Chapter 40: Tricks

After Aizen's attack ignited the whole stadium, the atmosphere in the audience reached a fever pitch. In this roaring sound, Murasakibara, who was sitting on the ground, was successfully awakened. His childish eyes revealed a strong disbelief. Never had anyone treated him like this. Even Akashi had only passed him to shoot. How dare this guy in front of him dunk on him!

Murasakibara stood up from the ground, shock and anger evident in his eyes. He finally opened his sleepy eyes and looked at Aizen seriously and fiercely. Murasakibara was like a waking beast, ready to pounce on his prey. The sense of oppression emanating from his body was deeply felt by all the players on the court.

Murasakibara just looked at Aizen, who had just roared at him. He stretched out a big hand and gestured at Aizen's head, saying, "I'll crush you."

Aizen faced the pressure from the opponent, but he was not affected at all; instead, he felt extremely excited. "Crush me? Ha, I'll give you a chance," Aizen said directly, looking into Murasakibara's eyes. "But you play under the basket. How?"

Murasakibara immediately looked at Kise. "Switch me."

"How is it possible? You are an inside player" Kise said hurriedly.

"You can't beat him anyway, just give it to me. Why bother so much?"

Kise felt embarrassed hearing this. He knew that Murasakibara's dunking was largely due to his mistake. However, Murasakibara's words were too straightforward, implying Kise couldn't beat Aizen.

Just when Kise was thinking of a countermeasure, he heard a cold voice from the side. "Murasakibara, serve."

Both of them turned their heads to look at the speaker. It was Akashi Seijuro. His red eyes seemed devoid of emotion, and his whole demeanor was very cold. This made Kise feel a surge of pressure.

"It's over, the captain is coming for me," Kise thought.

Akashi's words confirmed his fears: "Kise, you won't have many opportunities to be willful."

With that, Akashi turned away, not bothering further with the two. Murasakibara, seeing this, snorted but said nothing. He stood at the baseline to serve. Kise, after Akashi's warning, cheered up. He knew that if he wanted to defeat Aizen, he couldn't make any more mistakes; otherwise, he would be ruthlessly replaced.

Aizen, observing the conversation between Teikō's players, shook his head helplessly. His plan had failed. Aizen had hoped to lure Murasakibara out, making it easier to attack inside. Even if Murasakibara was very strong, everything would change when he stood outside. With the opponent's poor skills, Aizen had many ways to outmaneuver him. But since the plan failed, he prepared for the next defense.

Kise attacked with the ball. Aizen could see that Kise was very serious after Akashi's warning. Kise had finished warming up and gradually entered his best state. Approaching Aizen, Kise didn't engage in any banter, understanding Aizen's tricks and fearing it would break his mentality. Moreover, he knew he was in a weak position.

So, Kise started to break through directly. Aizen smoothly blocked his first step. Then, Kise pulled back and dribbled to his left hand, suppressing his center of gravity to the left. In just a moment, Kise felt his hair stand on end. It was that familiar situation again. Had Aizen determined the position of the ball again?

Kise was confused. He had been so careful this time. Why did this happen again? It felt as if Aizen saw through him. This feeling was too desperate. It was similar to Akashi, who could see through movements but lacked outstanding static body skills. But Aizen was different. Using his tall body, Aizen held Kise tightly, immobilizing him. Kise hurriedly protected the ball, but Aizen's hands, like two pliers, grabbed it accurately, directly plundering it. Kise had no power to resist. Even when Aizen stole the ball, he did so with great force, leaving Kise embarrassed.

Aizen didn't pay attention to Kise, who had fallen to the ground. He burst into speed, rushing to the opponent's basket in the blink of an eye, and took off for a dunk! "Bang!!" The sound of the explosion resounded throughout the stadium again.

The audience was stunned by Aizen's quick succession of top plays. Were they going to lose their voices today?

"Ahhh!!!"

The girls of the Jianguang cheering team screamed shrilly. Aizen's shot had indeed exceeded everyone's expectations. No one anticipated the game would develop like this. They thought the two teams would compete fiercely before determining a winner. Who would have thought it would end so straightforwardly? Aizen attacked the basket so quickly that none of the opponents could react.

As Aizen scored, he saw the sluggish Kise on his way back. He couldn't help but tease again: "Hey, genius! Do you need me to give way, or should I be replaced immediately?"