Key to a Caged Heart

On Top

"I'm open!"

"Someone block number 23!"

"Reiner, pass! I'm open!"

Reiner dribbled further up the court before pivoting to the right and giving a chest pass to Eren who caught the pass with ease and moved in for a lay-up, getting right under the net and hooking his arm to send the ball in. The referee blew his whistle to call the point, making the score 16 points for Shiganshina High School and 12 points for Karanese High School before the buzzer for halftime rang.

"Great job out there," Coach Zacharius told the team huddled around him, chugging their water bottles. "Keep up the hard work and we'll win this game and move on to the finals. Zeramuski, step up your blocking. Their number 6 was wide open at the end. And Kirschtein, stop watching only the ball and pay attention to the movements of the players, both ours and theirs. Jaeger, great shot but pass to your teammates more. The other team now knows to watch you and they will put more pressure on you in the second half, making it harder to score. From now on, everyone pass the ball to Springer or Kirschtein to score and then when the other team is busy covering those two, pass to Jaeger. Now go back out there and hand their asses to them!"

The team stacked their hands, pulsed down twice, breathed in, then shouted, "Boi!"

Coach Zacharius rubbed a hand down his face, but the corners of his lips twisted up in a small smile. He couldn't fault his team for creating their own cheers to avoid yelling out the school mascot. Shiganshina High School's official mascot was the asp viper, which when chanted out loud lost the 'p' sound and sounded closer to ass viper. It was unfortunate that the crowd couldn't cheer for their team, not knowing what the cheer of the moment would be, but it did make sports games more interesting.

Levi, Armin, and Hange watched from the bleachers as Shiganshina High scored another point thanks to Eren's friend Jean. Eren backpedalled to defend, high-fiving Jean as he passed and wearing a large grin. This was the first basketball game Levi could attend and he wished he was able to see more before the season ended. His lover was sweaty from running around all night and that grin was present every time his team scored. Levi was captivated by Eren's concentrated look as he played, mind completely focused on the game.

The Karanese team had strong players, this was the game that determined who went on to play in the finals after all, but they were no match for Connie, Jean, and Eren's strong offense. As Coach Zacharius predicted, during the second half of the game Karanese forgot about Eren as they single-mindedly targeted Jean and Connie, figuring they would continue to make shots as they had been during the third quarter. Jean rushed under the net to receive a pass, drawing the Karanese defense to him while the offense surrounded Connie. That was when Connie passed to Eren, who was wide open at the three-point line. The ball swooshed through the net before the other team knew what happened. The gymnasium erupted in cheers.

Shiganshina was five points in the lead with ten minutes left in the game. Connie bounce-passed the ball towards Reiner only for the tall Karanese player with the mohawk to intercept, dodging Mylius' block then tossing the ball into the net to score his team two points.

The gymnasium full of Shiganshina High students boo-ed, even Armin's hands cupped around his mouth to shout. Unsurprisingly, the loudest boo-er of them all was Hange. Levi pulled their sleeve to get them to sit down and stop drawing attention. His embarrassment dissipated as he found green eyes accompanied by a smirk looking his way. Like a shy schoolgirl who caught the attention of her crush, Levi gave a small wave. It didn't help that the action boosted Eren's cockiness. The brat winked and blew a kiss at him before returning his attention to the game, oblivious to the way his action made Levi's kokoro go doki doki.