Chapter 77 : VS Toō Academy IX : Tie Again! The First Appearance of the Zone!

Contrary to what everyone believes, Aomine didn't hate weak players. In fact, sometimes, he has a jealous feeling of how they could still enjoy playing basketball and facing a stronger opponent while keep improving their skill. There is no better joy than feeling an improvement in your skill and beating a stronger opponent than you, and you cannot experience that again when you are on top already.

So, no, he doesn't hate weak players. What he hates the most is the players who give up and run away when facing defeat. He hates those players who hide behind 'they are the generation of miracles, what can we do?' to accept their defeat willingly.

If it was Murasakibara, there would be no problem, because his former teammate is just too lazy to play a long game. The faster the opponents give up the better, that is the motto. But Aomine still wants to enjoy basketball. That is why facing the stubborn Seirin who doesn't know how to give up even though he beats them so many times, he couldn't help but show an excited grin.

"Satsuki," He spoke to his childhood friend during the timeout. "This team is really interesting. As expected from Tetsu's team."

"Yeah," Momoi replied softly. "Even though it is not a do-or-die game and they would have a chance to advance through the national tournament if they could win the next two games, they still put in a lot of effort just to end this game. They might be weaker than you, but you have to respect their perseverance."

"I know." Aomine nodded his head in agreement. "That is why I will go all out after this. It would be an insult if I still hold back my strength."

Momoi stares at the power forward for a moment before a smile spread on her mouth. This is the first time in a very long time she saw her childhood friend smiles, enjoying a game like this. She has no doubt that he would show that if he faces his former teammates. But for a team without their best player to gain Aomine's respect like this, she is just glad that it happened.

She shook her head, snapping herself from her wild thought. Her gaze wandered to the other side of the court, where all the Seirin players huddled around their coach. Her hazel eyes landed on two players, one with the blue-haired boy, and another with the jersey number #12.

"Kouki-san, Tetsu-kun, I don't know how long you can last, but I hope you can give Dai-chan a good challenge before you give up."

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There was a mood shift in this game after the last play. If before, at the beginning of the quarter, Aomine managed to bring down the entire Seirin players to death, you can say that now they were resurrected, coming back to the condition they had in the second quarter.

It was another matchup between Aomine and Furihata again, but now, with Tsuchida and Kuroko eyeing them from behind. Mitobe and Hyuga decided to stay away from those two, as they know they would only be burdens if they come along and help those three.

But that doesn't mean they couldn't help them in defense. No, their help is more subtle. They keep the other Toho players at bay, preventing them to distract their teammates' state.

They know that even though Aomine insisted on being a one-man team, basketball is still a team game. There are a lot of ways to help your teammates even without getting near them. For once, they could just pop up in the defender's sight, forcing the defender's instinct to react and giving their teammates enough time to get away from their guard. Or they could just move along the court, creating space for the player who holds the ball to do whatever he wants.

And that is what Hyuga and Mitobe wanted to prevent.

But Aomine didn't need all of that. In his condition right now, even his former teammates wouldn't be able to stop him easily. He blitzed past Furihata and Kuroko within a second as if they were not even there, and craftily sends the ball to the basket by targeting the board with another of his crazy shoot.

40 – 49

'Goddamit! Why the hell is he getting faster and faster?' Furihata cursed inwardly as he saw Aomine score once again, his heart beating loudly in his ears. With how the game developed now, he knows it would be sooner that all of them began to fall one by one into exhaustion.

'But I cannot slow down the tempo, or our attack would get neutralized easily. Tch. If only Red is here.'

This is not the first time Furihtata wondering if only Kagami is healthy for this game. However, he knows no matter how much he whines, it would change nothing right now. He needs to keep his focus back on the game.

'Let's not think of when will we drop. Better do our best, and maybe miracles would happen.'

The ball is alive again, and it was tossed to Furihata. Aomine approached him immediately, not giving him any time to get comfortable with the ball. Tsuchida who gave him the inbound pass helped him get away by setting a screen, letting Furihata escape from Aomine.

"Nice screen, Senpai!"

Right after he crossed the middle of the court, he took a stance to pull up another super-long three. But right after he jumped, Aomine did the same from behind, trying to stop his attempt.

"Don't think I will let you do that again, Bastard!"

Furihata snorted, already knowing that Aomine would come in time. So, instead of letting the ball go high, he dropped it to the person with a white jersey that is closest to him right now, Hyuga. And right after he dropped it to his captain and landed on the ground, he moves immediately to the wing area, trying to get away from Aomine.

Hyuga who received the ball, right after seeing Furihata moves again, didn't hesitate to give it back to the point guard before he sets a screen to not only block Aomine's route but also delay Imayoshi to switch the defense to Furihata.

"Damn! He sure is really fast!"

Imayoshi and Aomine moved at the same time, getting rid of Hyuga's screen. But before they could get closer to Furihata again, the point guard sends the ball to the high-post area and didn't seem to slow down his running. Nobody knows what he is trying to do, until a second later, the ball bounced back in his direction, and when all Toho players snapped their heads toward the high-post area, they could see Kuroko once again managed to sneak between two big men and sends the killer pass to Furihata.

"Damn, Tetsu! You are really annoying, you know?!"

Aomine sped up once again to close the distance between him and Furihata in a second, preventing the point guard to take the shoot. However, the ball has already gone again, as Furihata sends it back to Hyuga who is completely forgotten after setting a screen.

"DAMN!"

Imayoshi tried to stop his fellow captain. But Hyuga didn't give him any chance to do that as he pulled up another three, resulting in the gap being shortened to six points.

43 – 49

"You might be faster than anyone here," Furihata spoke, gaining Aomine's attention. "But I doubt you can be faster than the ball itself. As long as we move the ball quickly, you can do nothing about it."

It was as if a declaration of war from Furihata. But the point guard didn't really care, as he turned around and walked back to Seirin's side, leaving Aomine to grin like a madman.

"I can do nothing, huh?" He murmured; an excitement grows once again in his heart. "Oi, give me the ball. Stay away from him, he is my prey." Wakamatsu clicked his tongue in annoyance, but the look from his captain is enough to make him do as Aomine said.

The game restarted again, and Aomine didn't give Seirin any chance to take a break as he blitzed into their territory immediately, leaving his own teammates behind.

'Tch! That idiot!' Wakamatsu cursed inwardly as he runs as quickly as possible to the other side. Even though he knows Aomine didn't really need his help, it pissed him off how the power forward disregards his teammates like this, the sentiment that everyone on the team shares.

But Aomine didn't care about his teammates' thoughts at all right now. He charged into the enemy's territory without any hint of hesitation, ignoring Furihata and Tsuchida who tried to slow him down.

"Heh, you think you are fast enough to stop me, Bastard?"

Aomine grinned as he spun his body, trying to slip between both his defenders. And it was successful as he escaped both Furihata and Tsuchida at once and went through the paint area seamlessly, only Mitobe is there to guard the basket.

But he is not that naïve to just charge into the basket and forget about the earlier play before when Kuroko managed to sneak behind him and steal the ball. He scanned his surrounding for a moment, trying to figure out his former teammate's whereabouts. However, right before he could notice Kuroko's presence, he crushed into the one he searched for, causing his eyebrows to twitch slightly.

*Brugh!*

"Too #5 Offensive foul charging. Seirin ball."

"LET'S GOO!!!"

Aomine stares blankly at his former teammate who celebrates the last play with the entire Seirin players. When both their eyes meet each other, Aomine couldn't help but show a feral grin to the blue-haired boy, eyeing him like prey.

"You sure like to make things interesting, Tetsu. Destroying you would be really satisfying."

A moment later, the game restarted again with the ball back in Furihata's hand. But unlike the usual, he was guarded by Imayoshi, and Aomine decided to drop back to the low post area and observed his and Kuroko's movements carefully.

'Well, after getting fooled so many times by Phantom this quarter, it bounds to happen sooner or later. But without him here, I will definitely exploit this chance.'

"You underestimate me, huh?" The voice of Too's captain snapped him from his thought. The glasses point guard just let out a little infuriating smirk as he continued speaking, "I guess you have the right to do that, considering you are able to keep up with Aomine-kun until now. You are the longest opponent that could last before give up when facing him."

Furihata snorted a bit at the last part.

"But if you think we are far behind Aomine-kun, you are way too naïve. We can still beat you even if- HUH?!"

Furihata cut his inner monologue cruelly by pulling up another three from the logo, shocking the entire court. Imayoshi couldn't react for a moment, and a second later,

*Splash!*

Imayoshi's head turned from the basket to Furihata in disbelief, his eyes twitching in irritation as he saw a familiar infuriating smirk that he often sees in the mirror now directed at him.

"Sorry, I cannot hear you. What do you say before? Underestimating you?"

BURN!

Imayoshi's cheek flustered for a moment in embarrassment. A mind game is his specialty, but receiving the end of it is something that he had never thought would happen before. But Furihata doesn't care. Right after he saw Wakamatsu holding the ball, he shouted at Tsuchida,

"Senpai! Get closer!"

Tsuchida knows what Furihata wanted to do, and he came close and double-teamed Aomine immediately. They both tried to close the route between Wakamatsu and Aomine, trying to prevent the inbound pass to come at him.

Wakamatsu hesitate for a bit, didn't know what to do. Even though he wants to pass the ball to the other teammates, he didn't want to get into trouble for making Aomine angry. But with Aomine struggling to escape from two defenders, he had no choice but to pass the ball to the other player.

"Sakurai-kun!"

He threw the ball to the shooting guard, not noticing Kuroko once again lurking in between the pass route from the shadow. And when he finally noticed his presence, it was already too late.

"SHIT!" Wakamatsu cursed himself as he keeps forgetting about Kuroko, the most active inactive player on the court. It is not just him, but also almost everyone on the court. Only Furihata and Aomine probably could track the blue-haired boy down all the time they like.

But unlike Too players, Seirin has already used to the absurdness that Kuroko brings onto the court. So, when they saw something unusual happened like this, they managed to react fast, filling the blank position immediately and waiting for the ball to come in their direction.

After his eyes tracked down the movement of his teammates as quickly as possible, Kuroko decided to bounce the ball to the place near Too's basket, placing it through Wakamatsu's legs. It was a pass directed to Hyuga who cut inside from the sideline, and right after he catches the ball, the captain put it into the basket easily, another two points for Seirin.

48 – 49

"LET'S GO!"

The atmosphere surrounding the Seirin players becomes lively again with the gap shortened to only one point. It is not just because of the gap, but also all the efforts they put together to keep them alive even after facing Aomine's sudden outburst. Even Kagami on the spectator seat couldn't help but clench his fists, his mind wondering if his teammates could beat one of the generations of miracles without him.

However, the excitement didn't last long as Aomine suddenly charged forward with an incredible speed, way faster than before. Furihata, Kuroko, and Tsuchida couldn't see even a glimpse of the movement for a second, leaving them both stunned on their position. Hyuga and Mitobe who saw their best defenders froze in the middle of the court trying to cover their position, but Aomine is way too quick and agile. He did a quick double crossover to make Hyuga fall into the floor, and when he faces the center, he took a quick step back and dropped a shoot from the outside of the three-point line.

*Splash!*

It was just a simple bank shoot. Furihata bets almost all of his teammates could do that if they were given a chance. But that was not the problem there. It was the sudden outburst, just like earlier but more powerful now, that troubled the entire Seirin players. Kagami even stood up from his seat, his eyes widened in shock.

'W-What the hell just happened there?!'

His eyes couldn't follow Aomine's movement from his seat, and when he realized what happened, Aomine is already shooting a three after tearing his team's defense apart like an adult taking candy from a child. It was mindblowing how easy it is for the power forward to do that.

And out of all the people in Tokyo Gymnasium right now, only one person had an idea about what just happened, and that is his other former teammate, Midorima.

'It can't be… He is actually in the zone?!'

Zone, a state in which a player could reach their one hundred percent potential…It happened unpredictably, and no one knows who has the qualification to enter that state. Rumors said that the last time it was opened, Kobe Bryant scored 81 points in one game. But it was 10 years ago, and it was just a rumor that flies on the internet. No one knows how much truth is behind the rumor itself. But to see the zone in action like this, even Midorima had to admit he was a bit nervous.

'Now, what would you do, Seirin?'

Deep blue electric sparks shot out from Aomine's eyes as he turned to stare at Furihata and Kuroko who were still frozen at the spot where they stood.

"Nice effort, Tetsu, I will give you that." He spoke to his former teammate, sending a chill to the other players. "But never forget one thing, the only one who can beat me….. Is me."

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Author note :

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-Zeta Faes-