Princess of Miracles (Kuroko no Basuke FanFic)

The Mirage Player

"He might look like that, but he was still in Teiko with you. He's a veteran." - Kasamatsu Yukio

* * * *

The tension surrounding the Seirin team seemed to get even worse as time ticked on, fast approaching 5PM – the time for the Inter High preliminaries finals, in which Seirin would be playing against Shutoku, one of the three kings of Tokyo. Aida Riko, Seirin's student coach was not helping any matters either by shouting commands at her players who were all currently gathered in their locker room.

"Go put on jackets before your bodies get cold! Make sure you stretch!" Riko shouted at the team who were all putting on their team jackets, whilst Riko herself was massaging Hyuuga's legs who was seated on one of the benches. "Also, take some amino acids to restore your energy! Don't forget to calorie charge! I'll come massage each of you, so take off your shoes!"

Tamaki who is pulling on her team jacket glanced at the older girl who is currently shouting commands and orders like a drill sergeant at her teammates, with the three other freshmen in the team apart from herself and Kagami getting ready the tapes and drinks for their next match. Fukuda was actually polishing a basketball in his hands whilst Furihata was handing out the amino acids and energy drinks that Riko had instructed him to hand out to the team.

'Looks like the finals will be against Shutoku without a doubt.' Tamaki thought absently, standing at her locker. 'But still, two matches in a day…' She sighed, since even she's feeling the exhaustion seep in, despite the nearly three hour rest that they had after their match with Seiho earlier. 'But more importantly…' Tamaki frowned inwardly as she glanced at her right hand, flexing her fingers. 'What I can currently manage for my Mirage style… Is it enough?' She wondered.

Tamaki was then startled out of her inner musings from a shout by Riko.

"Hey Kagami! Your body will freeze up if you sleep!"

And so he was. The redhead was currently leaning against the lockers, fast asleep, snoring gently.

Tamaki's lips quirked slightly, as his sleeping posture reminded her awfully of a match that she once had during middle school, and how Aomine had fallen asleep in the middle of Satsuki's usual after match speech to the team, speaking to them about their performance. The manager wasn't pleased at having the ace fall asleep on her like that, but then again, it is common knowledge that Aomine can pretty much fall asleep anywhere. If Tamaki or Satsuki hadn't taken class notes for him throughout their three years of middle school, he would have probably flunked every single exam that he had taken.

Hyuuga chuckled with amusement, looking at the sleeping freshman. "Let him be."

Izuki who was gulping down an energy drink smiled. "He's not usually this down before a game," he commented, and Mitobe nodded in silent agreement.

"It's probably because he got four fouls." Koganei stated, plucking a banana off the bunch that he had. It had been pretty common to see several sportsmen eating bananas during the intervals between matches these days, as it helps to restore their energy. Then again, Koganei is the only one who actually ate bananas in their team, as Hyuuga had complained that eating bananas gives him the runs. "It's not anything to worry about."

"You being replaced at the end was a little unexpected though, Koga." Tsuchida added, much to Koganei's chagrin.

"Maybe he feels responsible in his own way." Hyuuga commented with a smile. "Besides, I don't think that he's just sleeping. He looks to me like he's saving every last bit of energy he has for the next game."

A slight buzzing sound from Tamaki's locker attracted her attention just then, and the blue haired girl opened her locker door to take her red cellphone that was vibrating slightly, with a basketball strap hanging from it, the bell attached to the strap tinkling slightly as she did so. She read the message that she had just received silently before turning towards her seniors.