Chapter 116: Finals : #13
Akashi approached the three-point arc, this time, he wasn't going to pass, and was going to score on his own.
Shun immediately got in Akashi's range and got into a low defensive position, his eyes locked onto Akashi, looking out for any movement made by Akashi.
Emperor-Eyes came to life inside Akashi's eyes as he looked for the information to formulate the best way to pass Shun.
Akashi locked on to the future and began his move.
Akashi had his left forward and the right on the backfoot, he passed the ball between his legs and then squared his legs towards Shun and once again proceeded to pass the ball between his legs.
Just as Akashi started the motion for the second between the leg dribble, Shun tipped the ball at the most vulnerable moment, when Akashi had squared his legs and didn't have much choice with moving the ball.
Akashi's eyes widened as he felt the ball escape his hands.
Akashi: 'He targeted the gap between two moves.'
Shun ran around Akashi and got control of the ball.
Midorima was behind Akashi for defense against the steal.
Shun looked at him, and changed his direction to move away from him, and made his way to the basket.
Shun: 'Scoring against him at the basket will be easier.'
Midorima was a guard and had worked on his defensive skills, so when he saw Shun moving away from him and making his way to the basket, he didn't chase Shun and took a direct route to the basket.
Midorima and Shun reached the basket at the same time.
Shun held the ball in his right hand with a strong grip and jumped for a dunk.
Midorima read the motion and jumped for blocking the dunk, but he was shocked when he saw Shun, who had got into jump motion, hadn't actually jumped.
Shun had delayed his jump and jumped late for making Midorima's block attempt redundant.
Shun ascended for the dunk, while Midorima was descending from his failed block. Shun dunked the ball and gained praise from a lot of people.
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Commentator A: "That was an unusual move by Kageyama-kun. A delayed jump-fake. I haven't seen that a lot in the Dee."
Commentator B: "Due to the inside area cluttered with players, a jump-fake would be a bad move, but in this situation where there were only two players at the basket this move was a great choice."
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Shun's onslaught continued, and he kept on dominating.
Shun ran through the court with the ball in his possession.
Kise was running beside him, trying to pressure him.
Shun ran without care towards the inside area.
-*-*-*-
Kuroko looked at Shun and saw the direction he was heading.
His eyes widened as he saw him heading straight to Murasakibara.
Kuroko: "Kageyama-kun is heading straight towards Murasaskibara-kun with Kise-kun on his tail."
Shirogane too frowned as he looked at Shun.
-*-*-*-
Shun stopped a little distance from Murasakibara and immediately pulled up for a mid-range jump shot.
Murasakibara and Kise immediately jumped for shot contesting.
Shun brought the ball down in a pump-fake and ran away the encirclement of Kise and Murasakibara.
Shun: "Bye-Bye."
Shun drove to the basket leaving behind the two of his defenders.
Midorima was next in line, positioned at the basket.
This time Shun didn't do a fake and directly jumped for a dunk.
Midorima also jumped for the dunk and said.
Midorima: "Don't underestimate me!"
Shun winded-up his arm, with a grunt he brought it down to the basket with force.
Midorima's hand was pushed aside by the force of the dunk.
Midorima: "Urgh!"
-*-*-*-
Shirogane looked at Shun from Teiko's bench and thought.
Shirogane: 'What aggressiveness!'
Satsuki was worried about her team, but she calmly assessed the situation. She turned to her coach and said.
Satsuki: "Coach at this rate..."
Shirogane nodded while keeping his eyes locked on Shun.
Shirogane: "Yes, I think the situation will continue until the end of the quarter."
He sighed and spoke.
Shirogane: "Let's hope our team would be able to keep the point-gap from widening."
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Shun was outside the three-point arc with the ball in his possession. In front of him, Akashi stood ready to block him.
Shun had a plan in his mind to score for this play.
He looked at Akashi and made his move.
On Akashi's side, the Emperor-Eyes activated to see into the future.
Shun pulled a stiff-leg crossover to the right, but Akashi, who saw the future didn't fall for it and immediately closed for when Shun would pull back.
Shun smiled, and with his right leg as the pivot, he spun and was now ahead of Akashi.
Akashi was stunned once again. This time he didn't stop there and immediately moved for another attempt at defending.
He turned back to face Shun and saw Shun already mid-jump for a three-pointer.
He frowned as he tried to contest the shot, but he was too late.
That was Shun's plan, Akashi might be able to stop anyone mid-dribble, but because of his short height, Shun was sure that if he could make him delay, then Akashi wouldn't be able to reach the ball.
Shun released the ball at the highest point possible, and it followed the arc and dropped into the basket.
Shun turned to Akashi and said.
Shun: "You are correct when you say that my God-Speed Impulse is restricted by my body, but your Emperor-Eyes are also restricted.
You can't look into the future after a single move, can you?"
Akashi furrowed his brows at Shun's words. Shun put an indifferent face and said.
Shun: "Well, my skills are better than yours, so it doesn't matter if you could see further into the future."
Shun jogged away from Akashi. Akashi glanced back at Shun, and the usual cold look was now tinged with slight anger.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
It was the last play of the third quarter. Shun's aggressive playstyle had put Tokiwadai up by twenty-three points.
Shun looked at the time, and there wasn't much left. He straight away ran to the basket.
He ran away from Akashi to avoid a lengthy matchup to get past him.
Shun found an open spot to penetrate the inside, and he took it without any hesitation.
Shun, who had just stepped inside the three-point arc, stopped in his track.
Through his court vision, he saw Murasakibara approaching him from the front, Aomine from the left, and Akashi from the behind.
Shun frowned as he thought of the time remaining and three Generation Of Miracles approaching him in a possible triple-team.
Shun: 'What should I do?'
In less than a second worth of time, Shun thought of any way he could score the ball.
Shun: 'It would take a spin to pass Murasakibara, but then Aomine would catch up and then Murasakibara and Aomine would be on me.
Shooting from here would definitely get blocked.
If I move to the right, then Akashi and Aomine would catch up to me, and Murasakibara would be ready at the basket for the defense.
Pump-fake won't work on Akashi.
I can't drive, too little space.'
Shun's brain tried to think of a solution to the problem, and a conversation suddenly came to his mind.
-*-*-*-
It was a normal day of practice at the Tokiwadai basketball club, and the preliminaries were right around the corner.
Shun looked at Mibuchi and brought up his profile in his mind.
Shun: 'Mibuchi-san has gotten used to switching between the three-shot style of his.'
He looked at Mibuchi shooting from the three-point arc in his daily shooting practice.
He wanted to confirm something, so he approached Mibuchi.
Shun: "Mibuchi-san."
Mibuchi, who was picking a ball from the ball cage, turned to Shun and smiled.
Mibuchi: "Shun-chan~, what is it?"
Shun put up a serious expression and asked.
Shun: "How is the accuracy of all your shooting-styles going?"
Mibuchi felt the seriousness in Shun's tone and replied to the question.
Mibuchi: "The highest accuracy shot is the Heaven, I have a good grasp on that form.
The next is the Earth shot because I have to shoot while drawing in a foul, my accuracy fluctuates according to my position.
At last, is the void shot. I squat lower than usual, but after making the defender not able to jump for a block, I only have a little bit of force in my legs to jump.
I may have mastered the move to the degree that I can use in a real game, but it still would miss a lot at the three-point arc."
Shun took in the information and put up a question.
Shun: "Would you use them in a buzzer-beater situation?"
Mibuchi sighed and answered.
Mibuchi: "I would use Heaven shot during a buzzer-beater, Earth; if I am in a suitable position, but I won't use void shot during a buzzer-beater.
If you pass the ball to me during a buzzer-beater, then please do it when I am free."
-*-*-*-
Shun furrowed his brows and thought.
Shun: 'Things don't always go as planned in real life.
Screw it. Let's do this!'
He held the ball with both hands, and without looking in the direction, threw a fast-pass to the right.
While passing the ball, he yelled.
Shun: "VOID!"
-*-*-*-
No one was expecting Shun to pass the ball.
Akashi stopped in his path as he saw the ball move towards the right and Mibuchi catching it.
Akashi: 'He passed? There is no time for getting the ball back. He made sure that Mibuchi Reo had enough space to shoot when he passed the ball to him, but this time Midorima is ready to block him.
And, what did he mean by that shout?'
-*-*-*-
Mibuchi caught the ball, surprise coloring his face.
He was sure that Shun would play the last play of this quarter, where the momentum was at the highest on his own.
He wryly smiled as he understood Shun's intention with the pass and that shout.
Mibuchi: "Well, I can't disappoint my cute junior, can I?"
He smiled with his usual relaxed smile and faced Midorima.
-*-*-*-
Midorima, on the other hand, had a serious expression on his face.
Midorima: 'Kageyama made a mistake with this pass. Here is the perfect opportunity to stop Tokiwadai's momentum. I just need to block or even disrupt Mibuchi Reo's shot to put a stop to Tokiwadai momentum.'
-*-*-*-
Mibuchi bent his knees more than usual and got into his shooting form.
He locked his eyes on the basket and began the 'void' shot.
-*-*-*-
Midorima frowned when he saw Mibuchi pulling up for a simple jump-shot.
He scoffed and spoke.
Midorima: "Hmph, you just doomed this play."
He jumped for the shot contest, but as he raised himself, his knees locked and he wasn't able to jump.
Midorima's eyes widened as he saw Mibuchi jump and at how he was stuck on the ground.
Midorima: "Huh?"
Mibuchi jumped with the remaining power in his legs and shot the ball towards the basket.
Mibuchi: 'That felt nice.'
-*-*-*-
Shun smiled as he soon as he saw the ball leaving Mibuchi's hands.
Shun: "Perfect."
Shun's body, mind, and nerves relaxed as he saw the ball swishing into the net.
-
Shun chuckled as he looked at Aomine and Murasakibara's expression. He turned to glance at Akashi's face and saw a similar surprised expression.
His chuckle caught all three of their attention, and all of them turned to Shun, who spoke.
Shun: "Well, if you guys forgot, I am a point guard."
The three of them didn't reply as all of them had a single thought in their mind.
That if they wanted to win, they had to close a gap of twenty-six points and then score some more.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Tokiwadai lead by twenty-six points.
And, the score of the game was 96-70 in Tokiwadai's favor.
Things looked extremely difficult for Teiko Middle School at the end of the third quarter.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
FictionOnlyReader
FictionOnlyReader I know I said that there will be no chapter today, but here you go.
Now, there will be no chapter tomorrow.
The thing I had to do today got postponed to tomorrow.
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A wonderful play of teamwork by Shun.
A choice that surprised Teiko, and the 'other' Akashi.
Tell me what do you think about this chapter.
I wanted to add an ankle breaker in this chapter, but it slipped my mind.
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Just like always,
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