Chapter 184 - 185
Chapter 184: Miyamoto, I’m telling you—I ran into a terrorist!
A figure suddenly shot past like a flash!
Rinnosuke Mitobe’s pupils shrank as shock surged through him.
Taiga Kagami, who had been getting ready to receive the inbound pass, wore an even more stunned expression.
How is that possible? Wasn’t he on the other side?!
The instant Rinnosuke Mitobe released the ball, Daiki Aomine moved.
Like a cheetah lunging for its prey, he exploded forward and intercepted the pass cleanly.
After the steal, Daiki Aomine remained expressionless, not slowing down in the slightest.
Like a wild horse breaking free of its reins, he charged straight toward the frontcourt.
Taiga Kagami and Junpei Hyuga reacted immediately, both sprinting after Daiki Aomine.
But as they chased him down, they quickly realized something was wrong.
Junpei Hyuga gritted his teeth, his face tense with disbelief.
He’s dribbling and still faster than Kagami?! What kind of monster is he?!
Taiga Kagami pushed himself to the limit, no longer caring about conserving stamina.
Right now, there was only one thought in his mind—catch up to Daiki Aomine and stop this play!
But imagination and reality were two very different things.
Even at full speed, Taiga Kagami couldn’t close the distance on Daiki Aomine with the ball.
Worse yet, he could feel the gap widening.
In the stands.
Ryota Kise’s expression turned serious as he glanced sideways and asked,
“Has Aomine gotten even faster?”
Shintaro Midorima didn’t change his expression at all as he replied calmly,
“That’s only natural. Aomine trains harder than any of us.”
“He’d even skip games just to practice. With that kind of work ethic, of course he’s improving the fastest.”
Ryota Kise swallowed, his eyes fixed tightly on Daiki Aomine below.
It seems… my [copying] still hasn’t truly caught up to you.
On the court.
Daiki Aomine left everyone in the dust.
He stormed into the paint alone, then leapt explosively and slammed the ball into the rim.
Boom!!!
Tōō High School added another two points.
After landing, Daiki Aomine turned and headed back on defense without a change in expression.
Every member of Seirin High School stood frozen, staring at what had just happened.
One person, dribbling the ball, outrunning every other player on the court.
Anyone would find that terrifying.
Daiki Aomine had thought Seirin might surrender right then and there.
But after a brief moment of shock, they snapped back to their senses.
Their fighting spirit hadn’t diminished in the slightest. They continued to battle on.
Seeing this, something stirred faintly in Daiki Aomine’s heart.
Tetsuya… maybe your choice wasn’t so bad after all.
Still, that was all it was—a fleeting thought.
If he really wanted to end things early, he would just go all out.
And when he did, he tore straight through Seirin’s defense by himself.
Even with all of Seirin united, they couldn’t stop Daiki Aomine.
He was like a monster you simply couldn’t pin down—you never knew where he’d shoot from, or what kind of form he’d use.
Without being able to predict the release point, there was no way to defend effectively.
That was the [Formless Shot]—a completely outrageous shooting style.
“Beep! End of the game! Both teams, please shake hands and exit the court!”
The referee blew the final whistle.
The scoreboard froze at 134–61.
Seirin… had been utterly crushed.
At the end of the third quarter, Daiki Aomine had fully unleashed his offense, single-handedly throwing Seirin’s rhythm into chaos.
At the start of the fourth quarter, he continued to dominate the scoring, widening the gap even further.
Just four minutes into the fourth, he was subbed out for a bench player.
The game was already decided.
Although Seirin mounted a late push, Taiga Kagami’s stamina had run dry, and Tetsuya Kuroko’s [Misdirection] had gradually lost its effectiveness.
The game completely fell into Tōō’s pace.
(Kuroko had been on the court for quite a while. The longer he plays, the stronger his presence becomes, and the less effective his Misdirection is. That’s official canon—no complaints.)
By the end of the fourth quarter, Seirin hadn’t managed to close the gap by much.
They could only swallow the bitterness of defeat.
And just like that, Seirin… was eliminated from the Summer Cup.
The players of Tōō and Seirin lined up face-to-face and exchanged handshakes.
On one side, calm inevitability.
On the other, unwilling frustration.
Daiki Aomine clasped hands with Taiga Kagami.
Kagami’s gaze was firm as he said,
“Next time, I’ll win.”
Daiki Aomine replied without expression, repeating a line Miyamoto Tokima often used.
“I’ll be waiting.”
...
Elsewhere.
Miyamoto Tokima was still out shopping with Momoi when his phone suddenly rang.
Ring, ring…
He pulled it from his pocket and answered.
“Hey, Aomine. What’s up?”
Daiki Aomine was walking alone back toward his school.
“I won.”
On the other end, Miyamoto Tokima smiled faintly.
“I know. I always believed you would.”
There was a short pause before Daiki Aomine spoke again.
“Tetsuya’s new light… he’s got serious potential.”
Miyamoto Tokima smiled lightly.
“Is that so? Then it seems Tetsuya didn’t make a bad choice.”
The two of them chatted casually for a bit when Daiki Aomine suddenly said,
“Oh right, Miyamoto—I ran into a terrorist today!”
Miyamoto Tokima froze.
A terrorist???
“What happened? Tell me everything.”
Over the phone, Daiki Aomine recounted his entire encounter with Dicky Anthony.
As Miyamoto Tokima listened, something began to feel off.
Tall. Foreigner. Speaking English.
“Wait, Aomine. Did he have a lip piercing?”
Daiki Aomine’s tone instantly grew excited.
“Yeah! You’ve seen him too? Don’t tell me he’s planning to kidnap you and extort money from the Miyamoto Family?!”
Alright. That confirmed it.
The person Daiki Aomine ran into was Dicky Anthony.
What Miyamoto Tokima hadn’t expected was that Dicky Anthony had gone out alone to watch the game.
And… gotten lost.
You can’t find your way, don’t speak the language, and you’re wandering around like that? What if you got kidnapped—
Wait. On second thought, Dicky Anthony looked more like the one doing the kidnapping.
Okay, that’s enough.
Even though Miyamoto Tokima knew it was all just a misunderstanding, he had no intention of explaining.
A bit of mischievous fun.
He was already imagining the expression on Daiki Aomine’s face when he saw Dicky Anthony again at the game a few days later.
That reaction… was definitely going to be priceless.
...
Chapter 185: Defeating Tokima??
After hanging up on Daiki Aomine, Miyamoto Tokima continued shopping with Satsuki Momoi.
Ring ring ring...
‘Hm? Another call?’
Miyamoto Tokima pulled out his phone again and glanced at the caller ID.
Atsushi Murasakibara...
‘Did his transfer paperwork finally go through?’
He answered.
The moment the call connected, Atsushi Murasakibara’s excited voice came through.
“Miyamoto Tokima, my paperwork’s done! I’m heading over right now.”
Miyamoto Tokima was genuinely surprised. He hadn’t expected Murasakibara’s transfer to be processed this quickly.
He had assumed that by the time Murasakibara could transfer, it would already be the Summer Cup. He didn’t think he’d be coming over this soon.
“Alright. When are you getting here?”
There was a brief silence on the other end before Atsushi Murasakibara replied,
“No idea.”
Miyamoto Tokima: “……”
Just as Miyamoto Tokima fell silent, another voice suddenly cut in.
“He’ll be there soon.”
Hearing the unfamiliar voice, Miyamoto Tokima paused.
“Atsushi, is someone else with you?”
The other end went quiet again. The next second—
“Huh? Himuro, what are you doing here?”
...
On the train Atsushi Murasakibara was riding.
He turned his head in confusion and looked at Tatsuya Himuro sitting beside him.
Himuro’s expression was slightly stiff, as if he was holding something back.
“I just wanted to see what kind of person could make you go through all this just to transfer.”
After spending some time with Atsushi Murasakibara, Tatsuya Himuro had come to understand his personality fairly well.
In one word—lazy.
Anything troublesome, Murasakibara wanted nothing to do with. Even during games, he preferred not to move if he didn’t have to.
And yet this same person had gone to such lengths for someone.
He’d taken the initiative to handle the transfer procedures—almost obsessively.
Whenever he had free time, Atsushi Murasakibara would run to the principal’s office.
It went on for so long that the principal finally couldn’t take it anymore and sped up the process just to get it done.
News of his transfer quickly spread through the Yōsen basketball club.
Even Yōsen’s coach, Masako Araki, had grabbed a wooden sword and threatened to skin Atsushi Murasakibara alive.
But Murasakibara never wavered. He was determined to transfer.
That only infuriated the rest of the Yōsen basketball club even more. They kept calling him a traitor.
Tatsuya Himuro really wanted to see who this person was—who could make Murasakibara endure all that criticism and still insist on leaving.
“Atsushi, what’s going on?”
Miyamoto Tokima’s voice came through the phone again.
Murasakibara snapped back to his senses and quickly replied,
“Oh, Miyamoto Tokima. He’s a teammate from my old school. I don’t know why he’s here either.”
At that moment, Tatsuya Himuro leaned closer to the phone and let out a soft chuckle.
“Hello. I just wanted to see who managed to lure Atsushi away. I hope you don’t mind.”
...
On the other end of the line.
Miyamoto Tokima stared at his phone, slightly stunned.
Atsushi Murasakibara’s teammate...
Tatsuya Himuro?
It had to be him. Only Himuro would have a reason to follow Murasakibara here just to meet him.
As for Murasakibara’s other former teammates—they were either hot-blooded brutes or...
Still, despite Himuro’s calm and polite tone, Miyamoto Tokima could hear something else underneath.
Resentment.
And a tightly restrained anger.
Miyamoto Tokima shook his head helplessly.
‘Looks like I’ve made an enemy.’
He lifted the phone and said,
“Alright. I’ll be waiting.”
Then he hung up.
Satsuki Momoi, who had been standing beside him, asked,
“Tokima, was that someone from Atsushi Murasakibara’s old team?”
Miyamoto Tokima smiled faintly.
“Probably. From the way he sounded, he might be looking for a little payback. Maybe he’ll even challenge us to a one-on-one.”
“Let’s head back to school. Call everyone and go pick up Purps.”
“After all, Purps is pretty adorable.”
“And while we’re at it, let that overly persistent teammate of his see who’s truly capable of helping Purps grow.”
...
Kirisaki Daiichi Basketball Club.
Dicky Anthony was still in the middle of a one-on-one with Shuzo Nijimura, while the rest of Kirisaki Daiichi stood on the sidelines watching.
The duel was nothing short of intense. Whether it was Nijimura’s explosive drives or Dicky Anthony’s shooting, everyone watching felt the gap in skill.
“This is insane. How are they both this strong?”
“No kidding. Their level is terrifying. I don’t think I could score a single point on them.”
“Be good. Drop the ‘I don’t think.’ You definitely couldn’t.”
Just as they were engrossed in the match, two sets of footsteps approached.
Step. Step. Step...
One of the members turned around. When he saw Miyamoto Tokima, he immediately called out respectfully,
“Tokima-san!”
The others followed suit as they recognized him.
“Tokima-san!”
On the court, Dicky Anthony and Shuzo Nijimura also stopped their one-on-one and looked over.
Dicky Anthony nodded politely.
“Tokima-san.”
Nijimura scratched his head.
“Miyamoto, what brings you here today?”
Miyamoto Tokima gave a slight smile and dropped a bombshell.
“Everyone, gather up. We’re going to welcome our new center.”
The moment those words left his mouth, everyone instinctively looked toward Kentaro Seto.
Seto’s expression remained calm, without the slightest ripple.
To him, Miyamoto Tokima’s words were absolute truth. If Miyamoto said a new center was coming, then stepping aside was only natural.
After all, even Makoto Hanamiya had stepped down. It was about time for him too.
Miyamoto Tokima wasn’t worried about Seto harboring any resentment. Some things were simply a matter of fact.
After taking some time to gather both the starters and the reserves, Miyamoto Tokima led the team out toward the train station.
A large group boarded the Kirisaki Daiichi exclusive bus and set off.
...
On the train.
Atsushi Murasakibara looked at Tatsuya Himuro like he was staring at an idiot.
“Himuro, do you even know what you just said?”
Himuro’s expression turned serious as he met Murasakibara’s gaze.
“Of course I do. I… will defeat the person you keep talking about!”
Murasakibara’s expression instantly shifted—he was trying to hold back laughter.
“Pfft!”
“Hahaha!”
Himuro’s composure cracked immediately.
“Atsushi! What are you laughing at?!”
Murasakibara clapped a hand over his mouth, desperately trying to stop, but it was no use.
“Himuro… hahaha… you said you’re going to beat Miyamoto Tokima… hahaha… sorry… I just can’t…”
Author's Note
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