Princess of Miracles (Kuroko no Basuke FanFic)

The Ghost of the Court

"The Ghost of the Court... That's what they call her." - Kobori Koji

* * * *

Tamaki was very annoyed by the time that the timer hit the six minute mark for the third quarter, with the score being at 56-70 with Touou in the lead. Sure, the teal head knew that Touou isn't a team that can be underestimated—Seirin's previous match against Touou during the Inter High is proof of that—when Touou had easily doubled their score when Kagami had to be taken off the court due to his leg injury. And Aomine isn't the ace of the Generation of Miracles for nothing either.

And apparently, Imayoshi is of the same opinion of her—as he had been sticking pretty close to her ever since she'd entered the court, much to her annoyance. Sure, she can probably break from his guard by utilising Mirage, but she'd rather not risk marking up a foul.

"The third quarter's almost over." Moriyama commented from where he is standing with the rest of his teammates. Most of the major teams or even those that have played against Seirin were present at the Touou versus Seirin match that day. "And here I thought that they were doing so well too."

Kasamatsu had a scowl on his face, but Kise didn't want to believe that Seirin would lose to Touou like the way that Kaijo did. "What are you talking about? It's not over yet."

"No." Kasamatsu cut off Kise's protests, a frown on his face. "They have no chance of a comeback. Not unless they still have some kind of plan. Besides Kise, look at that." He gestured towards the court, and Kise followed where Kasamatsu had been looking at only to see Susa Yoshinari as Tamaki's mark. And for some reason, Tamaki looked very annoyed. "Tamacchi..."

"I don't know much about this 'Mirage' that you've been talking about since just now." Kasamatsu glanced at Kise before shifting his eyes back to the court. "But her misdirection has completely run out. It is a skill that she can't use for the entire forty minutes." He pointed out. "Seirin has no more cards to play."

"I wonder about that." Kise said with a strange smirk on his face. He glanced at his confused seniors. "Kasamatsu-sempai, do you ever wonder about the fact why Tamacchi is never as well known as the rest of us in the Generation of Miracles, despite being our vice-captain?"

"Huh?" Kasamatsu blinked in confusion. "I just assume that it's because she doesn't like the attention. I mean, she is the only girl playing in an all-boys' team after all—she has enough attention just for that."

Kise scratched at his cheek with one finger. "Well... That too," he said. "The truth is that she rarely gets on the court during our Teiko days because Mirage is a terrifying technique. I have no idea how she came up with it—but Akashi-cchi had been the one to help her to develop it during our first year at Teiko—before I even joined the basketball club. The technique is pretty terrifying. I've seen it only once when Tamacchi is still my mentor—when she was teaching a few seniors a 'lesson' for beating me up due to getting promoted to a starting position. If Tamacchi isn't careful, she can traumatise a player and make them swear off basketball if she wants to. Mirage is just that scary. That's the reason why she rarely goes at full power when she's on the court."

"I've heard a little about that technique—back when you guys were in your second year, and thus, at the peak of your play." Kobori frowned. "The Ghost of the Court... That's what they call her. I got a pretty good idea just why they call her that."

Kasamatsu raised his brow. "If that's the case..." He trailed off slowly, looking at the court before he smirked. "Then that means that Seirin probably still has a chance."

* * * *

"Wait next year, you say?" Izuki probably would have a permanent twitch in his eye soon as he glared at a smirking Imayoshi, trying to resist the urge to throw the ball into his stupid face. "The game isn't over yet!"