Chapter 22 : The Talk About the Generation of Miracles I
"Okay, let's calm down first and analyze our situation, everyone," Riko spoke, trying to de-escalate the tension among her players. When she saw no one is going to interrupt, she turned around to Kuroko again and asked,
"So, Kuroko-kun, can you tell us a bit about your former teammate?" Everyone looked at the blue-haired boy expectantly.
"Sure." He replied with a straight face, unsurprisingly. After pondering for a minute, he raised his head and began to speak,
"Frankly speaking, Midorima-kun is a sniper." He paused for a moment, trying to remember something. "As long as I remember when I played with him, he had never missed even a single shoot during his career. He even managed to break the tournament record for the most three-point made in a single game with twelve last year. I dare to say he is the best shooter I have ever seen."
The explanation leaves his teammates speechless. But it only lasted for a second before a burst of chatter exploded in the gym.
"Never miss a shoot? Are you kidding me?"
"Twelve three-point shots? Is that the record in NBA as well?"
"Yes. Stephen Curry just tied Kobe Bryant's record last February, if I remember."
*(Author note: The setting of this story is in April 2016)*
"And this Midorima was able to tie this record too? In the middle school?"
"As expected from the member of the Generation of Miracles. They are all monsters."
"You cannot say they are on the same level, though. Stephen Curry did that in the NBA, the biggest stage of the basketball competition, and Midorima could only do that in the middle school stage in Japan. The level is way too different."
"But you cannot deny that it was really impressive, though. Especially if Midorima really had the 100% conversion rate."
"Okay, that's enough, all of you!" Riko clapped her hands, once again stopping the conversation among her players. "I know some of you will find it hard to believe, but you can check on the tournament website. It is indeed true he had never missed any three-point shots in his career."
She paused, letting her words sink into her players. She also let Hyuga borrow her phone to check the stats by himself, and when he saw it, he could only gape his mouth in shock.
"This is crazy. What the hell is this series of 100% three-point made? 17 games in three years and he never missed a single shoot? Is he a robot?"
"Yes, that is what I think too. His stats were ridiculous, and yet he was not even the ace of the team. Just look at Daiki Aomine's stats." Hyuga did so, and when he thought he couldn't be more shocked than before, he was proven wrong once again by what he just read.
"Averaging 31.6 points per game, 9.2 rebounds per game, 0.7 assists per game, 1.9 steals per game, 1.1 blocks per game, 83% field goals made, 60% three points made, and 100% free throws made. What the hell? Is this real?" He turned to Kuroko for confirmation.
"That is real." Kuroko nodded solemnly while his eyes gazed around, wandering about something that no one could understand.
"Aomine-kun is what I describe as talent. He has strength, agility, endurance, and even top-notch basketball IQ. But the most dangerous thing about him is his play style. He grew up playing a lot of street basketball, so he has a lot of tricks in his bags. If I could compare him to anyone, he would most likely grow as lethal as Allen Iverson, the Philadelphia 76ers' legend. Honestly, he is the player you would enjoy the most when you are watching yet the worst nightmare you had to face when you play against his team."
"And we have to face both of them if we want to go through the final league, huh? It is impossible." Izuki sighed lifelessly as he gave the phone back to Riko.
"Well, we will have to face this Generation of Miracles sooner or later. Just be glad that only two of them are in the same region with us." Riko shrugged nonchalantly.
"But it is their ace!" One of the players voiced his protest. "The strongest player of the strongest team! How could we be glad for it?" Several of them nodded in agreement. However, all of them shut their mouth suddenly when they heard Furihata say,
"Daiki Aomine is not their strongest player, you know?"
Everyone in the gym snapped their heads toward him that Furihata was scared they would hurt their necks.
"You haven't said anything since the beginning of the discussion, and the moment you speak, you bring a very hot take with you. Care to enlighten us, Furihata-kun?" Riko asked, amused at the reaction of her players.
"Well, not to diminish Aomine's skill, I don't think he was given the title of the ace because he was the strongest. I voiced this suspicion based on my research, so I need Phantom to confirm whether it is true or not." He turned around to Kuroko who nodded silently.
"The biggest reason why he was called their ace is that out of five of them, he was the one who loved basketball the most and had the desire to win the most too. And I am not trying to say that the other lack in that department, because who will have the gut to say the Generation of Miracles didn't love basketball and didn't have the desire to win? But if you heard their weird quirk, you will see why I said this."
He paused for a moment, letting his words sink into the other's head. A moment later, Izuki decided to ask something very important,
"How do you know all of this, Furihata-kun? And don't say research, because with how much you know about them, I think of you more like a stalker right now."
Furihata rolled his eyes as several players snickered at the stalker comment.
"Of course, it is research. But my research started because of curiosity. I mean, they were the strongest team in the middle school, and they would be separated once they graduated, so I tried to find if there is anyone of them that would be suitable for me. I mean, who doesn't want to be their teammate?"
He could see several of them nodded, yet Kuroko frowned for a bit.
"So, what is the result of your research?" Riko asked curiously, a bit impatient to hear the explanation.
"Well, all of them are a bit bastard with a very weird quirk." Riko sweatdropped at the crass comment. "Let's start with Kise, alright? The one we have already familiar with."
Seeing the nods from everyone, Furihata straightened his back and spoke,
"Ryota Kise is probably the most talented person in sports history. Before his second year in middle school, he dabbled in a lot of sports teams and won a lot of trophies in it. Hell, I heard in his first year, he won the MVP award of the football national tournament, and he just started playing football in that year because he was bored."
All of them gulped when they heard Kise's achievement.
"However, in his second year, he found out that Teiko's basketball team was the strongest in the country even without him playing with them, so he decided to try. I heard Aomine destroyed him in his first training session, is that right?"
"Yes, it is true. Until now, Kise-kun has never been able to win a single match against Aomine-kun." Kuroko confirmed his story, scaring the team more. They all have the same thought right now. If they had a hard time stopping Kise, how could they stop Aomine?
"Well, he is the least experienced player compared to his former teammates, so he didn't have that weird quick that I talked about. However, he would always look down on the other players he deemed untalented, as if he speaks, 'I can do it in one night, why would you need one month to master it?'"
All of them nodded, feeling the same after the battle against Kaijo.
"Then, let's go to Aomine. Speaking of talent, I think he is the most talented basketball player in the GoM. You have already heard from the coach why is that and you have already seen his statistics to confirm that, but he had two glaring weaknesses if you haven't noticed yet."
"WHAT?! What is it?!" Now, they all are looking at their phone with such eagerness, trying to find the weakness that Furihata said.
"It is his assist number, right?" Izuki suddenly spoke, gaining the attention of the others.
"That is one of them. He is not an off-the-ball scorer, yet the number of assists he produced was way too low. The only conclusion I had in my mind is that he is a ball hogger. Honestly, he reminds me of Kagami in our first scrimmage."
"OI!"
The first year snickered a bit while Kagami growled in annoyance. However, they stop bickering when Izuki spoke,
"But that is not a weakness that we could exploit easily, you know. I mean, of course, he didn't pass the ball. But he had already proven he can score. And even if we can stop him, Riko said that they recruited national-level players into their team, so they can just step up easily."
Furihata nodded in agreement.
"You are right, Senpai. But if you look closely at the stats, you will find his minutes playing is getting reduced every game they played." He looked at the phone closely and widened his eyes in surprise.
"You are right!"
"Correct me if I am wrong, Phantom. But Aomine only played the first half, and when he blew up the opponents, he walked out of the game because he felt… Bored?" Furihata tilted his head, asking for confirmation.
"Once again, you are correct, Furihata-san." Kuroko nodded his head.
Now, not only Izuki, everyone else is looking at him in pure awe, couldn't believe how observant their first-year point guard is.
"Well.." He spoke again, ignoring the disturbing awe stares from his teammates, "If I am correct, he has this attitude that could be a very big problem if only he was not in Teiko. I mean, he could just walk out of the game because he knew that his teammates were as capable as him, so he didn't need to worry about a comeback. The question is, could he maintain this attitude in high school, where his teammates would be different? Can he trust his teammates?"
His teammates nodded, understanding his point.
"I see why you call it his weakness. If Aomnie is bored with us, it only means we are far weaker than him. But that doesn't mean we couldn't make a comeback against his teammates now. It is risky because his team now is also filled with national-level players and I would probably feel disgusted with myself after the game. But maybe it could work." Hyuga spoke after thinking about what Furihata said.
"Hey, hey! What is this about? I would beat him just like Kise!" Kagami suddenly spoke, causing Furihata to roll his eyes in exasperation.
"You know, I don't hate arrogance. But I hate the one who couldn't back it up with his ability."
"HAAH?! YOU SAID SOMETHING, BASTARD?!" Kagami grabbed his collar while glaring angrily at him.
However, like their first interaction, Furihata didn't bulge even for a second. Instead, he glares back at Kagami.
"If it is not clear to you, Red, I will say it again. You don't the ability to back up all your claim that you would beat this Generation of Miracles. I mean, how many times has Kise managed to get away from your guard and scored against you? And the only time you stop him was when we triple-teamed against him, and you took the chance to sneak from behind. Kise is the weakest out of the five, so I am sorry if I doubt you can defeat him."
"YOU!" Kagami's face is now as red as his hair, boiled in anger. Then, he turned around to have a basketball and throw it to Furihata.
"You, me. One-on-one right now. We will see who is all talk but no bite."
"ENOUGH, BOTH OF YOU!" Riko shouted, now glaring at Furihata and Kagami. Not only her, Hyuga also has the same expression, ready to scold the first-year troublemakers. Everyone else is also looking at them in an uncomfortable manner, yet still ready to separate them if things get escalated.
"This is a discussion session. Keep your emotion in check, Kagami-kun. You will have the chance to play against him tomorrow. And Furihata-kun, please restrain your crass comment that could cause Kagami's temper to flare up again."
"Sure,"
Furihata shrugged nonchalantly as if nothing happened. On the other hand, Kagami clicked his tongue in annoyance but still didn't do anything rash. Riko just sighed in relief, because if she was honest with herself, she didn't know how to solve the tension. She was just glad that Furihata is not easily provoked by Kagami. If only he wouldn't provoke the red-hair in every chance, it would be perfect.
"Okay, we will continue the discussion. Furihata-kun, you have said all of your opinion about Aomine, yet I still couldn't fathom why you disagreed with calling him the strongest out of the Generation of Miracles. Care to explain?"
"Well, it is because of his three other teammates, basically. Besides their basketball skills, have you ever heard all of their weird quirks?"
Seeing the blank and confused expression he received from his teammates, Furihata sighed tiredly and muttered,
"Oh, boy.. This would take a very long time."
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Author note:
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