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

Kise was dumbfounded. He had originally intended to put pressure on Hikaru by staying close to him, but instead, he was pressured by Hikaru's act of turning his back to him.

Xiangyang carefully sensed Kise's physical exertion, then turned right after the ball, completely bypassing Kise. Kise was frozen in place until Xiangyang scored, at which point Kise finally came to his senses.

The players who stayed to watch the game after finishing their training couldn't help but exclaim in admiration: "I didn't expect Xiangyang's singles skills to be so outstanding."

"Yes, even Kise can't stop him."

"By the way, why have I never heard of Xiangyang before?"

Kise listened to the whispers from the sidelines but paid no attention. At this moment, his eyes lit up: "I've seen something good. I didn't expect that back-to-the-basket moves could be played like this."

Looking at his expression, Xiang Yang suddenly realized, "You didn't actually learn it after watching it only once, did you?"

Although Xiangyang knew that Kise's moves were imitations, he thought that Kise was simply using his outstanding physical talent and superhuman ball sense to make movements similar to those of a human. After all, this wasn't an anime, and it wasn't that magical. Besides, those were just movements. What Xiangyang had just used wasn't a move that relied on physical talent or ball sense, but rather on the shift in his own and his opponent's center of gravity.

Hearing Xiangyang question himself

Unable to contain his own talent, Kise shouted, "Are you looking down on me? Give me the ball!"

Xiangyang didn't refuse and threw the ball over directly. At this point, it was more of an exchange than a one-on-one match.

Kise gestured for Xiangyang to come closer. As Xiangyang drew near, Kise suddenly turned around, shifting his entire weight onto Xiangyang. Xiangyang's pupils contracted; his offensive and defensive abilities were no match for Kise's. Kise mimicked Xiangyang's move, easily turning and freezing him in place.

"How about that? This genius can imitate anything, except for those few monsters, of course."

Kise puffed out his chest, looking proud.

Xiangyang stroked his chin, thinking: Although it differs somewhat from the original work, Kise can indeed imitate any move below the Generation of Miracles level without activating his Zone. What about Midorima and Akashi? They can't really be as freakish as they are in the original work, can they?

Xiangyang felt a bit of a headache. If everything were really like in the original work, wouldn't Midorima be invincible?

Xiangyang was relieved after finishing the training match with Shiro Rin. Kagami and Kuroko weren't as freakish as he had imagined; they were still within the realm of normal people. Even Kise didn't exceed his expectations. However, Xiangyang seemed to have overlooked one point: Kise in the early stages could be considered the weakest member of the Generation of Miracles. Kagami and Kuroko were even less so. Kuroko was a pure support character who had to rely on his light abilities to become stronger. Kagami at this stage was roughly at the same level as the Generation of Miracles in middle school, so naturally, Kuroko's strength was also limited.

But at this moment, Kise's talent for imitation awakened Xiangyang; those monsters were truly fed by God himself.

Xiangyang looked at Kise and said, "When are you going to call up your other old teammates for another practice match?"

Kise was taken aback: "What's wrong, little Xiangyang?"

"It's nothing, I just can't wait to see just how far you monsters can go."

Xiangyang wiped the sweat from his face with his collar, thinking to himself: I need to find a way to improve my strength quickly, otherwise I'll only be able to watch Kise's back from afar. Even if I'm just second-in-command, I need to have the aura of a second-in-command.

Xiangyang turned to look at Kise, who seemed lost in thought, and smiled: "What? You don't want to play anymore after scoring a goal? It's 2-1 now."

Kise was thinking about which old friend he wanted to play a practice match with when he was provoked by Xiangyang's words: "Hey? After seeing my imitation, do you still want to play? You're such a good Xiangyang."

The one-on-one continued. After that back-to-the-basket move, Kise didn't stick to Xiangyang's defense easily, but left some space. Xiangyang carefully read Kise's defense, noticed that Kise's center of gravity was low, and immediately stood up and pulled up for another three-pointer!

Kise couldn't help but praise, "Hikari, your singles skills are so good! Why don't I see you using them in the matches?"

Xiang Yang tossed his hair and replied smugly, "One-on-one combat is what soldiers are supposed to do. The command tower's job is just to direct the soldiers."

Kise's lips twitched as he said, "You really deserve a beating."

"However, I'll accept this trick."

Before Xiangyang could even get into a defensive position, Kise...

He immediately got up and hit a three-pointer.

Xiangyang was speechless: "You can even imitate the feel of a basketball shot?"

"Of course, unless it's a monster-level move, I can imitate every single one."

Xiang Yang had a sudden thought: "Then try imitating this move." As soon as he finished speaking, Xiang Yang took a step forward to the right, then raised his left hand as if to shoot—a fake Buddhist pose!

Kise Shigeo couldn't help but be fooled and exclaimed, "This move is quite interesting too! Your moves are all very interesting, Hikaru!"

Kise then took the ball and replicated Hikaru's falling step. He made a fake Buddhist bowing motion in Hikaru's style, and it has to be said that the imitation was very realistic, but...

"If someone knew in advance that you were going to replicate a move, wouldn't that be the same as having precognition?"

Xiangyang wasn't taken aback at all. He immediately turned around and caught up with Kise, delivering a powerful block that sent Kise sprawling to the ground. A mocking smile played on his lips. This completely ignited Kise's fury.

"You...you actually tricked me!!"

"Why don't you add some variations to the moves you've imitated?"

Just as Kise was about to pick up the ball and launch a counterattack, he was taken aback by Xiangyang's words.

"Right? If you add some of your own rhythm variations to the moves you imitated, it would be even better, right? Although your imitation is indeed very accurate, it would be even smoother if you could incorporate your own rhythm, wouldn't it?"

Xiangyang voiced his inner question. At first, he thought that Kise couldn't add his own variations to the copied moves, but now it seems that he can even copy the feel and the change of center of gravity, so how could he not be able to add his own rhythm?

Kise, who had been very excited just moments before, suddenly fell silent. He remembered someone…

Shogo Haizaki.

Chapter 12 Aomine Daiki

Inside the Touou High School basketball gym

"You're so annoying. Does having a legitimate reason mean you can take leave?"

Aomine Daiki patted his shoulder and said impatiently, "I left Horikita Mai's photobook in the classroom. If I don't go get it soon, the teacher might confiscate it... Is that alright?"

Wakamatsu looked on incredulously. What was this guy talking about? Was he joking?

However, Qingfeng walked straight out of the stadium without looking back.

"Hey you! Wait a minute!" Wakamatsu snapped out of his daze and immediately rushed over to grab Aomine by the collar.

"I'll only forgive you this once. Let go of your hand."

Wakamatsu opened his mouth as if to say something, but Aomine swiftly raised his knee and struck Wakamatsu squarely in the abdomen.

"Wakamatsu!" Everyone else in the stadium rushed over to check on Wakamatsu's injury, but no one stopped Aomine to ask him why he had attacked his teammate.

"What I was going to say... Oh right, if you're going to teach me, show me some results first."

Imayoshi, the captain of Touou, watched Aomine walk away. He also had a lot of opinions about Aomine's attitude, but he couldn't refute Aomine's words. As the absolute No. 1 in Touou at present, they were not qualified to lecture Aomine.

"I'm sorry, Wakamatsu."

Imayoshi said to Wakamatsu with a deep sense of apology.

Wakamatsu looked genuinely puzzled: "Captain, why are you apologizing to me?"

"...Please, please don't worry about Aomine anymore."

.

"Let me see, if we're going to Touou... we should go this way, right?"

As always, Kise greeted the girls who were peeking at him from the street while chatting with Xiangyang.

Xiangyang had gotten used to this strange chat environment. He glanced at Kise, wanting to find out more about Aomine Daiki. After all, reality might differ from the original work, and Xiangyang couldn't remember all the plot details.

"Ryota, what kind of person was Aomine Daiki, whom you mentioned, during his junior high school years?"

Kise was taken aback by Xiangyang's address, as he rarely called him Ryota to his face. Kise gave Xiangyang a strange look and replied, "Aomine is in middle school, and he's the strongest among us."

Xiangyang remained calm. He knew that Aomine was very strong. As for who was stronger between him and Akashi, that was still a matter of debate in the original work of his previous life. However, Aomine was definitely one of the top tiers of the Generation of Miracles. If Akashi's Rakuzan was an elite force, then Aomine in Touou symbolized invincible individual combat ability.

"You're acting a little strange today, Xiao Xiangyang."

Kise couldn't help but ask. To this, Hikaru only gave a few perfunctory replies.

Not long ago, the coach agreed to their idea of ​​challenging Touou, and Kise, who had been excited about it for a long time, said he wanted to come over in advance to say hello and catch up with his old teammates. Hikaru also wanted to see what the ace of the Generation of Miracles was like.

Before Kise could press for further questions, a deep voice rang out: "Kise?"

"Oh? Aomine! Why aren't you in Touou? We were just about to come looking for you. Don't you guys have training?"

Kise was so excited to see Aomine appear on the street that he even forgot the question he had just wanted to ask Hikaru.

"Ah, training doesn't matter."

Qingfeng shrugged.

He responded.

Xiangyang quietly observed Qingfeng: "I can feel a sense of oppression even from a distance. This guy is troublesome."

"What do you want from me? A one-on-one fight? Or is it just a casual reunion?"

Qingfeng glanced at Xiangyang and said lazily.

"Of course not, we came here to have a practice match with you."

Kise wore a confident smile. Having spent a lot of time with Xiangyang, he now also liked to speak with a smile on his face.

"Huh? Practice matches are such a hassle. But... if your opponent is you, it shouldn't be too boring."

Aomine remained as nonchalant as ever, but suddenly his eyes sharpened: "It's been so long, you should have improved a bit, right, Kise? Come on, let me see how much fun you can bring me."

"Right on my mind."

Kise was not to be outdone. He had looked up to Aomine as his role model in junior high school, and now he wanted to defeat Aomine the most. Faced with Aomine's provocation, he accepted without hesitation.

.

"Ah, I'm Takeuchi, the coach of Kaijo High School's basketball team. I was wondering if your team has any plans to play a practice match? Yes, the team that Kise, one of the Generation of Miracles, played for. Ah, okay, let's play there then. We're not from the same region anyway, and we won't meet in the preliminaries. It'll just be a friendly match. Okay, we'll contact you later."

After hanging up the phone, Takeuchi couldn't help but complain, "Seriously, is it really necessary to have a practice match? There's not necessarily anyone who can stop Kise alone, and with Hikaru added, it would be better to save him for the national tournament to make a name for himself. Why do we have to find someone to play a practice match with and expose our trump cards?"

Even though they are both members of the Generation of Miracles, they can't stop Kise and Mukayo. Takeuchi is very confident. With Kaijo's current strength and the new tactics provided by Mukayo, in his mind, Kaijo is no different from having already won the championship. Therefore, he doesn't take Touou and others seriously. He firmly believes that Kise and Mukayo can be invincible in the national high school level competition.

.

"Interesting, Kise, but you're still lacking something if you want to defeat me."

Aomine wiped the sweat from his face. To be honest, he was a little surprised. Kise had improved a lot, and some of his moves had even startled him.

Kise, panting heavily with his knees on his hands, couldn't help but think: This guy is really a monster. Compared to him now, I'm still not good enough.

Xiangyang sat on the sidelines keeping score for the two players. He noticed that Aomine seemed to have some energy left, but Kise had already used all his skills and still couldn't make Aomine show any signs of fatigue.

"Ah Da! What are you doing here?"

A pretty girl with pink hair jogged over.

"Oh, Ryota's here too."

"Little Momoi, it's been a long time."