Chapter 131: I'll Just Say It Plainly
Beep.
"End of the first quarter!"
Touou 22, Rakuzan 26.
"Rakuzan leads by four after one quarter, but neither team has given an inch! The level of play on both ends has been extraordinary!"
"Aomine Daiki put up fourteen points on six of seven shooting in the opening period, while Akashi Seijuro contributed four points and six assists!"
Rakuzan bench.
"Good first quarter. The game is going according to plan." Head coach Shirogane Eiji spoke calmly. "No changes to the game plan for the second quarter. Handle the fine details based on your own reads. If adjustments are needed, follow Akashi's direction."
"Yes, sir." The players received the instruction without a flicker of concern on their faces.
Touou bench.
"That was mostly the two sides feeling each other out, but you should have a sense of Rakuzan's level by now." Coach Harasawa Katsunori leaned forward. "They are not a team you can beat by leaning on one player alone."
He looked at Aomine directly.
"Aomine. Akashi is holding back. You know that, don't you?"
"Obviously." Aomine's gaze drifted toward the Rakuzan bench, irritation plain on his face. "It's not just Akashi either. The whole bench is just lounging around like this is nothing."
"Right. But so are we." Coach Harasawa's voice sharpened. "Which is exactly why, starting now, we take the initiative. We go at them."
"YES!" Touou answered in unison.
Beep.
"Break's over. Second quarter, starting now!"
Both teams returned to the floor. Neither side made any substitutions.
"Hey. One thing." Before settling into position, Aomine glanced casually to his left. "Akashi isn't someone you can handle easily. If it gets bad, just let me deal with him."
Imayoshi Shoichi blinked. A look of genuine surprise crossed his face. "Well, that's rare. Are you actually worried about your teammates?"
"Don't flatter yourself." Aomine turned away. "I just don't want you dragging me down."
"Ha." Imayoshi's eyes narrowed into their familiar smile. "I'll do my best. Might take a little time though."
"Tch. Don't go falling on the floor again."
"Of course not."
Rakuzan ball. Akashi Seijuro brought it up unhurriedly, and Imayoshi moved out to meet him with his usual composure.
"Still planning to wear that insufferable smile?"
Akashi's voice was flat. His center of gravity sank, and he made what looked like a completely ordinary crossover, shifting the ball from his right hand to his left. But in that precise instant, Imayoshi's body moved as though pulled by invisible wire, his weight sliding a half-step to the right against his own will.
"Damn."
That tiny gap was all Akashi needed. He glided past Imayoshi's left side as if taking a leisurely stroll, cutting cleanly inside the arc.
"Rotate!" Imayoshi called the moment he lost his footing.
Akashi had gone two-for-two on mid-range shots in the first quarter. There was no way they could afford to let him walk into another clean look.
Sakurai Ryo came scrambling over from the left. Akashi's expression didn't change. Moving at full speed, he executed a quick behind-the-back dribble, his body angling as if to fire a pass toward the right corner.
Sakurai didn't bite. He held his ground.
But the ball actually did leave Akashi's hands from behind his back. It just didn't go to the corner. At a brutally sharp angle, it bounced through the gap beside Wakamatsu Kosuke and arrived perfectly into the hands of Nebuya Eikichi, who had cut hard to the basket.
BOOM.
A thunderous two-handed slam. Nebuya hung on the rim and let out a roar, the muscles in his arms coiled tight.
Touou 22, Rakuzan 28.
Transition. Touou on offense.
Imayoshi pushed the ball up and, without any intention of challenging Akashi's defense himself, surveyed his teammates and fed the ball to Aomine on the wing.
"Not yet."
Aomine caught it. Hayama Kotaro was in front of him again, that wide grin still plastered on his face despite everything.
"Come on, one-on-one! Let's go!" The fighting spirit burning behind Hayama's eyes was real. Akashi had given him exactly one offensive and one defensive opportunity, and if he still couldn't find a single answer for Aomine, Rakuzan's defensive scheme would be shifting early.
Aomine didn't waste words. He dropped his weight hard toward the left front and exploded through a crossover in an instant burst of speed.
The arena felt it before anyone processed it.
Hayama's heart lurched. Aomine was even faster than the first quarter. Hayama was already pushing his lateral quickness close to its ceiling, and this first step still arrived ahead of his read.
He dug in and scrambled to stay in front.
But Aomine wasn't done. The moment Hayama fought to recover, Aomine chained a smooth behind-the-back pull, bringing the ball back to his right while his body sold an unmistakably convincing shot fake.
Hayama got caught. His weight shifted upward.
Aomine snapped it back and blew past him like a shadow, heading straight for the paint.
"I've got him!" Nebuya Eikichi stepped up, his massive frame filling the lane like a wall. Against anyone inside, he would not back down.
Aomine didn't flinch. If anything, his eyes lit up. He took off one step inside the free-throw line, body fully extended, right hand raising the ball high above him.
"Don't get cute!" Nebuya exploded upward to block, both palms sweeping like a thunderclap.
At the last moment, Aomine's body folded in the air in a way that defied comprehension, threading underneath Nebuya's armpit. His wrist snapped. The ball rolled off his fingertips with backspin toward the glass.
CRACK.
SWISH.
Bank shot. Good.
Touou 24, Rakuzan 28.
The arena erupted.
"Unbelievable! Completely defying gravity! Aomine answers Rakuzan's team basketball with another jaw-dropping individual play!"
"Simply a monster. No wonder my brother never stopped worrying about him." On the Rakuzan bench, Shirogane Eiji's smile faded, replaced by a gravity he had not worn until this moment. That combination of speed and technique just then was something else entirely.
"Kotaro." Akashi's tone was unchanged. "You have one more offensive possession." He said nothing about Aomine's score. It appeared to register no reaction in him whatsoever.
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Hayama shook himself loose. "I'm going all five fingers this time!"
Transition. Rakuzan offense.
Rather than running a set, Akashi pushed into the frontcourt and immediately swung the ball to the right.
"Hey, Aomine!" Hayama caught it and started hammering the floor. "You've been the one putting on a show. My turn now."
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Courtside spectators picked up on it immediately. Hayama's dribble was different. Louder, faster, almost violent in its rhythm.
"Boring." Aomine clicked his tongue and dropped into his stance. His arms spread wide, covering an enormous arc of space. His eyes locked onto every micro-movement Hayama made.
Hayama worked his footwork in small, probing bursts, searching for a crease. Then suddenly he detonated right, the jab step so exaggerated and explosive it stirred the air.
Aomine's defensive instinct pulled his weight a fraction in that direction.
But Hayama never went right. His right foot planted, his body pitched hard to the left, and his left hand hammered the ball out to that side.
"Left!" Aomine's read was instant. His terrifying lateral burst fired, and he sealed the driving lane shut.
THUD.
Both bodies collided, muscle on muscle, the impact producing a dense, hollow crack. Hayama's momentum stalled hard against Aomine's wall.
But the attack wasn't finished.
Pinned against Aomine's chest, Hayama used the force of the collision itself to plant his left foot and pivot. His core held him upright. In one fluid motion he completed a full three-sixty spin, the ball staying glued to his palm through the entire rotation and tracing a perfect arc.
"He's through!" The stands erupted.
Aomine recovered instantly, spinning to chase. One step, and he was almost shoulder to shoulder again, long arm reaching back to block or deflect.
But Hayama's second step went into another gear entirely, a sudden acceleration like a leopard breaking from a crouch, and he was at the rim.
"What—"
Wakamatsu had never once considered the possibility that Aomine might get beaten. He leaped late, scrambling to contest.
Hayama didn't slow down. One step inside the free-throw line and he was airborne. Ball raised high in his right hand, he went straight into the defense. His core locked against the contact and he held himself suspended for a fraction of a second before driving the ball down through the rim with everything he had.
BOOM.
Touou 24, Rakuzan 30.
"Huh." For the first time in the game, something resembling genuine interest settled on Aomine's face. There was even a trace of excitement, the kind that only surfaces when someone gives him something to actually think about. "Didn't expect to run into two guys like this."
"Interesting."
Transition. Touou offense.
Imayoshi pushed up the court. Aomine called for it on the right. He had just been scored on. That wasn't something he let stand.
Imayoshi delivered the pass. In the same moment, Rakuzan's coverage shifted, and Hayama Kotaro and Mayuzumi Chihiro dropped into a double-team on Aomine.
"I knew you were waiting for this." Akashi addressed Imayoshi directly, his tone completely unruffled. "But what does it matter."
"I'll just say it plainly."
"Outside of Aomine, the rest of you aren't even close to our level."
Aomine worked between the two defenders, quick and slippery. Hayama clung to him without surrendering a centimeter. Mayuzumi covered every gap, plugging any seam toward the basket.
Aomine forced a shot from an awkward angle. It clanged off the rim.
Nebuya used his leverage and muscled Wakamatsu off the glass, snatching the rebound cleanly and firing it immediately to Akashi on the perimeter.
Rakuzan in transition.
"Akashi, watch out!"
As Akashi turned to push, Aomine closed hard. The two of them were sprinting side by side now, their first direct confrontation at full speed.
Aomine drove his body into Akashi, using his size and momentum. Akashi's frame couldn't match that force, and his pace noticeably dropped, but the ball moved as though magnetized to his hand, no wobble, no sign of breaking loose.
THUD.
A razor-sharp between-the-legs switch, right hand to left, Akashi simultaneously redirecting his entire body.
Aomine's weight had already committed the wrong way. He overshot, stumbled, and lost his balance.
"Even Aomine—?!"
Akashi accelerated again, stepping past Aomine cleanly—
Aomine planted his right hand on the floor. His left arm cut back toward the ball.
Akashi's mouth curved, barely perceptible. His wrist flicked, sending the ball through his own legs to the other side.
THUD.
Mayuzumi caught the bounce pass in open space. The lane in front of him was clear.
Three seconds left. Mayuzumi went straight up to shoot.
SMACK.
A large hand came down on the ball and stripped it clean.
"IMAYOSHI!"
Two seconds.
Imayoshi turned and sprinted toward the Rakuzan end.
One second.
He jumped. He used every last thing left in him and launched the ball toward the far basket.
Beep——
The second-quarter buzzer sounded.
"Almost forgot about that guy. He always seems to find a way at moments like this."
CRACK.
SWISH.
Bank shot. Good.
Touou 48, Rakuzan 52.