Spark | Kuroko no Basuke x OC

We're Not Scared

College has been going well, but it's been keeping me busy. I'm still in the midst of my many midterms so I wanted to sneak this update in before I forget about it c: Also, I've read all of your reviews—thank y'all for being so encouraging and supporting! It truly made me happy. I have the best readers/fans ever ~ so here's a longer update to make up for the long wait!

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Stop playing with the team?

Tomoko's eyes followed the blue haired boy as he got into position in the court. Though Kuroko didn't reveal the details of his tactic, he had meant exactly what he said. The team was to play like they normally do, and Kuroko was going to move around independently.

It was hard to wrap her head around at first. Teamwork was the foundation of Seirin's plays, but because of that, Kirisaki Daiichi had exposed it as a weakness...

Tomoko then finally understood when Izuki made a move to pass to Teppei. Hanamiya had predicted this and was ready to intercept the pass when the ball suddenly changed courses and shot towards a surprised Kagami—he reacted quickly enough to receive the ball and made a crowd-pleasing dunk.

"Nice!" Hyuuga gave Kuroko a friendly slap on the shoulder as he ran past; he was grinning, both from seeing the shocked expression on Hanamiya's face from being outwitted and from the comeback basket.

Riko sigh in relief; whatever past worry about the plan being a big gamble was no longer in her mindsets as she assessed the aftereffect. "Hanamiya did predict the best route that Izuki-kun was going for and had moved accordingly. In theory, he had a one-hundred percent chance at stealing the ball..."

"But his predictions won't matter anymore," Tomoko looked at the team with a grin reaching her own face. "Not when there's a shadow ahead of him."

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"I can't believe it," Imayoshi commented while thoroughly impressed. "That attack was nothing short of exciting. Kuroko's intermediate passes have always been team plays until now. Even if they seem like unexpected trick plays to their opponents, they're actually well established attack patterns to his team," he explained to Sakurai, who didn't quite catch what Kuroko did as anything than the norm.

"So that pass..." the boy widened his eyes as Imayoshi nodded.

"It wasn't built into an attack pattern. His teammates didn't know about that pass. In other words, Kuroko changed the pass course on his own. Not even Hanamiya can predict a pass his teammates aren't expecting."

While the explanation allowed Sakurai to understand the what, or concept of the pass, he was still confused on the how. It was almost unbelievable, unheard of even, on how anyone would be able to catch a pass they weren't prepared for.

"But how did Kagami catch that pass?!"

"He just did."

Sakurai's chocolate eyes flitted to Aomine when he spoke up. The pass hardly surprised the tanned miracle, seeing that he was staring at the game with a bored expression.

"When you practice with him every day, you start to understand how Tetsu thinks. What you need isn't logic," he explained as Kuroko intercepted Hanamiya again and rerouted the ball to Teppei. "It's trust."

Momoi looked at Aomine as the crowd around them cheered for Seirin. She couldn't help but think that the trust Kagami has for Kuroko now was what the Generation of Miracles had as well... Back before everything changed.

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"The gap is finally closing!" Tomoko cheered for her team as the score pulled up to a five-point difference with half of the quarter left.