That Manager - Kuroko no Basuke (Book 2)

第47Q

Aomine took a few seconds to look at Himuro, and said something that surprised Momoi. "Number 12 is pretty good."

"What?" she responded, surprised by his statement. 'Since this is his first appearance at a tournament, I don't have any data on him.' she thought before taking note of his expression. 'Is he good enough to put Dai-chan on guard at a glance?'

Himuro and Tatsuya had a staredown until the former jumped to make a shot. Kagami jumped to block it, but he realised that Himuro's feet were on the ground. 'A fake?' he thought. Himuro took this opportunity to drive past him.

'It totally looked like he was going for a shot.' thought Aomine. 'I've never seen such a perfect fake.'

"No, you don't!" yelled Hyuga as he stepped up to block him.

"It's a pincer attack!" said Kagami when he landed behind Himuro, double-teaming him with Hyuga. But before any of them could react, Himuro jumped and scored a basket with a jump shot.

"I can't believe the captain and Kagami couldn't react at all." said Furihata.

"What kind of trick is he using?" asked Fukuda.

"He's not doing anything." replied Yasu, grabbing their attention, as she stared at the court with her arms crossed over her chest. "He simply stopped and made a jump shot. However, because he transitioned so smoothly, neither of them noticed him enter his shooting motion. It's an incredibly ordinary play, but each element is of the highest quality. He's the exact opposite of the formless Aomine. He adheres strictly to orthodox methods. It's like a refined dance."

'I saw what was happening, but I couldn't respond.' thought Kagami, who was still in shock of Himuro's jump shot. 'I can't believe how smoothly he moves.'

"Alright!" cheered Himuro.

"That part of you hasn't changed at all." said Kagami, when he remembered Himuro telling him that the mind must be cold and the heart should be hot.

Himuro had the ball again, and Kagami went to guard him. "You still do, don't you?" asked the former with a glare. "Somewhere in your heart, I hope you don't still think of me as your brother." Kagami's eyes widened, and he let out a gasp, knowing that Himuro was right.

The raven-haired boy jumped and made a shot. 'It's not a fake this time.' thought Kagami. 'Block!' Though he jumped and held his hand up high to block the shot, the ball seemingly went through his hand, and through the net.

'That's impossible.' thought Hyuga when he saw the shot. 'The ball passed through his shot.'

'This happened when we played street ball.' thought Kagami while staring at his hand.

"You and I are enemies." growled Himuro. "Come at me like you're trying to kill me."

Suddenly, the buzzer went off, and Riko stood at the panel with Tsuchida next to her. "Kagami!" he called, telling him that he was substituted.

"Me?" he responded, shocked by the coach's decision.

"Should we be doing this?" asked Izuki as he and the others watched Kagami reluctantly leave the court.

"They're probably giving him time to cool his head." said Kiyoshi. "Kagami's weakness is he can't separate his emotions from the game. He's too kind."

"We can't afford to worry about him, though." said Hyuga before glancing at the five Yosen players. "We've got a much bigger problem. we need to score two points off Yosen. In other words, we have to pierce the Shield of Aegis." He then looked at the team's center. "You know everything's riding on that first shot, Kiyoshi."