121 Chapter 121 : VS Yosen High XII - Tatsuya's Explosion

Murasakibara is quite annoyed right now. This is not his first time hoping that basketball is an individual sport so he could get away with moronic teammates like this.

Honestly, what the hell do they think they are doing right now?

While he is an excellent player and has confidence in his defensive range, that doesn't mean he could cover all of Yosen's defensive area, especially the area behind the three-point line. He still needs everyone to cooperate with him and prevent Seirin from making too many three-point shoots. After all, that's why he proposed this crazy idea to cover the entire perimeter area alone during the break before.

"Muro-chin, come here!" He waved his hand toward the second-year shooting guard. After they were close enough, Murasakibara whispered something to his ears. "Take over my role when we are in the offense and be the main scorer. I would stay back and wait to defend their offense."

Tatsuya was stunned for a second before he asked, "Are you sure it would be alright?" After all, he is not that favored by his coach like Murasakibara, so he wouldn't get away from the punishment if he didn't follow the order.

"Don't worry about it." Murasakibara dismissed his concern nonchalantly. "I will talk to Masako-chin later and took the responsibility. Just do your fucking job."

Tatsuya could only let out a wry smile, knowing that when Murasakibara is having a bad mood, his vocabulary would become more colorful. Fortunately enough, it has never caused any big problems with the referees. Maybe they also knew that this was a tournament full of teenagers, so a curse or two wouldn't be avoidable.

"Oh, Muro-chin, one more thing."

Tatsuya turned around when Murasakibara called him again. However, he regretted it quickly as he snapped back his head toward its original direction, trying to avoid the murderous gaze that would definitely send a nightmare to his dream later.

"Go confront that #12, kill your childhood friend, or do anything you want. Just make sure to give them a huge blow so that they can't recover quickly. And do it fast. I am starting to get tired of this game."

Noticing a hint of impatient in his teammate's tone, Tatsuya could only nod slightly, not daring to refuse the order.

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"OOH! What is Murasakibara doing there?!"

"Is this their new strategy?"

"No, Himuro is about to single his defender~"

"Ooh! It is the duel between two of the hottest shooting guards in this tournament!"

"Come on, Furihata-kun!"

Hearing the shouts and the murmurs from outside of the court, Furihata just rolled his eyes in exasperation.

'Two of the hottest shooting guards? Did they just forget about Midorima?'

And true to his thought, there is a green-haired boy sitting in the audience seat who was offended by that remark.

"Hmph.." Midorima huffed annoyedly. "Two hottest shooting guards my ass. They are still far below my level."

Takao who overheard that stiffened his laughter. "Well, nobody cares about that. No matter what is your argument. they are still in the tournament, and we are not. That is the fact you cannot ignore, Shin-chan."

"Shut up, Takao!" Midorima snarked, unhappy at his friend. "And we will pay them back in the winter tournament. Just wait!"

Takao just nodded silently, not willing to continue their little quarrel.

Back to the game, even without the confused and excited exclamations from the outside, all the players on the court could see there is something different with Yosen right now. Instead of going inside like he usually does, now, Murasakibara is the one who is furthest from Seirin's basket, near the half-court line.

'He is going to go against our quick transition.' Furihata widened his eyes in realization. 'He gives up the offense just to kill us in defense. Damn, he is getting bolder.'

However, Furihata didn't have time to think about it, as right now, in front of him, Tatsuya is starting to lean his body forward, ready to speed up and breakthrough.

And right when Tatsuya is driving forward, Furihata stops his momentum by using his body, trying to use his strength to stop Tatsuya's speed forcefully.

"Damn, you are good. But how about this!"

Right when Furihata thinks he managed to stop him, Tatsuya uses Furihata's body as a pivot and spins his own body forward to get away from Furihata's defense. Furihata didn't think too much about it. Even though Tatsuya could get away, the movement is a bit complex and requires more time to do so, enough for Furihata to chase him down and stop him from driving forward.

However, Tatsuya also realized that. So, instead of driving forward, right after he spun his body, he took a quick step back before pulling up a midrange shoot from his spot.

*Splash!*

Nothing but nets!

Furihata could only smile helplessly as he didn't even have time to react before the ball went straight to the hoop. He just realized he underestimated Yosen's shooting guard too much.

"Sorry about that, everyone," Furihata spoke to his teammates. "That is my fault. I got careless and forgot he is an excellent shoot creator. But that wouldn't happen again."

Hyuga nodded a little. "Just make sure you fulfill your words." Furihata nodded, also knowing that it was the most important thing right now.

"Oi, Bastard!" Kagami's voice suddenly registered through Furihata's ears. When he turned around, he could see the seriousness in Kagami's eyes. "Tatsuya is a crafty bastard, far better than you. Be careful not to fall into his trap again."

All the Seirin players stunned for a second, couldn't believe the concerned tone from Kagami.

"Sure, Red. Thanks." Furihata responded immediately before Kagami felt embarrassed due to the stares from the others. Kagami just snorted a little as he turned around, preparing for the next offense.

"What a tsundere…" Hyuga muttered, which received nods of agreement from the others.

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However, before he could think about how to stop Tatsuya in the next offense, Furihata found himself surrounded once again by Fukui and Wei Lu. And not only that, he finally noticed how high their defensive line was.

'Damn! Besides Murasakibara, everyone, even Okumura went outside. They really trust Murasakibara's defensive range that much, huh?'

Because of the double team, Furihata had to give up the ball to his captain who arrived right before he was forced to step back through the half-court line and resulting in the backcourt turnover. However, that doesn't mean Furihata would stay passive in this play.

The moment the ball went from his hand, Furihata swirled around the court, trying to stretch out Yosen's defense. And create some space for his teammates. But suddenly, a voice that no one expected comes from the high post.

"Senpai, here!"

Yeah, the one who asked for the ball is Kuroko. It was quite unexpected, as Kuroko had never demanded to get the ball like this. Usually, he would stay invisible, mingling in the shadow and wait until the right moment to take action and damage the opponent's defense. But right now, seeing the aggressiveness that had never shown from the blue-haired boy, Hyuga had no choice but to believe in him.

"Oh, it is their #11 again!"

"But why did he hold the ball? Is he specialized in direct passing?"

"Stupid! Did you forget about his strange dribble movement in the first quarter?!"

Because Kuroko was playing passively in the second quarter, a lot of people forgot about his new dribble movement that somehow managed to get past Murasakibara twice. And Kuroko punished that ignorance immediately, as right after he got the ball, he vanished instantly, leaving Okumura behind.

"GODDAMNIT!"

"Don't think you can pass through my defense again, Kuro-chin!"

Seeing Murasakibara spread both his arms wide, Kuroko's eyes suddenly moved toward the other direction, trying to find his teammates. And when Furihata appeared in his and Murasakibara's sight, with the combination of his vanishing drive and a slight hesitation move, Kuroko vanished once again, and now, he is about to face the basket without anyone guarding it.

"SHIT!"

Murasakibara cursed himself out loud. To be more precise, he cursed the god-speed reflex that caused him to move his body slightly toward the opposite side the moment his eyes caught Furihata's movement in the corner area. Even though he still couldn't crack how Kuroko's dribble worked, at least this time he knew from where his former teammate escaped.

But he didn't think or even regretting about that too much right now. The moment he noticed Kuroko disappeared, his reflex kicked in, and he turned around and chased Kuroko down immediately. When he saw Kuroko was about to release the ball from his hand, Murasakibara scanned his surrounding pretty quickly, and when he saw a red-haired boy in a Seirin jersey was about to sneak from behind, he knew what Kuroko wanted to do.

"Not today, Kuro-chin!"

In a second, Murasakibara managed to place himself in a position close enough to block Kuroko if he wanted to pass, yet still covered the route between him and Kagami. Abd when the ball finally flies toward the red-haired boy, he doesn't have a hard time shutting him down.

'Tch!'

Kagami gritted his teeth, trying to force his way to go through the hoop. However, he is only 82 kg (181 lbs). Compared to Murasakibara who is about 99 kg (218 lbs), the 17 kg difference between them plays a big role in their strength contest. Now, all of the advantages he got from Kuroko catching Murasakibara off guard suddenly vanished, as he was forced into a post-up situation.

'Damn! How the hell I couldn't move him even for one inch! This is like pushing a wall!'

As Kagami was struggling under the paint, all of the Seirin supporters in the audience seat sighed in disappointment as the offense that Seirin built carefully was stopped by Murasakibara.

"Damn! It is him again!"

"Why the hell was Seirin doing there? Why did they keep sending the ball to Kagami?"

"I know, right?! He is completely frozen by Murasakibara!"

Unfortunately, all the dissatisfied voices couldn't reach Seirin's side, and they could only watch their favorite team struggling against Yosen this time.

When Kagami is about to do something stupid, he finally gets the reinforcement he desperately needs, as from the other side, he can see Furihata cutting from the corner through the sideline.

"RED! HERE!"

Kagami clicked his tongue in annoyance, not happy that he couldn't get through Murasakibara alone. However, when he heard Furihata's shout, he recalled the play before when his teammate used help from the other as a distraction to fool his defender.

'If I want to keep the ball for myself, I need to use that bastard's trick. Tch!'

Even if it bruised his ego, Kagami decided to use Furihata's little trick. From his post-up position, he turned around quickly, making eye contact with Furihata and was about to pass the ball, yet faked it with a pump movement before leaning his body backward, about to pull up a fadeaway shoot.

'Ha! I got you!'

Before he pulled up the shoot though, he kept his eyes on Murasakibara, a bit wary of his monstrous reflex. And when he saw the pink-haired center didn't react fast enough, he grinned widely as he thought inside his head,

'Finally, I got you!'

Unfortunately, he forgot the presence of one person on the court that knows about him the most. And that person is Yosen's shooting guard and his childhood friend, Tatsuya Himuro.

"You are still as predictable as ever, Tiger."

When Kagami's ears caught that, all of the hairs on the back of his neck stood up immediately as he saw what was coming next. Having been playing with Tatsuya since he was a child and experiencing his terrifying defense, even with his eyes closed, Kagami could feel it, when Tatsuya blitzed into his direction like a sprinter who is about to touch the finish line.

Unfortunately, as all of his focus before was on Murasakibara, Kagami didn't anticipate Tatsuya would meddle in the center's defensive area. And because of that, he is not prepared when his childhood friend took off from the floor, and when his hand finally released the ball, he could only watch helplessly as Tatsuya slapped it to the board.

*Slap!*

*Clank!*

"OOOOOH!!!"

"Nice cover, Himuro!"

"Who said Yosen's defense only relies on Murasakibara? Ahaha!"

But the sequence is not over. Tatsuya blocked the ball to the board deliberately, knowing that Murasakibara would catch the rebound easily. And right when he landed on the floor, he turned around immediately while shouting,

"HERE!"

Even though Murasakibara is a lazy bastard, Tatsuya has the absolute trust of the pink-haired center. That's why even though he didn't look for the rebound, he knew the ball would come to his hand again.

And true to his thought, a second later, he already had the ball in his hand, as he lunged forward to Seirin's side.

"SHIT!"

"FAST BREAK!"

"Senpai, delay him!"

Hyuga and Kiyoshi suddenly appeared in front of Yosen's shooting guard, using their bodies as blockades to slow him down. However, when Tatsuya noticed his spot, a small smirk curled from the corner of his mouth.

'This is your shooter's favorite spot, huh? Let me try it.'

And right before he collided with Hyuga or Kiyoshi, Tatsuya stopped his dribbling quickly, surprising the two Seirin players in front of him. But when he is about to pull up the shoot, all of the Seirin players know what he is going to do.

"SHIT! HE IS GOING TO DO A 'FURIHATA SHOOT' AGAINST US!"

"STOP HIM!"

Hyuga and Kiyoshi jumped at the same time, trying to stop the shoot, However, Tatsuya's release speed was faster, and a second later,

*Splash!*

"It goes in!"

"Nice, Himuro!"

"Who would have thought he would pull that up against Seirin?!"

"There is a reason I like that kid!"

"Ahahahaha!"

Furihata shoot. It was a super long-distance shoot, only one step away from the half-court line. It was not like Furihata invented it, considering Midorima did that a lot even when he was still in middle school. But because the green-haired shooter was in a super team, not a lot noticed his super long shoot ability, and when Furihata did that a lot in this tournament, it kinda stick into his name.

And to pull up a 'Furihata shoot' against Furihata's team, it would definitely hurt their fighting spirit more. That was what Tatsuya aimed for since the beginning.

And judging by the sudden depressed state of the Seirin players, he knows he did it very well.

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Author note :

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-Zeta Faes-