Finals: #8
Finals: #8
Midorima's last shot had raised several alarms in the team's mind.
Shun sipped water from his bottle as he listened to the others talking about Midorima.
Coach: "I never expected Midorima-kun from Teiko to shoot from such a long distance. That was about eight-meters from the basket."
Mibuchi sighed as he commented.
Mibuchi: "And, if we know anything about Midorima Shintaro is that his shots have perfect accuracy."
Yuki, who was a defensive player, sighed as he added his two cents.
Yuki: "Now we need to tighten his defense from further behind. We leave him for a single moment, and he would end up getting the ball and score without a doubt."
Shun removed the towel from around his neck and wiped his arms. He bought his right leg up and rested his feet on the bench to retie his shoes.
Shun: "I think you shouldn't lock in Midorima's range at eight-meters. I think he can shoot from another meter from where he shot, that would be nine-meters of hundred-percent of shooting accuracy."
He put his right leg down and repeated the process with the other leg.
When he was satisfied, Shun stood up and said.
Shun: "Nine-meters is the goal, you need to tighten him up for at least this quarter, or till the time, Kuroko stays on the court."
Shun straightened out his jersey and said.
Shun: "There is still a little time left in the second quarter, and I want to increase the point-gap by the end of this quarter."
He turned his head back to look at them and said.
Shun: "Let's go."
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Sora crossed the ball to the half-court and handed the ball to Shun.
Shun took a deep breath as he saw Aomine walking towards him, and Akashi also heading towards him to complete the double team.
Shun dribbled the ball once very hard as he thought.
Shun: 'If I don't let them corner me, then I don't have to worry about the double team.'
Shun ran full-speed towards the basket.
Aomine and Akashi weren't expecting Shun to run straight to the basket. They tried to meet him at the three-point arc.
At the three-point arc, Aomine approached from his direct right, and Akashi was closing in diagonally from the left.
Shun did a sharp turn to diagonally right and went further into the inside.
Inside, Murasakibara stood in Shun's way.
Shun put a lot of force on his legs and came to a complete stop. His shoes made a loud screeching noise, with the floor.
Shun stopped just near Murasakibara. He pivoted to the left in front of him.
Shun accelerated to the top of his ability and sprinted to the basket.
Murasakibara wasn't going to give that easily and followed Shun.
Shun and Murasakibara were running parallel to the baseline, and both of them jumped near the basket.
Murasakibara fully extended his hand above Shun, completely blocking that path for the ball.
Shun's eyes saw everything, and then god-speed impulse enabled Shun to decide his attack.
Shun bought his hand down and switched the ball from his right hand to the left hand, and then extended his hand sideways to formless-hook the ball towards the basket.
The ball made a mini-arc, from Shun's hands to the basket. It hit the inside of the rim and dropped into the basket.
Shun got to the ground, and it took him a few hurried steps to regain his balance.
Shun couldn't help but yell in celebration.
Shun: "YEAH!!!"
Tokiwadai's club members cheered the loudest in the stands, as they went wild seeing Shun score.
-*-*-*-
Hikigaya was startled when the club members in front of them cheered loudly in front of them.
Hikigaya: "Woah, that scared me!"
Hikigaya put a hand on his chest to calm his heart down.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Aomine and Shun ran side by side as both of them charged towards Tokiwadai's basket.
Aomine had the ball, and both of them were running to the basket.
Shun wasn't able to put a hand on the ball while they were running. Aomine was too fast for Shun to try anything.
Aomine decided to attack from mid-range and jumped forward as he threw the ball towards the basket.
Shun simultaneously jumped with Aomine and put a hand on the ball. Shun had put so much power behind his attempt that the ball went out of bounds.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Akashi got away from Yuki, with the help of a screen by Midorima.
He scouted his teammates and saw that Murasakibara was the only one free to attack.
He directly threw an overhead pass to Murasakibara.
Murasakibara jumped to catch the ball, and then according to his usual protocol, he started to push Aone as he made his way to the basket.
Shun, who was nearby, decided to move in for a steal.
Murasakibara, who was busy with Aone, didn't see Shun come in and steal the ball from him.
Murasakibara: "Who-!"
Shun ran towards the basket, and around the three-point arc, Midorma stood there in Shun's path to block him.
Shun did a between the legs change, followed by a left-to-right cross over. The whole thing performed with an irregular change-of-pace and laced with Shun's swift reflexes.
Midorima slipped, and while falling, he saw Shun flash by him.
-*-*-*-
Kise clenched his fist as he saw Shun using Aomine's irregular change-of-pace.
Kise: 'How can he use their moves? I can only store them in my memory. I can't perform them, so how can he?'
Kise narrowed his eye as he recalled Shun's move against Midorima.
Kise: 'And, something is lurking underneath the surface, that I can't see, he is using something to bind his skills together. What is it?'
Alas, Kise's eyes couldn't see the ever-active God-speed Impulse, that helped Shun make decisions on a fly.
-*-*-*-
Shun jumped at the boundary of the Dee and jammed the ball down with a wide one-hand windmill dunk.
When Shun got down to the floor, he turned to the stands and raised his arms wide in celebration, and the Tokiwadai's students and club members cheered the loudest in the stands.
The chants of 'Kageyama' filled the stadium as all eyes in the stands were attracted to Shun.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Shun looked at the time on the scoreboard and saw that time there was time left for only one play.
He looked at the score and saw that they needed three more points for a fifteen point lead on Teiko.
He turned to Sora, who had the ball and raised his hand to his chest level to ask for the ball.
Sora looked at Shun and passed the ball, as he had done so far in this quarter.
Shun sprinted to the basket. He had to do this every time to evade the double-team from cornering him. And, as every time, Aomine came in Shun's path.
Shun did a fake-spin to the left but pivoted to the left.
Aomine wasn't fooled and moved to the right.
Shun was able to process this information with his phenomenal reflexes and pulled back immediately.
Aomine wasn't expecting that, his weight slipped to the left, and he stumbled to the ground.
Aomine cursed as he tried to get up, but he was too late, and Shun was already away from him.
Aomine: "Shite!"
Shun didn't slow down and made his way to meet his second adversary.
Akashi took a deep breath as he saw Shun coming towards him.
Akashi: 'I have to stop him, or else we will be behind by at least fourteen points.'
Shun stepped into Akashi's range and did a double behind-the-back change, and threaded the ball between his legs.
With the ball in his left hand, Shun pulled a stiff-leg crossover to the right and made Akashi slip, and break his ankles.
Shun then pulled a classic Akashi and stopped there. From just beside Akashi, he pulled up for a mid-range jump shot and made the shot.
The buzzer went off, indicating the end of the first half of the game.
Shun walked to the bench slowly while catching his breath after an action-packed first-half.
Shun: 'The pace was faster than I imagined it would be, but thankfully we were able to remain in the lead.'
Shun glanced at the scoreboard and saw the score for the first half.
The score was 63-49 in Tokiwadai's favor.
Shun managed to stop Teiko at twenty-four points and managed to score thirty-two points on his own.
With Mibuchi's five points, Tokiwadai scored thirty-seven points in this quarter.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Akashi stood up and silently walked to Teiko's bench.
He received a towel from Satsuki and draped it over his head. With his face facing downwards, he sat on his seat.
In his mind, his previous exchange with Shun repeated over and over again.
Akashi: 'I(ore) tried everything.
I tried to increase the team's offense by passing the ball perfectly.
I let Kuroko remain on the court to free up Midorima.
I cut off Kageyama's teammates to slow him down.
I increased the defense on him to slow him down.'
The chaotic thoughts churned in his mind, slowly taking over him.
Akashi: 'Nothing worked. He found a way to deflect every single one of my schemes.'
The game played in his mind like a film. He recalled what Shun showed on the court.
Akashi: 'He was using copied moves on the court. They weren't as good as ours, but somehow he was using them better than us.
HOW?!'
The darkness became more and more prominent.
Akashi: 'Now, we are behind fourteen points behind them. Catching up that gap against Kagayama Shun will be extremely hard.
Will we lose?'
A memory of his father telling him about the duty of his family surfaced.
「A member of the Akashi Household can't lose. It is not in their destiny to face defeat. We are always the victor...」
Akashi: 'Am I going to LOSE?'
Something opened its eyes in a dark corner of Akashi's mind. It felt that its time had come.
As Akashi was drowning in the thoughts of defeat, a voice echoed in his mind.
#%&*: 'If you can't defeat him, then I(boku) will secure the victory.'
In the recess of Akashi's mind, a hand grabbed him and pulled him into the shadow.
Akashi saw another Akashi pull him into the shadow, and then stepping into the light.
The 'other' glanced behind him to see Akashi and spoke.
'Other': "You stay here. I(boku) will show you the meaning of strong."
Akashi looked at the 'other' him, and willingly sat on the pedestal in the shadow, and saw the 'other' stepping into the light.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Teiko was talking among themselves how to handle Tokiwadai in the second half.
Midorima noticed that Akashi hadn't said a word since the first half had ended.
He called out to Akashi but didn't get an answer.
Midorima felt confused and extended his hand to shake Akashi.
Midorima: "Akashi."
Akashi turned his face, and Midorima got a glance at Akashi's face.
Midorima froze still when he saw Akashi's expression behind his towel.
Midorima saw the coldest look he had ever seen on Akashi's face. The emotionless eyes that looked like extremely deadly.
Midorima: "A-Akashi, are you fine?"
Akashi pulled the towel from his head and straightened up in his seat.
He turned to Midorima and replied.
Akashi: "Hmm... Ah, yes. I(boku) am fine."
A faint smile appeared on Akashi's face as he continued.
Akashi: "I have never felt better."