112 Chapter 112 : VS Yosen High IV - The First Appearance of Vanishing Drive!

"Aaaahh…." Murasakibara groaned, his face was covered by a towel. "I am so exhausted right now…."

All Yosen players who heard about his complaint just smiled amusedly, not finding it something strange at all.

"Here." Yosen's coach, Araki Masako, pulled out Mrasakibara's favorite snack from her bag. "Eat it and be silent. I will talk to your teammates first."

"Aah… You always know how to please everyone, Masa-chin.."

Masako just snorted at his sexual innuendo, flicking her long hair a little while twirling her head around.

"Okay, everyone. Ignore that buffoon right now and listen to me. I will deal with him later." Several players snickered at the nickname. "For now, Liu, I want you to join Fukui-kun and double team that #12. We need to restrain his shooting ability."

"Eh?" The Chinese boy looked at her confusedly. "Then, what about the wing side?"

"Don't worry about it." Masako waved her hand, dismissing his concern. "For all we know, the only one who is in your area is that blue-haired boy, and he has never shot a single three until now. As long as you could restrain that #12 and Tatsuya could guard their captain, he wouldn't be able to do anything big to change the direction of the game."

"And what if he suddenly pulled up a three?"

Masmako pondered for a second before she shrugged, "Well, we will cross the bridge later."

All the Yosen players nodded at her explanation.

"What about their high-pressure defense?" Tatsuya asked, raising his concern.

"I don't know how long they would be able to do that before collapsing, so, for now, try to escape from their pressure as quickly as possible, and if you all could do that, slow down the tempo immediately." Masako hummed for a second before she added quickly, "And the task to escape from their pressure would be handed by Himuro-kun and Liu-kun. Fukui, you would act as the decoy. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

"And for the last part, I would say it again. Always stabilize the tempo! Don't let them force you into playing to their rhythm. We don't need to play fast like there is no tomorrow. Just keep it steady. As long as we could prevent them from scoring, we would be alright."

------------------

Compared to the relaxed yet serious situation on Yosen's bench, the atmosphere on Seirin's bench is tense. Even though they had just scored two three-pointers consecutively, they were still down to 10 points, and they all knew the next play wouldn't be as easy as before.

"Furihata-kun, you are the one who initiated our last two plays. Do you have any idea of how we should do next time?"

Now that Furihata was able to change the direction of the game, the isolation suddenly vanished, and everyone looked at him as if he was the second coming of Michael Jordan.

Furihata himself, even though he was a bit disgusted with how the others suddenly acted nice around him, he ignored it for now.

"Well, for start, Phantom, how long do you think you can hold on?"

The blue-haired boy closed his eyes slightly, sweat rolled down profusely on his forehead.

"Well, one or two minutes, and everyone would be able to see my trick. And that is not to mention my poor stamina."

Furihata nodded before an idea popped up inside his head.

"Phantom, are you confident enough to use your new dribble movement?"

Hearing his name was mentioned out of nowhere, Kuroko snapped his head immediately. "Yeah, I could do that. But I don't know how many times it could work."

"Don't worry, I only need you to succeed just one time," Furihata told him with a serious tone. "But this one time, I need you to do that against Murasakibara. Can you do that?"

Now, not only Kuroko, but everyone else who heard the conversation snapped their heads in shock.

"I am sorry, but what?" Hyuga asked. "Did my ears just do me wrong or did you just say Kuroko needs to face Murasakibara? I don't know what you are trying to do, but are you nuts?!"

However, he was ignored by Furihata who stares at Kuroko with the eyes assessing the blue-haired boy's state, from his nervousness to his determination.

After a while, Kuroko finally nodded, not batting his eyes from Furihata.

"Yes, I can do it."

"Wait a second!" Riko finally couldn't hold back anymore. "Why are you trying to decide this alone? Should-"

"Riko-chan!" Alex interrupted. "Furihata-kun is the one who opened up our way. If he had an idea, please, trust him for now." And it was not only for Riko, but also all the players who listened as well.

Seeing the hesitation on Riko's face, Alex couldn't help but sigh. This is also the problem she needs to fix on the team. Riko is way too controlling, not giving the players any chance to be creative and improve themselves on the court.

While it is good that the players followed the coach's arrangement, sometimes, it was needed for the coach to trust the players.

When Riko finally nodded, Furihata and Alex suddenly let out a relieved sigh, glad that Riko wouldn't make a ruckus of it. Receiving the silent nod from Alex, Furihata took a deep breath, starting to explain.

"So, here is what we are going to do…."

-------------------------------------------------

Shortly after that, the timeout is over, and the players are already on the court. It is an inbound pass situation for Yosen, with the ball in Okumura's hand. Seirin's defensive strategy is still the same, pressuring Yosen's players from their own area and forcing them to move the ball faster.

However, this time, that didn't work, as Fukui who was guarded by Hyuga suddenly run around, setting a screen toward Mitobe to help Wei Liu escape from the defense.

"Nice screen, Senpai!"

Seeing one of his teammates escape from the tight defense, Okumura wanted to send the ball quickly. However, after seeing the blurred movement from the blue-haired boy, he held back for a second, faking the pass.

And it was indeed for the best, as in a scrambled position like this, because Hyuga and Mitobe tried to recover from their states, they forgot about Fukui's presence.

Noticing his third-year compatriot is in a good position, unlike before, Okumura didn't hesitate to launch the ball, as it passed half of the court and found Fukui easily.

"Nice pass, Okumura!"

"Damn! Defense, delay!"

Now, Fukui is in a dilemma. He could attack alone right now without waiting for any of his teammates to arrive, with only Kiyoshi and Furihata alone on Seirin's side. This would guarantee another point for Yosen. But by doing so, he would also allow the possession to change quickly, and no doubt Seirin would attack them with their high tempo.

'Slow it down or just score it What to do?'

However, the voice of his teammate suddenly snapped him from his short daydreaming, and when he saw Tatsuya asking for the ball, he decided instantly.

"Screw it! Our defense would be able to cover their attack. Let's just score right now."

When the hesitation vanishes from his mind, Fukui makes a gesture as if he is about to pass. But when Furihata closed the route between him and Tatsuya, he retreated his hand which had the ball, doing a simple Euro Step to create space for himself, and sent a floater toward the basket.

*Splash!*

"Nice shoot, Senpai!"

"Go back! Defense, don't let your guard down!"

"Be careful with Seirin's fast transition!"

"Murasakibara, stop being a lazy ass and go back quickly!"

Being the most senior member of the team, Fukui's mentality is quite stable. Instead of celebrating like crazy, he went back to defense immediately, not giving Seirin any chance to do their infamous quick fast break.

Furihata could only watch that with a helpless expression, playing the ball slowly. Now that the possession is changing again, he decided to play it slowly.

"Calm down, everyone!"

Furihata tried to let his teammates have a breather. But the moment he passed the half-court line, Fukui comes immediately, sticking on him to not give him another chance for the super long shoot.

"Damn, he is good."

But that was already on Furihata's calculation. Instead of trying to force himself to defend the ball alone, he handed it toward Hyuga on the left wing before running toward the opposite side. And Hyuga also didn't hold it for too long, passing it immediately toward the low post, where Kuroko is waiting.

Shockingly enough, no one from Seirin helped the blue-haired boy there. Mitobe and Kiyoshi retreated outside, giving Kuroko enough space to face his former teammate.

"What?!"

"Kurokocchi is going to single Murasakibaracchi?!"

Somehow, all the players on the court could hear the shout from the audience seat, and hearing the nickname, Furihata had no doubt it was Kise. However, they didn't have time to pay attention to that, as they were still in a tense situation right now.

"So, you are brave enough to face me, Kuro-chin?" Murasakibara raised his eyebrows, still with his lackadaisical attitude. "You know it would be useless, right?"

Kuroko just gives him a small smile, not caring about his opinion. "We will see about it."

Even though Kuroko is far weaker than him or the other Generation of Miracles, Murasakibara still keeps his eyes on him cautiously. He knows Kuroko could be tricky, especially in a crucial moment like this.

His eyes keep following Kuroko's hand, as it dropped the ball, is about to dribble it. However, the moment the ball was released from his hand, Kuroko's figure suddenly vanished from his sight, catching him off guard.

"WHAT?! WHERE?!"

"Murasakibara, behind!"

He didn't know how Kuroko vanished in front of him. However, by the shout of his teammates, he knows that his former teammate has already passed him, on the way facing the hoop alone. So, without thinking any further, Murasakibara turned around as quickly as possible, trying to stop the blue-haired boy from scoring. Yet it was futile, as he was suddenly stopped by a body in front of him.

*Brugh!*

"Nice screen, Furihata-kun!"

Yeah, it was Furihata's plan from the start. As long as Murasakibara's attention is on Kuroko, he would be able to sneak from behind, and when Kuroko managed to pass the pink-haired center, he could set a screen, preventing Murasakibara from going back and giving Kuroko enough space to score.

"Go, Phantom!"

Knowing that he was alone, Kuroko didn't hesitate even for a second, taking two steps forward before releasing the ball with a small flick. It was a simple layup; a bit sloppy if Furihata had to say. However, it did the job, and a second later,

*Splash!*

The ball went in!

There was silence for a second before the gymnasium exploded in cheer. It was crammed with applause, whistles, and cheers from the people all over the court. The cheers were not like before, as it was indeed the first time Murasakibara was beaten head-on.

"Nice one, Kuroko-kun!"

"Good shoot!"

"Let's do it again!"

As for Furihata, seeing the disoriented states of Yosen High, he let out a small smirk.

'Now, this would open up our way against them.'

-------------------------------------------

Author note :

If you want to support me more, you can visit my Patreon page on patreon(.)com/ZetaFaes

You can also read this fanfiction up to chapter 132 on that page. Thank you! :)

-Zeta Faes-