Shintaro Midorima's expression remained calm, but his eyes grew noticeably deeper.
Ryota Kise instantly felt as if he had been locked onto.
Like prey under a predator's gaze…
The next moment, Midorima began his shooting motion.
He was charging up.
Seeing this, Kise laughed.
"Midorimacchi, you've got a fatal weakness. The farther the shot, the longer you need to prepare!"
In the next instant, both Midorima and Kise jumped at the same time.
Their eyes were filled with determination. Both had only one goal in mind.
Kise's hand quickly reached the ball in Midorima's hands.
If Midorima tried to shoot now, Kise would block it for sure.
Just when Kise thought victory was guaranteed, something suddenly felt wrong.
The lightning flashing in his eyes trembled slightly, his face filling with shock.
Why…?
Why aren't you falling yet?!
Kise had already started descending.
But Midorima was still hanging in the air, showing no sign of dropping.
On the sidelines, Taiga Kagami had already stood up, his voice filled with disbelief.
"That's impossible!"
Riko Aida's expression turned grim as she murmured:
"His hang time is terrifying…"
In this world, jumping ability was divided into two types.
The first was explosive jump—the ability to instantly jump to the peak of one's vertical. Mitsuhiro Hayakawa was the best example.
Players like that were usually excellent rebounders.
The second was hang time—the ability to stay in the air longer. The best representative of this was Taiga Kagami.
Players like that could perform all kinds of unbelievable movements while airborne.
On the court.
Kise was already descending, and his hand no longer covered the ball.
Seeing this, Midorima pushed the ball upward with his left hand.
The basketball soared high into the air—
Straight toward the roof of the arena.
When it reached its highest point, it began to fall.
Then…
Swish!!!
Kise turned his head in shock, as if he couldn't believe what had just happened.
Their eyes met.
In that moment, Kise felt as if he were staring into the sharpest eyes in the world.
He swallowed hard as pressure surged over him like a rising tide.
What comes next… won't be easy.
Possession changed.
Kise received the inbound pass and slowly dribbled past half court.
Facing Midorima, he suddenly accelerated.
In an instant, he broke past Midorima again and charged into the paint.
But now wasn't the time for two points.
Two points couldn't close the gap anymore.
Only three-pointers could.
So Kise immediately pulled the ball back out and jumped from the three-point line.
Midorima followed closely and leaped high to contest.
To avoid the block, Kise leaned his body slightly backward.
A fadeaway three!
Kise planned to release the shot where Midorima couldn't block it.
But soon he froze.
Because Midorima's hand was still directly in the path of the ball.
And…
Kise had already begun falling.
Yet Midorima was still in the air.
As if the sky itself were Midorima's home court!
"Damn it!"
With no other choice, Kise changed the motion of his shot.
He grabbed the ball with one hand and flung it toward the hoop.
This time, Midorima didn't try to block it.
Because even in the Zone, Kise couldn't replicate Daiki Aomine's formless shots.
Sure enough, Kise's attempt hit the backboard.
Taisuke Otsubo grabbed the rebound.
"Fast break!!!"
Otsubo shouted loudly.
Hearing that, Kise—already rattled—immediately turned and sprinted back on defense.
But as he ran, he suddenly realized something was wrong.
Midorima!!!
Kise spun around in panic just in time to see Midorima already rising into the air.
Then—
The shot went in.
Midorima landed while holding his shooting form.
Then he said calmly:
"Kise… your mind is unsettled."
Kise gritted his teeth and said nothing.
But he knew it himself.
His mind really was shaken.
...
On the next possession.
Kise stood at the three-point arc facing Midorima's defense.
He took a deep breath and began dribbling hard.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The ball slammed against the floor with thunderous force.
It was clearly the prelude to the Lightning Dribble.
Just when everyone thought Kise would unleash the Lightning Dribble—
He shocked everyone.
Because he gathered the ball.
Kise brought the ball up and made a shooting motion.
Midorima remained completely calm and didn't jump at all.
"Kise, if you think you can use Reo's move against me, you've chosen the wrong opponent."
Sure enough, it had only been a fake.
Seeing Midorima refuse to bite, Kise immediately abandoned the feint.
He quickly moved sideways, then jumped and drifted in midair before shooting.
This shot left Midorima with no way to block it.
Because Kise's lateral movement and midair drift were much faster than his.
Swish!
Three points.
Kise scored with that drifting shot.
But immediately afterward, overwhelming fatigue hit him.
Kise panted heavily as sweat dripped from his body.
He bent over with his hands on his knees, breathing hard.
Midorima said calmly:
"Your stamina is already exhausted?"
Seeing this, Genta Takeuchi immediately called a timeout and substituted Kise out.
From that point on, Kaijō without Kise was like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
They were completely crushed by Shūtoku.
More precisely—
They were crushed on defense, and on offense they were crushed by Midorima alone.
Midorima was like a tireless machine.
Firing endlessly.
He completely shattered Kaijō's hope.
One three-pointer after another fell like the swing of a reaper's scythe, cutting down the boys' hopes.
By the end of the second quarter, the score was…
66–37.
With such a huge gap, anyone could see that Kaijō had already lost.
But…
They didn't give up.
In the second half, Kise returned to the court.
He managed to stop the bleeding for Kaijō.
But Kaijō was like someone struck by a poisoned blade—the bleeding stopped, but the damage had already spread.
Their stamina was nearly gone, and their three-point shooting became unstable.
But Midorima was different.
His three-pointers never showed mercy.
They were like frogs slowly being boiled in warm water.
Being cooked was only a matter of time.
They couldn't stop Midorima.
And failing to stop Midorima meant a rain of three-pointers.
One after another, the threes erased any suspense left in the game.
The final score was frozen at:
122–71.
Shūtoku won.
Kaijō High School…
suffered a bitter defeat.
......