Coming Back [Kuroko no Basket]

The Weight of Our Resolve

After heading back to the court area, Seirin prepared for the beginning of the third quarter as the timeout was coming to an end, feeling just a slight bit of hope with Nakamura's idea.

"Overwrite Mayuzumi's presence?" Izuki asked. "Is that possible?"

"There's a chance," Nakamura said with a nod. "When Furihata-kun mentioned Shutoku, it made me think about out past matches with them since Takao-kun has his Hawk Eye. Remember how Tetsuya kept making passes to draw Takao-kun's attention towards him during our Inter-High match?"

The team gave the girl a nod before she continued speaking. "I think if we do the same with Mayuzumi-san and keep making him stand out, the audience's attention would be drawn towards him and Tetsuya could get his Misdirection back."

"... That might actually work," Kiyoshi said as he brought a hand to his chin.

"Since we can't do anything about Tetsuya's presence, we can still affect the other players' presence. There are a few problems though. If Rakuzan realizes our plan, then they might stop Tetsuya from completely overwriting Mayuzumi-san. There's also timing," Nakamura stated.

"Timing?" Riko asked.

"Tetsuya has been sitting on the bench so if he gets his Misdirection back, he should last until the end of the game. The problem is that since Misdirection relies on pushing people's attention away from himself, even if he does get it back, I have no idea how long it'll actually last because everyone is already aware of him," Nakamura said as she flipped through her notes. "That's why I don't think we should risk it by putting him back in the game just yet. I suggest waiting until the fourth quarter."

"But if Kuroko could overwrite Mayuzumi, it would be better to put him in sooner than later, right?" Koganei asked.

"Well, I don't have any data that proves this is actually going to work. It's just an idea, but there was also another thing when I was talking about timing. Rakuzan is confident that they're going to win, so I think that we should keep having them think that," Nakamura explained.

".. So the same thing during our match against Touou Academy," Kagami said as he scratched the back of his head.

"Basically, but since it's Akashi-kun, it'll be harder to deceive him," Nakamura declared as she bit her lip. "It probably won't work but we could still try."

"Kiyoshi-senpai."

Hearing his name be called, Kiyoshi stopped staring at the ground and lifted his head to see Nakamura standing in front of him.

"How's your knee? Do you want to be subbed out and take a break?"

"No, I'll be fine."

"... Is that so?"

Nakamura's mouth pursed into a thin line as her eyebrows furrowed together, knowing full well that the pain in his knee was probably killing him right now because he was sitting on the bench rather than warming up with everyone else.

"I'm fine, Nakamura. Stop worrying so much. I can already see your wrinkles forming," Kiyoshi jokingly said with a grin as he messed up the girl's hair.

"I'm getting wrinkles because of you, senpai," Nakamura said with a pout as she pushed his hand away.

"The third quarter will now begin."

"Alright!" Hyuuga yelled as the team got together and huddled into a circle.

"Seirin, FIGHT!"

"YEAH!"