The Medical Manager (Kuroko x OC)

Chapter 25

-Emiko POV-

Tetsuya chuckled.
"Sorry" he said. "Truthfully, that just made me really happy"
"What are you talking about, idiot?" laughed Kagami. "Everyone's thinking the same thing. No one thinks winning will be easy. If we win enough games, we're bound to face them sooner or later. Nothing beats repaying a debt quickly"

I smiled.
"Fine" said Aomine. "Bring it on"

~

The next morning, we got out of the hotel to start the training.
"All right, everyone's here" said Hyuga.
"Yeah!" we all said.

"Excuse me" said Tetsuya, whose bed hair was ridiculous again, it was making me laugh. "Kagami's been missing since this morning"
"Your bed head is ridiculous!" shouted Hyuga.

"Kagami's missing?" asked Tsuchida.
"It's fine" said Riko. "Starting today, we'll be practicing without Kagami for a while. I'll explain later"

"Okay, let's go home" said Hyuga.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?" asked Riko. "Our training camp starts now"
She pointed at a gym.

~

After we all got changed, we went into the gym and saw Riko's father.
"Are all the kids here?" he asked.
"The coach's dad?!" said Koganei.

"Don't refer to me as 'dad'" said Riko's father. "Call me, Kagetora-san"
"Kagetora-san, what are you doing here?" asked Fukuda.
"My lovely daughter asked me to come" said Kagetora. "I came to make you stronger. First I have a question for you"

He took out a gun and I hid behind Riko.
"Step forward if you saw Riko naked yesterday" he said. "Come forward now and I'll kill you painlessly with a single headshot!"
"We tried to peep, but it wasn't Riko" said Koganei. "It ended in failure"

"Listen up!" shouted Kagetora. "I'm the only one who can see Riko naked..."
"No, you can't!" shouted Riko and threw a ball to her father.
"What?!" said Kagetora. "But Riko, you said you'd marry Daddy when you were little..."

She hit him with her fist this time...
"Get started already!" she shouted.
"But you said you'd marry me" he said.

"Shut up about that!" she shouted.
"Fine, fine" he said. "All right, we'll start by having you all take off your shirts"
'This sounds familiar'

He looked at each and every one of them.
"Well, you're not bad" said Kagetora. "You seem to have been keeping up with Riko's training since this summer. And your manager seems to keep the physical injuries to a minimum. Your stamina and muscles show balanced improvement. Split into two groups. Go play cops and robbers in those mountains for about three hours. Afterward, the losers will practice footwork. I'll let you off with double practice"

"What?!" they all shouted and began running in the woods.
"Kagetora-san?" I asked. "Is this what's called Fartlek? By using their whole bodies to run over uneven ground, they'll improve their overall fitness"

"Not bad, Maeda, was it?" he asked and I nodded. "Impressive. You're right. Like I mentioned earlier, they've all improved physically, but they're stiff. You can't just build muscle. Your body needs to be able to use them. They need to become acclimated to the muscles they've built. Running around in the mountains is the fastest way to do that"

~

When the boys came back, they were exhausted...
"Before we begin practice, I'll tell you what you need to do by next month" said Kagetora. "Riko and Maeda showed me a DVD of your opponent's play. They're an aggressive team of strong players who focus on individual skill. At first glance, they're the opposite of a team that emphasizes team play like yours. However, if you ask me, their teamwork is much better than yours"

They were all surprised...
"They don't emphasize team play, of course" continued Kagetora. "They can just do it. Ignoring individual play doesn't cut it. The most important thing is for everyone to always be aiming for the basket. That's what makes a team come together. Simply being friendly isn't teamwork. For example, four-eyes... you tried to dribble past someone in your last game against Touou"

"Yes" said Hyuga.
"That was stupid" said Kagetora. "Why would you fight such a strong team with something you're bad at? Anyway, don't you make shots from the outside? Cutie and cat-face can shoot threes too, but they're far from being weapons. If you'd made your shots from the beginning against Kirisaki Daichi, you would've won easily. Realize you're Seirin's lifeline. Learn to make shots without a screen"

"But how?" asked Hyuga. "I was dribbling, because I couldn't..."
"I'll show you" said Kagetora. "Cutie, pass me the ball"
He gave the ball to Izuki.

"Kagetora-san's going to play?" asked Fukuda.
"Can he even play basketball?" asked Kawahara.
"Not only does he play" said Kiyoshi. "He used to play for Japan's national team"

Izuki passed the ball to Kagetora.
Hyuga took a defensive stance, Kagetora jumped backwards and shot a perfect three.
"Something like that" he said. "Just so you know, that wasn't speed. Even you can do it. Teamwork really starts to shine with a group of strong individuals. You'll all develop your own weapons by the Winter Cup. In other words, they'll be your special abilities. Some of you noticed during your summer training camp and have laid foundations. You have less than a month before the Winter Cup. I'll train you as much as I can for the price of bloody nothing"

"Thank you!" they all shouted.
"That aside, um..." said Tetsuya.
"Uh?" said Koganei. "By the way, where's Kagami?"