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

If we don't contact that basketball association official and let things develop like this, even if Haichang ultimately wins the championship, the most likely outcome is that Xiangyang will just follow in her footsteps.

This country's basketball association has always prioritized talent above all else. What? You're not even 190cm tall? We'll just give you a bench spot and you'll be grateful to us. What more do you want? A national champion? Well, you can stay on the bench for now!

"Damn it..."

Masako cursed under her breath, feeling a pang of regret. If she hadn't looked at that notebook, none of this would have happened.

Then she thought again, how could this be her fault? If it weren't for that idiot's reaction...

Even if it's intense, she wouldn't open the notebook to look at it.

"More trouble than it's worth..."

This guy, who can't even do bad things properly, should be drowned in the Shinano River.

Masako's face darkened as her thoughts drifted further away. Suddenly, a strange noise came from the arena. Masako looked back and saw that it was Takeuchi yelling at the referee.

"Do you even know how to call a foul? That was a double foul! If you can't call it, then I'll do it! Japanese basketball is ruined because of your bad calls!"

The usually mature and composed Takeuchi was now furious, his face flushed red. He strode up to the referee and spat in his face.

The referee was quite young and had never experienced such a situation before. He was completely at a loss and could only let Takeuchi vent his resentment on him.

Although the referee has the right to eject anyone on the field, Takeuchi's reputation is too high. If he ejects the defending champion Kaijo's head coach at the last moment of the finals, wouldn't Kaijo's fans tear him apart after the game?

Not only Takeuchi, but many fans at the scene also started to jeer, demanding that the referee change his decision.

Just now, Xiangyang successfully interfered with Yiyue's pass, but unfortunately failed to catch it. The ball rolled towards Kagami. Seeing that the opportunity was imminent, Kise didn't care about anything else and immediately imitated Aomine, accelerating forward to compete with Kagami. The two fell to the ground one after the other. Seeing this, the referee simply blew his whistle and called a double foul.

(Basketball trivia: A double foul occurs when two players commit a foul simultaneously during a confrontation. Each player is penalized for a personal foul. If a double foul results in a free throw, the ball is put back on the court. If one team has possession of the ball, the ball is put back on the court.)

Normally, this kind of ruling wouldn't be a problem; most situations involving a fall and a contest for the ball involve fouls from both sides. But in Kaijo's case, after receiving this foul, Kise will have his fourth foul! A fifth foul means he'll be taken off the court.

This explains why Takeuchi was so emotional. With the decisive moment approaching, their ace player had committed four fouls? Who could tolerate that!

Just as Takeuchi caught his breath and prepared to unleash another attack on the referee, an older referee approached. He was the head referee for the day.

The referee first calmed Takeuchi down, then pulled up the video footage, which clearly showed Kise and Kagami falling to the ground one after the other to contest for the ball.

Takeuchi's face darkened, and he opened his mouth as if to say something, but Xiangyang, seeing that the situation was not right, quickly stepped forward and pulled Takeuchi back.

That junior referee was practically brought to tears by Takeuchi's words. If he were to anger the head referee too, would the head coach get a technical foul and be eliminated at the last minute? What kind of situation is this? And leaving a bad impression on the referee, it's like he thinks the game is too easy.

Kise bent over, hands on his knees. He didn't really have much to say about his fourth foul. The referee hadn't deliberately called fouls against him. Besides, his stamina was... well, it didn't really matter whether he committed three or four fouls; he'd be off the court soon anyway.

"Then let me do one more contribution for the team before I finish."

Kise stood at the jump ball spot, took a deep breath while looking at Kagami in front of him, a flash of electricity in his eyes, and his aura changed.

.

Imitate Zone Vulcan!

Across from him, Kagami was taken aback. In his view, Kise seemed to have become his reflection, a mirror-like feeling that made him somewhat uncomfortable.

The referee raised his hand to signal both sides to prepare, blew his whistle, threw the ball out, and immediately left the field.

Kise crouched down slightly, his eyes fixed on the basketball. Just as it was about to reach its highest point, his leg muscles instantly exerted force, pushing the ball to its maximum speed!

Vulcan was equally determined, and the two jumped to the exact same height, their hands simultaneously striking the ball in mid-air, making it difficult to determine a winner for a time.

At this moment, Kise's pupils shifted slightly. The biggest difference between him and Kagami was that he was not "alone"!

With a flick of his wrist, Kise changed the direction of his attack and, using the power of Kagami, successfully slapped the basketball to the right, right where Kasamatsu was standing!

Without hesitation, Kasamatsu received the ball and, still possessing the basic skills he had developed as a point guard, delivered a long pass to Xiangyang, who had already reached the inside of the Seirin court. Xiangyang easily scored with a bank shot, earning two points.

"Yoshi!! Well done, Ryota!"

"Great shot, Kasamatsu-senpai!!"

"Xiangyang, why don't you just slam dunk?"

This seemingly effortless jump ball score ignited the Haichang bench, but Xiang Yang's final scoring method appeared somewhat bland, drawing dissatisfaction from the crowd.

"Are you kidding me? Do you think stamina is free?"

Xiang Yang cursed and gave the middle finger to his own team. It wasn't that he couldn't dunk, it was just that he could dunk but there was no need to!

"No matter what it takes, get that ball out of the game!!"

Standing at the highest point of the arc, Xiang Yang looked at the approaching Cheng Lin group and said in a deep voice.

You could tell from Kise's jump ball earlier that he had reached his limit; otherwise, he wouldn't have used such a trick. Given his personality, imitating Murasakibara and directly overwhelming him with force would have been the right approach.

With four minutes remaining in the game, Haichang led 94-87.

The time Kise had expected had arrived, but the point difference hadn't reached what Xiangyang had hoped for. With Kise still on the court, they had to defend this ball!

"It's okay! Take your time and fight slowly!"

Yi Yue stood on the flank, his expression tense, and shouted loudly, but he was actually just as anxious inside.

With a seven-point deficit in the final four minutes, not only was Kaijo afraid of being overturned, but Shiorin, who were trailing in the score, were even more nervous.

With a few passes, Teppei capitalized on a defensive lapse by Kaijo, and once again successfully received the ball inside. Kagami rushed over upon hearing the news, and under the basket, Hori and Kise stood on either side of each other, creating a small two-on-two situation!

Tieping glanced over and immediately jumped up as if to attack. Xiaoju gritted his teeth and jumped with all his might. Even though he had been suppressed for the whole game, he did not want to drag the team down in the finals.

Despite being blocked by Kobori, Iron Face remained calm. His hands, which were much larger than normal, allowed him to pass the ball freely in the air. He caught the ball with one hand and passed it backward. Kagami, who had just arrived, caught the ball and took three steps forward!

"It's not over yet!"

Kise's eyes narrowed, and he desperately squeezed out the last bit of strength from his body, pressing towards Kagami.

Huh? Did I bump into something?

Kise, who was running, suddenly froze, his body inexplicably lost its balance, and he fell to the ground as if he had bumped into something.

Kagami's three-step dunk came to a halt, and he quickly dropped the ball to help Kuroko, who had been knocked to the ground by Kise.

"Sorry, Kise-kun, please don't call me despicable."

Hei Zi lay on the ground, panting heavily. His stamina was already poor, and after fighting to this extent, he didn't even have the strength to get up.

On the sidelines, the referee's whistle finally sounded, and beside him stood Takeuchi, arguing vehemently, but to no avail. Kise finally understood what had happened.

Hai Chang No. 7 fouled out!

Kagami helped Kuroko up, looked at Kise sitting on the ground, and a hint of regret appeared in his eyes. Without this guy at the last moment, it just felt a little less fun.

Kobori and Hayakawa rushed over and helped Kise to the bench to rest.

From that point on, Kuroko and Kise both left the scene.

Haichang leads 94-87 with 3 and a half minutes remaining in the game.

(I'll finish writing about the Winter Cup tomorrow! Then I'll move on to my original storyline. I'm a little excited!)

Chapter 121 "The Right Choice" Enhanced Edition

"You're quite good at using those little tricks."

Xiangyang walked up to Vulcan and Heizi and made a sarcastic remark with a forced smile.

Kagami frowned slightly and remained silent. Starting with Kise's fourth foul, using Kuroko's low presence to create fouls for Kise was indeed Shiorin's strategy.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to cause trouble for you guys, I'm just a little annoyed. Drawing fouls is part of the game."

Xiang Yang rubbed his nose. As a master at drawing fouls, he didn't reject such "tricks." On the contrary, if he were in Cheng Lin's position, he would make the same choice.

"You flatter me."

After confirming that Xiang Yang meant no harm, Vulcan pondered for two seconds and nodded in agreement.

After Kise was substituted, Kaijo brought on a new substitute small forward—Shoji Miyaji.

He has solid fundamentals, decent physical talent, and a good mid-range shot. Before Kise came to Kaicho, he was Kaicho's starting small forward and a key player for the team last year. He is a senior in high school this year.

Xiangyang greeted Gongzhi briefly. Although they hadn't appeared together in an official match, they had communicated during training matches, so there wouldn't be an awkward situation where they had no chemistry.

Miyaji, who had just entered the match, seemed a bit nervous. Even Kise couldn't handle this opponent; could he really pull it off? What if he didn't perform well? Would he get bombarded by Kaijo fans after the match…?

Not only Miyaji, but even Kasamatsu and the others had solemn expressions. Takeuchi, sitting on the sidelines, was even more direct, his eyes fixed on the young referee as if trying to etch his face into his brain. If it weren't for that double foul, Shiorin would never have been able to get Kise off the court!

Kise took it all in stride. It wasn't like the game was lost just because he was off the field; the score was still in their favor. Besides, there was still Xiangyang. He had complete trust in his second-in-command!

As a result, the scene on Kaijo's bench became very strange. On the left was Takeuchi, who looked angry as if he had already lost the game, and on the right was Kise, who looked relaxed and even hummed a little tune. The scene looked very strange no matter how you looked at it.

On the field, Xiangyang noticed that the atmosphere was a bit off, so he clapped his hands to reassure his teammates, saying, "Why are you so serious? Why don't you smile?"

After saying that, Xiangyang took the lead and put on a big smile.

Kasamatsu couldn't take it anymore. He stepped forward and chopped Xiangyang in the waist with a chop to the back. He had done this countless times before.

"You seem quite relaxed. You'd better come up with a plan!"

Kasamatsu's words drew everyone's attention to Xiangyang, their eyes filled with hope. After all, with Kise absent, Xiangyang was the only one capable of maintaining order.

Xiangyang touched his nose, his tone a little uncertain: "Well... there should be a way, but you guys have to try your best."

We...try?

"listen to me…"

……

Shiro Rin's attack round

After the minor incident of Kise being fouled out, Shiorin launched another attack with their serve.

Without hesitation, Izuki passed the ball to Kagami as soon as he received it. With Kise off the court, Kagami was undoubtedly the strongest player on the field at that moment!

Vulcan didn't hesitate either, taking the ball and charging straight towards Haichang's inside line. Time was running out, and he needed to finish in the shortest amount of time.

They turned the tide and then secured the victory!

Xiang Yang frowned slightly. He didn't step forward to defend against the charging Vulcan. In the final moments, he wanted to save his energy for something more crucial.

Seeing that Xiangyang had no intention of defending, the newly introduced Gongzhi had no choice but to bite the bullet and go on. To be honest, his defense was not bad, otherwise he would not have been the starting small forward for Kaijo in the past.

However, against Vulcan, defense at the level of an ordinary person is completely inadequate.

Without needing to dribble much, Kagami, relying on his physical advantage, easily brought the ball to the inside while carrying Miyaji, and scored two more points with a hook shot off the backboard.

Cheers erupted from the stands once more; the scales of victory were tipping in Shiro Rin's favor.