Shūtoku's side.
Kazunari Takao was already starting to question his entire life. He immediately turned his head and asked,
"Midorima! That guy on the court—that's your junior high teammate, right? He actually got… beaten like that…"
Shintaro Midorima wasn't calm either. He forced himself to stay composed and pushed up his glasses.
But the slight tremble in his hand gave away the turmoil inside him.
"Yeah… Kise was indeed my teammate in junior high."
Kazunari Takao swallowed hard and muttered,
"And the one from Kirisaki… your junior high captain… his strength…"
Shintaro Midorima's hand, still clutching his lucky item, continued to tremble.
"He's very strong. Even I'm not confident I could beat him."
Taisuke Otsubo gritted his teeth.
"How did they become this strong? Just because they added two players? Last year, Kirisaki was eliminated in the quarterfinals!"
Shintaro Midorima took a deep breath and began analyzing calmly.
"As expected, Kirisaki is now our strongest opponent."
"First, there's Senior Nijimura. The one he defeated wasn't just Kise—he defeated Aomine as well."
"Kise's one-way [Copying] was of Aomine. But the Aomine he [Copied] couldn't even score a single basket against Senior Nijimura."
"That means Aomine can't beat Senior Nijimura. Of course, it's possible Aomine has other powerful trump cards. But at least from what we've seen, that's the case."
"And you're all overlooking one extremely important fact. That is…"
Shintaro Midorima closed his eyes, his tone heavy.
"Miyamoto… never made a move."
(PS: During the Teikō era, everyone developed separately. Daiki Aomine didn't need to go all out in games and instead became obsessed with training. He only revealed a bit of his true strength when playing one-on-one with Kise. Midorima preferred training alone and didn't like getting involved with others, so he never saw Aomine's full power. Please don't flame!)
The moment those words fell, everyone from Shūtoku was shaken.
That's right.
Miyamoto never made a move at all.
In the first half, the game had been taken over by Shogo Haizaki.
Under Haizaki's control, Kirisaki led Kaijo by twelve points.
In the second half, it was Shuzo Nijimura who took over.
With Nijimura in command, Kaijo managed to score only four points. For the rest of the time, they didn't score at all.
Two terrifying players—both acknowledged Miyamoto as their leader.
Didn't that mean Miyamoto's strength was even more terrifying than theirs?
The third and second scoring options had already crushed the [Generation of Miracles]. Then what about the first scoring option?
A dimensional gap?
Seirin and Tōō realized this as well.
And precisely because they realized it, the sense of crisis in their hearts intensified.
Kirisaki was too strong—so strong it felt suffocating.
Daiki Aomine reacted the most directly. He stood up and headed straight for the exit.
He was going back to train.
Only training would allow him to deal with Kirisaki.
Kosuke Wakamatsu hurriedly called out when he saw him get up.
"Aomine! Where are you going?"
Without turning his head, Daiki Aomine waved a hand casually.
"Going back to train."
Shūtoku's side.
Shintaro Midorima stood up and said to his teammates,
"Everyone, we need to increase our training intensity. In the Summer Cup, we'll be facing Kirisaki soon."
The Shūtoku players all nodded and stood up together, walking out of the gym.
They were going back for extra practice.
As for Seirin, it was the same. The entire team stood and left, already thinking about countermeasures.
This match had impacted them too deeply.
It felt like a mountain pressing down in front of them, making it hard to breathe.
But before they could face this mountain, there was another one waiting for them.
Tōō High School.
On the court.
The Kaijo players still hadn't accepted reality. They stood frozen in place.
"Beep! Both teams, line up and exit!"
The referee gestured for both teams to exchange sportsmanship greetings before leaving the court.
Only then did the Kaijo players step forward.
Shogo Haizaki looked at Ryota Kise, who stood there like a puppet with its strings cut, and sneered,
"What? Already lost confidence?"
"Weren't you the one talking about hope all the time? Can you still see it now?"
Ryota Kise didn't respond. He had neither the energy nor the mood to deal with Haizaki's mockery.
The brutal scoreline left him completely lost.
Only now did he understand what Shogo Haizaki had meant at halftime.
[Then I hope you can still see hope in the second half.]
Hope?
I can't see it. I really can't.
From Shuzo Nijimura, Ryota Kise couldn't see even the slightest possibility of victory.
If even Shuzo Nijimura was this strong, then what kind of strength did Miyamoto possess—the person Nijimura willingly followed?
Now Ryota Kise finally understood why the [Generation of Miracles] all aimed to defeat Miyamoto.
Because he…
was too strong.
Miyamoto sensed Ryota Kise's emotions.
Confusion.
He had seen that expression many times before.
It belonged to people whose confidence had been completely shattered.
Most of them ended up the same way.
They gave up basketball.
As for whether Ryota Kise would quit, Miyamoto didn't know.
But he believed that under the interference of the World's Will, Ryota Kise would never abandon basketball.
So he couldn't be bothered to interfere. After all, he and Ryota Kise weren't that close.
Besides, this was the guy who had let Akashi bully his little brother.
Now that Ryota Kise had been taught a lesson, the next one would be the true culprit behind bullying his little brother—
The second personality of Seijuro Akashi.
Miyamoto had already made up his mind.
If he didn't beat the second personality of Seijuro Akashi into questioning his own existence, he wouldn't stop.
Damn it. Shogo Haizaki was part of the Miyamoto family—his own little brother. If someone bullied him like that, how could he not settle the score?
...
Inside the restroom.
Water continued to rush over the sink with a steady splash.
Ryota Kise scooped up some water with both hands and splashed it onto his face, trying to wake himself up with the cold.
After doing so three or four times, he turned off the faucet.
He lifted his head and looked at himself in the mirror.
His hair was messy, droplets clinging to his face.
His expression was utterly dejected. Even his once-bright eyes had dimmed.
Ryota Kise stared at the dispirited version of himself in silence.
'I lost… I lost so completely… I couldn't even score a single point against him.'
He finally understood why Daiki Aomine had laughed when he declared that he would defeat Miyamoto.
With his current strength, he couldn't even beat Miyamoto's teammates. How could he talk about defeating Miyamoto himself?
He didn't even have the right to make Miyamoto take action.
Ryota Kise knew very clearly that Miyamoto had shown no intention of making a move in this game.
That meant Miyamoto simply looked down on him—believing he wasn't even worth stepping onto the court for.
'Not even… qualified… to make you move…'
...
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