"What a surprise! I was honestly getting bored out here, this match was putting me to sleep. But now it looks like we've got something interesting. Come on, let's see if you can at least get me to break a sweat."
With that, Aomine Daiki, a dark-skinned player as agile and explosive as a black panther, grinned and charged into the paint with the ball in hand.
Akashi Asuka stepped up to defend him.
But with a simple left pull and a quick right crossover, Aomine easily bypassed Akashi's defense.
"So fast!"
Even though Akashi had known beforehand that Aomine was quick, witnessing it firsthand still caught him off guard.
The way Aomine could shift gears so effortlessly, accelerating from zero to full speed in an instant, combined with his near-inhuman dribbling, made it feel like Akashi was seeing two Aomines at once.
His upgraded Neural Reflexes (76) and Agility (74) barely let him react in time, but even then, his body simply couldn't match Aomine's burst and fluidity. There was no way he could keep up defensively in a one-on-one situation.
However, this was the paint.
The moment Aomine got past him and prepared to go for the layup, a massive shadow loomed behind him.
"He actually caught up to Aomine's speed? No way!"
Kise Ryouta, another member of the Generation of Miracles, was stunned to see Akashi had somehow recovered and was now right behind Aomine.
"No," Midorima Shintaro said as he adjusted his glasses, which reflected a sharp gleam. "He didn't catch up to Aomine's speed. He just chose to confront him in the air."
Just as Midorima said, Akashi never intended to stop Aomine's drive directly. After all, he was playing center. Trying to match a power forward in agility and reflexes would've been suicide.
Whether he'd done it intentionally or simply couldn't stop him didn't matter. Akashi had allowed Aomine to break through, because under the rim, that was the center's domain.
And in the paint, Akashi was confident. With 81 points in Shot Blocking, he had every right to go head-to-head with Aomine there.
Standing at 197 cm tall, Akashi loomed like an umbrella above Aomine. The crowd gasped, sensing the looming danger.
But Aomine? He smirked.
In the blink of an eye, his casually outstretched right arm snapped down. Then, a spin, a switch to his left, a hang in the air, and finally, a thunderous dunk.
Boom!
With a heavy thud, the ball slammed into the hoop.
Watching Aomine execute such an outrageous sequence of moves in less than half a second, Akashi couldn't help but twitch at the corners of his mouth.
"Is that all you've got?" Aomine said, a hint of disappointment flashing in his eyes.
"Yep, that's pretty much it," Akashi said cheerfully. "Which is why I've picked out a new opponent just for you. Hope you like surprises."
He nodded repeatedly like a bobblehead.
After fighting through three grueling years of national tournaments in his previous world, Akashi's mindset had changed a lot.
First, he'd become far more relaxed. Maybe it was because his past life had been so harsh that he'd been constantly on edge during the first two years in this new world. He'd barely spoken back then.
But since entering his third year, with responsibilities as a senior and a leader, he'd worked hard to become more approachable.
Second, his mental game was now rock-solid.
He'd been through everything there was to experience in high-stakes games. So even in an unfavorable situation, he could stay calm... and even have a little fun teasing the opponent.
"Huh? New opponent?"
Just as Aomine frowned, a blur zipped in front of him, it was Tsugawa Tomoki.
"Nice to meet you!"
"Oh… uh, hi?"
Tsugawa greeted him politely, and Aomine, caught off guard by the sheer friendliness, reflexively responded in kind.
But the moment the words left his mouth, Aomine realized something was wrong.
Wait… aren't we opponents right now? What's with this overly polite act!?
Meanwhile, Kaijo Middle launched their counterattack.
Their point guard, who was originally matched up against Akashi Seijuro and his Emperor Eye, had nearly been shut down in the first half. So now, rather than facing Akashi again, he quickly passed the ball upcourt multiple times, until it reached Akashi Asuka.
Akashi then charged into the paint, facing off one-on-one with Atsushi Murasakibara.
He knew exactly where his advantages lay. Against the Generation of Miracles, his only real strengths were Power and Shot Blocking.
So his strategy against Murasakibara was simple: back him down in the post. No finesse, no fancy moves. Just brute strength.
One hard shove after another, Akashi bulldozed his way to the basket, then hammered the ball toward the hoop, no graceful jump shot, just a raw, aggressive dunk.
CLANG!
Once again, Akashi muscled his way through Murasakibara and slammed the ball into the basket, scoring two more points.
But the score gap between the two teams was still massive.
Teiko Junior High remained calm. Akashi Seijuro brought the ball up the court and scanned the floor with his Emperor Eye.
He was just about to pass it to their ace, Aomine, when he suddenly hesitated.
His Emperor Eye had detected something strange.
Aomine was... tied up.
By none other than Tsugawa Tomoki.
It wasn't until the game had started that Akashi finally remembered who Tsugawa was.
In the original story, he'd been a standout defensive specialist. Though nowhere near the Generation of Miracles in overall talent, his defensive skills were sharp enough to give even them a hard time.
In fact, during last year's matchup between Kaijo and Teiko, Tsugawa had forced Kise Ryouta into a ball-handling violation.
That said,
Even with his defensive prowess, taking on Aomine head-to-head was unrealistic.
So Akashi hadn't assigned him to stop Aomine's offense. His job was simpler but just as important:
Stick to Aomine like glue. Deny him every opportunity to receive the ball. As long as Aomine couldn't get his hands on it, Tsugawa's job was complete.
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