That Manager - Kuroko no Basuke (Book 1)

第24Q

The game resumed with Kaijo having the ball. 'What's this?' thought Imayoshi, watching Kasamatsu instructing his team on their plan. 'They look like they're ready for something. They must have something planned.'

Moriyama passed the ball to Kobori, who then passed it to Kise. "There it is!" shouted Koganei as the crowd began to cheer at two aces facing each other. "Kise versus Aomine!"

"How many times have they done this today?" asked Tsuchida.

The two of them had a staredown for a few seconds before Kise passed the ball to Hayakawa, surprising everyone, including Momoi. "Hey, what's wrong?" asked Aomine mockingly. "Have you already given up?" He looked at Kise, thinking, 'What's going on? One-on-one isn't his only choice, but he's not coming at me aggressively enough!' Sakurai stole the ball from Moriyama and passed it to Susa, who then passed it to Aomine. 'This doesn't seem right. They don't seem aggressive enough, and then they pull that. They have no intention of losing. But it doesn't matter.'

"Whatever you do, the results won't change!" scoffed Aomine. He bounced the ball, and once he got it, he drove past Kise. He jumped up to dunk the ball but realised he had bumped into Kasamatsu, making him fall to the floor. The referee blew his whistle. "Charging!" he shouted. "Black number 5!"

"A foul?" responded the surprised Koganei.

"I can't believe it didn't count." said Kiyoshi.

'He's good!' thought Hyuga. 'But more than that, he's got balls! Instead of withdrawing because of the difference in their builds, he charged into him for a foul.'

"You've really done it now, senpai." said Aomine mockingly while helping Kasamatsu get on his feet.

"You just hit a guy." remarked Kaijo's captain. "What's with the attitude, kid?"

"That's our captain!" cheered Hayakawa. "Nice-"

"Shut up!" scolded Kasamatsu while facepalming the junior, cutting him off.

"This is making me nervous." said Moriyama. "Can we really do this?"

"It's not a matter of can or can't!" corrected Kasamatsu. "We're going to do it! Believe in our ace!"

The game continued. Whenever Aomine got the ball and Kise was on defense, but the the former would always drive past him and score the basket. When he jumped up to shoot the ball, Kise tried to block him, and Aomine immediately shot the ball upwards while avoiding Kise's arm.

"He's not stopping." noted Hyuga.

"Aomine's at full throttle." said Izuki.

'What's going on?' questioned Imayoshi when he noticed Kaijo's play was different than before. 'All that talk, and they're doing not doing anything.'

Kise panted for a few times before taking a deep breath and stared at Aomine, who was running to defend. 'Damn it...' he thought. 'He's so freaking cool. That absolute style no one can copy. I started basketball because I looked up to this guy. I could make normal plays after seeing them once, but no matter how many times I tried, I could never copy his. The truth is, I knew why I couldn't copy them. Once you look up to someone, you can't overtake them.'

Aomine felt his gaze and turned around, noticing his odd behaviour when he stood on the same spot and stared. 'While I wished to win, I wished he wouldn't lose. That's why I'll give up on looking up to him.' Aomine's eyes widened at Kise's change of expression.

"Impossible..." muttered Kagami when he took notice of Kise's expression.

"It's probably exactly what you're thinking." said Kuroko, who knew what Kagami meant. "Kise-kun is trying to copy Aomine-kun's style." This caught the rest of Seirin's attention as they turned to him.