Inside the Shohoku vs. Kainan gym, silence had taken over.
Right after that brief stillness, the stands exploded into a tidal wave of shouting and cheering.
"Whoa! That dunk was insane!"
"Did you see that? Number 10 looked like he jumped from the free-throw line!"
"That was a full-court alley-oop dunk from the free-throw line. So freaking cool!"
"Unbelievable! How can someone jump that high? And didn't he snatch the ball from the other guy's hands?"
"I didn't expect that red-haired dude to be that strong. He straight-up sent that guy flying!"
…
The Kainan players all stood frozen, eyes wide and full of disbelief. None of them could process what they'd just seen.
Their invincible captain had been knocked flying by Sakuragi Hanamichi. It was far beyond anything they expected.
Shohoku's players were just as stunned, eyes round with shock.
They were both helpless and impressed by Sakuragi Hanamichi's reckless energy.
He acted totally impulsive, yet somehow managed to dunk the ball clean. The surprise left everyone speechless.
After landing, Sakuragi Hanamichi raised both fists high, face glowing with delight, and shouted with laughter, "Hahaha! I told you, I'm the genius Sakuragi Hanamichi!"
Akagi Takenori and the others looked at him with utter disdain.
Mitsui Hisashi sneered and muttered with disgust, "So what? It's just one basket. No need to act so full of yourself."
Rukawa Kaede, as usual, muttered under his breath, "Total idiot."
Kogure Kiminobu, ever the calm one, walked up and patted Sakuragi on the shoulder. "That was an amazing play, Sakuragi."
"Really?" Sakuragi grinned proudly, pretending to be humble, though his face showed anything but humility.
Meanwhile, the Kainan players had gathered around Maki Shinichi.
Kiyota Nobunaga looked worried. "Captain, are you okay?"
That crash against the backboard frame had sounded loud.
Jin Soichiro's face was full of concern. "Maki, are you hurt?"
Maki Shinichi shook his head, his face calm and without a trace of pain. "I'm fine."
Seeing that he was really uninjured, the Kainan players finally let out a collective breath of relief.
Maki turned and looked toward Sakuragi Hanamichi, who was still grinning like a fool. His expression turned serious.
Even though he'd used only one hand to intercept Sakuragi, he had still felt the power in that moment.
And he knew—even if he'd used both hands, he might not have been able to stop him.
That told him something very clear.
Either Sakuragi Hanamichi's strength was greater than his own, or his explosive power was terrifying.
From Maki's perspective, it was probably both.
The match continued.
After Sakuragi Hanamichi's dunk, Shohoku's momentum surged.
The pressure Kainan had been applying was swept away. Both teams were back in a deadlock. Shohoku's defense was like stone, and their offense grew sharper.
The atmosphere on the court turned even more tense, and the game slid back into a tough, grinding stalemate.
As the next few possessions played out, some subtle shifts began to emerge.
First thing that stood out—Maki Shinichi's stamina.
For some reason, sweat was rolling down his face like beads cut from a string. His breathing grew more ragged, chest heaving with each inhale.
Since Kogure Kiminobu had subbed in, his role had been the same as Miyagi Ryota's.
In Maki's eyes, Kogure wasn't as strong as Miyagi. So at first, he didn't even take him seriously.
But that wasn't the real issue.
The real problem was, Maki had gotten used to a certain tempo. Even though he now faced Kogure instead of Miyagi, he hadn't adjusted at all.
And he started to notice something was off.
Every time he wanted to pass, he found himself struggling to find an open target.
Sometimes he did manage to get the ball to Jin Soichiro, but with Mitsui Hisashi sticking to him like glue, Shinzou barely had any chances to shoot.
After a few failed attempts, Maki gave up on passing to him.
That's when he finally realized—dealing with Kogure was even more draining than dealing with Miyagi Ryota. That realization left him seriously confused.
"What the hell? He's clearly weaker, so why am I more exhausted than before?"
His mind was full of questions, eyes filled with doubt, but no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't find an answer.
Off the court, Shimizu Kanon had seen it all. She smiled sweetly, satisfied.
She explained quietly, "Because he got used to going one-on-one with Miyagi-senpai. Maki kept lowering his stance out of habit when attacking or defending. Since there was a height gap, he thought defending Miyagi was easy. But suddenly replacing Miyagi with a taller Kogure-senpai messed with his body's rhythm. He's still using the same tempo as before, and now his body's reacting like it's finally relaxing after a long standoff. That kind of fatigue will keep dragging on, and by the time the game ends, it'll be enough to wear him out."
Hearing that, the Shohoku players looked at Shimizu Kanon with pure admiration.
Back when they'd read the plan, they had sort of understood the logic, but only on a surface level.
Now, hearing her explain it so clearly and simply, their respect for her surged again—like a river pouring endlessly, or a flood bursting its banks.
Everyone was thinking the same thing—what a brilliant strategy!
Who would've guessed someone would use height and physical conditioning as part of a tactical plan to take out the opponent?
Right now, Maki Shinichi was probably still struggling to figure out why he was stuck in this mess.
And they were right.
Maki Shinichi was filled with confusion, completely unsure why he felt so drained and out of form.
His drop in performance was like the first domino tipping over, triggering a full-blown crisis for Kainan.
Jin Soichiro couldn't keep up with Mitsui Hisashi's mobility. Even though his shooting was top-notch, Mitsui's tight, shadow-like defense made it nearly impossible to score.
Again and again, his shots were blocked without mercy. For a long stretch, Kainan had no choice but to rely on their inside game to score.
On Shohoku's side, both Mitsui Hisashi and Rukawa Kaede were hitting from the outside.
With Mitsui's three-pointers and Rukawa's versatile scoring, Shohoku's offense exploded from multiple angles.
Shohoku kept racking up twos and threes, while Kainan was limited in how they could score. Slowly, the score gap widened.
Sakuragi Hanamichi had entered his 'Wild Instinct' mode, leaving Muto Tadashi with no way to stop him.
On top of that, with earlier fouls hanging over him, Muto played hesitantly. In every clash, he was completely outmatched by Sakuragi.
Takasago Kazuma was locked in a dead-even battle under the basket with Akagi Takenori. With his hands full, he couldn't offer help elsewhere, leaving Kainan's interior defense full of holes.
Kiyota Nobunaga's situation was even worse.
Matched up with Rukawa Kaede, he was at a complete disadvantage. He couldn't break through on offense, and couldn't stop Rukawa on defense.
Frustration and anger built up inside him. When Rukawa attacked again, Kiyota snapped and went for a full-body block, swinging hard at Rukawa's arm.
Pa—!
His palm slammed hard into Rukawa's arm.
The ball popped loose and rolled out of bounds.
Tweet—!
The referee immediately blew the whistle and called a foul on Kiyota for hitting the arm.
From that point on, Kainan practically fell apart.
Maki Shinichi still managed to score through sheer will, but Shohoku's full-court attack overwhelmed him. He couldn't keep up.
To save energy, Maki eventually let up on guarding Kogure Kiminobu.
But he never expected Kogure to seize the chance, lift the ball, and launch a three-pointer.
Kogure's form wasn't flashy, but it was textbook. Not as graceful as Mitsui's, but steady.
The ball drew a smooth arc in the air and landed straight through the net.
Swish—!
Right through the hoop.
Maki stared at Kogure with a mix of frustration, helplessness, and a trace of admiration in his eyes.
He swept his gaze across the court. Every Shohoku player was standing tall, eyes sharp, radiating energy.
In contrast, though Kainan's players also looked determined, there was no hiding the despair on their faces.
Maki turned to the scoreboard.
Shohoku 67 – 52 Kainan.
Only 41 seconds left in the game.
A massive 10-point lead.
It was over.
But suddenly, a fierce light flashed in Maki Shinichi's eyes.
Even with barely any hope left, he wasn't going to just give up.
He caught the ball from a teammate.
In that instant, a powerful aura burst from his body.
He turned into a white blur, charging straight toward Shohoku's basket.
Kogure Kiminobu couldn't even react before Maki blew past him.
Maki was determined to show Kainan's spirit on this final play.
He drove into the paint.
No fancy moves. He planted hard, soared high, both hands gripping the ball, and slammed toward the rim.
He looked like a starving beast lunging for fresh meat—pure instinct and fury.
But just as he rose—
Whoosh—!
Whoosh—!
Two figures suddenly flashed in from both sides like ghosts.
Two palms shot up, blocking his path to the rim.
Maki's eyes went wide with shock.
It felt like two wild beasts had flanked him.
One of them, he recognized instantly—Sakuragi Hanamichi.
The other was unfamiliar at first.
He turned and saw it was Rukawa Kaede.
Behind Rukawa, a faint image of a fox flickered in the air. It was hazy, as if just about to awaken but not yet fully formed.
'So, he has it too,' Maki thought to himself.
The next second, the ball was caught between those two palms.
Maki felt the power leave him. The moment they made contact, the ball slipped from his grip.
The force was unstoppable.
The ball was knocked loose and sent flying.
Sakuragi Hanamichi and Rukawa Kaede had blocked him—together.
That was the moment Kainan's fate was sealed.
Tweet—!
After one final, meaningless possession from each side…
The final whistle blew for Shohoku vs. Kainan.
Shohoku 69 – 54 Kainan.
Shohoku won and advanced to the finals.