43 Chapter 43 : VS Shutoku II : Kuroko Stepping Up His Game
"So, what should we do now?"
The atmosphere on Seirin bench turned grim after Izuki confirmed that Shutoku could render Kuroko useless. However, before Riko could say anything, Furihata raised his hand.
"Riko-senpai.."
"Yes, Furihata-kun?" Not only her, but everyone also turned their attention to the first-year point guard. Hopeful gazes were directed at him, wishing that Furihata would have another brilliant idea for their problem.
"Do you mind if I go for Izuki-senpai after this timeout?" Riko and Izuki were taken aback.
"I don't mind about it. But why Izuki, and not Kuroko-kun?" Riko asked curiously.
"Because Izuki-senpai is panicked," Furihata replied. "I mean, sure we all are panicked because of Phantom's situation. He is our unique weapon, and no team has ever managed to stop him after all. But between all of us, Izuki-senpai is the one who panicked the most considering he found someone who could do the same as him. He hasn't even thrown a joke this timeout, so you know it must hit him hard."
Just by now, they realized that Izuki is way too tense for their liking.
"I don't want to undermine Izuki-senpai's ability by saying he couldn't recover fast from this. But we really need to score to hold our ground in this game. This way, Izuki-senpai could also rest for a little and come back to the court in better condition."
"I see your point." Riko pondered for a second with a thoughtful face. "But what about Kuroko-kun?"
To that, Furihata gives his coach a small smile.
"Well, the eyes could only detect where Phantom goes, right? His invisibility is still here, it is just they, especially #4 could predict where Phantom would pass and react quickly whenever Kuroko vanished. So, the solution is kinda easy. Let Phantom do something other than passing, right?":
"You mean he is ready?" Riko widened her eyes in realization.
"Yup! It is good enough to deceive them, especially Midorima who believes he knows Phantom's playing style. And you are still underestimating Kuroko's ability so much. Let him play and I will show you how he could still contribute for the game even when his misdirection was stopped. What do you think?"
Instead of answering his question, Riko turned around to Kuroko, the main subject of the conversation.
"What do you think, Kuroko-kun?"
"This is worth trying. Let me do it, Coach." Kuroko spoke with a resolute voice. Hearing the determination from the quiet first-year, Riko could only sigh before she decided,
"Okay, we will go with your idea, Furihata-kun! Our mission right now is to keep the score as close as possible. Don't let yourself down!"
"Yes, Coach!"
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On Shutoku bench,
"My, my.. The guys from Seirin seem appalled. I bet they have never thought that your former teammates could be stopped by someone." Takao spoke, drinking a bottle of water while wiping his sweat away.
"Don't lose your focus." Midorima who sat beside him replied. "That guy won't be taken down so easily like this."
"It's alright, really." Takao waved his hand, dismissing Midorima's concern. "If you take away his invisibility, he is just a small fry, right?"
"…." Midorima didn't give an answer immediately. He pondered for a moment, having a little flashback of when he was still a middle school.
"Do you know why I cannot stand Kuroko?" He finally spoke after several seconds of silence. But he didn't wait for Takao to answer as he continued,
"It is because I acknowledged him. He doesn't have any special ability and he couldn't do a single thing on his own. Yet he still wore the same Teiko jersey as me and helped lead the team to victory. Despite being an ordinary guy, he found his own strength to fight and climbed to the top together with us."
"Wow, you are quite talkative today, Shin-chan. It seems Oha Asa wanted a Cancer guy to talk so much today." Takao said with a sarcastic remark. "Nonetheless, your explanation didn't really answer why you cannot stand him, though. Just more information of why you respect him and why I should not underestimate him."
Midorima chooses to ignore the Oha Asa comment and jumped into the answer.
"I just cannot stand a man that I acknowledged went to bury himself to a team that cannot make use of his strength properly. That's why losing against him today is not an option. I will start playing more seriously after this timeout."
He took off his glasses and wiped a little before speaking again,
"I'll make Kuroko see that all his attempts to fight against me are pointless. I will destroy him in this game."
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A minute later, the game restarted with the ball in Furihata's hand. The defense arrangement is still the same, with Miyaji guarding him and Takao on Kuroko.
"I don't get it." Miyaji suddenly spoke. "Why are you still playing that guy? Takao completely stopped him last play, you know? Are you still hoping that it was a fluke?"
Furihata smiles a bit at that.
"Well, let's just see about it." Right after saying that, he sends the ball to Kuroko who once again vanished from Takao's sight. However, Takao didn't panic at all. He could feel Kuroko's presence behind him, and with his eyes, he scanned the entire court quickly to find where Kuroko would go.
"Left corner, huh? Going for three? Not gonna happen!" He blocked the path between Kuroko and Hyuga on the left corner side. However, to his and Midorima's surprise, the ball didn't go in that direction.
No, instead, Kuroko dribbled the ball once to the opposite direction, fooling Takao for a second before he sends the ball high to the paint area where Kagami is already hanging in the air.
*BAAM!!*
A two-handed dunk!
"NICE PASS, KUROKO!"
"Good one, phantom!"
Kuroko, Kagami, and Furihata celebrate the play for a while before preparing for the defense.
Meanwhile, Takao and Midorima were dumbfounded at what they just see.
"What happened, Shin-chan? Did you say that he cannot dribble at all?" Takao asked, still stunned after getting fooled by Kuroko.
"Yeah, or so that was what I thought," Midorima muttered while still looking at Kuroko. "Well, it seems he learned a new thing in his team. But that doesn't matter. We will still win the game."
The game started again with the ball in Takao's hand. However, Furihata pressured him immediately after he got the ball.
"Woah! Chill, bro! You play like there is no tomorrow." Takao tries to throw a joke. However, Furihata didn't indulge in the conversation. Instead, he keeps trying to poke the ball in Takao's hand.
"Well, if you are not feeling talkative, what can I do?" Takao shrugged, then tried to drive forward with a quick hesitation move. However, Furihata is not fooled by his movement and still maintains the distance between them.
"Hoo, you are good. What about this?"
Right after completing a series of a rather complex dribble movement, he dishes the ball to Midorima who is waiting on the right wing.
"Damn!"
Kagami tries to stop the shoot. However, Midorima is still a bit faster, as he releases the ball right before Kagami's hand could reach his. The ball went smoothly to the basket, resulting in another three for Shutoku.
11 – 6
Furihata didn't wait for Shutoku to celebrate the score. Right after he gets the ball, he shouted straight away to Kagami,
"Red, run!"
And he threw the ball to the other side of the court where Kagami is already running for the ball. Unfortunately for them, Furihata's pass is not as fast as Kuroko's, and Midorima has already predicted this happened, so right after he shoots the last three, he is already in the defense position.
"You think the same play works against us twice? Don't underestimate us, Seirin."
Kagami gritted his teeth, trying to force his way to the basket. And right after he arrived at the paint area, he jumped, trying to dunk over Midorima.
"Don't be naïve!"
Midorima jumped at the same time, blocking the dunk attempt from Kagami.
*Slap!*
"Ooooh! Nice defense, Shin-chan!"
However, right after Midorima blocked Kagami's dunk, Kuroko is already behind Kagami, picking up the rebound. And Kuroko didn't give Midorima a single chance to recover as right after he picked the ball, he took two steps forward and makes an easy layup.
"WHAT?!"
Now, Midorima is utterly shocked. He cannot believe that Kuroko, someone who Akashi clearly instructed to not pick the ball and stay away from attention, suddenly makes two brilliant plays within a minute. And the most important thing is, he scores!
Tetsuya Kuroko, the shadow of the Generation of Miracles, really scores in a game!
Unfortunately, Midorima didn't have any time to calm his head as right after Kuroko scored the ball, Seirin keeps the pressure on them immediately by doing a full-court press defense.
"Damn!"
Two things that Midorima hates the most are if the game didn't go as he likes and when something unexpected happened. And now, Kuroko represents both things that he despises the most.
'How could he, who is useless at everything other than his unique ability, play normally like that?'
It seems Midorima really expect Kuroko to keep his playing style and not improve his basic basketball skill.
However, he didn't have the luxury to think about it as he was getting pressured by Kagami in his own half. Takao who holds the ball also gets the same treatment by Furihata.
"Why are you so aggressive? Do you really have the stamina to do this for the entire game?"
Takao gritted his teeth in frustration. He tries to move the ball faster. However, right before he wants to pass the ball to his teammates, his eyes caught Kuroko's movement from behind in the last second.
"Steal? Not that easy, bastard!"
Takao managed to evade Kuroko's attempt to steal the ball. But by doing so, he lowered his guard on the ball, which Furihata exploited successfully by slapping it from his hand.
"Nice steal!"
"Shit!" Takao cursed inwardly but still managed to recover and try to get the ball again from Furihata. However, Furihata didn't hold the ball for too long. Instead, he sends it to his left side where Kuroko is waiting in the wide-open position.
People tend to forget that Kuroko's main strength is not only his invisibility. No, his very thin pressure also makes the blue-haired boy easily forgotten by the others, and that is the thing that Takao couldn't stop at all, especially in a scramble situation like this when all the attention is on the strong players.
"Damn! Stop him!" Midorima shouted, couldn't bear to see Kuroko score twice in a row.
"Shit! You are not going anywhere!"
Takao managed to stop Kuroko right before he could drive forward. However, Takao seems to forget a lot of things today, including Kuroko's specialty. Yeah, with the last two plays before, he forgets that Kuroko's specialty is not dribbling or scoring but passing.
So, when Takao blocked his path to drive forward, he opened the path for Kuroko to pass the ball to his teammates, and Kuroko didn't hesitate for a second before he lobbed the ball near the basket.
"Damn!"
"Nice one, Kuroko!"
Kagami who managed to sneak from Midorima's guard after taking the advantage of Midorima's shock condition jumped to the ball and slammed it down with ease.
*BAAM!!*
"YOSSHAA!!!"
"Nice play, Kagami-kun!"
"Good steal, Furihata-kun!"
"Nice assist as always, Phantom!"
They celebrate the play for a while before preparing for another play, eyeing Shutoku players hungrily. But their positive momentum is stopped by the sound of the buzzer, and the referee announced,
"Shutoku High, timeout!"
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Author note :
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