FIFTEEN

The second half began with Shinkyo's ball. The captain glanced at the scoreboard and clicked his tongue before dribbling and passing to Papa.

"Shoot! Go for it!" he yelled.

Papa aimed at the hoop and positioned himself to throw like normal however, something different occurred. Kagami was already waiting for him and unlike the first half where he jumped straight away, Kagami held out his hands and stuck close. This made Papa hesitate, taken aback by the sudden pressure. He swallowed and threw the ball which went it.

Kagami frowned but didn't say anything and went back to position while Papa stared at his back.

'That guy...there's something different...'

Seirin had the ball now and Shinkyo got into position to defend their basket. Izuki, using his eagle eyes, scanned the area briefly before passing to Koganei. After that, Mitobe managed to screen one of Shinkyo's players and leaving Hyuga open to whom Koganei passed to. Hyuga made a clean three.

"Nice shot!" Izuki cheered. Hyuga let out a huff and smirked. "It was thanks to Mitobe's screen."

The quiet giant smiled in response leaving Koganei to translate. "He said 'no problem'."

The scoreboard was; 33 - 37.

After this, Seirin began taking over. Slowly.

It started with Kagami's constant pressure on their ace who after some time, stopped getting the ball through the hoop. His attention and coordination was all off thanks to Kagami sticking to him like glue and the boy was irritated and angry. His team were getting anxious as well seeing their ace completely out of it. This was what Riko was aiming for and why she made Kagami train with Mitobe, a veteran blocker.

"Jumping isn't the only way to block someone. You can make them miss," is what she said.

Later on, Kuroko was subbed back in the game and Seirin dominated the rest of the match successfully moving up the ladder in the preliminary rounds. The ending scoreboard was different from the anime as Seirin's lead was a lot larger than anticipated. Instead of the original 67 to 79, it was now 54 to 80.

Takumi was not aware of the original scoring but knew it was different from this.

"Is this the butterfly effect?" he muttered.

Closer to the climax of the match, Kagami's jumps had increased to the extent he was able to touch Papa's shots and stop them from going in the rim. On the last one, he caught the ball in the air after it left Papa's hands and the match ended with a staggering point difference.

Takumi was happy. This meant that Seirin can become stronger than they were in the canon. However, if that's so, then...

'The other teams can also become stronger. I don't know if this is a good or bad thing.' thought Takumi. His thoughts were all logic and common sense. 'The Touou game will sure to turn out differently.'

"That last block was impressive, Kagami-kun." Koganei said wiping his face. "How the heck did you jump so high?"

"I was pissed off." muttered the red-head. "That guy was so sure he was stronger than the generation of miracles and yet he hadn't seen them for himself."

Right then, a tall figure approached the team and they looked up to find Papa or 'Dad' making his way to Kagami.

"I lost." was the first thing he said. Kagami blinked in surprise not expecting those words.

"I hope you play just as hard the next time," continued Papa. But then, his face morphed into a smirk, "As if you idiot!"

He was still spewing insults when the Shinkyo captain came and dragged him away by the neck. Kagami wanted to retaliate but just glared angrily.

"Pfft. I almost thought he was serious," chuckled Takumi. "Ah well, if he can't accept his loss and move on, nothing will change." He turned to Riko, "We're up against Jitsuzen next right?"

"Yep."

After gathering their things, they left the stadium and got ready for their next game.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Seirin crushed Jitsuzen with Kuroko benched the entire game. Similar to the previous match, the scores were different from the original plot with Seirin being a little stronger thanks to Takumi's random input and tips. The game following that was against Kinga who made it into the top 16 in the district. Seirin beat them 95 to 70.

The next game turned out to be against an amusing team. The thugs from the court a while back were Seirin's opponents and they entered the court feeling confident they'll win. Unfortunately, they spotted a smiling Takumi on the bench and immediately paled.

Seirin crushed them 100 to 40.

"What did you do?" asked Riko with narrowed eyes. "They looked as if they'd seen a monster,"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Takumi replied.

"Tsk,"

The team were chatting on the bench and slowly recovered their energy. For now, everything had been smooth sailing for them but soon, they were going to face even tougher opponents. There were three king schools in their region. Shutoku, Seiho and Senshinkan. Seirin will be forced to face them sooner or later.

Hyuga and Riko were busy lecturing the first years when the doors opened to reveal the King of the East, Shutoku. At the front walked the beast shooter and member of the generation of miracles, Midorima Shintaro.

Shutoku held a powerful aura and their presence was intimidating. From a single look, one could tell they were a difficult opponent and the school was a veteran for basketball tournaments. Their captain, Otsubo, was a strong centre. Literally. Additionally, he was a good leader and the rest of the team were not worse than he when it came to skill and teamwork. With the addition of Midorima, their already top strength was to be feared even more in this tournament.

Not for Takumi though. He just watched with curious and amused eyes and Kagami made his way over and forcefully wrote his name and jersey number on Midorima's outstretched palm.

"Gah!! What the hell is he doing?!" shrieked Riko. "That baka, why didn't you stop him?"

Takumi just looked at her helplessly. 'I'm not his mother.'

Kuroko had accompanied his partner and exchanged brief words with his former teammate. Takao, appeared on the side as friendly as his character in the anime. He was someone Takumi was more interested in than Midorima. His hawk-eyes were definitely an interesting weapon that even Takumi himself did not possess.

Suddenly Hyuga let out a low chuckle, "Well, I'm sure those two didn't say anything the rest of us weren't thinking."

The duo arrived back wearing fired-up expressions which made the rest of the team just smile.

The game might be challenging but they couldn't help but feel excited for it. It was time to show everyone what Seirin was made of.

But before that, they were going to see their opponents' in action.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

A/N: Thanks for reading this story that was made to satisfy my own imagination. I do hope you enjoyed it but if you didn't then....not my problem. Bleh!

Also, thank you so much for the power stones which I really appreciate and frankly it's a miracle I made it this farXD. I will continue to update but the time will vary because I only write when I feel like it. Till next time readers and stay safe!