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Whoosh…
The referee tossed the basketball high into the air.
Nanbara's center was half a head shorter than Murasakibara Atsushi.
Murasakibara Atsushi easily swatted the ball into Akashi's hands.
Akashi, dribbling the ball, said,
"Calm down, Kuroko-kun, slow down…"
Bang…
A sudden loud bang drew everyone's attention in the arena.
Everyone looked in the direction of the sound.
Then they saw Kuroko Tetsuya sprawled on the ground, seemingly out of nowhere.
Everyone's eyes twitched, and their lips twitched uncontrollably.
Akashi and the others, speechless, went to Kuroko's side to check on him.
Seeing Kuroko's nose bleeding profusely,
Kuroko was ultimately substituted off the court at Akashi's suggestion.
Ryu was even more ashamed.
This guy really was substituted off in a second.
Looking at the scoreboard showing 9 minutes and 59 seconds,
Ryu was at a loss for words.
Seeing the situation, the assistant coach was also helpless.
"There's no other way, Ryu, you can go now!"
"Yes..."
Ryu stood up and walked onto the field with a smile.
At the same time,
the referee announced loudly:
"Teiko is substituting a player."
The crowd of onlookers on the second floor began to discuss as Ryu entered the field.
"It's Teiko's number 95, Ryu."
"He's incredibly strong. He was absolutely dazzling in the previous national tournament."
"I've watched his matches. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he's the No. 1 small forward in junior high."
"No. 1! Speaking of which, Teiko's Nijimura Shuzo is also the No. 1 power forward in junior high, right? Teiko is really formidable today."
Ryu stepped onto the court and immediately gave Akashi and the other three a relaxed smile.
"Kuroko probably won't be able to play for a while, so I'll just fill in for now."
Whistle...
The whistle blew.
The game resumed.
Akashi passed the ball directly to Ryu.
Ryu received the ball and without hesitation, charged towards Nanbara's half of the court.
Even when blocked by the opposing small forward, he didn't stop.
Ryu simply made a feint to the left, fooling the opposing defense.
After shaking off Nanbara's small forward, Ryu reached the three-point line.
Looking at Nanbara's center and point guard ahead, Ryu suddenly increased his speed.
He first dribbled to the opposing center, then executed a spin move to get past him.
Following another crossover, he broke through the opposing point guard's defense.
Nanbara's center and point guard desperately chased after him, trying to harass Ryu.
A slight smile played on Ryu's lips.
Without stopping, he reached the basket and tossed the ball behind him from under his arm.
The sudden movement caught the two behind him off guard.
The ball flew directly between them, heading straight for Midorima Shintaro outside the three-point line.
Midorima Shintaro was open; receiving the ball, he didn't hesitate and immediately jumped to shoot.
He shot too quickly; although the opposing shooting guard tried to block him, he couldn't stop him.
The basketball's arc was extremely high.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, the basketball landed precisely in the hoop.
3-0, Teiko took the lead with 3 points.
"Good shot!"
Aomine Daiki pumped his fist in encouragement.
The assistant coach on the sidelines nodded in approval.
He was very satisfied with Ryu's performance.
However, that wasn't his purpose today.
His gaze remained fixed on the court, but he spoke to Kuroko.
"Has the nosebleed stopped?"
"Huh?" Kuroko was initially confused, but quickly recovered.
"It's stopped."
"Good, go and switch with Ryu."
The assistant coach said sternly.
Soon, Kuroko went to the referee's table and requested a substitution.
Whistle...
As the whistle blew, Ryu walked towards Teiko's rest area.
He high-fived Kuroko Tetsuya as he passed him.
Ryu then said...
"Good luck, Kuroko!"
"Yeah! Leave it to me!"
Kuroko nodded earnestly and walked onto the court.
Whistle...
The whistle blew once again, echoing throughout the court.
The game restarted.
This time, Nanbara inbounded the ball.
The opposing point guard dribbled the ball across half-court.
He gave his center a look, then passed the ball to his shooting guard.
Midorima Shintaro tried to block, but collided with the opposing center.
A screen?
His path was blocked; Midorima Shintaro had lost his chance to intercept.
Nanbara's shooting guard jumped and shot.
Swish...
The basketball went in.
3-3 tie.
Ryu, sitting on the bench, nodded approvingly.
Nanbara's teamwork was indeed excellent.
The game continued.
Akashi dribbled the ball before even reaching half-court, then with a quick glance, passed it to an empty spot.
"Was it a mistake? There's nobody there!"
A group of onlookers on the second floor discussed.
"But nobody's guarding him! It must have been a slip of the hand!"
Just as the onlookers were talking,
they saw the basketball's trajectory suddenly change, as if it had suddenly turned a 90-degree angle.
The direction the basketball turned was precisely towards Murasakibara Atsushi's position.
As Murasakibara Atsushi reached out to catch the ball,
the basketball flew out of bounds before his hand could react.
Beep...
The referee blew the whistle and announced,
"The ball is out of bounds, Nanbara's ball."
Murasakibara Atsushi walked up to Kuroko, annoyed, and smacked him on the head.
"Hey! What was that all about? Are you kidding me?"
"I'm not joking."
As soon as Kuroko finished speaking, Murasakibara Atsushi shook his head and said,
"Watch out or I'll crush you."
Kuroko replied seriously.
"Please don't crush me."
Aomine Daiki looked at Kuroko with some concern.
Akashi and Midorima remained silent, lost in thought.
Ryu watched all this with great interest.
He clearly saw that his opponent completely ignored Kuroko's existence, as if he didn't exist.
What was this strange feeling? Was he the only one sober while everyone else was drunk?
But then again,
Kuroko's ability didn't seem to be of any use to him.
He had tested it several times before, and each time he could clearly spot Kuroko.
Although he didn't know the reason, it was still a good thing for him.
After entering high school, Kuroko might become his enemy.
That would reduce one threat.
Beep…
The game continued.
In the following period, Kuroko's passes were frequently inaccurate.
Besides making him almost invisible, he was completely useless, giving the opponent many points.
In the last two quarters, due to excessive playing time, his low-impact ability disappeared, and his performance became even more abysmal.
This directly lowered Teiko's scoring efficiency.
This made the assistant coach sitting on Teiko's bench furrow his brow in dissatisfaction.
However, fortunately, Akashi, Aomine, Midorima, and Murasakibara firmly controlled the score.
The game ended.
81 to 50, Teiko won the game by 31 points.
Kuroko left the court with an extremely dejected expression.
He remained silent throughout, his eyes filled with resentment, disappointment, and self-reproach for his incompetence.
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