That Manager - Kuroko no Basuke (Book 1)

第4Q

"Kagami's powerless against Kise, but his weakness is..." trailed off Hyuga, surprised at what the former said.

"Aside from passing, the weakest guy on the court, Kuroko-kun?" questioned Riko, completing his sentence as she was thinking the same thing.

"So?" asked Kise while Kuroko removed Kagami's hand. "It's true Kurokocchi's style is the only one I can't imitate. But what does that change?"

The referee then blew the whistle. "End of the first quarter!" he announced. "Take a two-minute break!"

"It changes everything." replied Kagami, grinning. "We'll bring you to tears in the second quarter." He turned around and walked towards his team's bench while Kaijo returned to theirs as the match ended with an eight point difference, having Kaijo in the lead.

"What the hell are you doing?!" asked Takeuchi, who was unsatisfied with his students' performance. "They're closing the gap! Your fundamentals suck! Hands up! Screen out! Rebound! You're taller than them, so get the rebounds!"

"I see." said Riko when the team's manager thought up of a strategy. "Yeah, that could work."

"Kagami, looks like you finally cooled down." noted Yasu, looking at him with a closed-eye smile.

"No, I was always-"

"You were really pissed!" pointed out Hyuga and Izuki, cutting him off.

"But Kuroko-kun and Kagami-kun, your coordination will be key." said the coach. "Can you do it?"

"Yeah, probably." said the latter, sounding unsure. "We'll wo-" He stopped mid-sentence when Kuroko jabbed him in the side. "You bastard, where did that come from?"

"You want to beat Kise-kun, don't you?" asked Kuroko, making him reconfirm his main goal in the current match.

"Of course I do." he said, jabbing him back in the side as well. Yasu chuckled at the exchange.

"Let the second quarter begin!" announced the referee when the two-minute break was up.

"Well, then." said Riko, crossing her arms over her chest while she and the rest watched the five players went back to the court. "Take care of the counterattack!"

The second quarter began as both sides cheered for their teams. Kaijo was ahead of Seirin by ten points after the first minute. 'Kaijo's defense is still man-to-man.' noted Hyuga when he held the ball and Moriyama was defending. He passed the ball to Izuki, who then passed it to Kagami.

"Something's changed, right?" asked Kise, who was marking him. Kagami didn't reply him and started dribbling after breaking past him. 'Just another drive?' he guessed, running beside him. 'Maybe another fadeaway?' To his surprise, Kagami held the ball in his other hand and passed it to Kuroko, who was diagonally next to Kise. Kuroko then passed the ball back to Kagami, changing the course to avoid Kise's defense. 'He's coordinating with Kurokocchi!' Kagami then scored a basket with an alley-oop.

"Yes!" cheered Riko.

"Nice shot!" praised Tsuchida.

Kagami had the ball again, and Kise was defending him. The former passed the ball towards Kuroko. 'Again?' thought Kise as he quickly caught up with Kagami. 'I won't let it happen this time!' However, the ball instead went to Hyuga, who scored with a three-point shot.

Seirin's captain humphed proudly, pushing his glasses up his nose bridge. "Have you changed your minds, first-ye-" He stopped when he realised no one was listening to him. "Hey!"