Ｌｉｇｈｔ

eighty nine - another zone

(Comment goal is once again 51. No weird alphabet comments this time)

After a Midorima-like shot and an absolute monster of a block from Kagami, everyone realized that only another person in the Zone could stop the redhead at that point. Sasaki wasn’t planning on giving anyone else his authority, so there was only a 0.1% chance of a rival appearing.

Another dunk from Kagami, right over Murasakibara, and Yosen decided it was time for a time out. “Amazing! We could really win! Kagami’s too amazing!”

“Actua—”

“Hey, it’s too early to celebrate,” Riko cut in. The redhead glanced at Sasaki, wanting to tell everyone that it was his doing. The azurette winked quickly with a finger to his lips. Suddenly, he noticed that something was happening on Yosen’s bench.

However, his attention was stolen by Riko as she told everyone the game plan. Soon enough, the time out ended and everyone returned to the court. Two points behind Yosen, at 60 to 62, Seirin was raring to go.

“They were fighting about something,” Hyuuga observed. “Is everything okay?”

“No, it’s probably the opposite,” Kagami set his jaw as he saw the new development. Sasaki almost whistled.

“They’re more dangerous than ever,” Kuroko commented, Murasakibara having tied his hair up and looking ready to throw down. Thus, the game resumed and Yosen had the ball. Fukui passed it to Himuro, who faked a shot and drove in to face Kagami.

“I hate to admit it,” Sasaki heard him say as he once again went for a shot, this time Kagami being the one in front of him. “but you truly are amazing, Taiga. I’ve lost our battle. Sorry, though. We’re still going to win!”

“Oh wow,” Sasaki looked impressed as the shooting guard, instead of shooting, passed to Murasakibara. Kagami wasn’t one to back down, managing to land and jump again in that split second.

“I told you already,” The giant sneered. “I hate losing. That’s why I’ll win!” He threw the ball to Himuro, who was wide open at that time. Not only that, Kagami was still mid jump at that point, so there was no one to block him.

“Ah, too bad,” Sasaki mumbled, glancing between Himuro and Kagami.

“Izuki-senpai, do you have a minute?” The redhead asked as the point guard picked up the ball to throw in. Sasaki almost spluttered at what he was thinking, but he left it up to Izuki.

“You’re the point guard now?” Fukui looked angry to say the least, too angry to be shocked anymore from how many point guard switches Seirin had made that day.

Kagami had the ball and easily got around Yosen’s point guard, passing to Kuroko who passed it up to the hoop. The redhead finished the play off by slamming it into the basket and getting those well deserved two points.

Sasaki almost yawned. This is getting boring.

Again and again, Kagami went as point guard and won Seirin points. However, Himuro and Murasakibara teaming up on offense was giving them headway, leaving the gap the same as the scores climbed. A little over a minute was left in the final quarter.

“No one’s giving any ground!”

“Who’s going to win in the last minute?”

With the next out ball, Riko called for a member change. “Why’s everybody so gloomy? We’re nearly there,” Kiyoshi reminded them as he smiled warmly. “Let’s go have some fun.”

“Have at it,” Sasaki held his hand up for a high five, shocking everyone on the court.

“Wha—”

“Why’s he—"

“I don’t think I told you that you could read my thoughts,” Riko frowned at him as he headed towards the bench.

“Oh, sorry. I told you earlier that it’s a radius thing, not a specific person thing,” The azurette rubbed his neck sheepishly. Sitting on the bench, Sasaki watched the rest of the game unfold.

“Twenty seconds remaining!”

“We’re finally one point behind!”

Suddenly, the hairs all over Sasaki’s body stood up as his senses realized what was happening what no one else seemed to notice just yet. Pursing his lips, he decided not to say anything even though he knew Murasakibara had just started to push open the doors to the Zone.

“Go! We need one more basket!” Kiyoshi yelled as Seirin went to full court man to man defense before Yosen could throw in. Somehow, Yosen managed to throw it in and get it to Himuro. Faking, he got around Hyuuga and jumped for a shot, drawing Kagami in. Once again passing to Murasakibara, everyone could see where this was going.

As Kagami jumped to block, Sasaki hummed. Welcome to the Zone, mister supposed basketball hater.

Then, just as Murasakibara was going to make the shot, Kiyoshi added his strength to Kagami’s and were able to fend the purple giant off. Hyuuga yelled for a counter attack, but no one on that court could outpace the purple zoneified giant.

Now this is what I like to see, Sasaki’s face lit up, loving the pressure Murasakibara was generating. Since he’d turned off his mind reading ability—no longer needing it—he couldn’t say exactly what everyone was thinking, but he could guess from their faces.

The despair. The fear.

And Kagami was being forced out of the Zone. This was a dire situation for Seirin. “KAGAMI!!” The bench screamed, desperate for their ace to finish the battle and reign victorious.

“We’ll win!” The redhead yelled. “It’s the ace’s job to carry everyone’s hopes to victory!” Sasaki chuckled; Kagami was now using his own willpower and generating his own authority over the Zone to stay inside the doors longer. “I’ll exceed my limits as much as I need to!”

And then he proceeded to jump from the free throw line and literally throw—not dunk, Sasaki noted—jam, if you will, the ball into the hoop, right over Murasakibara’s head.

And yet, it’s still not over, Sasaki thought as his eyes moved to the clock. So little time..

The score board read 72 Yosen to 73 Seirin, four seconds left.

“All right!” The bench cheered. “A comeback! We’ve take the lead!”

“It’s not over yet!” Kiyoshi warned, noticing that Murasakibara had started booking it to the other side while Himuro grabbed the ball.

“ATSUSHI!!” He hollared, throwing the ball at the center.

“A counter attack!” The bench gasped. Sasaki looked down, not really wanting to see how it would end. The buzzer came seconds later, but no points had been added to Yosen’s score, meaning…

“WE WON!!!”

(Next update will be after Noon, my time edt)