Ｌｉｇｈｔ

sixteen - preliminaries begin

The two teams bowed and thank each other for the game. The tip off started soon after, and dad got to the ball first and swatted it towards him team. Sasaki was expecting it, so he immediately got on his mark.

Suddenly, dad was one offing Kagami, doing a fade away shot. When the redhead jumped to block, he didn't manage to reach the ball and so it went in. Sasaki sighed, he could tell Kagami was already starting to get frustrated.

Another player went and threw in the ball to Sasaki, who immediately bolted towards their goal. His marker tried to catch up to him, and almost ran past him as he stopped from full speed running and jumped to a fade away right on the half court line.

"Gotta shoot higher, big guy," Sasaki smirked, shooting the ball with a high arc so that dad couldn't reach it even if he jumped. And he tried.

The ball fell through the hoop with a shoosh, and so several cheers from the bench and the spectator area went up as the players went on defense.

Kagami seemed to have cooled down after Mitobe gave him a look, and because of that, dad was missing all of his shots. "Nice going, Kagami," Sasaki said as he jogged past him, dribbling the ball.

"Thanks," He replied, the team going on offense after getting a rebound. Passing to Kuroko as Kagami dodged dad, the blue haired boy got the ball to the redhead, who slammed it into the basket. "This kid might give you some trouble!"

"Could you please stop calling me a child?" Kuroko was obviously not happy with the name calling. The wheeze fest had taken the fun out of it for Sasaki so he was no longer laughing.

For the next quarter, they had Kuroko switch out and Izuki come in as point. It went rather normally, except for the fact that Sasaki and some of the others were noticing every time Kagami jumped to block dad, it was higher than the last.

At the last five minutes, Kuroko was put back in and Sasaki was made the point guard again.

The game ended with Kagami slapping a shot from dad right out of the air, the score being 82 Seirin to 67 Shinkyo.

After the ending bow, as everyone was packing up, Sasaki jerked upwards. "I GOTTA PEE!" He announced, running out the door to go find a bathroom without another word. Everyone watched him go with sweat drops running down their faces, and Riko facepalmed.

"He never changes.."

"Made it!" Sasaki said, his tone suggesting that he was proud of himself. The way he sauntered over to the sinks also suggested that. After washing his hands, he walked out, only to feel a familiar presence. It felt like the first time he had met Kise, but different.

He glanced over at where the feeling was coming from, and sure enough, a green haired male stood staring at him. He smiled and waved. "Heyo!"

"Hello Sasaki Hayate," The male returned the greeting.

"You already know my name," Sasaki chuckled as he tilted his head to the side. "That puts me at a disadvantage."

"My name is Midorima Shintaro," Midorima replied, pushing up his glasses.

"Oh so you're the shooting guard Kisecchi and Kuroko mentioned," Sasaki's face lit up, "nice to officially meet you! Did you come to watch our game?"

"Perhaps," He said, which made the other male blink in confusion before shrugging to himself.

"Okay then. I'll see you later, I need to get back to my team," He said, but was stopped as Midorima held out his hand in front of him.

"Before that, what is your sign?"

"Sign? Oh, astrology horoscope sign?" Sasaki reiterated, "I'm a libra, you're a cancer right?"

"Correct," The dude pushed up his glasses again. "Then I will see you again at our game. Make sure not to lose until then, Sasaki," The greenette warned as he began walking away, leaving Sasaki alone and confused.

"Errrrr, okay? Wasn't planning on losing at all? Weird dude. Well then again, Kisecchi was pretty weird too so what was I expecting?"

~•~

The next game was against Jitsuzen high, and Kuroko was benched the whole time. Even without him, Seirin dominated at 118 to 51, Sasaki not shooting a single basket.

The game after that was against Kinga High, and once again Seirin took them down easily.

During that game, Sasaki noticed something about Kagami. He had started to notice in the second game, but it was clear in the third that he was doing more by himself, and was less reliant on the others, and passed less when he got the ball. It made the white haired male want to smack him for being a ball hog.

Their fourth game, as they were warming up and the opposition was just working through the doors, Sasaki wheezed.

"BAHAHAHA WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?!" He pointed at the players coming in--who happened to be the bullies from chapter thirteen--as they froze. Looking at him, then Kagami, then Kuroko, they started cold sweating.

They were shaking the entire time before, during, and after the game, which basically meant that Seirin won, doubling the score at 108 to 41.

Then, as they were taking a break and waiting for the next game, Shutoku arrived. "I'm gonna go say hi," Kagami said, standing from the bench and pulling off the towel from around his neck.

"Sure," Hyuuga said absentmindedly.

"I'll join you!" Sasaki also stood up and darted to catch up with the redhead as the captain finally realized what he had just said.

"Hey!" He stood up to stop the two, but didn't manage to as they had already arrived in front of Shutoku, specifically Midorima.

"Hey. You're Midorima Shintaro, aren't you?" Kagami asked once he stood in front of him. The white haired male winked subtly at the greenette from beside the redhead, mouthing 'long time no see'.

"Yes, but who are you?" Midorima directed his attention to Kagami after seeing Sasaki's subtle greeting.

Sasaki heard a chuckle from a ways away, so he glanced that way. It was a Shutoku player with black hair, he looked pretty mischievous and he was digging that; Sasaki could already tell they could be best bros laughing their asses off together.

The whitette (akkk I hate it but I don't wanna keep using white haired boy yk?) whipped to face Kagami and Midorima after hearing the latter gasp. "BAHAHAHAHA!" He wheezed as he saw that Kagami had written his jersey number and name on Midorima's hand.

"You look like the kind of guy who'd claim he doesn't remember me if I introduced myself normally. I want the guy who I'm about to get revenge on for my senpais to remember me. Sasaki, stop laughing, you'll hurt yourself."

"Too late," The white haired boy went down for the count, rolling on the floor as he laughed his heart out and clutched his stomach.

"Wasn't even that funny," Kagami pursed his lips as Midorima pushed his glasses up.

"You good, man?" The dude Sasaki had seen a few seconds ago offered him a hand up, so after calming himself a bit, he accepted.

"Thanks man, that was a good laugh," He grinned widely, and the other male hummed.

"Yeah, I could tell. I'm Takao Kazunari, first year point guard. You're also mainly a point guard, right?" He introduced himself, and Sasaki nodded.

"Yep, that I am. You probably already know me, but I'm Sasaki Hayate. It's nice to meet you, Takao," He told him with a wide smile that was almost radiant. Takao grinned back at him in return.

"Same to you! Can't wait to play you and see how our skills compare," He smirked, Sasaki mirroring the expression.

"For sure. Well then, see you at the finals."