That Manager - Kuroko no Basuke (Book 1)

第13Q

"Your new pass?" questioned Riko, repeating what he said.

"Why haven't you said anything before?" asked Hyuga.

"Only a few people can catch it." said Yasu, as she had seen the pass before. She then turned to look at Kagami and continued, "But in his current condition, Kagami may be one of them."

Kuroko nodded in agreement. "However, just passing to Kagami-kun won't work until the end. We'll have to break free from Takao-kun and use normal passes as well."

"But maybe we can do it." said Izuki, grabbing the junior's attention. "Besides, my eyes are cramping up."

"What does that mean?" asked Koganei while Kuroko smiled, understanding what he meant.

Riko took a few moments to think before asking, "Kagami-kun, how many more times can you jump?"

"You mean those super jumps that stopped Midorima?" questioned Hyuga.

"They push your natural jumping power to the limit, so they're exhausting." she explained to the ace. "On top of that, your body isn't strong enough yet. There's a limit on how many times you can do that in a game."

"I can still jump!" he argued. "A number of times."

"You don't need to act tough right now!" she scolded.

"Two times." muttered Yasu, grabbing everyone's attention as she stared at Kagami's legs. "Two's his limit."

Riko did the same thing until she got their physical numbers. "Yasu-chan's right." she said.

"Two?" repeated Izuki questioningly.

"How are we supposed to stop Midorima with two?" asked Hyuga, seeming to find it difficult to have such a limited amount of times Kagami could jump to block the shots made by the said player.

"Keep one for the deciding moment of the game, and use the other to stop the first shot of the fourth quarter!" said Riko, giving him a part to play in the strategy.

"Go for some shots in the last quarter." said Hyuga to Izuki while them and Mitobe walked out to the court after the buzzer had went off.

"Alright." said the latter.

"Senpai." called Kagami, halting the captain in his tracks before turning around to face him. "Sorry about that."

"Oh, don't worry about it." he assured, making the junior smile, until his tone changed. "That's what I'd like to say." Kagami's smile dropped and he flinched under his glare. "But the way you said that, I'll hit you later."

"Hyuga-senpai, the match is about to begin." said Yasu with a sweat drop on the back of her head.

"Well, it'll have to wait." he said before turning to the other players. "Laugh or cry, we've only got ten more minutes. Let's go!"

"Let the fourth quarter begin." announced the referee.

The game went on with Hyuga dribbling the ball and looked around to see which of his teammates was open. Kuroko was marked by Takao, who guarded him very closely. 'Even if he plays, it'll be just like the first half.' he thought. 'No, I can see him even better!'

Hyuga passed the ball while being guarded by Kimura, and Kagami caught it, starting to dribble towards the basket when he noticed Otsubo was guarding him besides Midorima. He quickly passed the ball to Mitobe, and he made scored a basket.

"Yes!" cheered Riko, as well as the others on the bench.

'He's not charging in by himself like before.' noted Otsubo as he caught the ball.