Chapter 42 : VS Shutoku I - Kuroko's Kryptonite?!

One hour later, all the Seirin players found themselves sitting on the same bench as the last game, having just finished their warm-up.

"You all know what to do, right?" Riko giving the final pep-talk. "Don't let Midorima take the shoot easily, and keep the score as close as possible. We will find ourselves chasing the score a lot today, so don't be depressed if you cannot gain the lead. Understand?"

"Yes, Coach!"

"Anything else to say, Furihata-kun?" Everyone turned their attention to Furihata. As the only person who gathered the information about their opponent for them, Furihata really has a special place in the Seirin team.

"It is not about strategy, but a bit of warning from me," Furihata spoke. "Red, don't force yourself. If you feel something is not right with your knee, tell us immediately, okay?"

"Why?" Not only Kagami but everyone is also taken aback by the sudden warning from Furihata.

"You will be the one who works the most in this game; jumping in every opportunity to stop Midorima. We don't have any proper rest for this game, so if you find your knee uncomfortable, just tell us so. We don't want you to be like Derrick Rose, right?"

Now, everyone is somber when they heard the name Derrick Rose. All of them know how the youngest MVP in NBA history ended up right now. He tore his ACL during the game in 2012 and needed a very long time to get back on the court. A lot believe that his injury was caused by his knee couldn't handle his explosive power, and several people also believe that it was due to the exhaustion of always playing for almost 40 minutes per game.

But now, Kagami would do the same for Seirin, forcing himself to abuse his explosive power in exhaustion just to stop Midorima. That's why Furihata is worried.

"Don't worry, Bastard." Kagami tries to ease his teammates' worry. "I will not go down easily, and I will be super careful. Don't think too much about it."

Then, he left the bench, warming up a little more on the court.

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Five minutes later, the game between Seirin and Shutoku finally begin. The game for a ticket to the final league is started by Otsubo winning the tip-off against Mitobe.

"Nice one, Captain!" Their point guard, Takao, shouted as he gets the ball. But the moment he saw Seirin's defense, he furrowed his brows, his thought running as he scans the entire court.

'Hmm.. It is as expected. Their number #10 really guards Shin-chan. But their defense is way too tight! Why are three of their players in the paint area already? Miyaji-senpai, Kimura-senpai, why are you all getting attracted to their defense? Move outside, Senpai!'

On the other side of the court, Kagami is facing Midorima head-on.

"So, you were Kuroko's teammates?" He grinned slightly. Midorima didn't indulge in the conversation, but Kagami is still talking.

"I really want to know if you are really as good as he said. I have won against Kise already, winning against you would be more satisfying." Now, he gained a slight response from Midorima. The green-haired boy raised his eyebrows slightly.

"What is your sign?" Midorima asked which was answered quickly by Kagami.

"Leo." The red-hair grinned widely as if provoking a reaction from Midorima. However, the green-hair just sighed in annoyance before saying,

"As expected from Oha Asa. A Leo like you would be very annoying for a Cancer like me."

Right after he says that, he moves slightly to Takao, asking for the ball. The point guard looks at him hesitantly as he could see Kagami guarding his teammate pretty closely. However, seeing the resolve in Midorima's eyes, he couldn't help but give the ball to the shooting guard.

Midorima received the ball with his right hand and leaned his body forward as if trying to drive. But it was a fake as right after he took a step with his right foot, he retreated the ball to his hand with a quick jab step, fooling Kagami for a second.

"Shit!"

But a second is enough for Midorima to take a shoot. Seeing as Kagami couldn't follow him, he didn't hesitate to pull up the first three-point on the game, and a second later,

*Splash!*

"You might beat Kise in a friendly game, but I am stronger than that amateur. Don't forget that." Midorima spoke to Kagami with a very badass pose. It is just unfortunate for him to see that Kagami is not in front of him anymore. That was when he heard the shout from someone who he has never expected to raise his voice before.

"Red, run!"

It is Kuroko who initiates the infamous play from Furihata and Kagami. But it doesn't matter for Kagami, as he trusts Kuroko enough to believe that the ball will arrive at him no matter what. And as if he wanted to prove Kagami's trust, in the inbound pass situation, Kuroko pushed the ball with all his strength to Kagami who is already on the other side of the court.

"WHAT!"

Unlike Furihata's pass who looks like a lob, Kuroko's pass right now almost looks like a fastball from a pitcher on the baseball pitch, making it impossible for Shutoku players to react.

And without hesitation, Kagami hopped to the basket and slammed the ball down.

*BAAAM!*

"Nice one, Kuroko!"

After praising the pass, Kagami turned around to Midorima once again and grinned,

"Don't get cocky. The game is still very young, and we might surprise you here."

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On the spectator seat,

"Hey, is that pass usually being done by their number #12?" Tsugawa asked his senpai.

Yeah, even after losing the game against Shutoku, the Seiho team decided to not go home quickly and watched the game to observe their future opponent.

"You are right." Kasuga nodded at Tsugawa. "But the number #12 is not always on the court, so having someone who can do the same would be great for Seirin. Moreover, it is done by that invisible player, so they can surprise Shutoku whenever they forget about his presence."

"And the speed of the pass itself is amazing," Iwamura added. "When the number #12 did that, it was slower and a little bit higher for the possibility of an alley-oop dunk, so we can still recover our defense if we are fast enough to realize what happened. But with this pass, you can see it is like Ichiro's laser beam. You would never realize what happened until the red-hair has done the damage."

"That's really troublesome…"

On the other side of the spectator seat,

"Woah, you are right, Senpai. Now Shutoku is a little bit hesitant to use Midorimacchi!"

It was Kise who took his time for a trip to Tokyo just to watch the game between Kuroko and Midorima. He was accompanied by his captain, Kasamatsu, who kinda want to have some intelligence for both teams.

"Yeah. Every time they use your green-hair friend, Seirin will punish them immediately with that pass. And while three points would always be better than two, it is just a matter of time before the red-hair brat managed to stop your friend. We learned in a hard way how quickly he can adapt in this kind of situation."

Kise nodded at Kasamatsu's explanation.

"So, what do you think would happen next?"

Kasamatsu snorted a little.

"Why, of course, Shutoku will use their main strength, Otsubo-san. He was their main scorer before your friend came, you know?"

"Hee… I cannot wait to see what's next!"

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

Back on the court, Takao had to hold himself for yawning, as it would be seen as a disrespectful manner toward his opponent. But he couldn't help though, as this deadlock position with a super tight defense really makes him bored.

"Shall we make things interesting?" He grinned a little, then with a subtle hesitation move and a nasty crossover, he got away from Izuki's guard.

"Damn!"

Izuki cursed out loud. Fortunately, he could recover his position and managed to follow Takao from behind. He could see Hyuga wanted to come to help him, but it opened the position for their small forward, Miyaji, to drive in.

Seeing Takao eyeing Miyaji, Izuki makes a quick decision to switch the defense, leaving Takao to Hyuga and deciding to run toward Miyaji. However, Shutoku's point guard shocked them both by passing the ball to the other direction where Otsubo is waiting.

"Nice one, Takao!"

Seeing Mitobe caught off guard by the sudden pass, Otsubo didn't hesitate to throw a powerful dunk toward the basket.

*BAAAM!!*

A no-look pass and a powerful two-handed dunk!

"Just because we have Midorima here doesn't mean we grow lazy, Seirin. Remember who beat you last year." Shutoku captain spoke, flaring his dominance upon Seirin players.

The game restarted again with the ball in Izuki's hand. But Takao proves that he is a bad matchup for Izuki by keep predicting where he would go.

"Tch! Does he have the same eyes as me?" Izuki gritted his teeth as he tries to get away from Takao's guard. Fortunately for him, he caught Kuroko's movement in the corner of his eyes and he sends the ball quickly to him, which the blue-haired boy redirected immediately to the paint area.

Mitobe who received the ball didn't wait for Otsubo to realize what happened as he makes an easy layup for Seirin.

"Nice one, Mitobe!"

"Good pass, Kuroko!"

"Nice play!"

However, Shutoku players cut their celebration by playing the ball fast, sending it quickly to Midorima on the logo.

"Damn! Not going to happen, Bastard!"

Kagami jumped, tries to stop the shoot. Based on what Furihata said, he knows Midorima needs more time to shoot the longer the distance is, so he needs to disturb the shooting guard before he released the ball.

Unfortunately for Kagami, he is a little too late as right before his arms block Midorima's eyesight, the ball is already released from the shooting guard's hand.

*Splash!*

Another logo three-pointer! Midorima looked at Kagami coldly as he says,

"Based on Oha Asa's daily fortune, Cancer has the best fortune today, and Leo has the worst. You will never be able to stop me."

And he went back for the defense.

8 – 4

The game restarted again with the ball in Izuki's hand. But to Seirin players' surprise, Shutoku switched their defense. Now, Miyaji is guarding Izuki while Takao is facing Kuroko.

"What is going on here?" Riko narrowed her eyes, finding it suspicious to switch the defense early. Takao was able to guard Izuki really well in the last play, after all.

But she found the answer to all her questions immediately, and in a very bad way.

After managing to escape from Miyaji, Izuki tries to do the same as in the last play, giving the ball to Kuroko for the blue-haired boy to send it to the players who are in the open position. However, to everyone's shock, the moment Kuroko redirected the ball, Takao suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking the pass route.

"WHAT?!"

This is the first time someone managed to stop Kuroko completely!

And Takao didn't intend to stop just like that. The moment he deflect the ball, he run quickly to chase it and dribbled forward to the open area on the other side of the court.

"Fast break! Defense!"

All Seirin players are running as fast as they can. Luckily enough, Izuki managed to arrive on time as he already had his suspicion of what just happened. But when he saw Izuki beside him, Takao acted quickly sends the ball back through his leg while shouting,

"Shin-chan!"

And right after that, Midorima arrived at a very good spot, and pulled up another three from way downtown.

*Splash!*

"Nice shoot, Shin-chan!"

And after that shout, the buzzer rang loudly as the referee announced,

"Time out for Seirin!"

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"What happened, Izuki?" Riko asked immediately right after the players sit on the bench.

"It is just my suspicion, but I think he has the same eyes as me," Izuki replied, shocking the senior members on the bench.

"How is that possible?" Hyuga murmured lowly. However, the first-years just looked at them with confused expressions.

"Excuse me, Captain, but what is the big deal?" Fukuda asked to Hyuga. However, it is Izuki who answered once again.

"It is the ability that I developed last year to get better as a point guard." He spoke. "I named it eagle eyes, as with this ability, I could change my perspective into the bird-eyes gaze, scanning my surrounding better to make the best judgment for the play. I have never thought that someone would have the same ability as me."

The first-year players were astonished that their senpai who looked like an ordinary player has that amazing ability. However, before they could express their amazement, Riko fired him another question.

"But it doesn't explain how he can stop Kuroko-kun. You have never been able to stop Kuroko-kun even once, after all."

After pondering for a second, Izuki sighed as he speaks again,

"I think it is because he uses his eyes better than me." Seeing the confused gazes from his teammates, he continued, "He didn't really stop Kuroko-kun, per se. Instead, right when he noticed Kuroko-kun disappeared from his eyesight, he scanned his surrounding to find where Kuroko-kun would pass. And it is easier since Kuroko-kun only passes the ball to the players who have their guard focusing on them too much, as it would catch them off guard. Just based on that information, he could make a quick judgment as to where Kuroko-kun would pass and stop him completely."

Now, everyone is speechless at the point guard's explanation.

"That means…"

"Yeah, you guessed it right." Izuki nodded at Hyuga. "Kuroko-kun uses misdirection to divert your eyes when you looked at him. But with the ability like this, it would be useless as their point guard would always manage to find Kuroko-kun immediately. In other words, these eagle eyes are really Kuroko-kun's kryptonite."

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Author note :

NEXT CHAPTER : VS Shutoku II - When the Deadly Duo Becomes Trio.

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