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THEN

"And Anna was like whoosh, then did a fake two-step only passing it to the SPF and then she passed it back to Anna and then whoosh, she dribbles it and then bam! She and the centre does a mad windmill!" a jubilant maroon-haired male dramatically reenacts the last two minutes of Anna's semi-final game that she and her team won. Taiga, who is as always pumped for the upcoming game with Tatsuya acts as Anna describes him as a hyper five sugar spooned child skipping laps around Anna and Alex as they walk to the basketball park.

"Taiga you're making me dizzy!" Anna clothed in white sweats, a sports bra and an unzipped jacket admonish as she spins the basketball on her index finger.

"Let Taiga be, he's never been that excited by a game other than his own or an NBA game," Alex teases. "You should take it as a compliment."

"I would gladly accept if Taiga wouldn't make me vomit before our game!"

"Shut up! Be nice! And whatever Alex said before!" Taiga fires back as Anna sticks out her tongue in a mocking manner.

"Jeez, both of you are giving me a headache now, I don't know how your dad lives with the both of you and is sane!" Alex whines rubbing her temples.

"He works," Taiga bluntly states making Anna stifle a laugh as Alex whacks Taiga's back.

"EXCUSE ME?! I DO WORK YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE-!"

"Ugh! I'm going to run ahead if you guys are going to be like this!" Anna groans as begins to run up to the entrance of the park only a few trees ahead.

"Oi wait up!" Taiga yells catching up with Anna, leaving Alex sighing and shaking her head.

"What do I do with these kids," she sighs.

---

Anna begins to warm up with a small passing drill with Joshua as they wait for Tatsuya's team to arrive. "I've never seen Taiga this excited for a game," Joshua expresses to Anna looking towards Taiga as the female looks as well after receiving the chest pass.

"Yeah..." Anna trails her eyes at Taiga pumped more than ever with a wide grin across his face as he does lay ups with the hoop.

"Its been like ever since he found out we've been versing that friend of his."

"They were really close apprently, he was Taiga's first friend when he moved to the US with his dad," Anna informs.

"oh," the boy makes an 'o' shape as the word leaves his mouth.

Soon enough there was a loud commotion and cheers coming from the packed crowd from the bleaches signalling the arrival of the other team. Anna begins to run in the direction as she moves through the crowd to try find Tatsuya.

"Hey," she taps the shoulder of a teammate of the other team, recognising him from her last game with them from a huge rally they had. "Do you know where Tatsuya is?" she quips.

"Uh, he said he was going to get something from that convenience store across the road," he points.

"Uh, thanks!" she waves and makes her way down the street to the crossing. Jogging two stores down she enters the convenience store hearing the 'ding' as her body passes the entrance and the air-corn welcoming her unfamiliarly from the heat outside.

She begins to walk around the convenience store trying to spot her elder friend, only to find him in the corner where the bandages and bandaids are. "Hey Tatsuya-," she stops seeing him frozen with a schocked expression across his face as he reaches for the bandages, as his shoulder slightly flexes its bruise.

"Anna!"

---

"When did you get you're injury?" Anna asks wrapping around the bandage around his upper arm on the park bench situated on the otherside of the park. Tatsuya watches her bandage his shoulder and upper arm with a small breeze rustling his hair as light pours small shapes through the tree above them.

"A week ago," he answers. "During a game I got badly pushed by accident from the other team's centre during a fast break. I fell on my side. The doctor said the shoulder would heal within a few weeks, but my wrist is sprained."

"Don't tell me you're playing this game," Anna furrows her brows.

"Anna-,"

"Tatsuya you're hurt," she interjects.

"Taiga has been looking forward to this game-,"

"He looks forward to every game with you," she scoffs.

"Exactly," Tatsuya cries. "Anna-, he's been getting stronger," he breaks into a soft smile.

"He will always see you as a brother figure Tatsuya," Anna retorts.

"I've been thinking..." he trails as her eyes widen in realisation.

"Tatsuya!" she exclaims. "You can't just say you won't see him as a younger brother figure anymore!"

"Anna," he begins, "He's getting stronger. If I lose to him, how can I call myself his older brother?"

"So what Tatsuya?" Anna scoffs crossing her arms as memories gush back to her from her time in Teiko. "That's really low. So what if he is or isn't better than you? He admires you because you were the first person to reach out to him. And every time we have a fucking game he's yapping like a puppy to see you. He admires you for you, not if you're better than him."

"You wouldn't get it, Anna," he puts his shirt back on.

"I don't expect you to understand Anna," Seijuro said in such a manner it was as if he was leading to something else.

"You need to tell him at least," Anna pleads.

"No," Tatsuya's voice had morphed into something stern and cold. "Trust me, Anna he would play to lose if he found out," he got up and walked back to the court.

---

Anna sits back on the bench, subbing out as she takes a heavy sip of water watching the fast break of Tatsuya's team. As promised, Anna didn't say a single thing to Taiga or Alex about the elder male's injury despite regretting her decision.

It's turning into Teiko all over again she thought with a bad feeling in her stomach as she watch one of Tatsuya's teammates pass the ball to him to shoot. The crowd behind her begins to rapidly shout and cheer as they get up from their seats. Tatsuya manages to dribble past his marker barely, Anna noting that due to his injury he wasn't moving the same as he usually is. He had always handled the ball well, his playing style was polished and swift.

Tatsuya is soon met by Kagami, as the offenders are tightly guarded. Tatsuya tired than his usual self just manages to pass with a fake to the right and to the left where Anna spots Taiga's eyes widening, seeing the glimpse of the bandage wrapped around Tatsuya's shoulder that Anna had done earlier.

The ravenette begins to go into a shooting stance with his teammates on the bench cheering. Jarring from the rest of the crowd Anna's expression frowns slightly as Tatsuya misses, wincing from the pain in his wrist.

Joshua manages to catch the rebound as he passes along to Taiga who enters a fast break down the court hesitantly, making the shot as he misses earning a loud groan from the crowd.

---

The game had ended with a two-point difference between Tatsuya's team and hers, with Taiga's shot turning into a fast break for the other team. Through the large crowd and cheers, Anna began to squirm her way between the ocean of audience and players.

"Great game Anna!" A person had told her as she smiled and nodded in response.

"Joshy!" She called out to her friend as he turned around. "Have you seen Taiga?" she questioned.

"Oh yeah, he went outside with uh Tatsuya," he informed scratching his head.

"Thanks!" She waved and made her way through the back only to hear a loud thump of seeing Taiga on the floor from a punch.

"Why did you miss? Is that supposed to be pity?! I don't remember telling you to hold back!" Tatsuya yells.

"Hey!" Anna fires running over to them and standing as a barrier between an angry Tatsuya and a beaten-up Taiga. "What the hell is wrong with you guys?!"

"Anna stay out of this," Taiga muttered.

"Like hell I won't, I turn around for one second and you guys are beating each other up," she admonishes.

"At least I don't hold back," Tatsuya scowled.

"Why didn't you tell me you were hurt?!" Taiga shouted.

"Cause I knew you would hold back!"

"This isn't about that stupid I'm no longer your brother thing," Anna scoffed.

"You knew?!" Taiga fired.

"I knew about Tatsuya's injury as well, I was bandaging him up when he told me."

"Oh, and so you knew about his injury before," Taiga scoffed.

"I kept my word Taiga, but that doesn't mean I didn't try to warn him," she glared at Tatsuya. "Tatsuya it really doesn't have to be like this."

"Tatsuya," Taiga said looking down, "I don't want to be your enemy. I want things to be the same," he confessed.

"I see. If you're going to keep going easy on me because of that... I have no choice," Tatsuya took off his necklace with his ring on it and held it out, "I'll bet this ring on our next game!" Taiga's eyes widen in shock.

"Tatsuya!" Anna chided, "You can't be serious?! He just cares!"

"Today's game is a tie. If you lose the next game, we'll pretend this ring never existed," he states.

"Taiga-, Tatsuya! You can't be serious. Come on this is stupid!" Anna looks at them both. "What are you five?!'

"But-, you..." Taiga trails, barely even being able to express any words.

"Don't run Taiga," Himuro says as he puts his hands and his pockets and leaves, leaving the two behind. Anna watches him till he turns at the edge of the block and sighs, bending down to help Taiga up.

"You okay to walk?" she asks as Taiga doesn't say anything.

"Taiga... Taiga are you okay?"

NOW

Everyone was to see the game where it was dubbed the 'Clash of the emperors and the kings.' The stadium was packed, with the crowd all resting on the edge of their seats wondering how would game unfold and how would fate favour. Anna rests her elbows and arms on the concrete railing as her eyes rest on Rakuzan's number four player.

"Player caught your eye?" Himuro nudges teasingly on her shoulder as she jerks and glares at her friend.

"N-no."

"You're stuttering," Himuro grins as Anna just punches her elder friend's shoulder playfully.

"Neh, Hiro-chin is looking at Aka-chin isn't she?" Murisakibara butts in.

"Isn't that number four, your former captain in middle school?" Tatsuya inquires.

"Yeah," the tall lanky purple-haired giant says while eating his chips. "Hiro-chin and Aka-chin were close," he bluntly states.

"How close?" Tatsuya smirks as Anna hits him again letting out a hiss. "That one hurt!"

"Shut up," Anna huffs.

"Come on, you never talk about your love life."

"What are you so interested in my love life?" Anna raises a brow.

"Come on, does he have a psycho personality?"

"Tatsuya!" she admonishes her friend slapping him on the shoulder.

"What? Isn't that your type?" he jokes.

"I do not have a type!"

"Fine, a complex. Every character you've ever liked was a psycho or an eventual psycho," her friend laughs.

"Shut up," she admonishes. "Besides... Akashi is not that bad-,"

"Hiro-chin, Aka-chin almost stabbed Kagami with scissors on the cheek," Murisakibara cuts in.

"What?!" Tatsuya exclaims.

"Well, I don't exactly find that attractive do I?" Anna defends, "Besides, he was a gentleman before this," she gestured to his sudden switch of personality.

"Poor Anna," Tatsuya sighs, "She just wants to be loved."

"Shut up Mr Pretty boy I get confessions every day," Anna chides in a mocking manner. She returns her attention to the court as do the others, her emerald eyes trailing to the centre where Midoriama is confronted face to face by his former captain.

Trying to have a hunch of what their discussion is about, she assumes by the distant expressions she makes out of that Midoriama attempts to show he is not backing down and is eager to prove Akashi wrong. They soon return to their sides of the court as the announcer commences on the speaker the start of the first semifinal game of the Winter Cup between the two schools.

The crowd is loud, as the tip-off sets into game Shutoku gain the advantage with the ball first. The ball is passed to what Anna remembers to be Takao, a new rising point guard. Takao only smirks and passes the ball behind to Mirdoriama as he shoots his signature long-distance three-pointer.

The length and accuracy of his shots have grown Anna notes, growing intrigued by the second. Takao starts off with the ball once more, face to face with Akashi who is in a perfect stance. Midoriama makes the shift as his marker, the familiar number six that Anna had bumped into earlier, is screened by Shutoku's number five. In perfect synchrony, Takao passes the ball to Midoriama and he shoots effortlessly. As he does again, and again.

As the crowd applauds and praises the shooter Anna knows very well that it was crucial to score early while they could. She knows Akashi's playing style. It wasn't rash and quick like the rest of the Generation of Miracles. In fact, he used that to his advantage. She knew that Akashi was smart, he didn't account for what would come next but how it would end. How what was the pattern and how did he use it to his advantage. He was formidable in that way.

Anna had first discovered that pattern and the connection when she played Shogi with Seijuro when they were younger, perhaps the tenth time they had played he would always sacrifice the smaller fish to achieve the bigger fish.

The white-haired female is snapped out of her thoughts as she hears the echoing sound of the ball, dribbled by none other than Akashi. Akashi easily passes him with a half fake to the left and then dribbles past him on the right dexterously. Takao manages to keep up and stops him as Akashi draws back and throws over the shoulder past Takao to Rakuzan's number eight; scoring with a layup.

The buzzer signals the end of the first quarter as both sides retreat to their benches. Her eyes looked to the score once more as both schools are tied at sixteen points, knowing well that neither of them is not giving up any ground.

"Anna, Atsushi. Was he really the captain of your team?" Tatsuya asks as the both of them look to him.

"Yeah," her taller friend answers.

"Honestly, I couldn't really imagine anyone else," Anna confesses, "He's one of those people that are simply born to lead." She reads Tatsuya's expression closer as she only chuckles. "Don't be too disappointed Tatsuya. That's Akashi-kun's style for sure. He has no problem with losing some points to have a guaranteed win."

The ravenette's eyes widen as he looks back to his friend whose gaze is back on the court as the time ends for the first quarter's break as the second one begins. She knows very well that Akashi was cautious no matter the situation, and that applied especially to Midoriama, whom was his right hand during middle school.

The second quarter starts with Takao as Anna points out to herself that Midoriama is being doubled-teamed by Rakuzan's numbers six and five meticulously, not being able to move a bit. Takao being marked by Akashi passes the ball to number eight who is stopped by Rakuzan's blonde number seven. Number seven then manages to pass his marker as it is passed to the side to number four who dunks it.

Anna refers back to her notes as they reset about Rakuzan's number seven. Tatsuya grows intrigued by the sound of her flipping through her very thick notebook, as his eyes widen. It was outrageously detailed and neat, with coloured coded tabs down the side, pages full of writing text, diagrams and different highlighted words.

"that's your notebook," Tatsuya exclaimed.

"It's just on Rakuzan, they have way too many members," Anna said his jaw dropped, "I have a whole binder with individual books in it at home with the relevant schools and their teachers."

Returning her attention to her notes, Anna finds the person she is looking for. " Hanamaya Kotaro," she reads. "5'11, alright skipping that, personality, uh... nope not where he lives... hobbies... grades-, uh. He was one of the uncrowned kings amongst the three others who attended Rakuzan. He's known for his exceptional athleticism in speed, agility. His signature skill is his dribbling, people have been calling it the 'Lightning Dribble."

Anna raised her glance back up to see Tatsuya's expression with a deadpanned one. "You're not creepy at all."

"Careful Tatsuya, I have a lot on you too," she winked with a small signature Cheshire grin creeping up her lips. "And besides, I was only able to get a lot of information about him then most players because his father went to school with mine."

"So what's with him?" Tatsuya gestured to the blonde number seven his friend had researched. "That lightning dribbling?"

"I think you'll see," Anna says as Kotaro stands in front of Shuktoku's number eight. Tatsuya's and Anna's eyes widen as there is a loud bang with the female flinching a bit not expecting it to be that loud. Kotaro was dribbling was unnatural-, and inhumane. He had such control of the ball that he could control how much force and how fast he wanted it to be.

The speed of the ball at the moment was normal, but the force was one that was supposed to match one dribbling at an unprecedented rate. He could manipulate the speed so well it seemed like it was all animated. Anna's eyes squint as she tried to figure out his preparation before his dribbling to pass number eight.

For all that Anna knew it was fast, living up to its name of being associated with lightning. He had passed the number eight like an NBA player to a five-year-old. Kotaro passing number eight quickly makes his way down the court as he shoots by doing an agile double clutch around Shutoku's number five.

"His dribbling is so loud," Murisakibara comments.

"They say it's better to dribble harder, but I've never seen anyone dribble that loud," Tatsuya adds.

The trio continues to watch the gap slowly widen between Rakuzan and Shutoku through Anna's eyes seeing Akashi's playing style come into play, he was setting up the board. Distractions caused the opposing team to sidetrack for the plan or main trump card to truly be revealed and come into play. Akashi is that final card.

They watch as the former Teiko manager picks up on the change of rhythm of Shutoku's point guard, Takao as the ball gets the ball stolen by Akashi. Passing the ball to Kotaro he goes for a counter, passing Miyaji again. Setting up a lay-up, as he is about to release the ball Midoriama blocks as he operates a well-timed screen by Shutoku's number five to pass his double team mark from Rakuzan. Faking a shot, he passes it to number eight who dunks it in a fast break.

Leaning against the railing Anna only chuckles seeing the old Midoriama resurface once more, seeing whether he would deny it or not of his old beliefs shining through of his confidence in his team.

---

The first half of the game is closed by a tie with both teams scoring 39 points. Both Anna and Tatsuya are further intrigued about how things will play out with Murisakibara still adamant about Akashi's authority. A part of the female wanted to believe the Skutoku will win, that Midoriama had finally self surpassed his old self to be more than just second to Akashi, but her mind had said otherwise, that Akashi-, the current Akashi will never let anyone feel being better than him.

"The second game's teams are warming up during the break," Tatsuya informs as Anna looks up from her phone consisting of emails, to trailing her eyes to the entrance of Seirin's game against Kaijo. Her eyes catch eye of a smug-looking Kise stopping to talk to Midoriama whom is still cautious, saying something to Kise that catches him by surprise.

"What do you think they're saying?" Tatsuya inquires.

"Probably about Akashi," Anna says in a cold chill tone, "Midoriama is probably still cautious on the fact that Akashi hasn't used this eye power everyone has been talking about."

"Eye power?" Tatsuya baffles.

"Emperor's eye seems dramatic don't you think?" she shrugs to her friend.

The two teams make their way across the court as Rakuzan led by their authoritative captain halts as Taiga and Kuroko cross his path. The interaction seems to lead the other Rakuzan members to not intervene as they look dead ahead and do not stop for their captain.

"What the hell is taiga doing," Tatsuya deadpans as Anna tries to squint her eyes, only to irk knowing well of Taiga's ego.

"You idiot," Anna cusses, "Choose your battles," she refers to Taiga. The trio try to make out what of the confrontation as their eyes widen to find the result of Akashi 'pushing' Taiga to the floor on his knees catching everyone off guard.

"How-?" Tatsuya barely expresses.

"That wasn't by brute force," Anna says flummoxed by the scene she had just witnessed.

---

In the lobby, as they wait for the break for halftime to commence Murisakibara tries to attempt to explain to Tatsuya and Anna about Akashi's 'eye powers'. "So his eyes allow him to discover hidden powers in people?" Tatsuya tries to confirm Murisakibara's explanation on his former captain.

"That seems physically impossible," Anna bluntly states not convinced as she drinks the last of the drink she had got earlier from the vending machine.

"No," Murisakibara corrects, "Akachin's good at that, too, but it's different on the court. He makes everything powerless, both offence and defence. That's how his 'power' works."

Tatsuya's eyes widen as Anna tries to make sense of the situation, prone eyes at the floor as she leans her elbows on her knees in support. "I don't get it," Anna adamantly says as her tall friend sighs.

"You'll see what I mean," Murisakibara reassures.

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