「Queens」

Chapter 10

No one could understand the game that had transpired. It seemed almost unreal, as if it were just a dream. The events that had taken place had seemed so absurd that not a single player made a sound after the buzzer rang, signalling the end of the game.

"In a stunning turn of events the Queens are defeated! Seirin has taken the title from the once undefeated champions!" The announcer exclaimed. "In a victory of 112-111 the supposed underdogs of this tournament have just been crowned the winners of the Winter Cup!"

No player cheered, none made a sound. A feeling of numbness filled many after witnessing the final game. It felt that they had all been pulled from reality, into an almost improbable scenario. The only ones unfazed were the rest of the crowd and the losers of the game themselves. The girls patted their marks on the back before lining up, Seirin following sluggishly.

"Thank you for the game!" They chorused, the girls overpowering the other team.

"They did it, huh?" Dee spoke softly, her face devoid of emotion.

"I wonder how it must feel?" Masanori hummed.

"It hurts like hell," Kameko spoke, voice quavering. "God it hurts a lot."

"Why are you crying?" Kaze asked her teammates.

"It hurts so damn bad," Sora replied, turning away and wiping her eyes. "It hurts. It hurts a damn lot."

"I know," Kaze replied, smiling bitterly, as tears streamed down her own cheeks. "I know."

"Fuck this," Rekka tried to hold in her tears, though wiping at stray ones with the back of her hand, her right hand clenching at the left side of her jersey. "Fuck my heart hurts a lot."

"I haven't felt like this in a while, and God does it hurt like a bitch," Kasumi let out a shaky chuckle, despite the tears that continuously rolled down her face. "I just wanna go home now."

"We can't, not yet, but God it's hard," Mamoru had a fistful of her jersey, and she wiped her tears with her other hand. "I never thought that it'd feel like this. I thought we could do it."

Before Rekka could let out another curse, Kaze took her into her arms, and the firehead began to sob into her shoulder. Rekka grasped tightly onto the back of Kaze's jersey. Her cries were barely muffled, and Kasumi had started to cry harder as well, Sora wrapping an arm around her, while Mamoru held both her hands against her forehead, leaning her head back as she cried as well.

Many photographers took pictures, while reporters took note of the current events. The cries of the five girls were almost unheard of, and the members of the Generation of Miracles could only stare at them in shock, having never seen this side of these girls.

Kaze let go of Rekka, who wiped her tears, as she grabbed her bag. The other followed suit, and soon all the girls had towels over their heads, all of them with their heads bowed down, as they walked towards the locker room. Many cameramen followed the girls, and it was shown on the big screen, as the girls disappeared down the hall.

Seirin was still frozen, unable to process what was happening around them. It was as if they were stuck in some kind of limbo, where time moved slowly around them, and their minds were blank. Their movements were robotic, stiff. All of them left the gym without so much as a word or smile. They were quiet as they walked and simply sat in their locker room.

"Come on, we have fifteen minutes until we have to get ready for the closing ceremony," Riko spoke, albeit monotonously.

The state of shock did not go unnoticed by anyone, and some were shaking from emotions they could not name. Seirin's team could be described as zombie-like from the slow, dazed way they moved to their locker room. They changed in unintentionally careless movements, completely ungraceful. They walked out of their locker room, and followed the hallway to the main hallway, however, what they came upon was a sight they never thought they would see.