That Manager - Kuroko no Basuke (Book 1)

第20Q

The court was empty, leaving Kiyoshi and Kagami to play one-on-one, with the former having the ball. Everyone else stood by the side to watch. Kiyoshi bounced the ball and went to the side. Once Kagami leaned on that side, the second-year immediately went to the other side to break past his defence and dribbled the ball towards the hoop, surprising Kagami. 'He's bigger than me, but he's pretty fast!' he noted.

Kiyoshi was about to do a lay-up, but Kagami blocked it by smacking the ball out of his hand. It was the former's turn to be surprised. 'So high!' he noted. 'His jumps really are unbelievable in person.'

"Amazing!" commented Fukuda.

"Neither one is budging." said Furihata when neither of them scored a basket.

"They're evenly matched?" asked Kawahara excitedly.

"Kiyoshi is really amazing." said Hyuga, who was in awe like the others. "He hasn't played in a while, but he's doing this well against Kagami."

"But Kagami's the one pressuring him." noted Izuki.

Yasu watched the two, with Kagami having the ball and Kiyoshi on defense. 'But what is this?' she questioned when she felt something was odd. 'Tep-nii's movements...' She looked at him from top to toe until she noticed the reason for his delayed movements.

'This is harder than I thought it would be.' thought Kiyoshi while wiping his sweat with his sleeve. Kagami bounced the ball from side to side before stepping forward. Though Kiyoshi was guarding closely, Kagami spun around and drove past him. 'Crap, I responded too slowly!' Kagami jumped up high to score, followed by Kiyoshi who raised his hand to block.

"It's not over yet." said Izuki, knowing what was going to happen next. Like he had predicted, Kagami got around Kiyoshi in mid-air and dunked the ball, winning the one-on-one.

"That's amazing!" praised Furihata. "He dunked from behind!"

"Kagami wins!" announced Fukuda.

Kiyoshi heaved an exhausted sigh when he faced the junior. "You got me." he said. "I lost." He then placed a hand on his shoulder. "Just like I promised, you can start."

"Okay." responded Kagami.

"Hey..." said Riko but the first-year was already at the entrance.

"I'm going." he said while exiting the gym. "Good work."

The others watched the door closed shut. "What are you thinking, Tep-nii?" asked Yasu, with her on the said boy.

"He really is strong." he praised when he turned around to face his teammates.

"And what are we going to do without you?" asked Riko after hitting his head with a giant paper fan.

"I can't help it." he said, rubbing the part where it was hit. "Saying I haven't been playing isn't much of an excuse. This is the best I can do."

"That's not your best." corrected Hyuga. "You're acting too stupid. Look at your feet!" When he pointed Kiyoshi's feet, everyone saw that he was wearing the wrong shoes. "Those are indoor shoes, you moron!" Everyone was so shocked that Riko dropped her paper fan. "Sheesh! Don't tell me you lost on purpose."

But Kiyoshi's reply was, "Oh, crap!"

"It wasn't on purpose?!" yelled Hyuga.

"Sheesh!" sighed Riko, already giving up with her friend. Kuroko only stared at the boy with a surprised look.

~Time skip~

Earlier that day, Riko announced that they would have three consecutive days of practice games starting the following day. On the first day of their practice game, Seirin was playing against Tokushin. But this time, rather than having the second-years take part, the team consisted of all the first-years, to which the opposing team felt insulted. "I don't care if you're one of Tokyo's top four teams." said one of the players.