103 Chapter 103 : Once Again Ryota Kise

A day later, Furihata found himself on the court near his home, his mind concentrating on the five cones he scattered randomly around the court for himself before. He took a deep breath before bending his body slightly, and when he was ready, he spoke loudly,

"Siri, start the stopwatch."

Right after that, he didn't wait for any response as he started moving. First, he dribbled the ball to the first cone only with his left hand. It was his weaker hand, so this drill would also be able to help him overcome it. After he arrived at the first cone, he turned around and went to the second cone while doing an in-and-out dribble still with his left hand.

After that, he switched the ball to his right hand and did the same to the third cone. After that, he would go to the fourth while doing a crossover, switching the ball from one hand to another through his legs. Right after finishing doing that, he went to the fifth cone while doing a behind-the-back dribble, still switching the ball from one hand to another.

As for the last part, he combined all the drills he just did, from using his left hand to doing in-and-out dribbling with both hands, a crossover between the legs, and finally finishing with the behind-the-back dribble. He repeated it until he arrived back at the first cone, and right after he finished that, he dropped the ball and spoke once again,

"Siri, stop the stopwatch."

He took his phone that was lying on the ground while wiping away the sweat that fall down profusely from his forehead with his shirt.

"04:22, huh? Not bad…"

Usually, he could do it a bit faster, even one minute less if he wanted to force himself. But he had been doing this drill for the fifth time just this morning, and coupled with the physical training he had done before, he didn't want to push himself too much, afraid of getting injured because of that.

For you who were wondering, this is his normal personal workout whenever he had no training schedule with Seirin. Usually, he would train personally like this for only 90 minutes. However, even if it was not too long, Furihata felt that it was good enough for personal training, especially when it contained all the necessary things to improve his basketball skills.

In the first thirty minutes, he would do a lot of physical workouts, followed by the dribbling drill for the next thirty minutes, and ended with shooting and finishing drills for the last part. Even though it was a bit crude, he was quite satisfied with himself for setting up his personal training session like this.

However, even with all the hard training he did in the last hour, it couldn't distract him from the incident yesterday.

"Haaah..." He sighed depressingly. "What the hell did I think yesterday to provoke Red that bad? I shouldn't do that…."

Yeah, reflecting back upon his decision yesterday, Furihata couldn't help but curse his own stupidity. Even though Kagami was acting like a brat, that didn't justify him for keep riling up the red-haired boy until he snapped violently. As a result, both he and Kagami were suspended from the team for the next three days with the additional being put down on the bench in their next game.

"Well, the punishment could be worse than that…."

Yeah, if not for both of them being the core members of the team, Furihata had no doubt Riko wouldn't be this lenient and just dropped them out of the team. He could also thank his luck though, as the incident happened during the summer break when only students who had problems with their exam scores would be on the school.

At least, the team could still hide this incident from the teachers.

"Well, what to do now?"

Usually, after his dribbling drill was over, he would continue with the finishing and shooting drills. However, right now, he was not in the mood to do that. Fortunately enough, an unexpected savior suddenly comes.

"Furihatacchi?! Finally, I found you here!"

Hearing the familiar voice that he hadn't heard for a long time, Furihata turned around, just to see the goofy blonde grinning at him stupidly. Yeah, as you can guess, it was Ryota Kise to his surprise who came into the court with a basketball in his hand too.

"Kakashi-sensei? What are you doing here?"

"Mou, what did I tell you about calling me that name, Furihatacchi?" Kise pouted. "And I am here for the national tournament, of course! We arrived early so that we could adapt to Tokyo Gymnasium's court as soon as possible."

Hearing his reason, Furihata just remembered that all the games in the national tournament would be held in Tokyo. That means all the teams from outside of the region had to spend a lot of money just for their stay here.

'Kaijo from Kanagawa, Rakuzan from Kyoto, Yosen from Akita, Joshibi from Hokkaido, Kindai from Osaka, and Shuyukan from Fukuoka. Yeah, all the teams from outside of Tokyo are pretty well-off. They would be okay.'

He shook his head before turning back his attention to the blonde.

"So, what are you doing here, Kise? And why didn't you go to Phantom?"

"Oh, I am here to challenge you, of course!" The blonde grinned as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And I had already met Kurokocchi yesterday! He was the one who told me about this place. I also heard your fight with Kagamicchi too, so don't worry about it."

"Oh?" Furihata raised his eyebrows, looking at Kise wryly, ignoring the challenge part. "And what did Phantom tell you?"

"Well, he didn't say anything, per se." Kise shrugged. "But he was with Kagamicchi, and by how foul his language was when he ranted about you, I know it was pretty bad. So, I thought instantly, what if I challenged you both in a one-on-one battle? And that's what I did! I had a little game with Kagamicchi yesterday, and it was quite fun! So, of course, today would be your turn!"

Furihata was speechless, couldn't understand his logic. Fortunately, Kise explained immediately before he could fry his brain.

"Think about it, Furihatacchi! You both needed to vent out your emotions after fighting like that! What is the best way to do that? Of course, basketball! And with your emotion lashed out like that, your playing style would be more aggressive, and it would be good training for me! What do you think?"

Furihata blinked, trying to follow Kise's explanation while still looking at the blonde as if he was some sort of alien. After spending a few seconds under his expectant gaze, Furihata chuckled before he gave up and accepted Kise's challenge.

"Well done, Kakashi. What a devious plan you had…" He smiles wryly at the blonde. "Okay, let's do it!"

"Yeah!" Kise undressed his jacket excitedly before he warmed up for a few minutes. Five minutes later, they both were ready to play, looking at each other carefully.

"So, how do you want to do it?"

Furihata pondered for a second before he replied, "I am quite tired after my training. So, let's do the best of three. You want to go for offense or defense first?"

Kise pouted, slightly unhappy with how short the game would be before he answered Furihata's question. "I will go for defense first. It wouldn't be fun if the game ends fast."

"Oh?" Furihata raised his eyebrows slightly. "So, you are confident I cannot stop your offense? Make sure it was not just a talk, alright?"

Kise grinned. "Well, it wouldn't be just a talk if I have the ability to back it up. You will see it later!"

A second later, both of them are on the court, with the ball in Furihata's hand. All of the playfulness on Kise's face suddenly vanished, only replaced by the killing intent that leaked from the blonde. At that time Furihata was reminded, Kise is still one of the Generation of Miracles and probably one of the best high-schooler in Japan.

"Well, get ready, Kakashi-sensei."

For the first play, Furihata is about to do his signature move, a deep three-pointer from the middle. However, Kise is prepared for that, closing the distance between them pretty quickly.

"Don't think you can shoot that easy, Furihatacchi!"

Furihata grinned, not expecting that it would be that easy. He dropped his body slightly, still in the triple-threat position, making a jab-step move, trying to get a better position. Seeing Kise is unfazed, Furihata knows he had to change his approach. He dropped the ball, starting to dribble slowly while trying to push Kise's body back and gain some space.

"Come on, Furihatacchi! I cannot feel your push! Are you really trying to attack me physically?"

Furihata snorted, ignoring his banter. Right when they both are in the free-throw spot, Furihata stopped dribbling, trying to take a step back and make a fadeaway shoot. However, Kise is prepared, not giving up the closeness between those two.

Seeing that his step back couldn't gain him enough space to take a shoot, Furihata didn't force himself to shoot, making a pump fake before turning around 180 degrees with his left foot as the pivot before he lobbed the ball with an underhand pass toward the board and running immediately to grab the rebound.

Kise was startled for a second. However, he reacted immediately, showing why he is one of the best players in Japan by chasing Furihata down.

"Don't think you can get away that easy!"

However, instead of keep running to the paint area, Furihata took a sudden brake, catching Kise off guard as he went back to the outside of the perimeter. And a second later,

*Clank!*

The ball hit the board hard. But to Kise's surprise, it bounced back to Furihata who is outside of the three-point line, ready to take a shoot.

"SHIT!"

Kise wanted to run and jump crazily like Kagami. However, he remembers that this was just a little scrimmage, so he lets Furihata take a shoot; his eyes trailing at the ball that went directly to the basket. A second later,

*Splash!*

Furihata smirked, showing a smug face at Kise. The blonde just snorted before saying, "Your footwork and fake are still nasty, Furihatacchi. Did you also predict where the ball would go from your self-lob?"

"Nah." Furihata shook his head. "I didn't predict it. Instead, I threw the ball to the exact spot that I know it would bounce back to the left wing. Why would I try to predict it if I could just rig the probability from the start?"

Kise was speechless for a second before he shook his head helplessly. "You are really crazy, Furihatacchi. But this is just the start. Let's do it again."

"Sure."

Because the ball went in, the next play is still in Furihata's possession. But right now, Kise's aura suddenly feels different, as if someone possessed his body. He eyed the ball on Furihata's hand intently, just like a predator eyeing its prey.

"He would do a perfect copy here? Really?"

However, before Furihata could speak anything, Kise already extended his arm like a spear, trying to poke the ball from his hand.

"Damn!"

Even though it couldn't make him lose possession, Kise's pressure is enough to force Furihata into a defensive state. Now, the tempo is already on the blonde's hand.

However, Furihata didn't give up just like that. Using his left foot as the pivot, he turned around 180 degrees, spun his body to the right side and uses his speed to drive forward forcefully. Kise is prepared for his move, as it was shown a second later by how the blonde took a step back, ready to chase him down in case Furihata decided to go forward.

But that is not the case. When he saw Kise take a step back, Furihata switched the ball to his other hand, raising his head slightly as if he wanted to take another three.

"Damn! Not again, Furihatacchi!"

Yet it was another fake from Furihata, as instead of taking a shoot, he leaned his body once again, changing his speed from 100 to 0 and back to 100 in a few seconds. Yeah, this is one of Furihata's best weapons, his change of pace. It was proven that even top defenders like that baldie from Seiho couldn't keep up. Now, it's time to test how it would fare against the Generation of Miracles.

"You make it easy, Kise!"

"Damn! Don't think it is over!"

With his speed, as long as Furihata is one step forward, he couldn't think of anyone who could chase him down from behind. But when he saw Kise's running form changed a bit to a long step, he couldn't help but frown.

'Who the hell is he copying now?'

But it doesn't matter. When he arrived at his favorite spot, the low post on the right side, he leaped into the air, ready to put the ball into the basket. However….

"NOT TODAY, FURIHATACCHI!"

Kise also jumped from behind, trying to stop the ball in the air. And just by looking at how he jumped Furihata realized who is Kise copying for this play.

'Really?'

Well, Furihata didn't have too much time to think about it, as Kise's hand is about to reach for the ball in his hand. So, he lowered the ball, switching it to his other hand in the air, and flicked it from below with a jelly layup. And a second later,

*Splash!*

The ball went in again!

When they both landed on the ground, Furihata couldn't help but look at Kise ridiculously, "Really, Kakashi-sensei? Out of all of the players you know, why the hell did you copy Red's defense here? You know I am his teammate, right?"

Kise could only rub his hair sheepishly as if he were a kid getting caught stealing a cookie from his grandma. However, before they both could say anything, they were interrupted by a sudden loud voice,

"YOU BOTH ARE SOOOOO AWESOME!!"

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Author note :

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You can also read this fanfiction up to chapter 123 on that page. Thank you! :)

-Zeta Faes-