章 136: Chapter 136 : Zone vs Perfect Copy!
*BAAAAAM!*
"Oh! It is another dunk from Aomine!"
"Goddamnit! It is like he got stronger every time he threw a dunk! He is not a human!"
"Hey! The ball is alive again! It is Kise!"
*Splash!*
"OOOOH!!!"
"He replied with another super long shoot three!"
"This is not the level of a high school basketball anymore! They played like a pro!"
Among the excited chatter that exploded in the audience seat, the players from Seirin also stood up, trying to get a better sight of the court.
"They are moving so fast!" Koganei exclaimed with a dumbfounded face. "I cannot follow their movements at all!"
Kagami could only clench his fist as for the first time, he finally saw how wide the gap between him and the Generation of Miracles is. Hell, even Kise who he was proud to beat in the past had already moved on and evolved into the next level, leaving him further into the dust.
"Did Aomine just enter that state?" Kiyoshi suddenly asked, gaining the attention of his teammates. They looked at each other with wide eyes, realizing that what Kiyoshi said made sense. Even though they don't know a lot about the zone, Alex and Furihata have been hinting about its existence several times, so they know what Kiyoshi refers to.
"You are right, Teppei!" Riko nodded solemnly. "He is getting faster and sharper than in the first half, and you can see Kaijo players who were close to him tensed up way more than normal. And I don't know how to explain, but his state was quite different compared to Furuhata's when we played against Yosen."
"Really?!"
"Yeah." Instead of Riko, it was Kuroko who confirmed her words. "I don't know what is the difference, but I feel Aomine-kun's state is way more intense than Furihata's." The others were dumbfounded at the new info they received, couldn't quite proceed with that inside his mind.
"Wait a second!" Koganei suddenly interrupted before the others could say anything, his eyes widened in realization. "If Kise could still match Aomine in this state, how scary is he right now?!"
Silence suddenly dropped among the Seirin players, as they looked at each other in a horror expression. No words could describe their feeling right now. The opponent that they managed to beat once in the past now flies higher than they thought, leaving them far behind. Kagami and Kuroko clenched their fists in frustration, as their eyes were locking into the blonde.
'Kise-kun, your improvement is far beyond my expectations, and yet you are still able to move higher. How could we try to catch up with you?'
----------------
Back to the court, Kasamatsu patted Kise's back softly, looking at him with a worried face.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, don't worry about it, Captain." Kise waved his hand nonchalantly, dismissing Kasamatsu's concern. "I have been preparing myself for this confrontation since I joined Teiko's basketball team. There is no way I would drop here, especially when we are still on the lead."
Kasamatsu observed Kise's expression once more time, frowned at the sweats that drenched his jersey.
'He sweats too much. If things didn't change, he wouldn't last for the entire game. We need to use our timeout carefully.'
In fact, it was not only him who thought about that. Takeuchi Genta, his head coach also thinks the same. However, this was not the right time to do that. Kise is still having the initiative against Aomine and he could see Tōō players still not used to Aomine's state. If he stopped the play right now, not only their momentum would be gone, but it would also give Tōō players time to adapt to the situation.
That's why when he saw the silent request from Kasamatsu, Takeuchi Genta shook his head slightly, signaling the captain to be more patient.
'Tch.' Kasamatsu clicked his tongue in annoyance. 'I hope we won't regret this decision.'
Since there was no timeout called by both teams, the game restarted again with the ball back on Aomine's hand. The electricity in his eyes was intensified, sparking even stronger than before. And in a blink, he started to drive forward, trying to get past Kise's defense.
'Not going to happen, Aominecchi!'
Kise followed his movement flawlessly, not giving Aomine any leverage. However, Aomine is not worried about that. With his zone state, he believes he could create his own space even against the best defender in the world. When Kise's hand is about to reach the ball, he pulled out a rapid succession of spins, handling the ball with perfect care.
Kise's eyes tried the hardest to track Aomine's movement and counter-measured it, as did his body. For a while, it looks like one player danced in front of a mirror, as the shadow of Aomine could be seen behind Kise. The other players could only witness the scene with mouths gaped wide, several of them slapped their own faces to reassure themselves they were not dreaming.
However, it didn't last long. After more than 10 seconds of dancing and fooling around, Aomine suddenly sped up, leaving Kise behind. The blonde boy still tried his best to follow Aomine, but it was clear he fell one step behind. And to add the salt into the wound, Aomine didn't execute the play directly, but took a quick crossover and step back move to snap Kise's ankle.
'GODDAMNIT!'
This time, Kise's perfect copy and super reflex backfired on him, as it was the main cause of him to react instinctively. The moment he fell onto the floor, he raised his head slightly, just to find out Aomine still had time to smirk at him before pulling up a normal mid-range jumper.
*Splash!*
Another two points for Aomine!
"He is getting faster!" Kagami shouted in astonishment. "Kise couldn't catch up with him!"
"It was quite different than what he did against us, right?" Koganei asked hesitantly. "I mean, I am sure that game was not this intense, right?"
"You are right." Riko nodded. "When he entered this state against us, it was just to amuse Furihata-kun. But this time, he met an equal opponent. That's why he looks way more powerful than in the past."
Hearing that, all of Seirin's players fell into silence, looking at the tanned-skinned boy on the court with ugly faces. If this was his best state, how could they take revenge against him?
"Is this Aomine's full power?" Kuroko suddenly muttered. "Or could he be more powerful, just like Kise before?"
The other players tried to ignore Kuroko's words, not wanting to get more depressed. They decided to put their attention back on the court, as the game was restarted again with the ball back in Kise's hand.
Kise took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. After receiving the humiliating ankle breaker before, the only thing he wanted to do was rush in and send a retaliate attack. However, when the image of his senpai looking at him with hope in their eyes while reassuring him, he shook his head and threw away that retaliate attack thought inside his mind.
'Right now, I am not just playing for myself anymore. As the ace of the team, I carried the hope of the other players. I cannot be reckless.'
After his mind is calm enough, he starts to think of a way to attack. At first, he wanted to do the exact same as he did before, with the super long three to throw Aomine off guard. However, his former teammate had already known that trick, sticking into him since his own area.
Receiving the full-court pressure from Aomine, Kise gritted his teeth, driving forward forcefully. Before he reached the half-court line, Kasamatsu arrived there first, ready to set a screen for him. Using his captain as a wall, he sped up with an incredible acceleration, trying to leave Aomine behind.
"Don't think it would be that easy, Kise!"
Using his agility, Aomine avoided Kasamatsu's craftily before chasing Kise down again. However, even though Kasamatsu couldn't hold Aomine for more than one second, it was enough for the blonde to think of his next action.
Kise passed the ball toward Moriyama on the wing side before asking quickly for the ball again.
"Senpai!"
The quick signal Kise sends is enough for Moriyama to understand the blonde's intention. He handed the ball back to Kise and set up another quick screen to give enough space for Kise to take a shoot. Facing another wall again, Aomine clicked his tongue in annoyance before he sped up once again, trying to close the distance.
When he is confident he could reach Kise's shooting range, he jumped at the same time with Kise who was about to pull up a shoot. However, even though they both were on the air, the ball didn't fly from Kise's hand.
'What the hell?!'
At first, Aomine didn't know what was going on. But as his mind recalled everything from the beginning, he realized that the pass from Moriyama was a fake. Kise didn't receive the ball, and he only acted as bait to attract Aomine away.
'Damn! I put all my focus on him and forget about his teammates!'
To be honest, it was not Aomine's fault. After provoking Kise in the last play, he thought the blonde would attack him head-on. The only mistake he committed is thinking of Kise's next action based on what he would do. If it was him, the thought of passing or giving up the ball to his teammates would never cross his mind.
'Well, I am not Aominecchi! I have reliable teammates here, and I will not hesitate to pass the ball to them!'
The ball which was still in Moriyama's hand moved directly to Kasamatsu behind the three-point line who caught it and let it fly without hesitation. Even though the speed release was not that fast, since nobody expects the ball would fall into the other Kaijo players except Kise, it gave Kasamatsu enough time and space to execute the ball flawlessly.
*Splash!*
"YOSSSHAAAAA!!!!"
"Nice three, Captain!"
"Let's go! Keep it up, Kaijo!"
All of the players with blue jerseys celebrated with their captain before going back. Even though they were in the lead and had the momentum, they didn't dare to slack off, especially after seeing Aomine keep getting faster. Even Kise thought that if Moriyama handed him the ball, with his last jump, Aomine would be able to stop him.
'Damn! If he gets faster than that, I won't be able to touch him! I need to step up my game!'
The next couple minutes were spent by both teams attacking each other back and forth with Aomine and Kise standing up as their aces. As he goes deeper into the zone, Aomine would always come up with a crazy play that Kise couldn't stop, and as a retaliation, Kise would use all of his teammates to stretch out the floor and avoid Aomine's defense.
At this point, the difference between both teams could also be seen with the naked eye. While Tōō players are not that bad, they are so used to facing tired opponents after exploiting Aomine's one-man play. But now, facing the opponent who stood in equal ground, they were thrown off guard and had a hard time catching up with the rest of the Kaijo players.
Kaijo really shows that even though Tōō had Aomine, they are still the title contender team, and there is no chance they would be defeated that easily.
However, this state didn't last long, as two minutes before the third quarter ended, Aomine's speed suddenly increased again, and this time, even Kise found himself cornered, and couldn't stop the sudden explosive movement from his former teammate. He tried anticipating Aomine's move and using his body to cut off the drive. However, out of a sudden, all he could see was the rooftop of the gym, as Aomine finally succeeded in overpowering him in a strength contest.
Everything seemed to freeze as all the players saw Kise fall to the ground. However, Kasamatsu and Kobori showed their experiences as veterans by reacting first, placing themselves below the basket. When they saw Aomine jump straight to the basket, they did the same in the hope they could stop the dunk. It doesn't matter if this would end up with a foul, but if Aomine was able to execute the dunk, it would hurt the morale of the team, especially after seeing Kise getting overpowered.
Their process of thought is correct. Unfortunately, they lack the strength to back it up, as even the two of them were overpowered by Aomine in the air, and a second later,
*BAAAAAAAMMMM!!*
Kobori and Kasamatsu followed Kise to the ground, watching Aomine hanging on the rim helplessly. And to make it worse, a second later, the referee blew its whistle, signaling for a shooting foul.
"Kaijo High #4 personal shooting foul. One free throw for Tōō Academy #5!"
Silence descended on the gym for a moment before the audience saw Aomine clenched his fists into the air, celebrating the play. And right after that, cheers broke from everywhere, as Aomine's name was echoed through the entire building.
Kise who is still on the ground stares at the tanned-skin boy blankly, and for the first time since his perfect copy has evolved into the new height, he doubts his ability to keep up with Aomine.
'If he keeps getting faster and stronger, will this perfect copy be enough to stop him?'
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Author note :
If you want to support me more, you can visit my Patreon page on patreon(.)com/ZetaFaes
You can read this fanfiction up to chapter 156 on that page. Also, you can read my other fanfiction, Diamond no Ace: The Prince of Hitter up to chapter 17 too.
Thank you! :)
-Zeta Faes-
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