Ｌｉｇｈｔ

twenty six - rolling out

"Hey, you got the championship league in a few days, don't ya?" One of the players on Sasaki's streetball team asked as he and Sasaki walked together, having met up a few blocks away from the streetball court.

"Yeah, I'm super excited for it," Sasaki replied, beaming so brightly it almost put the sun to shame. "Apparently we're playing a really good school first, and one of our best is injured so it might be rough."

"Oh? Well, do the best you can. You'll be getting some practice in today since you'll be point so make good use of it," He advised, and the other male nodded.

"Of course!" Sasaki said. A few seconds later, they arrived at the court. "Yo!"

"Hey! Been a while Sauce-monster," The few who were already there greeted, giving him a bro-hug. "How's school been?"

"Learning new things, getting ready for midterms, the usual," Sasaki shrugged.

"Congrats on getting into the championship league, I'll try and watch if I have time," The small forward said.

"We should have Hasegawa-san and Sassa-san clear our schedules for those days," The shooting guard agreed, "That way we can all watch our Sauce-monster dominate!"

"Don't say that, you'll jinx me!" Sasaki complained, making the others laugh.

"You have been known to jinx people," The power forward backed Sasaki up, and the small forward deadpanned. Soon after, the other players showed up and the game began.

Sparks flew with every ball, shoes screeching on the pavement of the court as the game went. In the end, Sasaki's team won with a five point lead. "See you next time, Sauce-monster!" The players saw him off, and he waved back.

"Yeah, I'll see you after the championship league!" He waved, jogging off. Soon, the day arrived--the one everyone was waiting for: the start of the championship league.

The school day went as usual, and then the sun began to set as everyone gathered to witness the first rounds of the Championship League.

"It's almost time!" Riko said, everyone in the locker room turning their attention to her. "Is everyone ready?"

"For sure," Sasaki smirked, leaning on Kagami as the redhead glared at him.

"Get off me," He shoved him away, making Sasaki fall dramatically.

"I have been mortally wounded! I can no longer go on!"

"Oh shut it drama queen," Hyuuga glowered at him to shut up so Riko could speak. He pouted, not moving.

"Only three out of the four schools will be going to the Inter high!" The coach told everyone, ignoring Sasaki as she crossed her arms. "Just as Koganei-kun said, it doesn't seem difficult at first. However-" She trailed off, and everyone moved away from Koganei as Izuki and Mitobe-san held his arms in place while Riko got out her hitting paper fan thing.

"Please get off me, I cannot breathe sir," Sasaki choked out as Hyuuga stood on top of him.

"You had your chance, now you have become one with the floor."

"Nooooooooo! I don't wanna be one with the floor!"

"URUSAI!" Riko yelled after hitting Koganei like a freaking samurai. "If you think we can lose one because it's a league game, we're finished!"

"Why me?" Koganei complained, holding his cheek.

"It comes down to now!" The coach said, putting her hand out. "We will win this game!" Everyone gathered around--Sasaki was allowed to breathe and stand again--in a circle. "Seirin... FIGHT!"

"YEAH!"

And thus, the Seirin Basketball team headed out from the locker room onto the court. As Kagami was putting his things down, he noticed a lil something was missing.

"Excuse me," He walked over to the Touou bench. "Where's Aomine?"

"That self centered bastard is running late," One of the players replied angrily. The redhead's jaw dropped, and Kuroko glanced over. The motion cause Sasaki's attention.

"Ode? What's Kagami doing?" He raised an eyebrow at the scene.

"Sorry. We're actually in a bind without him, too," A player with glasses added after the previous response. "He said he'd show up around the second half. I guess you could call us the opening act. Go easy on us."

"Huh? Who? They missing somebody?" Sasaki leaned more towards the conversation, and beside him, Kuroko nodded.

"Aomine isn't here."

"Wait, for real?" Sasaki sweatdropped as the blue haired boy nodded once again. "Friggin nuts, that's--like--really, really dumb. And a bit of a let down," He frowned, "but no matter, these guys seem pretty good so we should keep our guard up. No underestimation here~" The white haired boy smirked.

Warm ups went by quickly and then it was time to start the main event. "Kagami, you ready to roll?" Sasaki asked as they stood together.

"Yeah. What about you?" He returned the question, and the person beside him smirked.

"I'm more than ready. Autobots, roll out!"

"Auto what?"

"Nothing, never mind," The point guard sighed dejectedly.

"If these guys are the opening act, I'll pull so far ahead they can't catch up and make their star the world's biggest idiot!"

"You're the world's biggest idiot," Sasaki grumbled as he karate-chopped the redhead. "Underestimating them will only make you dig your own grave, haven't you learned that by now? Friggin nuts," He shook his head.

"You got it, let's go all out," The captain agreed. A few seconds later, the tip off was thrown.

Kagami tipped the ball to Sasaki, but the Touou captain managed to steal it. The point guard whistled, charging after him and getting in front of the player in seconds. "Oh, you're quick, aren't you?" The glasses dude smirked, "We have no choice, then," He passed the ball, "We'll start by having our kamikaze captain pave the way for us."

"I'm sorry!" The person he passed to, number nine, squeaked as he shot a three. Sasaki deadpanned, you're obviously not sorry or you wouldn't have done it. Who even are you apologizing to?

"Calling yourselves the opening act was evil," Hyuuga stated as the Touou captain pranced away.

"What? I wasn't lying," He protested. Sasaki blinked at his next words, "you'll know that once Aomine gets here. We're cute little kids compared to him."

"You prancing along is pretty leisurely, don't you think?" Sasaki asked as he darted past him with the ball. The captain's eyes opened from behind his glasses as he witnessed Sasaki go around every guy who tried to mark him and then, just as he was getting to the hoop, passed to Kagami who slammed it in. "I don't care how you assess yourselves. It's us and the ball, Aomine is irrelevant. So get off your high Aomine horse before you fall and hurt yourselves."

"...That was actually a really good insult."

"I wasn't trying to be insulting, though? Just telling it how it is."