Chapter 132: Game Over
"Honestly, I never imagined Touou would be this thoroughly outplayed." Ikegami Ryoji shook his head. "When we faced them, the score never opened up to double digits the whole game, did it?"
"No," Koshino Hiroaki agreed.
Touou's strength was never just Aomine Daiki. But looking at what was happening on the floor, it seemed like outside of Aomine, Touou was losing every single matchup against Rakuzan.
"Then again, Akashi plays the most complete version of basketball among all the Generation of Miracles." Yagami Sorato kept his eyes on the court. Right now the game looked like five individuals against a real team, and it showed. On both ends, Touou was playing with one hand tied behind their back.
"But Touou should have more than this." Sendoh Akira studied the Touou players with a slow, measuring look. If this was all they had, Ryonan wouldn't have lost to them.
"Yeah. Aomine's the type who gets sharper as the game goes on," Yagami said, agreeing with Sendoh's read. "And the rest of Touou's guys have definitely been growing too."
On the court, Touou offense.
"I'd love to tell everyone to just take it easy," Imayoshi said, pushing the ball up the floor, "but watching the other side play with that kind of confidence is getting old."
Before Akashi could get his defense set, Imayoshi fired the ball left.
"Hmm? He's passing without a screen? Without getting open first?" Mibuchi Reo looked genuinely puzzled. "That kid has no way of shaking me on his own, does he?"
Sakurai Ryo caught the ball and immediately went straight up into Mibuchi's contest, no hesitation, no setup.
"Hah?!" Mibuchi was so caught off guard he was late even on his defensive reaction.
Catch it and shoot? No dribble, no adjustment?
You'd have to be reckless to pull the trigger like that. Touou's center hadn't even posted up yet. This was chaos, not basketball—
"There's no way that goes in."
SWISH.
Three points.
Touou 30, Rakuzan 37.
"I see. You believe in gambling with your offense?" Akashi studied Sakurai without surprise. Shots like that were always going to drop sometimes. But not every time. Never consistently.
"I think you may have misunderstood something," Imayoshi said. "How exactly does a first-year become a starter on Touou just because he releases the ball a little faster?"
"Don't let that timid face fool you. On the wing, behind the arc, that kid is absolutely ruthless."
"Sakurai is the type who rises to the moment. The bigger the stage, the more he wants it."
"If it's a shooting battle, I'm not losing to anyone," Sakurai said, lips pressed together, staring at the defender in front of him. "I refuse to be out-shot. That's just who I am."
"Oh?" Mibuchi reached up and brushed the hair out of his face. "Saying things like that makes you a lot less cute, you know."
Transition. Rakuzan offense.
Mibuchi positioned himself on the left and called for the ball. Akashi tossed it over without ceremony.
Susa Yoshinori locked onto Mibuchi the moment he caught it, ready to contest the shot and nothing else.
Mibuchi raised the ball. Susa flinched, the memory of the last foul still fresh, and chose to keep his arm high rather than go for the block.
Mibuchi pulled up and released immediately.
SWISH.
Three points.
Touou 30, Rakuzan 40.
"Beautiful shot! Mibuchi fires back with a precision three of his own!"
Transition. Touou offense.
Sakurai came off Susa's screen and caught the ball in rhythm, going up in one motion.
SWISH.
"Sakurai with a quick-release three and Touou responds right back!"
Touou 33, Rakuzan 40.
Transition. Rakuzan offense.
Mibuchi caught it, jumped, and Susa seemed to find his timing this time, rising to meet him.
"Won't work."
Mibuchi drifted back just slightly in the air, composure intact, and released the ball over Susa's outstretched fingers at the very top of his arc.
"He's got it again!"
Touou 33, Rakuzan 43.
"Amazing! This is practically a three-point duel!" Hikoichi's eyes were shining, locked onto both shooters like he was burning the image into his memory. This was exactly the kind of player he was chasing.
"But the gap isn't actually closing." Ikegami frowned. "Are they just planning to trade threes all quarter?"
"Both sides have been backed into a corner by the situation on the floor," Yagami said. "The gap hasn't moved, but I think Rakuzan actually hates this more than Touou does."
"Touou was surviving on Aomine alone before Sakurai stepped up. Now there's another voice in the room. Rakuzan can't just end the duel outright—that would feel like running away, and it would hurt both the team's confidence and the shooter's rhythm."
Hikoichi's fist tightened at his side. He hadn't forgotten. The three that nearly ripped Ryonan's heart out in the Kanto finals had come off Sakurai Ryo's hands.
"For both of them, whoever blinks first loses the battle," Sendoh said, leaning forward now, more absorbed in the game than he'd been in a while. He'd been finding himself drawn deeper into basketball in a way that surprised even him lately.
Not a bad thing, though.
"Who's going to hold on longer, I wonder..."
SWISH.
"He got it again!"
"Another one?!"
"How many is that now?"
"I think that's four!"
"SAKURAI! SAKURAI! SAKURAI!"
Touou 39, Rakuzan 46.
Transition. Rakuzan offense.
Mibuchi received the ball and tried to earn the same and-one sequence again, using a shot fake to draw Susa into the air. Susa didn't take the bait this time. Unfazed, Mibuchi stepped into his pull-up jumper without any change in expression.
As long as he controlled the tempo and could move between his different shot types freely, no one was stopping him.
Mibuchi released with full confidence—
CRACK.
"?!"
Susa hadn't touched it. The man who slapped the ball out of the air had come from the side.
Imayoshi Shoichi.
Sakurai grabbed the loose ball and pushed in transition. This was the moment. If Touou converted here, the gap came down to five.
"Thwack!"
"What—?!"
Akashi Seijuro materialized at Touou's three-point line and stripped the ball out of Sakurai's hands cleanly from the front.
"Your little game is over."
Sakurai turned and sprinted back. Imayoshi came racing to the arc.
Akashi raised the ball without expression and sent it sailing the length of the floor.
The ball traveled its long arc—
"Ah—"
SWISH.
Dead center.
Touou 39, Rakuzan 49.
"Incredible! After Mibuchi's three gets blocked, Akashi steals the ball back and drills an unreasonable three of his own to keep Rakuzan's run alive!"
Beep.
"Touou Academy calling timeout."
Over the past three and a half minutes, Rakuzan had made five three-pointers: Mibuchi four-for-five, Akashi one-for-one. Touou had answered with four: Sakurai four-for-four.
But the gap was back to ten.
"I'm sorry." Sakurai's voice was tight. If he had made a smarter decision just then and found Imayoshi or Aomine instead of pushing alone, maybe everything looked different right now.
"Sakurai." Aomine dropped a single hand on his shoulder. "When did you get this arrogant?"
"Huh? I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"You don't need to apologize," Imayoshi said, wiping the sweat off his face. His expression had improved considerably since the break. "Aomine's complimenting you."
"What?"
"Right, Aomine?"
"Tch." Aomine grabbed Sakurai's head and ruffled it, then shoved him off like he was done with him. "Thanks to you, I was about to fall asleep out there."
"Ha ha ha! Those shots were unreal, Sakurai!" Wakamatsu bellowed.
"Thanks, senpai." Sakurai rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed.
"Alright, social hour's done." Coach Harasawa put the board in front of them. "Less than three minutes left in the second quarter. From here, everything goes through Aomine on offense."
"Everyone else, put everything you have into defense."
"We've seen enough of Hayama and Mibuchi now. Don't let them get comfortable looks."
"The goal isn't just to hold the line. We cut into this gap before halftime. Am I clear?"
"YES!"
Timeout over. Back to play.
Touou ball. Imayoshi went directly to Susa on the right, and as Mayuzumi rotated back, the ball moved again to Aomine.
"Trying to use that angle to get Aomine free from the double-team?"
BOOM.
Aomine exploded off the catch with one hard dribble and blew past Mayuzumi into the paint, releasing a running floater before Nebuya could get there.
SWISH.
Two points, clean.
Touou 41, Rakuzan 49.
Transition. Rakuzan offense.
Hayama called for the ball on the right wing again.
"Same move won't work on me twice." Aomine's weight settled low, his eyes locked, his defense dialed in tighter than before.
Hayama said nothing. He started working the ball through his legs, rhythm fast and crisp. Then he jabbed hard right. Aomine shuffled to cut it off.
CRACK.
Hayama used the jab as a fake, pulling the ball back and stepping behind into a pull-up jumper from one step inside the three-point line, creating just enough separation.
"Tch!"
Aomine jumped to contest. His fingertips almost grazed the ball.
MISS.
The ball hammered the back of the rim and bounced high.
"Rebound!" Wakamatsu and Nebuya collided in the paint.
"Get out of my way!"
Wakamatsu fought for position and pulled the ball down.
Touou pushed in transition.
Wakamatsu found Aomine immediately. Aomine caught and ran. Hayama tried to stay attached, but Aomine shook him with a single rhythm change and was gone.
He crossed midcourt, speed building, and no one could close.
Aomine stepped in one step behind the free-throw line and left the ground. His body stretched to full length. One hand brought the ball over and drove it down through the rim.
BOOM.
A dunk that shook the backboard and ignited the Touou cheering section.
Touou 43, Rakuzan 49.
Six points. The gap was closing.
Transition. Rakuzan offense.
Akashi brought it up without urgency, face unreadable. Rakuzan spread into their formation.
Hayama knew he wasn't getting another isolation in this game. Not tonight. He read the moment and accepted it.
Rakuzan began to move.
Using Mayuzumi's screen, Hayama cut hard to the basket. Akashi's pass split through Touou's defense at exactly the right instant and found Hayama's hands as he arrived at the rim.
Hayama caught and went straight up.
"Don't underestimate us!"
Wakamatsu roared and stepped up to block. His huge palm came chopping toward the ball like an axe.
Hayama felt it coming and twisted in the air, pulling into a high-difficulty reverse layup to dodge the contest. But Aomine had already rotated from the wing, and with nowhere left to adjust, Hayama's release came out completely off. The ball crashed off the backboard.
"The hell!"
The paint turned into a war.
Nebuya used raw strength to seal Susa out and ripped the offensive rebound down.
Second chance.
Nebuya landed and never stopped moving. He put one hard dribble into the floor, used his shoulder to pry Susa back, and went up for the putback slam.
THWACK.
Aomine's timing was perfect. He got his hand on the ball before Nebuya could finish and knocked it away cleanly.
But the play wasn't dead.
The ball skipped out to the three-point line where Mibuchi Reo controlled it. No hesitation. Catch, bend the knees, rise, release. The whole sequence was elegant and unhurried.
Sakurai flung himself at the shot. He didn't even get close.
SWISH.
Another three, dead center.
Touou 43, Rakuzan 52.
Transition. Touou offense.
Imayoshi wasted no time and cleared the ball to the right. Mayuzumi tried to slide in and trap. Aomine read it one beat early, took the handoff after Susa's screen, and turned the corner into his mid-range pull-up.
SWISH.
Two points.
Touou 45, Rakuzan 52.
Transition. Rakuzan offense.
Akashi held the ball at the top of the key and managed the clock, preparing for the final possession of the half. He called his teammates wide, looking like he intended to finish the quarter himself.
Touou seemed to anticipate exactly that. Aomine and Imayoshi switched assignments, and it was Aomine who stepped up to guard Akashi.
Their first true one-on-one matchup.
Akashi was unruffled. He stood at the arc and dribbled slowly, waiting. When the shot clock reached eight seconds, he suddenly cut loose, a quick crossover step trying to force past Aomine's left.
Aomine's lateral burst shut the path immediately.
Akashi chained a behind-the-back dribble and changed direction smoothly.
Aomine's weight shifted in response, and his body fell back.
"Even Aomine—?!"
Akashi saw the opening and accelerated, one step slipping past Aomine—
Aomine planted his right hand on the floor, stabilizing himself in an instant. His left arm cut back toward the ball.
Akashi's lips curved just slightly. His wrist turned, sending the ball through his own legs to the opposite side.
THUD.
Mayuzumi caught it in open space. He was free. Three seconds left. He rose to shoot.
SMACK.
A hand materialized and tore the ball away.
"IMAYOSHI!"
Two seconds.
Imayoshi spun and sprinted toward the Rakuzan basket.
One second.
He launched himself and used everything in him to heave the ball toward the far end.
Beep——
The second-quarter buzzer sounded.
"That guy. He always shows up at exactly the wrong time for the other team."
CRACK.
SWISH.
Bank shot. Good.
Touou 48, Rakuzan 52.
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