"Hello everyone!" The speakers blared through the entire stadium. "Welcome to the U. A Basketball Tournament!"

A loud cheer echoed across the stadium. "I am your host for today, Present Mic and with me here I have-" There was a brief silence. "Aizawa." The other voice said. The silence continued after that. "Way to kill the mood but the show must go on folks!" The audience cheered again. "I didn't hear that folks, louder!" Yelled Present Mic. The audiences cheers grew and their excitement filled the whole stadium. It could be heard all the way from the locker room where Team Deadshot was kept waiting.

"Oh my gosh, I can feel the goosebumps on my arms." Misaki stroked the length of her arms. I threw the can of energy drink I just emptied into a dry bin beside the couch. "Remember what we practised," I responded as I headed my way to the mirror to tie my hair in a bun. The door to our room suddenly opened. "Hello guys, are we ready?" Midnight pushed the door by just a crack to peer through. All of us were waiting for the staff to call on us anyway. "Yea, better than ever." Toya raised a fist in the air as an assurance. At the moment, Midnight stood away from the door to speak to another entity beside her. "Alright! Line up. It's time." She said when her head popped back into the room. She jerked her head signalling us to the exit.

"Do you need the loo now, Tsukki?" Sakura looked over to him one last time before we left the room. He hid his face but he was red all over. "I-I managed it this time." He stuttered. "Well okay," She responded plainly following the rest out of the door.

We stood just behind the glass door to the stadium in the order of our heights. Misaki was first, I was second, Toya was third, Tsukki was fourth and Sakura was fifth. "Yo Rylie," Sakura called from the back. "Did Coach Ukai send subs? I didn't see them around."

"He said Yuji and Naoko from the second year will be here." I shrugged in response. "Aah! Thank god!" said two males in black jerseys rushing over to us. "Sorry, took us some time," said Yuji, the green-haired male. "We were so lucky that this teacher who called himself Cementoss guided us here. We were so lost." Naoko, the other male with brown dreadlocks huffed.

"Right, keep your bags there and join up." Sakura jerked a thumb at our locker room. The two scurried inside, dumped their gym bags, undid the jerseys they wore over their uniforms and hastily joined the line behind Sakura. Tsukki adjusted the boys ahead of Misaki as per their height. Midnight walked ahead of us with a basketball at her hip. "Good Luck!" She turned and winked at us, her curves shadowed certain features against the sunlight behind her. She held a whip in her other hand.

"And introducing Midnight to do the honours." The voice from the speakers stopped. I saw Midnight as she pulled the door and cat-walked into the stadium. The audience cheered as she appeared on the podium. "Thank you Present Mic!" She winked at the mic station above the stadium hoping to send it to him. "Ohh! I sense so much of youthful energy." She turned to the audience of students seated around her. "The matches will be in two ten minute halves with a five-minute break during half time. So, let's not waste any more time!" She squealed. "To my right is a team which won seven medals against three schools in the past inter-school matches, Team U. A!" The audience in blue roared and screamed. "And to my left, the team from Aldera High who has been a rising star of this year, Team Deadshot!"

"Ah! That's our queue!" Misaki nervously pushed Naoko ahead of her who stumbled on Yuji out of the door. We followed in succession. The three-storied deck of seats was filled with students, half in blue from U. A and half in black from Aldera High. The centre had a rectangular stadium where it hadn't been earlier. It was slightly raised with cement and covered with wood. The Aldera High side of the audience was cheering for us. All of us waved to the audience, but couldn't decide which side to face.

"From the U. A line up starting on my left, we have Tendo Fumiko, Tanaka Kaori, Yamada Kenji, Matsuri Akiko, Watanabe Hideko, Nakamura Ren and Ito Monterio." Midnight continued. I didn't recognize the last two names from before...

"And on my right, starting from the left we have Yuji Saito, Naoko Kobayashi, Ayuzawa Misaki, Rylie Moscovitz, Kinomoto Toya, Kei Tsukkishima and Sakura Amanai." She concluded. We bowed gleefully as our names were being called. "And on each side, we have Coach Ukai from Team Deadshot and Coach Suzuki from Team U. A." She gestured to the two corners of the stadium with outstretched arms.  "When did he arrive?" Sakura whispered to Tsukki beside him. "Sly as always. Doesn't like attention." Tsukki responded softly.

"And I will be your referee for today's match. So why wait?" Midnight pointed to herself, clutching the mic with both hands. "Let's begin the match in 10 minutes! Get your snacks and get ready!" With that she switched off the mic and jumped off the podium, giggling quietly to herself. "She stole my lines!" Present Mic was heard on the speakers, "Well, the show's about to start folks! Don't be late!"

We ran to our bench where a number of dry snacks and water were being placed for us by the U. A staff. A frail old short man in a black jersey greeted us. "Coach Ukai, when did you get here?" Toya asked. "Well, you see I'm not in my prime anymore. I don't need to make an entrance. I'll leave the spotlight to you guys." He crossed his small hands and legs with a smug smile on his face. "Told you." Tsukki beamed at Sakura.

"So the plan?" He asked us as we hurdled into a group. "So, as usual, I play point guard, Toya stays shooting guard, Misaki is our small forward, Sakura plays power forward and Tsukki plays centre." I pointed to each as I took their names. "And did you analyze their games?" Coach interrupted me hastily. "Yes," I replied confidently. "I thought their team has some unique skills to counter ours, so if we switch the positions, we can overcome their set up."

A giant roll of newspaper came crashing down on my head. "Wrong answer!" Coach Ukai barked. "Hey," Toya watched as he noticed my eyebrows and fists twitch in anger. "What makes you think you can hit me like that?" I was about to charge in on the coach when Toya interlocked my arms in his to stop me. "Stick to man-to-man defence and box out their centre on the rebound. When I shout defence, switch to zonal defence. Otherwise, you do best what seems fit for you." He concluded, completely unfazed by my anger.

"Ah!" Misaki slapped her cheeks to beat out the nerves. "I can do this." We got into a group hug before we jogged to the centre. "Alright, captains?" I stepped forward from my team and noticed Yamada Kenji come into the circle from his team.

"Three, two, one..." Midnight blew the whistle on the count of zero and threw the ball in the air. "It's a service break!" Present Mic screamed on the mic. I smacked the ball at the apex of its throw towards Tsukki. He dribbled towards the three-point line and tossed a long shot towards the basket. The whistle blew again. "3-0" Midnight announced and a student flipped the scorecard under our team label to three.

I clapped with my arms outstretched above me to acknowledge Tsukki's effort. Akiko their centre, tossed the ball to Hideko their point guard. Shit, I missed the ball.

"Hideko misses Rylie's hand. That's a good save by U. A." Present Mic yelled into the speakers. "Go-go-go!" Kenji yelled to their ball carrier, Fumiko. Sakura charged toward her, grabbed the ball and flung it overhead to Toya in the far corner of the court. "Nice catch!" Present Mic announced. "Ooh! And there is a nice screen by Tsukki against Kenji!"

Midnight blew her whistle. "Oh my god, it's 5-0! Two points scored by Toya!" Present Mic screamed in English. Toya tossed the ball to Kenji who tossed over to Kaori. The audience cheered loudly. The reason was made clear soon after. "Kaori pulled off a duck-in to receive the pass and is now on his way to the goal!" The speakers blared. There were roaring cheers from the crowd. Sakura and I shifted places and she charged in for him. "Oh, it's tense! He dodged Sakura and is making his way to the goal!" Present Mic barked.

"Tsukki guard!" I yelled. There was an immense roar from the crowd. "5-2! U. A finally makes their first score! Yeah!" The speakers blasted at full volume. Damn, that Kaori is fast. I knew it.

"We'll get the next one." Toya roughly patted Sakura on the back. Four minutes and nine seconds into the game and the teams' scores were at 18-15. "Defense!" Coach Ukai shouted from the bench. "Kaori is charging in with the ball-oh, and what is this? Team Deadshot is on zone defence? And Rylie has cornered Kaori." Present Mic seemed confused. Not so tall am I now, chump?

"Oh, what-a-move! With one smooth move, Rylie steals the ball and is on the offence!" The audience started to cheer after Present Mic. I tossed a ball to Sakura who jogged behind Tsukki and dunked a shot into the goal. Midnight blew the whistle. "Fantastic screening by Tsukki, amazing duo!" Present Mic announced. A student changed the scorecards to 20-15.

"Oh, Timeout!" Midnight raised her whip high as a baton. "U. A calls timeout. Two minutes only." The games paused at five minutes and forty-nine seconds. We jogged back to our benches. I wiped the sweat on my forehead with the hem of my vest. "They'll want to overtake the gap." Coach Ukai looked scornfully in the direction of the opponent team. "Point guard watch out."

"Maybe you can make it less obvious?" Sakura tried her best to wave an arm in front of the coach's face to distract him with no success. We returned to the court after a moment's rest. "U. A's ball." Midnight announced while we got into position.

Fumiko currently held the ball. She tossed it to Akiko on her right. Akiko spun around and ran towards the goal. Tsukki jumped to reach out for the ball. "It's fake!" Present Mic yelled. "That's a great pass to Kaori!"

Kaori charged out of the free-throw line and pocketed a goal. The audience in blue cheered loudly. The whistle was heard. "20-18." Midnight announced. Sakura tossed the ball at me. This woman has such a loose defence. I took no time to slide the ball between her legs where I anticipated to see Sakura. "And that's a steal from Kaori!" The audience clapped frantically. What? I saw Misaki chase him. "Toya, Tsukki go!" I barked at them, both of them formed a triangular defence and pinned him to the sidelines on the right. "And that's a smooth dodge!" I followed my gaze to Kaori as soon as Present Mic was heard on the speakers to see him break under Tsukki's tall defence, toss the ball to Akiko under the basket which allowed her to score a goal.

"It's a tie at 20, folks! Both teams are fighting aggressively! What do you have to say about that Aizawa?" A brief fumbling was heard after Present Mic finished. "Goodnight," Aizawa-sensei mumbled. Meanwhile, Tsukki recovered from his frustration and tossed the ball over to Toya. The crowd started cheering when Hideko fought for the ball off Toya's grip.

"Ooh! That's a great manoeuvre. Kaori is taking it for the win." Present Mic squealed. Toya immediately charged in on Kaori but he dodged him with a fake and scored a basket. The whistle blared. "20-22" Midnight yelled. "I swear to god he stole it when I wasn't looking. I thought I could deny Hideko the steal. I didn't see it coming." I rested a hand on Toya's shoulder as he blabbered beside me. "I need you to be cool." I looked him straight in the eye and gestured a signal with a wink. He nodded and fist-bumped me before we parted. I quickly jogged to Misaki, "Switch." I whispered.

"Oh, I see how it is. You switched with the girl." The guy Kaori, who I was now defending, snarkily whispered to me. I avoided any kind of response. The ball was tossed to Sakura who stood there fighting off her defenders. She immediately passed the possession to Tsukki. To my surprise, Kaori slipped to my side to intercept the ball. I stole the ball, tossed it to Misaki who scored a dunk. "That's a comeback in the face by Deadshot!" Present Mic stressed the last word in English. The scorecards were flipped to 22-22.

The ball toss was with Akiko and I made sure Kaori was blocked this time. Akiko passed the ball to Hideko. "What was that Kaori is on the offence again?" Present Mic yelled enthusiastically. Shit, one distraction and he slips away! He ran towards Hideko with the ball in his hands. Tsukki stood there and blocked his motion forcing Kaori to toss the ball to Akiko in the far right. "Oh my god! That was a brilliant steal by Rylie. She's going for it. She's going for the empty side of the court-" Present Mic had to cut his own words.

The whistle was sounded. "25-22" Midnight announced. I patiently tossed the ball to Kaori. He tossed the ball to Kenji who was struggling to keep the ball against Toya. Toya tapped the ball hard toward Tsukki's position. Hideko stole the ball but Misaki snatched it and scored a goal for the team. The audience dressed in black roared and clapped silencing the other half of the stadium. "You got lucky." Kaori barked at me. Say what you will dude, I know where you wanted to go and I read right through you.

Fumiko started with the ball, she was going to toss it over to Kenji but Misaki stole the ball and ran to the far left. "Oh no! Three guards at Misaki, what will she do!" The speakers were heard but little did it matter to Misaki. She gritted her teeth. However, with Fumiko, Kenji and Akiko surrounding her, she saw no opportunity for an overhead pass to Tsukki or Toya. "Ah, Rylie!" She pulled a fake to Toya but quickly tossed through the gap that formed. "That was so cool!" Present Mic was heard on the speakers again.

With Kaori struggling against my defence, I saw Akiko and Kenji towards the ball as it approached me. Kaori stretched out to attack the ball but I slid it around my back and tossed a shot into the basket. "A fake and a hook shot! Wow! Present Mic announced. The audience from Aldera High cheered loudly. "27-22." A student announced.

I had just tossed the ball again to Kaori when the whistle blared. "Half-time!" Midnight yelled beating her whip on the ground. "Five minutes guys!"

We ran to our benches where Coach Ukai sat. "I thought Coach would call a timeout but he seemed pretty reluctant to do so," Yuji informed me when I sat next to him. "I knew that thick skull of hers could handle the pressure." Coach crossed his arms and had that smug look on his face. "Who are you calling thick skull?" I slammed my fist beside me on the bench. To my surprise, I felt a cold press on top of my head. Tsukki placed a water bottle on my head. I grabbed it off him and chugged the water bottoms up. We wiped our sweat with towels and each ate a calorie candy to boost our energy.

"Welcome back folks for the second half of the game. So far we have seen a brilliant comeback from Kaori, magnificent long shots from Tsukki, eye-popping games by Rylie and aggressive steals and dodges by Misaki. Let's see what we have in this half folks. Aizawa, a word from you?" Fumbling was heard on the speakers when Present Mic passed the mic over to Aizawa sensei. "I need another nap." We heard Aizawa speak in a low tone.

Kaori tossed the ball to Akiko, right under Tsukki's arms. She reached her end of the court stopping briefly before the three-pointer to aim for a long shot. Tsukki fell for her fake since she tossed the ball to Kenji on her left who scored the point. "That was a half-time comeback folk!" Present Mic yelled into the mic. The U. A audience's cheer followed soon after. "27-25" Midnight announced after a whistle. Kenji high fived Fumiko before he tossed the ball to Toya, who immediately passed it to me as soon as I struggled away from Kaori. The ball accidentally landed on my feet and rolled outside the sideline before I could save it. The referee whistled. "U. A's ball." She announced. Ah! I felt horrible.

Hideko ran to receive the ball, she immediately flung it to Kenji. "Nice steal!" I barked. Toya quickly grabbed the ball and raced towards our basket. Sakura screened Fumiko who was chasing him so Toya could perform a dunk. Midnight whistled. "29-25," She said. Tsukki high fived Misaki. Kenji started with the ball and passed it to Kaori. Oh! I hadn't noticed. He was running toward the basket when he tossed a pass under his feet. "Amazing! Kaori does a double pass!" Present Mic kept rambling on following each of his actions. Toya jumped to block it but Kenji landed a long shot into the basket. "29-28." Midnight announced after her whistle.

Toya started with the ball and flung it cleanly to Sakura. To her surprise, Fumiko grabbed the ball and two struggled for a bit. "Foul. Five-second violation." Midnight announced after a long whistle. "U. A Ball."

"Hang in there, Sakura." Misaki gave her a fist bump. Fumiko went to the edge and tossed him the ball overhead. Oh, Akiko sneakily crept to the far end of the court. "Tsukki!" I yelled to get him to look at her. Akiko was about to toss the ball into the basket when Toya slammed it into the ground. "An amazing save!" Present Mic cheered. He dribbled the ball and tossed it overhead. Tsukki reached for the ball and tossed it to Sakura. Fumiko snatched the ball from Sakura and turned around to land it into the goal. "Rebound!" Tsukki yelled but Akiko jumped just enough beside him to tip it into the goal. "Go U.A!" Present Mic's screaming was interrupted as the mic made strange sounds. "Sorry." He recovered from the strange sounds. "I was too excited."

"29-30" Midnight announced after silence was achieved from Present Mic.

It was three minutes and twenty-seven seconds in and the score was 35-37. "Timeout!" Midnight blew her whistle. "Deadshot has two minutes." Chief Ukai? I looked over to see his face. He had indeed called timeout since he was standing there in thought. We jogged to him. "We haven't overcome the gap." He thought aloud. "Sakura, snatch the ball. Don't wince on the court proving who is stronger. The passes need to go overhead. Toya and Tsukki, make yourselves available for a three-point shot. Misaki- pay attention and Rylie, make sure the ball gets there." Coach concluded. We all nodded in agreement, except Sakura who was lost in thought. "Here cool it off. We need the aggression on the court." Tsukki handed her a bottle of water. "Thanks." She mumbled before she took a sip hoping to ignore her thoughts.

"Ball, Deadshot." Midnight announced when we returned. I grabbed the ball and looked at Misaki. I gave her a nod and she returned one. I faked a pass toward her and quickly my arms flung in the opposite direction. The ball flew overhead to Tsukki. He tapped the ball to pass it to Toya who sunk in a goal from the three-pointer line from the far end of the court. "38-37" Midnight blew her whistle. "What a pass! Tsukki played strategically! How will U. A respond to that?" Present Mic enthusiastically squealed on the mic.

Toya tossed the ball to Kenji who passed it to Akiko. She raced to the other side. Misaki broke her defence and stole the ball from beneath her. She made an overhead toss to Tsukki who charged in at the three-pointer and pocketed a goal. "Oh, things are starting to heat up in the last half." Present Mic was heard beating his desk. "41-37" Midnight said after her whistle.

I playfully hit Misaki's shoulder. "I'm starting to think you don't need me as a point guard anymore." I giggled. "Oh, shut up!" She dismissed me with a futile wave. Immediately, the audience seemed to be unanimously brimming with new energy. A rhythmic beat began to flow in their cheers. "U.A, U.A!" they cheered. "Deadshot, Deadshot!" the other side screamed.

Sakura growled under her breath. "Focus." Toya clapped her shoulders before he followed his opponent. With this new strategy and a bit of the old one, we shut down their offence. There were one minute and thirty seconds left of the last half. A mix of cheers of U. A and Deadshot filled the stadium. The score was 45-44 and it was harder than ever to pocket a goal since both teams were tensed.

"Rebound!" Tsukki announced and immediately tossed a ball to Misaki. She dribbled the ball toward the half-court line and tossed it to Sakura. A moment later, Sakura was struggling against Fumiko and Hideko. She snatched the ball and tossed it to Toya. He ran to the other half and threw it in the goal from the free-throw line. "Rebound!" Akiko yelled hoping to take possession of the free ball. I grabbed it and immediately passed it to Sakura behind me. She spun and tossed it to Misaki behind her, where Kaori stole it again. Toya shifted in front of him and I stole the ball back from his blind side. I passed it to Tsukki.

"3!" The audience cheered. Akiko blocked the ball and tossed it to Kaori.

"2!" 

He turned and faked a pass in my face and threw in a shot at the goal from the three-pointer line.

"1!" The audience's cheers increased as I watched. Akiko jumped and her hand to reach for the ball at its apex. Toya jumped in front of her so her hand couldn't reach over his shoulder.

A long whistle was heard and half of the crowd roared in cheers. We turned to the scoreboard. "45-44." Midnight announced. We watched as the ball rebounded and exited the sidelines. "Team Deadshot wins!" She said.

"Yes!" I cheered raising both arms to the sky. We raced to Toya and pile drove him to the floor. He lay on the floor with a huge smile on his face and the whole group landed on top of him. Coach Ukai walked in on us. "Don't be happy! You won by luck." A roll of newspaper dusted us of the floor. "Thank you."I put an arm around him. I was too happy to have been mad anyway. The audience in Team Deadshot custom tees danced and cheered enthusiastically which echoed in the silence of the other half.

Kaori held his head in his hands regretting the mistake which made his shot rebound. He was too distracted by the audience to focus. "Well played. You drove me nuts quite a few times." A short fair-skinned girl appeared in front of him, not much taller than he, with black locks tied in a slender ponytail extending her toned arms at him in a gesture of a handshake. He recognized her as the member who switched out with the captain mid-game in the first half. He smiled and met her hand with his. "Thank you." He said. "My name is Misaki. You have got to teach me to play as a small forward like you. Please teach me sometime." She smiled gently giving him the assurance that there were many more games ahead of them. Cementoss built a podium where the winning team took many photos. Rylie was given the honour to hold the cup for Team Deadshot. 

I have a huge collection of photos from that day with the team, All Might, Coach Ukai, the U. A Staff and with the U. A Team; the day I started my journey as a hero.

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--Next: Rylie enters class 1-A??--

A/N

Yes! I'm so glad I finally finished this chapter. It took a lot of research to write this one. I hope you liked it! I think I messed up a little with bb jargon for non-basketball enthusiasts. I am so glad I reached this point in my plan since it so important for Rylie's character development and the romance later. I am glad I was able to establish their relationship which I have foreshadowed for later. Let's just say that ships have already started to sail ;) ;) And I won't tell you how. Read to find out!

Peace out ;)

-JJ