That Manager - Kuroko no Basuke (Book 3)

第55Q

Hayama drove past Miyaji, and jumped beneath the hoop. Kimura tried to stop him, but he ducked his arm and scored a basket. 'A double-clutch?' questioned Kimura, who had a surprised look on his face. 'What a light-footed guy!'

"Man, that dribble is loud." complained Murasakibara, who was watching from the stands with Himuro.

"They say it's better to dribble with more force, but I've never seen anything at that level." said the latter before his brows furrowed. 'And somehow, there's something different about that dribble.' he thought.

"Don't worry about it." said Otsubo, giving Miyaji a pat on the back before going back to offence. "Switch gears."

"Yeah." muttered Miyaji. 'Though barely, I could see it.' he thought, felling uneasy about the dribble Hayama did. 'But it can't be... Can anyone do something like that? That dribble just now... Only three of Hayama's fingers were touching the ball! Which means "three" was the number of fingers passing his entire body's power to the ball. In other words, that dribble can be kicked up at least two more notches?' And again, Hayama used three of his fingers to fiercely dribble the ball, and broke past Miyaji. 'Are you serious?' When Otsubo guarded him, Hayama passed the ball to Nebuya, who scored a basket.

"The point spread is widening." noted Murasakibara.

"Nice pass!" said Nebuya while hitting Hayama in the back of his head.

"That hurt, you muscle-headed gorilla!" he scolded while placing his hand on the area where he was hit.

"Yeah!" said Nebuya proudly. "Thank you!"

"It's not a compliment!" said the annoyed Hayama.

'Dammit.' cussed Takao when he saw his teammates being marked. 'We have Shin-chan, so we're scoring somehow. But what we're doing is clearly different! Not just Miyaji-san... Even Otsubo-san's losing when it comes to power? Kimura-san's struggling even with the double-team on Shin-chan making it easier! Akashi hasn't done anything yet. Just passed to an open position. And even then, we can barely keep up!'

"Frankly put, everyone other than you is a burden." said Rakuzan's shooting guard to Midorima. "Sorry to say."

'Mibuchi Reo - Yaksha.' noted Yasu when she recognised him. 'Hyuga-senpai was right when he said the other three Uncrowned Kings were here, and I can see why this lineup is the strongest.'

"What?" responded Midorima when he heard Reo.

"It's true our-double team barely has you in check." said the latter. "But the other four are average at best." He then glanced at Miyaji from the corner of his eyes. "Especially him. I wonder how long he'll last against Kotaro?"

Just then, Akashi knocked the ball out of Takao's hands. 'Crap!' cussed Takao when Akashi broke past him, and passed the ball to Hayama.

"Not letting you through!" said Miyaji.

"Too easy!" said Hayama, who easily drove past him again.

'Dammit, dammit, dammit!' cussed Miyaji. He was about to catch up, but was surprised to see someone else beating him to it. Hayama was about to score with a lay-up, but Midorima knocked it out of his hands, blocking the shot.

'When did he...' trailed off Hayama, staring at him with shock. 'Man, he came back fast!'

"Nice!" said Takao, who caught the ball and threw it to the other side of the court.

"Burdens?" repeated Midorima, who caught the ball. "What are you talking about?" He drove past the gray-haired player and Reo, who was blocked by Kimura from the back.