In the blink of an eye…
The first half was over. Halftime break.
On the court
Teiko vs Heishi Middle School.
The scoreboard showed a number that left every one of Teiko's first-year rookies wide-eyed and speechless—
80 to 4.
With Shuzo Nijimura and Akihito Shigure going all out, even Daiki Aomine and the budding "Miracles" were forced to face, for the first time, just how wide the gap in true strength could be between players.
It was like…
Heaven
And Earth.
And that wasn't even the worst of it…
Daiki Aomine glanced at the disheartened Heishi players across the court, unable to hide the crease forming in his brow.
Just then
"Second half. Starters, take a break. First-years, you're up."
"And Akashi..."
"You rest too."
Seijūrō Akashi: "…"
Truthfully
Akashi wanted to say he was still fine physically.
After all, on defense, with Shigure-senpai on the court, even if Akashi had zero intention of slacking off, it was impossible not to relax a little with that absurd "whoever attacks gets blocked" style of defense.
And on offense, the relentless bombardment by Captain Nijimura and Shigure-senpai left almost nothing for Akashi to do.
As point guard, he didn't have to orchestrate plays. Just control the ball, advance it up the court smoothly, and save his seniors' stamina by skipping unnecessary movement—then distribute from the top of the arc.
Playing half the game, his energy expenditure was about the same as one training session back at Teiko.
But then came Shirogane Coach's next words, dashing his thoughts entirely.
"Nijimura"
"You stay in to lead the first-years."
"Run point guard…"
"And remember…"
"Take it easy."
Nijimura Shuzo pressed down on an eager-to-jump-up Shigure Akihito, stood up and nodded, then looked down and said:
"Can you actually hold back?"
"This half belongs to the first-years. You, my guy…"
"Sit this one out."
"Huh?"
"Why do I not recognize anyone except Nijimura out there for the second half?"
"Same as that red-haired #8 from the first half—these four are all first-years too."
"Almost half of Teiko's current roster is made up of first-years."
"What?!"
"Are you serious? Last year it was just Nijimura and Shigure, and those two are already total monsters! But these five… they can't all be like them, can they?!"
In the stands, among the few who actually knew something about Teiko's current rookies, one player from another team said with a cryptic tone:
"This year's first-years at Teiko… sure, they're not quite at Shigure or Nijimura's level…"
"But there's a lot of them. Five, in one go!"
"In Teiko's usual practice matches…"
"These guys…"
"In short, they're all way too strong for first-years."
"Especially #9"
"Daiki Aomine!"
Back on court
At the Heishi Middle School bench, their players—all glassy-eyed from the brutal first half, suddenly noticed that aside from Nijimura, Teiko had swapped in entirely new players.
And then
In the numb ice of defeat, the first crack appeared.
"Senpai!!"
"Senpai…!"
"Teiko subbed in reserves! Shigure Akihito isn't playing anymore!"
"!?"
"For real…?"
"This lineup… any of you recognize them?"
Among the stunned faces of the Heishi starters, all third-years, their voices trembled with a hidden excitement they could barely contain.
"Nope…"
"But I heard… Teiko recruited five seriously strong first-years this year. That #8 point guard in the first half must've been one of them. Maybe… this is the rest."
Number 8?
Everyone recalled #8's performance from earlier.
Yeah…
Great ball control.
Solid defense. Not flashy, but tight.
As for scoring…
Well, being a point guard, he didn't score much.
"But guys…"
"Isn't the most important thing that Shigure Akihito is off the court?!"
"As long as he's not out there…"
"Sure, we can't catch up. But at least we can score again! Our pride as Heishi, our pride as third-years after three whole years of fighting"
"Even if we lose, we're not going out like that! We'll show everyone our guts!"
"That's right!"
"This is our chance!"
"In the second half, we're going all-out to score on these Teiko rookies!"
In front of the Heishi bench, from players to coach, every single pair of eyes was lit with hope. Not for victory
After all, the first half ended…
80 to 4.
A record-breaking, unheard-of massacre.
But they were determined
Determined not to have this kind of humiliating defeat carved into the history of Heishi Middle School's basketball club!
Even if the match had practically ended in the first quarter, they were still middle school players who had worked their butts off for three years. They had pride.
"Everyone! Seize the chance! Push the score!"
They were fired up!
"Hell yeah!"
"They're just first-years, after all!"
The Heishi players re-entered the court. No one even looked Nijimura's way. All eyes locked with laser focus onto these cocky-looking, colorfully-haired first-years.
Until
At the top of the three-point arc
As the designated point guard, Nijimura Shuzo signaled for spacing, then passed the ball to the first-year with the strongest offensive power: Daiki Aomine.
On the Heishi side, when they saw that Nijimura wasn't planning to attack, just setting up the rookies, they were momentarily thrilled.
A warm-up match for the newbies, huh?
Tch!
Heishi's small forward rushed to press Aomine the moment he got the ball, trying to use physical defense to remind these greenhorns
That years of training couldn't be matched by a bunch of middle school newcomers!
But then
Aomine reacted in a flash. The moment the defender closed in, he suddenly exploded with speed, flashing past the small forward like lightning.
Heishi's small forward: "!?"
Confident in facing a first-year, he had overcommitted. His body still carried momentum forward, unable to pull back in time. He could only watch helplessly as his opponent, with a first step nothing like a rookie, blew right past him.
From the bench, Shigure Akihito watched Aomine's explosive move and thought
He really is like a little black panther.
(And no, that wasn't a metaphor—he was specifically referring to Aomine's dark skin.)
Heishi's center rushed forward to help, using his height to lock Aomine down tightly!
Aomine, hyped, was about to go for it
But then
"Pass."
That calm, familiar voice instantly brought Aomine back to earth. Almost involuntarily, he passed the ball—and only as it left his hands did he realize…
There were three defenders subtly closing in on him.
Whap!
Nijimura caught the ball just inside the free-throw line.
Still didn't shoot.
Instead, using that spot as a pivot, he scanned the arc and passed the ball to Midorima Shintarō, then swung it again to the inside
To Atsushi Murasakibara.
A simple no-look fake pass completely broke Heishi's defense.
Because of Nijimura's perfect timing and pressure relief—Heishi's center, just retreating from his help-defense on #9, got baited by the fake, taking one step out.
And before he could recover
He could only stare helplessly at the ball sailing into the paint!
"Damn it…"
"No time!"
And at that very moment—Murasakibara was already in the air!
BANG!
A soul-shaking rim-rattler!
Atsushi Murasakibara slammed the ball through the hoop with both hands in a ferocious airbound jam!
In that moment
Staring at his absurdly long arms, and that nowhere-near-first-year dunk elevation
The Heishi players were all dumbfounded.
And then…
That #9…
Blew past their perimeter defense in one step.
This whole play happened because #9's speed forced them to collapse on defense.
"That #10's dunk… is it even legal for a first-year to dunk like that?!"
"Apparently, yes…"
"Last time it was Shigure Akihito."
"And #9's speed—it's ridiculous. The moment he starts, he's at full speed. His acceleration feels like it skips time!"
"They're amazing…"
"Who are these guys? We had no idea Teiko had players like this."
"Someone from another team said… all four of these are first-years. And #8 from earlier too…"
"Teiko's hiding monsters? Again?! Since Nijimura and Shigure last year… where the hell are they finding all these freaks?!"
A moment of stunned silence.
Then the whole gym exploded.
Teiko.
First-years.
Starting lineup.
Monsters.
Things were getting intense.
For the crowd, it was thrilling.
But for the other teams watching these new Teiko first-years for the first time
One thought echoed in all their minds:
This might be a problem.
And this time, it wasn't just two…
It was five.
End of chapter...
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