Soon, the final match of the preliminaries arrived.
Teikō Middle School faced Nambara.
Shuzo Nijimura led Miyamoto Tokima and the others onto the court.
Tetsuya Kuroko, now part of the team, was extremely nervous, his whole body trembling slightly.
"Kuroko, don't be nervous. Just relax,"
Seijuro Akashi said after noticing his discomfort.
Tetsuya Kuroko nodded blankly, but Akashi's words did nothing to ease his tension.
Miyamoto Tokima glanced at Kuroko from the corner of his eye and said to the assistant coach,
"Coach, let Tetsuya start."
The assistant coach thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Alright. I understand."
After changing, the Teikō players entered the court together.
The gym was already packed. Even though everyone knew Teikō would almost certainly win this final preliminary match, the audience still wanted to see Teikō's last game.
"They're here—Teikō."
"Maybe… Teikō really has a chance to win it all this year."
"Hard to say. There are still plenty of strong teams."
"I'm already looking forward to seeing Teikō at the national tournament."
As Tetsuya Kuroko stepped onto the court and looked up at the sea of spectators, his already-frayed nerves tightened even more. Even his steps became unsteady.
Then the coach's announcement pushed his anxiety to its limit.
"Kuroko, you'll start in place of Miyamoto."
Cold sweat instantly broke out on Kuroko's face, and his entire body visibly stiffened.
After warm-ups, both teams' starting lineups took the court.
Nambara's players frowned when they saw only four Teikō players step out.
Nambara's captain even raised his hand to signal the referee.
"Referee, Teikō only has four players on the court. Isn't Miyamoto Tokima playing?"
At the same time, Nambara's players cast wary glances toward Miyamoto Tokima on the sidelines. His strength clearly made them uneasy.
The spectators also voiced their confusion.
"Yeah, isn't Miyamoto Tokima playing?"
"Huh? Miyamoto isn't on? I came just for him."
"What's going on? Is Teikō really only sending out four players?"
Only then did the referee take a closer look at Teikō's lineup. After confirming, he asked,
"Right… why are there only four of you on the court?"
Seijuro Akashi smiled gently.
"Referee, we have five players."
That statement left both Nambara's players and the referee completely dumbfounded. They clearly only saw four people.
Tetsuya Kuroko raised his hand shakily. Because he was so nervous, his voice stuttered slightly.
"I… I'm here…"
Nambara's players followed the sound and finally noticed him.
"Hey, hey, when did he get on the court?"
"I don't know—I didn't see him at all."
"He's really replacing Miyamoto Tokima as a starter?"
It wasn't just Nambara; the spectators were equally baffled.
"Was he there the whole time? Why don't I remember him?"
"Why does he get to replace Miyamoto Tokima as a starter?"
"Can he even play basketball?"
The murmurs quickly grew noisy.
The referee snapped out of his shock, gathered both teams, exchanged the usual pre-game greetings, and prepared for the jump ball.
As they lined up, Daiki Aomine turned and tried to comfort Kuroko.
"Tetsu, don't be nervous. It's just—"
Mid-sentence, Aomine glanced at Kuroko and couldn't help complaining,
"This is bad. You look like a newborn deer—you can barely stand."
Indeed, Kuroko was so nervous he could hardly keep his balance.
The referee tossed the ball high into the air.
Nambara's center jumped with all his strength, but still failed to beat Atsushi Murasakibara at the tip.
The ball was cleanly tapped into Seijuro Akashi's hands.
As Akashi dribbled past half court, he spoke reassuringly,
"Don't be nervous, Kuroko. Take it slow—"
Before he could finish, a loud thud sounded behind him.
Akashi turned around to see Tetsuya Kuroko sprawled on the floor.
All of Teikō froze, momentarily stunned.
Kuroko got back up on his own and said,
"Sorry. I tripped. I'm fine."
That was what he said, but the nosebleed streaming down his face told a different story.
Seijuro Akashi shook his head.
"No. You definitely don't look fine."
With no other choice, the assistant coach called a timeout and had Kuroko come off the court to stop the bleeding.
Atsushi Murasakibara muttered,
"That's unbelievable."
Daiki Aomine watched with concern.
"Tetsu…"
Shintaro Midorima commented calmly,
"I didn't expect him to be subbed out in the first second."
Seijuro Akashi replied helplessly,
"That really was unexpected."
The assistant coach sighed and turned to Miyamoto Tokima.
"No choice. Tokima, you're going in."
Miyamoto Tokima shook his head. Against an opponent like Nambara, he saw no need to step onto the court.
"Coach, let Haizaki go in first. We'll sub Kuroko back in once the bleeding stops."
The assistant coach nodded and called out,
"Haizaki, you're in."
Because of Miyamoto Tokima, Shogo Haizaki hadn't missed a single match, and rarely missed practice either.
Haizaki stood up, licked his lips, and nodded.
The game resumed, with Teikō in possession.
From that point on, the match completely fell into Teikō's rhythm: Atsushi Murasakibara dominating the paint, Daiki Aomine tearing apart the defense, Shogo Haizaki stealing and scoring, Shintaro Midorima sinking precise three-pointers, and Seijuro Akashi orchestrating everything with perfect passes.
Nambara had no way to respond. The score quickly became one-sided.
"As expected, Nambara can't compete with Teikō at all."
"Teikō is just too strong. No one can stop them."
The spectators sighed in awe at Teikō's overwhelming strength.
Seeing that the game was nearly decided, the coach asked Kuroko,
"Kuroko, has the nosebleed stopped?"
Kuroko nodded.
"It has."
The assistant coach said,
"Good. You'll sub in for Haizaki in a moment."
Kuroko nodded, preparing to return to the court.
After the ball went out of bounds, Teikō made the substitution, with Tetsuya Kuroko replacing Shogo Haizaki.
While he was on the bench, Miyamoto Tokima had given Kuroko plenty of guidance, and his nerves had finally settled.
He stepped onto the court with firm resolve, ready to contribute to the team.
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / GhostParser