Chapter Sixty-Four: Monsters Emerge
"Even Rukawa Kaede has..." Yagami Sorato watched the changes unfolding on court, a flicker of surprise crossing his eyes.
Rukawa Kaede's evolution had come much earlier than he'd anticipated.
Before this, Rukawa's passes were mostly forced choices after his individual attacks stalled.
Though his excellent court vision often transformed these "bailouts" into brilliant assists, truly integrating passing into his "triple threat" arsenal only happened during the nationals after encountering Sawakita Eiji—when his individual ability was completely overwhelmed.
Thanks to insights gained from one-on-ones with Sendoh Akira, Rukawa Kaede had genuinely grasped the importance of passing at that time...
"Is it because Kise Ryota's applying too much pressure?" Yagami wondered to himself before dismissing the thought.
These two were evenly matched offensively. Rukawa Kaede couldn't stop Kise Ryota—that was perfectly normal. But Kise Ryota couldn't completely lock down Rukawa either.
So the only variable was—
Yagami Sorato's gaze deepened. He recalled that practice game from a month ago.
In the original timeline, Shohoku had lost to Ryonan by a narrow margin. Rukawa might have believed that if he'd just been a little stronger, he could've changed the outcome—thus becoming even more obsessed with improving his individual ability.
But this time, due to his own intervention, Shohoku had suffered a crushing 30-plus point defeat.
That crushing defeat was clearly the catalyst.
When individual ability's limits appeared meaningless against a team strength gap, Rukawa Kaede finally began truly considering how to integrate his personal skills into team play. At the same time, his teammates' increased offensive threats would benefit him in return.
"Now this is interesting."
The corner of Yagami Sorato's mouth lifted slightly. He turned his head toward Sendoh Akira, and sure enough, the same expression of surprise and delight played across his senpai's face.
"Beautiful pass, Rukawa!" Akagi Takenori praised sincerely. That ball had felt perfect.
Rukawa Kaede nodded, his expression remaining impassive.
"Damn fox!" Sakuragi Hanamichi glared at his retreating back. "It's just a pass—this genius can do that easily too!"
"Sakuragi, don't do anything reckless," Miyagi Ryota warned. "Just focus on doing your job."
"Hmph, I know that!"
Possession changed. Kaijo's offense.
Kasamatsu Yukio steadily pushed past halfcourt.
Pretending to survey his teammates' positioning, he once again passed without hesitation to Kise Ryota.
But the instant the ball left his hands, Miyagi Ryota closed in from the side, nearly stealing it.
"This guy... looks so ordinary." Kasamatsu Yukio's heart jumped as he quickly pulled the ball back.
Miyagi Ryota established position, pressing in close.
Kasamatsu Yukio pulled the ball behind his back, using the rhythm change of his behind-the-back dribble to barely create half a body length of space.
Before Miyagi Ryota could press again, Kasamatsu Yukio quickly bounced the ball off the floor into Kise Ryota's hands as he came up to receive.
"Damn." Miyagi Ryota cursed under his breath. He'd thought it was a good opportunity—Kaijo's captain had better ball-handling skills than he'd expected.
Kise Ryota protected the ball in front of Rukawa Kaede, smoothly establishing his stance in triple-threat position. His gaze swept across the rim before glancing at his teammates' positions, his shoulders making subtle fakes.
"Idiot," Rukawa Kaede remained completely unmoved.
He won't pass anyway, so why pretend?
Rukawa thought to himself, maintaining position an arm's length away, center of gravity stable, body slightly lowered to seal off Kise Ryota's driving lanes.
"Can't fool you, huh?"
Before his words finished, Kise Ryota pulled up for the jumper without hesitation.
Rukawa Kaede jumped almost simultaneously to contest, arm fully extended, fingertips barely grazing the bottom of the basketball as it passed.
"CLANG!"
The basketball rattled off the rim once before dropping through the net.
Three points!
Shohoku 23 - Kaijo 25
The ball had barely fallen when Akagi Takenori grabbed it, stepping out of bounds in one stride.
"Miyagi!"
Miyagi Ryota received the pass, lowering his head and accelerating, dribbling quickly across halfcourt.
"Get back!"
Kasamatsu Yukio blocked Miyagi Ryota for an instant, but the ball had already flown to Rukawa Kaede's hands on the right wing.
Kise Ryota's recovery defense arrived almost simultaneously. "Can you still pass this time?"
Rukawa Kaede wasted no time on feints. First a slight fake left, then his right shoulder suddenly lunged forward, his entire center of gravity instantly committing forward, right foot explosively pushing off as he tried forcing his way right.
Kise Ryota reacted with lightning speed, feet quickly sliding over, using his body to block.
"BAM!"
Their bodies collided slightly in that instant. The referee's whistle remained silent.
Rukawa Kaede's movement showed no hesitation. Though he hadn't shaken Kise Ryota on his initial burst, he leveraged the momentum he'd built, maintaining balance and forward progress through the contact, forcibly squeezing out half a body length of space.
Rukawa Kaede penetrated near the free throw line with no signs of slowing.
Hayakawa Mitsuhiro caught up, positioning himself in front.
"Rukawa!" Mitsui Hisashi called from behind, providing an outlet.
Rukawa Kaede suddenly gathered the ball, legs exploding upward as he jumped, his entire body leaning forward, wrist softly releasing the ball in a floater.
"Huh?"
Hayakawa Mitsuhiro hadn't expected him to shoot in such a posture—it almost looked like he was falling. He jumped desperately, raising both arms to block.
But the basketball traced an arc higher than usual, just clearing Hayakawa Mitsuhiro's outstretched fingertips.
"BANG!"
"Swish!"
The ball banked off the glass into the net.
Shohoku 25 - Kaijo 25
A glint of excitement flashed through Kise Ryota's eyes.
Kaijo's offense. Kise Ryota continuously called for the ball to isolate. He demanded it again at the 45-degree angle beyond the three-point line.
The second after receiving Kasamatsu Yukio's pass, without any warning, Kise Ryota exploded forward. His body posture accelerating with the ball and his ball-protection details were identical to Rukawa Kaede's just moments ago—except he was even faster!
Without needing physical contact, he created half a body length of space with pure speed.
Then at nearly the same spot near the free throw line—gathered, jumped, floater! Unlike Rukawa Kaede's contested release, Kise Ryota controlled his body form more stably in the air, while his wrist angle appeared identical to what they'd just witnessed down to the millimeter!
"Seeing it once and perfectly replicating it... this is the Generation of Miracles' Kise Ryota!" Aida Yayoi had never seen a player like this.
The basketball traced a gentle arc, descending toward the rim.
A crimson figure suddenly launched skyward with unbelievable elevation and explosiveness, single hand precisely swatting the ball away with tremendous force!
"SMACK!"
A crisp, thunderous sound reverberated through the court.
"What the hell, fox!" Sakuragi Hanamichi landed on the floor, shouting loudly at Rukawa Kaede. "If you keep letting this guy blow by you, get off the court if you're useless!"
"What?!" Kise Ryota stared at Sakuragi Hanamichi in disbelief, pupils contracting slightly.
This scene felt too familiar. Beside Kuroko, there was also a red-haired figure with genius-level jumping ability!
Kagami Taiga—the two images overlapped in Kise Ryota's eyes.
"BEEP—!"
The referee's whistle interrupted Kise's thoughts, hands making a clear gesture across his chest.
"Goaltending! Basket counts!"
Shohoku 25 - Kaijo 27
Sakuragi Hanamichi's triumphant expression instantly froze.
"What?! Why does it count? He clearly didn't make it!" Sakuragi pointed at the referee, demanding an explanation.
"Sakuragi, don't!" Miyagi Ryota restrained him.
"Moron, shut up!" Rukawa Kaede kicked Sakuragi Hanamichi in the rear. "You trying to foul out early?"
"Damn it!" Sakuragi Hanamichi furiously redirected his anger toward Rukawa Kaede. "This is because you're dragging us down—completely useless!"
On the sideline, Aida Yayoi's eyes widened in disbelief once again. Sakuragi Hanamichi's performance was even more shocking than Kise Ryota's. After all, she'd never seen a Japanese high school player get called for goaltending before!
"Kanagawa this year seems to have suddenly spawned several monster-level players..."
"Tough choice." Yagami Sorato propped his chin on his hand, eyes flickering mysteriously. "Which one would make a more interesting opponent?"
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