"This is trouble."
Kasamatsu Yukio and Kise Ryouta had also come to watch. They wouldn't miss a marquee matchup like this.
"Kise, when you entered the Zone against Yuuto, what was it like?"
"What was it like?" Kise thought hard. "I guess... I just really didn't want to lose to him. I wanted to beat him at least once, no matter what..."
"So one condition for entering the Zone is mental state?"
That seemed way too abstract.
But then again, it made sense. The Zone was so difficult to enter and master precisely because it was so intangible. To date, only three people could access it through willpower alone.
And one of them had abandoned the Zone entirely, forging his own path.
Perhaps, Kasamatsu mused, Yuuto had developed his Demon Mode specifically because the Zone was too unreliable—too difficult to fully control.
"Either way, right now it's all on Kagami!"
The only thing that could counter the Zone was another Zone.
Yuuto's Demon Mode was a special case—rarer than the Zone itself. There probably wouldn't be a second person capable of it.
The good news? Kagami Taiga had the potential to enter the Zone.
The bad news? Actually getting there was incredibly difficult—like an internal journey of self-discovery.
On the court, Aomine's rampage continued.
He was like a tiger among sheep, elevating his game on both ends to a level that left the other nine players—including Kagami—in the dust.
In the blink of an eye, the deficit had ballooned back to 8 points—just one basket away from double digits.
Coach Aida Riko had no choice but to call a timeout.
She'd learned from experienced coaches like Yamazaki Shirou that timeouts were crucial in moments like these.
But what could she do?
What help could she possibly offer her team?
She'd called the timeout, but she had no idea how to stop this.
Once a game entered Zone territory, tactics became irrelevant.
Even championship coaches like Yamazaki and Shirogane Eiji had been helpless during the Seihō-Rakuzan game, simply waiting for Yuuto and Akashi to exit their states.
She was at a loss.
Tears of frustration welled up. They'd sacrificed their future for this moment—Kuroko's misdirection—
"Sorry, Coach. Please let me take on Aomine one-on-one from here."
Kagami stepped forward.
His expression was different from usual. Facing the seemingly invincible Aomine, his features were calm and composed.
Gone was the hot-headedness from the Inter-High.
He understood now. Seirin's hope rested on his shoulders. He was the team's best chance at victory.
"Do you think you can beat him?" Hyuuga asked.
"No." Kagami was honest. He genuinely had no confidence that he could defeat the current Aomine.
"Then why—"
"But I have to try! If I can't get past Aomine, we'll never have another chance to face Yuuto again."
His gaze was unwavering. In an arena of twenty thousand people, his eyes locked onto Yuuto in the upper deck.
That was the opponent Kagami wanted to defeat most!
That auburn-haired lion. That king of Seihō. The undisputed strongest in high school basketball.
"Yuuto, is he looking this way? It feels like he's staring at you."
"Who knows what he's looking at." Yuuto's expression didn't change.
He'd received countless such gazes, ever since his national championship two years ago.
After the timeout, Seirin put their faith in Kagami once again—Riko had no better options.
The result was brutal.
In just three seconds, Kagami was beaten. Aomine tore through Seirin's defense single-handedly.
The gap was back to double digits.
But Kagami had already tuned everything else out, repeating a mantra in his mind.
Push harder. Push harder!
His extraordinary focus made him gradually forget the arena around him.
The roar of the crowd faded away.
Then the cheers from his teammates on the bench.
His mind became a slideshow, faces flashing before him one after another.
First Kise. Then Midorima. Then Aomine and Akashi. Even Murasakibara Atsushi, whom he'd only met once, appeared.
But at the very end, his mind couldn't conjure Yuuto.
Instead, Yuuto appeared unbidden, standing before him like a demon lord, those crimson eyes boring into his soul.
That image—he couldn't shake it even after an entire summer.
But none of that mattered now.
Soon, his mind expelled all images of Yuuto and the others. Only Seirin remained—his teammates and all the moments they'd shared.
Then—
Crackle.
Crimson lightning burst from his eyes without warning.
Before anyone could prepare, Kagami Taiga had stepped into the Zone.
"He's in!" Akashi had sensed it coming, but seeing it happen before his eyes was still startling. "If that's the case..."
"The outcome is undecided."
Yuuto stood shoulder to shoulder with Akashi. At this point, even they couldn't predict the result.
"Kagami's in!" Kise was first shocked, then his expression shifted to one of anticipation.
Beast against beast.
Zone versus Zone.
Without question, these two were among the strongest high schoolers in the country.
Both had the talent to challenge Yuuto for the throne.
Slap.
Caught off guard, Aomine had his dribble stripped, the ball sailing out of bounds.
In that instant, the entire arena's atmosphere shifted. A palpable chill descended.
And then—
A clash of titans in another dimension began.
Blue lightning and crimson lightning intertwined endlessly. Aomine and Kagami engaged in a fierce duel that pushed them both further.
Tactics. Teamwork.
None of it mattered now.
In the Zone, both players were operating on a plane far above the other eight. Their offensive and defensive speeds were so fast that no one else could intervene—not even Kuroko.
"Unless they can bring their teammates into the Zone with them."
As Kasamatsu said this, his eyes involuntarily drifted toward Yuuto and Akashi in the upper deck.
More terrifying than the Zone, of course, was the team-oriented Zone.
Aomine, Kagami, even his own ace Kise—
At best, they were individual players. They only had to deal with one opponent.
But those two were different. While reaching their own peak, they could also help their teammates unlock their potential.
He couldn't help but turn to ask, "Kise, can you do that?"
"I'm not sure. Probably? Through copying my senpai, I should be able to make those kinds of ultimate passes too. But..."
"But what?"
"I don't have eyes like Yuuto or Akashi."
Kise had long considered whether he could achieve a team-oriented Zone.
But he'd eventually realized that even if he could, he'd still struggle against Seihō and Rakuzan.
He didn't possess those eyes—the ones that could see the future of the entire court, or see the inevitable outcomes that couldn't be changed.
The Demon Eyes.
"Even so, it should be enough to match up against the other kings."
...
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