Seeing this, Riko Aida immediately called a timeout.
She had to rearrange their tactics.
Normally, their strategy should have been enough to carry them through the entire game.
But no one had expected Ryota Kise's sudden outburst to completely disrupt both their rhythm and their game plan!
Before this, Ryota Kise had been able to [copy] Daiki Aomine, and they had prepared a counter for that.
They had even expanded on it. Even if Ryota Kise [copied] the skills of the other members of the Generation of Miracles, they had tactics ready to suppress him.
But after all their planning, they had never imagined that Ryota Kise could actually [copy] Miyamoto Tokima's moves!
It had completely caught them off guard!
After both teams left the court, Riko Aida did something rare and apologized first.
"Sorry, everyone. My information was wrong..."
Junpei Hyuga quickly waved his hands.
"Riko, this isn't your fault. None of us expected Kise to be able to [copy] the [Magic Cube]."
Teppei Kiyoshi nodded in agreement.
"That's true. Honestly, I didn't expect it either. Miyamoto Tokima's skills are so outrageous that I never even thought in that direction."
"But right now, he really has caught us off guard."
"Our top priority is to come up with a countermeasure."
Riko Aida nodded and fell into thought. A moment later, she said,
"So far, Kise has only shown two of the [Magic Cube]'s skills."
"One is [Iron Wall], and the other is [Instant Strike]."
"As for the [Magic Cube]'s other skills... to be honest, I'm not very sure."
Then Riko Aida started looking around.
"Kuroko."
Kuroko raised a hand.
"I'm here."
Riko Aida quickly looked toward Tetsuya Kuroko and asked,
"Kuroko, do you know what other skills the [Magic Cube] has?"
Tetsuya Kuroko thought for a moment, then said,
"Actually, I don't think we need to get stuck on that."
"Even now, I'm still not entirely sure how many skills Miyamoto has."
"And I suspect Kise hasn't fully figured out all of Miyamoto's skills either."
"But among the skills I'm familiar with, there are three that Miyamoto still uses now."
"They are [Illusion], [Pendulum], and [Eye of Truth]."
At this point, Tetsuya Kuroko thought for another moment before continuing.
"Back in middle school, when Miyamoto played against Fukuyama Middle School, he also used a move called [Speed Bump]."
"Those are the only four I know right now."
After that, Tetsuya Kuroko explained the specific uses of all four skills to everyone.
Once they heard him out, everyone sank into thought.
Right now, they were not just facing Ryota Kise. They were facing a weakened version of Miyamoto Tokima!
They could not afford to let their guard down.
While everyone was still thinking, the referee blew the whistle.
"Timeout over. Both teams, back on the court!"
On Kaijō's side, Ryota Kise had just stood up when the referee blew the whistle again.
"Beep! Seirin High School requests a timeout!"
Ryota Kise froze.
Two timeouts in a row?!
That was right. Seirin High School had called two consecutive timeouts.
All so they could discuss how to deal with this.
There was no helping it. Miyamoto Tokima's name alone carried tremendous pressure.
Even against a pirated version of Miyamoto Tokima, no one on Seirin dared to be careless.
This was the National Tournament. One loss, and the whole team would be sent home.
They had no room to relax!
The Seirin players discussed things again, and they finally finished just as the timeout was about to end.
"Beep! Timeout over. Both teams, back on the court!"
The Seirin players put their hands together, shouted in unison, and returned to the court.
As they went back on, Riko Aida did not forget to call out to them.
"Do your best!"
Everyone nodded and stepped onto the court again!
Of course, Seirin had made changes too.
First, Shun Izuki, Seirin's eyes and, in a sense, its engine, had been taken off to rest.
Tatsuya Himuro would serve as point guard, while Tetsuya Kuroko would play small forward.
Kaijō also made changes. Their two substitutes came off, and Yukio Kasamatsu and Mitsuhiro Hayakawa returned to the court.
Kaijō High School's starting lineup was together once again.
The two sides looked at each other, and sparks seemed to flash where their gazes met.
Possession changed.
Seirin's ball.
With Shun Izuki off the court, Tatsuya Himuro had become the team's eyes.
When he received Teppei Kiyoshi's pass, Tatsuya Himuro still looked a little dazed.
He dribbled the ball, shook his head helplessly, and joked,
"I never thought I'd end up standing at point guard one day."
Teppei Kiyoshi heard Tatsuya Himuro muttering to himself, so he smiled and said,
"Actually, if you don't want to play point guard, I can do it."
"After all, I played point guard a few times in middle school."
Tatsuya Himuro advanced the ball while looking at him in surprise.
"I didn't know you had that kind of history."
Teppei Kiyoshi smiled.
"Yeah. But judging by your expression, I guess..."
Teppei Kiyoshi thought Tatsuya Himuro was not going to let him play point guard, so he was about to move into position.
But what he did not expect was...
Tatsuya Himuro really did want him to play it!!!
Tatsuya Himuro cut Teppei Kiyoshi off, passed him the ball, and said with a smile,
"Kiyoshi, I'll leave point guard to you. I believe in you."
After saying that, Tatsuya Himuro ran forward. Judging from his direction, he seemed to be heading toward the paint...
Teppei Kiyoshi stared blankly at the ball in his hands and froze on the spot.
No way, man!
You're going to play center, and I'm going to play guard???
I'm going to be exhausted playing both center and point guard!
This sudden change did not just leave Teppei Kiyoshi stunned. It also bewildered everyone on both Seirin and Kaijō.
Taiga Kagami looked completely confused and could not make sense of it.
"Why is Kiyoshi-senpai playing point guard? Can he really do it?"
Smack!!!
"Ah!"
Taiga Kagami cried out in pain and covered his head. Beside him, Junpei Hyuga, who had ambushed him with a hit, shook out his hand and said,
"Don't question your senpai's decision! Kiyoshi played point guard before!"
Kaijō was just as confused.
Ryota Kise watched Teppei Kiyoshi dribble the ball forward, full of doubt.
'Can he even play point guard? This isn't going to be another brute force style like Murasakibaracchi's, is it?'
Ryota Kise looked at Teppei Kiyoshi with a judgmental gaze.
After all, he had heard about Atsushi Murasakibara's brute force point guard style!
Yukio Kasamatsu also looked at him with a hint of suspicion. After all, a center suddenly playing point guard was a pretty big leap.
This was not a novel. How could there be so many people who could play from point guard all the way to center?
...
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