TWENTY FIVE

"...We're screwed aren't we?" Takao said taking a swing at his bottle.

"Don't speak such nonsense," Midorima scoffed. By inwardly, he was thinking along the same lines. To be honest, he was completely overwhelmed by Takumi's sheer skill and ability similar to his own. No doubt the boy could be considered a 'miracle'.

But where did he come from? From what he understood, there was no famous youth player by the name of Yoshida Takumi but this guy was hidden in shadows all along.

More importantly, why didn't he come out until now?

'No, actually the answer to that question isn't hard to figure out.' Midorima thought. His eyes looked to the left where he noticed Kagami rubbing his legs. 'Kagami is pushing himself and has probably reached his limit so they had to send out their hidden ace.'

"Unfortunately, that number 24 was something we didn't account for or rather, we couldn't because there were no records of him, ever." Coach Nakatani said.

"Midorima is the only one who'd have a chance at stopping him, no matter how slim it is, so he'll continue to guard him. We may not be able to stop number 24 but the rest of the team are an exception. By now, they should be running low on stamina and will find it difficult to keep up with him."

Indeed, Seirin was nearing their last legs but the Shutoku coach didn't take into account their hardened spirits which would let them push on.

"Takao, you can't allow that invisible kid to make any passes."

Takao smirked, "Now that, I can do. He can't disappear from me,"

"I should hope not. Dismissed."

""Hai!""

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Takumi decided it was time for Kuroko to shine. Metaphorically of course.

He knew the boy was preparing something up till now and it was time for him to take action like the protagonist he is.

Takao guarded the boy with a close eye and didn't let him out of his sight should he accidentally lose sight of him. However, keeping a close eye on Kuroko was soon proved to be Takao's mistake as up till now, Kuroko continued with his passes even though he was stopped by Takao in order to keep the hawk-eye's attention on him.

In other words, he used the opposite of misdirection and made that all of Takao's attention was focused on him which then allowed him to direct it elsewhere.

With this, Kuroko finally overcame the obstacle of Takao's hawk eyes and disappeared from the boy.

"Shit!" cursed Takao as he anxiously looked around. Unfortunately, he'd lost his focus and couldn't catch a glimpse of Kuroko's form.

But Takao quickly calmed himself. 'Even if I don't know where he is, I know where Manager-kun is.'

He figured Kuroko should be somewhere around Takumi so he ran towards the ball and reached out to grab it before it went to Takumi.

But sadly for him, Kuroko did the same thing he did with Kagami earlier and hit the ball with his palm increasing the speed leaving Takao to grab air.

Takumi received the ball with ease and dribbled it up to Shutoku's defence. He got past the defenders with little to no effort and jumped up before dunking the ball with loud 'SLAM'.

Otsubo couldn't do a thing against him which hurt his pride as a veteran and as a member of the esteemed Shutoku team. But he didn't dwell on it too long because he still had Midorima on his team who was a monster as well, though not as much as Takumi.

Unlike the earlier quarter, Takumi didn't go all out and only lessened the burden on his teammates allowing them to play with ease against this strong team. They were low on stamina and energy but their hearts were as fired-up as ever.

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Though Kagami was happy they were winning, he was displeased with the fact they were winning without him. His legs were rapidly moving up and down expressing his desire to join the match but he didn't dare go Takumi and Riko's words.

In a sense, he was lucky Riko noticed his unsettlement and deemed it alright for him to play in the final minutes subbing him in.

Takumi didn't mind being taken out but asked Riko about his legs.

"His legs have had a rest so they're not as bad as before. He should be able to pull off a jump or two without hurting them too much," she answered.

'As long as it won't be as bad as in the anime, it should be okay.' Thought Takumi.

Some of the crowd were upset that Takumi, the sudden star, was subbed out and were confused with Seirn's coach. Why take him out when he was leading them to victory? Similar words to when Kagami was taken out first.

"If there's something I've noticed about Seirin, it's that their teamwork could be considered one of the best in this division." Kasamatsu said.

"Additionally, the only way humans can improve is if they challenge themselves. If that number 24 does everything himself, Seirin will never reach the standards of top-tier schools in basketball." he continued.

"Hehh, is that what it is?" Kise asked pursing his lips. "I guess I can see why Kurokocchi chose to go to Seirin of all places."

Kasamatsu nodded, "They're a good team."

Down on the court, Kagami took up his earlier position and breathed out a sigh before his eyes narrowed and his figure emitted the air of a wild beast.

'Unfortunately, I can't do what Takumi did but I'll do what I can. I'll get stronger so I can catch up to him one day.'

He glared at Midorima and the latter returned the gesture.

The ball came to Kagami who dribbled it carefully while eyeing the megane in front of him. Midorima watched as Kagami did a crossover in order to pass by him....or so he assumed.

Kagami instead passed the ball to an empty spot, except it wasn't empty. Kuroko was waiting there and he directed the ball to Hyūga's awaiting hands.

Hyūga took the shot and scored from the two-point line.

"YOSHA!!"

Kagami slapped Hyūga's high-five and the two grinned, happy for that successful play.

Midorima stared at Kagami with an incredulous look.

'He didn't charge in by himself. Perhaps after Kuroko's punch and their manager's play he calmed down.'

"Damn. They got us good there," Kasuga sighed. "It would seem we badly underestimated them,"

Though the others didn't say anything, they all agreed that they were to arrogant this time round.

Thanks to Takumi, Seirin was leading with 100 to 89. There wasn't much time left and Kagami and Kuroko worked together to prevent Midorima from taking any more shots that could close the gap.

In the end, it was Seirin's victory.

104 - 92

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A/N: So as you can see, the plot is very different from the original and it will indeed have and effect on the future. I'm just not sure how yet.....

~Shower me with them power stones!!!

Hehe, I'm joking. But thank you for your power stones which helped this novel in the ranking.