"Every offense starts with entangling Akashi for more than ten seconds."
"Is it for correction?"
Eiji Shirogane saw clearly from the sideline.
Seiho's King intended to play like this, completing his correction while scoring.
Compared to Hozumi Academy a year ago, Seiho's lineup was somewhat lacking.
He didn't have the right-hand men Haizaki Shogo and Kuroko Tetsuya to buy him half a game of time.
The problem was.
Akashi didn't have those powerful Generation of Miracles teammates around him either.
"In other words, are we following the opponent's rhythm now?"
Akashi noticed too; a good chess player must know how to lay out the board.
Many times, the opening already determines the result.
Must break the opponent's rhythm.
While speaking, Akashi had dribbled past half-court.
Then.
Akashi flung the ball directly towards an empty place, looking like a mistake.
But the next second.
A scene that dumbfounded everyone in Seirin appeared.
The ball passed by Akashi actually refracted 90 degrees, like a magic show, unexpected to the extreme.
Smack~
The ball landed on the right side of the middle lane free-throw line. Hayama Kotaro appeared there just right, caught the ball, accelerated into Seiho's paint, and scored with a fancy mid-air switch-hand layup.
This was the characteristic of his Wildness; not as heaven-defying as Aomine's Formless Basketball, but heaven-defying enough.
At least Iwamura had no ability to stop this kind of mid-air double-clutch layup.
Rakuzan scored; score 4:2, a one-ball gap.
But this wasn't the point.
People's attention wasn't even on Yuuto and Akashi, but focused on that substitute who only debuted a week ago and played for merely a minute.
"That is..."
"Kuroko's Misdirection?!"
This time it wasn't just Shinji Koganei, the shock monster; even Taiga Kagami opened his mouth wide.
That presence, that Misdirection—they were too familiar with it; that was Kuroko's limit on the court.
Thought Kuroko was unique; who knew another Kuroko Tetsuya would appear in Rakuzan.
Kuroko said nothing, completely silent.
He was actually quite proud of his Misdirection, thinking he was unique. But this pride was shattered a bit just now.
"In this case, doesn't Rakuzan's lineup equate to having a Generation of Miracles member, three Uncrowned Kings, plus a Kuroko?"
What kind of divine lineup was this?
Thought he was an obscure player; didn't expect a secret weapon.
Rakuzan actually hid such a weapon until the end.
This Rakuzan was worthy of being the strongest Rakuzan in history; the lineup was fantastically strong.
"Lost without grievance!" Katsunori Harasawa, who had returned to Tokyo, sighed faintly upon seeing Mayuzumi Chihiro.
They thought Tōō was very close to Rakuzan, just one move short, just losing a key round, and the result might be different if played again.
Looking at it now.
No matter how many times they played, the final result would be Tōō's failure, with no possibility of winning.
"Another Little Kuroko?"
Kise felt like he was going crazy.
Not just him; Aomine and Midorima beside him were also speechless.
One side displayed super parsing ability predicted even by Wildness.
One side hid another Phantom Sixth Man in their lineup.
"It doesn't matter." Momoi's expression remained unchanged, face serene.
"What do you mean 'it doesn't matter'?"
"Because Yu knew long ago. In the less than one minute Mayuzumi Chihiro-senpai played, he knew about the existence of the Phantom Sixth Man."
These words were like throwing a huge rock into a calm lake, splashing up huge waves.
Knew long ago?
In that short minute, Mayuzumi Chihiro didn't even touch the ball, right?
This kind of thing was a bit too ridiculous.
"Hey hey, aren't these two people a bit too scary?"
Far away in Akita Prefecture, Yosen crowd was equally dumbfounded.
Two such teams—no, should say two such people—completely fouled.
"Leader of the Generation of Miracles, and Lion of Okushirazome."
Masako Araki looked at other people's kids, then at Murasakibara who was big in size but had a mental age like a child, instantly feeling the gap was as wide as the ocean.
She was truly blind back then to bring back such a guy from Tokyo.
Equivalent to having an extra child to take care of for nothing, and a 200-pound child at that.
"M-ko, what do you mean by that look? Murasakibara-chin feels you're thinking something rude."
However, she said lightly, "Don't doubt, it means exactly what you think."
Truly crushing people with rank; I'm Yosen's Ace after all, okay?
...
On the court.
Akashi had been watching Yuuto's expression since just now.
Unfortunately, there was no change on the other's face.
This was a gift he prepared for Yuuto, but the other party seemed to know in advance.
"You knew long ago?"
"What reason does a physical ability completely inconsistent with Rakuzan's level have to appear in Rakuzan's lineup?" Yuuto asked back, hiding nothing. "Don't forget, my understanding of Kuroko is no less than yours, Akashi."
Hearing this, Akashi suddenly realized.
He overlooked Yuuto's eyes, capable of seeing real-time data on the court.
Indeed.
With Mayuzumi Chihiro's physical data, it wasn't enough to appear in Rakuzan's lineup.
Plus some details, it wasn't hard to infer his existence.
"Akashi..."
"Sorry Mayuzumi-senpai, for your first official match, I might need to sacrifice you."
Not the sacrifice of the secondary personality Akashi in the original work, throwing away after use. But he indeed prepared to borrow Mayuzumi Chihiro's ability next.
"Is that so? I understand." No dissatisfaction; Mayuzumi Chihiro's tone was calm.
He was actually already satisfied; everything he had was given by Akashi.
What is life like for a person with no presence?
He didn't have many friends around him. Because of low presence, he was often treated as an alien.
Even his few friends would suffer criticism when seen with him, saying why hang out with that freak.
Mayuzumi Chihiro didn't have many friends in three years at Rakuzan because he didn't want his friends to suffer criticism.
If they were real friends, he should think for them, instead of selfishly caring only about himself.
But this year, his last year of high school, his life took a turn.
Akashi found him, ignoring those criticisms, actively approaching him.
"Hello, Mayuzumi Chihiro-senpai. I am a first-year, Akashi Seijuro."
That was an afternoon; Akashi found him. That was the first sentence Akashi said to him.
At that time he smiled, warm enough to melt his frozen heart.
Thanks to Akashi, his days afterward were no longer maliciously slandered.
Because Akashi was perfect.
He also brought him into the dream Rakuzan basketball club, overcoming all objections to become a team member, and helped him integrate into this whole.
Now.
Since he wanted to use his power, then use it.
"Anyway, my power was bestowed by you."
...
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