Ｌｉｇｈｔ

sixty two - angry boi reigns

"I'm so sick of this," Hanamiya grumbled as he glared at Kiyoshi. Sasaki narrowed his eyes at him as he guarded him. "If he wants to die so badly," A smirk rose on the captain's face as their eyes met. Neither backed down from the other's gaze. "Then die," He snapped his fingers.

Sasaki didn't watch, but he heard the thud and knew Kiyoshi would most likely be pulled out of the match. "So it really was the snapping of the fingers as the signal," The azurette muttered as another referee time out was called.

"You can't be serious! You-" Hyuuga glowered at Hanamiya, who shrugged innocently.

"What? You're falsely accusing me again? I don't know what happened," He looked over at the two on the ground, the one directly on the floor being Kiyoshi and the one on top being dead eyed fish. "Things get messy under the net. It was an accident. I mean-" His eyes suddenly widened, causing Sasaki and Hyuuga to look over at what he was looking at to get that reaction.

Kiyoshi twitched. Then slowly, he turned over and started to get up. "That's why I decided... If they're ever about to break, I'll be their splint," He got to his knees, then to his feet. "If they ever find themselves in danger, I'll be their shield. I will always put myself on the line.." Kiyoshi put his arms up as blood dripped down his face, the Seirin members standing behind him. "To protect the members of Seirin! That's what I came back for!"

That was the end of the second quarter, and the scores were Seirin forty seven to Kirisaki Daiichi thirty eight. As the two teams came off the court, Sasaki went straight over to Riko. "Hey, Riko-san, can you give me the reins?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" She asked, then her eyes widened as she actually saw the anger radiating off of him.

"It's a yes or no question," He growled, so Riko put her hands up.

"Alright, you have the reins," The coach relinquished her command to him, and he nodded his thanks as he stomped over to the bench. Normally, she would never have given control over to one of her players like that, but she's known Sasaki for a while now. Sasaki doesn't get mad often, but when he does, his thinking fine tunes and he becomes even more unrivaled.

Anger normally clouds people's judgements, but for him, it's the opposite. The possibilities are endless, and he sees them all. Sasaki Hayate was truly dangerous in that state which is why he didn't let it happen often.

Before Sasaki could speak to the team, Hanamiya bumped into Kuroko. "Move!" He yelled angrily.

"Wait," The phantom called out.

"What?" The captain glowered as he paused to listen to whatever Kuroko was about to say next.

"Why do you play in such an underhanded way? Do you really enjoy winning like that?" He demanded, causing Hanamiya's eyes to widen as he turned to face him. Sasaki immediately tsked at what the captain was thinking. Low lives.

"Of course not," He gripped his chest, his hair covering his expression. "But if I don't do it," He dramatically looked away as his voice almost cracked, "how am I supposed to beat teams with members of the generation of miracles?" Hanamiya's voice got softer. "I made a promise. I'll place first in the winter cup, and.." It seemed he couldn't hold the façade any longer as he started laughing. "I'm kidding, idiot," The captain stuck his tongue out at Kuroko, and the phantom's eyes grew wider than they had been as he gasped. "They say the misfortune of others tastes like honey. Don't get the wrong idea, goody two shoes. I won't want to win. I want to see guys who've worked hard and devoted their youth to basketball grind their teeth as they lose," Hanamiya closed the distance between them, using his height to his advantage as he smirked down at Kuroko. "Do I enjoy it? Yeah, I do. What I did to your seniors last year was a masterpiece."

"Bastard!" Kagami roared, but Izuki held him back.

"Kagami, don't!"

"I hope you don't think that's the end of it," Hanamiya jabbed at Kuroko as he began walking away, joining the rest of the Kirisaki Daiichi team members. "You're only just starting to grind your teeth."

Soon after that confrontation, Seirin went to their locker room for the half time break. "Ah!" Kagami kicked one of the benches, panting angrily. "Damn it! Those bastards!"

"Don't take your anger out on the furniture," Sasaki said lowly, sitting on a bench across from Kiyoshi.

"Yeah but-!" The redhead looked at him, then flinched at what he saw. On the outside, Sasaki looked as calm as ever, his hands folded in his lap as he looked at the floor in front of him. But Kagami could see the turbulent waves coming off of him, and it was terrifying.

"For now," The azurette spoke, his gaze lifting to Hyuuga and then to Kiyoshi. "You two are being subbed out. Mitobe will be in as center while Izuki is point. I will be moving to shooting guard."

"Hey, who gave you the right-"

"Hyuuga."

"Hyuuga-kun," Sasaki and Riko spoke at the exact same time, causing him to flinch and look between them. "It's fine, I trust his judgement."

"What are you saying-"

"I will not back down on this," Sasaki warned them, "I have plenty of means at my disposal to keep you two from getting on that court, and I'm not afraid to use them. Hyuuga, if you can calm down and relax so that you're not a walking robot that can't shoot for shit, I'll let you back into the game. Kiyoshi, same for you. But, only in the last minute or so because I'd say you need as much time as you can to get some rest, so I'm going to have Riko patch you up for the time being."

"Got it," Riko nodded, smiling dangerously as she cracked her knuckles. "But Sasaki-kun, we're gonna have to have a talk after all this is over about using proper honorifics."

"Fine by me," He stood up, "I'm going to get some air, I'll be back before the second half starts."