KNB NOVELISATION TRANSLATION (PT2)
A/N: I do not use Tumblr anymore, but I have yet translated another excerpt from the novelisation. I believe newer fans still deserve to obtain materials that have not been publicised online, hence I make this translation. Also I will be highlighting parts that may have some significations that could be analysed deeper/have nuance that's lost in translation.
-> Here is the part where Kuroko uses his Quasi-Emperor Eye to steal the ball from Akashi, and also its continuation into Akashi's psychological fragmentation->
Murasakibara answered the surprised Himuro.
“Kuro-chin, just now, you weren’t looking at Aka-chin, were you?”
Takao, who had been watching from another place, also raised his voice, unable to understand what was going on.
“Then what was he looking at?!”
Midorima, beside him, also unable to hide his surprise, spoke while still facing the court.
“Kuroko was looking only at Kagami just now…… He predicted Kagami’s movements. Then he moved in the opposite direction from Kagami. Because of that, he caught up with Akashi, who had predicted Kagami’s movements……!”
Behind Kagami, who was facing Akashi, Kuroko moved opposite to Kagami and waited for Akashi.
—Kuroko’s own “Emperor Eye,” which sees the future of his teammates.
It could be used only with teammates with whom he had built firm trust. Through that trust, Kuroko saw even one instant farther into the future than Akashi.
Kuroko, shouting, knocked the ball away from the stunned Akashi.
At the impossible sight, the Rakuzan members were shocked. They had not even imagined a scene where that Akashi would have the ball taken from him.
But the one more shocked than anyone was Akashi himself.
The Seirin bench raised a cheer that was almost a scream.
Kagami caught the ball and charged straight toward Rakuzan’s basket. On the counterattack, both Seirin and Rakuzan all broke into motion at once.
All except one person: Akashi.
A turnover……? Impossible…… I……!?
Akashi, who had been standing frozen in humiliation, turned back, revealing his fierce emotion. Throwing appearances aside, he rushed forward like an arrow and stood in Kagami’s way like a flash of light. (A/N: Our prone-to-getting-embarrassed King threw his appearance aside for the first time...)
Akashi and Kagami faced each other.
The instant Akashi opened his eyes wide and tried to see Kagami’s future movement, Kuroko suddenly appeared and received the ball from Kagami as if stealing it from him.
Akashi was struck speechless by Kuroko’s completely unexpected action.
Using his pseudo Emperor Eye, Kuroko saw Kagami’s movements and once again read ahead of Akashi’s own movement.
From outside Akashi’s absolute future of victory, Kuroko tried to seize fate.
Kuroko sent a pass toward the basket. Kagami was already jumping toward the goal.
Nebuya cried out in shock.
Don’t screw with me. I am absolute! Losing…… absolutely cannot happen……!!
Akashi’s obsession with victory moved him. He caught up to Kagami just before the shot and jumped to block him.
Kagami slammed the dunk down as if striking it against Akashi.
Aomine, Murasakibara, Momoi, Kise, and Midorima all stared wide-eyed, speechless.
Hyuga and the others, who had been holding their breath, all raised their voices at once when the whistle sounded to signal the basket. The bench did too. The whole arena did too.
The huge two points taken from Akashi lit the flame of hope.
Meanwhile, the Rakuzan team stood stunned and speechless. Mibuchi squeezed out his voice as if he could not believe it.
As Kagami and Kuroko looked down at him, Akashi’s face twisted in humiliation.
The Emperor Eye had been broken by light and shadow.
The reality was that he had tried to score and failed, tried to stop them and failed.
At the thick presence of defeat he felt for the first time in his life, something inside Akashi began to collapse with a sound.
It was the hard, cold throne called pride, built upon victory.
“First time I’ve seen Akashi like that…… His mind’s more shaken than ever. Being shaken equals stray thoughts. ……His Zone is coming undone.”
Aomine looked at Akashi on the court and frowned.
The figure of the king who had ruled the court was gone. Akashi, sweating and running with ragged breath, was now only an ordinary player whose stamina had run out.
Akashi’s consciousness began to waver between impatience and exhaustion.
Ridiculous……! The idea that I could lose is impossible……!!
—Give up. With you as you are, victory is already beyond reach.
Shut up……! I win! I always have, and from now on too……!!
Akashi desperately shook off that voice denying him.
He did so without realizing that the voice was coming from beyond the far side of oblivion.
Kagami threw down a powerful dunk.
“They’ve finally cut it to ten!!”
“They can do it! They can do it!”
Furihata and Kawahara shouted from the bench.
Because of Akashi’s severe breakdown, Mibuchi and the others had their rhythm thrown off too. Seirin, on the other hand, seized that chance and rode the momentum into a counterattack.
Kagami easily stopped Akashi’s pass to Nebuya.
As if he had been forced to see that his own power was gone, Akashi’s face twisted in anguish.
Even so, perhaps his instinct as a player still barely remained; he tried to cut off the pass Kagami, having seen Kuroko, would likely send to him.
He tried to cut off the pass. However, the one Kagami passed to was Izuki, who was on the opposite side. It was a pass fake that Akashi from only moments earlier would absolutely have seen through.
Izuki received the ball and attacked. Hayama tried to step up against him, but Izuki dodged him while sending a behind-the-back pass toward Kuroko. Kuroko accelerated toward that ball and sent out a pass.
The bullet-like pass headed to Kagami under the basket.
Kagami finished with a powerful dunk.
Furihata and the others shouted with voices loud enough to rival the fired-up crowd.
“They’ve finally caught Rakuzan’s back!”
The numbers stood before Mibuchi and Hayama as they stared, frozen in place.
With about five minutes remaining, Seirin had caught up to within one basket.
“White, Rakuzan, timeout.”
Rakuzan’s coach, Shirogane, had called a timeout.
The Seirin team also returned to the bench and took a brief rest.
Kagami, wiping his sweat with a towel, called out to Kuroko, who stood still.
Kuroko simply stared at Akashi.
In his faintly trembling eyes, complicated feelings toward his former teammate floated alongside caution.
The Rakuzan bench was wrapped in a heavy atmosphere.
Shirogane was unable to hide his shock at Akashi, who sat on the bench with his head lowered.
Unbelievable…… Was Akashi truly this fragile a player!? (A/N: OMG Coach. You do not say that about your star player who has never disappointed you in anything. He needs you right now.)
A smaller point gap alone should have left him unmoved. The cause of his wavering was that Kagami and Kuroko had broken the trump card that should have secured victory. As a result, Akashi suffered tremendous mental damage and became shaken, causing the team itself to waver and creating discord.
..... (continues in part 3)
