Jason Silver held the basketball in both hands and grinned.
Then he charged straight into the paint.
Atsushi Murasakibara spread his arms, his expression deadly serious. Just as he expected Jason Silver to slam into him, Jason Silver leaped into the air!
Atsushi Murasakibara's eyes widened as he jumped after him.
Smack!
Atsushi Murasakibara's right hand pressed against the ball, and the two began battling for strength in midair.
Behind Atsushi Murasakibara, the giant bear opened its jaws and roared.
"ROAR!"
Jason Silver opened his mouth and bellowed:
"Get out of my way!!!"
BANG!!!
Jason Silver's strength suddenly surged, allowing him to dunk over Atsushi Murasakibara.
The impact forced Atsushi Murasakibara back several steps before he finally regained his balance.
Creak... creak...
Jason Silver gripped the rim with both hands and swung through the air.
He then landed heavily, looked at Atsushi Murasakibara, and grinned.
"Kid, you still need to work on your strength!"
Atsushi Murasakibara gritted his teeth and glared furiously at him.
Possession changed hands.
The Dragon Slayer Team had the ball.
Seijuro Akashi had intended to pass to Daiki Aomine.
In fact, that was exactly what he did.
But the moment Daiki Aomine caught the ball, Zack abandoned Ryota Kise and rushed over to defend him.
Seeing Ryota Kise left wide open, Daiki Aomine didn't hesitate and passed him the ball.
Ryota Kise caught it and immediately rose into his shot.
He had originally planned to use an ordinary shooting form to reduce the strain on his wrist.
But when he saw Zack charging toward him like a madman, he changed his mind.
Once again, he used Shintaro Midorima's shooting form to release the ball.
The moment the basketball left his hand, Nash Gold smiled.
Swish!
The ball dropped cleanly through the hoop.
Then...
The referee's whistle rang out.
"Beep!!! Timeout requested by the Dragon Slayer Team!"
Daiki Aomine looked toward the bench in confusion, unable to understand why they had called a timeout now.
Then he heard Ryota Kise mutter helplessly beside him:
"Still too much, huh?"
Daiki Aomine turned and saw Ryota Kise clutching his right wrist with a resigned expression.
Realizing what had happened, Daiki Aomine asked:
"Kise, your wrist?"
Ryota Kise scratched the back of his head with his left hand and replied sheepishly:
"I can't put much power through it anymore. I thought Kagetora-san wouldn't notice, but... he caught it anyway."
Only then did Daiki Aomine remember that Shintaro Midorima's shooting form placed tremendous strain on the wrist.
Ryota Kise could have managed if he had only been taking normal three-pointers.
But Zack had forced him to take several consecutive shots from near half-court.
The repeated strain had placed an increasing burden on Ryota Kise's wrist.
That had also been Zack's goal just now. He wanted to push Ryota Kise's wrist even further, preventing him from continuing to use Shintaro Midorima's shot.
And Zack had succeeded.
The moment Ryota Kise returned to the bench, Kagetora Aida said:
"Kise, rest for now and let your wrist recover."
Ryota Kise nodded and sat down.
Riko Aida then walked over with two ice pops and pressed them against his right wrist.
Ryota Kise looked at her in surprise, apparently wondering where the ice pops had come from.
Riko Aida noticed his gaze and explained:
"Haizaki told me to go buy them. He said they might come in handy later, but I didn't expect we'd need them this soon."
Ryota Kise looked even more surprised.
He turned toward Shogo Haizaki in disbelief.
"Haizaki... You..."
When Shogo Haizaki saw Ryota Kise looking at him, his expression became awkward. He immediately tried to cover it up with an impatient reply.
"Ahem. Don't get the wrong idea. I asked Aida to buy those ice pops because I wanted to eat them!"
Ryota Kise immediately saw through the terrible lie and smiled.
"Oh, is that so? I guess I got the wrong idea. Still, thanks, Haizaki-cchi."
Shogo Haizaki immediately shouted:
"Don't call me that! We're not close!"
Ryota Kise continued smiling.
"Got it, Haizaki-cchi."
Shogo Haizaki kept correcting him, while Ryota Kise continued calling him Haizaki-cchi.
The two began bickering.
Kagetora Aida watched them helplessly before interrupting:
"Haizaki, can you..."
Before Kagetora Aida could finish, Shogo Haizaki cut him off.
"My wrist is even more fragile than Kise's. After a few shots, I probably wouldn't be able to keep using that move."
Kagetora Aida murmured:
"Is that so? In that case..."
He turned toward Taiga Kagami.
"Kagami, you're replacing Kise!"
Seijuro Akashi froze.
"Kagetora-san, right now we're..."
Kagetora Aida raised his hand and interrupted him.
"I know we're relying on three-pointers right now. But unless someone can shoot like Midorima, even an ordinary three-point shot will be blocked by Zack."
"Have you forgotten how fast he is after activating Animal Instinct?"
Seijuro Akashi fell silent.
Kagetora Aida continued:
"We don't have another choice. We'll put Kagami in to strengthen our interior defense and have him double-team Jason with Murasakibara."
"At the very least, we can't let that brat Jason score so easily!"
"Aomine, make sure you rotate over to help too!"
Daiki Aomine nodded.
"Got it."
At that moment, Atsushi Murasakibara suddenly stood up.
"No. I can guard Jason by myself!"
Atsushi Murasakibara had always wanted to face Jason Silver himself. Now that he finally had the chance, Kagetora Aida wanted Taiga Kagami to help defend him.
That wasn't what Atsushi Murasakibara wanted.
Kagetora Aida was speechless. He hadn't expected Atsushi Murasakibara to argue at a time like this.
But this was no time to let him have his way.
"Murasakibara, this is our best option right now! You can't stop Jason by yourself as you are! Follow the plan!"
Atsushi Murasakibara shook his head, refusing to back down.
"No. I can handle Jason by myself!"
"Follow the plan!"
"No!"
"A week's worth of meals!"
"Deal!"
...