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one o' two - face offs

(Hope you enjoyed the updates today! Please keep commenting even if there isn't a goal this chapter. Seen you next week~}

“Ho boi,” Sasaki felt his life span shortening as Mibuchi and Hyuuga faced off.

“The end of the first quarter pissed me off,” The Rakuzan shooting guard said, “I’ll crush you this time.”

“What is with people and the word crush?” Sasaki asked himself out loud.

“Who knows,” Mayuzumi replied, assuming the question was for him. “Your hair natural too?”

“Mhm,” The azurette hummed before pausing. “Are we long lost brothers?”

“No.”

“Aww, worth a shot,” Sasaki shrugged before noticing that Mibuchi had just shot, and witnessed the ball going into the basket. “Welp, see ya when we get back!”

“No thanks.”

“So mean!”

“Stop acting like a drama queen and get the ball, dumbass!” Hyuuga ordered, so the azurette did so and grasped the ball thrown in from Fukuda. “Sasaki!”

“Hai, hai~” He sang, rounding Hayama and yeeting the ball at Hyuuga. The movements the shooting guard did next were so fluid in motion that even he looked surprised, and caused Akashi to raise an eyebrow.

“Damn that was a nice pass,” Hayama whistled.

“Thanks buddy!” Sasaki grinned at him.

“You’re welcome!”

“They’re hopeless,” Mayuzumi sighed.

“Nice!” Kagami complimented Hyuuga.

“Yeah, of course!”

“His form looks like yours,” Nebuya commented to Mibuchi.

“You think so too?” He glanced back at the center before smirking. “Not bad.”

The next few plays, Mibuchi and Hyuuga went head to head, neither being able to stop the other until suddenly, the balance was broken with a block from Mibuchi. “I’ve changed my mind about you,” Sasaki heard the Rakuzan shooting guard say to his mark. “You’re a far better shooter than a thought. So to thank you, I’ll show you something special.”

“Ho boi, here we go,” Sasaki grumbled, drawing a frown from Mayuzumi as the phantom wondered what he was thinking. But that was before he realized that Mibuchi was doing a Void shot.

“You knew?” Mayuzumi’s eyes widened as he whipped to face his marker.

“Hmm?” Sasaki turned his attention to him, taking a second to process his words before replying. “Oh, yeah. It’s not hard to tell.”

Even we have a hard time telling, and we play with the guy almost every day! Mayuzumi gawked slightly. You’ve only known him for as long as we’ve been playing, how could you even know of the void shot since he rarely uses it?!

So many questions, my head might as well be spinning, Sasaki thought as he twisted his pinkie in his ear, catching the ball with one hand and passing it to Hyuuga less than a millisecond later.

Did he really just use the recoil of catching the ball to pass?!

Yeah I did, it’s not that hard. Obviously, it won’t be a perfect pass, but it will get to where it needs to be, Sasaki grumbled in his head, not being able to respond without A. freaking Mayuzumi out and B. exposing himself.

Hey, I’m behind you if you need me, Sasaki sent a mental note to Hyuuga, who seemed to be in a bind now that Mibuchi had adjusted to Barrier Jumper’s timing.

Take it, jackass. Don’t you dare miss! Hyuuga yelled at him, throwing the ball towards him. Luckily, no one saw it coming, so Sasaki was able to shoot a lovely half court shot wide open, gaining them three more points.

But that didn’t seem to matter, since Mibuchi made a four point play by forcing Hyuuga to foul. The referee blew the whistle. “Defense, black number 4!” He called. “Basket counts, one free throw!”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sasaki was about to pat Hyuuga on the shoulder when the captain suddenly snapped at him.

“Why didn’t you tell me, huh?!” Hyuuga demanded, grabbing hold of the collar of Sasaki’s jersey and bringing him closer. “You could have warned me!”

“…yeah, sorry. My bad,” Sasaki’s face went blank. The Seirin captain huffed, letting go of his shirt.

“Geez, at least act like you want to win.”

“Right,” Darkness once again engulfed the azurette’s expression.

“Sasaki,” Kiyoshi was suddenly next to him, drawing the azurette out of his dark thoughts. “Pass the ball to me.”

“Sure,” Sasaki didn’t protest as they started moving towards the other side for offense.

“I’m in an attacking mood, too.”

However, that was shut down right as it started, Nebuya blocking so strongly that the ball flew out of bounds. “Holy heck.”

“That’s a new one,” Akashi commented, coming to check in with his boyfriend.

“Haha, yeah,” Sasaki rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Just thought I should switch it up a little since everybody seems to be getting tired of me, haha…”

“I see,” The Rakuzan point guard remarked, his eyes narrowing barely a fraction. Soon enough, Nebuya was dominating in the center strength contest, yelling MUSCLE something every time he did something. Sasaki wouldn’t have been surprised if he started yelling MUSCLE BREATH each time he breathed.

“Can you stop saying ‘Muscle Whatever’ every time?” Mibuchi seemed just as fed up with it as Sasaki was, Mayuzumi agreeing.

“Yeah, it’s annoying.”

The next ball, however, Kiyoshi used his Right of Postponement and passed to Fukuda, who made the shot. “Nice Kiyoshi!” That point Seirin at 35 to Rakuzan’s 44, a long way to go but it was something. The clock ticked down from three minutes and thirty seconds as Sasaki glanced at it.

“Kagami, we’re switching marks again,” Sasaki told the redhead as he jogged past him. “Guard number 5.”

Sure enough, it was exactly as he’d predicted when Akashi passed to the Thunder Beast, Hayama. “You ready, Sasaki?” The jaguar grinned, poised to strike as the two observed each other.

“Go for it,” The azurette answered, a smirk of his own appearing on his lips. Hayama didn’t underestimate Sasaki, so he used all five of his fingers to dribble the ball. He attempted to get past him, but Sasaki had his number pegged and fronted him once again easily.

“Ha, you’re amazing,” The Rakuzan forward commented. “Not many can keep up with me at level five.”

“Good to know,” Sasaki hummed, not seeming to think much of it. “What? You’re not coming?”

“Oh you know it!” Hayama exclaimed, rushing him. In the end, Sasaki was dubbed the winner of the Forward battle, even though it was technically Kagami that should have been doing the battling. But then Mayuzumi suddenly did his disappearing act, getting the ball to Hayama who slammed a dunk before Sasaki could react.

“It’s my job to disappear, but don’t forget I exist,” Mayuzumi said, looking pretty edgy in Sasaki’s opinion. I wonder if him and Kuroko will face off like the rest of us are doing? He glanced at the bench, seeing the phantom’s fired up figure. Well, I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.