Black Basketball: A false start

Chapter 242 The Weight of Enlightenment

"They're actually using a three-guard lineup at this time..." Kaneki Ken muttered to himself as he watched the players from both teams step onto the court, "It seems that this old guy Takeuchi Genta still has some ambitions..."

"Ambition?" Tao Jingwu asked in confusion, "What ambition, Yan-kun?"

"Matsuyama Yutaka, who was substituted in by Takeuchi Genta, is a typical tall 3D player..." Kaneki Ken explained with his hands folded in front of his chest, "He may not be able to directly face the impact of Kagami Daiga on the outside, but he is not only capable of connecting the inside and outside lines, but also very capable. With such a player, Seirin can't let go of his outside shots, and Kagami Daiga must always be careful not to be double-teamed by him and Naito Tetsuya... Substituting in such a player at this time is not to maintain the score difference, but to widen the score difference..."

"Damn it! Double team?"

Just as Kaneki Ken said, Kagami Taiga received the ball on the outside and carried Matsuyama Yutaka all the way to the inside, but when he reached the paint area, he found that Naito Tetsu had come to his side without him noticing at some point.

"Kagami, here!" Ebina Ka looked at the double-team that was about to form in the paint and quickly reached out for the ball.

"Ebina..." When Kagami Daigo heard the call from his outside teammate, his eyes involuntarily looked towards Ebina Jia.

"It's better not to disturb Kagami at this time. Let's leave the decision to the ace~" Kasamatsu Yukio appeared beside Ebinaka at some point, and his long arms directly blocked the passing route between Kagami Daiga and Ebinaka.

"Don't let me pass the ball..." Kagami Daigo was annoyed by the double-team in the paint. He gritted his teeth, looked at Naito Tetsuya behind him fiercely and said to himself, "Then I'll play by myself!"

As Kagami Taiga finished his words, Naito Tetsuya felt a huge force coming from his chest, which made him unable to help but take a half step back.

"Good opportunity!" Kagami Daigo was secretly delighted when he saw Naito Tetsuya retreating. He twisted his waist and forced a jump, turning from his back to the basket to facing the basket in the air.

"Idiot, how can you play basketball so willfully at this time?" Aomine Daiki complained with some disappointment.

"You talk as if you don't do this kind of thing often." Wakamatsu Kosuke complained with some dissatisfaction.

"boom!"

Before Aomine Daiki could respond to Wakamatsu Kousuke, Kagami Daigo heard a crisp voice, a shadow of long arms flashed by, and his hands that were originally holding the basketball were suddenly empty.

"Steal?" Kagami Daigo thought something was not good and his eyes involuntarily looked in the direction where the long arm was stretched out. It was Matsuyama Yutaka.

"Good steal, Matsuyama!" Kasamatsu Yukio looked at Matsuyama Yutaka who had successfully stolen the ball and quickly turned around and ran towards the frontcourt.

"Fast break!" Matsuyama Yutaka threw the ball to the front court with great force, and the entire basketball court instantly turned into a racetrack with thousands of horses galloping. Players from both sides ran non-stop towards Seirin High School's half.

"I got this ball!" After receiving the ball, Yukio Kasamatsu took three steps forward, lightly flicked the ball with his right hand, and the basketball flew towards the basket like an obedient elf.

"Don't be happy too soon!" Following closely behind, Kagami Daigo gritted his teeth and jumped up. His long arms lashed out at the basketball in the air like a slingshot. The basketball that was originally flying towards the basket changed direction, hit the backboard and bounced out.

"Nice hat, Kagami!"

Just as the players of Seirin High School were celebrating Kagami Daigo's block, the referee suddenly blew the whistle.

"Foul?" Kagami Daigo looked at the referee on the sidelines with an innocent face, his eyes full of confusion, as if he was waiting for the referee to give him an explanation.

"White number 10, interference with the ball! Two points are valid!"

As the referee put down the whistle in his mouth, a voice that made everyone in Seirin High School fall into despair rang out.

"No, how did I interfere with the ball? The ball was still rising!" Kagami Dawo walked towards the referee with an unwilling look on his face and argued, "Please take another look, I really didn't interfere with the ball!"

"White Number 10, raise your hands quickly!" The referee looked at the aggressive Vulcan and growled with some dissatisfaction.

"It was clearly a clean block, where were you looking?" Kagami Dawo turned a deaf ear to the referee's warning. He was so angry that he just wanted the referee to change the penalty.

"No, Kagami! Raise your hands quickly!" Hyuga Junpei, who was standing by, looked at the referee's livid face and hurried forward to grab Kagami Daigo, but it was too late.

"Beep beep~"

A cold whistle sounded, and the referee on the sidelines made a T sign and shouted loudly towards the workbench: "White No. 10, technical foul!"

"How stupid, Taiga..." Himuro Tatsuya looked at the embarrassed appearance of Kagami Taiga on the field and said with mixed feelings, "If you want to become a qualified team ace, you still have a long way to go..."

"No, I didn't..." Kagami Daigo muttered to himself as he looked at the referee's departing back with a look of despair on his face, "That was clearly a good block just now!"

"Okay, Kagami." Hinata Junpei frowned and came to Kagami Taiga and said, "The referee may have made a mistake, but misjudgment is also part of the game... The most important thing now is to narrow the score difference as soon as possible. If you commit another technical foul, the game will be really over..."

"..." Kagami woke me up from a dream and looked at Junpei Hinata. He clenched his fists unwillingly, turned around, looked at Junpei Hinata with red eyes and whispered, "I understand, Captain."

"Kaijo High School, one free throw!" The referee walked past Kagami Daiga with a cold face, came to the baseline, threw the ball to Kasamatsu Yukio on the free throw line and said.

"It's really adding insult to injury!" Aomine Daiki shook his head regretfully and said, "As the team's trump card, not only did he fail to narrow the score gap, but he made such a mistake at this time, which is very fatal..."

"Besides..." Sakurai Ryo lowered his head and looked through his notebook, "The first quarter hasn't ended yet, but this seems to be Kagami's second foul..."

"Really? I actually can't accept losing to a team like this..." Aomine Daiki said with a complicated expression, gritting his teeth.

"Coach, after Kagami leaves the court, please be sure to slap him." Kuroko Tetsuya on the bench seemed to be very dissatisfied with Kagami Daiga's performance at the moment, and said to Aida Reiko with an expressionless face.

"Shh!"

With Yukio Kasamatsu's free throw, the score came to 46 to 12, and the next ball was still in the possession of Kaijo High School.

"Captain!" Tetsuya Naito at the baseline decisively passed the ball to Yukio Kasamatsu. After receiving the ball, Yukio Kasamatsu turned around and got rid of Izuki Shun's defense. After glancing at the running positions of his teammates on the court, he took the ball to the three-point line and began to reorganize the offense.

"Let's have a fight!" Yukio Kasamatsu made a 6 gesture and shouted loudly to his teammates.

"Pay attention to the switching of defenses!" After hearing Kasamatsu Yukio's tactical arrangements, Ebina Yoshi decisively turned around and reminded his teammates.

"You react very quickly ~ As expected of a mortal Amu..." Kasamatsu Yukio looked at Ebina Yoshi with a hint of admiration in his eyes. Then, after the pick-and-roll between Hayakawa Mitsunari and Naito Tetsuya was in place, he decisively cut into the inside.

"I can't let you go in so easily!" Upon seeing this, Ichiro Katsume quickly let go of Kenji Fujima, whom he was guarding, and rushed forward, about to double-team Yukio Kasamatsu together with Taiga Kagami.

"Hehe~" Kasamatsu Yukio chuckled as he looked at the Seirin High School players who were facing a formidable enemy. Then he shook his right hand lightly, and the basketball instantly hit the ground and bounced into the hands of Naito Tetsuya who was following closely.

"I must defeat you, Kagami Taigo!" After receiving the ball, Naito Tetsuya gritted his teeth and rushed to the inside, overcoming the defense of Kiyoshi Teppei and slammed the ball heavily towards the basket.

"Damn... this guy's strength is simply inhuman..." Muji Teppei stretched out his arms and gritted his teeth, standing between Naito Tetsuya and the basket.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!” Naito Tetsuya looked at Kiyoshi Teppei in front of him, his eyes became more violent, and the strength in his hands also increased a bit.

"Not good..." Muji Tieping thought to himself, "My center of gravity...is a bit unstable!"

"Hah!" Just when the players of Seirin High School were full of despair, Kagami Daigo suddenly flashed in front of Naito Tetsuya, put his right hand on the back of Kiyoshi Teppei's hand, and blocked the ball fiercely.

"Well done, Kagami!" Ebina Ka, who was closer to the basketball, was quick-eyed and quick-handed. He stepped forward to protect the basketball. Then, he, Hinata Junpei, and Katsume Ichiro rushed towards the front court like a troika.

"Defend!" Seeing this, Yukio Kasamatsu also ran as fast as he could, trying to stop Seirin High School's fast break by himself.

"Hinata!" Ebina Ka felt the oppression coming from behind, and his eyes involuntarily looked towards Hinata Junpei.

"Don't even think about passing the ball!" Kasamatsu Yukio looked at Ebinaka and couldn't help but jump forward, trying to use his body to stop Ebinaka from passing the ball to Hinata Junpei.

"Nice pass, Xiaojia!"

Under the annoyed look of Kasamatsu Yukio, Katsume Ichiro who had already run to the corner received the pass from Ebina Yoshi, made a fake move to shake off Matsuyama Yutaka who was rushing forward to defend, and then threw the ball steadily into the basket.

"3..."

"2..."

"It has to go in!" Hinata Junpei looked at the countdown on the basketball hoop, gritted his teeth, stared at the arc drawn by the basketball in the air and prayed.

"Shh!"

"1!"

"Buzz~"

As the red light came on at the end of the first quarter, Ichiro Katsumi's three-pointer at the buzzer hit the basket accurately. The score was 46 to 15, and Seirin High School was 31 points behind.

"This guy's defense at the end was pretty good." Aomine Daiki looked at Kagami Daiga's back as he left the court and said with a sneer, "I just don't know what he's thinking now..."

"Why would we have time to think about anything now? Isn't the key to catch up with the score as soon as possible?" Wakamatsu Kosuke asked with some confusion.

"It would be great if Kagami really didn't think about anything..." Aomine Daiki sighed, "I'm afraid he would think about something insignificant... Especially after experiencing such a powerful force in the last duel with me..."

As expected by Aomine Daiki, Kagami Daiga, who was sitting on the bench, was breathing heavily. He pretended not to hear the tactics arranged by Aida Reiko. He kept recalling the scene of his battle with Aomine Daiki in his mind.

"Damn it... Why? Why can't I do it?" Kagami Daigo tightly grasped a corner of the towel with his left hand, and crumpled the sports water bottle into a ball with his right hand, with a ferocious look on his face, "My strength should not be just at this level, I can obviously fight back and forth with such a powerful Aomine Daiki..."

"Kagami-san, why don't you just give up."

Just as Kagami Taiga was caught up in his obsession, Kuroko Tetsuya's voice suddenly sounded in his ears.

"What are you talking about, Kuroko? The game has reached this point now. How can I, as the team's ace, give up?" Kagami Daigo looked at Kuroko Tetsuya with a puzzled look and yelled.

"Oh, I didn't expect that Kagami-san still needs my reminder at this time..." Kuroko Tetsuya sighed and said, "The situation of the game is very bleak now, but if just because of this, Kagami-san gives up teamwork and concentrates on fighting alone, then the last glimmer of hope for the game will really be gone." "Kuroko..." Kagami Daigo stared at Kuroko Tetsuya blankly, and suddenly felt inexplicably touched in his heart.

"I know that it's really hard to turn the tables in the current situation..." Kuroko Tetsuya said as he took off his coat, "But, the worse our touch is and the bigger the score difference is, the more we have to start with defense..."

As he spoke, Kuroko Tetsuya took out a wristband from his bag, handed it to Kagami Daiga and said, "Why don't you try my lucky wristband? I heard it works very well."

"Really? It's already this late and you still believe this." Kagami Daiga stared at the wristband that Kuroko Tetsuya handed over for a while, then he chuckled and took the wristband and put it on his hand. "I understand what you want to say, Kuroko. I will start with defense, and the rest is up to you and the captain."

"Really? Don't be so serious, first-year~" Hinata Junpei chuckled, "We old guys...are not so useless as to put the burden of the team on a newcomer!"

"Yes, Kagami!" Muji Teppei patted Kagami Daigo on the shoulder and said, "Relax a little, as long as we have fought together, we can accept any result!"

"Everyone..." Kagami Daigo felt a sour taste in his nose, then suddenly bowed to everyone and said, "It's really great to be able to play basketball with you all!"

"Eh~ You're so disgusting, Kagami..."

"Don't force yourself to be sentimental, bastard..."

The players of Seirin High School complained mercilessly.

"Hey, hey, hey, isn't this what you guys always said before?" Kagami Daigo looked at his teammates with disgust on their faces and yelled awkwardly.

……

"Let's continue the game like this." On the bench of Kaijo High School, Takeuchi Genta folded his hands over his chest and said with a look of relief, "Don't worry about their luck for the last three-pointer at the buzzer. It's impossible for their luck to be so good all the time. Focus on the two three-point shooters, and let Kagami Daiwo shoot one or two goals appropriately. As long as we don't let Kagami Daiwo's momentum be cultivated, this kind of piecemeal scoring will not be able to narrow the gap!"

"Yes, coach!" the players of Haichang High School answered in unison.

"The current situation of Seirin High School is really a headache..." Araki Masako folded her hands in front of her chest and said with interest, "Kagami-sama must enter the zone to have a chance to win the game, but Kaijo High School will not let him develop his touch, and Kagami himself may be disturbed by distracting thoughts at any time and unable to enter the zone... In a sense, Seirin High School's chance of winning is less than 1%..."

"That's not the case..." Murasakibara Atsushi held his chin with his left hand, looked lazily at the quiet Kagami Taiga and said, "The so-called trigger is nothing more than an extremely strong sense of belief... It's easy to say that you must win the game no matter what, but how many people can really give up everything just to win the game? Awareness is a more important factor than technical strength, tactics and other factors..."

"I didn't believe what Chen said before..." Araki Masako heard Murasakihara Atsushi's words, and looked at this innocent big guy whom she recruited to Yangquan High School with a surprised face and said, "It seems that you really have a brain, Murasakihara~"

"Hmph!" Murasakihara Atsushi snorted in displeasure at Araki Masako's teasing, shrank his big body into a small ball, sat in the corner and kept silent.

"Buzz~~~"

Amid the noisy discussions on the sidelines, the timer began to buzz on time. Players from both sides stood up and walked to the center of the court, and the second quarter began.

"Um, Ebina-senpai..." Just as Ebina Ka was about to go on stage, Kuroko Tetsuya suddenly came up behind him and said, "Can I go on stage for you?"

"Uh..." Ebina Yoshi looked at Kuroko Tetsuya with a confused look, and then cast an inquiring look at Aida Reiko, as if seeking the coach's opinion.

"Kuroko, you have to know that the longer you play, the weaker the effect of misdirection will be at the critical moment." Reiko Aida said to Kuroko Tetsuya while staring at him with burning eyes.

"I know." Kuroko Tetsuya calmly adjusted his wristband, "But, like I've always said, as long as I think I can help the team by playing, I will definitely not stay on the sidelines."

"Okay, Ebina, you go off the court and have a rest first." Aida Reiko looked at Kuroko Tetsuya's resolute expression and decisively made a substitution, "The next game will be handed over to you and Kagami."

"Don't worry, coach." Kuroko Tetsuya gave Aida Reiko a thumbs up and said, "I will definitely work with everyone to bring back victory!"

"Yeah!" Reiko Aida looked at Kuroko Tetsuya's expression, a firm smile appeared on her face, and she gave Kuroko Tetsuya a thumbs up in return.

"team leader!"

With Mitsuo Hayakawa passing the sideline ball to Yukio Kasamatsu, the second quarter officially began.

"What's going on? Why is Kuroko Tetsuya on the court again?" Wakamatsu Kosuke on the sidelines looked at Kuroko Tetsuya who was blocking Kasamatsu Yukio and said in confusion, "And the Seirin players are too confident in him, aren't they? They actually let him play against Kasamatsu Yukio?"

"What a joke! Now is the time when the game really begins..." Aomine Daiki looked at Kuroko Tetsuya on the field, and a familiar sense of disharmony surged in his heart.

"This guy again?" Kasamatsu Yukio looked at Kuroko Tetsuya in front of him and Kagami Taiga behind him, and couldn't help but fall into deep thought, "Could it be that he wants to deal with me like he did to Kise the first time?"

Kasamatsu Yukio was thinking, but his hands did not slow down at all. He dribbled the ball to his left hand with a hip dribble, and then made a big crossover to easily pass Kuroko Tetsuya.

"What's going on? He looked so powerful, but it turned out to be just bluffing..." Kasamatsu Yukio muttered to himself after completing the breakthrough. But when he looked up at the opponent in front of him again, his pupils shrank involuntarily and he said in disbelief, "How is it possible? I clearly passed him!"

Kuroko Tetsuya appeared in front of Kasamatsu Yukio again, and rushed forward with agility that was extremely inconsistent with Kuroko Tetsuya. With a light touch of his long arm, he pushed the basketball out of Kasamatsu Yukio's hand. Until then, Kuroko Tetsuya's face in front of Kasamatsu Yukio gradually disappeared like melted ice cream, and returned to the appearance of Katsumi Ichiro.

"Kuroko, ball!"

Just when Kasamatsu Yukio was getting nervous, Katsume Ichiro suddenly spoke up to remind him.

"Yes, the ball has not been completely intercepted..." Katsume Ichiro's shout also made Kasamatsu Yukio react. He quickly turned around and rushed towards the basketball, but Kuroko Tetsuya, who was closer to the basketball, still took the lead and hugged the ball in his arms. He was the last one to turn around on the spot and accelerated, throwing the ball to the whole court.

"Good pass, Kuroko!" Kagami Daigo, who was riding far ahead of everyone else, easily received the basketball in the frontcourt and slammed the ball into the basket in front of the shocked eyes of everyone at Kaijo High School.

"What happened with that ball just now..." Kasamatsu Yukio no longer cared about Kagami Daiga's dunk. Instead, he looked at Kuroko Tetsuya with a look as if he had seen a ghost and asked.

"I don't know either. I just did it because I wanted to." Kuroko Tetsuya answered truthfully.

"I was so careless..." Kasamatsu Yukio exclaimed as he looked at the back of Kuroko Tetsuya returning to defense, "I actually forgot that this guy is a basketball player who fought side by side with the Generation of Miracles for two and a half years..."

"That's the feeling!" Qingfeng Daiki slapped the railing and exclaimed, "The field was clearly full of Azhe, but when they launched the attack, it was like seeing a ghost and suddenly they turned into other people..."

"Is this... Kuroko's zone?" Kaneki Ken looked at the thin figure in the field with a serious expression. For the first time, he doubted whether his decision to teach Kuroko Tetsuya the misdirection was correct.

"It doesn't matter..." Kasamatsu Yukio took the ball from the baseline and slowly pushed forward. Looking at Kuroko Tetsuya who was blocking him again, he gritted his teeth and muttered to himself, "It doesn't matter if he is Kuroko Tetsuya or not, no matter how many Kuroko Tetsuyas he has, as long as we can get through him!"

"boom!"

As Kasamatsu Yukio made up his mind, there was a sound of a ball exploding, and Kasamatsu Yukio suddenly turned into a flash and flashed past Kuroko Tetsuya.

"Sorry, this road is blocked." As Kuroko Tetsuya's face appeared in front of Kasamatsu Yukio again, Kasamatsu Yukio felt as if he had hit a city wall and was bounced back.

"This kind of power can never belong to Kuroko Tetsuya!" Kasamatsu Yukio, who was bounced out, lost control of the ball again, and Kuroko Tetsuya who appeared in front of him also turned back into the image of Kagami Taiga.

"Go, Vulcan!"

Seeing Kagami Taiga complete the steal, Shinji Koganei on the bench stood up and shouted loudly.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!" Kasamatsu Yukio followed closely in the footsteps of Kagami Taigo, trying his best to figure out why so many black people like Tetsuya suddenly appeared on the field.

"The whole court is full of Tetsu-kun..." Momoi Satsuki looked at Kasamatsu Yukio who was struggling, and couldn't help but think of what Aomine Daiki told her when he lost. She looked at Kaneki Ken with some confusion and asked, "What's going on, Ken-kun..."

"Kuroko's mastery of misdirection has become even more profound..." Kaneki Ken sighed, "It was originally just a small-scale close-up magic, but now it has become a grand movie..."

"…What are you talking about, Ken-kun…" Momoi Satsuki expressed dissatisfaction with Kaneki Ken's riddle answer.

"One thing that everyone knows is that the longer Kuroko Tetsuya plays, the more people will get used to Kuroko and Misdirection." Kaneki Ken said slowly, "And when everyone gets used to Kuroko, the most dazzling presence on the field will no longer be anyone else, but the mysterious Kuroko himself."

"And then?" Tao Jing Satsuki asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"Because Kuroko has become the most dazzling presence on the court, everyone's attention will be focused on Kuroko, especially when Kuroko takes the initiative to defend the opponent's ace point guard, Kuroko becomes extremely eye-catching." Kaneki Ken continued to explain patiently.

"When everyone's attention is focused on Kuroko, the other players of Seirin High School suddenly put on oppressive defense, which will force the Kaijo High School players to quickly move their attention from Kuroko to the opposing players... When people move quickly, there will be afterimages, not to mention the shifting of attention that is faster than human movement... To put it more professionally, this phenomenon is called residual illusion..."

"Just like when people look at red for a long time, white things will turn green when they look at them. When everyone's eyes are focused on Kuroko Tetsuya, and their eyes suddenly shift to another figure wearing the same jersey, it will naturally create the illusion that there are many Kuroko... It's really amazing, Kuroko... This is the Misdirection.Zone that belongs to Kuroko Tetsuya!"

“But if that happens, when everyone gets used to this residual illusion again, won’t Tetsu-kun be useless on the court?” Taoi Satsuki asked in a worried tone, “It’s even possible that before Seirin High School can overtake, Tetsu-kun will become a complete burden on the court…”

……

"When the players of Kaijo High School get used to Kuro-chino, Kuro-chino will no longer be able to play any role..." Murasakibara Atsushi said with a complicated expression, "Even in the future when facing Kaijo High School, Kuro-chino will no longer have a chance to play..."

"It sounds like a magician who is deciphering his own magic while performing magic..." Himuro Tatsuya looked at Kuroko Tetsuya with a shocked expression and said, "However, this is too cruel for Kuroko-san..."

"As long as they can win the game, this little sacrifice is not even within the scope of consideration for Kuro-chin..." Murasakibara Atsushi's eyes revealed a trace of admiration from the bottom of his heart, "He is willing to sacrifice his basketball life to get even a slight chance of winning for the team. This is Kuro-chin... This is the weight of awareness!"

"Good steal! Kuroko!" Kagami Taiga looked at Kuroko Tetsuya who successfully stole the ball from Naito Tetsuya, and roared excitedly, running towards the front court like an arrow.

"Run faster, run faster, Kagami-san!" Kuroko Tetsuya slammed the ball to the ground, then twisted his waist desperately, twisted his right hand, and slammed the bottom of the basketball hard. An orange-red whirlwind instantly swept across half the court and flew into the hands of Kagami Daigo.

"I never thought that Kagami would need Kuroko's help one day..." Aida Reiko looked at Kagami Taiga, who was riding so fast on the field, with a hint of expectation flashing in her eyes. She murmured to herself, "Kuroko has made up his mind. The rest is up to you, Kagami-san!"

"Uhhhhhhhh!!!"

As if in response to Reiko Aida's inner voice, Kagami Daigo roared and jumped up from the free throw line, holding the basketball tightly in his right hand, and when he reached the highest point, he slammed the ball into the basket.

"Shh!"

The sound of the basketball hitting the net echoed in the hearts of every player at Kaijo High School, and the score had reached 46 to 24, with Seirin High School only 22 points behind.

(End of this chapter)