Chapter 48 : VS Shutoku VII - Kagami Takes Over the Game

"It is still strange for me to see Kurokocchi scoring like this." Kise let out a sigh in the audience seat. Kasamatsu beside him only gives a little snort before saying,

"Well, you better get used to it." He paused to look at the court closely. "With his invisibility, if he can do more than passing and stealing, he will be a dangerous weapon for Seirin. His dribble is still rough right now, and his shooting form is still a bit sloppy. But once he finds his best form and could combine that with his invisibility, it would be very hard for his opponent to stop him."

"Yeah, I know.." Kise nodded slowly before his face lightened up. "But that would mean this game would be more interesting! Midorimacchi wouldn't let this slide easily! I cannot wait to see who will win!"

Kasamatsu turned around and looked at him strangely.

"I thought you wanted Seirin to win?"

"Nah!" Kise shook his head. "I will be happy with whoever wins the game." He explained a little before turning his attention back to the court.

The game restarted again with the ball in Takao's hand possession. He didn't hold the ball too long before sending the ball to Kimura. But unlike before, Takao decided to be more active in offense by cutting inside the paint area right after he passes the ball.

'Fast!'

Izuki gritted his teeth as he tried his best to follow Takao. But Kimura noticed Izuki is one step behind him, so the power forward dishes the ball back to Takao and the point guard is now facing the basket in a wide-open position.

"Mitobe!" Izuki yelled, didn't have much choice but asked the center to defend the paint area. But the moment Mitobe turned his attention to both Izuki and Takao, Shutoku's point guard once again dishes the ball, and now his target is already in a very good spot inside the paint area.

"Nice pass, Takao!" Otsubo who received the ball didn't hesitate for a second before he raised the ball high with both hands and slammed it in with all his strength.

*BAAAM!!*

"Nice one, Otsubo!"

"Good job, Captain!"

All the players on Shutoku's bench cheered loudly for their captain. However, Otsubo didn't celebrate his dunk even for a second as he shouted,

"Go back! Defense!"

Having received a quick fast break so many times from Seirin, he would be a fool if he falls for the same trick more than twice. Hell, two times is already too much to his liking, let alone more.

The game restarted again, and once again, the ball is in Izuki's possession. But this time, Furihata realized something different from Shutoku's defense.

'It is still man-to-man defense. Phantom is still facing Takao, Midorima is still on me, but now Kimura is one step further from Mitobe-senpai. That means he would be ready to do a double-team with Otsubo any time Red had the ball. But that means Mitobe-senpai is open. Let's use it for now.'

He gives a subtle signal to Mitobe which the center catches it easily as he runs immediately toward him, leaving Kimura's guard.

"What?!"

Having been silent for the entire game, Kimura didn't expect Seirin would use Mitobe again this time. He couldn't react on time, so the only thing he could do is warn Midorima.

"Midorima! Screen!"

Hearing the shout, Midorima reacted as quickly as possible. However, he is a bit too late as Mitobe is already arrived to block his way and help Furihata get away from his guard.

'Damn!'

It didn't take more than three seconds for Midorima to get rid of Mitobe's screen. However, with Furihata's speed, three seconds is enough for him to take advantage of this situation. He runs quickly toward Izuki and sets another screen to help him escape from Takao's guard.

"Nice one, Furihata-kun!"

"Damn!"

Even though he has seen Furihata's movement with his eyes a second before, it doesn't mean he could react at the right time, especially in shock after Furihata managed to escape from Midorima. Izuki took advantage of that moment to drive forward to the basket.

However, when he saw Kimura and Midorima approach him, his instinct kicked in, and he bounced the ball toward the paint area where Mitobe sneakily arrived there.

"What? How long has he been there?!"

Both Shutoku players were taken aback by the sudden appearance of Mitobe inside the paint. However, they couldn't react quickly before Mitobe put the ball on the basket easily with a layup.

"Nice one, Mitobe!"

"Nice assist, Senpai!"

All Seirin players celebrated for a while before going back for the defense.

This time, the ball went directly to Otsubo, which pushed Mitobe immediately to the paint area. Furihata who saw that tried to help the center, but Otsubo overpowered both with another powerful dunk.

*BAAM!!*

And right after the ball went in, all players on the court could hear the buzzer ring.

"Substitution for Seirin. #9 in, #12 out."

Hearing his numbers getting called out, Furihata sighed as he walked out of the court and gives a high five to his Senpai.

"Good work," Riko said to him while offering a towel.

"Thanks."

After spending a few seconds in silence, Riko finally opened her mouth, asking him a question.

"So, what do you think?"

Furihata shrugged a little before he replied,

"This is a very tough situation for us, but you made a good call." He paused to take a bottle of water. "With me, Phantom, and Izuki-senpai on the court, our line-up is way too small to deal with Otsubo-san and Kimura-san. Red couldn't be the one who stops them as someone needs to always keep Midorima in check. If you pulled out Phantom from the court, it would be a waste of his misdirection time, so your choice is either me or Izuki-senpai. I have already played for about twenty minutes, so it is not hard for you to decide. It is just, with Tsuchida-senpai on the court, our offense would be weakened a lot. If we still cannot stop their offense, we are screwed,"

"I know it too." Riko let out a deep sigh as she also realized the situation. "I will put Junpei on the court again if I see the situation turned worse for us."

"I just hope it would never happen, then," Furihata murmured lowly before turning back his attention to the court.

Now, the ball is still in Izuki's possession. But with Tsuchida being on the court, his offensive option is limited to either Kagami, Kuroko, or Mitobe. Seeing Shutoku still playing man-to-man defense, he asked Tsuchida to come for a screenplay again.

"Don't think it would happen that often, Seirin!"

Miyaji who is guarding him managed to slip away from the screen, following his move to the paint area. Seeing this, Izuki clicked his tongue before he sends the ball back to Tsuchida who is behind him in a wide-open position.

However, the moment the power forward takes a stance to pull up a shoot, Kimura arrived in front of him with his hand raised high.

"Not that easy!"

Tsuchida is a bit panicked after seeing the hand that appeared in front of his face, and it affected his shooting as the ball didn't go into the route he wanted to go. Seeing this, he tried to run for a rebound. However, Kimura knows his intention, so the moment Tsuchida started running to the paint area, Shutoku power forward managed to secure a box-out position against Tsuchida, letting Otsubo who is under the basket battle for the rebound.

*Clank!*

"Captain! Rebound!"

"I get it!"

With the height advantage and the better jump explosive power, it is easy for Otsubo to win the aerial battle against Mitobe. He grabbed the ball in the air before launching it far to the opposite side of the court which Miyaji

"Nice pass, Otsubo!"

The small forward is already on the Seirin side without anyone guarding him, and he put the ball to the basket easily with a layup.

"Yeah!"

"Nice one, Miyaji!"

"Good pass, Captain!"

On Seirin's bench, seeing the last play, Riko stood up and gives an instruction to Hyuga immediately.

"Junpei, prepare yourself." The shooting guard nodded as he also stood up. "You will be in for Mitobe. If Midorima is on you, draw him as far as possible from the ball. If anyone else, kill him with your three. And for defense, guard Kimura. As long as you have the upper hand, it would be great for us. Also, tell Izuki to use Kuroko-kun properly. He is on the court for reasons, and we need to take advantage of his presence. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Coach!"

A few seconds later, when the ball is going out-of-bound, Hyuga is finally on the court again for Mitobe.

"Good job, Mitobe." Riko praised the center, giving him another towel. After exchanging conversations for a bit, she finally sit back in her seat beside Furihata and let out a sigh.

"It is a moment like this I really miss Teppei's presence." She muttered. Furihataa who overheard it couldn't help but make a comment.

"Yeah, having another big who can defend against someone as strong as Otsubo-san would be a huge help for us. Not mentioning he is also very good in offense."

Riko was taken aback by the comment.

"You know Teppei?"

Furihata snorted at the question.

"Of course, I know him. Who doesn't know Teppei Kiyoshi the iron heart, one of the uncrowned kings?"

Riko just rolled her eyes at the sass comment.

"You are the first one who have any idea when I talked about Teppei in front of the first-year. Not everyone is a research freak like you, after all."

Furihata shrugged helplessly and decided not to continue the conversation and turned his attention back to the court.

The ball is in Seirin's possession again, but this time, Kagami is the one who is holding the ball.

"He is getting impatient." Furihata noticed. "Let's just hope it doesn't affect his game."

Seeing as Midorima is not guarding him, Kagami growled a little before he rushes forward, using his monstrous strength to overpower Kimura.

"Damn! Miyaji!"

Seeing his teammates couldn't handle the red-hair, Miyaji comes over and planted his feet on the floor immediately, trying to draw an offensive foul. However, after facing this trick a lot in training against Furihata, Kagami noticed Miyaji's intention instantly and when he is only one step from the small forward, Kagami dishes the ball to his right before making a quick spin move to avoid the screen.

"What? What is he trying to do?"

However, in a second, his question is answered as the ball suddenly bounced back to Kagami once again, and when Miyaji turned around, he could see Kuroko is the one responsible for passing back the ball.

"Shit! Takao, where the hell are you!"

He couldn't help but curse his teammate as he saw Kagami heading toward the paint area without anyone guarding him. Now, the only one who could stop him is Otsubo, yet the captain is guarding Tsuchida.

Kagami saw that, and he makes a subtle feint move as if he wanted to pass the ball to Tsuchida. His feint movement was able to make Otsubo react as the Shutoku captain suddenly stop coming onto him and moves back to guard Tsuchida. The moment Otsubo reacted, Kagami retreated the ball in the opposite direction of Otsubo before he took two steps forward and slammed the ball into the basket.

*BAAM!*

A euro-step dunk!

And right after he landed on the floor, he smirked toward Midorima as if saying, 'Are you sure you don't want to stop me?'

He could see the irritation on Midorima's face as the shooting guard has their eyebrows twitched slightly. That is the reaction that Kagami wants. Now, if Midorima still doesn't come to him, all he needs is to bully the others enough until they switched their defense.

'Come on, Midorima! I am on fire today!'

Furihata and Riko could only shake their head helplessly at the sight of the excited Kagami.

"Well, let's just hope he didn't get too excited and ruin the game." Riko nodded at Furihata's low murmur.

A few seconds later, the game restarted with the ball in Takao's hand. However, unlike before, he finds himself unable to pass the ball to Midorima as there are two players who are guarding his teammate, one is Kagami in front of him, and another is Kuroko who is sneaking from Midorima's blindspot.

'Well, if they are double-teaming Shin-chan, there would be one player who is unguarded, right?'

Takao grinned as he dishes the ball to his right, and right after the ball was released from his hand, Miyaji suddenly appeared from behind, grabbed the ball, and slashed toward the basket.

"Don't get too cocky, Seirin! We are not just Midorima!"

What he didn't expect is, when he was about to put the ball to the basket with a layup, Kagami suddenly appeared, chasing him from behind at his full speed before he slapped the ball to the board.

*BAM!*

"What?!"

Before he could realize what happened, the ball is not in his hand anymore and it went back to its own side wildly.

"Nice block!"

"Defense, go back!"

"Get the ball!"

All the players on the court are running back to Shutoku's side in a scramble, trying to grab the ball first. Unsurprisingly, Midorima who is on the backcourt is the first one who reached the ball. Or so that is what he thought.

However, the moment he is about to reach the ball, he caught a sudden blur of movement beside him and grabbed the ball first.

He didn't need more than one second to realize it was Kuroko.

"Damn, Kuroko! I will not let you score anymore!"

Midorima gritted his teeth as he tried to imitate Kagami's last play, chasing down the ball handler and blocking him from behind. However, by doing that, once again he forgets that Kuroko's specialty is not his scoring ability, and Kuroko punished it immediately by lobbing the ball high, which Kagami suddenly appeared from behind, grabbed the ball, and slammed it into the basket while at the same time pushing Midorima's body down to the floor.

*BAAM!*

A posterized dunk!

"Take that, Midorima!" Kagami roared as he stares down at Midorima with cold eyes. Midorima could also see Kuroko standing beside Kagami, looking into his eyes as if daring him to fight.

At that moment, Midorima finally experienced humiliation for the first time in his basketball career, and to make it worse, Kagami did it in front of almost 1000 audiences in the Tokyo Gymnasium.

He growled angrily and muttered,

"Just wait, Kuroko, Kagami. I will return this humiliation back ten times worse than what I feel right now. Just wait, you two.."

And just like that, everyone on the court realized the game would be more intense as time goes.

56 – 65

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