Chapter 609
Chapter 609: 609
As I got closer to the covered court, I could already hear a few people inside. As luck would have it, Tatiana and Cynthia were present and they were playing one on one. With that said, a few familiar faces were watching from the bleachers with the kids.
The game seemed to be intense because they didn’t seem to notice our yelling.
They were playing this place’s own version of basketball but with a lot of other sports’ mechanics in place. First off, the terrain was already changed dramatically so the use of free-running and parkour was unavoidable. The traditional sense of dribbling was thrown out the window.
As long as the team that had the ball in play could attempt to make a shot in 24 seconds, they could ‘dribble’ the ball with their hands, feet, or any part of their body. Furthermore, compared to the travelling rule of not allowing more than two steps before dribbling again, it was now doubled as an experiment.
With that said, fouls were treated differently. Instead of the limit being six or five fouls before graduating in basketball, only three were allowed in our place. However, the rules for a flagrant foul or something worthy of a red card was still the same. As long as someone wasn’t injured critically, disabled, or in worst cases, killed, everything was fair game.𝗇𝑂𝒱𝓮𝓵𝔫𝗲xt.𝔠𝑜𝗆
We could’ve been stricter but doing aggressive, out-of-the-box, or risky plays in a safe environment was key.
With that said, I was still running for my life, maybe.
Kaley’s voice thundered from behind me, “D’YOU THINK I WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO KEEP UP?! GET BACK HERE, YOU DOOFUS!”
I just cackled in response, “KEKEKE! HAH~! THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE! IF YOU’RE WEARING MAKEUP, IT WOULD’VE LEFT AN IMPRINT!”
“SHUT UP! I’M GONNA KILL YOU! ARGH!”
As soon as I stepped foot inside the covered court, I shouted loud enough for everyone inside to hear, “IT’S A 2V2 NOW! I’M ON CYNTHIA’S TEAM!”
The two women still in the heat of the moment almost fell over as they exclaimed, “WHAT?!”
“QUICK! BEFORE SHE KILLS EVERYONE! SHE’S CLOSE!”
“WHO?!”
“LONG STORY, NO SUBTITLES! GO! GO! GO!”
Tatiana just shook her head before shouting towards Rin, “Rin! Reset the scores! The time too! Quick!”
Cynthia groaned, “Not fair! I’m in the lead!”
I chuckled as I hid in one of the blind corners, “What’s the score? 10-6? We’ll get that back in no time.”
Tatiana scoffed, “Really~? I’ll throw down my weights then…”
I jokingly chuckled, “Yeah, yeah, do what you have to do. We’re still winning this though. That bushy eyebrow kid did that and he still lost… so, whatever…”
Cynthia instantly chuckled while Tatiana gave us a confused look, but Kaley finally reached us.
“HEY! COME OUT! I KNOW YOU’RE IN HERE! I- Huh?”
I was still peeking behind a windowsill and I saw that Tatiana made her way back to the entrance to meet with Kaley. She leaned against Kaley’s ear to whisper a few things and Kaley just exhaled a lot of hot air before calming herself down. She briefly glanced in my direction but after a few seconds, we started a new game.
The kids yelled after Rin blew on the whistle, “GO!”
Much to everyone’s surprise, Kaley was holding the ball and she spun it towards her before letting go. As soon as it bounced off, she kicked it almost violently, only aiming to send it across the play area in one go. With that said, no one noticed that Tatiana easily made her way past us by using a blindspot.
“CYNTHIA!”
“I KNOW!”
That made Cynthia and I turn around at a moment’s notice, trying to race with Tatiana who already was a few feet ahead. I tried to use the shortest route possible where I wouldn’t need to pull myself up because it would slow me down considerably. However, the way the ball was flying in the air, it would fall down right above a ledge Tatiana just climbed over.
‘Fuck.’
The moment it took for me to think about what to do next, a hand just pulled me back and the figure sprinted past me.
“Kaley?!”
“Hmph! You’re too slow!”
I tried to catch up with them but as soon as I jumped over the ledge where Tatiana caught the ball, Cynthia was now in a 2v1 position. Cynthia tried her best to keep the two from scoring but Tatiana only needed to lock her in place before Kaley attempted the simplest of layups.
The ball easily went through the hoop and now they were leading by two.
The onlookers and the kids instantly celebrated, “WOOHOO!”
Cynthia was slightly glaring at me and even if Kaley scored herself, she was glaring at me as well. Only Tatiana seemed to be amused at my predicament because she was grinning from ear to ear.
I patted Cynthia’s back before whispering, “Pass me the ball…”
“You let them score…”
“Sorry, I’ll make it up this time…”
“Stop whispering at each other and let’s play the game! You’re so dead after this!”
“Yeah, yeah~”
“Hmph!”
Right at this moment, Jared and Alex just came out of our shooting range and they were watching from the outside.
“Bro! You’re playing again, you fucking cheater! Hah! Who’s the opposing side?”
Jared’s statement drew the ire of Kaley and Tatiana and before they tried to guard me, it was already too late.
“Hey! This is Sky Ishiyama and this is the laser shot!”
I held my breath before throwing the ball at the perfect angle. It flew in a beautiful arc, past all of the obstructions below, and before everyone managed to react, the sound of the ball swishing as it went through the ropes of the hoop resounded.
The look of shock the kids wore on the other side of the ring was so~ fucking priceless. Jared was already playing the soundtrack from Bro Perfect after each successful shot and I did the mandatory celebration dance.
Tatiana and Cynthia’s jaws had dropped and Kaley was fucking fuming.
“Fuck. Me,” Tatiana muttered as she tried to compose herself.
Kaley looked over to Alex, “Hey, Alex! Wanna join our team?”
Alex promptly replied, “Umm, no.”
“WHAT?! WHY?! You beat him in basketball, right?!”
“Y-Yes, in basketball… I dunno whatever that is… sorry… if he starts doing that, no one could stop him… I dunno how he-“
I chuckled, “It’s just math~”
Kaley fumed once more, “Shut up! You’re just… just lucky! That’s all!”
‘Sounds about right, heh.’
Cynthia muttered to herself, “I feel like a fill-in…”
Kaley and Tatiana started to form new strategies to deal with me so, in turn, I pulled Cynthia to the side to discuss ours. Once I started to tell her about our next play, she stared at me wide-eyed and confused.
“What?! Is that gonna even work?!”
“Yep! And you’ll be the one to do it.”
“Wha- Wait a sec! You’re-“
“Blah~ Blah~ Blah~ We’re a team, this isn’t Azure Lock!”
“Hah?”
“Haven’t read that yet? Well~ Just trust me, you’ll do fine~”
“O-Okay…”
“YOU’LL DO FINE!”
“O-OKAY!”
We were leading by one point and the possession belonged to Kaley and Tatiana. Once Rin blew the whistle, the two opted for a direct sprint on the right sideline where the obstructions were fewer. We responded in kind though Cynthia was in and out of view as she trailed a few feet to the side.
Kaley was clutching the ball with both hands while Tatiana was trailing right behind her. I thought their roles would be reversed but Tatiana was watching both Cynthia and me for any attempt to steal the ball. With that said, I was trying to make Tatiana focus on me only for a few seconds to set up the trap.
Each time I tried to break past her, she’d easily block me and glance to the left to check Cynthia’s current position.
‘Now!’
I waited at the exact moment when Tatiana would momentarily relax her body once she spotted Cynthia weaving in and out of the obstacles because it was the only time I could pass from her blindside.
“Wai- Fuck! Kaley!”
Tatiana tried to grab my shirt but I just slapped her hand off, sprinting straight to my target. However, before I could attempt to steal the ball from Kaley’s grasp, she instantly threw the ball back, passing it back to Tatiana at an angle I wouldn’t be able to reach. It seemed like Kaley had eyes on the back of her head because she passed a split-second before I attempted to steal.
I stopped in my tracks to turn around but I instantly weaved my head to dodge the ball that was coming right for my face.
“Wha-“
“See you later~!”
What happened was as soon as Tatiana received the pass, she instantly passed it back to Kaley. They both knew that they only needed a moment to distract me and Cynthia was still hiding in the shadows and would be unable to run interference.
Kaley left me with a hidden smirk and she was about to attempt a simple jumper.
That led me to use one of my secret cards.
Before Kaley lifted up from the air, a not so pleasant sound entered her ears.
“Ahn~ Mmh~! Yes! Yes!”
Kaley instantly lost focus and she just threw an air ball which Cynthia easily possessed. Tatiana who was by my side was trying so hard to hold me back was now also trying to hide the smirk hidden on her lips.
Success!
Kaley roared as she stomped her foot and pointed at me, “WHAT THE FUCK?!”
I just cackled before running in the opposite direction, “AHAHAHAHA!!! CYNTHIA, GOOOOOOO~!!!””
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