That slap sent Kato's vision spinning with stars.
But the referee turned a blind eye, believing Makoto Hanamiya had simply made accidental contact while driving to the basket.
The motion was so smooth—so natural—that everything looked perfectly reasonable.
All that could be said was that Kato had practically walked his own face straight into Makoto Hanamiya's palm.
After breaking into the paint and facing the Kōkyo center's help defense, Makoto Hanamiya flashed a wicked smile.
Then he said:
"Do me a favor—kneel first."
The moment he finished speaking, the Kōkyo center suddenly felt his legs give out beneath him. The next second, he really did drop to his knees right in front of Makoto Hanamiya.
Behind him, Kentaro Seto had quietly given him a little "routine move."
Looking down at the kneeling Kōkyo center, Makoto Hanamiya feigned surprise.
"Oh my, you actually knelt. Not bad. A good dog really does listen."
"Since you behaved so well, I'll let you off this time."
With that, Makoto Hanamiya casually tossed the ball up, and it dropped cleanly through the hoop.
At first, Kōkyo's center had no idea what Makoto Hanamiya meant. After being mocked by him, he was furious.
But very quickly, that anger turned into relief.
Because from that point on, the entire game seemed to change.
Aside from him, every other Kōkyo player kept running into all sorts of "accidents" on the court—until they were coughing up blood.
Kato had it the worst.
Still fuming, he pretended to lose control and hurled the basketball straight at Miyamoto.
But Shogo Haizaki intercepted it.
And that one move completely finished Kato.
He… was carried off the court on a stretcher…
Because he took an elbow.
Eight of them.
His other eye…
seemed to be done for too…
After his teammates were all knocked around and Kato was hauled off on a stretcher, Kōkyo's center finally learned his lesson.
Makoto Hanamiya driving into the paint?
Please, go right ahead!
Kentaro Seto going for a rebound?
After you!
Tatsuya Himuro shooting right in front of me?
Please, by all means!
What? My body's blocking your view?
Then I'll just squat down so I don't get in your way!
You ask why I'm doing this?
Because I don't want to end up like the others!
And so the game ended under those circumstances.
Four quarters finished.
Aside from Kōkyo's center, who managed to avoid it, every single Kōkyo player got wrecked.
Three of them were even carried off the court!
And they just happened to be their three most aggressive players.
You could say that the moment Kōkyo started playing dirty, their fate was already sealed.
Those tricks were taught to them by Kato.
And Kato learned them from Makoto Hanamiya!
Trying to play dirty in front of Makoto Hanamiya—wasn't that basically asking for trouble?
The most terrifying part was this:
Although the audience realized Kirisaki Daiichi was also playing dirty,
they only noticed Kazuya Hara and the others.
No one noticed Makoto Hanamiya.
In fact, some people even thought Makoto Hanamiya had been wronged!
Because his movements were too smooth—so smooth that it looked like the others had walked right into it themselves.
Only those who truly understood Makoto Hanamiya knew the truth.
Every bit of it was acting.
Over the past few years, Makoto Hanamiya's ability to conceal his dirty tricks had improved dramatically.
Even so, Miyamoto only allows Makoto Hanamiya to use them against opponents who enjoy playing dirty themselves.
Under normal circumstances, those kinds of tricks are strictly forbidden by Miyamoto.
Makoto Hanamiya understands this clearly.
That's why he only uses them when Miyamoto gives the word.
And just so happened, Miyamoto allowed it in this match.
Naturally, Makoto Hanamiya enjoyed himself to the fullest!!!
Still, deep down, Makoto Hanamiya was starting to feel less interested in using dirty tricks.
Because they were exhausting.
You have to act. You have to figure out how to land the hit.
Trash talk, on the other hand, is completely different.
Acting?
Act my ass.
Trash talk doesn't need acting. You just open your mouth and let it flow.
No acting, no racking your brain to figure out how to hurt someone.
Every word lands like a real wound.
Isn't that way more satisfying than dirty tricks?!
After the match, the Kirisaki Daiichi team had a meal together before heading home to rest.
Meanwhile, Miyamoto and Satsuki Momoi went out to hang out.
In the earlier rounds, Kirisaki Daiichi hadn't faced any of the teams from [The Generation of Miracles].
So it was basically certain that their clash would happen in the quarterfinals.
During the tournament, Kirisaki Daiichi also ran into an interesting school.
Fukuda Academy
The very school Shogo Haizaki attended in the original story.
This time, acting on pure mischief, Miyamoto gave Shogo Haizaki unlimited shooting privileges.
The result?
Shogo Haizaki exploded for 58 points in a single game, sending his "former school" home to go fishing.
After the game, Shogo Haizaki was still hyped, declaring that next time he faced Fukuda Comprehensive, he'd score 80.
Finally, the quarterfinals arrived.
Kirisaki Daiichi's opponent—
Yōsen High School.
Atsushi Murasakibara's former school.
Game day.
Kirisaki Daiichi and Yōsen High School faced off in the first quarterfinal match.
The stands were already packed, a sea of spectators.
Yōsen High School entered first.
Led by Masako Araki.
As the Yōsen players walked onto the court, gasps spread through the crowd.
"They're huge! Why is everyone at Yōsen so tall?"
"Seriously—those guys are all over two meters, right?"
The crowd's reaction wasn't surprising.
Yōsen High specializes in defense—an ironclad defensive style.
Kenichi Okamura, Wei Liu, and the newly promoted small forward were all over two meters tall.
If Atsushi Murasakibara hadn't left, Yōsen's defense would truly have been an impenetrable wall.
Kenichi Okamura—a man whose chin looked practically fused with his neck—spoke fiercely:
"Damn it. This game, I'm definitely going to teach Murasakibara a lesson!"
Wei Liu replied casually:
"Murasakibara probably had his reasons."
Kensuke Fukui disagreed.
"He even took Himuro with him. I don't believe there wasn't some kind of plan."
After Atsushi Murasakibara and Tatsuya Himuro left, Yōsen had no choice but to recruit two replacements for the small forward and shooting guard positions.
As for why they didn't replace the center—
it was because tall centers had already been snapped up by other schools.
Masako Araki swung the wooden sword in her hand and said in a deep voice:
"Alright. If you've got energy to spare, use it on the court. Just try not to get blown out."
Her words weren't unreasonable.
Kirisaki Daiichi was simply too terrifying.
After watching so many of their games, Masako Araki had yet to see a single school that hadn't been crushed.
Facing Kirisaki Daiichi, she didn't even feel like talking big.
The Yōsen players all fell silent.
They knew exactly how strong Kirisaki Daiichi was.
But the frustration in their hearts still hadn't gone away.
If we can't beat your whole team—
then focusing on those two players should be fair, right?
...
If you'd like to support my work and unlock advanced chapters, you can follow me on p-@-treon.
p-@-treon/GhostParser (45 Chapters Ahead)
You can also follow as a free member to read a few advanced chapters.