When the third quarter ended, both teams returned to their benches and spoke to their respective coaches. Once the two minute interval was over, the teams returned to the court with the same lineups, despite Aomine having four fouls.

"Let the fourth quarter begin." announced the panel after the buzzer went off.

"Touou hasn't changed their lineup." noted Hyuga.

"Anyone would lose their edge with four fouls." added Izuki. "Are they going to be okay?"

Aomine caught the ball and dribbled past most of Kaijo's players easily, crushing their defence one by one. Kise tried to guard him as close as possible until Aomine jumped to shoot. Kise followed up with a hand held up high to block. But Aomine did a fadeaway shot, allowing the ball to avoid Kise's hand and went through the net.

"There it is!" said Koganei.

"They scored already!" added Tsuchida.

'Not only he has not changed with four fouls, but he's even more amazing.' thought Yasu with a frown, her eyes focused on Aomine. 'I can see why he's the ace of the Generation of Miracles.'

It was Kaijo's turn to have the ball. Moriyama passed the ball to Kise, who was guarded closely by Aomine and jumped. When his back was parallel to the floor, he shot the ball in the same way Aomine did earlier, and it went through the net, scoring a basket for the team.

"That was exactly the same shot." noted Kagami.

The game continued with both aces scoring one basket after another. When Aomine shot the ball, Kise copied the movement and shot the ball. Aomine did a hook shot, and Kise followed his movement when he scored a basket for his team. Them playing against each other in this manner lit up the crowd. 'I knew this would happen.' thought Imayoshi. 'The Generation of Miracles is truly terrifying.'

"Kise!" shouted Aomine as he dunked the ball.

"Aominecchi!" shouted Kise, making a dunk as well.

The said boy got past his defense and dunked the ball while still hanging onto the hoop, both glaring at each other. When Kise got the ball, he dribbled it towards his team's basket and was about to turn around when he felt a stinging pain in his right leg, which didn't go unnoticed by Yasu.

'Kise.' she thought worriedly. 'Don't tell his leg...!''

He let out a battle cry and shot the ball over the board. The ball spun along the ring in few rounds until it went through the net, scoring a basket for the team. With one minute left, Touou was eight points ahead of Kaijo.

'I can't let my guard down for an instant.' thought Kise while trying to catch his breath. 'I feel like I'm getting a headache.' But he wasn't the only one tired. His teammates were panting very hardly as well.

"That must be tough." said Riko.

"I'm exhausted." said Koganei as he released the breath he had been holding while watching the two aces' showdown.

"Not you!" she scolded before turning back to the court. "I've never seen such static flow in a game before. The inside players must be really worn down mentally."

"It's especially tough on Kaijo." said Hyuga. "They've been stuck eight to ten points behind forever, but even with the clock ticking they still haven't given up."

'They should be snapping any time now.' thought Imayoshi, who was holding the ball.

'I'll never give up!' thought Kasamatsu determinedly, though he was more tired than him. 'We'll get our chance!' He then glanced at Kise, who was on Aomine. 'We can't just roll over when he's trying so hard!'

'I'll admit he's good, but I won't let my guard down until the end.' thought Aomine while looking at the panting Kise. 'As long as he has those eyes, there's no telling what will happen. As long as he has the same eyes as Tetsu!'

'My head is starting to go blank.' thought Wakamatsu, who was trying to catch his breath as well. 'Those two are working hard, too, but I feel like I've been doing nothing but sprints back and forth, damn it.'

Imayoshi passed the ball to Sakurai, who was panting while in daze due to the fatigue taking over. "Sakurai!" he yelled, snapping him out of his thoughts. But the ball bounced on his hand, and Kise caught it and dribbled towards his team's basket.

"The balance is broken!" said Hyuga.

"This is Kaijo's chance!" said Izuki.

"Stop them!" yelled Touou's coach. "Defend at all costs!"

"One minute left." said Kiyoshi. "This is where the game will be decided. If they make this shot, they'll only be two threes behind. It'll boost the team's morale. If they miss, they'll have reached their time limit. In other words, practically speaking, it's their last chance."

Aomine caught up and got in front of Kise. 'What will he do?' he thought. 'From the right or from the left? If I were in his position, I would fake to the left and crossover.'

'To the right!' thought Kise, trying to figure out how he was going to break past Aomine. 'So I'll outsmart him by doing the opposite and go left.'

'But what if he tries to outsmart me again?' questioned Aomine. 'Right or left? Since we both know the other so well, there's no point in trying to read each other.' Aomine grinned, which was noticed by Kuroko. Kise jumped up to do another formless shot, and Aomine followed to block it.

'He's fast.' noted Moriyama. 'He's going to stop him!'

Suddenly, Kise's hand lowered and twisted so he could pass to Kasamatsu. But Aomine was quicker and smacked the ball away, surprising everyone. "He stopped the shot?" questioned Koganei with surprise.

"They lost their only chance." said Kiyoshi grimly.

'No one can react fast enough to do that.' noted Wakamatsu. 'Did he know what he was going to do? But...'

'How?' questioned Kise, both shocked and confused.

"You've done pretty well up until now, but in the very end, you finally made a mistake." said Aomine, grabbing his attention. "If it had been a one-on-one, you may have had a chance to win. You faked by looking one way and looked at Kasamatsu on your right. In that position, I wouldn't fake with my eyes. At first glance, a pass seems like the most surprising move, but it's also something I would never do and the most easily predicted move My style of basketball isn't designed to rely on my teammates."

Aomine walked by him, leaving the shocked Kise to stand alone. 'Kise...' thought Yasu worriedly.

'I missed my only chance.' he thought. 'This game is-' He was suddenly interrupted my someone hitting his head.

"Get ready for the next play!" scolded Kasamatsu. "This game isn't over yet!"

Kise turned around to see his teammates waiting for him. Realising that he wasn't alone, he smiled and joined them to defend. Touou continued scoring while Kaijo defended like their lives depended on it. Aomine got the ball and dribbled it towards the basket. As soon as he was about to do a dunk, Kise blocked it.

"I don't mind if we lose, but I can't be the only one to give up!" he declared. "If there's any reason I lost, it's simply I wasn't strong enough yet!"

"Don't state the obvious." scoffed Aomine, slamming the ball into the hoop, and Kise fell onto the floor.

The buzzer went off, ending the fourth quarter with Touou ahead of Kaijo by twelve points. "Game over!" announced the referee as the crowd went wild. "Both teams, line up!"

As the teams went to line up, Kise tried to get up but couldn't as he fell onto the floor again, grabbing his teammates' attention. 'He's feeling it in his legs.' thought Moriyama, staring at Kise with shock and worry as the junior struggled to get up. 'Does copying the Generation of Miracles put exceptional strain on him?'

When he couldn't get up, Kise slammed his fist on the ground with his jaw clenched, frustrated with himself. Just then, Kasamatsu stepped forward and held out a hand to him. "Can you stand?" he asked. "Hang in there a little longer."

Kise only stared at him as tears started streaming down his cheeks. "Senpai, I..." he sobbed.

Kasamatsu only helped him up and slung an arm around his shoulder, helping him to walk towards the line. "You did well." he praised while ruffling the crying boy's hair. "Besides, it's not all over yet. You can pay him back this winter."

"Are you sure you don't need to say anything?" asked Imayoshi as he stood next to the team's ace. "Isn't he your former teammate?"

"I'll even get pissed at you if you make fun of me." scoffed Aomine. "There's nothing for a winner to say to a loser."

"98 to 110, Touou Academy wins!" announced the referee when both teams lined up across each other. "Bow!"

"Thank you very much!" they shouted in unison.

As they began to leave the court, the audience left the hall. One by one, people left the hall, leaving Seirin still seated in the stands. "Excuse me, I need to go to the toilet." said Yasu to Riko.

"Okay." she said, nodding at her.

Yasu left the stadium and went to the toilet. When she was done, she decided to go to the locker room and look for Kise, only to find the room empty when she peeped through the gap. 'I guess they'd left.' she thought. Just as she was about to shut the door, she heard someone sobbing inside the room, prompting her to open the door to find Kasamatsu crying with his fists on the locker.

"Please leave." he sobbed to the person at the door.

Yasu frowned before entering the room, shutting the door behind her as she made her way towards the captain. She knelt down next to him and hugged him, making him tense up from shock. "Let it out." she murmured. The boy hesitated for a moment, until he burst into tears, holding onto her as he cried his heart out while the girl kept quiet, let him pour out the frustration he had been holding.

Few minutes later, when he cried out all of his tears, Yasu gently pulled away and took out her handkerchief, wiping his tear-stained cheeks. "Feel better?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, thanks." he said as the both of them stood on their feet. Once he got a closer look of the girl due to the darkness, his eyes widened with surprise and his face flushed. "Y-You're Seirin's m-manager!"

The girl chuckled at his stammer, making his cheeks redder than before. "Yes, my name is Yukimura Yasu." she introduced.

"K-Kasamatsu Yu-Yukio." he said, introducing himself to her.

"Nice to meet you, Kasamatsu-senpai." said Yasu with a closed-eye smile. She reached over to his bag and held it towards him. "Shall we go?"

"Y-Y-Yes!" he said, taking the bag from her before they left the room together. "U-Um... M-May I g-get your n-number and e-e-e-mail address?"

Yasu laughed at his stammer again, and his face was as red as a tomato. "Of course!" They whipped out their phones and exchanged their contact information. "Alright, Kasamatsu-senpai. I need to go back to my team. See you next time!" She waved to him and left him standing in front of the door.

Kasamatsu watched her leave, and suddenly snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the handkerchief she left. When he opened it, his eyes widened at the message she had left for him on the cloth.

"The possibility of victory is only 0% when all the players give up. No matter how impossible it may seem, never make that 0% yourself. Keep going forward and look at the past only to learn your mistakes. Never give up! - Yasu"

'No wonder Kise talks about her all the time.' he thought, smiling at where the girl had went off.

~Time skip~

Yasu had returned to her teammates, and they began to make a move. She was walking next to Kuroko and looked at Nigou, who had his head popped out from the bag. "You can probably let him out now." she suggested.

"You're right." he said, taking off his bag and set it on the ground to let Nigou out.

"Huh?" said a lazy voice as the person walk down the corridor. "I feel like I've been here before. Where am I? I mean, I don't want to play basketball anyway. It's so tiring." He took a bite of a corn snack and chewed on it. "Oh, wow. This new flavour's pretty good." When he passed by Seirin, Kuroko and Yasu recognised the presence, and they snapped their heads to look at the person, who had shoulder length lavender hair and was wearing a Yosen sports uniform, turning into a corner. Yasu then noticed something sticking out of her bag and saw that it was her favourite snack.

"What are you guys doing?" called Hyuga. "We'll leave you two behind!"

"What's wrong?" asked Kagami, looking at them.

"Nothing." replied Kuroko as he stood with Nigou in his hands. "We just forgot to greet someone."

The team exited the building, and instead of following the rest, Kuroko went to the opposite direction. "Where are you going?" asked Yasu.

"I'm going to the outdoor basketball court." he replied as the two began walking towards the court. "What did Murasakibara-kun give you?"

"Oh, you noticed?" she said. "He gave me my favourite snack, Tohato's Caramel Corn." When the arrived at the court, Yasu and Nigou were on the bench while Kuroko was practising shooting.

"You still suck at everything besides passing." remarked Kagami as he joined them when he saw Kuroko missed, and the ball bounced off the rim.

"How did you know we were here?" asked Kuroko, turning around to look at him.

"I thought watching the game might have gotten your blood pumping." said Kagami.

"I am heated up." said Kuroko.

"If you're heated up, I'm practically boiling." said Kagami.

"Their play has the power to do that to people." said Kuroko while retrieving the ball. "It's always been that way."

"Hey." he called, making the two look at him. "What are the rest of the Generation of Miracles like?"

"We only know what they were like in middle school." said Yasu. "Kise, Midorima and Aomine have all made significant improvements. I'm sure the other two have done the same. Murasakibara and Akashi."

"Murasakibara." repeated Kagami. "Akashi."

"Not even we can imagine what they're like right now." said Kuroko.

Kagami stared at the two for a while before running around the court, looking at Kuroko with his hand raised. Kuroko understood the gesture and passed the ball to him, and Kagami did an alley-oop, slamming the ball into the hoop. Yasu watched them with a smile.

"I'll crush them all." declared Kagami before turning to Kuroko. "Let's show them. Our- No, my and your basketball."

"Yes." said the latter with a smile.

"This winter will be war." added Kagami as the summer wind brushed past them.