Ryuo vs. Tokiwadai, Part-Three

The third quarter began with both teams entering the court after a short break.

On Tokiwadai's side, they had switched Narumiya with Sora.

Shun put his arm around Sora and spoke.

Shun: "Sora, get ready to relay the ball."

Sora saluted in response.

Sora: "Yes, captain."

Sora looked at his captain and asked.

Sora: "Kageyama-san, are we going to use the chaos strategy?"

Shun nodded and replied.

Shun: "Yes, in the last quarter. We are going to use that after Ryuo's offense is at their lowest."

The freshman continued his questioning.

Sora: "What about your stealing strategy?"

Shun hummed and shook his head.

Shun: "While the stealing strategy is a great defensive option, but these days I am concentrating on different things."

There were a lot of defensive players in the summer camp, and Shun was going to use the games today to practice them.

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

The ball was in Tokiwadai's possession.

Starting from their basket, Shun inbounded the ball and thought of a play to use.

He looked at Sora on the three-point arc and Yuki in the paint.

Shun smiled and from near Tokiwadai's basket, and threw the ball to Sora on the other side of the court.

Sora caught the ball, and according to what he saw with his eyes, he saw Yuki in a comfortable position, so he bounce-passed to Yuki.

Yuki caught the ball, dribbled the ball to the basket, and scored with a layup.

Shun clapped his hands. He was happy with Sora's judgment.

Shun: 'Good, that pass had great timing and placement.'

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

Now, the ball was in Ryuo's possession, and to stop the slowly increasing point gap, Ryuo handed the ball to their ace.

Hayama once again had the ball, and the same as before, Shun was on his defense.

Hayama grinned excitedly and spoke.

Hayama: "You really are amazing. It is going to be the first time I will get to use my strongest dribble in the game."

Shun smiled and responded.

Shun: "Thank you for the compliment.

I am also looking forward to seeing your strongest.

I have seen the damage Mibuchi-san can do in a game. So, I want to see what is the pinnacle of that dribble of yours."

Hayama nodded, and his eyes focused. All five of his fingers rested on the ball's surface.

Shun dipped his posture a little lower to be ready for the full-speed dribble.

Hayama spoke in almost a whisper.

Hayama: "Level-Five."

The next moment, the ball was out of Hayama's hand and was on the floor.

*Boom*

The loud sound ripped the air and reached every corner of the gym, even leaking outside.

Hayama had moved towards the right.

Shun's eyes followed the ball instantly.

He tried to shift to the right to put a hand on the ball but found that he couldn't do it.

Shun felt a smile make its way to his face as he though

Shun: 'He is good.'

Hayama had the ball in his right hand, and he had dribbled the ball forward towards the right direction, but the first step he had taken was from his left foot.

From the previous encounter, Hayama knew that Shun could steal the ball. He didn't know if Shun would be able to follow the ball at level-five, so to avoid the steal, he used his left leg as a barrier.

But, even though Hayama had blocked the steal option, Shun wasn't going to stop with just that.

Shun turned and ran. Within two steps, he was once again beside Hayama, with his hand spread, blocking his path.

Hayama didn't stop and kept dribbling, but he couldn't find a way to the basket with Shun blocking his path.

He had to stop but kept his dribble going.

Shun chuckled and talked.

Shun: "Not going to lie, that was fast. And, you blocked out a steal attempt.

Amazing skill, Hayama-san."

Hayama let out an irritated snigger and retorted.

Hayama: "Yet, you still caught up to me."

Shun shrugged and continued.

Shun: "I have learned from experience that a defender shouldn't give up after one attempt.

And, straightforward drives aren't going to work. You need to add some fakes or variations if you want to stand a chance."

Hayama didn't respond and passed the ball.

Shun was a little surprised at that.

Shun: "Aaah, here I thought we would continue."

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

Ryuo called a time-out after Hayama's request.

Hayama sat on his seat and looked down at the floor.

Everyone on the team stared at their ace until he spoke up.

Hayama: "Get me the ball a bit earlier. I want to gain momentum before meeting Kageyama."

The point guard nodded in response.

Hayama took in deep breaths and got up.

Hayama: "Let's return to the game."

The look in his eyes showed that Hayama was extremely serious about his match-up with Shun, and the most serious he had been ever while playing basketball.

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

Just as instructed, Ryuo's point guard passed the ball to Hayam earlier and let him gain momentum before meeting Shun.

Shun moved into Hayama's course and spoke.

Shun: "Oh! You are using a running momentum. That is much better."

Hayama, with a severe face, took in a deep breath and did a sharp direction change to the right.

With the direction-change came the sound of Hayama's level-five lightning dribble.

*Boom*

Shun's reflexes jolted, and he immediately snapped to the left.

The next momentum Hayama did another direction change to the left.

Shun was a little surprised by the other direction change.

When he turned, he saw Hayama pulling up for a mid-range jumper.

Hayama finally allowed a grin surface on his face.

Hayama: "I did it!"

He was about to shoot the ball, but a hand came from behind and snatched the ball from him.

Hayama felt a massive shock as he looked back to see Shun landing on the floor with the ball.

Hayama: "What... are you doing there?!"

Shun looked towards the basket and threw the ball to Kaitani, who was on the run.

Shun looked back at Hayama with his hands on his waist.

Shun: "That was a surprise, to think you would add a fake direction change, and you didn't start from rest this time.

An excellent play.

I am convinced. You are at the same level as Mibuchi-san."

Shun had great respect for Mibuchi. Mibuchi's form had granted Shun the diversity he had in his shooting style.

Even though he knew that Hayama Kotaro was an Uncrowned King from the series, but seeing it with his own eyes was a different thing.

Hayama was still shell-shocked.

Hayama: 'No matter what I do, he stops me.

That was the best move I knew, and he still stopped me.'

Shun looked at Hayama, who didn't look like he wasn't listening.

He looked around the court and saw.

Shun: 'Ryuo's power forward looks frustrated and irritated.

He already has three fouls trying to get away from Yuki. His playstyle has become much more tamed from before, and efficiency has gone down.

Hyakuzawa really took the advice about making contact seriously.

Ryuo's center looks so tired. It must be tough trying to move Hyakuzawa when he is looking for contact.

Kaitani is not giving the shooting guard space to shoot, and that is getting on the shooting guard's nerves. Not being able to pull up for a shot and being forced to go inside is affecting his performance.

The point guard has gotten blocked every time he came inside to score. Now, he has switched back to total support.'

He once again focused on Hayama and thought.

Shun: 'He needs one more push. Then Ryuo's offense would be broken to the limit.'

Shun thought of the needed push and decided what he wanted to do.

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

Near the three-point line, Shun got the ball from Sora.

Hayama came to Shun with a grave expression on his face.

Hayama: "Even if I can't score against you, I will make sure not to let you score."

Shun pulled out his inner-Haizaki and made his best Haizaki impression.

Shun: "Let's see... was it like this?"

Hayama's eyes widened in shock when he saw Shun's hand and the number of fingers on his hand.

Shun smiled in an evil-grin and spoke.

Shun: "Level-Four."

*Boom*

A loud noise reverberated in the gym as Shun dribbled the ball with four fingers.

Hayama stuttered in shock.

Hayama: "T-That is my lightning-dribble."

The next moment Shun charged forward, leaving behind Hayama in shock.

Shun ran towards the basket, and Ryuo's small forward stepped in his way.

Ryuo's SF: "Stop right there."

Shun looked at the obstacle in his way and spoke.

Shun: "Three would be more than enough for you."

He pulled his pinky up and dribbled the ball with three fingers. With a simple in-and-out dribble, Shun passed Ryuo's small forward.

With nothing in his way, Shun scored with a two-handed dunk.

Shun: "Yeaaah."

-*-*-*-

Hayama Kotaro was feeling the shock of a lifetime.

If Shun copying his move wasn't enough, he noticed one more thing.

Hayama: "His level-four was the same as my level-five."

Shun had used Hayama's move better than him, and that had put Hayama in a trance.

Rest of the Ryuo's team was also in shock.

Ryuo's SG: "T-That is impossible!"

Kaitani glanced at him and talked.

Kaitani: "When it comes to Kageyama, the level that we count as impossible is different."

Shun's copying skill wasn't that well known, unlike Kise, he didn't use it in an obvious way.

So, seeing Shun copying their best player was more than enough shock.

A sense of dread started to set in the minds of Ryuo players.

Shun, on the other hand, was analyzing the move he just pulled.

Shun: "Hmm... lightning-dribble is really fast, but it really limits the options.

I lose fluidity for speed.

Maybe I will use it as a shock tactic to throw off people.

Yeah, that sounds about right."

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

Next time Shun got the ball, he again faced with Hayama.

Shun stared at Hayama and spoke.

Shun: "You know what, I did say that straightforward drives won't work, but I ended up using just that against you.

So, now I will show you something different.

Look at it closely, alright."

Hayama furrowed his brows but didn't say anything, right now, he only wanted to stop Shun.

Shun put four fingers on the surface of the ball, and once again, Hayama heard the familiar boom sound.

Shun stepped to the left while using Hayama's lightning-dribble.

But, Hayama Kotaro was the original creator of the skill, so he knew it better than anyone.

He immediately stepped to the left and got ready to move along with Shun not to give him to shoot or use a layup.

Hayama: "I got you."

But, Shun had other things in mind, and by putting strength in his legs, he stopped, and in the same movement, passed the ball to his backhand.

Hayama, who was expecting Shun to go forward, was taken by surprise and lost his balance. He stumbled backward for two to three steps before finally falling.

Shun got into his shooting motion and shot the ball in a long-range two-pointer.

The ball flew to the basket and swished into the net.

After shooting, Shun looked at the fallen Hayama and spoke.

Shun: "See, something like that."

Hayama's approach was to move forward, which was fine, taking into consideration that lightning-dribble was too fast and hard to follow.

But, that opened another opportunity of usage, which was to make the defender think that the user would definitely move forward and then using that, just like Shun did with the snap-back crossover.

-*-*-*-

On Tokiwadai bench, Narumiya stood up and spoke with an impressed tone.

Narumiya: "Oooooo, Ankles! Yeowch!"

-*-*-*-

Ryuo's members felt the hope of victory extinguished as they saw their ace and captain on the floor.

They had just seen a player from another team, which they hadn't played ever before, using their strongest player's signature skill better than the original.

Ryuo's point guard spoke words that deepened the sense of shock within Ryuo's players.

Ryuo's PG: "H-Hey, h-he didn't use level-five at all, didn't he?

He defeated Hayama with level-four!"

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

By the end of the third-quarter, Shun's goal of breaking Ryuo's offense was complete, and all that left was to finish the game.

Shun had Sora on the court for the fourth quarter.

Shun: 'Offense is out, now let's break their defense.'

Ryuo Middle School was about to face a defeat so big that a few days later when they stepped onto the national stage, they were calm and didn't think that their team would face anything worse than they experienced in Tokiwadai Middle School.