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

Seirin's number 10 made two free throws.

As the referee blew the whistle, Kise's face turned grim. He knew he had already committed three fouls. Although it takes five fouls to be ejected from the game, he had already committed his third foul before the first half was even over, which meant he would be playing with much more restraint in the rest of the game.

Xiang Yang also frowned, hesitated for a moment about whether to call a pause, but he suppressed the thought as soon as it arose.

Kise's foul was intended to stop Kagami's attack, and now that it's done, the outcome can't be changed. If the reason for substituting Kise to save his foul count, then Seirin's offense would be much more comfortable. Allowing Seirin to attack freely now in order to prevent them from getting too comfortable later on is putting the cart before the horse.

Having figured this out, Xiangyang suppressed his thoughts and shook his head at Takeuchi. Coincidentally, Takeuchi had the same idea as Xiangyang at this moment: unless Kise committed four fouls, he absolutely could not let him off the field.

On the court, Vulcan, who had already stood at the free-throw line, let out a sigh of relief, adjusted his breathing, and raised the ball to shoot.

Swish!

First free throw in

Bang!

The second free throw went wide.

Kobo reacted quickly, using his explosive power to successfully protect the rebound, and then handed it hand-to-hand with Xiangyang.

Xiang Yang dribbled the ball forward, pondering an offensive plan.

With one minute remaining in the second quarter, Haichang led 45-34.

In the audience

Murasakibara grumbled somewhat unhappily, "What's going on? Just when Huang Zi was imitating me, Kagami scored on his head."

Neither Aomine nor Akashi responded to him, their eyes glued to the court.

At this moment, Hai Chang used tactical movement to get another open shot on the outside, but unfortunately he missed.

With 20 seconds left in the second quarter, Shiratsuyu had a counter-attack opportunity. After timing the time well, Izuki passed the ball to Kagami.

Everyone thought Kagami was going for a one-on-one, but he surprisingly chose to hand the ball off to Hyuga and set a screen. Caught off guard, the Kaijo players were momentarily careless and failed to keep up. Hyuga didn't disappoint, raising his hand and sinking a buzzer-beating three-pointer at the end of the second quarter!

Halftime

45:37, Kaijo maintained its lead, but Seirin finally narrowed the gap to within ten points before the end of the first half!

Xiangyang stared at Vulcan, who was high-fiving his teammates, with a black line on his forehead, and muttered to himself: "After you started using Zone, all you did was set screens for your teammates?"

No wonder Himuro can't stand you... He'd be so angry he'd commit suicide if he saw this.

In the audience

Himuro suddenly sneezed, rubbed his nose but didn't think much of it; the temperature had been low lately, he probably caught a chill...

I've really become very strong now.

Himuro watched Kagami's retreating figure as he headed towards the locker room, a look of envy on his face.

He also wants to join the zone...

……

"Freedom... Seagull... I am a... free seagull..."

During halftime, in the Haichang locker room

Kise was muttering to himself with his eyes closed, still trying to enter zone mode.

Xiangyang scratched his head, hesitating whether to stop Kise. The free seagull and all that... he just made it up.

Xiang Yang sighed, thinking to himself: This is troublesome.

Wow, I didn't expect Shiro Rin to be at this level now.

He initially told Kise nonsense because he was just being playful, mainly because he didn't expect that "zone" plus "perfect imitation" would actually be suppressed?? The other side isn't just Seirin, it's an NBA team reincarnated!

Moreover, judging from Shiratsuyu's performance at the end of the second quarter, they're getting better and better. Who knows when they might unleash their full potential, maybe in the third quarter… maybe in the fourth quarter…

Xiangyang suddenly felt a headache coming on, and he could still hear Kise muttering about seagulls and freedom.

"Although we still have the advantage in the score, we must be wary of Shiro Rin's peculiar power."

Xiang Yang took a deep breath and delivered a karate chop to Kise's kidney, physically pausing Kise's rambling. He continued, "Put pressure on them in the third quarter, switch to full-court man-to-man!"

(Basketball trivia: Full-court man-to-man defense refers to a system where each player guards an opposing player individually from the moment the ball is inbounded, resulting in one-on-one pressure and significant physical exertion.)

"Genius, you've committed three fouls."

Xiangyang glanced at Kise, who stopped meditating, scratched his head in distress, and said, "I know, I'll be careful. I'll just play more cautiously from now on."

"Do not."

To Kise's surprise, Xiangyang shook his head and denied his words.

"You need to maintain the rhythm of the first half, and even play more aggressively."

Kise paused for a moment, then nodded seriously after a brief thought. He understood what Xiangyang meant.

Takeuchi, who was sitting by the locker room, took in the whole scene and nodded without saying a word.

If Kise plays hesitantly on the field because of his three fouls, then he's essentially the same as someone who's already been ejected. In high-level Go matches, a timid player will only end up getting crushed.

Watching Xiang Yang sit among the players, explaining the strategy for the upcoming match with spittle flying everywhere, Wu couldn't help but feel deeply moved.

Why does this kid seem more like a coach than me?

Upon closer reflection, Takeuchi was surprised to find that aside from helping the players with interviews, his role at Kaijo was almost zero. Even timeouts were mostly called by Takeuchi based on Xiang Yang's signals.

Oh well, I'm the one getting paid anyway, and I have less work to do, plus I get to do interviews.

Takeuchi, who is about to lose his job (crossed out).

The head coach whose work focus has shifted (check the box).

……

The next room is Shiraki Rin's changing room.

Reiko brought out lemons that she had prepared the day before the match to help the players replenish their energy, but her cooking skills... were really not impressive.

Vulcan stared at the two large slices of lemon in front of him, his eyelids twitching.

"No matter what... not cutting it open is just too outrageous, isn't it??"

Hinata swallowed hard, staring at the large slice of lemon in his hand, lost in thought.

Should I eat it or not? If I don't eat it, will Reiko be sad? If I eat it... will it cause problems with the competition?

Just as Hinata was having an internal struggle, Izuki, who was good at observing the atmosphere, successfully saved the day. He took the lemon slice from Hinata's hand, patted Mitobe on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "Save this for after the game. Lemon slices are more suitable for halftime."

The ever-silent and kind-hearted Mitobe quietly took out a box of lemon slices from the closet; the whole house was full of them.

As the eldest son, he is excellent at housework and far surpasses Aida Riko in cooking skills.

"As expected of the Mitobe!"

"Good! Good!"

The members of Shiro Rin immediately cheered and stepped forward to share the hard-won food.

Kagami ate a few pieces and then handed one to Kuroko, leaving only the petrified Reiko standing there, secretly heartbroken.

Hinata, watching this scene, showed a struggle on her face. Then, as if she had made up her mind, she resolutely walked up to Reiko, took the big lemon from her hand, and decisively took a bite, lemon peel and all.

Reiko stared blankly at the scene. Hinata didn't stop moving. Before she could even swallow the lemon in her mouth, she stuffed the remaining half of the lemon into her mouth.

The members of Shiro Rin were also shocked, and the lemon slice that Kuroko hadn't even swallowed fell to the ground.

"It tastes good, but the pieces are too big. Remember to slice them next time."

Hinata spat out the lemon peel still in his mouth, put his hands in his pockets, leaving behind a cool silhouette, and turned to walk out of the locker room after saying only one sentence.

"I'm going to the restroom."

……

"Halftime is finally over! Let's welcome both teams back onto the field with another round of applause!"

The sexy voice of the announcer echoed in the stadium, and players from Kaijo and Seirin poured out of the player tunnels on both sides.

Xiang Yang surveyed the Shiro Rin group from afar. Due to the long halftime break, Kagami's zone had disappeared, but their momentum had not diminished in the slightest.

Hinata, however, looked rather unwell, as if he had eaten something bad.

Xiang Yang was a little confused but didn't pay too much attention. He walked straight to the serving point, and Hai Chang still served the first ball in the third quarter.

The third quarter officially began with the referee's whistle.

Xiang Yang received the serve and, contrary to his usual behavior, accelerated towards the opposite half of the court! Just as he received the ball, all five players from Haichang simultaneously made a run down the court.

This is the new strategy that Xiangyang proposed in the locker room just now: "seize the rhythm"!

By disrupting the opponent's formation with a high-speed offensive pace, you can score unexpectedly! The downside is also obvious: it consumes a lot of energy.

However, after three months of special training by Yako, Xiangyang's stamina has reached the average level of a professional guard. In addition, the "pulling up his pants defense" occasionally restores a little stamina to him, so his energy bar is far from empty.

A flash of white lightning streaked across his eyes. Facing Yi Yue's defense, Xiang Yang's eyes sharpened. He used a deceptive maneuver and his running speed to quickly get past Yi Yue.

"Stop him!"

With his arms outstretched, Tie Ping's excellent static talent allowed him to interfere with Xiang Yang even though he was in a less than ideal position.

Vulcan reacted quickly, rushing over to help Tieping complete the double-team.

Xiang Yang paused for a moment, looked up at Tie Ping and Kagami's tense expressions, and laughed, "If you're paying so much attention to me, my ace will get jealous."

After saying that, Xiangyang tossed one hand into the air and glanced at Heizi, who had somehow appeared behind him, with a smile on his lips.

Kuroko frowned slightly. As the game entered the third quarter, his ability to mislead with his vision had weakened.

The trajectory of Xiangyang's throw is very off-center. If we just leave it like that, it will definitely end up being an airball.

Kagami breathed a sigh of relief after judging the trajectory of the basketball. For a moment, he thought that Xiangyang was imitating Aomine's unpredictable shooting. Fortunately, he was not Kise... Wait, where did Kise go?

Vulcan suddenly turned around and looked at the basket. Sure enough, a golden figure had already jumped into the air and caught Xiang Yang's "three-no-air" shot.

"Damn it, the pass is so off-target, who else but me could score?"

A muffled complaint came from Kise's mouth, a red light flashed in his eyes, and his aura changed accordingly.

A flawless imitation of Vulcan!

Meteor Slam Dunk!!