Spark | Kuroko no Basuke x OC

It Takes One To Know One

What was more incredible, however, was the expression she's caught glimpses of on the miracle's face.

He's always been like that, Momoi, on the opposite side from Tomoko, looked on with an equally surprised stare. It was an expression that filled her with nostalgia. Since he started playing street ball, the stronger his opponent, the more excitement and focus he played with.

It looks like he's having fun, they both thought simultaneously.

The sparks that the two aces sent was enough to captivate the entire stadium. There was no doubt about it; this was one of the most epic battles ever performed in this gym. If it could continue endlessly, the audiences would have no qualms to watch forever.

However, the conclusion was sudden.

With a burst of raw determination and speed, Kagami broke past Aomine. Susa and Wakamatsu was guarding the basket, but those two alone wasn't enough to stop Kagami and he easily made the basket.

The score became 95 to 98 with just 41 seconds left to the game.

"We're only three points behind now!" Kawahara shouted.

There's no way. It's impossible... Imayoshi was in disbelief as the rest of the players on Seirin went to applaud the redhead. Is Kagami faster? Touou restarted and Aomine took off the the ball, but Kagami was right behind him and caught up within a second. What's going on? No, there's no way Kagami's faster! It must be—

"—a Zone limit?"

"There's no doubt that Aomine is normally faster than Kagami; it would be the same way while they're in the Zone," Kasamatsu observed and explained to the rest of his team. "But while the Zone allows an athlete to exhibit 100% of his power, the recoil is significant. There's only a limited time a player can be in this state before it runs out."

"But why only Aomine?" Moriyama wondered. If someone was to compare the strengths of the two aces, Aomine would come out on top. It didn't make sense that the miracle would run out before Kagami did. "Is Kagami stronger?"

"While he probably isn't physically, he is stronger than Aomine-cchi in another way," the blonde miracle responded for the captain. He was surprised at first, too, but always watching them play and hearing about the team from Tomoko had made him realize it faster than the others. "Kagami-cchi has exceeded his limit in the Zone, too, but he's able to keep fighting because he has support. It's evident when you look at Seirin."

His seniors glanced down at the sidelines where the coach, manager, and rest of the team were cheering the redhead on. Not only that, the other four on the court all had one emotion displayed within their eyes. It was the trust in Kagami as their ace.

"Kagami-cchi's fighting—" Kise's golden eyes flashed with hope as Kagami jumped after Aomine to stop his formless shot, "—with more than one man's strength!"

The slap of the ball echoed throughout the stadium and for the first time in his life, Kise saw the tanned miracle lose his balance and fall on his behind. Seirin quickly grabbed control of the spinning ball and scored another basket.

97 to 98, 29 seconds.

With Seirin only one point behind, the Touou coach had grown critical and went up to the scorekeepers to request a timeout so they can reform and carry out a new strategy.

Harasawa seemed to be staring at the state that Aomine was in before weighing his decision. The tanned miracle had slapped his teammate's hand away when he went to help him up. The moment he turned around, though, Harasawa said something to the scorekeepers and walked back.