Kuroko's Basketball: I'm not the boss?

Of course, in the world of Kuroko's Basketball, facing the miracle captain Seijuro Akashi, Hikaru has no doubt about the opponent's ability to forcefully unleash his powers when facing a desperate situation.

At this very moment, in Akashi's inner world—

Inside a magnificent, golden palace, a figure sat gracefully in a chair.

At the entrance, Akashi, wearing the number four jersey of Rakuzan, stood there, breathing heavily. Unlike his calm and composed appearance, the pressure on the Rakuzan captain was not as easy as he seemed, as he faced a Kaijo team that was even stronger than the previous year.

"You've arrived, Seijuro."

The figure sitting upright in the chair spoke slowly, his head propped up by one hand, his face full of weariness, as if he were about to fall asleep at any moment.

He was also Akashi, but unlike Akashi in his jersey, he wore a suit and exuded the aura of a superior.

"I can't handle this anymore, I need you."

Akashi's tone was somewhat helpless. In his teammates' eyes, he always seemed to be in complete control, as if he could solve any problem.

However, even with Kaijo now firing on all cylinders and Kise not even entering the "zone," Rakuzan still seems to be on the verge of defeat.

think.

Akashi needs a helper, even if that helper is just his second personality.

"Even if I were to step in, I wouldn't be able to solve this problem. Otherwise, you wouldn't have called me back for last year's summer season."

As Akashi in the suit spoke, he closed his eyes. After a while, he suddenly opened his eyes and met Akashi in the jersey. A look of surprise appeared on his face.

"Seijuro...could it be...?"

"Hey, let's both appear together. This might be our only chance to win now."

……

……

What's wrong with this guy... Shouldn't I be the one doing the time-pressure stuff?

Xiang Yang frowned slightly, looking at Akashi who was dribbling the ball but not launching an attack, his face full of question marks.

He glanced at the scoreboard, confirmed that Kaijo was now nine points ahead of Rakuzan, then turned back to Akashi and couldn't help but ask, "Uh... what are you doing, Akashi?"

"If you don't seize the opportunity to attack, your coach will be jumping up and down in frustration!"

Xiang Yang glanced at the Luoshan bench. The Luoshan coach, who always maintained a calm and collected demeanor, was now restless, pacing back and forth on the sidelines with his arms crossed, probably wondering whether he should call a timeout.

Just as Xiangyang was watching Coach Luoshan stroll around with great interest, Akashi, who had been dribbling with his head down, finally spoke up: "Long time no see, Xiangyang."

"Huh? What are you talking about? Didn't we just see each other in the bathroom before the match... Wait, who are you?"

Xiangyang turned to look at Akashi, and the moment their eyes met, Xiangyang froze. Akashi's crimson pupils had turned golden.

"Aka...Akaashi??"

Xiangyang was stunned. Having had previous experience and understanding of the original work, he knew, of course, that the golden and red pupils corresponded to Akashi's two different personalities. Correspondingly, they also represented two different playing styles.

In his red state, Akashi leans towards the organization, and his passing and control abilities are outstanding. The "Team Zone" skill is also exclusive to him in red mode.

Akashi in his golden state has a more pronounced one-on-one ability, but his weaknesses are also obvious. Without taking care of his teammates, he cannot lead them into "zone" mode.

[This guy... sensed he couldn't win playing normally, so he switched personalities and went for a desperate gamble?]

Xiangyang's mind raced as he pondered Akashi's motives. On the surface, however, he loudly reminded his teammates, "Help me cover! We can't defend against anything!"

Akashi can penetrate Hikaru's defense even in Red Mode, let alone in Gold Mode. With his greatly increased breakthrough ability, scoring against Hikaru in one-on-one situations is even easier for him.

In just one exchange, Akashi successfully broke through Hikaru's defense with a simple deceptive change of direction.

"Damn, you're so fast!"

Xiangyang cursed under his breath and immediately turned to chase after Akashi. At the same time, the inside player, Ohara Hiroshi, reacted quickly. Seeing that Xiangyang had been beaten, he immediately stepped forward to delay Akashi and buy Xiangyang time to get back on defense.

However, just as Hiroshi Ohara moved his feet up, Akashi decisively passed the ball to Hirakawa. Seeing this, Hiroshi Ohara did not panic. His defensive action was not thorough, so he did not lose his defensive position against Hirakawa. He calmly turned around and moved to close in on Hirakawa, who had just received the ball.

Seeing that the crisis seemed to be over, Xiangyang, who had returned to Akashi's side, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He looked the "Golden-Eyed Akashi" up and down, opened his mouth as if to say something.

Suddenly, a loud "bang!" rang out as the basketball hoop shattered.

Looking up at the sun, Xiang Yang saw that Hirakawa Takeshi had somehow broken through Ohara Hiroshi's defense and was hanging on the rim with a one-handed dunk.

And in his eyes... pink lightning flickered like a light, subtly yet persistently dancing!

(Back to two chapters a day, guys! I still find it easier to control chapters with a 3000-word break. Same as always, one chapter at noon and one in the evening. I'll let you know in advance if I need to take a break!)

Chapter 174 Background

Los Angeles two points valid

After scoring with a dunk, Hirakawa released his grip on the rim and slowly fell back to the ground, the pink lightning still lingering in his eyes.

Xiangyang, who witnessed this scene, couldn't help but shrink his pupils. An extremely absurd thought appeared in his mind: "Is this kind of thing... possible?"

"Nothing is impossible, Xiangyang."

Akashi saw through Xiangyang's thoughts and responded. This time, whether it was Xiangyang's imagination or not, Akashi's voice seemed inexplicably deeper, as if two voices were mixed together.

Xiangyang slowly turned to look at Akashi. Although he had a vague guess in his heart, he still needed to confirm some things with his own eyes before he could believe them.

Akashi stood there, still the same arrogant Akashi Seijuro. If there was any difference between him and before, it was probably his eyes…

Akashi's right pupil remained red, a color primarily associated with passing and ball control, while his left eye had turned a striking gold!

At this moment, his two eyes were simultaneously displaying two different colors: red and gold!

For most people, heterochromia might be a novelty, but for Akashi, it's no small matter...

"Hahaha"

Xiang Yang let out a dry laugh, wanting to confirm one last time, he asked Akashi, "Akashi... your colored contacts are quite unique, where did you buy them?"

Akashi: ? ? ?

"Stop talking nonsense, Xiangyang. For this match, I even brought out my second personality, which I really dislike."

As Akashi said this, the golden pupil in his left eye lit up for a moment, as if he were somewhat dissatisfied.

Xiang Yang sighed and murmured, "Dissociative identity disorder is an illness, it needs treatment..."

……

……

With only a little over a minute left in the third quarter due to Akashi's dual personalities possessing him simultaneously, and in order to save timeouts, Hikaru decided to use the remaining time to probe Akashi's abilities. And the result...

Haichang maintained its lead at 84-78.

Xiangyang sat cross-legged on the bench, biting his thumb while looking at the scoreboard.

Akashi's improvement is significant. With both personalities possessing him simultaneously, he can not only ensure team organization in Red Mode, but also possess outstanding individual abilities in Gold Mode.

Aside from having a relatively limited range of scoring methods, Akashi now poses almost the same offensive threat as Aomine.

The only good news is that Akashi's defensive ability remains the same as before. Although his defensive pressure has increased, he still can't stop Hikaru's offense.

However, regardless of the circumstances, with Akashi's rise as the axis, Rakuzan's strength has indeed increased.

The last minute of the third quarter already revealed a lot. Despite having one more possession, Haichang still managed to close the gap to three points against Luoshan.

The victory that was just within reach is now shrouded in uncertainty once again.

"Tsk."

Xiangyang clicked his tongue, looked at Kise who was drinking water beside him, seemingly carefree, and felt a surge of anger. He snatched the water bottle from Kise's hand and put it aside, then crossed his arms and stared at Kise.

Kise: ? ? ?

"What's wrong, Xiao Xiangyang?"

Kise tilted his head and said with some confusion.

Xiangyang tapped his fingers on his arm and questioned Kise, "How can you sleep in this situation... cough cough, how can you even drink water?"

"...You don't have a fever, do you, Xiao Xiangyang?"

Kise was speechless, but Xiangyang had no intention of letting him off so easily. He started arguing with Kise, counting on his fingers: "Look, in the first quarter we were playing a tactical game, in the second quarter it was Yuki who stepped up and gained the advantage, and in the third quarter it was the two of us working together to deal with Akashi. Don't you understand?"

"Uh... understand what?"

Kise narrowed his eyes, his confusion deepening. It seemed like this had nothing to do with him!

"You idiot."

Xiangyang pulled out a paper fan from somewhere and smacked it on Kise's head. Kise's eyes widened in surprise as he stared at the paper fan in Xiangyang's hand, completely bewildered.

"Where did you get that from, Xiao Xiangyang..."

"That's not important!"

Xiangyang casually tossed aside his paper fan, put his arm around Kise's shoulder, and said, "Look, Akashi has been carrying the flag for more than two years now, as our ace, don't you feel anything?"

Kise couldn't help but retort, "Didn't you tell me to give the ball to Yuuki first? Otherwise, I would have started attacking in the second quarter!"

"Uh... I guess so."

Xiang Yang hesitated for a moment, then waved his hand and continued, "It's okay, it's nothing, look at the situation now!"

Xiang Yang pointed to the bench in Luoshan, where Akashi was resting with his eyes closed, and said, "That kid's dissociative identity disorder has flared up. Although we don't know the reason, there's no doubt that he's become more troublesome."

"The fourth quarter is fine with you, right, ace?"

"Of course!"

Kise patted his chest and readily agreed, but then he remembered something and quickly grabbed Xiangyang: "Xiangyang, but I still can't freely enter the zone."

Just as Xiangyang was about to get up and return to the field, he paused upon hearing this. He turned to look at Kise, as if he hadn't heard him properly: "What did you say???"

……

……

Damn it... I miscalculated!

On the court, Xiang Yang, who was about to serve in the fourth quarter, couldn't help but spit out a curse in his heart, feeling somewhat helpless.

Because Akashi and Aomine can enter the "zone" at will, and because he can pull the "trigger" at will, Hikaru often forgets that the "zone" is something that can only be entered depending on the situation and circumstances, and is not something that can be controlled at will.

While Kaijo's previous opponents were quite formidable, with their excellent roster this year, they didn't even need Kise to enter the "zone" to eliminate any suspense before the final game.