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12: seiho

“Seiho seems more normal than I expected,” Furihata observed as the warmups were in full force. “They don’t have any really big guys..”

“I suppose they are a bit small for a national class team,” Riko agreed as she stood beside Kirika, who was already taking notes. “Their biggest player is their captain, Iwamura.”

“Is he about as tall as Mitobe? He’s pretty wide!”

“He’s so thick! He seems really powerful!”

“Then there’s their playmaker,” The coach added, “Kasuga. Those two third years are the core of their team.”

“You’re Kagami, aren’t you?” An energetic voice spoke up, and when Kagami turned to see who it was, he continued. “Whoa! Your hair’s so red! Scary!”

“Huh?” The redhead deadpanned.

“Captain!” The cueball spun back to his team. “This is the guy, right? Seirin’s really weak, but they have one strong guy!”

“I’m glad I included that in the report,” Kirika mumbled as she held her clipboard.  Information didn’t seem to stop Riko from raging a bit, though.

“You’ve done it now, you little shit,” She sneered, glaring at Tsugawa. Suddenly, he was bashed by the captain.

“Ow!”

“Quit messing around, you idiot,” Iwamura’s facial expression didn’t change, only looking ever so slightly more annoyed. Putting his hand on his head, the captain forced Tsugawa to bow. “Sorry about that. This guy’s socially inept, so he just says what he’s thinking.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” Hyuuga replied. “We’re going to win. If you look down on us like you did last year, you’ll end up in tears.”

“That won’t happen,” Iwamura stated. “Besides, we weren’t looking down on you. You were just week, that’s all.”

“What?” The cueball grumbled. “Captain, you’re not mincing your words either,” He complained.

“You idiot,” He lead him back to their side of the court. “I just don’t sugarcoat my words.”

With warmups coming to a close, the teams all retreated to their respective locker rooms. At first, Seirin’s locker room was practically silent, but Riko soon clapped her hands. “You’re all a little too uptight,” She commented, “I thought of a reward to cheer you up!” Riko’s face morphed into a—what Kirika suspected to be—seductive look and her voice went up a few pitches. “If you win the next game, I’ll give each of you a kiss on the cheek,” She made a kiss noise and winked. “What do you say?”

“Why did she laugh?” Izuki deadpanned.

“You can’t be serious,” Koganei squinted at her. “It would be more motivating if Kirika said that instead.”

Thus, Riko’s self esteem took a hit. “You idiots! Pretend to be happy if you have to!” Hyuuga thundered, and lightning stuck the rest of the coach’s self esteem. But then, she started sniffling and laughing at the same time.

“Shut up and get it together, you idiots!” She yelled, tears in her eyes. “Don’t you want to pay them back for last year?! Hasn’t it been all you’ve thought about for the last year?!”

“Sorry, sorry, we know,” Hyuuga attempted to placate her as she wiped her eyes and sniffled again. “All right. Before we start, I’ll tell you again. I’m sure you’ll feel it as soon as the game starts, but first years, prepare yourselves for the worst,” He narrowed his eyes. “Seiho is strong. After last year’s crushing defeat, we hated basketball so much we nearly quit.”

“Seriously?” Kirika quietly whispered to Riko, who nodded.

“Don’t be so gloomy!” The captain waved it off. “We got over it. We’re better now. If anything, we’re happy,” he told everyone. “This won’t be the same as last year. I’m confident we’ve become strong enough to be sure of that. Now we just have to win. Let’s go!”

“Yeah!”

“Hyuuga really has a way of peptalking,” The manager noted as she walked with Riko, who nodded in agreement.

“Yes, and he’s reliable.”

“Don’t fall behind,” Kagami called back to the two of them, who seemed to be taking their time.

“Yeah yeah, we got it,” Kirika giggled, sending a cheeky grin at Riko. The coach returned it. Soon enough, the starting lineups were out on the court.

“Let the first A Block semifinal match, between Seirin High and Seiho High, begin.”

The first few minutes were rough to say the least, as everyone adjusted to their targets in-game rather than just on paper or on screen. Riko decided a time out was in order, so as everyone sat on the bench, Kirika stood in front of them. “You’re all doing fine,” She told them as they toweled themselves off and drank from their water bottles. “We’ve always started slow, this game is no different. I’m already seeing that you are incorporating the data into your play, so keep up the good work.”

“Remember that Seiho uses old martial arts techniques,” Riko added. “Which means that they have tells, or habits we can exploit. But it’s not like they can fly or disappear,” She reminded them. “They’re high schoolers just like you.”

“Right,” Kirika nodded. “They’ll fall for fakes, and they’ll lose their balance if you catch them off guard. Just play your game, and we’ll be fine. They’re playing the same basketball you are. So show them you love it more than they do!” She grinned, the team reflecting it.

“Yeah!”

“We work well together,” The coach smiled at the manager, who nodded in agreement.

“Yes, I think so too!”

From there on, everything went swimmingly. Riko managed to pull the two first years out of the game, but Kuroko ended up having to go back in after Koganei was subbed out with a concussion. Luckily, having more than enough credentials, Kirika took care of him while the team went on to win the game with a five-point difference.

“Game over!”

“All right!”

“We did it!”

“You were amazing!”

“Koganei! Don’t run! You’ll make it worse!”

“We won!”

“You really showed them, Kuroko!”

“Why?!” Tsugawa suddenly roared, drawing everyone’s attention. “Seirin just formed last year! We practice way more than them! They didn’t stand a chance last year! No matter how you look at it, we’re stronger!”

“Enough, Tsugawa,” Iwamura put a hand on the raging cueball’s shoulder.

“But—”

“The strong don’t win. The winners are the strong ones,” He stated. “They were stronger. That’s all,” With that, he walked away.

“Tell me your name!” Tsugawa yelled after Kuroko. He turned, looking surprised. “Your name!” He snapped.

“It’s Tetsuya Kuroko,” He replied after a second of hesitation.

“I’ll remember!” The cueball swore. “I definitely won’t forget.”

“Thanks,” The phantom responded after a moment. With that, the two teams lined up.

“74 to 69, Seirin!”

“Thank you very much!”