The Ace Awakens, And Thus Began His Fall

No one said a word to Aomine as the game continued, Aomine had scored thirty points in the first half, and now he was on the court for the second half.

The coach in charge had asked if Aomine wanted to rest for a quarter, but Aomine refused.

Aomine: "No, I am fine. Let's continue this game. I want to play more."

Aomine was grinning as he walked off to the court.

Midorima and Kise looked at Aomine's back and saw something change in their teammate.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Aomine got the ball just outside the three-point arc, and if front of him was Harada's power forward.

Harada's power forward: 'I have to stop him from going in. If he doesn't get in, then he won't be able to score.'

Aomine got near the power forward and moved the ball from right to left behind his back, he again passed the ball to his right hand, between the legs.

The power forward was confused and startled as he leaned to the right thinking that Aomine would go from the right after the complex move.

Aomine did go to the right.

Harada's power forward: 'Yes! Got you now!'

But Aomine pivoted off his left to the left direction in a spin move.

Harada's power forward was shocked as he tried to go back to the left.

Harada's power forward: "I am not letting you go."

But his posture was bad and ended up falling to the ground on one knee.

At Teiko's bench, a player yelled.

Teiko's player: "An ankle break!"

Aomine passed his defenders in a marvelous feat of ball handling and dribbling skills, with no one in his way he slammed the ball into the rim with a one-handed windmill dunk.

Teiko's bench went wild seeing Aomine's play, and from then on every time he got the ball, the players started to chant his name.

Teiko's bench: "Aomine! Aomine! Aomine! Aomine!"

The atmosphere of the gym became charged as Harada's team gave it their all, to stop the rising ace of Teiko.

As the game went on, Aomine became faster, sharper, and more offensive with each possession.

All eyes were drawn to the player who was unstoppable.

Aomine became even more liberal with his formless shooting.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Aomine drove his way into the three-point arc, and at the free-throw line, he threw a laserbeam shot to the basket. The ball ricocheted from the backboard into the rim.

Aomine's shooting was so ridiculous that he had to be fouled to be stopped, but that didn't stop him from scoring more and more.

Aomine was a scoring beast in the inside game.

But that was not all, Harada's plan to stop him from going inside was also failing, the unconventional dribbling style was so hard to defend against, that their defense was being dismantled.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Aomine dribbled to the three-point arc from the side, and to past his defender, he continued his unconventional streetball style.

Aomine looked at his defender and held the ball in both of his hands. He started to move the ball in front of his body like a pendulum.

Aomine's defender sweated under Aomine's gaze as his body tensed, ready to move to block or foul Aomine.

Aomine moved and raised the ball in his left hand and dropped over his defender's left shoulder.

Harada's small forward was stunned still, as he saw the ball go past his shoulder.

Harada's small forward: "Huh?"

Aomine now without the ball exploded past his defender, without worrying about the ball getting stolen.

In front of him was Harada's center moving towards the now free-ball.

Aomine smiled as he got near the ball and swiped it away just as the ball was a few centimeters away from Harada's center's hand.

Aomine: "Hey, that is mine~. Maybe next time."

Harada's center shouted as Aomine took the ball.

Harada's center: "Damn it!"

Aomine spun to evade the center's body and brought the ball down into the basket with a two-handed dunk.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Midorima, who had scored thirty-five points in this match, was looking at his teammate's performance with pure fascination and awe.

Midorima: 'His lack of traditional training is finally showing. The lack of a traditional form has given rise to his free-form dribbling form, which uses unconventional moves to move the ball.

A playstyle so unique that no one has experience defending against it.'

Midorima thought about the shooting style Aomine was showing.

Midorima: 'Unlike the traditional style I use, his is completely opposite to mine, a shooting style perfect for scoring inside the three-point arc.

His adaptable free-form style would be perfect for the inside, where players are more crowded.'

Midorima took a deep breath and couldn't end up saying.

Midorima: "Amazing."

Meanwhile, on the bench, Kise was watching wide-eyed as his idol worked his magic on the court.

Even though Kageyama Shun had defeated both Aomine and him, Kise still considered Aomine as his idol.

Kise saw Aomine play every day, he saw Aomine putting in the work every day, and he played against Aomine every day. To Kise, Aomine was much more real than Kageyama Shun.

Kise felt goosebump as he saw Aomine scoring more and more on the court.

Kise got up from his seat and moved behind the basket so he could see Aomine's scoring better.

Kise: "He is so freaking cool."

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

The game ended with Aomine completing his seventy-point game with a dunk.

He ran back to his side of the court, and half-way through, he heard the whistle to indicate the end of the game.

Aomine was smiling and then looked back at the Harada team to thank them for the game.

When he turned, his smile faded as he saw Harada's players standing there not moving, looking down at the floor, some even had their hands on their knees.

Aomine saw the defeated looks of Harada's player and felt something wrong in his heart, but before he could think more about it, he was tackled by Kise.

Kise: "Aomine-cchi! That was awesome! You killed it out there."

Aomine had no time to reply as all of Teiko's bench also jumped on Aomine to congratulate him for his amazing performance.

Midorima sighed at this club mates' actions, but he too smiled and congratulated Aomine.

Midorima: "Aomine, your performance was amazing, to say the least. It was phenomenal to watch, and it was a pleasure to play with you today."

Aomine had forgotten about Harada's players' faces as he grinned, and his teammates congratulate him.

He smiled from the bottom of his heart and said.

Aomine: "Thanks."

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Aomine changed his clothes back from his training wear to his school uniform.

Aomine packed his things and was ready to leave. He sat on the bench in the locker room, waiting for the others to change so they could leave together.

Aomine leaned his back against the wall and closed his eyes.

The scene was not the usual darkness that one experiences when closing eyes.

In front of him was a locked door. Aomine didn't panic when he found himself in a strange place. He felt that he belonged here, and he felt that the door was attracting him to approach it.

Aomine followed his instincts and stepped closer to the door.

He looked at the heavy lock on the door. Aomine extended his hand to hold the lock, and the moment his hand touched the lock, it unlocked.

Aomine let go of the lock. He looked at the handles on the door and grabbed them. He pushed the door open with both hands, and the door panes opened with a creaking noise.

Aomine let go of the handles and stepped inside the room. He looked behind to find that the door had closed on its own, and the previously dark room was now lit with a dim light.

The room was a standard cuboid in shape, and Aomine's sight was attracted to a throne in the room.

The throne glowed with a dark blue light, Aomine walked towards the throne.

He touched the throne and walked around it to have a good look at it.

Aomine got into the front of the throne and sat on the throne.

Aomine immediately knew where he was. He couldn't explain it, but he knew that only extremely skilled players could enter this room.

Aomine: 'So my performance today was my key to entering this room, huh.'

As Aomine was sitting on his throne, he felt pressure from his right of the throne.

He looked at the source of the pressure and found another throne that was glowing with a silver light brighter and stronger than the blue light that was emitted by his throne.

There was a silhouette sitting on the throne.

Aomine immediately knew who it was.

Aomine: 'That is Kageyama, isn't it, I can feel it from the throne, it is giving the same vibe as he gives while playing.'

Aomine then felt that silhouette was looking at him even though it hadn't moved at all.

Aomine wondered about Shun's throne.

Aomine: 'I wonder since when had he been in here.'

Aomine smiled and thought.

Aomine: 'As I thought, he is really strong. I wonder who else will enter this room.'

Aomine then closed his eyes in the room, and when he opened his eyes, he was back to the locker room.

He looked at Kuroko, Kise, Midorima, Akashi, and Murasakibara, who were changing their clothes and packing their belongings.

He smiled and looked forward to seeing if one of his teammates would enter the room he just saw.

Aomine grinned and shouted.

Aomine: "Everybody, let's go to a convenience store after this, my treat."