Rebirth In KurokoNoBasket

Teiko Middle School basketball club's morale was higher than ever. They were experiencing the rise of their already star players as Aomine Daiki and Mursakibara Atsushi had come out of games with overwhelming performances and stats.

All the members were working better than ever as they were putting in the hard work, and some of them didn't even mind the demonic training regiment implemented by Head Coach Shirogane Kozo.

Like children hopped up on sugar, Teiko began preparing for the upcoming preliminaries.

Under all the hustle and bustle of the excitement, there was one person who blocked all of the noise out and kept on working without any change.

Even after everybody left the gym, that person would by himself work on his skills and after months of practice and all the hard work humanly possible; he was ready.

On one such day, after practice, Midorima Shintaro dragged in a cage of basketballs, and in his hand was a roll of opaque tape and pair of scissors.

The dimensions of a middle school basketball court were 26 meters (84 feet) by 15 meters (50 feet).

On that court, the perimeter of the three-point arc was located at a distance of 6.02 meters (19.75 feet).

Midorima's area of dominance was that perimeter of the three-point arc that he dominated with absolute skill.

The havoc that Midorima Shintaro wrecked on the opposition was silently oppressive. The opponent would pray and hope that the ball he shot from that distance would miss, but every time they would be wrong, and their hopes would be dashed as the ball would sink in every time.

Midorima was a sniper on the court who bombed balls into the net with a hundred-percent clearance rate, and today he was going to test his skills.

Midorima took the opaque tape and started to paste it on the court at certain distances.

He started by pasting five pieces of tape on five different places at the same distance as the free-throw line. If one were to draw an arc through the tapes, then it would come out the same as the three-point arc but smaller.

Midorima: "Mid-range, five spots. Done."

He moved back a few steps and again repeated the same process of sticking tape on the court.

Midorima: "Long-range two-pointer, five spots. Done."

He arrived at the three-point arc and repeated the same process.

Midorima: "Three-point arc, five spots. Done."

Midorima looked beyond the three-point arc and moved 1 meter (3.28 feet) away from it, and repeated the process, but with seven spots on the court.

Midorima: "7.02 meters (23.03 feet), seven spots. Done."

Midorima once again 1 meter away.

Midorima: "8.02 meters (26.31 feet), seven spots. Done."

Midorima yet again increased the distance and taped the court.

Midorima: "9.02 meters (29.59 feet), seven spots. Done."

Midorima looked at the half-court line at 13 meters (42 feet).

Midorima: "That is still out of reach. I will get there someday."

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Midorima started with the mid-range and began to take shots from the right side.

Midorima got into his shooting form, readied the ball in his hand, raised his shooting hand, lined his elbow so that when he uncurled his arm, it would align with his body.

Midorima's shooting form was what you would call traditionally perfect. Midorima readied his guide hand and shot the ball.

Midorima's ball-release point was at the apex of the Midorima's vertical reach. His hand was parallel to his body at the time of release, and he released the when he was the top of his jump.

It made it extremely difficult for a defender to touch the ball during contesting and blocking.

Midorima released the ball. It traveled in a ridiculously high arc, which looked even more ridiculous at the mid-range.

The ball reached the top of the arc and then descended. Midorima looked at the ball as it came down, and it landed right in the center of the rim, avoiding it and entering the net.

Midorima moved to the next spot to the left and then shot again.

Then again. *Swish*

*

Then again. *Swish*

*

Then again. *Swish*

*

Then again. *Swish*

*

*

*

Then again. *Swish*

Midorima hadn't missed a single shot, and all the shots had traveled into the hoop without touching the rim.

Midorima was now on the left-most corner spot at the 9-meter distance.

He took a deep breath and made the shot. He looked at the ball as it traveled in the same arc as the many shots that he had traveled.

As the ball reached the apex of the arc, Midorima smiled and removed his glasses and proceeded to clean them with the hem of his shirt.

The ball descended at high speed, and it traveled right through the center of the hoop and went straight through the net and bounced off the ground.

Midorima put back on his glasses and said to himself.

Midorima: "I am ready."

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

The next day, Teiko was hosting an in-house exhibition game.

The first-string was divided into two teams; Team Red and Team Yellow.

On team Red, were Aomine Daiki, Kise Ryota, Nijimura Shuzo, with the bench Center and Shooting Guard of Teiko's first-string.

On team Yellow, were Akashi Seijuro, Murasakibara Atsushi, Midorima Shintaro, with the Teiko's bench power forward and small forward.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

On Team Red,

Aomine was playing as the power forward,

Kise as the small forward,

Nijimura Shuzo as the point guard.

Nijimura's favorite move was drive and pass, which aligned with the point guard's duty. He was more efficient as the power forward of the team, but to balance out the teams, he was put into Team Red as the point guard.

On Team Yellow,

Akashi was playing as the point guard,

Murasakibara as the center,

Midorima as the shooting guard.

Kuroko was kept out as that would break the balance between the teams.

The teams were going to have a full game instead of practice that day.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

The game started with Team Yellow, naturally winning the tip-off with Murasakibara as their center.

The ball went to Akashi, who passed the ball to the small forward of the team, who relayed it to Midorima.

Midorima from the three-point arc shot the ball, with his new shooting form that he was showing to everybody for the first time.

All players watched the ridiculously high-arc that the ball followed.

Midorima turned back and walked back to his side of the court. He passed Aomine, who took his eyes off the ball and saw Midorima passing by.

Aomine: "Huh, what are you doing?"

Aomine turned back his eyes to the ball and moved for the rebound. He knew that Midorima didn't miss, but this was the first time he saw this high-arc.

This was the first time Midorima had turned without seeing the ball sinking in.

Kise chuckled as he saw the ball in the air.

Kise: "Hahaha, Midorima-cchi what is with-"

But he stopped when he saw the ball sinking in effortlessly.

Everybody looked at Midorima and found him already near the opposite three-point arc, ready for the defense.

Aomine laughed as he spoke.

Aomine: "That was crazy! Midorima, that was the coolest thing I saw from you."

Kise was looking at Midorima with an open jaw.

Kise: "That was weird, Midorima-cchi."

Murasakibara yawned as he joined the conversation.

Murasakibara: "What is the use of that high-arc?"

Akashi eyed widened as he smiled and figured out Murasakibara's question.

Akashi: "I think we will be going to see the arc's use soon."

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Akashi was right as after a few possessions Midorima got the ball and stopped at 8 meters from the basket, and got into his shooting form.

Kise and Nijimura were surprised when they saw Midorima taking a shot from that far.

Nijimura: "Why is he shooting from there?"

Kise: "No way, Midorima-cchi, are you?"

Aomine's instincts blared when he saw Midorima get into his shooting form.

He moved and ran towards Midorima to block him, but he was too far way as Midorima comfortably took the shot.

All the players in the gym watched the ball traveling the high-arc with arc while Midorima alone walked back to his side of the court for defense.

The ball descended and dropped into the hoop without any contact with the rim.

Murasakibara mightly frowned as he looked at the distance from where Midorima shot.

Midorima was a center's bane, a player that didn't intrude in a center's territory and scored far away from their reach.

Nijimura smiled and laughed as he looked at Midorima.

Nijimura: "Three-points at a time, huh. Each and every one of you is too much to handle."

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Satsuki, who was on the sideline, clapped her hands after as she looked at the shot.

Satsuki: "Ah, I get it!"

Kuroko, who was on the sideline with Satsuki, asked.

Kuroko: "What do you mean?"

Satsuki pointed at Midorima and explained it.

Satsuki: "The farther you shoot from, the higher the arc you need. Looking at that Midorin's extra high-arc, I think he is planning to increase his range even more."

Satsuki took a deep breath and declared.

Satsuki: "If Midorin keeps increasing his range, then the team's offensive capabilities would increase from three-point arc and inside to a majority of the half-court."

She then took out a notebook started to record data on Midorima and the changes that they could implement on offense.

Kuroko looked at Midorima and said in awe.

Kuroko: "He changed the team's range on his own, didn't he?"

Satsuki nodded and smiled.

Satsuki: "Yes, he did. Our team just obtained a whole new area to score from."

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

The game continued as Aomine and Murasakibara continued to cancel each other out.

This is where Midorima shined. He alone pulled Team Yellow in scoring as the point gap increased.

Midorima was taking four shots every quarter, and now in the last quarter, Midorima had scored four three-pointers bringing his score to forty-eight points.

Team Yellow was ahead by twelve points with Midorima being on a role.

With a few seconds in the game, Akashi passed the ball straight to Midorima.

Aomine looked at Midorima and thought.

Aomine: 'Eight meters, give or take is his range. I will be able to reach in time.'

Aomine ran towards Midorima as fast he could, but he was stunned when Midorima stopped at nine meters from the rim and got into his shooting form.

Aomine: "No freaking way! You can't shoot from there!"

Aomine grunted as he sped to Midorima, but he was late as Midorima released the ball before Aomine could reach him.

The ball once again took to the air.

Midorima turned to exit the court, not looking at the ball.

Midorima: "It's over. We win."

But others didn't move. They wanted to see the shot from such a massive distance, sink into the basket.

Their hearts pumped faster as the ball flew through the air.

Kise looking at the ball, thought the same thing that he had been thinking all over the game.

Kise: "How can he have a sense of direction and distance at that height?"

The ball went into the hoop like a thread threading into a needle.

All of the players turned to look at Midorima, who was already at the bench, wiping sweat with a towel.

Midorima sat down on the bench and closed his eyes.

Aomine and Murasakibara knew something changed as they felt the presence of a fourth throne in the room.

A throne that glowed emerald-green in color, then they felt the door open.

The moment the door opened, they saw a silhouette appear on the throne and the door closing once again.

Murasakibara & Aomine: 'He got inside.'

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Midorima himself was sitting on his throne inside the room.

He looked at the other thrones in the room.

Midorima: 'Kageyama Shun, Aomine, and Murasakibara. All of them had amazing games recently. Today was mine, huh.'

The thrones were now aligned in a square, each throne on one vertex of the square.

The room was now brighter than before, glowing in four different colors.