That Manager - Kuroko no Basuke (Book 1)

第9Q

The game continued with Seiho passing the ball around. Mitobe tried to stop Iwamura but the latter passed the ball to Tsugawa. Kagami knocked the ball out but he hit Tsugawa's hand as well, earning himself another foul. 'Isn't that his third one already?' asked Yasu anxiously.

'Damn it!' cussed Kagami. 'It's not that they're fast, they just don't use many movements! It's like they're passing the ball without even catching it. Is this another one of their martial arts techniques?'

Kagami got the ball, but because of Tsugawa's defence, the ball bounced out of the court. "Out of bounds!" shouted the referee after blowing his whistle. "White ball!"

"A nine point difference, huh?" muttered Tsugawa as he looked at the scoreboard while on the way to get the rebounds in case Kagami failed to shoot the ball into the basket. He was distracted by it and failed to notice Kuroko, bumping into him.

"Sorry." said Kuroko.

But Tsugawa didn't notice him since the beginning of the match and yelped out of surprise. "Who are you?" he asked. "Have you been playing this game?"

"I'm Kuroko Tetsuya." replied the Phantom Man. "I have been."

"You're kidding!" exclaimed the Seiho player. "Seriously?! You've got so little presence!"

'He's played him before but doesn't remember him!' thought Kagami, shocked at Tsugawa not noticing Kuroko from the start.

'And he just told him his name!' thought Hyuga, who was surprised at how easily Kuroko gave away his name.

"You're a first-year, too?" questioned Tsugawa before a wide grinned was plastered on his face. "Hey, did you know? Last year, our team was ahead of yours by twenty points in the first quarter. That's why I want to make it thirty." This made the three upperclassmen of Seirin glare at him. "Well, don't let it get you down!" With a pat on Kuroko's shoulder, he ran off.

"Fine." said Kuroko lowly, making Tsugawa halt in his tracks to look back at him. "I will make sure I am not disappointed."

The game continued. This time, while Kasuga was on Izuki, who had the ball, the latter passed it towards where Mitobe was. 'A random pass like that will never-' Kasuga then realised Kuroko suddenly appeared out of nowhere and passed the ball back to Mitobe, avoiding Iwamura's block.

'A pass from behind the defense?' thought the latter. Mitobe took the chance to break free from him and shot a basket.

Kasuga received the ball from his teammate and broke past Izuki, dribbling towards their basket. He tried to shoot the ball but Kagami leapt from behind and smacked it away, making it miss and bounce off the board before it was caught by Izuki, who then passed it to Hyuga as they dribbled it towards their basket. Everyone at the bench were cheering for their team, giving them as much motivation as possible.

Once the gear had started to move smoothly, with eighteen seconds left, Seirin was only three points behind Seiho. Tsugawa held the ball but was immediately knocked it out of his hands by Kuroko, allowing Kagami to catch it and pass it to Hyuga, who scored with a three-point shot, just in time for the buzzer to go off.

"First quarter over!" announced the referee.

Iwamura walked over to them with Tsugawa held by the back of his jersey. "I heard this guy said something stupid again." he said.

"Yeah." said Hyuga. "Honestly, it brought back memories of last year's trauma. But it's fine." This surprised the five players of Seiho. "We got over it." That was when they realised they were tied at nineteen points.