' wagon?" She asked, looking down at the wagon in surprise. This was theirs? Wasn't irony just great sometimes?
Takao grinned. "Yeah, that's how Shin-chan prefers to be transported, he's a bit picky." He laughed, amused.
Meanwhile, Midorima himself was quite nonchalant about the fact that Takao had just made fun of him. Instead, he just pushed his glasses up with his bandaged fingers. "My question still stands, what are you doing in our wagon?" He repeated the question, which had already been asked twice, clearly annoyed he had gotten no answer.
"Ah, sorry Shin-kun." Lucy said and moved to get up and off the wagon. A little shakily, she accepted Takao's offered hand with a smile. Then she turned to the Miracle again. "I just woke up there, I don't know why." She explained. If she could, she would love to have a say in where she woke up, but she didn't. It was actually surprising it hadn't gotten her into more trouble than it had, considering everything.
Takao looked at her with widened eyes. "But... We left it ten minutes ago-"
"I see." The tall, green-haired guy said indifferently, cutting his friend off and seemingly not noticing the blonde's slight flinches of pain now and then. Neither had Takao - much to her luck. He turned around to the Winter Cup building. "Let's go." Was all he said as he began moving towards the building.
"Oh, you're going to be watching the match?" She asked, hoping to guide Takao's attention away from the fact she had appeared in their cart within ten minutes.
"Naturally." Midorima simply replied.
Takao sighed at his friend, then smiled brightly to Lucy, cleaning up for his friend and teammate. "Yeah, because we know we will be playing against one of them, so might as well learn as much as possible!" He reasoned.
"Oh, that's smart." She admitted.
At this point, there were only four teams left: Shutoku, Seirin, Kaijo and Rakuzan. Shutoku would of course be matched against Rakuzan, since Seirin was with Kaijo. The winners of each match would play each other for the 1st place and the title as the best high school basketball team in Japan, whereas the losers of the two matches would play for the third placing.
So, actually there were only four matches left, and the Grand Magic Games would start right after she returned to Earthland, the very same day. She'd be incredibly busy and most likely also stressed out with everything going on in her life right now.
Lucy looked back to her two male companions as they made their way inside. "So is it just the two of you or will your team be with you?" She asked the two of them.
Knowing what she meant, Midorima shook his head. "They will be there, however we will not be sitting together." He explained curtly.
Takao nodded. "Apparently they think it will make a difference to see it from different perspectives." He said, adding a shrug as he spoke.
Having seen the last few matches, she smiled a little. "Not to say the rest of the teams aren't strong, because they are, but I just have this feeling the main focus will be on Kagami and Ryo-kun, and in some sense also Kuro-kun." She said thoughtfully, putting a finger to her chin.
The black haired Shutoku player looked at her confusedly. "Ryo-kun?" He asked. Had he thought about it, he would figure it out pretty quickly, but he didn't.
"Ryota Kise." Midorima clarified. He glanced at the blonde. "Maybe you should consider using our actual names instead." He suggested. Then he looked at Takao as well. "You should too."
Takao pouted. "But Shin-chan sounds so cute~ I can't just stop now!" He protested childishly, though on purpose.
While Midorima glared fiercely at his friend, Lucy spoke up. "Why, though? Isn't it fine as it is?" She asked curiously. She'd been calling them that for a long, long time and never had she heard any complaints other than from Aomine, but she also wanted him to complain.
"Because." The Miracle started, once again readjusting his glasses. "One, it causes confusion for the less intelligent, as we just saw." He said, ignoring the 'Hey!' Takao responded with. "And as you must have figured out by now, we actually managed to grow up in the duration of those two years. Alas, those names fit thirteen-year olds and not so much sixteen-year olds." He reasoned.
"Oh..." Lucy said, flustered. She couldn't deny he had a point. It was only the day before she actually really, truly realized that these guys had grown up, when Akashi had pointed it out for her. But with the other thing Akashi pointed out to her, it was clear what filled most in her mind. "I'm sorry... Midorima." She said hesitantly.
"I did not mean that name." He told her a little harshly, though the ones who knew him knew that that was just his usual tone.
The blonde looked at him with wide eyes. "B-but isn't it a bit... Uhm... Well, rude to use another's first name here?" She asked. She was still not all strong on the customs here in Japan and luckily, from what she knew, America was more like how they acted back on Earthland.
Takao shook his head. "Not when you're asked to use it!" He told her, lifting his finger to emphasize he wanted to make a point. "Usually you go to the first-name basis when you're familiar or close to the other person, and it's safe to say you two would be fairly familiar with each other, right?" He asked. All he got was silence from the two. "... Right?" He tried again.
Midorima hesitated, then nodded. "Something like that." He agreed.
Lucy breathed out as another wave washed over her nerves. "All right, I'll do my best to remember to call you by 'Shintaro', then." She said. Most likely, she'd still fall back in her old habit of adding the 'kun', but she'd be thinking about it. Should she just do the same for the others, or...? No, she should probably ask them first.
Takao smiled brightly at her and Midorima gave her an appreciative nod, before all three went inside. Immediately, half on reflex and half because she was paranoid, she scouted the hallways for a certain redhead.
She really didn't want to bump into him now, especially because it didn't seem like Midorima was particularly suspicious of her yet. And if Akashi came and claimed she was a liar - which wouldn't entirely be a lie - he'd immediately become suspicious of her.
Luckily he didn't seem to be there. Never dropping her guard, she followed Midorima and Takao to the seats. None of them said anything, so that hopefully meant she was discreet enough about her paranoia.
"If it's Captain you're so worried about, don't be."
"HAA?!" She shrieked and jumped a half meter up in the air at the sudden whispered voice in her ear as she twirled at the sudden intruder. "Hayama!?" She squeaked at the known face.
"Hiya!" He said, greeting her with a hand in the air and smile which showcased his snaggletooth.
Midorima and Takao had also turned around at her loud outburst, surprised. And what they then saw was even more surprising. "Rakuzan?" Takao slowly asked.
Midorima sighed, nonchalant as ever despite his shock, readjusting his glasses to hide his eyes from sight. "We will be saving a seat for you, Lucy." He told her, before grabbing Takao by the arm and dragging him off.
Both blondes looked after the two, Lucy with a giggle at how Takao was trying to struggle out of Midorima's grasp. "Those two were from Shutoku, weren't they?" Hayama asked, also looking in the direction of the retreating backs.
She looked back up at him, suddenly and very late realizing that those two teams would be playing against each other here, after Seirin and Kaijo had. She hesitated for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah, they are." She confirmed. There was no use hiding it now, he'd already figured it out.
For a moment, he was silent, before he released a sigh. "Man, you have connections everywhere." He said almost dejectedly, as if he wanted to have those connections.
She smiled at him amusedly. "I guess I do." She agreed. In the basketball world, they all probably would be connections in the future. Well, that was if she even was here for a such a long time. When she remembered what he'd told her, her smile dropped. "The thing you said about Sei- Akashi, what did you mean?" She asked him. If Midorima didn't appreciate his nickname, she knew Akashi didn't either... And it just didn't feel right to address him by first name at this point.
The other blonde looked at her curiously, noticing the change in nickname for his captain, then brushed it off with a sigh. "Well, Captain just doesn't believe it's necessary to have to scout out which of the teams we will be playing, so he's not there." He said with a shrug. "Besides, he's too stuck up to let anyone know he's curious about the winner too." He said with a wink.
Lucy smiled a little, only barely able to hold in a breath of relief. "Oh, really? Well, that's a shame." She said, her voice growing lower as she spoke and clinging falsely even in her own head. Right now she couldn't feel anything but relief over the fact he was arrogant enough to not scout out their opponent for the finals.
Hayama looked at her with a frown, scratching the back of his head. "Hmm.... Yeah." He just said, not wanting to mess things up for the girl more than he already had by telling the others and spying on her and Akashi. Though he was curious about the whole ordeal. Internally berating himself, he dropped a hand on the girl's head and ruffled her hair. "Well, see you around, Lucy!" He said and began walking off in the opposite direction of where the Shutoku members had gone.
She smiled and waved at him as he left, before she sent into a brisk pace to catch up with her two companions. Though Hayama had said that Akashi wouldn't show up, she couldn't help looking around for any redheads in the arena, though only a quick breeze of a look. None caught her eye, so that meant Akashi probably wasn't there.
When she took a step up the first step of the staircase, suddenly she froze where she stood, digging her nails into the palms of her hand. Opening the Second Origin certainly wasn't just for anyone, that she had learnt.
It only took a second before the pain faded away from being excruciating to bearable. With that, she thawed out of the icy state and looked around, this time to find where she was supposed to sit, many had met up already and both teams were showing off at each other with their warmup-exercises down on the court.
"Lucy!" She heard her name called and saw Takao waving his hand high in the air from where he was placed on one of the middle rows. Midorima acted as if he didn't know the guy, though it was obvious, what with the empty seat beside him and the matching, orange jerseys.
She smiled and waved back, before speeding up into a slow jog, placing herself on the other side of Midorima. "Thanks for saving a seat for me." She thanked them gratefully.
"You came at the right time, the match is about to start." Midorima told her. She could only guess it was his way of saying 'you're welcome'. Fortunately for her, none of them asked what was going on with Hayama, though she didn't doubt they were curious about it.
With an internal sigh, she refocused her attention on the starting match below her. Kasamatsu and Hyuuga gave each other a quick greeting, before both teams lined up and did the official greeting.
As usual, the commentator was the first guy to say anything. "It's only been two years since their formation, but they've crushed all of their opponents since their Winter Cup debut! They're the revolutionary Eye of the Typhoon of this competition!" He squealed ecstatically. "The miraculous new star, Seirin High School!" He yelled loudly.
It was a little ridiculous to think about - that a team only a pair of years old could go so far and even come as far as into the semifinals, when they were up against teams, which were much older than them and probably also with a long history.
Either way, the commentator continued his fangirling. "Wearing their traditional blue, these national-level veterans have come from the highly competitive Kanagawa prefecture! They had flawless offense and defense before, but now they've added a member from the Generation of Miracles, Ryota Kisa, to become a truly perfect team!" He summed up for everyone in the arena, despite them all clearly already knowing. "The blue elites, Kaijo High School!" He called out.
Weren't these introductions getting quite a bit longer than they used to be? Or was he just extra hyped today?
The two teams bowed to each other and promised to have a good match. With a blow in his whistle, the judge threw the ball up into the air, announcing the start of the game with the tipoff.
The two competing for the ball were the two centers of the teams; Kiyoshi for Seirin and Kobori from Kaijo. As soon as the ball reached its peak, the two shot off the ground and it was so close, no one knew who had taken it before it landed in Hyuuga's hand. And even then, no one actually knew.
Hyuuga immediately passed the ball to Izuki, who proceeded to dribble a little further up the court, before passing it to Kuroko, who was further than he was.
When the blue haired guy received the ball Hayakawa quickly came into a defensive position in front of him. Kuroko, however, easily bypassed him with the Vanishing Drive, then following up with the Phantom Shot, making it entirely impossible for the opposing team to even hope to take the ball.
"I still don't get what's up with hat shot, but Seirin gets a head start!" The commentator shrieked in his mic, already excited despite it being the first ball.
"Hey, Shin-chan, they're going all out, aren't they? Right from the beginning." Takao asked him, a little smile playing on his mouth.
Midorima nodded. "It does seem like they aim to make a lead for themselves before Kise uses his Perfect Copy, because they realize there is nothing they can do against that." He agreed. "You just have to wonder-"
He was cut off when suddenly the ball shot off from Kaijo's end of the court and landed right down through the net in Seirin's side. He had literally just used Midorima's 3-point shot.
"He breaks out with Perfect Copy right from the beginning?!" Lucy asked, surprised. There was no way in hell he could do that if he didn't. Seirin seemed to realize the same thing as they turned to look at Kise, who might as well have looked like someone who had opened the gates to the Zone.
"Apparently. Maybe they're trying to make a lead Seirin can't bounce back from too?" Takao suggested. It was true, usually Seirin were slow starters, only fully giving it their true all around the 3rd quarter and making their comeback then, in the last second.
Nonetheless, Seirin didn't seem to lose their spirit just because of that, as Kuroko sent one of his stronger passes down the court and right into Kiyoshi's hands. As Seirin's center began jumping up to land the ball in the goal, Kobori from Kaijo also jumped up, making it impossible for Kiyoshi to score.
So rather than scoring, Kiyoshi quickly dropped that and passed the ball back to Hyuuga, who then proceeded to free himself from any opponent, to could land a three-pointer.
However right then, Kise jumped in from the side, swinging his arm to ram into the ball and blow it entirely off course - just like Murasakibara would have done it. He sure was going all out right from the beginning.
Of course, his team also knew better than to deny him the ball at this point, so of course Kasamatsu passed the ball to his ace. "Uwaahh.. Their switching between offense and defense is really fast!" The commentator gushed out loud. "And Midorima's high trajectory, super long-range three-pointer!" He added as Kise indeed changed into Midorima's shooting stance.
He didn't get the chance to shoot though, as Kiyoshi quickly jumped in the path of where the ball would have been, stopping the blonde from doing anything further. However, that didn't mean it was a dead end for him though, as he just drew on Aomine's agility and ability to change his pace whenever he wanted to.
With that, he easily bypassed Kiyoshi, only to have his next obstacle visualized, Kagami. "If Kagami wants even a slight chance of stopping Kise at this point, he will have to use his 'animal instinct'." The green haired guy spoke his thoughts out loud as Kagami seemed to realize the same thing.
Lucy nodded absently as she kept her eyes on the court. It was still too early to get into the Zone, way too early, so animal instinct would be the ideal state for the guy right now. It wouldn't be as extreme as the zone, but it would heighten his senses and through that sharpening his gameplay. If it didn't work out though, Seirin would have a really hard time, just as Midorima said.
Though it seemed Kise had prepared for this to happen to some extent. Without speeding down, he went straight for the other ace. There was a strange air of calm, yet also intensity about him as he suddenly crouched low and did a deliberate series of dribbles. At the high speed of the dribbles and it being under and around the blonde's legs, suddenly Kagami tripped and fell back down on the ground, allowing Kise to score another goal.
"Well." Midorima started out, adjusting his glasses as usual. "It certainly isn't as graceful as the original's." He said.
Takao looked at his friend with a half annoyed look. "If it works, then it works. And this worked. Screw grace." He responded as finally the commentator awakened again.
"He made it!! All of his movements are exactly the same as those of the other Generation of Miracles'!" He fangirled. "There's no way they can stop this!"
Lucy, however, was thoroughly confused with what she had just witnessed. That was a copy of one of the Miracles? "Wasn't that just an ordinary ankle break?" She asked out loud. Sure, ankle breaks weren't exactly easy to do, but this was Kise. Her question made both Shutoku players look at her strangely. "What?" She asked, curious but slightly exasperated with that look she was getting.
"You... Really haven't watched many of Rakuzan's matches, have you?" Takao slowly asked, though seemingly confused about that very fact. All three blocked out the fact that the whole crowd gasping with Kuroko's Phantom Shot being taken. It didn't slip their attention, they just didn't react on it.
Raising an eyebrow, she nodded. "Yeah... I haven't really had the chance." She agreed. Some of the earlier matches were played on the same day, but it always ended up so that she'd be leaving before she even got to see that second match. Incidentally, Rakuzan's matches had all been the second match of the day. It was almost as if someone out there wanted to build up the suspense.
Midorima breathed out. "It is only Akashi's trademark technique." He told her almost sarcastically. Seeing her confused expression, he continued. "With the use of his Emperor Eye, it makes it a simple task for him to perform." He concluded.
"What is the Emperor Eye, exactly?" She asked. She had never gotten an answer to exactly that question yet, and right now, she was probably more curious about it than she had ever been.
This time even Midorima looked at her with visible shock on his expression. "You haven't been told about the Emperor Eye?" He asked her.
She shook her head. "Not really, there were other things to talk about back when I returned... I haven't really had the chance yet." She deliberately chose not to tell him about the fact that Akashi had completely and utterly shoved the topic off the field, never to be brought up again.
"Simply put." He started out, fingering with his bandages. "With the Emperor Eyes, Akashi can predict what his opponent will do. The future, in other words. Usually he uses it in order to perform his ankle break." He explained.
Lucy didn't need to hear the end of that sentence, it simply floated in the air. To show his superiority. That was why, or at least part of why, he was doing it. "I see." She said, keeping her eyes closed for a moment.
Then she looked down at the court again, only to see Kise completely annihilating the Seirin team. Using the Miracles' movements left and right, he scored every single time and defended every single shot Seirin released. He completely dominated them.
"Kise's not letting up! He's too good!" The commentator squealed. "From the beginning it's been an unmatched, one-man offense and defense... Also, there's already a 13-point difference in only 3 minutes!" He yelled.
And right as he was, the score board hadn't changed at all since Kuroko's first goal in the very beginning on Seirin's side. Kaijo's however.... It was 15 to 2. And that difference had been created in three mere minutes.
However, this was also when he pulled back, letting his own skills take over. He was going to save the last two minutes for the end of the game, to also could dominate them then should things go south.
"About your earlier suggestion, Takao." Midorima said, drawing his friend's attention. "I don't believe Kaijo's aim was to get a good lead, I believe it was to disrupt the flow for Seirin." He voiced his thoughts.
"That sounds about right." Said friend agreed as Hyuuga threw the ball at the net, but missed and the ball bounced right off the metal hoop. The ball flew off in a wide arc over the defense.
As Lucy's eyes traced the ball, followed its path over the many players as it moved almost in slow-motion, suddenly she stopped following the ball and just froze.
This just didn't happen.
She was looking straight into the red and yellow eyes of the very person she had wished to see the least. Worst part is, she was clearly not the first to realize the other was there. Though they were separated by a whole court, they might as well have been sitting right in front of each other, that was what she felt.
She couldn't even avert her gaze to watch how Seirin was doing. It was as if they were doing a competition. The loser would be the first one to look away. But that was not why she couldn't look away, she just didn't dare to. She quite literally couldn't.
She was only burst out of her trance, when the loud noise of the ball slamming into the backboard made her jerk towards the sound in surprise. While she was out of that trance, she had also been the first to look away. She had lost.
Now, she fought to not look up at the redhead again. She knew that if she did, she would only get crushed by the pressure he put on her.
She couldn't focus on the match or what was going on around her at all though, not even when Midorima and Takao talked about it. She watched it, but only the mere, superficial and general part of the match stuck in her head.
Things like Seirin subbing in a first year to calm their rushing down, Kaijo subbing Kise out because of his injury from the previous match, Kuroko being subbed out after Kasamatsu figured his Phantom Shot out. How Kagami broke through a double team with little to no effort and how Seirin evened the score out between the two teams right till the end of the 2nd quarter, where it was equal.
That was quite literally all she got out of the match. Her focus was divided, she could easily feel how Akashi's gaze was burning a hole in her from across the arena. She could imagine exactly how those eyes looked, cold and hard.
Right as the 1st half ended, Midorima's phone called. As he answered it, Lucy felt a shiver of premonition run down her spine. Even without him saying it, she knew who had called. "Did you want something, Akashi?" Midorima asked.
It was the only voice Lucy could hear in the whole room. The commentator, the crowd, the speakers. Everything else was drowned out. She couldn't even remember feeling this threatened ever, in her whole life. It was solely directed at her too.
While she despaired, Midorima had paused for a bit, allowing Akashi to speak. "I see." He said, when the redhead finished. He pulled the phone away from his ear and offered it to her. "He wishes to speak with you." He told her, though she already knew that.
Lucy stared at the little object for a long, hard moment. "Of course he does." She said in a whisper as she took the little thing and brought it to her ear with trembling hands. "Akashi." She said, her voice a calm she didn't feel.
"Lucy." She heard him respond in the other end. Finally, she dared to look up again, only to find it a mistake. It was exactly what he wanted her to do. His mismatched eyes burned themselves as a threatening image in her mind. "I do believe there is something you forgot to tell me yesterday." He told her.
"I told you, I can't tell you." She repeated what she had told him the day before. "Why can't you just accept that?" She asked, almost desperately.
"That is obvious. It is simply not something I can just forget." He told her sternly. "Besides. Seeing you run like you did was exhilarating, now I only want to know all the more." He told her, clearly enjoying the situation. "You will not escape me today like how you did yesterday though, I will catch you this time." He warned her.
"I won't tell you anything, no matter what you do to me." She told him, once again with a voice, which couldn't possibly be her own. She didn't feel an ounce of the confidence it pronounced each word with.
"We will see about that." He simply said and cut off the line, letting his phone drop.
She handed the phone back to Midorima, not breaking her current eye-contact with Akashi. "Thanks for lending this to me, Shintaro." She said evenly. She'd rather not have received that call, but there was no way around it now.
She could see him looking at her for a short moment, before he accepted the device and just nodded. "It is no problem." He replied.
Honestly, she had lost all sense of time, and soon enough the match restarted. Still, though, her focus was completely gone from the game. Even though she looked at it and tried to watch, her attention was solely on the other guy.
There was only one option for her. Like last, she would run until she faded away to her own world, stay out of his range. She couldn't do anything else.
To think things had taken this turn, she would never have guessed it.
Seirin continued to pull ahead for the entire 3rd quarter, despite Kaijo's best efforts to keep up. And it was first in the last 4 minutes of the 4th quarter, that this changed.
At this point, both Kise and Kuroko were subbed in from their respective teams. Immediately, Kise brings out his Perfect Copy, though with the intent to keep it going for the remainder of the match. With the crowd having turned on them and now also Kise's incredible power, Seirin began to stumble.
Kise turned the match around entirely and it wasn't before the last 40 seconds Seirin got their things together again. After a time-out from Seirin, the team goes for a run-and-gun technique, suddenly playing very aggressively. With it, they finally manage to score after three minutes. Not only that, their defense was tight as well, they didn't let Kise through at all and forced him to pass to Kasamatsu, who then proceeded to score.
With four seconds left, Seirin went on the attack again. Doing a counter, Kagami reached the net, aiming to dunk it in, but was prevented from doing so by Kise. Fortunately, he could pass to Kuroko, who made his Phantom Shot right as the buzzer went off, ending the game with 81-80 in Seirin's favor.
She couldn't even appreciate their win, all her mind focused on was her impending need to escape. Her plan was to go to the women's toilet as it was. No matter how much he wanted to know, his upbringing would definitely not allow him to enter there.
When the game ended, she immediately shot up from her seat and began walking out with an unnaturally fast pace, through the many rows of people. She knew Akashi had begun moving out as soon as she had, she didn't doubt it for a second. Unfortunately, the women's were closer to him than they were to her.
Of course, if she didn't want him to become even more suspicious of her, she'd couldn't run as fast as she really wanted to, though she had far exceeded that speed limit already. It had to just be a one-time thing he'd hopefully forget.
Who was she even kidding? He was on to her already.
Nonetheless, she had to escape. As soon as she cleared the many rows, she basically flew down the stairs and continued to speed through the halls.
She hadn't gotten very far, before her instincts flared in her mind in a searing red, warning her to immediately hide behind the corner she had just passed.
She pressed herself flat against the wall, her back to the hall her warning signals had alarmed her of. Right as she stopped moving, she heard slow yet delicately approaching footsteps.
"I know you are here." Akashi told her.
She closed her eyes shut and held her breath. Damn that Emperor Eye far into hell. He'd probably foreseen where she had aimed for and gone straight there.
"I know you are hiding from me, shivering in fear." He continued with an even, emotionless voice.
And right as he was, the hand she had placed over her own mouth to keep herself from gasping was shaking.
When she was just about to break and take a breath, thereby revealing her position, the soft footsteps began moving in the other direction, away from her. For just a moment longer, she held it, until those footsteps couldn't be heard any longer.
But that was also when she finally breathed in and out deeply, sinking down to the floor, dizzy with the lack of oxygen in her system.
Thank god. He had probably thought that he had been mistaken in his premonition.
He had definitely known she would be going to the ladies' room to throw him off and had aimed specifically for that. He knew her too well. Unlike all of them, she had not changed the slightest since she had disappeared on them.
Pulling her knees up and resting her forehead on it, she sighed, still trembling. This couldn't go on forever, it really couldn't. She knew that, he knew that and she knew Nijimura knew it too. Not to mention her team, who had been trying to convince her to just go ahead and tell them all.
She knew she had to... But it was just so, so hard. If she told them now, they'd hate her. She knew they would. They would think she didn't trust them enough to tell them something like that, when that definitely wasn't the case.
She wanted to tell them, actually. She just couldn't. No... That wasn't exactly it. The hard and honest truth was, that she simply had gotten so used to lying about everything and making up stories, it just had become easier to do, than to tell the truth.
With lies, she could prevent them from hating her. She could cover up the embarrassment of being knocked out on a simple mission, her injuries, her weakness. She could hide all of that from them. She wouldn't be judged by them.
Of course... She knew it wasn't the right thing to do. Lying wasn't right, they deserved to know more than anyone. To get their trust, she'd have to trust them too. It was a two-way street.
Sooo~ Leaving it off there!
Please, do tell me what you all think of the way the match came out in this one!
Of course, she was unfocused in this one, so the next few matches will be a little more filling: I was thinking of generally detailing the first and last quarter - or in this case when Kise came back on the court - and then sort of summarize the middle two. What do you think?
To those of you, who don't think they would understand the matches and what goes on, here are the few words that are the only you truly need:
Pass - The action of throwing the ball to another of your teammates
Steal - Stealing the ball, either when the ball is thrown from one opposing teammate to the other, or right out of their hands when they dribble
Dribble - Gently pushing the ball into the floor to move forward, usually with your dominant hand
Crossover - Dribbling the ball from one hand to the other in a 'v' shape, hitting the floor
Drive - Using dribbles and techniques to get past the defender(s)
Feint - Making the opponent think you're doing one thing, but then do another
2-pointer - Scoring from within the 3-point arc
3-pointer - Scoring from outside the 3-point arc
Faults - Breaking the rules of the game: grabbing another's shirt to stop them, using your feet to pass, dribble or etc. the ball, things like that. Counts when done on the opponent with the ball
Free throw - A throw gained from an opponent player committing a fault on you, giving you the chance to throw the ball for free, gives one point
Rebounds - If the ball misses the goal or bounces off the hoop, then the teams go for the rebound - to take the ball before the opponent to either defend your own goal or make sure to score
Positions - The placements of the players on the court. Only important one to understand is the 'Center' position, which is basically right underneath the net both in offense and defense
Tipoff - Start of the game, where the ball is thrown up by the judge, while the two tallest members usually, and usually the centers, jump up when the ball reaches the peak of the throw and fight to get the ball into their own team's hands
Screen - When on the offense, one player can support his teammate, who has the ball, by blocking the way of the defender, to clear a path for his teammate
Dunk - Scoring the ball by jumping up to the hoop, so that you can touch it, and slamming the ball down
Counter - If an opponent's shot is a failure and 'your' team gets the ball, you can throw the ball to a pair of your teammates, who run down to the opponent's goal in advance, to more easily get through to the goal without a thick defense.
That's basically all you have to know! If there's anything else you're confused about, I'd gladly explain in the reviews and otherwise the internet is a great source of knowledge :P
Hope you liked it! And thank you very much to everyone who has reviewed, followed, favorited and read!
~Line464d
g7P