Kuroko: Mahoraga - Chapter 37: The Farce Is Over! (Patreon)

The atmosphere on Kawari’s bench was excellent during the timeout.

With Masato leading the way, they had put together a strong run.

That success had already made some of the players start looking down on Fujii.

So this was all a so-called powerhouse had to offer?

Masato noticed what they were thinking.

“Don’t underestimate them. Once the timeout ends, they’ll probably be much harder to deal with,” he warned.

He knew Fujii had simply started slowly.

Their point guard had also been foolish enough to keep challenging Masato instead of running the team’s offense properly.

Even so, Masato could tell that Fujii’s players were individually better than his own teammates.

Everyone nodded at his warning.

But it was obvious that most of them did not really take it to heart.

On the other side, the mood on Fujii’s bench was much more serious.

The moment the players came off the court, their coach tore into them.

The point guard took the worst of it. He had stubbornly insisted on going one-on-one with Masato and gotten completely crushed.

“I told you before the game not to go head-to-head with their ace. Why didn’t you listen?”

“...”

The point guard kept his head down through the entire scolding.

Only after venting his frustration did the coach finally begin laying out the next set of tactics.

...

The timeout ended quickly.

When the teams returned to the floor, Fujii looked completely different.

The careless, almost frivolous attitude from the opening minutes was gone.

Now the entire team carried itself with complete seriousness.

Masato knew Fujii was about to change the way it played.

The difference became obvious on the very first possession.

Fujii’s point guard had the ball again, but this time he did not stubbornly try to force a matchup.

The instant he saw Masato closing in, he passed to a teammate.

He had no intention of accepting another one-on-one challenge.

Compared with his earlier arrogance, he looked like a different person.

After giving up the ball, he immediately started moving off it, trying to pull Masato out of position.

The rest of Fujii moved with him.

They worked like interlocking gears. Move one piece, and the entire machine followed.

The ball never stopped moving either.

Whoever received it rarely took more than three dribbles before passing again.

After several quick exchanges, Kawari’s defense fell behind the action and left an opening.

Fujii took advantage immediately and scored.

There was no celebration afterward.

Every player turned and sprinted back on defense.

The team’s discipline was completely different from what it had shown before the timeout.

Fujii played classic team basketball.

The school had not produced many star players over the years, yet its teams had remained consistently strong.

That strength came from having players who were all above average individually and an extremely well-developed sense of teamwork.

This possession finally made Kawari’s players feel the pressure as well.

They stopped looking down on Fujii the way they had during the timeout.

The spectators also responded enthusiastically to Fujii’s excellent ball movement.

“See? Fujii’s a powerhouse for a reason!”

“Yeah. Looking at them now, this game really could go either way!”

“That’s more like it. This is how Fujii plays!”

“Nice!”

“...”

On the sideline, the Fujii coach watched his team execute and listened to the crowd’s reaction.

He folded his arms, and a smile finally returned to his face.

“No need to rush. We’re only getting started.”

...

Fujii quickly got back on defense, but Masato remained calm.

He turned to receive the inbound pass and began bringing the ball up while directing his teammates into position.

After surveying the floor, his interest grew.

Fujii’s defensive scheme had changed too.

One defender was directly assigned to him, while another nearby player was clearly ready to slide over and form a double team.

Using extra defenders to contain Masato was nothing new.

Other teams had tried it before, and usually all it did was leave one of his teammates open.

This time, though, Masato sensed something different.

Fujii’s positioning was too deliberate.

Combined with how well they coordinated with one another, there had to be another layer to the scheme.

There was only one way to find out exactly what it was.

Masato attacked without hesitation, his stripped-down style appearing once again.

One simple dribble move knocked his primary defender out of position.

A second move did the same to the help defender rotating over.

The two looked almost like rag dolls in front of him.

Masato could have driven straight to the rim for an easy two points.

Instead, he passed to the teammate left open by the help defense.

The moment his teammate caught the ball, a Fujii player rotated over immediately.

That same gear-like precision appeared on the defensive end.

Kawari’s player was pressured into a mistake and lost the ball.

Fujii immediately ran the other way.

Several fast passes later, they finished the break.

Masato was not frustrated.

If anything, he found himself impressed by Fujii’s coordination.

Taken individually, none of them were top-class players.

Together, however, they were able to produce first-rate basketball.

It was a perfect display of the appeal of team play.

At the same time, Masato understood exactly what Fujii was trying to do.

They were not afraid of him passing the ball.

The moment one of his teammates received it, Fujii would hit that player with intense pressure.

And the first attempt had already shown that Kawari’s players could not handle that level of pressure.

If Masato chose to keep the ball and attack by himself instead, that was exactly what Fujii wanted.

One person’s stamina was limited, no matter how strong he was.

Eventually, Masato would tire.

Five against one. The five were supposed to have the advantage.

Once he saw through the plan, the corner of Masato’s mouth lifted.

It had been a while since he had played a game that actually interested him.

Fujii had finally managed to make this one entertaining.

...

Kawari attacked again, and Fujii stayed with the same scheme.

The player guarding Masato had recovered some of his confidence.

Looking at him, the boy could not resist speaking again.

“I’ll admit you’re strong.”

“But basketball is a team sport. You might put up good numbers, but your team still can’t win!”

Masato felt nothing in response to such weak trash talk.

But he knew that if an annoying little pest kept making noise, the best solution was to crush it in one shot.

[Adaptation] activated immediately.

Masato was not going to win by himself.

He was going to drag his teammates forward and crush Fujii together with them.

This time, he did not even bother with a fake.

He drove straight into his defender and used his superior core strength to initiate contact.

One collision was enough to send the other player stumbling off balance.

Masato stormed into the paint and launched himself directly at the center rotating over to help.

“BOOM!”

He hammered the ball through the rim over the defender.

The poster dunk ignited the arena once again.

Even though Fujii had prepared for Masato’s aggression, the play still shook them.

The Fujii coach clicked his tongue on the sideline.

“He really is strong. But how long can you keep that up?”

...

From there, the game continued in the same general rhythm.

At first glance, both teams appeared to be trading blows.

In reality, Masato remained in control of the tempo.

He was simply too dominant.

Fujii could not stop him on offense.

And when Fujii had the ball, every player had to move carefully for fear that Masato would cut off the possession.

The atmosphere inside the arena grew hotter and hotter as the quarter went on.

Before long, only a little time remained in the first.

Fujii attacked again.

Their coordination was still precise.

After a long sequence of passes, they finally created what looked like a clean lane for a layup.

This time, however, something changed.

Masato had been standing beyond the three-point line.

Yet it was as though he had already seen the entire play unfold.

He moved a split second early, cut into the paint, and exploded upward.

“SMACK!”

The sound of the ball being pinned against the backboard echoed through the arena.

The crowd erupted.

Masato had given them one highlight after another throughout the entire quarter, and many fans could barely stop cheering.

The Fujii coach’s expression changed instantly.

A bad feeling rose inside him.

At the same moment, the horn sounded to end the first quarter.

Masato landed without even looking at the player he had sent crashing to the floor.

He simply turned and walked away.

“The farce is over.”