Chapter 80: What a Weirdo

One day later. In the quarterfinals, Teikō crushed their opponent by over 30 points once again, forcefully advancing to the Final Four, stepping into the last stage of the tournament. Most fans had already expected this result. Even though the championship hadn't been secured yet, everyone was starting to feel that this year's title was already in Teikō's pocket. People began to believe that this year's Teikō team might be the strongest in the school's history—perhaps even the strongest in the history of the Nationals. The unstoppable nature of the Generation of Miracles was beginning to show. But in the semifinals, Teikō finally encountered a bit of trouble. Today, Tendou ran into two familiar faces—or rather, characters from the anime. As it turns out, the truly capable ones are always dangerous—slow and steady development beats the rare, sudden genius. Of course, calling it "trouble" is relative—only compared to their previously smooth sailing. Their opponent today played extremely smart basketball. From the very first second of the game, they stuck firmly to one strategy: Whoever ended up matched with Tendou would immediately pass the ball away—avoiding him altogether. And on defense, they worked aggressively to cut off any connection between Tendou and the rest of Teikō. Several times, rainbow passes between Nijimura Shūzō and Tendou were intercepted. Their defense spread out like a spider web, causing real trouble for Teikō's offense. Does "spider web" remind you of someone? That's right—Hanamiya Makoto, arguably the most frustrating of the Uncrowned Kings. His maniacal laughter alone made him one of the most distinctive characters among the Uncrowned Five—more memorable than even main team players like Kiyoshi Teppei. Honestly, Kiyoshi had the least "defining trait" of the five—being the good guy just doesn't stand out much in this kind of series. Hanamiya is probably the most cunning player in Kuroko no Basket, literally the smartest. With an IQ of 160, he doesn't even like studying, yet always tops the class—basically a god-tier student. And it was this guy who caused Teikō trouble in this match. Hanamiya absolutely has the potential to become an excellent head coach. Unlike Riko Aida, who can see players' stat values, he only needs to watch an opponent's tactics once to figure out how to break them. Both Kanzaki and Yamagata middle schools failed to crack Teikō's offense. But this delinquent did it. While Shirogane Kōzō was still pondering how to respond, Tendou had already given his answer: Smash through it with brute force! Since the strategy was to cut off his passing, he simply wouldn't pass anymore. Catching the ball at the three-point line, Tendou immediately switched into demolition mode. "I knew you'd do that, genius." "Hehehe~~" Not a flat "heh"—Hanamiya's laugh was manic, wicked. Cocky, insufferable, mocking—and yet the more you hear it, the funnier it gets. Kind of like Seto Kaiba's ridiculous laugh in Yu-Gi-Oh... weirdly entertaining. "And so what if you guessed?" Tendou didn't slow down. As Hanamiya stepped up to help defend, Tendou slapped the ball down. Smack! The ball hit the floor at a speed nearly invisible to the eye—and by the time it bounced back, Tendou had already blown past Hanamiya by half a body length. "This monster..." Hanamiya's smirk faded. It was a move he simply couldn't counter, no matter how many scenarios he imagined. Their whole team was strong—each player at the national level, or they wouldn't have made it this far. Even as a brainiac, Hanamiya's athletic ability was well above average. But none of them could stop Teikō's new ace one-on-one. No gimmicks. Just raw, overwhelming ability. If Tendou's average stat was 90, Hanamiya's was maybe 80. A 10-point gap. How do you even fight that? Just as Tendou was about to leave Hanamiya in the dust, Imayoshi Shōichi came flying in from the wing to double-team. "We're not planning to take someone like you one-on-one." That's right—the future captain of Tōō Academy, the sly, bespectacled Imayoshi was Hanamiya's middle school teammate. Which tells you everything you need to know about how devious this team was. Imayoshi reached out quickly, aiming for the ball. But in the next second, a pitch-black monster wreathed in flames appeared in front of him. Imayoshi's pupils shrank, like he'd just seen a ghost. "What the hell is that...?" "No problem. Just come at me as much as you want." Smack! The ball thundered off the floor again—this time between Imayoshi's legs. He'd just been nutmegged. "I actually prefer double teams." As Tendou said this, he spun fluidly between the two defenders, not giving Hanamiya any opportunity to steal the ball. He hadn't forgotten—this "demon child" was famous for his steals. In his future match against Seirin, Hanamiya's spider web defense had given the coaching team huge headaches. "Damn this thing," Hanamiya muttered—no more smirks, only irritation. This Teikō star's basketball IQ really was every bit as terrifying as the rumors said. Their defensive game plan didn't fear Teikō's team play—it feared individual explosions. A single mismatch could tear open the whole formation. Like now—with both Hanamiya and Imayoshi failing to stop Tendou, the rest of the team had to scramble to rotate over. And then— Whoosh! The ball rocketed through the crowd like a comet, landing right in Murasakibara Atsushi's hands in the paint. With everyone's attention still on Tendou, no one had noticed him. Murasakibara had guard-level speed, and before anyone could react, he had already leapt into the air and slammed the ball home. "Tch, freaks," Hanamiya muttered—irritated, but not bitter. He wasn't the type to cry over a loss like Kasamatsu or Hayama. To him, basketball was just a casual hobby. Halftime. Teikō had built another double-digit lead—54:41, up by 13. Tendou had poured in 25 points, 5 assists, 1 steal, and 2 rebounds in just one half. Aside from his scoring and assists, his other stats weren't particularly flashy. Because their opponent refused to engage with him on offense—playing around him entirely. Shirogane Kōzō looked at the stat sheet and sighed. He'd gone to great lengths to build a comfortable scoring environment for Tendou. Even brought out the triangle offense—ideal for maximizing his abilities. And now he realized—Tendou's comfort zone was playing against double teams. Did I just recruit a complete weirdo...?