"Fall back on defense!"
Seeing Akashi Asuka's basketball stolen for the third time, the Seiho players were momentarily stunned, but they quickly snapped back and sprinted toward their side of the court.
The one who received the steal from Akashi was Mibuchi Reo. Dribbling past the Seiho three-point line, Mibuchi stopped and assumed a shooting stance.
Omuro Yoshikasu, assigned to guard Mibuchi, chased closely behind. In terms of man-to-man defense and speed, Seiho could not lose to anyone.
"Not a chance to shoot!"
"No, stop!"
Omuro leaped, aiming to block Mibuchi.
But at that moment, from the sidelines, Kitayama Yuzuki suddenly realized something and shouted in alarm.
It was too late.
Omuro jumped, but Mibuchi remained still.
In that instant, Omuro recalled the intel on Mibuchi, and his pupils instantly shrank.
"You bastard… you're trying to, "
BANG!
Just as Omuro had feared.
When Omuro reached the peak of his jump, Mibuchi launched himself upward, right into Omuro's body.
BEEP~~~
WHOOSH!
The referee's whistle and the sound of the ball swishing through the net rang out simultaneously.
["Black 8, defensive foul. White 6's shot counts, plus one free throw!"]
Omuro's expression darkened instantly at the call. On the opposite side, Mibuchi Reo smiled serenely.
"Although I hate direct contact with smelly men, if it scores points, that's another matter entirely!"
==========
As expected, Mibuchi's free throw dropped cleanly into the hoop.
3+1.
This play gave Rakuzan four points, instantly widening the gap between Seiho and Rakuzan from 6 to 10 points.
9:19.
With those four points secured, the first quarter of the match between Rakuzan and Seiho officially ended shortly after.
When the players returned to their respective benches, the audience immediately started buzzing with excitement.
"Amazing!"
"No wonder Rakuzan is the 'Emperor.' Even the 'King' Seiho doesn't stand a chance!"
"Not just that… Seiho was completely dominated the entire time!"
==========
"Trailing by 10 points after the first quarter, rare for Seiho!" Satsuki Momoi remarked.
At the back of the stands, the Generation of Miracles members' opinions were slightly different from most spectators, but the overall consensus wasn't far off.
"There's no helping it. Even ignoring the clash between little Asuka and little Akashi, the rest of Seiho's players still lag behind…" Kise Ryouta said.
"Seiho's players are all hard-trained experts, but the Uncrowned Kings are natural talents, already half through the door of greatness. Handling just one is tough, let alone Rakuzan's three."
"Even if we wanted to counter them, it wouldn't be easy!"
Watching from the stands, it was clear that Seiho's match against Rakuzan wasn't just about Akashi Asuka being limited by Akashi Seijuro. The suppression extended across the whole court.
Omuro, Seiho's power forward, struggled to bypass Mibuchi, a three-point shooter.
Tsugawa's greatest strength was defense, yet Hayama broke through him.
Captain Tsutomu Iwamura was also dominated under the basket by Nebuya Eikichi.
The team seemed to have no openings at all…
"Wait… isn't there one more player from Seiho and Rakuzan?"
Suddenly, Kise seemed to remember something.
"If I recall correctly, Seiho's number 5 is their vice-captain and a pillar of the team, right?"
"Momoi, who is Seiho's number 5 facing? Were their past records impressive?"
"Huh? Let me check…"
Satsuki Momoi paused, then pulled out a notebook filled with detailed team intel.
After flipping a few pages, the data on Rakuzan High appeared, but everyone froze.
Not because there was something extraordinary, but because there was so little information.
As former teammates, Kise, Midorima, and Atsushi naturally knew that Momoi wouldn't fail to gather intel. Her cooking may be terrible, but her intelligence-gathering was top-notch.
Yet there was barely anything recorded. That could only mean one thing.
"This guy doesn't seem impressive at all!"
Kise rolled his eyes. He had expected someone formidable, but apparently, this was it.
"Exactly!" Midorima pushed his glasses up. "Technically and physically, this person seems utterly ordinary. Hardly what you'd expect from a Rakuzan player, it's more like…"
His voice faltered.
At the same time, the other Generation of Miracles members seemed to realize something. Their eyes widened in disbelief.
"Hey… this data… it's exactly the same!"
"Akashi actually trained a new one?"
"This is bad… Seiho probably hasn't realized, "
Kise's voice trailed off, as if stuck in his throat.
He glanced at the others' astonished faces and swallowed hard, hesitating. "Could it be? Is Seiho's intel really that terrifying?"
"It's hard to say. Even Momoi got completely fooled by Seiho last time, didn't she?"
"Hey, Aomine, watch your mouth!"
Momoi's eyes flashed dangerously when Aomine spoke. Midorima, Kise, and Atsushi wisely fell silent.
"Anyway, that last match was your fault, Aomine. If you hadn't been lazy and overslept, we wouldn't have…"
"In any case, that's roughly the situation."
Before Momoi could finish, Aomine cut her off. Even the strongest person would feel pain when someone keeps poking at an old wound.
"At least for now, the actions of Seiho's number 5 only make sense with that explanation. There seems to be no other reason."
=============
Completed version available on Patreon.com/Veltoria