The Flame Man still raged, a heat so intense that illusory ripples shimmered, so hyperreal they imprinted on everyone's eyes.
On Kaijō's side, they'd barely recovered from Nijimura Shuzo's zone, and now Shigure Akihito's true power was bearing down on them. Even the steadiest players, struck repeatedly by one after another of the opponents' assaults, were losing themselves.
What's more
It was Kaijō's turn.
They were facing a defensive coverage that seemed to blanket almost every attacking area. On both the horizontal plane and in vertical reach, Shigure Akihito's single-player defensive range was terrifyingly vast—Kasamatsu Yukio, the point guard pushing the play, felt it most directly.
And in that stunned instant
Flame Man, burning
Talent
Acceleration move!
Arrow released from its string!
Power of insight!
All condensed into a single, burning interception of the Flame Man!
Snap.
In the next blink, Shigure Akihito was at Kasamatsu's side, slapping the ball out of his hands.
"Steal!"
"Now fast break"
"Shigure Akihito, push!"
No one on the court could match Shigure's movement. The only defense they could offer was the humble, preemptive retreat they had practiced during offense.
Kasamatsu, focused to the bone, thought, Concentrate, nothing gets past me—whatever it takes.
He lowered his center of gravity, planted his feet, and held himself steady as the first line of defense.
But it repeated almost like a previous scene. The Flame Man's burning granted Shigure fluidity—multi-stage, continuous breakthroughs, more frequent feints that sent defenders stumbling. Under the pressure of that presence, Kasamatsu's movements were heavily suppressed.
Flame Man's burning, a string of explosive steps!
Sss!
Kasamatsu's knees went soft.
"Damn it!"
"Not that easy!"
Kasamatsu had spent the whole previous year training like mad; before Nijimura arrived he'd been the frontrunner to be the next Kaijō captain. He snatched his balance back, stubborn and fierce.
But Shigure only gave him a sidelong glance, then executed a Temple-bow (bai fo) between-the-legs drive in Flame Man mode.
Lateral pullback!
Gather for the shot
But it was a gathered-shot fake!
Then a high-speed burst to Kasamatsu's other side.
Kasamatsu, who'd been forced into frantic lunges by Shigure's baiting, was thoroughly fooled—his stepping rhythm lost, his body flailing in panic. When Shigure finally rushed to his flank, Kasamatsu's center pitched forward; his vision closed in on the floor, and he went down, face-first.
"This is my real strength."
Shigure, almost on impulse, echoed Mitsui's line again. In Kasamatsu's peripheral vision, a dark flame flickered, growing increasingly seductive.
Shigure's expression was ice-cold, while Kasamatsu lay on the floor—an image that shocked everyone at Kaijō.
Whoosh!
Shigure didn't stop once the ball hadn't yet hit the net; he pressed on. He didn't choose a shot—instead he used fantastical speed, the wind slicing around him, and charged Kaijō's paint. Defending him now were the lagging center, Kashigawa Tatsuo, and Tomokawa Masaaki, the captain who barely managed to get back.
Even in Flame Man, Shigure didn't use Mitsui's signature spin layups or reverse finishes. He chose simple, direct force.
He set off.
In the next instant, he'd entered the airborne collision.
You could tell Kaijō's players had worked hard—their strength was real, and to hear someone praise it was significant. But
Wildness! Mammoth force!
Kashigawa felt the physical contact spike higher. At first he thought he could hold on, but once they met in the air, his mass and strength collapsed like paper—no matter how he pushed, he couldn't stop Shigure. Tomokawa likewise crumpled.
From the spectators' view, Shigure grabbed the ball with both hands, rose up, and slammed both Kashigawa and Tomokawa aside in midair.
Then, like a falling meteor, he brought both arms down and smashed the ball through the rim.
An Akagi-style gorilla dunk!
Talent
A new move!
"King Kong!"
Boom!
A massive, thunderous strike—not merely the sound of a dunk but the roar of the rim being torn from its moorings.
Everyone instinctively fled the area around the falling hoop.
After that, brains went blank.
In the hush that followed, everyone just stared at Shigure standing among the wreckage—he'd not only smashed the rim, he'd ripped it from the backboard.
Kurokami Shinji swallowed hard. The other Kaijō people, even after moving to another court, were still shaken—this was their first time seeing anything like it.
From the rookie squad, Hayakawa Mitsuhiro (Hayakawa) stood dazed, and after a long moment poked Nakamura Shinya at the edge of the court.
"A—am I dreaming or what?!"
"No way…"
"That thing just…is that even possible for a player?"
"Seriously?"
Nakamura smacked Hayakawa's back hard enough to make him yelp, then, eyes serious, said, "Nope, you're not dreaming."
To be honest, Nakamura—who was the type to be into paranormal stuff—had half-wondered the same, but it wasn't a dream.
It wasn't aura, either.
"Shigure Akihito…"
"The strongest in middle school, unprecedented."
"He's come to high school, and here he is, ruling the court again with overwhelming power."
END OF CHAPTER
CROWN BEFORE THE MIRACLES
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