Actually, if this had only been a constant three-point contest, Shintaro Midorima wouldn't have lost his composure so quickly.
After all, the score had stayed close the entire time.
But in the third quarter, something changed.
At the very end, Miyamoto Tokima made a three-pointer and left Shintaro Midorima with only 0.7 seconds!
That was what finally made Shintaro Midorima start to panic.
If Miyamoto Tokima had wanted to, he could have kept Shintaro Midorima from getting the ball at the end of the third quarter.
Then Shintaro Midorima would have fallen three points behind Miyamoto Tokima.
That made Shintaro Midorima fully believe that Miyamoto Tokima could control the pace of the game well enough to set himself up for the final shot.
Under those circumstances, Shintaro Midorima's composure began to waver, and that unease only grew as the fourth quarter went on.
He was afraid Miyamoto Tokima would pull the same move again at the very end of the fourth quarter.
And that sent Shintaro Midorima spiraling into overthinking.
Seeing that something was off with Shintaro Midorima, Kazunari Takao quickly shouted:
"Shin-chan! Stay calm!"
Hearing him, Shintaro Midorima immediately tried to steady himself.
Then, all of a sudden...
Clang!
A sharp sound rang out from the rim.
The sudden, heavy clang drew everyone's eyes over, including Shintaro Midorima's.
Everyone turned and saw that the player whose shot had hit the rim...
Was Miyamoto Tokima!
The basketball Miyamoto Tokima had shot suddenly struck the rim.
Just as everyone thought the shot was about to miss, the ball bounced back into the basket.
Swish!
The three-pointer counted!
...
Off the court.
Daiki Aomine watched what was happening on the court and muttered:
"Miyamoto... hit the rim? Could Miyamoto be..."
Shoichi Imayoshi frowned slightly and glanced at Miyamoto Tokima's expression on the court.
The moment he saw the smile on Miyamoto Tokima's face, Imayoshi, who specialized in psychology, instantly understood what Miyamoto Tokima was trying to do.
"Well, I didn't expect that. Miyamoto Tokima really does know everything."
Daiki Aomine froze for a moment, then asked:
"What do you mean?"
Shoichi Imayoshi narrowed his eyes and smiled.
"Miyamoto Tokima hit the rim on purpose."
Daiki Aomine frowned.
"On purpose? Why would he do that?"
Shoichi Imayoshi kept smiling with narrowed eyes as he said:
"To throw Midorima off even more, of course."
Daiki Aomine said, "But after Miyamoto hit the rim, shouldn't Midorima be happy? How would that throw him off?"
Shoichi Imayoshi continued:
"After Miyamoto Tokima hit the rim, Midorima would definitely be happy. He might even shoot with more confidence. But..."
"What happens if he realizes that the later it gets, the faster Miyamoto Tokima shoots, while still being as accurate as ever?"
"Do you think... Midorima could still feel happy then?"
"And besides, Midorima was already worried that Miyamoto Tokima would control the final possession. After seeing Miyamoto Tokima hit the rim, then suddenly speed up his shooting, do you really think he could stay calm?"
Shoichi Imayoshi's words reached Daiki Aomine one after another.
Daiki Aomine was completely stunned.
It wasn't that he thought Shoichi Imayoshi was wrong. After thinking about it, he realized that Shoichi Imayoshi might actually be right!
In the end, Daiki Aomine could only look at Shoichi Imayoshi and say one thing.
"You psychology people are all sneaky!"
Daiki Aomine had Shoichi Imayoshi, the psychology expert, to explain things to him.
But the other schools didn't have a psychology expert around.
Ryota Kise and the others all thought Miyamoto Tokima had panicked. They didn't think any deeper than that.
Only Tetsuya Kuroko from Seirin pointed out that Miyamoto Tokima might have done it on purpose, but even he couldn't explain the exact reason.
...
On the court.
As the one directly involved, Shintaro Midorima was even more confused. After seeing Miyamoto Tokima hit the rim, he couldn't help feeling secretly pleased.
His next few shots returned to normal, and everything seemed to be moving in a good direction.
But Miyamoto Tokima's next two shots both struck the rim and went in.
This made most people feel that Shintaro Midorima was starting to gain the upper hand.
But soon, Miyamoto Tokima changed.
Miyamoto Tokima's release became even faster, and every ball he shot went cleanly through the net.
He stopped hitting the rim completely, looking as though he had fully adjusted back into form.
At first, Shintaro Midorima didn't feel anything unusual.
But as time slowly passed, Shintaro Midorima's heart... began to panic.
He kept feeling that the reason Miyamoto Tokima was speeding up his shots was to control the final possession.
So he refused to let Miyamoto Tokima have his way and kept changing his own shooting rhythm and timing.
Every shot was different, all so Miyamoto Tokima wouldn't be able to control who ended up with the final possession.
But precisely because he did that, Shintaro Midorima's shots began grazing the rim again...
And those rim-grazing shots kept coming. No matter how Shintaro Midorima adjusted, he couldn't return to normal.
Miyamoto Tokima, on the other hand, only shot smoother, faster, and more accurately!
As time ran down and Miyamoto Tokima's pressure mounted, Shintaro Midorima's shot...
Clang!
Hit the rim...
And after the ball bounced high into the air, it did not fall into the basket...
At that moment, there was one minute and fifty-eight seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Shintaro Midorima stared at his own hand in disbelief and muttered shakily:
"I... lost... again..."
...
Off the court.
Seirin's side was still all right, since Tetsuya Kuroko had mentioned that Miyamoto Tokima might have done it on purpose, so they had been mentally prepared.
But Kaijō was different.
Ryota Kise simply couldn't believe what had just happened.
"No way!"
Miyamoto Tokima had clearly hit the rim three times in a row, and all three had only bounced in because of luck.
And yet, in the end, Shintaro Midorima was the one who lost this three-point contest!
...
Over at Tōō.
Daiki Aomine fell silent as he watched what happened on the court.
He hadn't expected the final situation to unfold exactly as Shoichi Imayoshi had said.
Miyamoto Tokima sped up his shooting, while Shintaro Midorima managed to readjust at first, only to grow more and more off as time went on until he finally hit the rim outright!
The only thing different from what Shoichi Imayoshi had said was that Miyamoto Tokima had struck the rim three times in a row.
Shoichi Imayoshi narrowed his eyes and said:
"As expected, the truly skilled are bold. To apply psychological pressure, he actually dared to hit the rim three times in a row, and all three still bounced in."
"All I can say is... he really lives up to [Magic Cube]!"
...
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