You were walking in with some DVDs of last year's preliminary matches before you saw Kuroko and Kagami watching a game of Kitagawa versus Seiho.

"This bald guy's defence is especially tough," Kagami said, rewinding the video.

"I know him." Kuroko mentioned, "I played against him in middle school."

"We had only just started, but he stopped Kise," Kuroko stated making Kagami shocked to hear.

(In middle school.)

There was a 24-second overtime since Kise held the ball for too long, "You're supposed to pass the ball, Kise. You idiot!" The ace of Teiko scolded Kise.

"Man, gimme a break Kisechin." Another player from Teiko sighed.

"Sorry, sorry!" Kise apologized, Midorima adjusted his glasses, "This is why you're no good."

"Kise, please pass the ball." Kuroko lightly scolded Kuroko making the blonde flinch.

"Not you, too, Kurokocchi...!" Kise felt slightly worse when it came to Kuroko criticizing him.

"(Y/N)cchi! Help me! They're all out for me!" Kise whined at you.

You merely wrote down some notes on your clipboard before sighing, "Ryo-kun, stop looking for me when you're in trouble! You can't always depend on me to tell off the others."

Kise continued to whine, "But, Sunshine!~ They're all being so mean to me!"

"Maybe you deserved it."

"Midorimacchi! Stop adding salt to the wound!"

You only shook your head as you stood next to the captain, "Kise, you're the only one 20 points under your norm." The captain of the Teiko basketball team spoke up making Kise straighten his stance when speaking to him.

"Sorry, but Kurokocchi..." Kise apologized before mentioning that Kuroko either hasn't gotten that many points by himself.

"Kuroko's different." The captain stated.

"Ryo-kun needs to get past him if he wants to catch up to the others in regards to points. And we're not scoring enough as we usually do against previous other teams." You listed off the stats of Kise before comparing the scores of the previous matches to this one.

The captain turned to you, "Do not worry. Kise will get back into his rhythm soon. Victory does not come to those who hurry, (Y/N). It only comes to those who are patient and vigilant."

You looked at the captain before nodding to his words, "Right. Of course."

"But to make sure of certain victory, I want the stats of the players when the match is over. I want to see what we can do to improve in the future so this won't happen again." The captain walked back onto the court as you nodded, immediately working on it right now.

"Already almost done, captain!" He smiled at you.

"I knew I could always count on you..."

Rose.

(Back in the present.)

You thought back to that time in middle school before decided to watch the game with them.

"His name is Tsugawa Tomoki. He's a tough one to read and crack. But on top of that, he's quite weird..." you mumbled, now in between the blue-haired male and redhead, scaring Kagami.

"Ah! When did you get here?!" He yelled.

"For like 5-10 minutes? I lost track." You merely answered.

"That's not a good response!"

The team was in a classroom to watch a game of Seiho and to see their tactics.

"We already knew it would, but this is going to be tough." Izuki pointed out after the video ended.

"Sorry, but I feel like crying again." Koganei sighed in defeat.

"Frankly, we'd lose nine times out of ten against Seiho and Shutoku. We just have to bring that one win to our games." Riko announced to the team.

"Hey, listen." Hyuga started making the team look at him, "I wouldn't go so far as to call it a strategy...but I have an idea."

Hearing the idea got everyone to perk up at the captain's plan.

~~~

The team was now at the stadium, playing against Seiho. It was warm-up time so you were helping out the team as much as you could.

You felt someone stare at you, turning your head you saw Midorima who then looked at Kagami and Kuroko.

"Those two need to stop having stare-offs with other people..." you mumbled, Hyuga being close to you sighed before going towards Kagami.

"You're staring down the wrong guy, idiot!" Hyuga twisted Kagami's neck to the right opponent, "No matter how hard you stare if we lose this next game, you'll look like an idiot."

"I was just looking at him. I'm focused on our next game." Kagami replied, "And why does she get to wave at him and not get scolded?!" He soon pointed to you politely waving to Midorima.

"Huh? (Y/N)! Get back over here!" Hyuga's yell made you flinch, "Yes, captain...!"

You gave a glare to Kagami who only smirked at his victory, "Ow!" You hit his side for revenge before helping the bench get prepared.

"Seiho seems more normal than I thought." Furihata pointed out, "They don't have any really big guys."

"I suppose they are small for a national class team. Their biggest player is their captain, Iwamura." Riko stated looking over the opponents.

"Is he about as tall as Mitobe? He's pretty wide! He's so thick! He seems powerful!" Koganei looked on as you only looked over to see their stats.

"Then there's their playmaker, Kasuga. Those two third-years are the core of the team." Riko added.

"Kags! You need to stop staring down at others!" You walked over to Kagami since you were to give him another basketball.

"Ha?! Says the person who asked for Midorima's number!" Kagami retorted, you grew a little agitated.

"It was a nice thing to do since I missed him and I never got to catch up with him! It's no big deal!" You two butted heads.

"You sure? What about Kise, huh?! You gonna ask all the Generation of Miracles for their number?!" He yelled.

"Yes! Yes, I am! They were my old friends and I missed them dearly! Of course, I would ask for their number to catch up!" You yelled back, the two of you comically squabbling like children could see from far away.

'I have no words...' Seirin's players just sweat dropped at the scene.

"Hey! You're Kagami, aren't you?" A person from Seiho: was Tsugawa Tomoki asked Kagami.

Kagami stopped bickering with you to look at the person addressing him, "Your hair's so red! Scary!" The bald man smiled making you remember who he was.

'Tsugawa Tomoki. The one who stopped Ryo-kun back in middle school.' You thought.

"What?" Kagami grew a little irritated by the guy.

"Captain, this is the guy, right? Seirin's really weak, but they have one strong guy!" Tsugawa waved to his captain.

'You've done it now...' you sighed seeing Riko's agitated face before Tsugawa's captain punched him.

"Quit messing around, you idiot. Sorry about that. This guy can't read situations, so he just says what he's thinking." The captain scolded his teammate before forcing him to bow in an apology.

"You don't need to apologize. We're going to win. If you look down on us like you did last year, you'll end up in tears." Hyuga merely replied.

"That won't happen. Besides, we weren't looking down on you. You were just weak. That's all." Iwamura stated.

"Well, you're wrong. Seirin's become much stronger than before! Prepare yourselves for immediate loss when the game is over." You stated.

"Woah! She's hot—OW!" Tsugawa was hit again, "Don't say that when you meet someone new." Iwamura stated.

Then, the captain looked down at you, "The Unnamed Queen of Prophecy. I am surprised you are not with either of the kings or the 'Emperor'."

Hearing that made her eyes widen in shock at the mention of someone she knew in the past, "Huh...?!"

You narrowed your gaze at him, 'He must've looked into my past in Teiko till now...'

'(Y/N) looked shocked earlier, maybe even pale. This is the first time I've seen her this shocked.' Hyuga looked over at you having a stare off with the captain of Seiho High.

Kagami only looked on, noticing the tension between his manager and the captain of Seiho.

"I'd like you to not speak of him, please. I don't need to be with anyone to be seen. Seirin's the school I chose myself. And we will bring you down." You stated.

"Very well, then," Iwamura said, dragging the bald player back to their side of the court.

"What? Captain, you're not mincing words either." Tsugawa was dragged away by his captain, "You idiot, I just don't sugarcoat my words."

"What was that all about?" Kagami asked you, "Huh?" You looked up to see him walking up to you.

"That sudden tension you and the captain of Seiho had." Kagami specified.

You only merely waved it off, "Oh! That...It was nothing. Just speaking to an old team we played in middle school."

Your smile didn't reach your eyes and it was noticed by some of the players in Seirin. But they didn't want to push you.

"Okay! We've wasted enough time!" You started pushing Hyuga and Kagami back to their side of the court, "But—" you cut off Hyuga.

"Let's go! Riko-san doesn't like it when you guys slack off!" You told them, pushing them still.

Riko and the others smiled at you being yourself again even after that moment of tension, 'Glad her injury is healed as well.' Riko thought before yelling at Izuki to stop slacking off.

"Huh?! Kasamatsu-senpai! What does it mean if a girl tells me to 'shut up' with a smiley face?" Whined Kise, He and Kasamatsu walking to see Seirin play.

"I don't know! Maybe shut up." Kasamatsu replied not caring at all.

"That's not helpful!" Kise complained.

(Here's a preview of your texts.)

Kasamatsu merely gave a sweat drop seeing Kise cry like a baby over a text, "You're such a child..."

"What I can do to make her see I'm sorry?" Kise asked making Kasamatsugrt irritated at how oblivious he is to his actions.

"YOU IDIOT! MAYBE DON'T JUST ASK HER OUT SO SUDDENLY NEXT TIME!"

"Ow! Stop kicking me! That's abuse!"

"I'm allowed to since I'm your upperclassman. Now move!"

The Seirin basketball players were in their locker room. It was so quiet and tense that you could it cut off with a knife.

Riko soon clapped her hands together to get their attention, "You're all a little too uptight. I thought of a reward to cheer you up."

Riko soon made her face all cute, "If you win the next game, I'll give each of you a kiss on the cheek. What do you say?" She made a weird giggle, electing the boys to look at her weirdly.

"Why'd she laugh?" Izuki asked with a confused face.

"You can't be serious." Koganei looked at her weirdly.

That made Riko depressed that her 'girly' actions weren't working on them, "R-Riko-san?!" You bent down to her level to comfort her.

"You idiots, pretend to be happy if you have to!" Hyuga scolded the team but Riko just fell into a more depressive state, she was even lying on the floor.

She then started laughing getting the team a little worried before she turned to face them, "Shut up and get it together, you idiots! Don't you want to pay them back for last year?! It's got to be quite a lot with a year's worth of interest!" She yelled at them.

Hyuga only nervously smiled at her wrath, "Sorry, sorry. We know." Riko was seen sniffling as she wiped a tear away.

Hyuga turned to the first-years, you included, "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. Seiho is strong. After last year's massive defeat, we hated basketball so much we nearly quit."

Hearing that made them a little saddened, "Don't be so gloomy. We got over it. We're better now. If anything, we're happy. This won't be the same as last year. I'm confident we've become strong enough to be sure of that. We just have to win. Let's go!" Hyuga smiled one last time for the team before they went onto the court.

"Yeah!"

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

6 minutes and 23 seconds left in the first quarter.

Seirin - 0

Seiho - 12

Seeing the scores, Kasamatsu and Kise gasped at the huge gap, "What?!"

Kagami had the ball but he couldn't get past Tsugawa by their unique blocking techniques.

"Kagami, you're holding the ball too long. Pass it!" Izuki was open and went for the basket but was blocked by Iwamura the captain of the Seiho team.

"How naive. Your offence will crush our defence at that level." Iwamura stated, running past Izuki.

"Tsugawa, it's fine if you're excited, but don't wear yourself out before the second half." A teammate told the bald man.

He only smiled, "I'm fine! They're not as good as I thought, so this should be easy!"

That got Kagami to be irritated, "What did you say?" Without thinking Kagami charged right by Tsugawa, earning him a foul.

"Charging! White 10!"

"Just how easily does that idiot get angry?" Riko muttered in anger.

"Too easy. Even I can anger him to the highest level." You sighed, keeping tabs on the players on the court.

"Kagami, calm down!" Koganei yelled out to the first-year.

On the the court Kuroko was seen near Kagami, "Kagami, you already have two fouls. Get five, and you're out."

"I know." He grumbled before looking over at their opponent, "Somehow their movements are impossible to play against."

'We can't even pass. That means we won't be able to make plays with Tetsu-kun at all unless we get past their defences. Oddly enough, their movements remind me of something...' You thought, writing the data you collected to predict what could happen and how you could change it.

Izuki passed the ball to Kuroko but he grew shocked when everyone on the court wasn't open to pass the ball to, "He can't pass." Riko mumbled.

Then you suddenly stood up, your eyes widened at the movements you just recognized, "Riko-san!"

She nodded getting to what you realized as well, "I'm going to get a timeout." Riko said making you nod and tell the benched players to ready you the bench for the players.

"(Y/N)-chan and I realized something about Seiho's defence techniques. If you would, (Y/N)-chan." Riko told the team before passing the word to you.

"Right." You gave a nod before going on the floor with Riko to talk to the players, "You must've noticed how unique and slightly different their man-to-man tactic is to the original. But get this, they're not only using that tactic."

You raised your index finger, "Seiho uses old martial arts techniques."

Kagami grew surprised at that, "Old martial arts?" He then made a 'Wachow!' most actors in karate movies would yell, "You mean this kind of thing?"

Riko and the others gave Kagami some weird looks, "That's not old martial arts, you dumb American." You bluntly replied electing Kagami to flinch and retort back.

"Dumb American? OI!"

You merely ignored him and continued to explain, "To be more precise, they incorporate movements from old martial arts."

"One of the techniques they use is called 'Namba running.'" Riko explained one of the techniques to you, "Usually your arms and legs move in opposite directions when you run, but when Namba running, your arms and legs move together."

"Apparently, by avoiding twisting, you reduce the strain on your body and the energy you spend." You concluded.

"In addition to Namba running, they use all sorts of martial arts techniques for effortless strength, moving quickly without missing a beat, and other basic movements. That's how Seiho moves." Riko stated that the opponents also sued other techniques for their plays.

You nodded at her explanation, "But it's not like they can fly or disappear. They're high schoolers, just like you. They'll fall for fakes, and they'll lose their balance if you catch them off guard. They're playing the same basketball you are. If you play like you always do, it'll work." You encouraged them to keep on fighting they'll their posture breaks.

"This isn't over yet! Go for it!" Riko told them before the timeout whistle was heard.

Kagami walked over to Izuki who was stretching his arms, "Izuki-senpai." Izuki looked at the red-haired male in question, "Huh?"

"Could you pass me the ball?" Kagami asked their point guard.

"Huh?" Izuki grew even more confused before seeing Kagami's determined face, "Let me go against Tsugawa again."

Izuki smiled at that, "Do you have a plan?"

"No, but he's only human, too, right? I just have to be faster than him." Kagami replied before walking to his marked player which was Tsugawa.

"What are you saying? Are you sure it'll work?" Izuki was a little worried.

"Probably. He does what he has to do." Kuroko appeared near Izuki.

"Should we leave this to him, then?" Izuki suggested as Kuroko agreed.

The game resumed and Kagami caught the ball. Of course Tsugawa was right in front of him, not letting him get past.

"One-on-one? Bring it on!" Tsugawa taunted.

"I don't care about your martial arts or whatever. Basketball is basketball!" Kagami started to dribble the ball, moving side to side before doing a break fast to get past Tsugawa.

I think this game is important for our seniors to get over the past. So now that I think about it, I really want to win this game.

Kagami dunked the ball making Seirin smile in joy to finally find their drive, "Yes!" You held a fist close to your chest in triumph.

"Yay!" Riko and you were seen jumping in the air hugging each other, the benched players with you were cheering as well.

We will win this game!