Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke, it rightfully belong to Tadoshi Fujimaki-sensei.

Chapter 05

A few weeks past since the practice match between Kaijo and Seirin High School ended, with training becoming more rigorous as the preliminaries of the interhigh approaches. Though, unlike Seirin's usual regimen, the said school almost completely changed their training with the training regimen Kuroko willingly offered their coach. Fortunately or unfortunately for them, the drills did not just focus on stamina, as Riko intended, but on endurance, strength, speed and so on for both freshmen and sophomores, considering that the so called 'newbies' will someday be forced on court when dire. Such training is unachievable of course without the equipment needed. Seeing that Seirin is still a new school, it has no equipment whatsoever as they didn't really see the need to install such things when they were unsure if it will be of use or not, and luckily for them, Riko's father had allowed them to have access to his workplace, albeit reluctantly, and to the growing mysteries of the phantom, Kuroko knows the old man and somehow convinces him.

For today, they were training in various formations that are suitable to be used in several situations. They were currently in the gym with an absent coach and the former vice captain replacing the MIA coach, though of course, this hadn't left the phantom neglecting his own training. He still participated in the mini practice-like match incorporating the formations they were given by the said phantom, despite some formations were made for situation without the said player as he had revealed that his play cannot be used throughout the forty minutes of the game, to their anger as the phantom had withheld for more than a month. But then again, they 'didn't ask' as the teal haired player reasoned to their question and that there's always a risk to using great skills.

"Once the golden week ends, it's almost immediately the preliminaries,"a freshman commented as the team rested, "It's quite soon, huh?"

"In about three weeks, right?" the average heighted Kawahara replied.

"But our senpai made it to final league last year," Furihata confidently said. "On top of that, this year there are Kagami and Kuroko, too. The first two matches or so should be easy stuff, huh?" they chatted, catching the attention of a certain captain who approached them and smashed their head together in their arrogance.

"Idiots!" he scolded, "What are you talking about?" The two players apologized with tears of pain forming in their eyes, "It's a tournament that ends even if you lose even once. Whether it is the first of final match, we can't afford to go easy on any match," he glared at the duo, "Now, if you'll please, break ended minutes ago, resume training!" The freshmen scurried back to the courts.

"Captain!" a student entered the gym, "I made more copies of the tournament's chart."

"Thanks, give them to everyone," Hyuuga said as the freshman complied.

"So, the guy from the Generation of Miracles is in Shutoku, meaning he's in the final," Kagami commented once he received the parchment.

"When you look at it this way, there's a lot of teams," Fukuda Hiroshi commented and noticed another sheet of paper being handed out, "Wait? There's a second page?!"

"There are four blocks from A to D," Hyuuga informed, "The winners of each block is qualified for the final league, where the best three are chosen to qualify for the Interhigh. Among the three hundred or so schools, only three are chosen," He glanced at the freshmen with varying expression from the excited tiger and passive phantom to the intimidated newbie freshmen, "The interhigh tournament is basically a stage where barely one percent of the chosen students can get to."

"I get it, but," Kagami commented, surprising the sophomores, "you're mistaken on one thing," he smirked, "They're not chosen, but they win. Right, senpai?"

"I'm back," the brunette coach entered the gym with a frustrated face.

"Ah, coach, you're here," Hyuuga acknowledge her presence.

"You skipped training before the match against Kaijou, but you didn't this time," a freshman commented.

"Coach, today, will you-" the other newbie member muttered, but was cut off.

"Like hell I will!" Riko glared at the duo with a murderous aura seeping out off her body, scaring the foolish duo once more.

"Morons," the glassed captain disbelievingly said, "There's no way she's gonna act like that for a regular

match, you know?" he turned to the coach,"You don't seem to be in a good mood. Is the opponent strong?"

"They have a player that's a bit troublesome," Riko informed them as she handed her cellphone to the captain. "I'll show you a video later. Look at his picture first," she massaged her nose. Some players cuddled up to see the said picture and later sweatdropped as they saw a picture of a cat on screen, muttering 'cute'. "Sorry the next one," the brunette said. The captain gasped in shock, attracting the other players around the phone. "His name is Papa Mbaye Siki.," The players glanced at a picture of an intimidating African teen. "Height 200 centimetres. Weight 87 kilograms. An exchange student from Senegal." Riko's gaze darkened while the other players paled

"Senega... Huge! 200cm?!" Hyuuga gaped at the revealed information.

"Is that even possible?!"

"An exchange student?" Izuki asked "Wait? Where is Senegal anyway?"

"This guy is huge, so?" Kagami asked, not seeing the disadvantage Seirin have against their next opponent. The second years ignored his comment as they try to pronounce his name, while the phantom on the other hand peered into the photo analysing the said guy.

Height was a major factor in basketball, in which short payers, Kuroko thought grudgingly, is rarely seen on court. His father, Kuroko Ryunosuke, was as tall as Kagami at 190 centimetre. Though, unfortunately for him, he inherited his mother's genes when it comes to height, and the only thing he seemed to inherit from his father has his love for basketball. Even during playing his old style, he was still one of the shortest of his age group. Though his coincident early meeting with the tallest Generation of Miracles would allow him to counter the said disadvantage if he was still playing his old style. He shook his head off the thought, he made an oath to himself that he will not go back to his old style, though, he can teach Kagami-kun how, if coach do not know how.

"Kuroko-kun? Kuroko-kun?" Kuroko snapped out of his musing, seeing a hand being waved in front of him.

"H-hai?"

"I don't know what are you thinking about, but find a nickname for this guy," Riko ordered, annoyed with the time wasted pondering how to pronounce this foreigner's name.

"'Otou-san'" Kuroko immediately said after a second.

"What's up with that naming sense?!" Koganei exclaimed.

"Listen!" Riko shouted as she finally snapped, "It's not just his height, but his legs and arms are long as well. You can sum it up with the word 'tall'. The number of schools getting exchange students to increase their battle power is increasing. The next opponent, Shinkyo Gakuen, was a middle class school last year, but by just recruiting a single foreign player, they seem to be a completely different team," a sweat formed at Riko's face, "If we can't reach him... with just that, there's no way we can stop him," silence filled the entire gym, "But, hey, I didn't say we can do nothing. Kagami-kun, Kuroko-kun," she addressed the freshmen duo, "You two will have a special training regimen starting tomorrow," the said players stared in discomfort of what the coach planned for them. Sure, Kuroko was one who recommended the current training regimen, but Riko's 'regimen' might have came from his father, whose regimen is undoubtedly worse than the phantom's. "THE PRELIMINARIES WILL START ON MAY 18! UNTIL THEN, I WILL NOT GIVE YOU ENOUGH FREE TIME TO WHINE!"

"OSU!"

The eighteenth of May quickly came with non-stop training as much as possible, whether it's after school or during their weekends. Two weeks of training drills stepped up, but not too much that it strained the fragile phantom. Though the phantom was noticeably was more tired than he was supposed to be, signifying he was training outside of their practice. Not that the coach would complain of the extra effort that their weakest player exerts, but he needs to rest, seeing that weekday practice starts at five o'clock pm and ends at eight, sometimes nine. So instead of the weekend training before the match, she made that weekend be one hour strategy meeting instead of the daily fifteen minutes. However, though that weekend were rest days, Kagami still came that Monday with bloodshot eyes similarly to his condition on the day of their practice match against Kaijo.

"Again?" Kuroko asked as Riko led them to the gym where their match will be held.

"Shut up," Kagami groggily hissed.

Seirin entered the gymnasium and immediately began warming up with spectators slowly accumulating.

"Wait, otou-san's not yet here..." Hyuuga commented seeing the ace of the opposing team missing.

"Now that you metin it..." Koganei swung his head around looking for the foreign player.

"Sorry I'm late," a voice called out with a rough, foreign accented Japanese. Each player turned to the source, seeing a giant slamming his head at the too small entrance. "Everything in Japan is too low," the dark skin player complained as he rubbed his sore forehead.

'Aren't you just too tall?!' most players within the court mentally shouted, not daring to shout at the intimidatingly tall foreigner.

'Murasakibara-kun was about as tall as him the last time I saw him,' Kuroko analysed, 'But he should be as tall, if not, taller than otou-san by now... Seeing that Murasakibara is unusually tall with his abnormally fast growth spurt, I'd go with the later. I'll leave the game with Kagami-kun and coach, one player cannot make much difference, especially with otou-san's seemingly indeterminate personality.'

"What are you doing, hurry up!"the seeming captain of the Shinkyou basketball club scolded.

"Sorry I'm late."

"Why can you only speak fluent Japanese when you're late?" his brown eyes trailed to his fellow captain, "By the way, I heard you defeated Kaijo High, is that true?"

"Well... It's only a practice match, though..." Hyuuga humbly replied.

"They're not a big deal as I thought then," Tanimura Yuusuke confidently stated.

"Kaijo?" Papa asked.

"The school with one of the Miracles I told you about."

"A Generation of Miracles lost? I've been called here to defeat them," he sighed in disappointment, "I'm disappointed, if they're weak..." He walked towards the benches and suddenly bumped into an unknown entity. He looked around before looking down to find the petite phantom that reaches a little below his shoulder.

"It's no good litl ne," he picked up the teal haired boy, "Kids should not get on courts."

"Someone must have come with him.." Tanimura turned to see the giant carrying a boy with the opposing team's signature bench shirt. "Wha! That's a player of the opponent team!"

"Player?" Papa noticed noticed his playing uniform underneath his shirt as the wind slightly lifted it, "You must be kidding... Kaijo lost to a team with a kid like that? Are the Generation of Miracles all kids?" he placed the boy down and crouched down to his captain who laughed at the statement.

"Haha! Maybe..."

Temperature dropped a few degrees making the players shiver. THey turned toward the source of the temperature to see their little phantom cracking his knuckles. 'On second thought... I think I'll play for the whole game.' Seirin started to pray for the members of Shinkyou regulars. Though they don't exactly know what is the full potential of Kuroko's basketball. What they do know is that each of the Generation of Miracles uses their seemingly unachievable skills to permanently scar their opponent psychologically.

"Coach," Kuroko called with his usual quiet voice, but with a darkened toned hat seem to resonate throughout the gym, "Change of plans."

"Huh? His accuracy is declining..." Tamura observed their foreign ace. The match flowed towards Shinkyou's advantage for the half of the first quarter as Seirin was overwhelmed by their ace. Though, as the quarter ends, their desired momentum slowly diminish until none of Mbaye's shots goes in.

"We won't let you score this easily because," Riko grinned at the trap revealing itself, "Kagami-kun won't let otou-san play as he wants." She glanced at the teal haired boy on the bench who was smiling in satisfaction at the result of his light's training.

"'Won't let him play'?" the reserves questions their coach's statement.

"Even if he can't reach the ball, there's still a way to defend... A defence Mitobe taught him."

Kuroko blocked his coach's explanation as he focused more on the game. He doesn't need to listen to the explanation, he already knew it. No. He discovered the same strategy before entering Teikou, against Murasakibara-kun. His games against him were... Thrilling. Though, it was unfortunate that he never met him again until years later where he changed his style completely. Though that technique Kagami-kun currently uses were not forgotten by him. They were engrave as Teikou drilled this technique during his first year as the starters position was dominated by the so called Miracles. They competed against second and third year regular of other schools who were at least ten centimetres taller the new regulars except for Murasakibara-kun, of course, such technique was vital to continue the long run victory of Teiko since their unknown senpais.

He continue to think of several more scenarios to 'punish' the opposing team. Though he do not care of his title as a part of the Generation of Miracles, the other members are still one of his friends. He wasn't going to permanently harm them. No, just a temporary injury that'll heal, but enough to leave a mark on his victims. The opposing team seem to scrape enough marks to be placed in one of Kuroko's 'to be taught a lesson' list due to their loud mouth ace. He sighed in disappointment as he concluded at which plan to use. Once you take out the annoying giant, the team is revealed to be mediocre, meaning completely vulnerable to his watchful eyes. Admittedly, he was like the rest of the Miracles at times. His strategies always fool proof that he somewhat can relate to his fellow Miracles lack of ambition, though off court. That's why he plays with his currently weak style to feel the thrill of the game where he plays without knowing how the whole game is flowing. It's different being in the piece on the board compared to being a general who sees the position of every single piece. Then again... He was once the general in the battlefield several years ago... He shook his head, focusing more on the game. He's no longer the general, but the shadow who guides his team.

First quarter ended with both teams still on stalemate, though for someone with keen eyes, the game is not as balanced as thought. The Shinkyou Basketball Team is in severe disadvantage as their ace's accuracy was declining, up to a point that the ball does not even touch the hoop. But for Seirin, though not as dire as the opposing team due to their style of basketball, they were losing a fair amount of baskets to Shinkyou as their ace is preoccupied with his fellow ace.

'It's hard enough to guard that African dude, but its agonising how I can barely hold the ball!' the tiger mentally ranted as he tries to regain as much stamina during the quarter break.

"Koganei, you'll be out off the second quarter," Riko announced as one minute was left of the break, "Kuroko, you're in as requested. I don't know what you're planning, but don't go too overboard, please. We don't want to drag you back home unconscious."

"Not that we can do that, since no one know where this kid lives," Kagami said, leading to veins popping out from Kuroko's head.

"Seirin! Please send out your fifth player!" the referee announced to begin the second quarter. A hand suddenly appeared before him, startling the poor referee.

"Excuse me but I'm here," Kuroko stated.

Seirin looked as if they were tired seeing this seen. Who can blame them? Having the Phantom in the team have some quirks that they wish that his regular 'disappearances' can be switched off somehow.

'The kid's playing in the game?!' the tall African teen thought in disbelief.

Second quarter started with Shinkyou in possession of the ball. Though a few seconds later, the ball was mysteriously stolen and Seirin scored a split second later. Minutes passed with exchanging scores until the whistle blew to end the first half of the game.

"We're ahead my thirteen point, but don't let your guards down!" Riko said, "Kuroko, you're substituted out, Koganei, you're back in." The phantom didn't argue as his job was near done and, for sure, will be substituted back into the last quarter to secure their win.

"Oi, Kuroko, wasn't that a little too harsh?" Izuki winced as he reminisced the recent quarter's game. The poor foreigner didn't even got touch the ball even once, though not so evident, as Kagami continuously block the giant's attempt to get the ball.

"I do not know what you're talking about, Izuki-senpai,"Kuroko replied with his usual emotionless face, with a slight glint in his eyes. Despite not noticing the glint, his teammates can see through his lie as he avoid their gaze.

Inside the other team's room, the Shinkyou regulars were wimping underneath their coach's glare.

"Are you, guys, not motivated, enough?" Hiraiwa Kouji shouted in frustration. His eyes glinted toward their ace, "Especially you, Papa... On top that you overslept, did you also not sleep enough?!"

"I wasn't sleeping! No, wait, I did sleep!" the black player stuttered in broken Japanese.

"As long as Papa is playing, we'll win the match with his it as we practiced," a bell sounded to end their half break, "Now, Go!"

"OSU!" The players ran out of the room as if their life depended on it.

"Damn, the coach has been angry easily these past year," Tanimura muttered, earning a confused glanced from their starter freshman, "If we lose here, training starting tomorrow won't be a soft one... You still wanted to play matches, right?"

"I don't want to train! Matches are good. We'll win!" Papa chanted.

"It seems that 'Otou-san' is serious now," Riko observed as the second half started.

The foreign player dunked hard, only to motivate Kagami further into the game. Shinkyou in lead, then Seirin again. The pace continued to increase and players tired as the game near its end.

"Shit, they're showing too much," Riko commented, 'Kagami has improved dramatically... It's like he's in a whole new level compared to when he faced Kise.'

"A three pointer from Shinkyou!"

'Wait! It's no time to be thinking about that! We have to stay focus until the end of the game,' Riko panicked, "Kuroko! Go for the last five minutes!"

"Actually I could have gone into the game a long time ago..." Kuroko commented.

"Sorry! Then go!"

The whistle blew and Kuroko was substituted in, much to the annoyance of the basketball team of Shinkyou High.

"Neh, Kagami-kun,"Kuroko called out in English, "Focus on offense, leave Papa to me."

"Huh?" Kagami asked in confusion as he saw the phantom running toward the foreigner. "What the hell, Kuroko!" The ball was passed to him but noticed Mbaye to be struggling to get to him. 'Ah, he's using the same technique coach taught me, but in a whole new scale when it comes to blocking.' He ran towards the hoop and dunk another ball, widening the point difference.

'It's been a while since I did this,' Kuroko thought as the foreigner broke out his defense at the last seconds in the game to attempt to score. The phantom didn't even bothered to defend again, 'Let Kagami-kun say his speech for now.'

Papa jumped to shoot. You said that you're disappointed by the Generation of Miracles, but I think you're way too full of yourself," Taiga jumped, "These guys are definitely strong!" he slapped the ball out of Mbaye's hands as the game ended.

"SEIRIN WINS!"

Yo, Crystalux here.

I'M EXTREMELY SORRY FOR THE EXTREMELY LATE UPDATE! AND I CANNOT GUARANTEE A FAST UPDATE FROM NOW ON! Though I promise to finish this fanfiction even if it takes me years... I got everything planned out, though I don't know how to actually write it...

I appreciate faves, follows and reviews, but no flames!