Chapter 93: Kuroko Gets Ambushed
After the coach finished his sigh, he finally noticed that Reo Mibuchi hadn’t responded at all. He turned his head sharply.
“Mibuchi! Mibuchi!”
The first-year sitting beside Reo Mibuchi quickly nudged him and reminded him in a low voice, “Reo-san, the coach is calling you.”
Reo Mibuchi’s body jolted violently as he snapped back to his senses.
“Huh? …Coach… what is it…?”
The coach frowned deeply, his expression severe. “Mibuchi, wake up! If you can’t beat him head-on, create a mismatch! Do you understand what a mismatch is?!”
Reo Mibuchi slowly shook off his daze, regaining clarity bit by bit.
“I understand, Coach.”
On Teikō’s side, Kōzō Shirogane subbed out Atsushi Murasakibara and sent Shiroiwa onto the court.
The timeout ended quickly, and the game resumed.
Rakuzan’s players returned to the court with serious expressions.
From the stands, Teppei Kiyoshi watched Reo Mibuchi step back onto the court and silently cheered for him.
‘Hang in there, Reo.’
Reo Mibuchi took a deep breath, his gaze landing on Miyamoto Tokima with clear wariness.
After all, this was someone who had dismantled his signature move in a single exchange.
Rakuzan began their offensive set. Reo Mibuchi tried to use screens to force a mismatch, but he quickly realized that Miyamoto Tokima wasn’t being stopped at all by Rakuzan’s point guard.
‘Damn it… even this won’t hold him?!’
Startled, Reo Mibuchi had no choice but to keep the ball. The moment Miyamoto Tokima slipped past the point guard, he rose into a jump shot and unleashed 【Heaven】.
But Reo Mibuchi had clearly underestimated Miyamoto Tokima’s jumping ability.
After weaving past the point guard, Miyamoto Tokima exploded upward, his body launching skyward like a rocket.
‘Y-you’ve got to be kidding me… How can someone jump like that…’
Reo Mibuchi stared in horror at Miyamoto Tokima, already soaring into the air. He never imagined his vertical leap could be this absurd.
Even though he had jumped first, Miyamoto Tokima still managed to rise and contest his 【Heaven】.
Shocked beyond belief, Reo Mibuchi twisted his body midair and kicked the ball out in a pass.
After releasing the ball, he lost his balance and crashed heavily to the floor.
Rakuzan’s small forward caught the pass and shouted, “Reo-san!”
Sitting on the floor, Reo Mibuchi turned his head and yelled, “Attack!”
Seeing that he was fine, the small forward snapped back to focus and prepared to make a play—but in the very next instant…
Smack!
The basketball suddenly vanished from his hands.
‘Crap!’
At the same moment, Shogo Haizaki’s voice rang out by his ear. “You dare space out against me?!”
Haizaki cleanly stole the ball and hurled it forward with his right hand.
Miyamoto Tokima sprinted ahead—but abruptly stopped.
Because the ball Haizaki threw smashed straight into Tetsuya Kuroko’s head.
Kuroko took the hit squarely and collapsed, losing consciousness on the spot.
Haizaki froze, staring blankly at Kuroko, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and intercepted the pass with his head.
When he felt Miyamoto Tokima’s terrifying glare, Haizaki hurriedly waved his hands and panicked.
“T-Tokima-san! I swear I didn’t see him! I really didn’t see him standing there!”
Miyamoto Tokima’s temples twitched as he slammed a fist down on Haizaki’s head.
“Focus during the game, you idiot!”
Haizaki yelped in pain, clutching his head as he hurriedly begged for mercy. “I got it, I got it!”
With no other option, Kōzō Shirogane called a timeout to check on Kuroko’s condition.
Honestly, it was almost ridiculous—Haizaki had managed to knock out one of his own teammates.
...
Haizaki watched the medical staff anxiously and asked, “Doctor… he’s okay, right?”
After a brief examination, the medic nodded. “He’s fine. Just knocked out. A bit of rest and he’ll be alright.”
Only then did Haizaki finally breathe a sigh of relief.
‘Thank goodness… looks like I won’t get beaten to death.’
As the thought crossed his mind, Haizaki cautiously glanced sideways at Shuzo Nijimura.
At that moment, Nijimura was barely holding back his anger.
Noticing Haizaki’s sneaky glance, Nijimura kicked him hard.
“You idiot. You actually knocked out your own teammate.”
Haizaki clutched his backside and complained pitifully, “I really didn’t see him! All I could see was Tokima-san!”
Off to the side, Momoi snickered softly and tugged on Miyamoto Tokima’s sleeve. “Tokima, Kuroko’s presence is way too low. Even Haizaki didn’t notice him.”
Miyamoto Tokima could only shake his head helplessly. What had just happened genuinely caught even him off guard.
Seeing that things had settled down, Kōzō Shirogane spoke up. “Alright, get ready to continue. Akashi, you’re subbing in for Kuroko.”
Seijuro Akashi nodded calmly. “Yes.”
Over on Rakuzan’s side.
“Just how low is that guy’s presence?” one of the first-years muttered while staring toward Teikō’s bench. “Even his own teammates didn’t notice him.”
The small forward took a drink of water, glanced toward Teikō, and said, “It really is ridiculous. He was right next to me, and I didn’t notice him at all.”
Rakuzan’s point guard adjusted his breathing and spoke up. “At least he’s off the court now. That’s a good thing, right?”
“No.” Reo Mibuchi said quietly, his eyes fixed on Seijuro Akashi’s gentle smile. “Things have gotten… worse…”
...
The game resumed.
Just as Reo Mibuchi had predicted, the situation on the court became even more dire.
Miyamoto Tokima no longer handled the ball. Instead, Seijuro Akashi took control, while Miyamoto Tokima began relentlessly cutting and moving off-ball. For Reo Mibuchi—whose stamina wasn’t particularly strong—this was agonizing.
Yet he had no choice but to stay with him. If he didn’t, Akashi would pass the ball the instant Miyamoto Tokima shook free.
And once that happened, Miyamoto Tokima would fire off a shot with his nearly absurd release speed.
Rakuzan’s offense deteriorated further as their point guard was completely unable to break through Akashi’s defense.
Normal screens couldn’t stop Miyamoto Tokima at all. Only a double screen could barely contain him—but that meant Reo Mibuchi would immediately be double-teamed instead.
With two defenders collapsing on him, Reo Mibuchi couldn’t maintain his shooting form at all.
And so, Rakuzan remained firmly suppressed by Teikō all the way to the final possession of the second quarter.
Miyamoto Tokima glanced at the clock—twelve seconds remained.
His eyes shifted to Reo Mibuchi, and an interesting idea quietly formed in his mind.
Author's Note
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