That Manager - Kuroko no Basuke (Book 2)

第50Q

The other Seirin players looked uneasy when Murasakibara stepped on to the court with his hair tied up. "This does look bad." said Izuki.

'And so we do, in a different way.' thought Hyuga while looking at Kagami, who was panting heavily. 'Being in the Zone is exhausting. Will he last until the end?'

"I was watching you during the time out." said Kuroko when Murasakibara stood in front of him. "Honestly, I thought you'd give up."

"Yeah." said the latter. "I tried to, but I changed my mind. I'll crush you after all. It might be annoyingly difficult, but I hate losing even more."

"Good." said Kuroko with a serious look. "But I hate losing, too."

The game resumed with Yosen having the ball. As planned, Himuro was being triple-teamed by Hyuga, Izuki and Kuroko. 'Murasakibara's not the only one.' noted Seirin's point guard when he took note of the Yosen player's expression. 'Looks like Himuro had a breakthrough, too.' Just then, he noticed Okamura coming up to Hyuga. "A screen!" he warned, but Himuro took the opportunity to escape from them.

Kuroko and Izuki ran after him, and he caught the ball with the former standing in front of him to defend. He jumped to make a shot, and Kuroko followed to block it, only to have fallen for a fake as Himuro drove past him. Himuro jumped again to make a shot, and Kagami quickly stepped in to block.

'It's no use.' thought Fukui. 'The Mirage Shot's been completely beaten.'

"I hate to admit it, but you're amazing, Taiga." muttered Himuro, who was jealous of the said boy's abilities for all this time. "I lost our battle. Sorry, though. We're still going to win!" He bounced pass the ball to Murasakibara while he and Kagami were still in mid-air. Murasakibara got around Mitobe and attempted to dunk the ball, but Kagami was in time to block it.

"What?" exclaimed Okamura, who was as surprised as his teammates.

'This isn't normal.' thought Araki, who was feeling uneasy about Kagami. 'Is he really this good?'

"I told you, I hate losing." growled Murasakibara. "That's why I'll win!" He suddenly passed the ball to Himuro, which caught the Seirin team off guard, and the latter scored with a shot.

"You're kidding." said Momoi disbelievingly.

"Huh." said Aomine with a smirk. "I've never seen Murasakibara like that before."

Kise was watching with his mouth agape before recovering from the surprise, and chuckled. "Seriously?" he muttered with his hand running through his hair.

"Alright!" cheered the Yosen players.

"This is really looking bad." commented Hyuga.

"Izuki-senpai, do you have a minute?" asked Kagami as he went up to the said boy. When Izuki looked at him, Kagami told him about his plan, and the former agreed, passing him the ball.

While on defence, the Yosen players were surprised to see Kagami having the ball. "You're the point guard now?" asked Fukui, annoyed that Kagami was doing the same thing as Kiyoshi did earlier. Once the ball went into his hand, Kagami drove past Fukui and was guarded by Murasakibara. When the Yosen center jumped after Kagami who was making a shot, he fell for a fake, and Kagami passed the ball to Kuroko, who passed the ball upwards to the hoop. After getting past Murasakibara's defence, Kagami jumped and slammed the ball into the hoop, scoring with an alley-oop.

The game resumed with Kagami having the ball again. Fukui tried to stop him, but he broke past him, and passed the ball to Izuki, who did a lay-up. Murasakibara caught up in time, and tried to block from behind but Izuki passed the ball backwards. Once he landed, Murasakibara turned around and jumped to block again. Kagami avoided his long arm, and dunked the ball.