At Hakone Training Camp

The HBI finally went to the training camp. It was in Hakone. It was a beautiful resort with an even better view but they had all just arrived. Since the main point of the training camp was teamwork, all the boys shared a room and one bathroom. Training had started from the second they arrived. For food, the boys had to all decide on one food for everyone to eat and anyone who disagreed went without a meal.

The first day of basketball training started and they were five hoops. Everyone was tied together and they were standing in a line. They all had to run up an shoot but if one person messed up, everyone did. They had to perfectly synchronize themselves or else, they would get bruises or even break bones.

For the last week of training, they had to run up Mt Hakone dribbling two balls each all tied together without falling down once. That would mean that everyone would have to take organised breaks and no one could trip or collapse. Everyone failed at this exercise the first few times but after about two days, it was completed. The Hakone Training Camp was completed.

When they got back to the HBI, It felt so simple for them to dribble one basketball and run on a flat surface. All the players had improved remarkably. The managers asked the coach to organise a practice game against Kaijo High, Ryota Kise's school. Kaijo accepted and match day came. Kise was startled to see Kuroko on the HBI team but he was excited. Kuroko told him everything that had happened, from Seirin abandoning him to him meeting Kiyoshi and how he got to play Kaijo at that time.

The game started with both Kuroko and Kiyoshi on the bench. The coach made the decision to not put both of them on the court at the same time. He wanted to see how good the team was without anyone carrying it. So Kiyoshi went in first. The second the 'Invisible man' stepped on, the HBI team scored a three. Kiyoshi's presence on the court was impactful. HBI immediately took the lead 22-17. The coach took Kiyoshi out and put Kuroko in. He was a game-changer. He was more impactful than Kiyoshi but he wasn't passing. The coach told him to pass multiple times but he didn't. The coach took him out at 49-17. HBI continued to widen the gap and eventually won 72-30. They were prepared.