After blocking Akashi's shot,
Seiho's Akashi Asuka immediately launched a counterattack. Because this time, Akashi Seijuro unexpectedly didn't follow up to defend, Akashi Asuka pulled up directly from the outside for a three-pointer.
His three-point accuracy was already high to begin with, and under ZONE, his shots were frighteningly precise.
The moment he released the ball,
Akashi Asuka didn't even bother to look. He simply turned away.
Swish!
The ball fell cleanly through the net.
Another three points.
The score shifted to 62 : 65, closing the gap once again.
============
"Come to think of it, this is just my guess, but… isn't this probably the first time Akashi has ever been beaten this badly since entering high school?"
"No~~"
Murasakibara Atsushi shook his head. "Probably the first time since junior high… when he played against me. And even then, Akacchi ended up winning in the end."
Among the Generation of Miracles, the one Murasakibara followed most unquestioningly was always Akashi Seijuro. Part of the reason, of course, was that Akashi was their team captain.
But the real reason went back to an unknown match the two shared in junior high.
"Winning or losing aside… earlier, Akacchi couldn't score, and he couldn't defend either. A loss like this, not just in high school, he's probably never experienced defeat like this since the day he was born."
============
PAH!
A ball was passed toward him, but Akashi missed it.
Instead, Akashi Asuka, who was pressuring him, snatched it cleanly and launched another attack.
"What…?!"
"No way!! Akashi actually made a basic receiving error?!"
"Don't tell me… he still hasn't recovered from being beaten just now?!"
If Akashi being blocked earlier was shocking,
Then this error was terrifying.
Akashi Seijuro, who never allowed himself even the slightest mistake,
Had just committed one.
"This is the first time I've seen that Akashi…"
At the back of the stands, Kise Ryouta, Aomine Daiki, and Midorima Shintaro all had expressions of disbelief.
And it wasn't just them.
Both benches. Both starting lineups. Coaches. Spectators.
Everyone was stunned.
After all, the Generation of Miracles were monsters not just in talent, but also in mental fortitude.
The more pressure they faced, the stronger they became.
For the other four, that had always been normal.
But their captain—
Was now falling apart.
Aomine spoke flatly: "His heart is completely shaken. His mental state is unstable. And once you waver, your focus breaks."
============
Whoosh,
Akashi Asuka cut through the defense and reached Rakuzan's perimeter.
"Crap! Akashi! Get back on defense!"
Nebuya shouted, abandoning the paint to chase him.
On the opposite side, Reo called Akashi's name in panic, because the only one who could stop a ZONE monster was another ZONE monster.
But when he turned,
He saw something horrifying.
The lightning in Akashi's eyes… was gone.
His ZONE… was gone.
"I won't let you shoot, Akashi!"
Nebuya roared and lunged with everything he had.
But no matter how high he jumped, no matter how hard he pushed,
Akashi Asuka's release point was higher.
Even higher than before.
"You monster! Is your release point that high?! Are you trying to dunk from the three-point line?!"
Under ZONE, Akashi Asuka's precision, speed, and vertical had all increased dramatically.
His shooting point now made defenders feel helpless.
Swish!
Another clean three-pointer dropped under the gaze of eyes crackling with dark lightning.
65 : 65.
Tie.
"OOOOHHHH!!!"
"Beautiful! What a shot!"
"It's tied! Seiho has finally tied Rakuzan!"
The entire Seiho side erupted in cheers.
At the same moment,
Rakuzan hurriedly called a timeout.
============
"This is unbelievable… Is Akashi's heart really this fragile?"
Even former teammates who knew him best could hardly believe how quickly he collapsed.
"No… if it were just the score being tied, that alone wouldn't shake Akashi like this. What truly broke him was that even after entering ZONE, at his strongest, he was still completely crushed by Akashi Asuka."
"That kind of defeat… especially the first defeat of your life… hits hard."
Aomine lowered his eyes.
"After all… we're the same. We've won too much, too easily. To the point we subconsciously believed victory was guaranteed."
"So when he beat us… it felt really awful."
Murasakibara, Midorima, and Kise fell silent.
Back in junior high,
They all believed the same thing.
Even after splitting up, they still declared they would meet again in the national finals of high school.
Looking back,
Was that not arrogance?
Because deep down, they all believed that the national championship already belonged to the Generation of Miracles.
Yet reality was this:
Forget the finals.
It was only the first semester of their first year,
And they had already been defeated.
And judging from what was happening now…
Akashi was about to join them.
=============
Completed version available on Patreon.com/Veltoria