Rebirth In KurokoNoBasket

Kise and Shun were standing just outside of the three-point arc, ready for the first exchange.

Shun passed the ball to Kise and said.

Shun: "You take the offense first."

Kise caught the ball and nodded.

Kise: "Sure."

Shun took a defensive stance and got ready for Kise's offense. Kise also started to dribble the ball.

Both of them looked at each other. Shun had a relaxed smile on his face, while Kise had a serious expression.

Kise tried to cut across Shun but failed as Shun guard was tough to beat.

Shun looked at Kise and said.

Shun: "Simple speed won't work. I am much faster than you; try to use some skills. You must have stockpiled a lot of them, right?"

Kise narrowed his eyes at the confident tone of Shun, but he followed the advice and did a crossover.

Kise faked to the left and then switched the ball from his right hand to the left hand and passed Shun from the right.

Kise, who passed Shun, celebrated in his mind.

Kise: 'Yosh!'

Aomine, who was at the sideline, smiled at the exchange.

Kise dribbled the ball under the rim and jumped to lay in the ball into the basket. Just before the ball left his hand, it was slapped into the backboard and bounced away from the basket.

Kise was shocked at the sudden block and saw that Shun was suddenly near him.

Kise: "What!"

Shun: "You pulled down your guard too soon."

Shun got back to the ground and ran after the free ball, and Kise followed him to stop Shun.

Shun glanced back at Kise and adjusted his speed so that Kise could catch up. Shun got to the ball, and just as he got the ball, Kise had caught up.

Shun smiled and then pivoted of his left foot and turned to the direction of the basket and charged towards the rim. Kise, who had just caught up, had slowed down to come at a stop, so he wasn't able to react to the sudden spin and sprint shown by Shun.

Kuroko praised the move made by Shun.

Kuroko: "Excellently executed."

Aomine nodded and agreed.

Aomine: "Kise fell for it, splendidly."

This time, Kise wasn't able to catch up as Shun didn't match his speed up with Kise, and layed in the ball with a simple finger-roll.

Satsuki turned towards Aomine and Kuroko and questioned.

Satsuki: "What happened?"

Aomine smiled while looking at Shun and Kise and explained.

Aomine: "Kageyama let Kise pass because he was confident in catching up, and then he blocked Kise's layup to create a surprise in Kise.

Next, he matched his speed with Kise, giving him time to catch up, that way when Kageyama got to the ball, Kise had just come to a stop, it takes time to move from a stop allowing him to pass Kise with ease."

Kuroko also gave his commentary.

Kuroko: "The surprise from the sudden block and the increase in speed also helped Kageyama-kun to leave behind a surprised Kise-kun."

It was true that Shun could have just held on to Kise at the start, not allowing him to pass at all, but there was no fun in that.

Shun and Kise again got to the starting point, this time it was Shun's turn to attack.

Kise passed the ball to Shun. Shun got the ball and smiled.

Shun: "Okay. Come on, let's see how your defense is."

Kise felt the confidence oozing from Shun.

Kise: "I won't let you pass."

Shun started by moving to the right along the three-point arc. He kept his eyes at Kise, not giving out any indicators of what he was going to do next.

Shun had taken half a dozen steps when he increased his speed and stepped forward in an instant, trying to pass from Kise from the right.

Shun leaned his c.h.e.s.t and his right leg forward to create the illusion that he was going to the right.

Kise moved to the right to block Shun's path, but Shun's step to the right was a fake as he pulled back, switched the ball in his hands, and exploded from the large space created in the left.

Kise turned to look at the escaping Shun.

Kise: 'Damn it. That was so sharp. I totally fell for that fake step.'

Shun again scored with an overhead layup.

Satsuki clapped when she saw Shun's sharp stiff-leg crossover.

Satsuki: "That was a sharp crossover, wasn't it."

Aomine nodded and commented.

Aomine: "Kageyama is faster than Kise, he also reacts faster, plus he has much more experience than Kise."

Shun got the ball and went to the starting point. He passed the ball to Kise and said.

Shun: "Come on, play more aggressively."

Kise received the ball and remembered some of the moves he was able to copy from his captain, Nijimura Shuzo.

Nijimura Shuzo's playstyle was quick and sharp, Kise was able to copy Nijimura, but he wasn't able to copy him completely yet.

Kise chose Nijimura's favorite in-and-out dribble to pass Shun.

Kise with the ball in his right hand dribbled the ball, his hand pushing the ball in a left slope, but when the ball came up, he pushed it back to the right with an increase in speed trying to pass through the right.

Aomine clicked his tongue and commented.

Aomine: "His limited experience is really a shackle to him."

Kuroko asked Aomine what he meant.

Kuroko: "What do you mean?"

Before Aomine could answer, Kise had moved.

Kise moved forward, but the moment he moved, the ball forward it was caught by Shun, who moved away from the basket and threw a shot from the three-point arc.

The score was 4-0 in Shun's favor.

[A/N: In a one-on-one, two-point shots are awarded one point, and three-point shots are awarded two points.]

Aomine sighed and explained.

Aomine: "Kise just used captain's moves, but he doesn't have the experience to chose which move is best in that situation. The in-and-out move is more effective when you are in motion. He used it when he was stationary."

After that, Shun got the ball for the offense.

He moved to a position diagonally to the rim and then moved forward.

Shun: "This is how you do it."

Shun used the in-and-out dribble against Kise and got past him with ease.

And he dunked at the basket to score another point.

Kise looked at the dunk and thought.

Kise: 'How in the world are these guys jumping left and right in middle school.'

It was once again Shun's turn to attack.

Shun got the ball and thought.

Shun: 'Let's go with something really simple.'

Shun dribbled the ball across the increasing his speed slowly but constantly.

Kise kept chasing after Shun but was not able to catch him.

Kise: 'He is so fast!'

Shun stopped at a mid-range and got into a jump shot position. Kise caught up to Shun and jumped for a block.

Shun lowered his hand in a pump fake. Kise flew past him, and Shun took a shot scoring a simple mid-range shot.

Shun smirked as he looked at Kise.

Shun: "Come on, buddy. You can do better than this right."

After that, Kise tried all kinds of moves trying to get past Shun, but Shun would stop him every single time.

In another four exchanges, Shun had reached ten points, with Kise still on zero points.

Shun looked at Kise while dribbling a ball.

Shun sighed as he looked at Kise, who was frowning as he assumed a defensive stance.

Shun: "Kise-kun, how should I say this. You have the basics down to the core, but your flow and selection of moves is really crap. You should really play one-on-ones more to get a feel for the move selection because, at this rate, I can continue to block you all day long."

As Shun finished saying that he moved forward with the ball in his right hand, as he reached near Kise, Shun switched the ball to his left hand, sidestepped to the left, and boosted forward leaving behind Kise, who didn't even react to Shun, after the consecutive defeats.

Shun jumped at the basket and put down a two-handed dunk, finishing the one-on-one session with Kise.

Kise, who turned to look at Shun, thought a fact that amazed him.

Kise: 'I already knew all the moves that he used against me, then why wasn't I able to stop or even slow him down? I should have been able to slow him down a little with the quality of moves he was using.'

Kise looked at the floor as he saw the gap between them.

At the side, Aomine sighed and stated.

Aomine: "Kageyama didn't even try, did he?"

Satsuki nodded as she looked at Shun with a serious expression.

Satsuki: "His physical attributes and skills were the same as last year, he should already be far away from those benchmarks, but he didn't use a single move or skill that he didn't use last year."

Kuroko nodded as he looked at the defeated Kise.

Kuroko: "Kageyama-kun has an excellent basketball IQ and a lot more experience in the sport than the majority of the people our age.

I think he truly thought that he didn't need to use those skills to beat Kise-kun. Kise-kun is already a front-runner in the club, but he still wasn't able to score a single point on him.

He truly is a splendid player and adversary."

Shun walked back to Kise and patted him on his back.

Shun: "Come on, don't feel down. With your ability, you will get better if you work hard, so maybe next, you may just be able to score a single point on me."

Kise smiled wryly at Shun and said.

Kise: "Kageyama-cchi, you really suck at comforting people. You should've said that I would be able to contend against you at an equal standing."

Shun laughed as he hit Kise on his back.

Shun: "Yeah, I wouldn't want that, and I honestly don't see that happening. Last year's final taught me to hate buzzer-beaters and close matches, there is no way I am going to let that happen this year."

Shun looked at Kise seriously and said.

Shun: "I have to contend against those monsters in your school, and if I want to beat those monsters, then I would have to become something more than monster to compete against a horde of them."

Kise felt a pressure emitting from Shun as he looked at him.

Shun: "As a point guard, I hate playing against Teiko. If I had been interested in being a forward or even a shooting guard, then I would have loved to play against you guys, but as a point guard, I hate playing against Teiko from the bottom of my heart.

So that is why I don't want to lose the one game that I hate the most."

Kise looked at Shun, not understanding the meaning behind Shun's words.

Shun looked at the confused Kise and laughed.

Shun: "Don't worry about it. You will understand later when we play against each other this year, and what's with the weird suffix that you added to my name. Is that a new trend that I missed?"

Kise decided to let the topic go and told Shun about how he calls people who he respects.

With that, the game between Kise Ryota and Kageyama Shun ended.