Chapter 23: Three Rounds Decide the Winner; It Ended Very Quickly!

Kuroko Tetsuya turned to look back.

The first things to catch his eye were two figures, one of whom had hair even lighter than the former Haizaki Shogo, glowing almost like snow under the lights around the court.

Behind them stood a man with fiery red hair and slightly split eyebrows; however, when Kuroko Tetsuya looked at that person, those split eyebrows drew his attention even more than the man's hair color.

Takeno Masaki: "..."

He was being ignored, even though he was the tallest person present.

But...

Takeno Masaki glanced at the hair of the few people present and immediately felt that his own black, spiky hair looked so conventional and ordinary here.

Fine.

You guys are trendy; you guys are amazing.

"I'm saying..."

"Do you guys actually want to play basketball or not?"

"If you don't want to play, leave it for those who will use it."

The slightly arrogant tone of voice came again, but Yukimiya Kazuma knew this guy was simply cold on the outside and warm on the inside, or perhaps just thick-skinned.

However, Kuroko Tetsuya did not know this; seeing the other person's impatient gaze, Kuroko, who had not yet recovered from his earlier emotions, wore a dazed expression and apologized.

"I'm sorry."

Kagami Taiga, who had returned to the country not long ago, stepped over Yukimiya Kazuma and Takeno Masaki, took off his jacket, walked onto the court, glanced back, and said, "Hey, are you from the basketball club?"

"Yes." Having just experienced a rejection attempt by Akashi, Kuroko Tetsuya paused, then added, "Barely."

Kagami Taiga: "?"

I wasn't asking you...

But...

With that height, you actually play basketball?

As expected, domestic basketball is just like playing house, just like the basketball club at the new school I transferred to; it's boring, and not joining them was definitely the right choice.

"Hmm..."

"I see."

"Then do your best."

Yukimiya Kazuma looked at Kagami Taiga, who had unexpectedly barged in.

The manga did indeed have a scene of Kagami and Kuroko meeting for the first time during middle school, but it was probably only about two pages long, so Yukimiya Kazuma only had A Trace of memory of it.

In fact, the first meeting of this Light and Shadow combination was forgotten by the two parties themselves even after entering high school.

Thinking of this, Yukimiya Kazuma suddenly flashed a mischievous smile and said, "How can it be 'barely'? This person is the overlord of the Chinese Basketball World in middle school, the famous Phantom Sixth Man of Teiko Middle School~"

Kuroko Tetsuya, who was about to leave, subconsciously turned his head upon hearing Yukimiya Kazuma's words, and Kagami also wore an expression of surprise.

"Really?"

Kagami looked at Kuroko Tetsuya's height, which was under 170, and showed a skeptical gaze.

The title of Phantom Sixth Man is indeed quite loud, but compared to this person, the white-haired one whose height is similar to his own interested him more.

Originally, the target of his own initiative to strike up a conversation just now was those two tall guys who looked like they could play basketball.

Takeno Masaki glanced at Yukimiya Kazuma; having watched his training so much, Takeno Masaki could easily see that compared to that Phantom Sixth Man, Kazuma was actually more interested in the red-haired one in front of him.

After all...

The fighting spirit on Kazuma's body was almost impossible to hide.

But Takeno Masaki felt something was strange; with the legendary Teiko Phantom Sixth Man right in front of him, why was Kazuma staring at this red-haired guy?

The physique does look really good...

"Hey, blue-haired one, want to go 1-on-1?"

Kagami thought for a moment, thinking that since he was the overlord of middle school basketball, he should have some strength, even though he really didn't feel a single bit of the aura of a strong person.

"Sorry..."

"I'm not good at 1-on-1."

Kuroko decisively rejected the other person; first, he was not in the mood for this right now, and second, he wasn't lying, as his basketball skills were completely not focused on offense and defense, let alone this kind of one-on-one duel.

Kagami raised an eyebrow, turned his head to look at Yukimiya Kazuma, and his suspicion regarding what he had just said deepened even further.

Slap~!

"Don't make things hard for him; he's not good at this~"

Yukimiya Kazuma threw down his ball bag, actively came to Kuroko Tetsuya's rescue, and then walked onto the court.

"Hey, Kazuma..."

"There's the All-Japan preliminary match to play tomorrow."