What followed next was a spectacle no one expected.
Kuroko Tetsuya moved like a phantom across the court, continuously redirecting his teammates' passes midair with perfect timing.
Coach Aida Riko's whistle dropped from her mouth without her even realizing it.
He's using his low presence as a pivot for the team's passing flow?!
And his contact with the ball—barely a fraction of a second!
So brief that…
…it further diminished his already faint presence.
Misdirection!
By manipulating perception—diverting attention away from himself and toward the ball or other players—he wasn't merely low in presence.
Rather, he was deliberately erasing himself from people's awareness.
Aida Riko: "..."
To come up with such an ability, and to apply it so perfectly in passing
"Incredible!"
The Seirin players were stunned. Except for Kiyoshi and Hyūga, who had once witnessed his "vanishing drive," everyone stared wide-eyed.
Before them was a basketball style they had never even imagined—
as if a new world had opened before their eyes.
"So this is the basketball of Teiko's Phantom Sixth Man…!?"
That title—Phantom Sixth Man—suddenly made sense.
They had thought it was just a strange, exaggerated nickname, but now, witnessing the invisible playmaker who refined his passing through concealment,
everyone could only think
That name fits him perfectly. Amazing!
"Ah!"
Damn it!
Izuki Shun was so focused on Kuroko's passes that he lost track of the man behind him—Koganei!
Receiving the pass from Kuroko, Koganei put the ball up with a look of wonder, sinking the shot before looking around in confusion.
"Huh? Where'd he go?"
"What?!"
"I can't believe it! Even Koganei scored that easily!"
Mitobe Rinnosuke, usually silent, felt his concentration breaking apart.
That Phantom Sixth Man on the other side—his coordination completely disrupted Seirin's rhythm.
A pass
"Wait!" Hyūga Junpei shouted.
Mitobe's pass was suddenly intercepted by none other than Kuroko, who seemed to appear out of thin air.
Kuroko then calmly passed to Tsuchida Atsushi, and after catching up, received the ball right back—forming a seamless relay centered entirely around himself.
"Kuroko's got the ball!"
"Layup!"
"That one's in"
"Eh?"
To everyone's shock, the layup bounced off the rim.
The miss was so ordinary, yet compared to the brilliance he'd shown earlier, it was even more startling.
All of Seirin froze in disbelief.
From afar
came Shigure Akihito's unrestrained laughter.
And beside Coach Aida Riko, who hadn't noticed when he arrived—stood Nijimura Shuzo, calling out in a firm tone:
"Tetsuya. Tonight's layup practice—three hundred shots."
"And…"
"During beach training—don't use misdirection."
For a moment, Kuroko froze, as though transported back to his first or second year of middle school. His posture stiffened.
"Yes, sir."
Riko: "?"
Hey—wait a second…
Why are you giving orders here?!
I'm the coach of Seirin!
But when she turned to face Nijimura
the 188cm frame of honed muscle and that piercing, narrow gaze radiating silent authority
the fiery confidence she'd shown toward Shigure earlier completely vanished.
She shut up immediately.
To unfamiliar people, Nijimura could be downright intimidating
the kind of cold, sharp look that screamed "What are you staring at?"—just like when Shigure had first met him.
Still, there was a clear difference—male or female, Nijimura's tone remained steady but commanding.
"Tetsuya's ability makes passing drills too easy. It defeats the purpose of the training.
Let him practice standard passing sequences."
"While you're at it, he should start adapting his vision to the beach-dribble drills."
"Ah?"
"Oh…"
Riko nodded weakly.
Just like that—her authority was completely taken over.
"Shigure."
"Hm?"
"You take Kuroko for now. Once the other group's finished, I'll send Haizaki over too.
He'll be a future teammate of his anyway. And—don't push the intensity too far."
"Got it~ Leave it to me!"
Shigure Akihito stood up, bouncing lightly on the sand.
And thus
Seirin's nightmare truly began.
Because of Kuroko Tetsuya's arrival
the ripples spread,
the exhaustion deepened,
and the pain… only intensified.
At first, everyone expected that Shigure's presence would raise the training intensity—but since their goal was the Winter Cup, that much was inevitable.
This camp was not just another practice—it was pure strength-building.
If it's hard… so be it!
But the moment Shigure Akihito joined in, under the command of Teiko's former vice-captain, even the very first passing drill felt like a completely different beast.
One side was on constant offense
the other, pure defense.
It began with full-court pressure: the passer had to hold and deliver the ball accurately,
while the receiver constantly moved without the ball, shaking off defenders to complete the pass.
The real problem?
This was all happening on sand.
And one of the defenders was
Shigure Akihito.
And so
for a very long time, the entire beach echoed with the same relentless rhythm
Paah!
Intercepted!
"Next!"
Paah!
Intercepted again!
"Next!"
"Next one—let's go!"
END OF CHAPTER
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