Meeting, Part 3

Shun took a break for a while before again moving to the court.

Shun smiled as he saw Aomine stretching.

Shun: "So are you ready, Dai-chan~? Are you sure you don't want to make a bet? How about we make a bet every time we meet, it will be totally our thing."

Aomine made an unpleasant face and said.

Aomine: "How about we make not talking to each other when we meet our thing."

Shun puffed his cheeks and said.

Shun: "Come on, it was just a week, though I wouldn't do that for a single bite. In a way, you should be thankful to me.

In case of an apocalypse, you would be able to eat anything with the help of your iron stomach."

Aomine felt that he could only get irritated hearing Shun's voice. He didn't think it was possible to feel anything other than irritation from listening to Shun's voice.

Aomine: "Let's start playing before I go mad and end up hitting you."

Shun chuckled and said.

Shun: "You are no fun at all. Maybe I should have held back at the start, then I could have, exploited you a little more."

Shun clapped his hands and said.

Shun: "Okay, enough playing around, it's time to whoop some butt. Dai-chan, I hope you would give me a better challenge."

Aomine nodded and asked.

Aomine: "Who is going to attack first?"

Shun thought about it and said.

Shun: "I will go first this time."

Aomine and Shun moved to the outside of the three-point arc, and Aomine passed the ball to Shun.

Shun smiled as he got the ball and started dribbling it on the spot. He widened his stance and bent his knees.

Aomine leaned down and got into a defensive stance, ready for Shun's incoming offense.

Shun dribbled the ball with his right hand on the spot a couple of times, then started his offense. He dribbled the ball between his legs and moved to the left.

Aomine moved into Shun's path, but Shun switched the ball back to his right hand and sidestepped to the left, making space between them. Shun held the ball in a shooting posture and jumped for a short.

Aomine was quick on the uptake and raised his hand to contest the shot, but the chances of him touching the ball were fifty-fifty, but Shun made the chances even worse by using the fadeaway 'Heaven' shot.

Shun was just outside the three-point arc, so when the ball landed in the net, he got two points.

It was Kise's first time seeing the 'Heaven' shot, so he was amazed by such a high fadeaway shot.

Kise: "Whoa, that was a high release point for a fadeaway shot."

While Kise was swooning at the 'Heaven' shot, Satsuki and Kuroko were thinking about something else.

Satsuki: 'The shooting form for that shot is different from last year, it has become higher and faster than the one he showed us in the finals.'

Kuroko: 'He made the copied move and integrated it into his own. Kageyama-kun is becoming more and more dangerous every time I hear about him.'

Aomine was also amazed by the sudden fadeaway shot.

Shun smiled towards Aomine and said.

Shun: "The best position to shoot is away from any player that wants to contest your shooting. Basketball might be a contact sport, but the easiest scoring is away from any form of contact."

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

Now it was Aomine's turn to attack, he got the ball from Shun and immediately did a crossover from left to right. Shun moved to the right, but Aomine once again did a right to left crossover and moved past Shun.

Shun wasn't the one to give after a single attempt, so from the same spot leaned his upper body to the limit and tipped the ball from Aomine's hand.

Shun knew that from his position that he won't be able to reach the ball before Aomine, so he didn't go after the ball and moved to a position near Aomine, where he could either hinder Aomine from driving to the hoop or contest a shoot from Aomine.

Aomine looked towards Shun's position and estimated that a shoot would have a higher chance at scoring that a drive to finish at the rim.

He hopped for a jump shot. Seeing that, Shun put as much force in his legs as he could and jumped to contest, as he had a run to back up his jump, he was able to put a finger onto the ball.

Aomine: 'Damn it, he touched the ball.'

Shun sprinted to the ball, which had bounced from the rim. Aomine was on his tail, running his best to catch up to the ball.

Shun got to the ball, first, now he had to clear it out of the foul line, which was the free-throw line extended.

Shun cleared the ball. Aomine caught up to him, ready to defend Shun from scoring.

This time Shun didn't go for getting past Aomine with a set of moves. He ran while protecting the ball from getting stolen, Aomine stuck to Shun as he dribbled to the rim.

Shun ran along the baseline and jumped to the rim. Aomine, who was suspecting a finger-roll layup, also jumped to block it, but Shun didn't throw a finger-roll layup.

Shun waited till he was on the other side of the rim and then threw a reverse layup from the other side. The rim protected Shun from Aomine's block, which would've blocked the layup if Shun went with a simple finger-roll. The ball spun once along the rim and then dropped into the basket.

Shun got to the ground and cheered with both of his arms up in the air.

Shun: "Yeah~,!"

Aomine grabbed his head and grumbled.

Aomine: "Damn it, why did you have to change it to a reverse layup."

At the sideline, Kise exhaled a breath that he didn't know he was holding in. The exchange between Aomine and Shun was intense for Kise to watch, and he got completely immersed in the play of two players who were much better than him.

Kise: "They are amazing."

Kuroko looked at his clubmate and felt the same thing that Kise was feeling.

Kuroko: 'The free and wild Aomine-kun and the skillful and overwhelming Kageyama-kun, they both are completely different yet love basketball more than anyone.'

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

At the top of the key, Shun got the ball from Aomine.

Shun once again didn't try a crossover to break free away from Aomine. He dribbled along the sideline with Aomine sticking close to him.

Shun and Aomine were running face to face. The ball was in Shun's left hand, which was in front of his body, Shun passed the ball between his legs to his right hand.

As the ball got into his right hand, Shun spun so that his back was facing Aomine.

After Shun spun forward, Aomine followed Shun's right hand, but as Shun's right hand came out of his body's cover, Aomine saw that the hand was empty.

Aomine: 'He switched hands! He is going to spin back to pass me from the back.'

Aomine's reflexes and speed were the greatest among Generation of Miracles, so he was able to react to the empty hand and moved in the opposite direction they were moving.

Shun had indeed switched hands; he had left the ball suspended in air, but he let his right-hand show on purpose.

Shun: 'I know Aomine is fast, that is also why he will move faster than anybody if I show him an empty hand.'

Shun put his left hand on the ball, and while Aomine was moving back, Shun exploded forward, leaving behind a stunned Aomine.

Aomine: "Damn it, he faked me again!"

Shun got to the rim and brought down the ball into the basket with a dunk. He held on to the rim and let the momentum swing him like a pendulum.

Shun: "Aww! Yeah!"

Aomine kicked the ground as he moved back to the top of the key for his offense.

Aomine: "Next time, I will score! Just you wait."

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

Shun looked at Aomine as he moved to the top of the key.

Shun: 'He has gotten better from last year, but he still hasn't had the qualitative change. He is still the pre-awakening Aomine. Testing him would be useless. I should take this opportunity to test myself against him.'

Shun made his mind and decided to put himself in positions that would be at Aomine's advantage.

In the next exchange, Shun moved his defense in the post.

Shun: 'The current Aomine likes to finish at the rim, instead of just throwing the ball with his formless shooting.'

Shun followed Aomine closely as he closed in on the rim. Aomine stopped right in front of the restricted area under the basket and jumped for the finish.

Shun jumped as well and kept his eye on the ball.

Aomine was going for a simple layup, but he saw Shun's hand in his sight. He twisted his body to move the ball arm away from the basket, blocked Shun from his other arm, and threw a hook shot.

When Shun saw the hook shot, he tried to lean his body and hands forward, but Aomine's arm got into the way, as a barrier and Shun saw the ball drop into the basket.

Shun: "Ah."

Shun and Aomine got to the ground. Shun scratched the back of his head and said.

Shun: "I wanted to win in a wipe-out, well there goes that."

He looked at Aomine and declared.

Shun: "You won't be scoring any more points."

Aomine smiled and replied.

Aomine: "Oh no, I will be on a roll from now on."