"Eh? Eh!!"
Riko sat on the sidelines, frozen and at a total loss. She stared at the two groups facing off on the court, panicking inside
"What's going on? They're not seriously about to fight, right??"
Kise also stood there, jaw hanging open, thinking helplessly
"Wait, is my current teammate about to throw hands with my old one??"
The coach had already stood up, sweat dripping down his forehead
"Please, please don't start a fight! I really like this job!"
Meanwhile, Kota looked genuinely confused. He turned to glance at his teammates, completely unaware of why they had all closed in around him.
Hyuga couldn't hold it in and asked,
"What do you think you're doing?"
Kota looked totally clueless.
"Huh? I'm not doing anything! You guys are the ones acting weird!"
"Eh?"
Hyuga froze. He realized he had totally misread the situation, assuming Kota was about to throw a punch.
The Seirin team kept exchanging glances between Hyuga and Kagami. They had only rushed over because they saw those two getting ready for something.
Kagami quickly added,
"I just saw Hyuga-senpai step in front of Kuroko and thought something was about to happen. I have no idea what's going on!"
At that moment, Kuroko—who had been silent all this time—finally spoke up:
"Kota was complimenting me. He said my steal was impressive"
The whole gym collectively facepalmed. Hyuga wanted to crawl under a rock out of embarrassment.
Riko and Kise let out huge sighs of relief: At least they didn't start brawling.
The coach glared at Kota and muttered under his breath,
"This kid really knows how to stir things up."
The referee, realizing it was all a misunderstanding, also relaxed and signaled for the game to continue.
Thanks to this little comedy skit, the tense atmosphere in the gym finally eased a bit.
Kota dribbled slowly up the court, checking the scoreboard: 95–92.
Just over a minute left. No time to slack off. Kota prepared another pick-and-roll, a move that had been tormenting Seirin all quarter.
But this time, Seirin had learned from their mistakes — they didn't give him any easy openings. Still...
"You're all a little too scared of my passing, aren't you?"
Seirin's defense locked their eyes on Kota, terrified of him finding a way to set up an assist.
Kota's gaze drifted to Kasamatsu on his left, who was ready, knees bent, poised to shoot the moment he caught the ball.
Kagami's eyes sharpened.
"He's going to pass to Kasamatsu!"
Wait—no! Kagami felt a pressure from his right. Somehow, Kobori had slipped into position and set another pick for Kota.
Kota instantly burst forward with a quick step. Kagami dodged around Kobori and managed to keep up, thinking proudly "I'm still with him!"
But then Kota twisted the ball with his right hand — Kagami's heart jumped.
"Kuroko!!" he shouted.
Somehow, Kuroko had already appeared next to Kasamatsu, ready to intercept any pass.
However, Kota's spin was just a feint. His real target was behind Kagami.
Kagami gritted his teeth and roared, "No way I'm letting you get that pass through!"
He stuck to Kobori like glue.
"Damn"
Kobori cursed, trying but failing to shake Kagami off.
"This dude's built like a brick wall!"
Kagami, still completely locked onto Kobori, suddenly realized—Kota had nobody guarding him!
Kota put on a fake-shocked expression like, Really? You're just gonna leave me this wide open? Do you want me to score?
Kota bent his knees, jumped, released—and swish.
Two effortless points, but it felt like a mountain crashing onto Seirin's morale.
Riko's face darkened instantly. She quickly called for a timeout. That shot had shattered Seirin's momentum.
"Seirin timeout. Last one" the referee reminded her.
Riko nodded grimly and looked back at her exhausted players.
...
"Nice one, Kota! Seirin's gonna have nightmares after that" Kise said, grinning ear to ear.
Kota smiled back. "Hey, look at you, bouncing around like you just leveled up."
"Of course! I'm feeling great! If Seirin manages to drag this into overtime, get ready to see the MVP himself put on a show!" Kise laughed shamelessly.
Kota dramatically sighed and shook his head. "Yeah, not happening, buddy. After that dagger of a shot I just landed? Pretty sure their spirits are somewhere at the bottom of the sea."
Kasamatsu, overhearing them, walked up and kicked them both to the ground.
"Shut up, clowns. The game's not over yet. Anything can happen until that final buzzer sounds!"
Kota and Kise clutched their backsides, about to complain when the coach barked,
"Kasamatsu's right! Stay sharp until the end—or it's fifty laps around the court for all of you!"
"Yes, Coach!" they chorused miserably.
...
Riko chewed on her thumb, nerves spiking. They were five points down with one minute left. Not a death sentence yet. If they scored quickly and got a stop, it wasn't over.
But Kota's presence was suffocating. Every time he touched the ball, Kaijō scored.
Even if they scored next, how were they going to stop him?
She looked over at Kagami, sitting on the bench, gulping for air. Her heart ached a little.
"If only Teppei was here…"
No. She shook the thought away.
"Focus!"
Riko snapped herself back to reality and called out,
"Kagami! How're you holding up?"
"...Honestly? Not great. But give me one more minute, and I'll survive."
Kagami wiped the sweat from his face. He had faced Kise in the first half and Kota in the second—he had shouldered the burden of battling the other team's aces the entire game.
Riko felt a stab of sympathy, but seeing his determination, she nodded firmly.
"Alright. Next play, we go all in with Kagami and Kuroko. We can't stop them, but they can't stop us either. This is gonna be a shootout!"
She took a deep breath. "And after we score—fight like hell on defense. We don't have any timeouts left. You stop them, or we're done."
"Timeout over! Players, back on the court!"
...
"Let's go, Kota! Don't screw this up! I'm not running fifty laps because of you!" Kise cheered from the bench, still grinning.
He wasn't worried anymore. Win or lose, he trusted his teammates completely.
Riko looked at Kise sitting casually on the bench and felt a wave of frustration.
"The gap between us... it's too big. They hadn't even needed to bring their ace back in"
But when she looked at Kagami and Kuroko on the court, hope flickered back to life. Maybe... just maybe...
...
"We're out of time—push the pace! Fast break!" Kuroko shouted, unusually loud.
"And where do you think you're rushing off to, Kuroko?" Kota said, suddenly blocking his path with a grin.
A few minutes earlier—
"Come on, it's obvious. They're gonna lean on their two first-year monsters to try and steal the game. All we gotta do is shut them down" Kota said, casually wiping sweat from his forehead.
Kasamatsu smacked him on the back. "Yeah, easier said than done! If we could shut them down, this game wouldn't still be close!"
Kota winced and laughed. "True! But it's different now."
"Oh yeah? Spill it before I smack you again."
Waving his hands in surrender, Kota grinned. "Kagami's running on fumes. As long as we cut Kuroko off from him, Kobori and Kasamatsu should be enough to contain Kagami. As for the rest of Seirin... they're basically dead on their feet."
Kasamatsu frowned thoughtfully. "And Kuroko? Who's stopping him?"
Kota pointed at himself with a big, cocky smile—only to get a karate chop from Kasamatsu for his trouble.
...
"Let me guess" Kota smirked. "Your senpais are barely staying upright right now, right?"
He kept smiling brightly, a sharp contrast to Kuroko's dead-serious expression.
"Kota-kun" Kuroko said coldly, "You're a great player. But your personality really sucks."
Without waiting for a response, Kuroko tried to spin around him.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You insult me and then just leave? How rude!"
Kota said, quickly sliding into position and blocking his path again.
Kuroko's eyes widened.
"You..."
"Want to know how I can keep up with you?"
Kota said with a mischievous glint in his eye.
"Because you're slow... and more importantly, because I can see you now."