Chapter 159: Just Getting Started
"Despite holding the lead, they're proactively changing their rotation." Coach Shirogane studied Ryonan's bench where Coach Taoka stood with his arms crossed. "They really don't want to give us any chance to come back..."
"Reo, lock him down!" Coach Shirogane signaled toward the court with sharp hand gestures. "Even if it means going head-to-head, Rakuzan will never back down!"
Possession changed. Rakuzan's ball.
If it were Coach Shirogane calling the shots, he would never substitute in a player like Aida Hikoichi while holding a lead. Sure, after Hikoichi hit that three-pointer, he could help space the floor for Yagami Sorato and reduce the offensive pressure. That much was undeniable.
But Ryonan already had a defensive liability in Fukuda Kicchou on the court. Adding Hikoichi on top of that—in Coach Shirogane's eyes, this was simply a desperate attempt to barely maintain their offensive rhythm.
Akashi Seijuro shared the same assessment. Without hesitation, he fed the ball to Mibuchi Reo.
Seeing that his defender had switched from Ikegami Ryoji to Aida Hikoichi, Mibuchi felt an inexplicable sense of disappointment. If only he were matched up against Yagami Sorato or Sendoh Akira—these role players made it genuinely difficult to summon any competitive fire.
Hikoichi kept Coach Taoka's instructions foremost in his mind. Beyond the three-point line, he pressed tight against Mibuchi, denying him any space to rise and shoot.
"How utterly boring."
Mibuchi took one step back and pulled up immediately, rising for a dry jumper. His release point was so high that even without creating separation, Hikoichi had no realistic chance of contesting the shot.
But—
"Clang!"
The basketball rattled off the side of the rim and bounced away. No good!
"Rebound!!"
Uozumi Jun and Nebuya Eikichi battled in the paint, neither giving an inch.
Mayuzumi Chihiro crashed toward the basket, secured the rebound, and went back up for the putback—only to have Fukuda Kicchou fly in from the wing and swat the ball out of bounds!
"Tweet!" The referee signaled Rakuzan ball.
"Fukuda! Beautiful block!" Coach Taoka pumped his fist emphatically from the sideline.
Fukuda's expression remained blank as he locked his gaze on Mayuzumi. Though his defensive awareness could lapse at times, his exceptional athleticism and relentless effort occasionally produced these game-changing defensive plays.
Rakuzan inbounded from the sideline. Akashi received the pass. The shot clock was winding down.
"As expected—I shouldn't have even the slightest expectation for these guys."
A flash of light flickered through Akashi's eyes as he deliberately attacked into Sendoh Akira's defense.
"Here it comes?" Sendoh's focus sharpened.
Akashi executed rapid between-the-legs dribbles before suddenly accelerating to his right. Sendoh slid over to cut him off. Akashi immediately stopped on a dime, pulled the ball back with a behind-the-back dribble. Sendoh adjusted his center of gravity and lunged forward.
Akashi seemed to be moving in his own world entirely, rising for a contested pull-up jumper as if Sendoh's defense didn't exist.
Sendoh leaped to contest, his fingertips nearly grazing the ball.
"Swish!"
Mid-range jumper, good!
Ryonan 46, Rakuzan 42.
"He got faster... no, more fluid?" Sendoh experienced a strange sensation. His opponent seemed completely indifferent to the defense now. Even though Sendoh had come within a hair's breadth of disrupting the shot, Akashi's expression hadn't changed from start to finish.
"Sendoh-senpai?" Hikoichi jogged over.
"I'm fine." Sendoh smiled. "By the way, Hikoichi—you defended that possession really well."
"Ahaha, he just missed it on his own." Hikoichi scratched his head sheepishly.
"That's still your doing. It's precisely because he looked down on you that he forced a shot over your contest like that." Yagami ran past and added, "Can't let up on offense either!"
"Right!" Hikoichi nodded, his eyes growing more focused.
Transition offense. Ryonan's ball.
Hikoichi began leading Mibuchi on a chase around the court, never stopping for even a moment. Yagami returned to one-on-one coverage against Hayama Kotaro.
"Hmph, you don't seriously think we need to double-team to stop you, do you?" Hayama locked onto Yagami with intense focus. "Bring it on—I've been wanting this one-on-one all along!"
"Heh."
Yagami smiled faintly, executed a series of quick fakes, then stepped back dramatically and launched without warning!
"Swish!"
Three-pointer, good!
Ryonan 49, Rakuzan 42.
"???" Hayama felt a headache coming on.
Transition. Rakuzan's ball.
Akashi didn't fault Hayama. More accurately—he didn't even look at any of his teammates.
After receiving the inbound pass, Akashi pushed the pace immediately, attacking right into Sendoh's defense and pulling up without hesitation.
"Still just barely short...?" Sendoh's brow furrowed. He'd thought this time he could swat it clean.
"Swish!"
Nothing but net. Three-pointer, good!
Ryonan 49, Rakuzan 45.
"Akashi just needed eight seconds to complete a three-point possession! Is he about to take over Rakuzan's offense completely, just like in previous games?!"
Possession changed. Ryonan's ball.
"Mayuzumi-senpai, you guard that guy instead~" During the transition, Mibuchi physically redirected Mayuzumi toward Hikoichi's direction.
After chasing Hikoichi for just one offensive possession, Mibuchi wanted nothing more to do with it.
Who runs around constantly without ever stopping? Even if he got the pass, could he actually make the shot? Mibuchi suspected that after Hikoichi hit that one three-pointer to establish a threat, Ryonan planned to use this continuous movement to exhaust Rakuzan's perimeter defenders.
In that case—
"Tch, I should've known you guys would be like this—sticking me with all the dirty work." Mayuzumi muttered under his breath but lowered his head and stayed on Hikoichi's hip.
Sendoh brought the ball across halfcourt. Before Akashi could close the distance, he immediately swung it away. Though he found this version of Akashi fascinating, now wasn't the time to indulge his curiosity.
The instant Yagami caught the pass, Hayama's nerves involuntarily tensed. After Mibuchi shifted his defensive position toward the right side, he also sagged in slightly, ready to help if Yagami drove inside.
"Kid, stop running already." Mayuzumi had followed Hikoichi for a while and was growing irritated. "Your teammates are strong enough—they'll figure out how to score."
"You're just here to help your team's ace by spacing the defense, right? Standing still on the perimeter accomplishes the same thing."
"Let's be honest—guys like us, nobody on this court actually cares about us."
Hikoichi looked at Mayuzumi with genuine surprise. This was the first time an opponent had actually talked to him during a game. (Then again, he usually didn't get much playing time anyway.)
"I won't be fooled by you!" Hikoichi declared, increasing his cutting speed even more.
"???" Mayuzumi blinked in confusion, then gritted his teeth and stayed with him. What's wrong with this kid? Does he not understand plain Japanese?
Stay calm. Stay calm! Hikoichi wasn't just running randomly around the court. He continuously looped out from under the basket, curled through the right corner where Fukuda stood, circled up toward the right wing at forty-five degrees to show as an outlet for Yagami, reversed direction and cut back inside, then swung through behind Sendoh's position, finally cutting from the top of the key back to the left corner.
This was his movement pattern—developed after studying hundreds of hours of off-ball footage under Yagami's guidance and tailored specifically to Ryonan's offensive spacing. He'd added well-timed change-of-direction cuts throughout.
All for this moment. The opportunity he'd been waiting for so long.
A chance to contribute like this—how could anyone say nobody cares?!
"Thud!"
Sendoh timed his movement perfectly, stepping back to set a screen on Mayuzumi.
"Ohhh! He's gotten open!"
"Hikoichi shook his defender!" Ikegami and Koshino shouted from the bench.
"Zip!"
With the shot clock running down, the basketball flew diagonally across Rakuzan's halfcourt, landing in Hikoichi's hands.
The pass came from Yagami—that familiar touch from hundreds of practice sessions.
"???" Hayama whipped his head around. "You actually passed it to him?!"
"Smack!"
Hikoichi caught it cleanly. It was Yagami's pass. That same comfortable rhythm from every single day of practice.
"Good—no defender!" Hikoichi steadied his breathing after all that movement. "I've got this!"
"Hikoichi, watch out!!"
The moment Mayuzumi got screened off, Akashi Seijuro switched onto Hikoichi!
Perhaps in everyone else's eyes, the only thing these two players had in common was being first-years. Nothing more.
"Whoosh!"
As Akashi closed out on him, Hikoichi rose and released. The ball left his fingertips!
"Rebound!" Nebuya fought for position with everything he had.
Mayuzumi also crashed the glass.
"Go in!!!" Hikoichi yelled at the top of his lungs.
Yagami glanced at the airborne ball once, then immediately turned to get back on defense.
"He's put in the work to earn his role, running himself ragged possession after possession. He's been ready for this, no matter who's in his face..."
"Swish!"
The basketball fell through without touching iron. Three-pointer, good!
Ryonan 52, Rakuzan 45.
"OHHHH—! HIKOICHI!!!"
"After checking in, Hikoichi has hit back-to-back threes to help Ryonan preserve their lead!!"
Aida Yayoi stood near the baseline, both hands covering her mouth, staring transfixed at that figure on the court.
"Senpai, your little brother Hikoichi has gotten so good!" Nakamura Heisuke said admiringly. This was the national championship finals stage, and that three-pointer was absolutely clutch!
"Yeah!" Yayoi nodded emphatically.
Transition. Rakuzan's ball. Six seconds left in the half.
Akashi caught the inbound and pushed immediately. The moment he crossed halfcourt, both Yagami and Sendoh trapped him!
"How dare they?!"
"Pass it, Akashi!"
"As expected, they figured it out?" Aomine's grin widened. "The Akashi we're seeing now—he won't pass."
Even facing the double-team, Akashi moved more fluidly than before. But as the seconds ticked away, he still hadn't escaped the trap.
"Bang!"
With one second remaining, Akashi executed a series of crossovers before attacking hard to Sendoh's left side. Creating just half a step of separation, he flung the ball upward toward the rim from below!
"Smack!"
Yagami's arm emerged from behind Sendoh, swatting the ball back to the floor!
"Blocked!!"
"Tweet—!"
The whistle blew. Second quarter over!
"We'll now take a fifteen-minute halftime break before the second half begins!"
"Wait, Ryonan is actually leading by seven at halftime?"
"What's so surprising? They fought their way to the finals too, didn't they?"
"I know, but still..."
The crowd murmured throughout the arena. Just like when Ryonan faced Sannoh, perhaps only Ryonan's own students and the handful of fans who'd followed their journey believed in them from the start.
But now, after an entire half of basketball, Ryonan had controlled the game's tempo from start to finish.
Even at the very end—when Rakuzan seemed poised to mount a comeback, when even Akashi Seijuro appeared ready to take over the offense like usual—
In the end, the gap between the two teams hadn't shrunk. If anything, this outcome seemed to cement the tangible gap in ability between the two squads.
And Ryonan was the stronger side.
"I really didn't expect Zone Akashi to get shut down like that." Kise Ryota remarked.
"You're clearly enjoying this way too much." Kasamatsu Yukio shot him a look. "Was that Akashi's Zone just now? Honestly, it felt somehow weaker than his normal state."
"Uh, it's definitely not weaker."
"In that state, his one-on-one is unbeatable." Kise spread his hands helplessly. "Who knew Ryonan would trap him with both Yagami and Sendoh-senpai that quickly..."
"Because in that state, he feels like he can do anything—so he won't pass to his teammates either."
"Smack!"
Kasamatsu launched himself from his seat, delivering a flying kick to Kise's head. "You bastard—are you trying to make excuses for yourself?!"
"Ow ow ow!" Kise exaggerated, clutching his head. "Kasamatsu-senpai, did you study martial arts or something? Stop hitting my head!"
"Hmph." Moriyama Yoshitaka snorted from behind them. "Kise, I remember you saying Aomine was unbeatable too. So how do those two compare?"
"Uh..." Kise scratched his head, seemingly discovering a logical flaw.
"So they've never actually gone one-on-one against each other?" Moriyama raised an eyebrow. "Even though you were teammates for three years in middle school."
"Our coach didn't let us play one-on-one back then."
"Then why did you keep challenging Aomine to one-on-ones and never win once?"
"Maybe because he's the weakest." Kasamatsu delivered the finishing blow.
"..." Kise fell silent for a moment, then suddenly stood to leave.
"Smack!"
Kasamatsu shoved him back into his seat.
"Why are you targeting me?!" Kise wailed dramatically. "This is bullying! Bullying!"
"Basically, you guys got 'spoiled' in middle school, never lost a game, so you developed these insufferable, self-centered personalities, right?" Kasamatsu seemed to have an epiphany. "Five little punks who have no idea how to play team basketball."
"...Four." Kise said weakly. "I'm not like that anymore."
"It's not just you. Midorima at Shutoku and Murasakibara at Yosen have changed too." Kasamatsu observed. "The Winter Cup might be when you guys finally show what you're really capable of."
"Yeah." Kise nodded, his expression growing serious.
"Still though, Ryonan's really going to win it all, huh?" Kasamatsu stretched lazily. "When they get back to Kanagawa, we need to get our revenge."
"No. It won't be that easy." Kise stared at Rakuzan's bench. "I'm certain of at least that much."
"Akashi's state... is just getting started."
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