Ｌｉｇｈｔ

seventeen - energy

"Huh?" Sasaki pointed to himself as he stood in front of Riko. It was the day of the semifinals, and they were about to be playing one of the kings. "I'm sitting?"

"Yes," The coach repeated, understanding why he seemed so confused. "We are conserving your stamina for the Shutoku game. Don't worry, Izuki-kun is a skilled point guard, he won't lose."

"Right.." Sasaki blinked, "then am I at least going in when Kuroko comes out?"

"No, Koganei-kun will be the one to switch with Kuroko-kun," Riko said, and walked away as the white haired boy gaped at her.

"AHHHHH I WANTED TO PLAYYY!" He complained, grabbing his hair angrily.

"I'm sure you'll be put in if we get into trouble," Kuroko spoke up from beside him, causing him to flinch, then sigh.

"Meh, who knows with Riko-san. She's on a whole different level of coaching," He pouted, "so if she doesn't want me playing, I won't be playing. Unless the match is at stake, which I doubt it will."

"Yes, I agree," The blue haired boy nodded. "I'm sorry, but I hope you will not be put in."

"You and everyone else, apparently," Sasaki continued to pout as the two went back to warming up. Soon enough, after a little pep talk in the locker room, the Seirin vs Seiho game started.

Sasaki heard his phone buzzing from his bag several times during the match, and each time he was reminded that Kise was watching from the stands.

The game was rough, and he could tell Riko was very close to putting him in on several occasions, but in the end she even pulled out Kuroko and Kagami. The upperclassmen handled the game well, and managed to snag the win even with the annoyance attached to Kagami and the loss of Koganei from a concussion.

Glancing over at the other side of the court, where Shutoku and whoever they were playing had just finished, Sasaki and Midorima locked eyes. And then, being the cutie he was, Sasaki beamed at him and waved.

Soon after, the teams took a quick break, during which Sasaki was heading outside for a breath of fresh air. "Sasakicchi! Wait up!" He heard a voice call out to him, and knowing who it was, the white haired boy chuckled as he turned around.

Practically barreling into him, Kise beamed as he pulled back from the hug. "Hey man, what's up?" Sasaki greeted, laughing at the attack.

"I saw you so I figured we could hang out until your game starts!" He suggested before frowning, "by the way, I was very surprised you didn't play."

"Me too," The white haired boy sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Come on, I'll explain on the way."

"I think I understand well enough, but go ahead," The blonde said as they started walking again, this time side by side.

"Well if you know that Riko-san was trying to conserve me for the championship game, then there's no need to really explain. I'll just tell you where we're going," He pushed open the doors to the outside, holding his arms out. "FREEDOM!"

From behind him, the blonde let a smile rule his face as he watched the other male. Stepping up beside him, he opened his mouth to say something. "So you were here as well," Someone cut him off, causing both of them to whirl towards the person.

Kise and Midorima glared at each other.

"Oh, hi Midorima! Here for some fresh air too?" Sasaki greeted, leaning on the railing.

"Yes," The greenette responded, pushing up his glasses as he took his gaze off of Kise, who wanted to growl at him but held himself back. "Congratulations on making it to the finals, but sadly this is where your journey ends."

"I'd say the same to you but I'm not presumptuous enough to try and guess how the game would go," The white haired male countered, making Kise burst out laughing, then try to stop himself with a hand over his mouth as Midorima smirked.

"Indeed, I suppose that is, in fact, presumptuous. However, cancer's are number one today, I don't see how I could possibly lose."

"Welp, we can't predict everything. Maybe you're gonna have a good poopy or something after the game?" Sasaki suggested, making Midorima splutter as Kise wheezed.

"Sasakicchi stop! I can't-" He practically howled as he held his stomach.

"That's not something the stars predict!"

"How can you be sure? Wait, did you get a bad poopy on one of your off days?!"

"I told you that's not something the stars predict!!"

~•~

"I'm back~" Sasaki sang as he arrived back on the court, a few minutes before the game would start. Riko immediately started hitting him with her fan-thingy.

"WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS DISAPPEARING OFF AND DOING WHATEVER YOU LIKE?! HUH?!"

"I'm sorry! I just wanted some fresh air, I told Mitobe-senpai!" He protested, and the silent male nodded in affirmation that he had, in fact, been told of this. Riko paused in her assault.

"Tch, fine. BUT NO MORE WANDERING OFF! YOU REPORT TO ME, HAYATE SASAKI, YOU HEAR ME?!"

"MA'AM YES MA'AM!" He saluted, most likely scared for his life. After that, the team did the team huddle.

"I'm beat," Hyuuga started off, making Sasaki snicker. "I've been feeling melancholy since this morning. We've got two games in a row, both against kings. And even while playing Seiho, all I could think about was playing another game after we beat them," He paused, smirking, "but there's only one game left. We don't have to worry about bothersome crap like the next game or reserving our energy. We can focus on the one thing we have to do! GIVE EVERYTHING WE HAVE UNTIL WE CAN'T GIVE ANYMORE!"

"YEAH!" The team boomed back, Sasaki practically jumping up and down with pent up energy as they stepped onto the court.

"Oi, you look like a kangaroo."

"Well maybe I am a kangaroo disguised as a human, you'll never know~" Sasaki winked at Kagami, who looked unimpressed. His expression suddenly got serious.

Make sure we win this, Sasaki.

I never plan on losing, Kagami, how low is your faith in me? Sasaki chuckled as they shared a look. Just play ball and trust me.

Right.

"You guys look really weird," Hyuuga stated as he looked between the two. "Like you're talking to each other but not."

"Oh man, you caught us!" Sasaki dramatically flailed before whispering to him. "We're secretly telepathic!"

"Uh huh, and I'm Date Masamune," Hyuuga deadpanned. "Stop messing around, we have a game to win."

"Rightio, captain," Sasaki smiled, watching him go.

"I can't believe that worked," Kagami muttered to him as they continued to the starting line.

"Of course it did, it always does. I think the only one who might not fall for that would be Kuroko," Sasaki replied lowly. "Let's keep the in-head conversations to in game so we're less suspicious."

"Sure," The redhead agreed. A few moments later, the Shutoku and Seirin teams bowed to each other.

"Thank you for the game!"

(Sorry it's mostly just a filler, but anyway I graduated high school today!)