Chapter 101 : Scouting Murasakibara
On the next Monday, all the Seirin players finally gathered again to prepare for their next game. Because the next stage would be the national tournament, they would get two weeks' rest before they played their next game. So, this time, Riko just asked all the players to gather in the basketball room and watch their next opponent's game.
"Aaah! I really want to play, damn it!"
"Don't be too hasty, Kagami-kun." Hyuga smiled wryly when he heard his kouhai whine. "Take it easy. Believe me, if I know Riko as well as I thought, you would not have that luxury too much in the next two weeks."
All the senior members also shuddered when they remembered the summer training.
"It is not that bad, right?" Kawahara who saw his senpai's reaction couldn't help but ask nervously. Hyuga just shook his head at the answer.
"No, it wouldn't be as bad as last year, I believe." He spoke, eliciting a relieved sigh from the others. "Last year, we trained our ass hard in the summer because we got eliminated early. But this time, since we are still in the tournament, I believe Riko would reduce our training portion a bit."
"Don't be so sure, Hyuga-kun!" A cheerful voice suddenly comes from behind. When they turned around, they could see Alex standing behind them, smiling at them mischievously. "With how you performed last game, especially the main rosters, Riko would push you as hard as she could so that you could remember not to do that again."
And suddenly, all the players who were punished by Riko in the last game got paled.
"N-N-No way!" Izuki suddenly stammered out. "I didn't do anything wrong! I didn't deserve to be punished like this!"
"Oh, but you did a wrong thing in the last game, Izuki-chan!" Alex still with her creepy-cheerful smile replied. "If not, how could you get punished by Riko-chan? And you all haven't received my punishment too!"
Silence befell around them before it was broken by collective screams.
"EEEH???!!!"
"What do you mean your punishment, Alex?" Kagami suddenly asked; no, demanded an explanation from his old coach. "Isn't that enough punishment? to put us on the bench and not letting us play during the last game?"
"Yeah!" Several players supported his agreement, especially the ones who were punished by Riko the last time.
"But Riko-chan thinks that it was not enough, and I believe that too!" Then, the creepy smile on Alex's face that no one thought could get worse suddenly got creepier. "Don't worry, though. My punishment is easy enough. You all just have to accompany me for a special dinner, cooked personally by Riko-chan…."
She whispered the last part dramatically, causing the others to shiver in fear. When what she said finally sink in, all the players who have experienced Riko's food gradually paled, and in a second,
"NO WAY!" Izuki's body trembled; he sweated profusely as if he just woke up from a nightmare. "I don't care about anything, but please, don't make me endure that torture again!"
"I remember the last time I had her food for dinner," Kiyoshi spoke with a haunted voice. "She poured almost half a bottle of Gatorade for her curry, right? She thought it could help us recover faster…"
"Yeah, and I still remember that food supplement…." Hyuga still shuddered whenever he remembered how Riko almost killed all the senior members with her food. "Yeah, better avoid her food at all costs."
"You guys are exaggerating!" Alex suddenly speaks again. "Riko-chan said she has been practicing and improved a lot! There is no way it would be that bad, right?" However, all she got was just deadpanned gazes from her players.
"Please, don't joke like that, Alex-san. Anything but that please!"
However, before Alex or anyone could say anything, Riko's voice suddenly come out of nowhere.
"Anything but what, Izuki-kun?"
"EEEP!" All the players chuckled amusedly at Izuki's comical reaction. "Nothing, Coach! Just talking about the tournament! Anything but losing, right? Everyone?"
Seeing Izuki's pleading gazes, everyone knows that if he ever got caught, he would never let himself get tortured alone and would drag them all in this shit.
"Yeah! That!"
"Izuki-senpai is right! Anything but losing!"
Riko just looked at her players strangely before shooking her head, "Stop messing around! Come inside, I will prepare the tape first."
When Riko finally entered the room, all the players sighed in relief as they followed from behind. No one wanted to mention that, afraid that Riko would get a sudden inspiration and invite them all for dinner.
"Okay, first thing first," Riko spoke after everyone took a seat. "You passed your achievement last year; took revenge against all three Tokyo Kings and advanced to the national tournament. So, I want to say it first, congratulations!"
When all the players heard that, their faces lightened up as they clenched their fists, celebrating silently.
"However, we cannot stay relaxed for too long. Because, our next opponent is a traditional powerhouse from Akita, Yosen High!"
And right after that, the videotape played slowly, showing a game between Yosen High against a no-name school. At first, nobody spoke anything as they watched the players carefully. But when Furihata noticed a giant with a white and purple striped jersey, he narrowed his eyes at Kuroko.
"Phantom, are my eyes deceiving me, or is that your former teammate there?" Right after he speaks that, all of the eyes in the room turn into Kuroko and Furihata.
Hearing his question, Kuroko just nodded solemnly. "You are right, Furihata-kun. That is Murasakibara-kun."
All the players in the room stared at Kuroko in shock for a few seconds before all of them shouted together,
"EEEH??!!"
"Is that true?"
"Murasakibara? Which one is he, Kuroko-kun?"
"He is the center, the one with purple hair," Kuroko answered the question. Then, all the eyes in the room immediately turned to the purple-haired boy on the video, just to be flabbergasted at what they saw.
"What the hell….." Hyuga's mouth gaped like a fish, followed by a question that all of his teammates wanted to ask, "How tall is he?"
"Yeah, that is Atshusi Murasakibara, He is about 208 cm with a wingspan of about 216 cm; at least.6 cm taller compared to Papa Mbaye Siki from Senegal that you faced in the first round of this tournament. He is by far the best defensive center in the tournament, and would probably be the best defensive player by the end of the tournament."
Kagami's eyes squinted a bit, remembering his experience against Papa Mbaye Shiki. If he is even struggling against Senegal's center, how would he fare against Murasakibara?
"Yosen also trusted his defensive capability so much. Just look at their defensive positioning." Riko pointed at the video. "Other than Murasakibara, everyone, even Kenichi Okamura, their best interior defender last year, stretch out to defend the outside. That is because they believe as long as the opponent tried to enter the paint area, Murasakibara would be able to stop them no matter what trick they did."
"And how did it go?" Hyuga couldn't help but be curious. This kind of defensive method only worked if Murasakibara is really as good as she talked.
"Well, it was proven that it worked pretty well. Until today, Yosen still remained the best defensive team, averaging only 20.4 points per game scored against them. For more impressive stats, when Murasakibara is playing, no one ever scored inside the paint, almost all of it was from the outside."
"That's crazy…." Koganei suddenly turned depressed. At this point, Furihata had to wonder, why is it that Koganei would be the first one who was depressed after seeing a strong opponent? "Our offensive strategy is to drag the center to the high-post area as the organizer, right? Then, how should we play against such a center?"
"I have already thought about it. But first, I want to hear Kuroko-kun's opinion first about his former teammates. Is there something we need to be aware of him?"
Kuroko pondered for a second, trying to remember anything about the center. All his teammates are waiting nervously, hoping that he would bring something useful for them to exploit.
"Murasakibara-kun….." The blue-haired boy started to speak. "As long as I could remember, we never get along pretty well… It is because he hates people who are not talented yet don't know how to give up. And people who he considered talented are anyone from the Generation of Miracles. In fact, as long as I could remember, he would only listen to Akashi-kun on the court, and I don't believe anyone in Yosen could tame his wild personality. So, finding us not giving up the game would probably annoy him the most."
All the players looked at the phantom boy in disbelief, not knowing if he is joking or not. But knowing Kuroko, they know he is very serious right now.
"First Aomine, then Akashi, and now Murasakibara. Phantom, your former teammates suck."
Several players chuckled at Furihata's attempt to lighten the mood.
"Well, I couldn't agree more with that." Kuroko nodded with a straight face. "But you have to admit, no matter how messed up their mind are, they have already proven to be formidable opponents, and Murasakibara would also be like that."
"Anything else, Kuroko-kun?"
"Well, as you can see in the video, his reaction is top-notch. See here!" Kuroko pointed his finger at the video. It was a clip where Murasakibara was getting baited by a fake shoot, just for him to block the shoot a second later. "He didn't bother about game reading and whatever related to that. As long as the ball is in the paint area, he would never let anyone score. His strength is also incomparable. No one dares to get physical against him"
"Hmmm…." Riko hummed slightly, trying to think about something. Furihata who also saw the clip couldn't help but speak, "I don't know if it is a weakness, but did anyone notice something wrong here?"
Now, he got everyone's attention.
"What do you mean, Furihata-kun?" Hyuga tried to see if there is anything wrong with Yosen's play. "I don't find anything peculiar. Anyone?" Seeing everyone also shook his head, Furihata sighed before he started explaining.
"Look at their offensive play carefully, and you would notice something weird there." And they did what he said, observing the play carefully. After a while, it was Kagami who was the first to notice. "Murasakibara is not involved in their offensive too much?"
"Yeah, you are right, Red." Furihata nodded. "If you see it carefully, you will find out he is being covered by this number 4. He would only score in a putback or wide-open position. Other than that, he would stay passive, not moving from his spot. Do you think it is weird enough?"
"Well, when you say it like that…." Now, everyone is on the same frequency, trying to think about it.
"Good observation, Furihata-kun." Riko praised the first-year point guard. "In fact, Alex-san and I also noticed this problem yesterday. Now, I don't believe anyone from the Generation of Miracles had a glaring weakness like this. But when we thought carefully, we reached the same conclusion. Kuroko-kun, did Murasakibara have a problem with his stamina?"
"No, not really." Kuroko shoots down the idea pretty quickly. "When Furihata-kun pointed it out, I just noticed that it was always his playing style. He would always wait for his teammates to feed him, and it was either Akashi-kun or my job to do that. I have never seen him getting active in offense, but I can say it now, he didn't lack stamina as you thought."
"Well, that brings us back to the starting point, finding Murasakibara's weakness."
"Wait, Riko-chan, what do you mean bring us back to the start?" Riko narrowed her eyes dangerously at how Koganei addressed her. However, the cat-like second-year ignored it and said, "We have already known Yosen tried to hide him in offense, for whatever reason it is. But it should be for a good reason, right? So, why don't we start targeting him in offense?"
Several players also nodded in agreement.
"Well, hate to agree with Koga-kun, but he has a point here. If they hide him deep enough in offense, there should be a good reason for it. We could try to exploit it, at least just to test out our theory."
"I hate to say this, Izuki-chan, but I don't think it would work." Alex who hasn't spoken anything since the beginning interfered with the discussion. "You see, in order to target someone in offense, you need to close down anyone else and force the ball to go to someone you targeted to work. But here is the problem. Yosen is not only a good defensive team, but they also have a lot of good offensive players. And one of them… Let's just say I am familiar with him."
At first, no one knows what Alex means by that. But when the video goes further, Kagami finally noticed someone familiar on Yosen High and couldn't help but ask Alex,
"Wait, is that Tatsuya?"
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Author note :
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You can also read this fanfiction up to chapter 121 on that page. Thank you! :)
-Zeta Faes-