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THEN

There were a few times Anna had been to the movies, for the first time with Seijuro when she seemed really fascinated with a trailer when they were ten. The second time when she was in Teiko and went with the usual convoy of her friends to watch a movie all together. The third time was when she had gone with Taiga, Himuro and Alex. Out of all the times, the third was truely the 'lucky charm' of her experiences, where she had promised herself to never let Alex to book a movie ticket ever.

Anna clad in jeans and a vintage lakers shirt, the white-haired female walks side by side with the maroon haired male donning black jeans and his usual flannel freshly walking off the bus outside the movies; with the strong aroma of buttery popcorn dancing in circles every time the door opened.

"Where's Alex and Tatsuya?" Anna quips pausing her music.

"Uh, they said they should be here in five minutes," Taiga rechecks his phone, "No wait in a minute that was sent like four minutes ago," he starts to look around. A minute passes and a familiar female voice calls our there names.

"Alex! Tatsuya!" Taiga exclaims jubilantly waving as Himuro only smiles and waves back as Alex waves frantically to her pupil making Anna stifle a laugh.

"I thought you guys would be inside by now," the ravenette says.

"Eh, really didn't make a difference," Anna shrugged, "I've been rewatching trailers! Let's get in!"

"Uh-, so great time to bring up!" Alex sweats nervously as the trio only exchange confused looks.

"Alex?" Taiga raises a quizzical brow.

"Well... you see, I kinda uh," Alex looks away rubbing the back of her neck as Anna only glares knowing the elder's habits.

"What did you do now Alex?" she puts a hand on her hip.

"So, the tickets for the movie you guys were sold out so... I thought we could watch the movie I wanted to watch?" she nervously chuckles.

"ALEX!" they all yell in unison.

"What movie did you book?"

"Oh, you'll find out," Alex grins.

---

"We're watching what?!" Anna exclaims sitting in their seats as the ads play on in the front with people starting to get in their seats, as the lights slowly fade darker.

"What's fifty shades of grey?" Taiga pops his head to the side confused as he opens his box of popcorn.

"Isn't that Wattpad book or something?" Tatsuya chimes in fixing his soda in the drink holder.

"What's Wattpad?" Anna looks to Tatsuya confusingly.

"Shhh after all the things I've taught you, one must repay!" Alex huffs as she begins to open the large chip packet she sneaked in.

"Are we even allowed to watch this?" Anna inquires, directing it right at the older blonde.

"Oooo is there gore?" Taiga's eyes lit up making his male friend choke and starts to cough.

"Not-, not exactly," Tatsuya flushes a bright red, "Alex, I don't think their ready for this," he pleads.

"Pfff," Alex effuses, "They know how babies are made," she laughs as Anna puts her facepalms on her face and Taiga only blinks confusingly.

"When a man and a woman get married right?" Taiga blankly states as everyone looks at him.

"Oh my god, you're so innocent Taiga," Himuro sighs and looks at Alex, "He's not ready for this."

"Taiga are you fucking kidding me, you don't know how babies are made?" Anna snaps making the male jerk.

"Uhh, when a guy and girl love each other right?" he looks back worryingly to Himoru and Alex and then back to Anna. "...right?"

"Sex," Alex bluntly states as she puts the chip in her mouth casually, as the blonde watches Taiga only blink.

"Alex!" Anna admonishes.

"Taiga," Anna says in shock, "Please tell me you know what that is right?" Anna nervously chuckles, gesturing with her hands.

"Am I supposed to know?" Taiga says in a worried tone, frowning as Tatsuya in the background is frantically praying for his friend.

"HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW?!" Anna whisper-yells. "Didn't they teach you reproduction at some point?!"

"Well, I'm SORRY! We moved in and out from America and Japan until I settled in properly and made the decision to stay with my dad!" he chastises.

"So basically how it works-," Alex stops as Himoru covers her mouth instantly.

"Alex!" Himoru and Anna yell as the crowd all look at them.

"Sorry," Anna mouth apologetically.

"Would rather the movie explain or me?" Alex questions the two as the teenager's exchange looks.

"Good point," Anna says, as she glances at the clock on her phone. "We have ten minutes to explain this."

---

"... so then the female usually recognises she's pregnant in like a couple of weeks later and... she tells her partner, good or bad reaction, either way, she spends seven to eight months in agonizing pain as the little bean gets bigger. Then she pops the bean out in the most excruciating way possible," Alex jubilantly smiles as she finishes her vivid explanation.

Tatsuya and Anna both look back to Taiga who is traumatised by the thorough explanation by the elder. Anna only rigidly pats her friend's back, sighing deeply as the maroon haired male struggles to take everything in.

"I thought..." Taiga trails.

"Don't think... just shut up," Anna sighs and glares at Alex who only smiles, resting her chin on her hand.

"Tatsuya..." Anna nervously chuckles, "Fix this."

"Why me?!" the male exclaims.

"Because he's your friend!" she jabs.

"You're his friend too!" Tatsuya throws popcorn at Anna, who only throws her water bottle at his head.

"Ow!"

"SHHH!" the audience shushes.

"WE'RE EXPLAINING HOW SEX WORKS TO MY FRIEND HERE!" Anna gets up and yells as there is a deathly silence that swallows up the room.

"I'm a PE teacher if that helps?" A person randomly yells back.

"We already explained it thank you!" Anna yells back as Tatsuya and Alex are bursting into laughter, holding both of each other in support.

---

Anna, Alex, Tatsuya and a further traumatised Taiga walk out of the movie and into the lobby with the rest of the crowd. Throughout the movie, Taiga had witnessed too many things... with attempts to get out Alex had pulled him back down and threatened him to make it through the entire movie.

"So~, was it good?" Alex crooned throwing her arms over Taiga and Tatsuya's shoulders.

"T- they..." Taiga barely expressed still not being able to function properly.

"Alex I think you both mentally and physically damaged him," Anna said looking at how her friend's legs were still shaking like a newborn fawn.

"Yeah, yeah, so besides Taiga-, what did you think~?"

"It made no sense-, whatsoever. It was just basically all-,"

"I weirdly enjoyed it," Tatsuya shrugs as Anna's jaw drops.

"B-BUT, It was basically all-," stops as she looks at the trembling Taiga, "d-dancing..."

"And there were too many plotholes I didn't understand!"

"Lighten up Anna, overall it wasn't that bad," Tatsuya chuckles only to find the female giving a 'are you serious' look.

"So! There are like multiple other books! When they come out as movies do you guys want to-?"

"NO!" Taiga and Anna yell in unison.

NOW

Hirose Anna sits sandwiched in between her teammates and Riko on the other side, for the long-anticipated showdown between her old Teiko basketball teammates. On the court, Anna zones into the middle of the court where it seems Kise and Haizaki have confronted one another.

The tension between the two seems to fade a fraction, as Haizaki is met by his team behind him. Scoffing, the male turns around and sasses his teammates: "Try not to drag me down, bakas."

"That insolent son of a bitch, he has not respected-, not even a shred dignity for himself or others," Anna chides crossing her arms.

"Is he so strong he has to use him?" One of the Seirin members questions the red team's captain.

"Though the Teiko Middle School team and Generation of Miracles are now exalted for their overwhelming strength, it wasn't always that way," Anna begins to explain about the school, "Their great strength bred resentment and antipathy. They were practically considered villains. Though, Haizaki's skill and brutality contributed to that reputation until Kise arrived who presented high lengths of potential."

Ten minutes passed, the tip-off between the two schools commences as Kaijo's number ten reaches it first and passes it to their captain who is only stopped by the number four. Passing him, number four passes it back to number eight who passes it back to the captain and scores with a layup.

Fukuda's eight passes it to the captain who long passes it to Haizaki making his way down the court only to be stopped by number four again. Grinning Haizaki mimics the earlier version of Kaijo's captain passing someone catching him by surprise.

"Did you see that?!" Anna's eyes widen in shock.

Haizaki in the meantime brutally passes everyone, pushing his teammates out way as he goes in from the shooting range and dunks-, only to be stopped by Kise pushing the ball out. Smiling, Anna and everyone stop as a gasp emerged from the crowd following the echo of Haikzai slapping his teammate's head for allegedly 'getting in his way'.

"Did he just-!"

"That guy is his senior!" Taiga exclaims as the teammate only is fuming quietly letting Haizaki get his way and apologises.

"I've met assholes and grew up with arrogant people," Anna says, "But I've met nothing like Haizaki-, even weasel face knows a shred of teamwork."

"Yeah-, wait... does that include me?" Taiga turns to Anna as she only raises a brow as if the answer is obvious. "Hey!"

"You asked," she rolled her eyes.

"I am innocent!"

"Fifty shades of grey?" Anna smirks as his mouth stops from saying another word.

"Taiga," Hyuga gasps and shakes his head.

"I was forced into it without consent!"

The game proceeds, as an angry captain, runs down the court and only lectures Haizaki in the process of passing him. Haizaki smirking at the new skill makes a quick comeback and jumps higher than Kasamatsu.

Kasamatsu is only quick to pass it to Kise who runs from behind, and scores just as the other two lands. Seirin continues to watch as Riko comments about a Fukuda.

"They made it this far, their other players are pretty good too."

"Yeah," Hyuga agrees.

"Both teams are going all out from the start of the game," Taiga adds, "But Kise's hardly touched the ball yet."

"It's not a bad move, Kise is skilled but he can only play so much that won't last him the whole game," Anna says.

"No, look Taiga, it's coming," Tetsuya intervenes as they watch as Kise makes a dexterous scoop shot against Haizaki.

A standoff between Kise and Haizaki begins as Haizaki is holding the ball with the blonde male ready. Haizaki begins to love as he dribbles the ball trying to get past Kise as he then on his blind spot bounces the ball through Kise's legs effectively and runs past him.

"I knew it!" Anna points.

"I don't get it," Koganei looks confusingly.

"Haizaki, it was always a hunch but-, essentially now that its' confirmed Haizaki can 'mimic' as well other players skills," Anna reveals.

"What?!" Riko exclaims.

"Since when?"

"How long?" Hyuga questions sternly as the female only shakes her head.

"I never knew, weel confirmed. I had my suspicions in Middle School after Kise had showed up and joined the first string. Haizkai would always watch him despite having a violent nature. Back in Teiko Akashi told me to just keep my distance from him and not receive and data because he couldn't cooperate with me. The first time that I tried he had just made an inappropriate joke about me out loud," Anna recounts.

"He's an absolute shithead," Taiga muttered.

"Oh don't worry about me, worry about him. I only said that he had a small dick and that to prove it I kicked him in the groin," Anna chuckles wiping a few tears from the fond memory. "But after that Akashi made him do an endless amount of laps around the gym," she said as she looked at her deadpanned team.

"You're really scary," Hyuga sighed.

The team turns back to watch the match as Kasamatsu passes it to number five and swings gracefully for the ball to go into the hoop. It was unorthodox but common, only a few could shoot in the right form from such a far distance.

"How does he make shots with that form?" Koganei questions.

"The spin on it was terrible," Tsuchida adds, "In fact, it's hardly spinning at all."

"His form comes from prioritising his own ease of shooting during practice. As a result, his shot's unique timing is difficult to block," Hyuga explains, "It's his own personal weapon."

"It was a good move but an idiotic move," Anna cuts as the whole team only looks at her as if she had something wrong with her brain.

"But no one can block it then?" Koganei tries to counter.

"Yeah, I'm not denying that it is, it's a brilliant move if it wasn't in front of Haizaki," Anna gestures with her eyes to the team to Haizaki. "If you were say Kuroko or someone in the zone that's when you could use flashy moves, Haizaki would never be able to reach the zone but for someone ordinary like that number five-, Haizaki is just going to steal it off."

In a matter of seconds, Anna's words become truth. Once he was stopped by Kise, Haizaki had mirrored the shot effortlessly scoring the three-pointer. Something's off Anna analysed not knowing what aspect had made them so different just yet.

"So Haizaki is the same as Kise," Taiga commented with wide eyes.

"I don't think exactly," Anna added.

"Anna's right, they're not exactly the same," Kuroko nodded as they returned to watching the game.

---

It had taken a bit for Anna and Kuroko to understand and finally piece what was going on. In both of their experiences of being at Teiko and being face to face in training with the Generation of Miracles where anything seemed possible as long, it fell into the loop of rules, anything in the slightest bit was out of the unordinary seemed to change the state of the game.

Kasamatu's signature drive between the opposition's legs seemed to lack in precision, allowing Fukuda to seem to take advantage of it, as they scored. Soon Moriyama's abnormal shot and Hayakawa's rebound jumps were ineffective as well once they were 'stolen'.

"I can't believe Kaijo is falling behind!" Koganei says.

"What is Kise doing?" Taiga gets all riled up.

"It makes no sense, I don't understand how Haizaki would relate to all this but-," Anna stopped.

"Eh, you think Haizaki has something to do with this?" Tsuchida raises a brow.

"I don't know-, it's like a hunch. I don't know how to explain-, but by the data of the fact that those same moves Haizaki had copied, the one who originally use them seem like they can't do it anymore. It's like... he's stealing it? I don't know I'm just rambling bullish!t," Anna sighs.

"no, no I see where your going," Riko supports.

"Yeah, but for someone... as uh how do I put this logically unmotivated and arrogant minded he wouldn't even think about psychological play-, I don't even think there's a psychological strategy for 'stealling someone's talent," Anna explains.

"Hirose-kun, I think anything is possible at this point with a player who Avatar's the ball down the court and someone who is overly obsessed by basketball they shoot lightning out of their eyes," Hyuga sighs as Kuroko and Taiga stiffen at the reference their captain makes, "I'll believe anything I see on the court."

"Kise-kun replaced Haizaki-kun as a regular," Kuroko says, "Haizaki was lazy during practice when he didn't skip it outright. Since Kise-kun never saw him in a real game, it's possible he doesn't know. Like Kise-kun, Haizaki-kun makes moves on his own after seeing them only once. However, he uses his own rhythm and tempo. When players see an opponent use a move that appears identical but has a slightly different rhythm, they unconsciously their own rhythm and become unable to use the ability. Haizaki-kun doesn't copy moves, he steals them," he finishes his explanation.

With wide eyes, everyone just turns back to the court as Haizaki scores another point. "He must have stumbled upon it by luck or a fluke, and realising a pattern he started to work on it," Anna proposes. The first half of the game comes to the end, with a score becoming of 42 to 30 in the current favour of Fukuda high.

Her emerald eyes trail along Kise walking distressed and angry about the new situation as her eyes only soften with a slight glint in determination, "Come on Kise," she whispers.

---

It was during the coming of the end of spring. Teiko's cherry blossoms that once blossomed vibrantly with pink cherry blossoms slowly made their way to green leaves. Anna recalled the practice when Kise had finally summed up the courage to stand up toward Haizaki.

It was that afternoon practice where a thirteen-year-old Anna stood next to Akashi Seijuro watching with worried eyes at the scene. Kise had challenged Haizaki for the first string lineup due to his hostility to other players despite his skills.

"Sei, shouldn't we do something?" Anna asked looking at him.

"They're athletes Anna, let them settle things on the court. What's done is inevitable," Akashi only replied.

Despite her wishes, Anna could only watch as Haizaki thrashed Kise hard at the game, his last dunk only sending Kise falling from impact. "Kise-!" Anna yelped as Akashi stopped her with his eyes saying everything.

"But, Sei-," she mumbled.

"There are other ways Anna, Kise challenged him, he has to accept that," Akashi explained watching her purse her lips.

"He wasn't ready for this yet," Aomine sighed rubbing the back of his head as Anna turns to them.

"I'm going to buy snacks," Murisakibara huffed.

"We're still in the middle of practice, Murisakibara-kun," Kuroko reminds.

"Shut up," he reprimands.

"Kise has grown extraordinarily quickly, though," Midoriama points out to Akashi who only says nothing.

"Shogo-kun, are you done with practice?" a female voice called out from the door as it reveals a female brunette. Anna only glared at the female for past... events with each other.

"Yeah, sorry. I just finished," Haizaki said walking towards her.

"H-hey! Practice isn't over yet!" Anna jerked irritatingly as Haizaki attempts to put his hand on her shoulder only for her to react stepping back.

"You're drenched in sweat," she chastised.

"I'll take a quick shower," he bends down to her height, "do you wanna come with me?" he smirks as she only giggles.

Anna fakes as if she was going to throw up at the sight of the cringe between the two. "that bastard..." Aomine grimaced putting his hands on his hips.

"Hey, isn't that..." a player next to them trails, "Kise's new girlfriend."

"What?! Since when?!" Anna exclaimed as the brunette looks at the side to see Kise on the floor.

"This guy just challenged me and lost," Haizaki slyly said.

"Seriously? Talk about lame," she snided.

"Who are you to call him that you piece of-!" Anna is held back by Midoriama as Haizaki leaves with the girl as Kise is left there still in shock. The green-eyed female slowly approached Kise kneeling to his level and helping him get up.

"Come on, Ryou-kun," she tried to give a small smile as she helped him with Aomine's help back to the bench.

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