In the park.
Yuuto and Akashi swung on different swings respectively.
"What do you want with me? You don't look like someone with a lot of free time."
Hearing this, Akashi stopped, sitting on the swing to cut to the chase.
"Ryota is injured. The examination results are out; it's a moderate ankle sprain. Needs to rest for a while, then look at the recovery situation."
"I know; Momoi called me last night."
Yuuto knew this long ago. Compared to the ligament damage in the simulation, this result was much better.
"His imitation surprised me. When I first met Ryota, I foresaw this day would come sooner or later." Akashi acknowledged Kise's talent very much. "But at first, I thought he could only imitate one of us. But he is more excellent than I imagined."
Perfect Copy.
One person merging the techniques and styles of the rest of them.
Even speed and strength, including shooting touch, received a certain degree of improvement.
Such imitation indeed deserved to be called perfect.
"But this isn't a power he should master now. Your eyes should see very clearly."
"So?"
"Leave our victory and defeat to the Winter Cup, Yuuto."
Not a commanding tone, but discussing with Yuuto.
"I believe you are the same. That kind of specialization should also cause damage to your body. For our future..."
"I refuse."
"..."
Yuuto refused crisply, so crisply that Akashi hadn't thought of how to respond.
But this was also a predictable result from the beginning.
He just didn't understand; was momentary victory really that important?
Giving up one Nationals, Yuuto could embrace a better future.
From the overall situation, this was the best arrangement for them.
"Victory, is it that important to you?"
"Basketball has nothing to do with life and death, but it is higher than life and death."
Yuuto quoted a famous saying, then stood up planning to go back.
"That is the meaning of my coming to this world."
When he was little, he never understood those words parents said like "this is for your own good."
Ignorant him only felt annoyed, thinking it was his parents imposing their ideas on him, tired of those words.
In the end.
All came true.
His parents said studying hard would lead to a better future.
He scoffed at it in the past; only after entering society did he know how high the gold content of that sentence was.
At that time, occasionally on some nights he would think, if he could do it all over again, he would definitely study hard and live like a human being.
But some things, once missed, are missed; there is no medicine for regret in the world.
"I won't let myself have emotions like 'if only I had done that back then' in the future."
"Future matters will be considered in the future. Now I just want to win all the matches I can win."
After speaking, he left directly without even saying goodbye.
"Negotiation broke down." The secondary personality Akashi had anticipated this. Yuuto's words made him empathize somewhat.
They both believed victory was the meaning of their existence.
He also understood somewhat why he was so obsessed with defeating Yuuto.
Because they were the same kind, and victory could only be possessed by one person; there was only one throne.
"Result anticipated long ago."
"Then? Still going to find Daiki and Atsushi?"
"Of course. From the overall situation, this is the best decision for us."
Akashi also stood up. At the park gate, his driver/bodyguard was still waiting for him.
...
Morning.
Round of 16 matches continued.
Today were the lower bracket matches.
Yuuto and Sora came to the gym to watch the game together.
But what disappointed the audience was that in the two matches in the morning, neither Akashi nor Aomine appeared.
Akashi seemed to have settled with the others, letting the rest of the team decide the outcome. Akashi, Aomine, and Murasakibara would not intervene in the matches.
Sora also felt a bit disappointed. Accustomed to fine dining, suddenly watching such "plain" matches was unaccustomed.
Compared to these people, she wanted to see Yuuto playing.
Yuuto?
He watched with relish, recording Rakuzan's tactics and playstyle in his mind and analyzing them.
Of course.
This process only lasted for the first half; he completed the analysis of Rakuzan's tactics in 20 minutes.
Then.
He began to check the things he obtained after the simulation last night.
"Pass Without Warning finally completed after a few years of simulation time; power should be very close to Nash's level."
"Simulation level didn't increase; probably need another simulation to level up."
"Then it's talents."
Yuuto looked at the Purple talent in front of him.
[Insightful Vision: Observe opponents, gain insight into opponents, attack their weaknesses.]
This was one of his biggest gains last night.
Insightful Vision, the signature talent of Atobe Keigo, captain of Hyotei Academy in Prince of Tennis.
Evolving further, Lord Atobe could see through all the opponent's weaknesses, even seeing the opponent's joints and skeleton.
World of Ice and Atobe Kingdom.
"The development potential is very high. However, better to become nourishment for the Left Eye of God."
The Left Eye of God had evolved into Purple; Blue talents couldn't be fused in, but Purple ones could.
[Fuse Left Eye of God and Insightful Vision?]
[Fuse.]
[Fusion confirmed. Left Eye of God (Purple), Insightful Vision (Purple).]
[Talent types confirmed.]
[Conditions met.]
[Fusion starts.]
Yuuto silently looked at the simulation panel in front of him.
In last night's simulation, he didn't fuse immediately but tried the intensity of Insightful Vision.
Finally found that this talent couldn't satisfy the current him; Insightful Vision and Left Eye of God didn't achieve a 1+1>2 effect.
Only when the simulation was about to end did he fuse them, obtaining better eyes.
[Fusion complete. Congratulations, obtained Purple Talent: Mystic Eyes (Demon Eyes).]
[Mystic Eyes: Super-large amplitude improvement in vision, analyzing opponents, parsing tactics, gaining insight into weaknesses.]
Concise and short, but powerful ability.
Mystic Eyes possessed the advantages of all fusion materials and took them all a step further.
Vision without blind spots, even dust on the court could be seen.
Analysis and prediction ability of opponents went a step further.
Parsing opponent tactics speed increased, and drawing inferences.
And.
He could see "Dead Spots"!
Once he could complete the analysis of the opponent, he could see Dead Spots (points of death/weakness) that the opponent couldn't understand no matter how they defended.
When Yuuto saw the existence of Dead Spots during the simulation, he even suspected...
Mystic Eyes was merely the preparatory form of the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, and eventually, it might evolve into the form claimed to "kill even gods for you to see."
Of course.
This wasn't a superpower world; he was just a stinking basketball player.
...
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