Chapter 75 : VS Toō Academy VII : Aomine Takes Over the Game
"Good job, Furihata-kun! Kuroko-kun!" Riko praised two of her best players in the second quarter.
It is the first half break, and the score is 34 – 40 still for Toho's lead. But it was far better than their condition in the first quarter when they were down to 20 points and almost lose hope against Aomine. Now that Furihata could match the power forward, it seems like they were blessed with a second life. However, it still doesn't ease her worry for the opponent as she knows the strongest her team is, the better Aomine would be.
"Furihata-kun, Kuroko-kun, I want to hear your honest opinion." When she said that, everyone turned their head to her simultaneously. "Do you think you can do this for the entire game?"
Kuroko and Furihata shared wry smiles with each other before the latter shook his head.
"I don't believe we can do that, Coach." His answer left his teammates dumbfounded. "You see it for yourself, he can still go faster and he started using his physical ability to suppress me. If Red is here, maybe the chance would be better. But without him, I don't think Phantom and I can do this for all day."
"That's right." Kuroko nodded. "And the most important thing is, our stamina couldn't be compared to Aomine at all. He still can play all day without getting tired, and we will collapse first before the game ends."
The atmosphere turned somber after everyone heard what those two said.
"So, we have no chance since the beginning, huh?" Koganei muttered bitterly. "This must be a joke.."
That remark only makes the other feel depressed, which was stopped by the sudden smack on the head by Hyuga.
"Don't be an idiot." The captain scolded Koganei. "The fact that we are still chasing them shows everything could happen in this game. But if we give up now, we will never accomplish that, you hear me!"
The cat-like senpai could only nod, didn't have the energy to object his captain. Riko decided to ignore them and think about the strategy they could use in the second half.
"Okay, everyone! Listen to me!" She spoke again after a minute, gaining the attention of her players. "I know this would be hard, but just like Junpei said, the fact that we are still alive shows that we still have a chance. Let's put a fight and not embarrass ourselves, alright?"
"Yes, Coach!"
"Good." She nodded, satisfied with the answer she received. "As for the third quarter, Mitobe, you are on the court again. Fukuda-kun, you did a very good job earlier, but I think it would be better if you start the third quarter from the bench, okay?"
"Yes, Coach!" The first-year center beamed at her praise.
"I will still put Tsuchida on the court, in case Aomine started using his physical ability to dominate Furihata-kun. If that is the case, Kuroko-kun, you backed down quickly and let Furihata-kun and Tsuchida do the double-team, understand?"
"Yes, Coach." The blue-haired boy nodded.
"Mitobe, your job is to clean the mess inside the paint. And if you have the opportunity, try looking for a quick fast break. Junpei, keep your eyes open, and when you see Mitobe winning the ball, start running. Our mindset is still the same. If we cannot stop Aomine, we better outscore them. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Coach!"
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Five minutes later, the third quarter is about to begin, and all of the players are back on the court. But it was an unnerved experience for Furihata as he felt the air change around Aomine.
If before, it was just playful and excitement, now it seems there is a sudden attitude change in the power forward. It is as if he is more….. Serious right now. Furihata doesn't really know how to describe it, but it makes him feel a bit anxious, not knowing what to expect right now.
'Okay, I need to calm down.' He took a deep breath, trying to gain his focus back. 'No matter what will happen, I cannot let Aomine do whatever he wants. If I can stop him, the morale of the team will skyrocket astronomically.'
However, his thought was snapped by Aomine.
"I have to give my thank to you, Bastard." The power forward spoke. "It has been a long time since anyone can make my blood boil like this. You and Tetsu are really strong opponents. If only the red hair is here too, it would be more interesting."
Furihata snorted inwardly, but still not saying anything to answer Aomine's villainous monologue.
"But just like Satsuki said, all fun and excitement will have to end sometime, and now, it is time for me to end it before you can grow to be a pain in the ass. You will experience a massacre this quarter."
By the feral grin he received, Furihata is not sure if the massacre that Aomine means is in basketball or in real life. However, he has a gut feeling that this quarter will indeed be the massacre as Aomine described it to him.
A moment later, the third quarter finally started, and now, the ball is back to Aomine again, just like what everyone expected. Furihata is still the one who guards him, followed by Kuroko who stays in the shadow, ready to help anytime his teammate needs.
There was a brief pause as Aomine is still dribbling the ball slowly. But a second later, the tanned boy suddenly lunged forward, trying to use his speed to get away from his guard. Furihata saw the initial movement and tried to cut him off, what he feared earlier happened.
He lost sight of Aomine.
It is not like Kuroko's trick where he vanished using his thin appearance. No, Aomine is just moving faster than Furihata and Kuroko could think about.
"DAMN!"
Furihata cannot help but curse when the realization hit his head, that Aomine already passed his guard right now.
"SENPAI!"
He yelled at his senpai who are in the paint area, asking for them to slow Aomine down until he could recover from his state. However, Aomine didn't really care about it right now. Instead of waiting for him, the power forward showed his explosive jump from near the free-throw line, which caused Kagami who is in the audience gasp.
'HE CAN JUMP AS HIGH AS I DO?!'
Tsucihda and Mitobe who are in the paint area jumped together at the same time, trying to stop Aomine from scoring. However, Aomine once again showed his incredible agility by lowering his hand which had the ball and spun around them in the air with ease before he flicked the ball, resulting in another two points for Toho.
*Splash!*
Kagami had to stand up from his seat, his fists are shaking in disbelief.
'What the hell just happened there?! He suddenly speeded up and got away from Furihata and Kuroko, jumped as high as I do, and then spin in the air to evade Mitobe-senpai and Tsuchida-senpai?! Is that even possible?!'
"Yeah, that is the most common reaction everyone has when they saw Aomine get serious." Midorima beside him spoke. "You said your team studied his movement, right? What you studied is only Aomine when he destroyed his opponent for amusement. But when he turned serious like that, his movement would be stronger, sharper, and quicker, just like we had just seen earlier."
'Not to mention it is still not him going all-out. He still has his 'Zone Mode' that he has never displayed to anyone but us Generation of Miracles.' He added the last part inwardly, a wry smile could be seen on his face.
Kagami just scowled but didn't have a proper way to answer his remark. He decided to just sit down and watched the game with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. Even though he is worried, there is nothing he can do except believe his teammates could overcome this situation.
Down below, the last play from Aomine kinda makes the tension rises among Seirin players. However, they don't have the luxury to talk about it now as the game has to be resumed in a second.
And now, the game restarted again with the ball in Furihata's hand. He dribbled it for a while before he tried to do a combination attack with Kuroko again as he did before. However, before Kuroko could get his pass, Aomine suddenly swooped in from nowhere with a steal, stripping the ball off his possession before Furihata could react.
'SHIT! NOT AGAIN!'
Furihata could only curse as Aomine sprinted away with the ball. Tsuchida who is not involved too much in offense tried to stop him. However, Aomine is unfazed by his attempt. He didn't do anything fancy like before. Instead, he jumped straight away in Tsuchida's direction, and a second later,
*BOOOM!*
A posterized dunk from Aomine! The gap is back to 10 points again!
The power forward turned around and face Furihata before he let out a smirk as if saying, 'Is that it? Do you still have anything more?' which kinda irritated Furihata for a bit. However, it was not enough to get any reaction from the first-year point guard as he only received a blank stare in return for his smirk.
Right after that, Furihata charged once again, trying to retaliate. If they couldn't stop Aomine, they would need to score more than him.
He passed the ball to Hyuga before he started running around from the right wing to the paint area, trying to get away from Aomine. Mitobe who saw his intention helped him quickly with a screen, which was enough for Furihata to leave his guard behind right now. He didn't stop and kept running until he faced Sakurai in the left corner area. However, he is unfazed and keeps running, and when Sakurai is trying to follow him, he was blocked by another screen from Kuroko.
'WHAT?!'
Although all Toho players know how mobile Furihata is on the court, when they see it first-hand, it is completely different. Just in this play, Furihata is already running around the court; from the right wing to the paint area to the left corner, and now he is on the left wing, ready to receive the ball from Hyuga.
It is one of the textbook plays that Seirin perfected during the training before the tournament began. They would use either Hyuga or Furihata as bait to open up some space in the opponent's defense, and when their opponent is in chaos like right now, they would hit them hard with a three.
"CAPTAIN!"
Hyuga who saw Furihata is already in a good spot is about to pass the ball. However, right before he could release the ball, Aomine suddenly blitzed between them, cutting the route pass and preventing the ball to go to Furihata.
"Don't think about it, Bastard!"
Hyuga gritted his teeth as he stopped before he could throw the ball to Furihata, preventing the steal attempt from Aomine. However, by doing so, he lowered his guard on Imayoshi who is defending him, and the glasses point guard didn't hesitate to poke the ball from his hand.
*Slap!*
Hyuga widened his eyes in surprise before a realization hit when he couldn't feel the ball in his possession anymore.
"DAMN!"
He tried to get the ball back from Imayoshi. However, the duel between the captains of both teams didn't really happen as Imayoshi threw it forward immediately before Hyuga could stop him, and the one who received the ball is Aomine.
Furihata managed to chase him down for a second. But it was really Aomine's attempt to provoke him as Furihata could hear the power forward mutter,
"You love playing like this, huh? Let's see if you can stop it!"
And right after that, Aomine did a nasty crossover and took a step back immediately, throwing Furihata off guard. Before Furihata could react at all, he has already thrown the ball from the distance, and a second later,
*Splash!*
The first three from Aomine!
When Furihata turned around and see there is still six minutes before the quarter ended, he signaled a timeout quickly to his coach, which she complied quickly to the referee, and a second later,
"Seirin High, time out!"
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Author note :
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-Zeta Faes-