Chapter 78: Fast-Break Three
Teppei Kiyoshi dribbled with his left hand, driving past Miyamoto Tokima on the left.
Miyamoto Tokima stayed glued to him, keeping pace step for step, his right hand raised high to guard against a sudden shot.
Teppei Kiyoshi slowed slightly, stopped his dribble, and turned his back to Miyamoto Tokima.
Miyamoto Tokima halted as well.
Kiyoshi half-turned, paused for a brief moment, then burst left again.
Miyamoto Tokima followed tightly, never giving up even a sliver of position.
Under that suffocating pressure, Teppei Kiyoshi felt a deep shock rise in his chest.
‘So this is your true strength, Miyamoto Tokima…’
Charging into the paint, Kiyoshi used his right arm to shield the ball and pin Miyamoto Tokima’s position, lifting the ball with his left hand for a hook shot.
Miyamoto Tokima’s expression shifted. He twisted his body and shot his right hand toward the ball.
‘This is what I’ve been waiting for!’
Smack!
The ball was stripped cleanly before Teppei Kiyoshi could even release the hook.
Kiyoshi’s pupils shrank as his left hand swung through empty air, shock flooding his mind.
‘I… I got stripped…’
Daiki Aomine scooped up the loose ball and sprinted toward the frontcourt at full speed.
Shōei’s small forward and shooting guard reacted instantly, lowering their bodies and driving their legs hard, trying to chase him down with a low center of gravity.
The small forward looked up—only to see Aomine pulling farther and farther away.
‘Damn it! How can he be this fast?!’
The shooting guard clenched his teeth, face twisted in pain as he ran with everything he had, yet still couldn’t close the gap.
‘Is he a monster?!’
With no one in front of him, Daiki Aomine laughed openly and slammed the ball through the hoop.
After the dunk, he jogged straight toward Miyamoto Tokima, shouting loudly,
“Miyamoto! Well? That one was cool, right?”
Miyamoto Tokima smiled faintly and nodded.
“Cool.”
Aomine lifted his chin proudly.
“Huff… huff… huff… Are all the guys from Teikō monsters or what?”
Shōei’s small forward panted as he complained.
The shooting guard was just as winded. He shook his head.
“How would I know? Other than that number 15, the rest of them are all monsters.”
Teppei Kiyoshi ran over and cut them off.
“Enough. The game isn’t over yet. As long as it’s still going, we don’t give up.”
The shooting guard and small forward nodded and reset for the next possession.
Shōei’s point guard dribbled toward Tetsuya Kuroko, quickly blowing past him and preparing to shoot.
Suddenly, a hand reached out from behind.
Smack!
The point guard’s shooting motion froze. He snapped back to his senses and spun around, trying to recover the stolen ball.
But Tetsuya Kuroko was already a step ahead. After picking up the ball, he flicked his wrist, sending it flying downcourt.
Nijimura Shuzo caught Kuroko’s pass in stride, surged ahead, and finished with a simple three-step layup.
Possession changed.
This time, after getting past Kuroko, Shōei’s point guard didn’t rush the shot. Only after confirming Kuroko couldn’t steal it again did he release the ball.
Swish!
Two points.
Offense turned to defense. Miyamoto Tokima passed to Tetsuya Kuroko once more, and Kuroko tapped the ball upward.
Daiki Aomine soared into the air and hammered home the alley-oop.
“So awesome! An alley-oop!”
“Yeah! And that number 15 is amazing too—what a pass!”
“Exactly! When did he even get on the court? I honestly didn’t notice at all.”
The crowd buzzed with excitement.
On the court.
Shōei had the ball again. Facing Kuroko’s defense, the point guard dribbled repeatedly and drove from the right. After the breakthrough, Shiroiwa rotated over to help.
Seeing that, the point guard immediately passed to Shōei’s small forward.
“Don’t!” the shooting guard suddenly shouted.
The point guard realized the danger and tried to stop his motion, but it was too late—the ball had already left his hands.
Tetsuya Kuroko intercepted the pass and immediately sent it forward.
Miyamoto Tokima went full throttle, caught Kuroko’s pass, and suddenly came to a stop at the three-point line.
The shooting guard chased after him, disbelief all over his face.
“Hey—hey—he’s not seriously going to pull up for a fast-break three, is he?!”
The point guard’s pupils widened.
“I… I don’t know…”
Miyamoto Tokima answered with action. Stopping dead at the arc, he released the ball in one smooth motion.
Swish!
The ball dropped cleanly through the net with a crisp sound.
The shooting guard stopped running, staring in shock as he muttered,
“He… he really shot a three… How confident does he have to be…?”
The point guard swallowed hard, glanced at the scoreboard, and saw the glaring score: 40–25.
With great difficulty, he spoke,
“Monster… absolute monster…”
Teppei Kiyoshi exhaled deeply and gestured to the power forward.
“Ball!”
The pass came in, and Kiyoshi pushed it over half-court.
He decided to score himself to lift the team’s morale.
Breaking past Tetsuya Kuroko, he immediately drew Miyamoto Tokima’s help defense.
As Miyamoto rotated over, his eyes flicked across the other Shōei players, then toward Kuroko’s position.
Seeing that Shōei had begun paying attention to Kuroko, Miyamoto understood.
‘Looks like Kuroko’s time is up.’
There was no helping it. Kuroko’s faint presence would inevitably weaken. The more he acted on the court, the easier it became for others to notice him.
Kōzō Shirogane had noticed this as well and planned to call a timeout after this possession to substitute Kuroko out.
Teppei Kiyoshi took a deep breath and prepared to drive.
Suddenly—two iron walls rose straight from the ground!
Daiki Aomine stared excitedly, shock surging through him.
“Here it comes! Miyamoto’s twin Iron Walls!”
Kōzō Shirogane paused mid-sip of tea. His face remained calm, but inside he was already reeling.
The rest of Shōei’s players gaped, unable to believe what they were seeing.
The point guard murmured weakly,
“You’ve… got to be kidding… two Iron Walls…”
The shooting guard swallowed hard, his voice strained.
“Kiyoshi… you’re actually facing a monster like this now…”
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