Akihito silently flipped through his notes, sometimes looking up to glance at the court, he let his eyes slid across the court.

He carelessly twirled a pen between his fingers, sometimes tapping the edge of his notebook with it. He felt mildly bored. Nonchalantly he scribbled in the corner of his notebook.

How to put it? His gaze fell on the opposing team, his pupils contracted, tinting themselves in disdain. Meisei High was quite weak.

"Seen anything interesting, Aki?" Seto yawned, his tall figure suddenly looming over Akihito's smaller stature. His half-lidded and still dazed eyes swept over the teen's notebook in mild interest. He flicked his gaze upward, looking for some seconds before snorting.

"Do you think Hana-chan will ask for me?" he joked, casually placing his chin atop of the blue-haired teen's head.

The light sound of Akihito's pen hitting the edge of the notebook cover stopped. There was a low humming sound from the teen as he observed the game for a few more seconds.

"I don't think so," his eyes flicked to the scoring board, and he added. "After the first quarter, Mako-chan will probably take Furuhashi and Yamazaki out," he glanced at the first-years and rare third-years that waited on the bench.

In an instant, his mind flashed with a multitude of combinations as he reviewed his notes on each player. His eyes dulled as his mind worked a mile a second before they went back to their usual blankness. He called out three different players, telling them to prepare for the second quarter as they would be playing, before looking back at the game.

Seto hummed, sending vibrations along Akihito's skull. "Three people?" he stated.

Akihito refrained himself from nodding his head, knowing that it would bother the tall Center. "I think. Mako-chan will also stay out for the second quarter," he explained, his golden eyes glancing up to look at the raven head who casually rested his chin on his head.

Seto hummed, moving back to simply sit next to Akihito he followed the shorter's gaze to look at the court. "The preliminaries seem much easier than anticipated," he uttered, casually stretching his large upper body before slackening his long legs.

Akihito spared him a glance, he nodded. "That too. I like to think that our tactics were too good, too," he admitted, his eyes gleaming with a mischievous light as his lips quirked up into a ghost of a smile.

Seto snorted, his large hand carelessly ruffled the blue head's hair, messing the previously styled bangs. "You've fallen to the dark side, Aki," he teased, a sly grin playing on his face. "What are we going to do with you?" he laughed.

Akihito raised an eyebrow, his face devoid of emotion as usual. He feigned ignorance. "The dark side," he echoed. "How so?" he asked with a slight tilt of his head.

"I can still remember when you first joined the club," Seto lamented, ignoring the blue head's question. "The way you looked at Hana-chan when he told you of our tricks."

Akihito's eyes flashed with discontentment at the mention. "I haven't changed," he protested.

"Oh the nostalgy," the tall lanky boy grieved, not paying any mind to the blue head's complaints.

"What are you talking about?"

Akihito's eyes flicked upward to meet a familiar pair of greyish brown pupils. His eyes flashed with joy as he picked a few clean towels and water bottles up, quickly distributing them to the team.

Turns out that while he and Seto were talking, the buzzer announcing the end of the first quarter had sounded.

Seto dismissed the raven's question with a wave of his hand, carelessly looking over the players who came back from the court. "Nothing, I was telling Aki that he had fallen to the dark side," he joked.

Hanamiya raised an eyebrow, taking the towel from Akihito's hands he mindlessly wiped himself off the sweat. "The dark side?" he smirked, his eyes narrowing as they flashed with restrained satisfaction. "That was long ago, Seto," he corrected. "Akihito's not the one he used to be."

Hara cackled, taking a gulp out of his water bottle before tossing it aside. "And whose fault is that I wonder?"

Yamazaki picked up Hara's lying bottle, as usual, before placing it on the bench next to the silver head.

Hanamiya cackled. "Mine of course," he shamelessly admitted. He dabbed his forehead before turning to the rest of the team. "Okay, let's win this game, shall we?"

With those words, the buzzer sounded announcing the beginning of the second quarter.

180-45, the match would end in Kirisaki Daiichi's victory.

::

Akihito boredly leaned against the guardrail, silently observing Kirisaki Daiichi High's game against Senshinkan High.

He wasn't wearing his dark green jersey and simply sported some casual wear. He had an audition in the morning and was unable to come with the team to the stadium.

Carelessly threading his fingers through his blue locks to tangle and untangle them in turn, he blinked his boredom away.

He stretched, cracking his neck as he yawned. He wondered how long he would have to wait for them to finish if the third quarter hadn't even begun. Probably some time.

Senshinkan High was the team Mako-chan had said that they would surely beat. It was almost unnecessary to use tricks on them, glancing down at the game, Akihito's eyes flashed happily.

Not that they wouldn't use them.

He knew Kirisaki Daiichi's skills all too well, none of their tricks held any secrets for him. It was easy to spot when they would act and anticipate how for the teen.

He refrained his lips from quirking up in a sly smirk, keeping his poker face up as he observed the way Hara calculatingly placed himself between the opposing number nine and the referee.

Had he not been the silent type, Akihito would have laughed— cackled even.

Furuhashi truly was one of the best when it came to executing their skills. He felt both admiration and disgust toward the Small Forward.

Admiration. He found his unwavering confidence honorable.

Disgust. While he liked Mako-chan's sly and almost bad personality, he loathed Furuhashi's unrepenting side.

What Furuhashi lacked, from Akihito's point of view, was principles. Principles regarding the tricks, because he would never admit to them.

It was sad. After all, from Akihito's point of view, Kirisaki Daiichi's tricks were a beautiful piece of art. Not recognizing them, that was such a shame.

As an artist, an actor, Akihito couldn't comprehend it.