That Manager - Kuroko no Basuke (Book 1)

第10Q

Tsugawa chuckled at Kuroko's declare. "You're paying me back for Kagami?" he scoffed before turning to his upperclassman. "Omuro-san, could I change my mark?"

"Why?" he asked, irritated by his sudden request.

"Well, it seems I've got a proxy here demanding payment." he replied mockingly.

The game then continued with Seiho's tight defence on Seirin. Yasu turned around to check on the unconscious senior, who was laid on a yoga mat with a pillow underneath his head, a towel over his chest and a smaller one placed on his forehead. A water bottle and the first aid kit was placed right next to him. "Is Koganei-senpai alright?" she asked concernedly.

Furihata, who was using a clipboard to fan the said boy, turned to look at her. "Don't worry, Yasu-san." he assured, smiling at her. "He'll be fine. You can continue watching the game. I'll take care of him." She nodded at him with a small smile and turned her head back to the game.

"I'm surprised they sent you and not Kagami, but for them to send a first-year here at all." scoffed Tsugawa when he was guarding Kuroko. "Looks like Seirin's upperclassman aren't so dependable." Kuroko looked at him, confused by his last sentence. "They just said they benched you two because it was their will. But here you are."

Kuroko stared at him for a few seconds before saying, "I asked to be put in. Anyway, if you've been watching the game, there's no way you could believe that. If the upperclassmen have their will, then underclassmen have respect. I will defeat you to support the upperclassmen that I look up to."

Tsugawa hummed for a while as he stared at Kuroko until he realised he had disappeared from his sight, but it was too late. Izuki passed the ball and Kuroko directed it towards Hyuga, who broke free from the defence placed on him. 'I lost him!' thought the first-year, surprised. 'How did... When did he...' Hyuga scored a basket by doing a lay-up.

'What's going on?' questioned Iwamura, who didn't know what had happened. 'Those passes are strong. But even the receivers are slipping past the defence!' When Seiho got the ball, Hyuga suddenly stole it from them and dribbled it towards his team's basket. "What?! A steal!" When Tsugawa stood in his way, Hyuga immediately passed it to Kuroko, who passed it to Mitobe to shoot the ball.

"What is this?" asked the confused and frustrated Tsugawa. "What's going on?"

"They know our movements!" said Omuro while panting.

"They got us." said their coach as he watched the match went on. "I've never seen anyone study us so thoroughly before."

"Thanks to you guys, one of our DVD players is ruined." said Hyuga jokingly to Seiho's captain.

"They really got us." said Kasuga.

'As their name suggests, old martial arts techniques are ancient.' thought Yasu while eying on the Seiho players. 'Their thought process is completely different from modern sports science. Applying those specialised movements to basketball is Seiho's strength, but if you're specialised, you've got habits. Normally, people will step towards the direction they're heading as they start to move. Seiho's players point their toes in the direction they're heading before they even move.'

'In other words, once we recognise that habit, we can predict their next move.' thought Riko. 'That's why the second-years have been studying hard after practice thanks to Yasu-chan's research and video editing skills. That said, keeping up with those movements was harder than we expected.'

'Because of that, we haven't been able to deal with them until the second half.' thought Hyuga, remembering they had to struggle in understanding their movements first-hand.