♥The Shape of Love♥KnB♥Kaijou♥

♥35♥ The other half of the Zone

Since Shiki has entered the basketball court, the gap between the scores started to shrink a good deal. 

The crowd were cheering loudly because it was like watching a match between martial artists; like watching a martial arts movie where the heroine take on a hoard of enemy all by herself. Shiki was going all out, using her palms to hit the ball towards her teammates so her passes speed up greatly. 

"I am surprised the others can catch such a hit..." Kobori was amazed by their physical strength; it's not easy catching a pass that has an increased power and speed together. 

"It's because they are teammates." Kasamatsu answered, "In order to become one, they all try to compliment one another with their skills. If one gets too strong, the others will train in order to get the needed strength to make a balance once more." 

"Aozora is a very strong team..." Kise watched Harumi's movement because her Half-Zone has been activated. 'I helped Harumi-senpai train so she can extend Half-Zone's limit. I wonder how long she will last...' Kise thought as his eyes focused on the pink haired girl. 

"Seems like only Harumi and Shiki are keeping the ball moving around. Look, Akina only put herself away from being guarded." Moriyama pointed out. 

"For now, the Power Forward, Shooting Guard, and Center only have to focus on putting themselves into positions where they can go in for the score." Kobori explained, "Aozora is a troublesome team to go against because they put themselves into positions that conveniences scoring." 

"Captain, I can fee(l) a sense of p(r)ide when I watch them!" Hayakawa was excitedly cheering for Fuyu to catch the rebounds. 

"Defense! Focus on defense!" Koushima's captain shouted out loudly. 

Shiki looked at the scoreboard to see that they just need to push a little bit more before they can catch up! 

"Huh?" Shiki can see that her team was at their limits, she can see the sweat dripping to the floor. 

"Ah!" Akina knew the shot wouldn't go in because her fingers were too wet when she made the shot. 

Fuyu and Natsuhi both missed the rebound and it was up to Shiki to steal the ball. 

"Haru-" Shiki then watched in horror as Harumi fall forward towards the floor...

'Eh...? Am I at my limit?' Harumi can't see anything anymore as fatigue kicked in. 'I can't be at my limit, not now! I have to win! I have to...!' 

Without her realizing, she remember the way Shiki cried when the team she leaded didn't get the win back when the incident happened. The hard work that Shiki put in for the team; the pride she had that shattered, and the tears that flowed out with the frustrations... Harumi hasn't forgotten Shiki's tears and she never wanted the senpai she respected to ever cry again. 

'I don't want to see her cry again... I don't want her to be let down again...!' 

Sinking into what seemed like an ocean, she opened her eyes to see an opened gate. What the heck was that fancy looking gate? Why was she sinking all the way down? Where was she going? When she reached the very bottom of the darkness, she looked around her to see nothing. She doesn't feel ill though, she felt somewhat comforted...

Blue sparks emitted from her other eye too, remembering the tears of her senpai allowed her to open the other half of the gate that she cannot open until now...

"Harumi-senpai?!" Kise's eyes widened as Harumi's speed rivaled Aomine's speed during the Zone. "You..." Kise slowly smiled; Harumi has made it! She has forced open the Zone! She has yet again proved herself why she's the team's Ace! 

"Harumi?" The current Harumi cannot hear Shiki's words right now because she's too focused on the game. 'What absolute concentration... What made her become this way?' Shiki passed the ball to Harumi and watched the pink haired girl do her magic. 'It's like she can't focus on anything but the game...' Shiki smiled and decided to go with the flow, "Leave it to Harumi! We'll take the game back from here on out!" 

"The score..." Kasamatsu can see there wasn't much time left and Aozora's score was three points away from winning... 

Harumi was the one to do most of the scoring while the others focused on defense. 

Even from this far up, the boys can tell the girls were at their limits. 

"Aozora, come on! Win this!" Kise stood up from his seat, shouting out his cheer for Aozora.

"Don't give up! The game is not over yet!" Kasamatsu stood up after him, shouting for the team to win too. 

The crowd on their side looked at the Kaijou team standing up and cheering loudly for Aozora to win. 

The girls can hear the guys cheering for them and they were happy to receive their cheers. 

"I finally did it..." Out of nowhere, Harumi shot a sudden three pointer from the center of the court. When the ball went in with a clean swish, it was over. "I finally opened the gate!"

The winner was Aozora, they will advance to the next round!

"We did it!!!" Shiki hugged Harumi, very ecstatic about the three pointer she just did! "When did you learn that?! You were good!" 

"Senpai, you're suffocating me!" Before Harumi knew it, Fuyu, Natsuhi, and Akina tackled her to hug her too. The whole team just beaten their opponent! Just when they thought hope was lost! 

Fuu smiled from the bench, happy to know her senpais took the win in the end. She would have joined the group hug too but she felt embarrassed and unworthy to do so; she felt her wild strength didn't do much help at all...

"Oi, Fuu! Get your ass over here!" Shiki invited her over from the center of the court, "You did very well to hold them back until I return! Come here!" 

"Senpai..." Fuu was a little shy but she went over to Shiki. 

"Thank you!" Shiki threw her arm over Fuu's shoulders, dragging her into the hug. 

Fuu felt Shiki's hand petting her on the head and she smiled with the team. Harumi was right about Shiki's pats to the head, it has a nice feeling to it...

"Even if we win this round, no one is allowed to slack off! Let's take the whole team to the win!" Shiki was not satisfied yet; until they have reached their goal, they will not rest!