Rebirth In KurokoNoBasket

In Middle school, each team was allowed five timeouts; three, full one-minute timeouts, and two, thirty-second timeouts.

Teiko decided to use one of their shorter timeouts. The coach asked Kuroko about the problem.

Shirogane (Coach): "Kuroko-kun, what happened out there?"

Kuroko recalled what happened before his pass was intercepted.

Kuroko: "Kageyama-kun switched his mark to me, I thought that he was doing, so because he wanted to be free for defensive support to other players.

And then, he said, that it was not personal. After that, the pass was stolen."

All the team members pondered over what Kuroko told them. The coach looked at the time and concluded the discussion.

Shirogane: "Kuroko-kun will stay on the court till the end of this quarter if Kageyama Shun can stop Kuroko-kun, then we would have to pull him out after the quarter ends."

Kuroko didn't feel happy about being stopped, but he decided to try harder to see if anything worked.

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Shun returned to the court, found Kuroko, and went to guard him.

Shun didn't start any conversation, he didn't think that Kuroko would like to talk to him right now, and he wasn't going to start a conversation that might come off as goading.

Shun looked at Kuroko to find that he was staring at him intently.

Kuroko: "How were you able to stop me?"

Shun sighed and told his answer to Kuroko,

Shun: "I am sorry, Kuroko-kun, but I can't tell you that. I will be honest with you. I only have a single way to find and stop you.

If I tell you how I found you, then my team wouldn't be able to stop you."

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The match continued, Akashi, who had the ball looked at the options he had.

Akashi: 'I want to confirm if Kageyama Shun can actually stop Kuroko-Kun's passes.'

He made eye contact with Kuroko, and Kuroko got away from Shun.

Kuroko made eye contact with Aomine. Aomine got ready for the pass, but the moment the ball left Kuroko's palm it was caught by Shun.

Shun threw the ball straight to Ishida. Ishida attempted a three-pointer and missed the hoop, but Otsubo caught it and tried to lay it in but was denied by Murasakibara.

The ball was chased by Midorima and Mibuchi. Mibuchi got to the ball first and passed it to Aone.

Aone made his way to the hoop and scored with an overhead layup.

The first quarter ended with the score 21-19, with Teiko leading.

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In the stands, Shun's parents were sitting watching the game with Satsuki and Aomine's mothers.

Aomine and Satsuki were childhood friends, and their families were close, so they came today to support him.

Mrs. Momoi (Hana): "Both teams seem to be equally matched."

Shun's Mother (Yuki): "My Shun told me that many of the players in the Teiko's team are first-years, including Aomine-kun."

Both the ladies looked at Aomine's mother. Unlike Aomine, she looked smart, calm, and m.a.t.u.r.e. She was an office lady (OL) who worked at a bank, both mother and son couldn't be more apart.

Aomine's mother sighed and yet smiled faintly.

Aomine's Mother: "That child has been playing basketball since he was a child, he spent so much time outside in the sun that his skin color changed permanently, and he would drag Satsuki-chan out with him every day. He buys so many basketball shoes that we had to buy him a new closet just for his shoes."

Shun's mother realized that her Shun was also like that,

Shun's Mother (Yuki): "Shun also started to play basketball when he was four. I and my husband both work, so we left him to a daycare center that taught basketball. He would play there every day, and when we picked him up, all he would talk about his day playing basketball."

Aomine's Mother: "We both also work, but because Hana offered to take care of him, we didn't have to enroll him into a daycare service."

Mrs. Momoi (Hana): "Daiki-chan was so cute when he was small, and Satsuki was the same age, so it was not a problem."

While the mothers talked, Shun's father silently recorded his son on his camera.

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(At Tokiwadai's bench)

Shun faced his team and said,

Shun: "Teiko will pull Kuroko out of the game, now that they know that he won't work against our team. I don't know if they will put Haizaki in from the second quarter, but I am sure that they will come aggressively than they did in the first quarter."

Coach: "Alright, don't be defensive. If they come aggressively, you guys will turn this game into a score out."

Tokiwadai had been a team, that had excelled in scoring in this year nationals, they had won every match with a thirty point lead, so they had no problem turning the game into a score out.

Even Shun knew as much as he liked to play support, he couldn't play it against Teiko. Tokiwadai needed Shun's offensive capabilities against Teiko.

Coach: "Aone switch up your offense, Mibuchi make sure to remain open, Ishida I want you to be ready for the offense even after you pass the ball, Otsubo you need to be the teams rock on both sides of the court, and Shun, call out for more passes. That's it, and I want you guys leading at the end of this quarter."

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(At Teiko's bench)

Shirogane (Coach): "Nijimura-kun, you will be going back in, Kuroko-kun you are out. We still don't know how Kageyama Shun can see Kuroko-kun."

Shirogane turned towards Haizaki and said.

Shirogane (Coach): "Haizaki-kun, you will be entering the game in the third quarter, so be prepared."

He then looked at everybody and said,

Shirogane (Coach): "I want all you to be more aggressive, be faster on the uptake, keep the ball moving. Akashi-kun, make sure to set the plays accordingly. That will be all."

Team: "Yes, Coach!"

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Both teams returned to the court for the second quarter.

The ball was in Teiko's possession. Akashi calmly dribbled the ball past the half-court, ready for the first attack of the quarter.

Akashi: 'Let's start the second quarter with a bang.'

Akashi didn't try to pull a fancy pass and just passed the ball to Nijimura.

Nijimura just needed the ball, and he could take the ball to the basket on his own, and if he wasn't able to pass, he could pass the ball to another player at the most suitable timing.

This time Nijimura wasn't going to pass, he was going to put the ball into the basket himself.

Nijimura: 'I can't just let the first-years win so easily. Let's score some points.'

Nijimura dribbled hard to the inside he passed Ishida with a spin move, he pulled an in-and-out dribble to fake out Aone passing him skilfully, and finally, he pulled a floater above Otsubo and scored the basket with skills and speed.

[A/N: A video link about in-and-out will be in the comment section.]

Viewer: "Three guys, he passed three guys! What in the world was that?!"

The play by Nijimura was a show of power and dominance over the court.

Tokiwadai was not going to stand and let them take the upper hand.

Ishida passed the ball to Mibuchi, he dribbled the ball to an open space and was prepared to shoot, when he was interrupted by Midorima.

Mibuchi looked at the court, and saw Shun leaving his mark, Mibuchi passed the ball to Shun. Midorima, who saw that turned his body backward, but the moment he did, Shun passed the ball back to Mibuchi.

Midorima: 'A pass back. I won't be able to reach in time.'

And, Midorima was right he didn't reach in time. Mibuchi was already off the ground by the time Midorima turned back. The ball traveled an elegant arc and landed in the basket with a swish.

Shun who saw that spoke up,

Shun: "Nothing but net."

The game continued with both teams scoring against each other.

Currently, the ball was with Nijimura, and in front of him was Shun. Shun was in the standard defense position with his arms spread wide, and Nijimura was leaning forward with the ball in front of him.

Nijimura: 'How should I pass him, a spin move won't work with his arms spread like that. Let's go with a pullback jump shot.'

Nijimura dribbled forward two steps, Shun reacted to that, and intercepted him, according to plan Nijimura pulled back and jumped to make a shot.

But, Shun was not off balance because of his stable defensive form, so he jumped to contest the shoot. His hand made good contact with the ball.

Nijiumra: 'Damn, he blocked the shot.'

Shun: "Yes!"

Nijimura clicked his tongue as he saw the shot turn into an airball. He turned to look at Shun to find Shun running towards Teiko's basket, with his hand up signaling for a pass.

Nijimura pursued him while turning his head to confirm the situation. He looked just in time to see Aone throw a long quarterback pass to Shun.

Shun saw the ball coming his way and caught it.

Shun: "Nice pass!"

Shun also confirmed Nijimura's position, he threw the ball up, avoiding Nijimura's block attempt, and the ball bounced off the backboard into the basket.

Teiko didn't waste any time with the counter, Nijimura passed the ball to Akashi, he passed his mark and relayed the ball to Murasakibara who was beneath the net.

Murasakibara caught the ball and jumped for a dunk.

Otsubo was late for the block, so he wasn't able to get his high enough, and the ball got pushed right through them into the basket.

The crowd went wild at Murasakibara's dunk.

Viewer: "That purple-haired guy is a first-year, and he can already dunk, and did you look at that pass the opposite team's center wasn't able to reach in time because of the pass' timing."

Viewer: "Look at the speed of the game; they are switching sides so quickly."

The crowd was heated with cheers echoing from all over the stands at scores from both the teams.

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Otsubo caught a rebound of a missed three-pointer from Akashi, he dribbled the ball himself to the half-court and passed the ball to Aone. Aone skillfully dribbled through the way opened by his teammate's screens and scored with an easy overhead layup.

Shun looked at the scoreboard and saw that Tokiwadai was leading by four points, with the score 40-44.

Shun: 'The point gap is not large enough, the time is only enough for one play, and the ball is in Teiko's possession.'

Shun looked at his team and announced.

Shun: "Guys, there is only time enough for one play we need to defend with all our might."

Aomine got the ball from Akashi, and Shun was marking Aomine, so they were isolated from the rest of the players.

Aomine: "I will get past you."

Shun: "Let's see you try."

Aomine went full speed to the right trying to flash past Shun, but Shun reacted quickly and blocked him.

Aomine followed by a crossover by switching the ball between hands, he followed it by a fake to the left and tried to go to the right again. With all that, Aomine tried to pass the ball between Shun's leg.

Shun smiled internally and moved his hand behind him, caught the ball, and threw the ball towards Teiko's basket.

The time ran out before just before the ball went out of bounds.

Shun looked at Aomine and sighed.

Shun: "It's fine to be flashy at the moments when the risk is not high, but at the end of a quarter where you could have reduced the minuscule point gap to nothing, you don't pull flashy moves, you can be tricky but not flashy."

Shun passed Aomine, who was looking at the ceiling with his hands on his waist.

Shun looked back at Aomine and thought,

Shun: 'His lack of any traditional basketball training, and his streetball style combined with the lack of experience with a risky situation, allowed me to stop him. If he didn't pull that between the leg move, I would have a 70% chance in stopping him, but he screwed up and that raised the percentage to a 100%.'

The first half of the game ended with the score 40-44, with Tokiwadai in the lead.