Chapter Fifty-Seven: Want to Learn?
"That was just momentary carelessness. This time you won't break through me again!" Kiyota lowered his center of gravity, eyes locked on Yagami. "After I defeat you, those media will know who's Kanagawa's real top first-year!"
Yagami turned deaf ears to his provocation, gaze calmly sweeping across teammates.
"Hey! I'm talking to you!" Seeing no reaction, Kiyota raised his volume.
"Tch." Yagami finally let his gaze briefly land on Kiyota's face. "Sorry, you're too weak."
"You—!"
"Bang!"
Before the words finished, Yagami first faked a left drive, fooling Kiyota's center of gravity before threading a right-handed pass into the interior.
The basketball penetrated the defense, delivered perfectly to baseline-cutting Fukuda's hands.
"Swish!"
Fukuda caught and stepped smoothly for an easy layup.
Ryonan 22 - Kainan 20
"Ah, what?!" Kiyota froze in place. By the time he turned, the ball had already dropped through.
"What I meant was—you're so weak I can't get interested." Yagami said calmly, turning to retreat with an ill-intentioned smile at the corner of his mouth.
"DAMN—!"
Ryonan's offense.
Yagami saw his timing and accelerated through. The instant he drew interior defensive attention, he used Uozumi's massive frame as a screen, bouncing the ball from behind him.
Jin keenly sensed something wrong and moved to help, but it was already too late.
Ikegami caught the ball, calmly adjusting before shooting—steadily hitting a mid-range jumper.
Ryonan 28 - Kainan 24
"A pass from the visual blind spot!"
"Ikegami shot beautifully!"
"If I wasn't always ready to receive, I really couldn't adapt to Sorato's ghost-like passes." Ikegami retreated excitedly.
Kainan counterattacked. Maki continued feeding Muto to isolate the weak side.
Muto easily beat Fukuda, rising from the baseline's right side for a layup.
"Smack!"
Sendoh swatted the ball hard against the backboard. He followed through, grabbing it down and tossing to Yagami.
Kainan retreated quickly.
Yagami didn't rush the attack. He held the ball at the arc, continuing to control rhythm. After teammates established position, he glanced at Kiyota before suddenly accelerating right, using Sendoh's screen.
"Not happening!"
Kiyota wanted to navigate around Sendoh to chase, but Maki pushed him aside. "Switch!"
However, as Yagami drew Maki away, his wrist flicked—the ball flew to Sendoh who'd crossed to the left 45-degree angle!
"?!"
Kiyota hurriedly lunged toward Sendoh.
After catching, Sendoh barely adjusted, directly pulling up. The basketball traced a perfect arc—three-pointer, good!
Ryonan 31 - Kainan 24
"Beautiful pass!" Sendoh smiled, retreating.
"My god, Ryonan's playing way too easily!"
"Why does it feel like Kainan's being toyed with by Ryonan's organized offense..."
"Yagami Sorato's brilliant passes are too amazing!"
"I previously thought he and I were the same type of player." Kise leaned back in his seat. "Now it feels completely different."
Though Kise could now understand trusting teammates' importance, he'd absolutely never switch to this style where teammates' offense was the ending.
"But regardless, purely from the point guard angle, he's terrifyingly strong." Kasamatsu's expression was grave.
Finding momentarily unmarked teammates, or proactively creating scoring opportunities for teammates—this vision and passing awareness, even possessing just one of these talents could make someone a competent point guard. Yet from what he saw, Yagami excelled at both.
Offensive transition. Maki's power move on Sendoh missed.
Uozumi grabbed the defensive rebound. Yagami caught and pushed forward.
Only a dozen seconds remained in the first quarter.
When Yagami dribbled across halfcourt, Kainan's defensive formation visibly tightened. An invisible pressure permeated the court.
"That nervous?" Yagami smiled at Kiyota.
Kiyota didn't speak, not daring the slightest relaxation—completely different from initially matching up with Yagami.
Yagami moved.
He passed to Sendoh, himself quickly cutting into the interior.
This time Kiyota didn't lose Yagami. Even without the ball in his opponent's hands, he stayed tightly glued.
Sure enough, Sendoh passed back to Yagami.
The instant Yagami caught, Takasago immediately formed a double-team with Kiyota.
The same moment, wing Fukuda smelled a scoring chance, cutting baseline. But Muto was already prepared, using solid positioning to tie him down, denying receiving space.
"Bang!"
However, Yagami bounced the pass—the basketball threaded through Takasago's legs, precisely delivered to Uozumi's hands under the basket.
"OOH!"
Uozumi's massive frame rose skyward, both hands hammering the ball through the rim!
"BOOM!"
Ryonan 33 - Kainan 24
"Tweet!"
The whistle sounded timely. First quarter ended.
Nine-point gap!
Uozumi's heavy buzzer-beater dunk punctuated Ryonan's first-quarter performance with a perfect exclamation point.
Kiyota stood helplessly in place. Ryonan's lead practically started after he began defending Yagami. Though Yagami truly scored zero points in the final five minutes, he'd racked up 7 assists!
First quarter: 2 points, 10 assists!
Kiyota had never seen a peer play this way!
"Oh, right." As Yagami walked past Kiyota, he stopped, showing a brilliant smile. "Want to learn? I can teach you."
"Can even Kainan not limit Ryonan's offense?"
In a corner of the spectator section, Shoyo's Hanagata and Fujima were also watching this game.
"Kainan only has one Maki. Naturally can't defend two people." Fujima said.
Maki could naturally limit one person, but the other would become an unsolvable problem.
Fujima recalled Shoyo versus Ryonan. Back then, he'd handled defending Yagami while Hasegawa could still use his height and technique to disrupt Sendoh.
But Kainan lacked such a personnel option. Jin's height was sufficient, but he wasn't a defensive type.
"Fujima, did you notice something?" Hanagata pointed toward Yagami's direction. "That first-year's playing style resembles yours."
"Mm." Fujima nodded slightly. He'd already noticed.
Compared to facing Shoyo, Yagami's organized offense clearly emphasized activating the interior more, incorporating both Uozumi and Fukuda into the offensive system.
Was this organizational ability something he already possessed but didn't display against Shoyo because Ryonan's interior was overall weaker than theirs, or—
Was this first-year deliberately imitating, even absorbing his own organizational style from the previous game?
If the latter...
Fujima stared at that figure in Ryonan's rest area, eyes becoming grave.
This first-year would be far too terrifying.