Kuroko’s Basketball: Before Generation Miracles, I Already Crowned

The timeout ended.

With Dainita Junior High inbounding the ball, the game resumed.

After the brief break, Dainita returned to their bread-and-butter, fluid ball movement and tightly coordinated plays.

But.

Their point gap with Teiko only continued to widen.

The main reason?

The ironclad inside-out defensive wall formed by Shigure Akihito and Nijimura Shuzo.

There was no need to say much about Nijimura. His interior defense was absurdly airtight, like he could see through opponents' every move. Blocks, steals, fronting, bodying up, his complete skill set wove a seamless net. He was defense personified.

But as for Shigure Akihito on the perimeter…

He was just downright ridiculous.

Uekusa Tomoyuki…

Special Skill: Flying Intercept

When the opponent passes the ball, intercept it mid-air by launching yourself toward the passing lane with explosive reflexes and timing.

The instant Shigure caught a glimpse of his opponent initiating a pass, he activated his skill: Flying Intercept. Then, he dove, throwing himself into a full-tilt lunge that looked like he'd trip and fall.

In that moment, his body launched forward!

Instant court awareness!

Split-second burst speed!

Pinpoint interception!

Smack!

Dainita's captain, Minamiya Hiroyuki, had his pass stolen clean.

Minamiya Hiroyuki: "..."

What just happened?!

Just one look at my pass and he had the guts to throw himself like that to intercept it?!

And the distance he covered, the reaction time, from seeing the pass to lunging? Don't you even need to process it?! How did you even intercept a ball that hadn't clearly defined its trajectory yet?!

If Shigure Akihito knew what Minamiya was thinking right now, he'd probably chuckle to himself.

Read the pass trajectory?

Calculate timing?

Heh.

All he needed was to time the skill activation right, once that was nailed down, the rest? The route, the reflexes, the execution, his special skill handled everything for him!

"Shigure!"

As soon as Shigure snatched the ball, he spotted the third-year point guard, Eba Masatoshi, bolting downcourt.

Whoosh, !

A lightning-quick pass!

Eba caught it cleanly.

But after suffering multiple fast break counters, Dainita had been rattled stiff. Even while attacking, their focus remained half-glued to defense.

Their offensive sharpness was dulled, but their transition defense had clearly picked up speed.

Eba gave a wry smile. "Ah~ not bad, you're getting faster."

"But you're still not fast enough."

Just as the words left his mouth, Shigure and Nijimura, like twin arrows loosed from a bowstring, sprinted down the court in unison toward Dainita's paint!

Whoosh, !

Eba passed to Nijimura, who had positioned himself just outside the three-point arc for support.

And then,

The moment Nijimura caught the ball, he absorbed the pass's momentum into a seamless dribble move. From reception to crossover, the entire motion flowed like silk.

The defender in front of him, all poised and ready, might as well have been a traffic cone, Nijimura shifted once, and it was like he vanished from the guy's vision.

Then,

Facing Dainita's interior defense, Nijimura suddenly launched upward with force.

A shot!

"No way that's going in!"

"Watch out, "

"Wait!!"

"Someone pick up #7!"

Dainita, completely drawn in by Nijimura's aggressive drive, swarmed toward Shigure Akihito, who was streaking into the lane!

That pass,

It was a lob!

Dainita's players scrambled, throwing themselves at Shigure like they were trying to bodycheck him out of bounds.

In that instant, three defenders converged on him. Their bodies formed a wall, closing off any clear route to the rim.

Shigure Akihito: "...!"

And yet,

Facing this kind of defense…

Shigure couldn't be more fired up.

One powerful step, and he launched himself skyward, reaching out with one hand to snatch Nijimura's pinpoint lob. In that moment, everyone in the arena seemed to see a white bird soaring across the court.

And then,

That bird spread its wings!

BOOM, !

With explosive force, Shigure spiked the ball downward into the rim!

BANG, !

His vertical leap had far exceeded middle school standards, but to dunk, he still had to pull down on the rim, which meant he'd have to come back to the basket at the end of the jump.

That was exactly what Dainita's center had been waiting for!

Perfect timing!

He even managed to get a finger on the ball mid-air!

But,

He hadn't expected the sheer force of Shigure's dunk. The power behind it overwhelmed his block attempt and crushed through it, jamming the ball in despite the resistance.

CRACK, !

A deafening thud!

Under the bright glare of the gym's ceiling lights, #7 Shigure Akihito wore a wild, almost beastly grin.

At the same time, shards of reinforced glass began trickling down his hair like silver rain.

The joint between the rim and the backboard…

Had been shattered!

Everyone on court: "..."

Ōkura Masaaki silently shook his head. "Shigure… you really gotta quit yanking the rim like that…"

But even so…

Even factoring in the weight of hanging on the rim, that kind of break shouldn't have happened.

Had he gotten even stronger recently?

Tch, These monstrous rookies are giving me stress…

Though the crack in the backboard wasn't too severe, it was still a major safety concern. The referees immediately called for a pause, and the support staff came out to swap in a new backboard.

And by that point,

Even though the first quarter still hadn't ended,

Dainita Junior High was already collapsing.

On the court,

Nijimura dazzled with skilled scoring, but also kept the ball moving with crisp passes.

Shigure, on the other hand, threw down dunks, drained threes, and crossed people out of their shoes.

At the same time,

Both were lockdown defenders.

#7.

#8.

Everywhere you looked, they were there.

With Shigure and Nijimura acting as the twin engines, and the rest of Teiko smoothly following their lead, the whole game turned into a two-man show, while Dainita found themselves getting buried deeper and deeper.

"My god!"

"These two first-years…"

"That's what it looks like when they go all-out?!"

"This is…"

The crowd, once roaring with excitement, was now stunned into silence. When Shigure and Nijimura were finally subbed off, you could hear a pin drop. That silence alone was enough to reflect just how thoroughly Dainita had been dismantled.

After a while,

BEEP, !

The final buzzer rang out.

Teiko Junior High vs. Dainita Junior High.

129 to 45.

In their debut match, Shigure Akihito and Nijimura Shuzo, without even playing three full quarters, had led the team to a win with nearly a threefold lead.

If not for subbing them out early to preserve face and give the upperclassmen bench some time, the final score under those two, who had no idea how to ease up when excited, might have been even more terrifying.

End of chapter...

To be continued...

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