Ｌｉｇｈｔ

nineteen - midosas showdown

Sasaki yawned as Kagami shot a three, missed, and just jammed the ball in as it bounced off the rim. One man alley-oops were cool and all but it wouldn't be necessary if he had just gotten it in the first time.

But then, Midorima grabbed the ball and steadied himself. Sasaki's eyes widened. But you're all the way across the court from the net!

He shot anyway, and made it. "Midorima Shintaro," Sasaki walked over to him and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "That was god-tier and nobody can convince me otherwise."

"That was nothing," He pushed his glasses up.

"Now I'm scared of what something would be," Sasaki's face turned blue in dread before heading towards his team as that last shot was the end of the first quarter, leaving the scores at 17 Seirin to 19 Shutoku.

Sitting on the bench, everyone was mostly silent. "Kuroko-kun, has he always been able to do that?"

"No, I only knew he could shoot as far as the half line. That's the first time I've seen him shoot from there," Kuroko replied, and everyone grimaced.

"I've seen videos of NBA players making that shot during practice," Izuki said, "but trying it in an actual game is ridiculous."

"God-tier," Sasaki repeated, nodding his head.

"The generation of miracles is ridiculous," Hyuuga added, ignoring the other male's remark.

"How are we supposed to stop that?" Koganei asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Riko scoffed as all eyes fell on her, and then to whom she was pointing at. "The person with the best reflexes!"

"Me?" Sasaki went cross eyed at the finger Riko was using to point at him. She nodded with a smirk, moving so her hands were now on her hips.

"That's right! You're our best defender because of your reflexes, so you'll be in charge of Midorima-kun. If you need help, we can make it a double team," She said, but Sasaki shook his head.

"No double team. Remember that their team isn't made up of only Midorima, we can't underestimate the rest of them enough to leave one of them open," He advised, and Riko nodded after a moment.

"Right, good call. Then I'll leave it to you, Sasaki-kun."

"You can count on me," Sasaki smirked.

"I also have an idea if it's needed," Kuroko volunteered. Soon enough, it was time to start the second quarter.

"Heyo, looks like we're gonna be facing off from here on," Sasaki smirked at Midorima. "Don't disappoint me, Midorima."

"More like you should work to not disappoint me," He pushed up his glasses. "Show me what you've got, Sasaki."

He caught the ball, but it was suddenly out of his hands and Sasaki was darting to the other side of the court with Kagami close on his heels. Midorima and the others caught up, getting in front of Sasaki to block him from making a shot. However, he passed to Kuroko, who passed back to him as he went for a three.

Midorima slapped the ball away from him, making Sasaki grin as the chase for the ball began. Takao grabbed it and started dribbling, then once he got marked, passed to the greenette.

This time, Midorima and Sasaki took their time to size each other up. The shooting guard then started dribbling and went for a fake. Sasaki went to steal the ball but was unable to, and that action slowed him down enough to allow Midorima to get a shot in.

"Well shoot, look at me being all slow," Sasaki pouted before rolling his arm. "Looks like I need to get into a higher gear."

"What do you mean slow.." Hyuuga's eyebrows furrowed as he watched the boy go past him. It felt like a predator stalking his prey, making shivers run down his spine. Not only that, but he hadn't ever seen Sasaki move so fast as he had just done.

Riko noticed it too, but she just smirked. She'd known Sasaki since he was still in his first years of middle school and also knew of his want for an opponent to bring out a higher level in him.

She knew Sasaki was never playing at oke hundred percent, and that most of the reason why was self inflicted. He wanted competition, even if the competition was so low level everyone thought they were kids messing around.

So if someone hugely better than him showed up, he met them for that challenge. Riko, in that moment, finally understood why he quit volleyball and chose basketball. But the question then was, who introduced him to it?

Because Sasaki was not bright enough to find basketball by himself.

"Here it comes!" The crowd cheered as Sasaki and Midorima faced off. Kimura, the poor thing, had switched marks because at that moment, Midorima was the only one capable of attempting to guard Sasaki.

Starting to dribble quickly, Sasaki smirked as he bounced the ball between Midorima's legs to Mitobe who tossed it into the hoop. Sasaki didn't move from his spot, and Midorima understood fully that the white haired male in front of him was not underestimating him in any way, shape or form.

The thought made him smirk as he saw Takao coming in for a screen. Ducking towards him, the greenette went to set up for another full court shot, only for his eyes to widen.

Sasaki was in front of him. "Nice try, but screens of that level aren't good enough to stop me," He taunted, slapping the ball out of the other person's hands. "Sorry not sorry!" He grinned, jumping for a layup. Midorima also jumped along with Takao, but he spun past both of them and did a double clutch, throwing it into the basket.

Ding~ the score changed, adding two points onto Seirin's side as Sasaki and the other two landed, making it 21 Seirin to 22 Shutoku.

"I feel like I'm playing Aomine mixed with Akashi," Midorima grumbled under his breath as he pushed up his glasses. "But no matter, not even them combined can stop me."

"Sir we've been trying to contact you about your car's extended warranty-"

"What the hell are you saying all of a sudden?!"

"I'm trying to be funny," Sasaki pouted, "it's way too stuffy in here, the pressure is killing me so I thought I'd lighten the mood with a joke!"

"That's your definition of a joke?" Midorima deadpanned, meanwhile behind him Takao was trying not to let it show that he thought it was kind of funny.

"Not my definition but it's just a little ice breaker," Sasaki shrugged with a grin. "But now that we're all loosened up from my wonderful sense of humor, why don't we get back to it? Since somebody doesn't appreciate my efforts, I guess I'll just have to try harder to get your approval in a different area," His white hair shooshed as his eyes got an edge in them. "By kicking your butt."

"Sasaki I'm begging you, please just say ass."

"No, that's dirty."