The arena exploded.
The roar of the crowd was like a bucket of water poured into boiling oil.
Kogure Kiminobu gripped the railing so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
Behind his glasses, his eyes were locked onto the lone figure wearing Number 7 on the court.
"Unbelievable..."
His voice trembled, yet even amid the deafening noise, every Shohoku player heard him clearly.
"Uozumi has been ejected."
"Fukuda has been neutralized."
"The backup center, Yuradaira, is as fragile as paper in front of Maki Shinichi."
By all logic...
This should have become a one-sided massacre.
The game should already be over.
And yet...
The scoreboard stubbornly refused to break.
"Look at their eyes."
Kogure pointed toward the Ryonan bench before shifting his finger to the exhausted players on the court.
Koshino, who had been knocked around relentlessly.
Yuradaira, desperately fighting for position like a praying mantis trying to stop a bulldozer.
Even Coach Taoka, who usually raged louder than anyone.
There was no fear.
No despair.
Only an almost fanatical devotion.
The faith of true believers.
Their eyes seemed to say the same thing.
Because we still have Sendoh.
As long as that man wearing Number 7 remained standing...
Ryonan's soul still lived.
And as long as its soul remained...
The game wasn't over.
"So... this is what an ace truly is..."
Kogure murmured.
On the court...
Maki Shinichi advanced with the ball, his royal violet-and-gold aura suffocating everyone around him.
His gaze swept toward the paint.
The trembling Yuradaira looked like nothing but weaknesses waiting to be exploited.
"Too weak."
Maki snorted.
With a flick of his wrist—
The basketball rocketed toward the basket like a fired shell.
Waiting there was Takasago Kazuma, who had already established perfect position.
The moment he caught it...
It would be an uncontested dunk.
This was Kainan's cruelest style of basketball.
If your weakness is inside...
Then we'll rip that wound completely open.
"It's over!"
Takasago reached out.
The smile of victory had already spread across his face.
Then...
A blue afterimage suddenly flashed into view.
"What?!"
Takasago's eyelids twitched.
Between him and the basketball...
A hand appeared out of nowhere.
Sendoh Akira!
One second ago he had still been battling Maki beyond the three-point line.
The next...
He had seemingly teleported into the air above the paint.
"Get... DOWN!!"
Sendoh stretched his body to its absolute limit.
It was one final explosion fueled by the very last ounce of strength left in his body.
Smack!
A crisp sound echoed through the arena.
Midair interception!
"Holy shit!!"
The crowd instantly lost control.
"He stole it!"
"Sendoh cut off Maki's perfect feed!"
"What kind of godlike anticipation was that?!"
"Is he even human?!"
Sendoh landed.
His knees buckled, nearly sending him crashing to the floor.
But he used the momentum to carry himself forward without stopping.
He burst into a sprint.
"Fast break!!"
His hoarse roar sounded like a beast breaking free of its cage.
He shot forward like an arrow released from its bow, charging straight into Kainan's territory.
No pass.
The current Ryonan...
Had no one capable of keeping up with his basketball IQ.
Nor anyone who could match his speed.
This possession...
He would challenge all of Kainan by himself.
"Don't even think about it!!"
Behind him...
A streak of violet clung to him like his own shadow.
Maki Shinichi's speed was terrifying.
Every stride thundered against the hardwood.
The Emperor's fury.
One blue.
One purple.
They reached the basket almost simultaneously.
They leaped.
Two stars collided in midair.
"Block him, Captain Maki!!"
Kiyota Nobunaga screamed from behind.
Maki's enormous hand blotted out the sky itself.
Every shooting angle...
Gone.
Against such overwhelming strength...
The exhausted Sendoh looked like a withered leaf ready to be crushed.
But the instant their bodies met—
The leaf became a mirage.
Sendoh's hand, which had been reaching for a thunderous dunk, suddenly withdrew in the air.
A sly glimmer flashed through his deep-blue eyes.
"You fell for it."
Curling his body unnaturally in midair, he deliberately exposed the basketball beneath Maki's arm, forcing the contact himself.
Tweet!
The referee's whistle rang out.
At the very moment his body began falling—
Sendoh softly flicked his wrist.
The basketball spun from his fingertips.
Tracing an absurdly high arc.
Over Maki's fingers.
Over the top edge of the backboard.
Then...
It dropped straight down.
Swish.
The crisp sound of the net was louder than thunder.
The arena fell silent for one second.
Then...
The roof nearly exploded from the cheers.
"It... IT WENT IN?!"
"A three-point play!"
"Another and-one!!"
"How the hell did that go in?!"
Sendoh slid several meters across the hardwood after crashing to the floor.
His chest rose and fell violently as he greedily sucked in air.
Yet...
That familiar smile still rested on his face.
The smile that somehow reassured everyone around him.
76:76.
He calmly converted the free throw.
77:76!
The battered, undermanned Ryonan...
Had reclaimed the lead.
"Monster..."
"That guy is an absolute monster..."
Someone in the stands clutched their head, their scalp tingling with disbelief.
The heat inside the arena felt ready to melt everyone alive.
...
More than ten kilometers away...
The Akagi household was peaceful and quiet.
The television was replaying highlights from Shohoku's previous game.
Haruko had just finished watching them, her cheeks still slightly flushed.
Ring! Ring!
The sudden phone call shattered the afternoon silence.
"I'm coming!"
Haruko hurried over and picked up the receiver.
"Hello, this is the Akagi residence."
A stranger's voice answered.
Hurried.
Anxious.
Desperate.
"May I speak with Akagi Takenori?"
"Yes, but my brother isn't home. He's overseas..."
Haruko answered politely, though confusion began creeping into her heart.
Looking for her brother?
Was something urgent happening at school?
But the next sentence froze the smile on her face.
"W-What...?"
Her hand trembled violently.
The receiver nearly slipped from her fingers.
"...Yes... I understand..."
"I'll contact him immediately..."
After hanging up...
Haruko leaned weakly against the wall.
Her face had turned deathly pale.
Coach Anzai...
That always-smiling old man...
Who reminded everyone of Colonel Sanders...
Something...
Had happened to him.
Back at the arena...
The game had entered its most brutal phase.
Although Sendoh's miraculous basket had reignited Ryonan's spirit...
The gap in stamina couldn't be bridged through willpower alone.
While Ryonan was still celebrating...
Kainan struck back.
Cold.
Efficient.
Merciless.
Maki Shinichi wasn't shaken by Sendoh's miracle in the slightest.
Instead...
He dismantled Ryonan's defense even more methodically than before.
"Defense!!"
Sendoh shouted hoarsely.
But his legs felt like they had been filled with lead.
Maki bulldozed into the lane, drew the double-team, then bounced a perfect pass to the cutting Jin Soichiro.
Jin caught it.
Rose.
Released a textbook jumper.
77:78.
In barely ten seconds...
The momentum had flipped once again.
This...
Was the true Kainan.
The kings of Kanagawa.
They would never allow you even a single mistake.
Not once.
"Damn it..."
"It's all my fault..."
"If only I'd played a little steadier..."
Koshino dropped to his knees and pounded the floor.
On Ryonan's bench...
The atmosphere was suffocating.
Everyone could see it.
Sendoh had reached his limit.
He was burning away his very life.
If this continued...
His body would collapse.
Smack!
A towel slammed onto the floor.
Fukuda Kicchou shot to his feet.
The gloomy expression that always lingered on his face had been replaced by absolute determination.
He strode directly toward Coach Taoka Moichi.
His tall frame cast a long shadow.
"Coach."
His voice was low.
Like a beast struggling to remain caged.
"Put me back in."
END OF CHAPTER
The King Of Slacking Off - MrBehringer's Secret
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