"Even Atsushi… is this for real?"
"Ah! What the coach said is true. That monster's strongest position is under the basket. What you're seeing now isn't even his true strength yet."
Okamura Kenichi replied, "And it's not just Seiho. Shutoku probably hasn't shown their true abilities either. Right now, this situation is at most just a prelude, a way to test each other."
Himuro Tatsuya murmured, "Testing each other? Using this kind of offense to test? That's insanely extravagant!"
The game had only just passed three minutes, and Seiho and Shutoku had already unleashed a storm of three-pointers, quickly bringing the score to 15:15.
At this pace, such scoring is extremely rare, not just in high school, but even in professional leagues.
"Both teams are five-for-five from the field with zero mistakes? Seriously… these monsters… not a single break for us mere mortals!"
On the other side of the stands, Hyuga Junpei pursed his lips, clearly annoyed.
As a shooting guard himself, Junpei could keenly understand just how terrifying the duel between Akashi Asuka and Midorima Shintarou on the court truly was.
Bluntly speaking, if you randomly picked a shooting guard from anywhere in the country and placed them in front of either of these two, they'd be completely outclassed. There wouldn't even be a second possible outcome.
Many people assume a shooter's most important attribute is accuracy, but in reality, it's stability.
Both physical and mental stability are what allow a player to perform at their peak.
And the duel between Akashi and Midorima right now was the perfect demonstration of a shooter's ultimate stability.
·····
Midorima Shintarou strained to close every inch of distance between him and Akashi, trying to limit Akashi's shooting space.
At the same time…
Takao Kazunari suddenly appeared from behind Akashi, reaching for the basketball at his waist.
"Akashi, watch out!"
The tension made Tsutomu Iwamura gasp.
Even Akashi was inevitably affected by this pincer move, but his expression and gaze remained calm. Though his body wavered midair, he kept his shot direction and rhythm steady.
In the final second, the ball lightly rolled off his fingertips, tracing a graceful arc before landing precisely in the net.
SWISH!
The sixth three-pointer hit.
18:15.
"Hey, no way! You actually made that? How calm can you be?!"
Even Takao, who had seen Midorima's shooting countless times, couldn't hide his shock.
Before this shot, he had seen Akashi's body sway midair, his entire center of gravity shifted.
Yet in this state, Akashi still delivered such a stable and precise shot.
This wasn't just skill, it was a non-human level of mental stability as well.
"What's wrong?"
Watching Akashi turn back to defend, Takao again thought monster in his mind, but then noticed Midorima beside him was acting strangely.
Not angry, he seemed to be… smiling.
Midorima pushed up his glasses, his expression returning to calm, though a faint curve remained at the corner of his mouth. He said, "Nothing… just feeling a long-lost kind of excitement."
Shutoku began their counterattack.
This time, Midorima didn't attempt a full-court three. Such a long shot would be extremely exhausting, even for him.
In official matches, super-long-range shots were reserved as a trump card.
Most of the time, Midorima would rely on regular three-pointers to finish the game.
As one of Tokyo's traditional powerhouses, Shutoku's strength, both individually and as a team, was comparable to Seiho.
In last semester's practice match between Seiho and Shutoku, with Akashi and Midorima countering each other, the game ended in a tie.
Only a three-pointer from Akashi gave Seiho a narrow victory.
But this time…
The moment Takao dribbled past midcourt, all Shutoku members felt a sudden shift in the atmosphere on the court.
It wasn't pressure from one person, it was the aura of the entire Seiho team.
Like molten lava erupting from Mt. Fuji, waves crashing in the ocean, or storm clouds rolling across the sky before a hurricane…
In an instant, Shutoku's players felt as if they had stepped into another world.
At that moment, the heavy pressure dimmed the bright court lights, as if a massive crisis were about to strike, freezing even their breathing.
"Hey, hey, hey, what's going on?! When you attacked earlier, it wasn't like this! And it's been less than a year since the last practice match, how did you all get so scary?"
Seeing every Seiho player past midcourt, with eyes glowing red like bloodthirsty beasts, cold sweat immediately broke out on Takao's forehead.
Not just him, every Shutoku player, including Midorima, changed expression the instant they crossed midcourt.
·····
"Actually, I'm curious. In the previous match, it was understandable that Shutoku couldn't stop Akashi. Their defense was good, but stopping him is still tough."
"But for Akashi, stopping Midorima's full-court threes shouldn't be that hard, right? Even if Midorima's release point is high, it shouldn't exceed Akashi's."
From the stands, a player from Kaijo asked.
Kise Ryouta scratched his head and said, "Hmm… I wasn't sure before either, but now I think I understand Seiho's plan."
"What?"
"At first, I thought Akashi and Midorima would just trade three-pointers and give up defense to go all-out offense. But now I realize I was wrong, Seiho isn't giving up defense. They're just shrinking their defensive range."
"Shrinking their defensive range?"
"Yes. In the past, Seiho mostly used full-court man-to-man defense. This time, it seems they're only defending half-court."
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Completed version available on Patreon.com/Veltoria