Seirin's beach training ground.
Junpei Hyuga stared at Shinji Koganei, who had just attempted a bounce pass on sand, utterly speechless.
"Hey, Koganei… what the heck are you doing? This is the beach. You can't dribble or bounce a pass here!"
Koganei blinked, confused. "But… somehow…"
On the other side
It actually made it over.
Everyone turned to follow his dumbfounded gaze
Only to see Teiko's Akashi Seijūrō subtly shift his body, sidestepping Kise Ryōta's interception as he caught the ball, dropped low, and broke through in one smooth motion!
"...?!"
Seirin's whole team froze.
He…
He actually dribbled?!
"No way…"
Shun Izuki, also a point guard, stared in disbelief as Akashi dribbled across the shifting beach sand like it was a hardwood court.
At that moment
"There's nothing impossible about it, you know~"
From between the two training zones, Momoi Satsuki smiled gently, sipping from a chilled fruit drink through a straw.
"As long as you can use vision ability to capture every solid point beneath your feet, and while moving, your brain instantly analyzes and connects each dribble in advance… it works~"
Hyuga blinked. "Huh?"
"That's Captain Nijimura's ability," Momoi explained.
"And since Akashi's the commander of Teiko, if his first personality has the same field vision and instantaneous processing speed as Nijimura-senpai… then even though Akashi's second personality possesses the Emperor Eye's predictive power— the Emperor Eye only works through direct sight. It's mostly one-on-one…"
"So Nijimura-senpai's training him to expand that— making the Emperor Eye effective in multi-player scenarios."
As Momoi spoke, Akashi—mid-breakthrough—had the ball slip into a patch of loose sand under Aomine's pressure.
The ball didn't bounce back up.
Seirin's players looked at one another. Hyuga, Koganei, and even Izuki couldn't fully grasp what Momoi meant about "personalities," but one thing was obvious
Akashi's technique was insane.
Riko Aida clenched her fists. "Ugh… seriously?!"
With Teiko's elite right beside them as a "comparison group," the gap in level was painfully clear.
It was infuriating.
And even more infuriating
Those two lovebirds just lounging around watching!
Smack!
Riko slammed her whistle to the ground and shouted, "Shigure Akihito! Your juniors are all training seriously, and you're just sitting there watching?!"
Akihito leaned forward, stealing a big sip from Momoi's juice.
"Hey, we just won the championship. I'm still in recovery."
Among Seirin's group, only Riko still had the energy to explode.
The rest, already exhausted by the brutal beach drills, took the chance to breathe out in relief.
Izuki, however, kept pondering Momoi's explanation.
Even if one could visually track every solid patch of sand, the ground kept changing with each movement.
Processing all that information while dribbling…
that level of instantaneous analysis was something he couldn't even imagine doing.
So hard.
Impossible for someone like him.
"…"
If dribbling was out of reach
then maybe the only way was through passing and teamwork.
To read the opponent, move early, and react faster.
That must've been Riko's actual intention behind this training.
Then, during one offensive drill
Kiyoshi Teppei suddenly grabbed the ball one-handed and, barefoot on the sand, decided to go for a dunk.
"Hah!"
He gathered power, jumped
and swung through the air!
Huh?
Missed?
He didn't reach the hoop?!
Kiyoshi crashed face-first into the sand.
Koganei and Hyuga immediately grabbed his legs, pulling him up while scolding,
"What the heck are you doing again?!"
"Eh?" Kiyoshi blinked. "I just saw Murasakibara dunking so easily over there, so I thought—"
Splat!
Hyuga grabbed a handful of sand and shoved it in Kiyoshi's face.
"Your leg just healed! Stop messing around! Riko letting you train with us at all is already generous enough!"
Riko exhaled deeply. "Seriously… every single one of you is giving me a headache!"
Kiyoshi brushed sand off his face. "Yeah, I guess I've been out too long. My body's rusty, but this training— actually feels just right."
But then
a calm voice spoke beside him.
"Senpai, you should still take it easy…"
"Ah… thanks!"
"…"
"…Eh?! Kuroko?! When did you get here?!"
"Just before you fell, senpai," Kuroko replied flatly, though a trace of awkwardness showed in his expression.
"Nijimura-senpai told me to come train with your group."
"Oh, really? Then, welcome!"
Riko's forehead twitched.
"Well, if he's going to be your future teammate, then welcome, sure! But Kiyoshi— shouldn't you at least ask why first?!"
Seeing Riko about to blow a fuse, Kuroko hesitated but decided to tell the truth.
"Nijimura-senpai gave Akashi and me the same training task— beach dribbling. But… although I'm good at observing people, I can't even complete the first step of visual analysis."
"And since my passing ability isn't really needed on that side right now…"
"He told me to train with you guys for a bit instead. Your team's passing tempo is slower, so I can observe things more clearly."
Riko froze.
"Slower… passing… tempo…"
So basically—
He was calling them weak?!
Her rage flared again as she turned toward Nijimura's side.
There, in Teiko's training zone, rapid-fire passes and motion plays erupted like a storm, Nijimura barking orders with lightning speed.
Every second was a whirlwind.
"…"
Forget it.
Fine.
At least now they had Teiko's Phantom Sixth Man as a free training partner— and a future teammate, too.
If anything, that could help build chemistry early.
And even if his "vanishing dribble" didn't work on sand—
just the fact that Nijimura assigned him the same task as Akashi proved it.
Teiko's Phantom Sixth Man, Kuroko Tetsuya
he must be incredible.
Now was the time to see what he could do besides disappear while dribbling.
And soon enough
Kuroko Tetsuya gave them a little taste of Teiko's brand of shock.
On the court.
Seirin's Tsuchida Satoshi nervously swallowed as Kuroko called for the ball.
Teiko's player or not, this guy looked harmless…
but that name alone—"Teiko"—was terrifying.
Alright, fine! Pass it to him!
Whish!
In an instant, Riko felt it
something in the air shifted.
A strange, uncanny sensation rippled through the court.
Something… extraordinary was about to happen.
The ball flew toward Kuroko
but the moment it reached him, his form seemed to blur, fade, and then
vanish completely.
And the ball
appeared right in Kiyoshi Teppei's hands under the hoop!
"Huh?"
"Ah!"
Kiyoshi shot.
Swish! Perfect.
"What the—?! When did the ball?!"
"I don't know!"
"I just know… Kuroko just disappeared! Right in front of us!"
Riko Aida's mouth twitched.
That day at the park, Shigure Akihito had mentioned "misdirection."
So this was how it worked in a team setting?
Not just for one-on-one plays
but even off-ball?
He said his passing wasn't needed, huh…?
You've got to be kidding me.
This is insane!!
END OF CHAPTER
CROWN BEFORE THE MIRACLES
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