Chapter 132 : As the Game is Getting More Heated...

"That's..." Momoi gasped at Kise's last play. "That's Kouki-kun and Midorin's super long three!"

"Yeah." Harasawa, Tōō's head coach nodded solemnly. Even though Momoi used Furihata and Midorima's nicknames, he still knows who she is talking about. "And coupled with him copying Aomine-kun before, it changes things on the court. Imayoshi!" He sTōōd up and called his captain to come over.

The glasses point guard heard his name called and came quickly. "Yes, Sensei?"

"I need you to keep your eyes on Aomine-kun. Don't do anything until you are sure he was beaten by Kise. And do the basic distraction trick. Consume Kise's energy until he couldn't stand on the court again. Do you understand?"

Harasawa finished his pretty long order in one breath and looked at Imayoshi expectantly. Unfortunately, Imayoshi didn't have enough time to remember that much in one second, as the play had already restarted again. So, the only thing he could do right now was nod and promise his coach that he would do his best.

"Sure, I will try to remember all of that."

Harasawa sighed deeply, going back to his seat. Momoi who saw that interaction couldn't help but feel confused.

"Why didn't you call for a timeout? You would be able to tell the instruction more clearly and it would also disturb Ki-chan's momentum, right?"

"And risking Aomine-kun's throwing a tantrum? I know better than that" Harasawa snorted. "You know your childhood friend's temper. He would insist on facing Kise at his best, and when he was denied of that, he would mess things up deliberately just out of spite, and it would affect the whole game."

Momoi couldn't refute that, because to be honest, it was Aomine's reaction that would come first into her mind.

"Besides, even though Imayoshi-kun looks like a slacker, he is still a smart person, even if he didn't remember all of my instructions, he would still grasp the idea and improvise, and I trust him completely to do that."

Momoi could only nod while her eyes were on both Aomine and Kise. She let out a deep sigh as a memory suddenly popped up inside her mind.

-A little flashback-

"Momoicchi! Come here!" Kise who was still a second year in the middle school waved his hand, asking for the girl to come. "I have a few questions to ask. Do you have time to answer it now?"

Momoi smiles softly at the enthusiastic blonde. Despite being super athletic and having the talents to be a superstar in many sports, Kise is still a rookie in basketball, and he needs to know at least the basic rules of it if he wants to success in the Teiko basketball team.

"Sure, ask away."

However, instead of asking about the basic rule that she expected him to do, Kise asks a question that throws her off guard.

"Say, Momoicchi. Do you know how Aominecchi is usually trained? Like what is his usual drill and et cetera?"

"Why?" Momoi asked, a bit startled. Her eyes met Kise's cerulean eyes as the blonde looked sheepish. After a few seconds, a realization suddenly dawned on her head. "You wanted to copy Dai-chan?"

"Well, yeah…" Kise admitted, a bit embarrassed. "I mean, his movement is so fancy and unorthodox that it was impossible for me to copy it directly. I know it was not the basic basketball movement, because I joined the third team several times yet I couldn't figure out how Aominecchi moves. So, it is either he created that style or he followed another basic, right?"

What Kise meant by the third team is basically the lowest-level basketball team in Teiko Middle School. As a powerhouse basketball school, Teiko had three teams. The first team is the ready-to-compete team, filled with their best player. The second one was composed of the players who weren't good enough to join the first team, yet still had hope they could enter the next year. As for the third one, it was formed for whoever wanted to learn the sport from zero, so the content is pretty basic to help everyone understand the fundamentals of basketball.

Momoi was surprised though, by the fact that Kise joined the third team's training willingly. Even though he just joined the team in one week, his perfect copy talent was already acknowledged by Akashi, and the reason why he joined the second team for a week was just to help Kise adapt to the basketball atmosphere quickly.

And for Kise to join the lowest team to learn the basics, even though his true motivation is to copy Aomine, Momoi had to give a big prop to his dedication.

"There is one thing I didn't understand, though," Momoi spoke to Kise. "Why are you so obsessed with Dai-chan? I mean, I know he is amazing. But he is not the only one in this team, you know?"

It was something that she and everyone except Aomine noticed. Kise would always steal a glance and try to imitate Aomine whenever they had a training session together. It was cute, making her think Kise had a crush on Aomine.

"I know." Kise nodded. "But he was the one who inspired me to play basketball! And what is a better way to thank him other than beating him in his style? Don't you agree with that?!"

Momoi was stunned for a second by Kise's sudden declaration before she giggled uncontrollably. Kise who saw that didn't know if he should laugh too or feel offended.

"Why are you laughing, Momoicchi?" Kise pouted. "You know I am serious, right?!"

"I know, and sorry about that, Ki-chan.." She still giggled a bit, wiping the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. "But you are so adorable! I love your confession! It was full of honesty and confidence. As for the compensation for laughing at you, come here! I would tell you how Dai-chan usually trained!"

"Really?!"

"Sure! Come on!"

-Flasck end-

Momoi sighed, a small smile curled on her mouth unconsciously at the memories. That was the first time she interacted with Kise directly, and it still surprised him how the ever-cheerful and bubbly boy like Kise would have such a monstrous talent as the perfect copy.

However, she knows it is not just a talent. She saw how Kise worked his ass off just to make everything he copied perfectly. Yes, a perfect copy makes it easier. However, Kise never shied away from hard work, and here he is, the blonde boy who knew almost nothing about basketball two years ago, now standing tall in front of his former teammates, his former ace, Daiki Aomine, giving him hell all over the court.

'If only Dai-chan had half Ki-chan's motivation…'

------------------------------

Unaware of Momoi's melancholic thought, Aomine continued the game, still being guarded tightly by Kise. He is a bit annoyed as it is getting harder to find a weak point on Kise's defense. It was as if the blonde could see what would he do next and reacted first before he could do it, which makes sense considering how Kise finally managed to copy his movement.

'As expected, the only one who could beat me is myself.' Then, suddenly, his grin grew wider as he got more excited. 'Well, let's see how long this cheap imitation trick could last!'

Aomine stared at the blonde next to him who was in a relaxed defensive stance. If it was anyone else, Aomine would be offended, thinking they underestimated him. But he knows Kise, and he is also familiar with this stance. He used it whenever he deemed the opponent was worth the effort, as this would offer Kise as the defender the best mobility and reaction time against his move.

This is what Aomine expected from Kise.

After spending a few seconds observing the situation on the court, Aomine charged forward in the same manner as he did before, using his erratic rhythm and quick movements. Kise is undazed, still sticking on him no matter how many fakes he throws. This only motivated Aomine further, as the tanned skin power forward suddenly made a quick stop and jumped with his two hands on the ball.

He leaned back, and his whole body went nearly parallel to the floor. All of the Seirin members in the audience seat gasped, a memory of their game against Tōō suddenly flashed.

"This is the same crazy shoot that you stopped, Kuroko-kun!"

"Yeah." Kuroko nodded, his eyes still on the court. "But I did it with the help of Furihata-kun who acted as Aomine-kun's main defender. Without anyone to help, it would need Kise-kun to jump higher and stay longer in the air, as the ball would create a big arch after Aomine-kun released it."

All of them held their breath, watching how the play was unveiled on the court. But what happened next was unexpected. Right after Aomine released the ball, as if switching gear, Kise suddenly changed his running form, making a big swing to close the distance quickly and suddenly jumped into another familiar form before swatting the ball when it was about to pass his hand.

*Slap!*

The ball went straight outside of the court, and both Kise and Aomine fell to the floor.

"He could mimic my jump?!" Kagami widened his eyes in shock, didn't expect that coming. "Is that even possible?!"

"It is." Riko nodded solemnly. "Normally, you shouldn't do that, because it was dangerous and could lead the player into a risky injury. But Kise's body build is a bit similar to yours, and even without him copying you, his jump is already explosive. He just copied your technique to get higher."

Kuroko frowned as all of the Seirin members watched Kise in astonishment. He had never seen anyone stop this Aomine's shoot directly. And if Kise was able to do that, it would be a testament to how far he improved since graduating from Teiko. Seeing this, he couldn't help but feel ashamed of himself.

'Even with his talent, Kise-kun still trained hard to improve himself, yet here I am getting complacent only with my misdirection trick. Damn…'

Back to the court, it was not just Aomine who was surprised by the sudden development. Even the so-ever-calm Imayoshi felt akin to goosebumps right now. And it was within a reason.

'What the hell?! He could even get that high to block Aomine after copying him all the time? Is this really a high school basketball?!'

As for Kise, he just sTōōd up from the floor as if he didn't do anything wrong, patted his knee a little before staring at Aomine boringly before walking away silently. It fuelled Aomine's anger more, as instead of excitement, it was replaced with rage right now.

'You dare to provoke me?!' Aomine fumed inside. 'Kise you bastard! I will show you your place next time!'

The game resumed again with the ball still for Tōō. However, Aomine had already used all the shot clock time before, and it only left them 2 seconds left to take a shoot. With Kise guarding him pretty tightly, there is no way Aomine could execute the shoot pretty well in that short time.

*Clank!*

Just like everyone thought, the ball fell short and hit the rim before it bounced back into the court. The big men for both teams were ready under inside the paint, box-outing each other for the rebound. However, what they didn't expect was a blonde that suddenly flashed in front of them, jumped pretty high before snatching the ball in the air.

"OH!"

"It is Kise again!"

"It is not enough that he locked Aomine down, now he also grabbed the rebound by himself?!"

"He is on fire today!"

"Come on! Fast break!"

After grabbing the ball in the air, Kise accelerated with great speed, initiating a quick fastbreak by himself. But because he dropped back to grab the rebound, Aomine didn't have a hard time closing the distance down between them and stuck on him pretty tightly.

They danced around for a while before they reached Tōō's free-throw area when Kise suddenly did a quick euro step and grabbed the ball with his two hands and made a big jump right in front of Aomine. The tanned-skinned boy narrowed his eyes, feeling a bit insulted that Kise would think such a direct approach would be able to beat him. He also jumped at the same time Kise did, ready to pay the blonde back for the earlier block.

However, Kis surprised him once again by lowering his hand, faking all of this straightforward confrontation just to take away Aomine's attention.

'Shit!' Aomine cursed inwardly. 'He is going to pass!' 

This was not something that Aomine expected Kise would do. However, it was his own fault, as he fell into the thought that since Kise copying him, the blonde boy would never pass the ball just like he usually did, and it led him to being fooled like this.

"Nice pass, Kise!"

Moriyama, Kaijo's shooting guard received the ball easily in the corner area. Shaking out of his stupor, Sakurai rushed forward to prevent Kaijo's shooter from taking a shoot. But he was Tōō slow for that, and Moriyama launched his irregular shoot with no problem.

'What kind of shooting form is that?!' Sakurai widened his eyes in astonishment as he saw the ball was released into the air. Moriyama pulled that up with both his hands on the ball as if he were a setter on a volleyball team. It was a weird form. However, no one could deny its effectiveness as the ball went smoothly into the hoop.

*Splash!*

And as the ball fell to the floor, the buzzer rang loudly, followed by an announcement from the referee.

"Timeout for Tōō Academy!"

There was a silence for a moment, as all of the players on the court looked at each other awkwardly, not knowing how to react. However, it was broken by the sudden roar that comes from Kaijo players, as they vent out all of their emotions into the air.

"YOSSSHHAAAAAA!!!!!"

-------------------------------------------

Author note :

If you want to support me more, you can visit my Patreon page on patreon(.)com/ZetaFaes

You can read this fanfiction up to chapter 152 on that page. Also, you can read my other fanfiction, Diamond no Ace: The Prince of Hitter up to chapter 11 too.

Thank you! :)

-Zeta Faes-