Kuroko: Mahoraga - Chapter 62: The Opponent Is Set. Teiko! (Patreon)

Once the National Tournament began, the schedule became much more relaxed than it had been during the qualifiers.

After all, there were only 32 teams left.

That had one major advantage. The players had plenty of time to rest and prepare tactically between games.

Coach Nakamura had been called away by the tournament organizers precisely so they could brief him on matters like that.

The next round of opponents would be decided by another draw after every first-round game in Groups A and B had been completed.

That would not happen for another three days.

This draw also did not require nearly as many people to attend as the opening ceremony.

The coach or captain alone was enough.

When Nakamura finally arrived at the restaurant, he explained the arrangement to everyone.

“You all played well today. Get some proper rest over the next few days.” The moment he sat down, Coach Nakamura hurriedly took a bite of food.

He had spent plenty of time shouting and cheering from the sideline during the game.

That kind of thing took a surprising amount out of a middle-aged man, and his stomach had been growling for ages.

While eating, he looked toward Masato. “What do you think, Masa? Want to go to the draw this time?”

“I'll pass. You go, Coach. I can use the time to polish a few technical details.” Masato shook his head.

He was not someone who enjoyed putting himself in the spotlight.

His appearance at the opening ceremony had been specifically arranged by the tournament organizers, and every team had done the same thing.

This time, most schools would probably just send their coach.

The players were better off saving their energy for the games themselves.

Masaki Nakamura understood that too and nodded. “Fair enough. Then we'll wait and see who we get in three days.”

Once the players realized the coach would be drawing for them, they immediately started giving him a hard time.

“Coach, time to test your luck!”

“Yeah! Get us a good draw!”

“Coach, I'll pray for you.”

“...”

Nakamura did feel some pressure. Group A still contained one absolute monster.

But he kept a calm expression on his face.

“Your coach is famous for his good luck.” Nakamura grinned confidently. “Relax and watch me work.”

Of course, even he had no idea whether he was actually lucky.

Forget the past. Just looking at this year, his career luck had certainly been incredible.

How else could a genius like Masato have fallen straight into his lap?

...

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

For the Kawari players, those days felt especially quick.

School was already on a long break, so none of them had to worry about classes.

They still reported to the Basketball Club every day, but training had been light.

Most sessions amounted to showing up, warming up, going through a few tactical details with the team, and then heading home.

Every now and then, a few female students even returned to school specifically to watch Masato practice.

Everyone on the team knew exactly why those girls were there.

But for a group of teenage boys, merely having girls around was enough to put them in a good mood.

Little changes like that made it obvious just how much the Basketball Club had transformed.

The barren days from before were gone.

In this kind of atmosphere, everyone was having the time of their lives.

Of course, some players were more disciplined than others.

Ishida really had changed, just as he promised.

Every day, he followed the customized training plan Masato had put together for him.

So far, he was sticking to it surprisingly well.

That matchup with Eikichi Nebuya really had helped him grow.

...

Today's practice had ended a while ago, but nobody had left.

Everyone was waiting for Coach Nakamura to return with the draw result.

Naturally, speculation started spreading around the gym.

“Hopefully Coach Nakamura's luck is decent this time.”

“Relax. Teiko's really the only giant shark in Group A.”

“There are more than ten teams left. The odds of drawing Teiko aren't that high.”

“...”

Off to the side, Ishida and Kenji passed a ball back and forth.

Over the past few days, Ishida had completely abandoned his usual lazy attitude.

His best friend was still not used to it.

Kenji watched Ishida square up for another serious jumper and narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“Are you really Ishida? You haven't even gone over there to gossip about the draw. Did getting beaten by Butai seriously change you that much? This is unbelievable.”

Ishida did not even look at him.

He released the shot cleanly and only spoke after the ball left his hands.

“Kenji, sometimes the difference between a boy and a man happens in a single moment. I just realized what I need to do. I have to make sure I don't drag the team down in the games ahead.”

Kenji stared at him with a strange expression.

He looked Ishida up and down before asking with complete seriousness, “You're copying Captain, aren't you?”

Ishida visibly froze.

His whole body became a little awkward.

“What are you talking about? I've just had a realization.” He shook his head and tried to maintain the serious act.

Kenji saw straight through him.

“Stop copying him. You can't imitate Captain's presence, and Captain wouldn't say something that pretentious anyway.”

Kenji was not saying it only because he had caught Ishida in the act.

Masato's influence on the team had simply become too strong lately.

Ishida was far from the only player who had started unconsciously imitating him.

The problem was that none of them could reproduce Masato's presence.

Most of the attempts only ended up looking ridiculous.

It had created more than a few jokes around the team.

Once Kenji exposed him, Ishida finally dropped the act.

“You're focusing on the wrong thing. Just tell me whether I'm right.”

His expression turned serious again.

“Kawari's results this year have made a lot of people think we're some truly powerful team, but that's not really true. The one who's strong is Masa.”

Ishida frowned.

“If you take Masa away, how different are we from the Kawari teams of previous years? We've played a few more games and seen a little more of the world. That's it.”

Kenji gradually stopped joking.

“You said my change these past few days was unbelievable, but I think I realized things too late,” Ishida continued. “If I'd started training harder with Captain from the beginning, maybe I wouldn't have looked so useless against an Uncrowned King.”

“I just don't want to hold Masa back anymore.”

After saying that, Ishida gave Kenji a serious look and fell silent.

He picked up the ball and returned to training.

...

They did not have to wait much longer.

Coach Nakamura returned before the sky had fully darkened.

The moment he entered the gym, every player looked toward him.

Nakamura did not greet anyone.

His face was calm enough that nobody could read a thing from it, but there was still something strange about the atmosphere around him.

Once the team had gathered, Masaki Nakamura finally took a deep breath.

His expression turned grave.

“We drew Teiko.”

The few quiet sounds still lingering around the gym disappeared immediately.

For a moment, the building fell into complete silence.

Every player stood there in a daze.

Nakamura sighed inwardly at the sight.

He still remembered the instant the result had appeared during the draw.

His hands and feet had gone cold.

Out of more than ten teams, they had somehow landed on Teiko.

He had never expected his luck to be this terrible.

Maybe all of the good fortune from earlier in the year really had been used up.

Nakamura instinctively looked toward Masato.

And there he was, wearing the same calm expression as always, standing in stark contrast to everyone around him.