Chapter 135 : Aomine is Back Again! The Second Round!

While the others are still focusing on the game, there are two people whose minds are wandering far beyond the place. First, it was Aomine who had a flashback of the time when he was in middle school receiving Kise's challenge for the first time, and second, it was Momoi who grew concerned at the blank look on Aomine's face.

'Dai-chan….'

Even though Momoi was worried, she didn't know what to do. This is the first time she saw her childhood friend in this distraught state. She was so frustrated because she didn't know what is in his head right now and how to help him, considering Aomine is not the type of person who likes to tell his own problem.

However, her worry was unnecessary, as the blank expression gradually disappeared, replaced by a wide grin.

"Kise sure is amazing, right?" He suddenly spoke, startling everyone on the bench. "It only takes six months for him to be able to copy our movement, something he had never succeeded before. He even copied Akashi's style, damn. He had never slacked off, huh?"

Momoi nodded, sighing in relief. Sure enough, facing such a strong opponent, it would only make Aomine's blood boil more.

She also knows Aomine would realize Akashi's playing style from afar. Based on Aomine's words, it was the scariest ordinary playing style he had ever seen. It was just a bunch of basic technique and observation skill that was combined crudely, but in Akashi's hand, even all the Generation of Miracles members had to bow down and becomes his puppets.

Playing against Akashi was probably the most terrifying experience Aomine had regarding basketball, which makes the tanned-skin boy respect his former captain the most.

"Sensei." Aomine suddenly turned to his coach, bowed his head respectfully. "Can you put me back on the court again, please?"

This shocked Harasawa and the entire bench to the core. They would never expect the ever-proud and arrogant Aomine would be willing to bow down just to be on the court. The only one who didn't have a similar reaction was Momoi who had known Aomine the longest.

She knows that while Aomine is arrogant, he is not that ignorant. The boy knows what he did caused a lot of hostility from his teammates. But since his role as the ace is undisputable and no one could shake it off, coupled with the principal's protection, he was brave enough to act rudely to everyone in the school.

But that was under the premise he could maintain his top performance and lead the team to the winning road.

Now that he was beaten by Kise, Aomine knows no matter how much he whines to the principal, nothing drastic would happen. Harasawa as the head coach also knows that agreement too. That's why even though he had to lower his pride, Aomine is willing to do so in order to be back on the court.

"Can you beat him?" After pondering for a moment, Harasawa asked. "If you are back on the court and still getting beaten by Kise, it would only hurt the team's morale, seeing their ace was getting humiliated. So, unless you have the absolute confidence to beat him, I would not put you back on the court."

No matter how much he despised Aomine's behavior, Harasawa couldn't ignore the fact only Aomine had a chance against Kise. Furthermore, he was also under pressure from the principal to lead the team at least to the semifinal, or he could say goodbye to his job. It was an understandable target, considering how much money the school had spent to recruit talent all over the country.

And with his job is on the line, Harasawa is willing to put aside his grievance and give Aomine a chance one more time, but only if the tanned skin boy could give him a guaranteed top performance against Kise.

"Don't worry, Sensei." Aomine waved his hand nonchalantly. "You remember the game against Seirin? I still had that trick to play."

Harasawa nodded, remembering Aomine's double outburst against Seirin.

"Okay, prepare yourself. Your mission is to stop Kise no matter what. Other than that, just do your thing."

Aomine's grin spread from ear to ear at his words. Momoi who saw his expression smiled unconsciously, trying to remember the last time her childhood friend was so happy like this.

'Is that the time we won the second championship? Sure enough, only a strong opponent could make him excited like this. Ki-chan, please don't give up too fast.'

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A moment later, Aomine finally comes out of the bench, ready to play again. Seeing the big grin on his former teammates, Kise couldn't help but feel excited. However, the same couldn't be said for the other Kaijo players, who tensed up when they saw Aomine walk slowly to the court.

"Kise, be careful."

"Don't worry, Captain," Kise replied confidently. "I have won against him before, and I won't let him snatch it from me that easy."

Ever since the breakthrough of his perfect copy, his confidence increased astronomically, thinking that he was invincible. He starts to think like Aomine without realizing it, which makes Kasamatsu frown. Unfortunately, it was not the time to reprimand the blonde, as the game was still on.

Unsurprisingly, the ball went into Aomine's hand again as he initiated the offense. Kise approached his former teammate immediately, not giving him a space to be comfortable.

"So, ready for the second round, Aominecchi?"

Aomine snorted at the arrogant tone that he was familiar with. It was his usual tone whenever he fought against an interesting opponent. It was ironic that it would be thrown against him right now.

However, he didn't dwell on that issue for too long. Right after he passed the half-court line, he speeded up with an incredible acceleration, trying to force his way into Kaijo's defense. Kise stuck onto him all along without opening up a space for Aomine to take a shoot. However, right after they passed the three-point line, Aomine suddenly tossed the ball, surprising Kise for a second.

'A toss? An alley-oop?' However, his eyes widened as realization dawned in his head. 'Aomine would never pass the ball! Damn!'

And right to his prediction, it was just a small toss above, which Aomine caught it easily after he jumped, ready to shoot the ball. However, Kise reacted quickly by using Kagami's jump to suppress Aomine in the air, disturbing the shooting form.

'He had no way to avoid confrontation in the air and had to take the shoot! I got him!'

Unfortunately for Kise, Aomine suddenly manipulated his form in the air, and instead of taking the shoot, he bumped his body toward Kise craftily, creating a gap between each other before flicking the ball once again through the air.

*FWEEEEE!*

At the same time as they bumped into each other, Kise knew it was a call for him. That's why he tried so desperately to stop the shoot to avoid the three-point play. However, the gap created by the bump before was enough to create space for Aomine to shoot the ball comfortably, and when Kise saw the trajectory of the ball, his face turned ugly.

*Splash!*

"Kaijo High #7 offensive shooting foul, one free throw for Tōō Academy #5!"

Silence descended for a few moments as the referee's words echoed all over the Tokyo Gymnasium before it was broken by the sudden roar from the audience seat.

"OOOOH!!!!"

"He caught his own toss and drew a foul from Kise?! That's crazy!"

"That's a nasty combo!"

"I remember seeing a similar play from Allen Iverson in the NBA, but I cannot believe I would be able to see it live!"

"Nice one, Aomine!"

"Tōō is back on the game! Hahahaha!"

The crafty play from Aomine seems to inject a new energy for the Tōō supporters who started to worry about how the game runs. As for Aomine, the main character of the latest play just smirked slowly, ignoring the infuriated Kise.

"Sorry about that one, everyone." Kise apologized to his teammates. "I got careless and was fooled by him. This wouldn't happen again." Seeing the solemn look from their ace, all if Kaijo players nodded in understanding, not blaming Kise for the last play.

"Don't worry, Kise."

"We know what your former teammate is capable of. There is no way we would blame you."

"Yeah. We had no way to stop him"

Kise could only clench his fists at the encouragement he received from his senpai. His mind suddenly flies back to the time before he joined Teiko's basketball team when he still jumped from one sports team to another.

Other than the basketball team, he would always manage to climb up and end up as the ace of the team within one month. After joining the Generation of Miracles, he kinda forgot how it feels for someone to depend on him. And now, he was reminded of that feeling after seeing his helpless senpai who could only watch from the sideline with no way to help him.

"Don't worry, Senpai. I will definitely stop him. This, I promise."

All the Kaijo players were surprised at the sudden determination that could be seen in Kise's eyes. However, they all are happy that Kise finally recognizes their feeling and is willing to carry the heavy burden as the ace of the team. And the happiest among them is of course Kasamatsu who was worried Kise would get overconfident. Seeing Kise's eyes, he knows he was worried for nothing.

"Good. Just play your best, and we will support you from behind." Kise nodded slightly, a new determination burned inside him.

The game continued again with a free throw for Aomine, which was executed flawlessly. After that, it was time for Kaijo to attack, and as usual, it was initiated by Kise. If before he wanted to rush recklessly and challenge his former teammate head-on, after realizing the hope of his teammates he carried on, he played more carefully, using his head more to beat his opponent.

However, it was not only him who changed. He could also feel the sudden changes in Aomine as immense pressure suddenly emerged from the tanned skin boy. He frowned a bit, trying to think of a way to get away from Aomine's guard. After a few seconds, he decided to stick with Akashi's playing style, which was a big mistake.

'You want to copy Akashi in front of me? How naïve!'

Even though Kise's imitation was great, there is one thing he didn't have that was instrumental in Akashi's playing style. And that was Akashi's ability to see the entire court from a hawk-eye perspective. Because Kise didn't have that, he could only manipulate what was in his sight, something that was easy for Aomine to cover.

The moment Kise tried to fool Aomine with a fake and passed the ball toward the opposite side, Aomine reacted quickly, using his incredible reflex to close the passing route.

Kise was surprised for a second. However, he also showed off his incredible reaction speed by turning the pass into another fake, changing it into a hesitation move before passing it to Hayakawa in the paint area. And even after passing the ball, he didn't stop running, stretching out Tōō's defense while also creating space by cutting from the backdoor.

"Here!"

Seeing Kise asking for the ball, Hayakawa passed it without hesitation, decided to trust Kise. However, before the ball could reach the blonde, an arm suddenly extended from behind, poking it away from Kise.

"WHAT?!"

Not only Hayakawa, even Kise also dumbfounded at the sudden steal from behind. He didn't expect Aomine to find out about his weakness and sneak from his blind spot like that. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to lament the play, because the ball had already been thrown by Wakamatsu to Aomine to initiate the fastbreak.

"Damn!"

"Steal!"

"Go back! Defense!"

Kise gritted his teeth, using his speed to chase Aomine from behind. At first, it looks like he has succeeded, as he was finally able to pressure Aomine shoulder to shoulder. However, Aomine suddenly slowed down, using Kise's body as a pivot to do a spin move before he leaped through the air, delivering a hammer dunk through the hoop.

*BAAAAAM!!!*

And after he landed on the floor, there was a hint of blue lightning dancing in his eyes as he began to enter the zone state, surprising Kise and the others. They didn't watch the game between Seirin and Tōō, so they didn't have the slightest idea about that blue lightning. That's why even though it was unsettling, they ignored it for now, believing Kise would be able to handle it.

Kise himself clicked his tongue in annoyance, not expecting Aomine would use him as a pivot like that. Even though his teammates didn't really mind, he was a bit upset at his naivety to think that Aomine wouldn't be able to find the flaw in his perfect copy. And now, his team paid the price of his mistake.

'Fortunately, there is still 6 points lead for us. Let's use this the next time to widen the gap first.'

A second later, the ball is back in Kise's hand as he starts the attack for Kaijo again. But unlike before when Kise treated it carefully, now, Aomine could see the carelessness on Kise's dribble. The tanned-skinned boy frowned, knowing Kise would plan to do something. There is no way after what he just showed, Kise would stay idle and not do anything. With his heightened sense, he keeps his guard on Kise, observing his every movement.

And when Kise suddenly tried to pull up a super long shot three from the half-court line, Aomine reacted immediately, jumped in front of him to block the shoot.

"Copying the trash from Seirin?! Don't think it would work against me, Kise!"

Kise was a bit surprised at Aomine's quick reaction, not expecting him to be faster than before. However, it was already under his calculation, as when he jumped for the shoot, a shadow of green green-haired boy suddenly could be seen behind him, startling Aomine. And in a split second of their confrontation in the air, the ball finally released from Kise's hand, getting through the wall that Aomine erected in front of his face as it flew straight through the hoop.

*Splash!*

Aomine watched in astonishment as the ball hit the net smoothly, resulting in another three points for Kise. The blonde himself just smirked as he said, "I don't know what kind of outburst you had. But with the Generation of Miracles' skills in my hand, do you think you can win against me, Aominecchi?"

Aomine twitched the corner of his mouth in annoyance, not expecting the arrogant remarks from the blonde. He took a deep breath, ready to dive deeper into the zone. The blue lightning on his eyes is getting more intense, as his concentration reaches the top-notch. He eyed Kise hungrily as if he was the predator, ready to grab his prey.

'Interesting… Let's see if you could still maintain that arrogance at the end of this quarter, Kise….'

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Author note :

If you want to support me more, you can visit my Patreon page on patreon(.)com/ZetaFaes

You can read this fanfiction up to chapter 155 on that page. Also, you can read my other fanfiction, Diamond no Ace: The Prince of Hitter up to chapter 15 too.

Thank you! :)

-Zeta Faes-