The Medical Manager (Kuroko x OC)

Chapter 30

-Emiko POV-

They couldn't hit their stride...
Hyuga missed another three.
The other team scored more and more.
We were 10 points behind in the second quarter.
"Coach" said Tetsuya. "I think you should call a time-out"

She called a time-out.
"Listen closely, guys" she said.
"Coach, hold up" said Hyuga and took out the bracket. "Look. I'm sure everyone knows, but this is what we're aiming for. Every one of the 50 schools here fought tooth and nail through their preliminaries to present their prefectures. Every school is carrying the wishes of the teams they defeated in the preliminaries. They practiced until they were puking up blood and survived desperate battles. Only one school can beat them all. Of course being the best in Japan isn't easy! Everyone's desperate. Letting your guard down for a second is fatal. I know it makes sense in your heads, but I think we still have weaknesses in our hearts. Anyway, Coach, hit me with your best shot so I can get my head on straight"

"What?" Riko was warming up her shoulder and looked happy. "But I'm so weak"
"You seem really excited" said Hyuga. "Hurry up and get it over with"
She hit everyone and when she came to me.

"If you hit me, I'll hit you back" I said and she stopped.
Everyone had a hand print on their face, even the members on the bench, it was hilarious.
"I'm disappointed in myself" said Riko. "I should have noticed sooner. You and Teppei were trying to say the same thing. Guys with national experience see things differently"

"No..." said Tetsuya. "If you realized that, I wish you hadn't hit me though"
"Sorry, I got caught up in the moment" apologised Riko and I laughed.

They finally hit their stride.
We got all our points back and won the game.

On our third game, coach put Kagami and Tetsuya in on the end of the third quarter.
We were 8 points behind.
With the two of them in, we easily won.

We were moving on to the quarterfinals.
But, in the game of our next opponent...
Yosen beat their opponent, 81-0...

~

We watched the game and honestly, it made me want to run away.
"That was crazy" said Izuki.
"That was a basketball game, right?" said Koganei.

"In a local tournament, that score wouldn't be unreasonable in a game between a strong school and a weak one, but this happened two games in a row at a national tournament" said Izuki.
"It's the complete opposite of Touou's super aggressive style" said Kiyoshi. "They haven't given up a single point two games in a row"

~

Before the game, we met up with Aomine to practice Tetsuya's shooting.
"Seven out of ten, huh?" said Aomine. "That should make it usable in a real game"
"Amazing, Tetsu-kun!" Satsuki joined us and hugged Tetsuya tightly.

It made me feel a bit jealous...
"That hurts, Momoi-san" said Tetsuya.
"If you're here to distract us, go home!" shouted Aomine, which surprised me a bit.

"But..." said Satsuki. "How did he get so much better in such a short window?"
"We didn't do anything special" said Aomine. "In middle school he didn't need to shoot, so I never noticed, but Tetsu sucking at shooting is like a side effect of specializing in passing. Not that he had any shooting sense to begin with. Lose that side effect, and you'll be just as good as everyone else. Combine that with your misdirection, and you've got a real weapon"

'Something is bothering me though... Seijuro helped me to teach Tetsuya his current style. Didn't he notice this? Or was it on purpose?'
"Aomine-kun" said Tetsuya. "Thank you"
"What are you thanking me for?" asked Aomine. "I just couldn't stand how much you sucked"
Tetsuya smiled.

"Murasakibara's strong" said Aomine. "It's even hard for me to score against him. Besides..."
"What?" asked Tetsuya when Aomine stayed silent.
"Nothing" said Aomine. "See you later. I've got to go. The next time I see you, we'll be opponents. You better not lose, Tetsu. Let's go, Satsuki!"

"Hey! Wait up, Dai-chan!" shouted Satsuki.
'Dai-chan... they... they made up...'
"Sei! Sei! Come on! Teach me how to play basketball, please?" I remembered the time where I used to call Seijuro differently too...

I missed our friendship...
'Aomine changed after losing... I... I wonder...'
"Emi?" Tetsuya touched my hand and I smiled.
"Let's go" I smiled. "We have a game to play"
He held my hand and we walked to the gymnasium together.