Kuroko’s Basketball: Before Generation Miracles, I Already Crowned

"A... a putback dunk?!"

"That was insane!"

"I thought No. 13's dunk was already over the top, but this No. 12 guy..."

"Is there no limit to how ridiculous this gets?!"

"Number 12... who the heck is this guy?! Even if he's just a freshman, someone with that kind of ability, we should've heard about him by now."

Where did Teiko Middle School even find this kind of monster?

For a moment, the players from Shirotani Middle School just stood frozen in place.

Shigure Akihito's explosive putback dunk, triggered from a monkey-step jump, had ignited a heated uproar among their team.

"It's fine, it's fine."

"He probably just jumps high. No need to panic. Next time, just make sure to use body contact. Don't let him take off so easily."

The first to react was Shirotani's captain. Clapping his hands loudly to rally the team, he reminded them not to be shaken.

His words seemed to snap the players out of their daze.

Yeah.

He's just a first-year!

His skills are probably nothing special, he just has hops, right?

Meanwhile, on the other end, Shuzou Nijimura had a more subtle reaction.

The putback dunk didn't surprise him so much as it salvaged what he saw as a wasted assist, the result of Shinji Kurokami's frozen hesitation near the rim.

He had already seen Akihito's vertical prowess plenty of times over the past two weeks. At this point, it wasn't shocking.

At most, it just earned a passing thought: This guy really can jump.

Beside him, Shinji Kurokami still hadn't noticed Nijimura's deepening scowl.

Instead, he was visibly hyped, having just witnessed the dunk from up close. He looked like he wanted to drag Akihito aside and beg him to dunk again just for him.

After all, for a first-year in middle school,

Dunks were still magical.

And someone like Akihito, who could perform aerial movements with such ease…

For Kurokami, who stood at 185cm but could only barely dunk under the rim, it was the height of envy.

But while everyone else was still marveling at Akihito,

Reiji Fukaya's eyes were instead locked on Nijimura.

Because unlike Akihito's raw, unreachable physical gifts, what Fukaya saw in Nijimura felt like something closer to the moment he imagined himself attaining.

So this is talent...

Just then, a sharp whistle snapped Fukaya out of his thoughts.

He turned his head,

Only to see Akihito still hanging from the rim.

"White team..."

"Number 12."

"Technical foul."

The assistant coach acting as referee looked up at Akihito, clearly exasperated. "Shigure-kun, you need to let go. Hanging on the rim that long, I've got no choice but to call it."

Clack!

Snapped out of his trance, Akihito finally let go.

CLANG!

The rim snapped back with a metallic twang.

Thinking back to that moment,

Because the opposing players weren't nearly as tough as the regulars on the first-string squad, that instant... how should he describe it?

When he jumped,

The higher he rose, the more the court fell beneath him…

Everything in his field of vision was beneath him. Looking down, it felt like the world bowed its head, like everything was striving to reach him, and failing.

That spike of adrenaline,

It made Akihito crave more.

He wanted more of that.

More of those frozen, helpless expressions on his opponents' faces.

And so,

He hung on.

Subconsciously, he forgot to let go.

Staring at the terrified look on the Shirotani defenders' faces, he wondered if, in that moment, they wanted to just leave the court altogether.

Then his mind slowly drifted blank.

And the whistle blew.

"Idiot."

"What were you thinking?"

A cold voice came from nearby. Akihito turned sheepishly, only to realize,

Nijimura wasn't talking to him.

His target,

Was Shinji Kurokami.

Kurokami froze. Akihito knew him well enough to see he wasn't one to argue back. But right now, with that guilty look on his face and his cheeks flushed red, he was holding back hard.

"Don't let it happen again."

Kurokami glared back with eyes that, on closer inspection, looked startlingly similar to Nijimura's.

"Hmph…"

"You'd better not."

With that, Nijimura turned and jogged back on defense.

On the other side,

Shirotani Middle School's team.

Their point guard captain turned to the center who'd just tried to contest.

"Just lock down their paint. Let the others handle the perimeter."

"But..."

"Didn't we just get blown past out there? Isn't it too late to rotate?"

"It's fine," the PG replied, glancing toward the bench where their coach had just signaled.

"No. 13 can't shoot threes. Probably neither can No. 12."

"They're just first-years."

"They're relying on their athleticism."

"Their game is all about attacking the rim."

"There's no way their fundamentals cover everything yet. Especially No. 13, he had a wide-open look just now, and still passed up the shot..."