Coming Back [Kuroko no Basket]

It's Not Impossible

"Member change, black!"

"Kise, I'm swapping you out."

Kise's face changed to shock then frustration as he stood his ground on the court, not wanting to listen to the coach's orders.

"Wait... Why me? If I leave now..."

"Kise. Follow the coach's orders."

"Senpai..."

Kise turned his head to see Kasamatsu's usual frown on his face.

"Your foot, right? Must be from that time."

Words weren't needed for Kise to know that Kasamatsu was talking about Haizaki putting pressure on his injury by stepping on his foot in their match yesterday.

"Oh. So you found me out... But, let me play! I can fight through this! I can't let us lose like this..."

"If that's so, then you lost back when you ended up this way. I know all the overworking shows how much you wanted to win. It's hard for me to accept that Haizaki got your injured leg too. But you can't use that as an excuse. Not only that..."

Kasamatsu looked away from Kise, causing the blonde-haired player to do the same and felt chills go through his body when he saw Nakamura's hardened glare on him.

"Seirin's manager has been staring at you like that. If it's not me beating you, it'll definitely be her."

"Dammit..."

Kise slowly made his way off the court as he was forced to be subbed out. Nakamura didn't ease up on her glare either as she watched Kise take a seat on Kaijo's bench.

"Is his injury that bad?"

"I don't think so. Kaijo's coach wouldn't put him in the game if it was that serious."

Kuroko did the throw-in for Seirin and passed the ball to Kagami, who was immediately double-teamed by Hayakawa and Nakamura.

"Nakamura-san, what data do you have on Kaijo's No.9?"

"His name is Nakamura Shinya and he's a point guard. His middle school was in the top eight of the prefecture and he's most known for having defense skills on the same level as Seiho's players."

"As Seiho?!"

"Even if it's not Kise, this is still going to be difficult."

Nakamura furrowed her eyebrows as she said, "It'll be difficult, but not impossible. If we have a large enough point lead, we should be safe."

But what would be considered large enough? Fifteen points? Twenty? Thirty? I don't have enough data... Realistically speaking, closing a fifteen point gap in two minutes would be impossible, even with the Perfect Copy... But if Ryouta extended the time somehow...

As Nakamura continued to think about the different scenarios concerning the Perfect Copy, Riko considered subbing out Kuroko for the time being.

"But it seems Kaijo hasn't been able to adapt to Kuroko yet, so at this rate..."

"That's only because Kuroko-kun has been dodging the bullet well. We faced Kaijo before, so misdirection won't work well. And if that wears out, only Overflow is left."

"I see..."

"So we'll swap out at the next dead ball. Mitobe-kun, get ready."

Just as Mitobe stood up, the team watched as Kasamatsu marked Kuroko as he got ready to perform his Phantom Shot.

"A backstep?"

Riko stood up in a hurry and asked for a member substitution as Kasamatsu knocked the ball away, rendering the Phantom Shot ineffective.