110 Chapter 110 : VS Yosen High II - The Unshakable Force Called Murasakibara

Right after the game started, Yosen grasped the tempo of the game immediately. Even though they haven't even touched the ball, their stability in defense is enough to slow down Seirin's defense.

'The key to a defensive team is to always stabilize the game and control your opponent's tempo. It doesn't matter if others see your style as boring. In fact, if all the people say it was boring, then, you are on the right track. After all, the natural opponent of a defensive team is unpredictability.'

When that old lesson from Alex popped up out of nowhere inside his mind, Tatsuya couldn't help but sneer. He didn't expect those words would be applied against Alex's team right now.

'Yeah, karma is a bitch.'

Unfortunately for him, it was not Kagami who was under the pressure right now. That would be too good to be real.

'Well, I cannot be too greedy. It doesn't matter, anyway. I would have a chance to go at him in the next play.'

Instead of Kagami, it was Izuki, the point guard, who was in trouble right now.

'What the hell!? My right side is completely frozen by Fukui, and even though there are Junpei and Kagami on the left, Tatsuya and that Chinese dude would be able to close them down pretty quickly! Is this tight defense a bit too early?!'

Seeing no way out other than driving inside the paint area, Izuki gritted his teeth, making a quick signal toward Kagami to set a screen. If Sakai wanted to freeze his right side, let him be. He would use his teammates to exploit the other side.

"Nice screen, Kagami-kun!"

After getting rid of his guard, Izuki could see a bit clearer, and his eyes suddenly caught the blurry movement right under the basket. He didn't have to guess who it was, as he slid the ball immediately toward that direction. And in a second later, the ball changed its route toward the high post at such a good speed that, went straight to Kiyoshi's hand.

"Nice pass, Kuroko-kun!"

Yeah. It was Kuroko who sneaked behind Murasakibara, who changed the direction of the pass. However, before Kiyoshi could do anything, he was stopped by Okamura who closed the distance between them a second after he got the ball.

"Don't think you can escape our defense that easy, Seirin!"

Under such severe pressure, Kiyoshi couldn't drop the ball and dribble it even for a second. He kept being pushed by Yosen's captain to take a step using his pivotal foot just to force him to do a double dribble. Fortunately for Kiyoshi, before that could happen, he saw Kagami cutting from the left wing, so he bounced the ball there.

"Nice pass, Kiyoshi-senpai!"

The red-haired power forward grinned as he drove toward the paint area at full speed. Riko who saw it from the ball groaned as this was the last thing she wanted to happen.

"For God's sake! I told them to avoid the paint area, and it was the first thing they did?! What the hell are they thinking?!"

Riko and Furihata who overheard that just shook their heads silently.

Unlike Riko, they were (and still are in Furihata's case) players and had experience playing on the court, so they could see the problem from a different angle. It was not like Seirin wanted to penetrate through Yosen's paint area, but Yosen 'guided' them deliberately to go through that route.

However, it didn't matter right now, as they all saw Kagami take a leap from the floor, ready to smash the board with his signature dunk. And when Yosen's center jumped a second later, Furihata couldn't help but mutter,

'And here comes the guillotine….'

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As Kagami took off from the floor, the red-haired boy grinned unconsciously.

'The best defense my ass! If I could get such a good position like this, then, they should be nothing!'

However, his illusion was shattered when his hand that had the ball suddenly was blocked out of nowhere. And when he takes a look at what caused that, he could see Murasakibara also hanging in the air, with both his hands also on the ball.

'Damn! Since when he is here!'

Kagami cursed himself at his carelessness. However, he is unwilling to give up. Still hanging in the air, he tried to overpower Murasakibara in strength.  Unfortunately for him, Yosen's center is smarter than he gives credit for.

Instead of battling head-on in the strength competition, Murasakibara twisted his wrist a little, before he flicked the ball with his fingers, sending the ball flying in the air. Not finished just by that, right after they both landed on the floor, the pink-haired center didn't wait even for a moment and jumped for the second time in a row to grab the rebound.

"OOOHH!!!!"

"Nice defense, Murasakibara!"

Cheers of applause broke in Tokyo Gymnasium at Murasakibara's well-played defense. Kagami who is the victim of the subject snapped his head quickly, couldn't believe he was just stopped like that. However, he didn't have much time to lament his situation as Yosen started their offense too.

"Murasakibara, here!"

Now, the ball went into Sakai's possession. The third-year point guard dribbled the ball slowly, trying to control the tempo. However, his face was palmed when he saw Murasakibara just standing on the high post lazily, not doing anything useful.

"Murasakibara! What the hell are you doing there?! Go away and wait under the hoop!"

"Hai… Hai…."

It pisses off Kagami to no end with how nonchalant Murasakibara's attitude toward him. Honestly, it was the first time someone looking down at him as if he wasn't even there, and he vowed he would make that bastard pink-hair pay a lot in this game.

Unfortunately for him, the ball didn't go to the center. Instead, it went to Okumura who tried to push Kiyoshi and get a better position in the low-post area.

"Get out of my way!"

Facing Yosen's captain who tried to bulldoze him, Kiyoshi stood firm, using both his feet as the anchor to hold Okumura down and not letting him get into a good position that easily. Noticing the unfazed Kiyoshi, Okumura didn't force his way too much and passed the ball toward the left corner, where Wei Liu was standing there, ready to take action.

"Nice defense, Kiyoshi!"

"Hyuga! Close him down!"

"Okay!"

Seirin's reaction is pretty quick. Seeing the Chinese small forward taking a stance for a three-point shoot, Hyuga ran quickly toward the corner, closing down the distance and trying to disturb his form.

But instead of taking a shoot, in that triple-threat position, Wei Liu lowered his stance before taking a dribble, cutting toward the baseline.

"Damn!"

Having been fooled by the pump fake, Hyuga turned around quickly and wanted to cover the defense. However, he was a second too late, as Wei Liu has already sent a floater toward the hoop. Fortunately, tough,

*Clank!*

The ball hit the basket and bounced back to the court!

"Don't mind, Liu!"

"Go back! Defense!"

"Kagami, rebound!"

Kagami who is boxing out Murasakibara jumped, thinking that it was an easy rebound. However, right before he could grab the ball in the air, another arm suddenly appeared, catching the ball faster than him, and before he could realize what happened,

*BAAAAAMM!!*

A dunk! A tip dunk from Murasakibara, posterizing Kagami on the paint!

Silence befell onto the gym, as no one expected this would happen. However, it was broken by Yosen's bench who roared in celebration,

"NICE DUNK, MURASAKIBARA-KUN!"

"Good job!"

"Keep it up! Go back, defense!"

Murasakibara who didn't think he just did something special just walked with his usual lazy posture. His eyes locked into Kagami's for a second, but he turned around pretty quickly, giving the red-haired boy a bored gaze, just to infuriate Seirin's power forward more.

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"Kagami-kun, are you alright?" Hyuga asked with a concerned tone. Having been bullied twice in a row is not something that Kagami experienced quite often, so they are worried about another sudden outburst from the red-haired boy.

Fortunately, Kagami could still maintain his calm until now.

"Don't worry, Senpai." Kagami shook his head strongly. "He caught me off guard in the last two plays. Even though he won twice against me, I feel like I could still overpower him with my jump."

However, his confidence was deflated a bit after seeing the weird gazes from his teammates.

"Anything I should notice?" He frowned.

The other Seirin players exchange glances before Kuroko answered his question.

"You might not notice it because you are the victim, but Murasakibara-kun won twice against you when you were in advantage. First, he blocked your dunk with only his standing jump, and then, he also got a dunk while getting boxed out by you. Are you sure you can overpower him?"

Now that Kuroko said it, Kagami couldn't help but be dumbfounded, noticing that it was indeed the case.

"Wait, so, he didn't use his full strength at all?!"

Kuroko shrugged. "Well, if you see his expression, you will know about that too."

And indeed, Kagami had a hunch about that when he received the bored gaze from the pink-haired center.

"Well, it doesn't matter." Hyuga chimed in. "Let's think about it later. For now, we have a game to play."

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The game resumed with the ball back in Izuki's hand. And just like before, he was guarded pretty tight by Sakai.

'Damn! What an annoying guy!'

However, unlike before, this time, Yosen loosened their defense toward Kagami, as if inviting the power forward to come forward. Even though Izuki is not that close with Kagami, seeing his teammates getting treated like this kinda pissed him off.

'Damn! They underestimate Kagami-kun too much! They will pay for this disrespect!'

He passed the ball toward Kagami, quickly, sending a subtle signal to just attack forward. This time though, Kagami is a bit more careful when he approached Yosen's paint area.

'Well, if he insisted on guarding the paint, let's see if I could do this.'

Receiving the ball on the wing side, Kagami tried to force himself to drive from the sideline, just to stop on the low post and pull up a mid-range jumper. Wei Liu who guarded him couldn't keep up with his pace and had to give up the defense on whoever was closest to the red-haired boy.

And it was indeed the right decision, as once again, Murasakibara appeared with his giant hand, blocking the entire route for Kagami's shoot toward the basket.

"Damn! If I couldn't shoot, how about this!"

Right before releasing the ball into the air, Kagami dropped it on the floor, and when he landed from his jump, he ran quickly toward the hoop.

"Kagami-kun!"

It was Kuroko who picked up the ball he dropped before, and with their tacit understanding, Kuroko sent a quick lob toward Kagami, not giving Murasakibara any time to recover from his state.

"Nice pass, Kuroko!"

However, right before he could slam it down through the basket, the same hand that blocked and dunked on him before suddenly appeared once again, shocking him through the core.

"What the hell?! He was still out of position a few seconds ago! What kind of freaky reflex does this bastard have?!"

However, he couldn't do anything, as the ball in his hand was swatted hard into the board.

*Slap!*

And to make it worse, right before it could bounce far from their reach, Murasakibara grabbed it pretty quickly, not giving anyone from Seirin a chance for the rebound.

"Ooooh!!!"

"Nice block, Murasakibara!"

"Here!"

Seeing Tatsuya starting to run, Murasakibara didn't waste his time and passed the ball to the shooting guard. The fast transition kinda startling Seirin's players, as they are now in a panic state.

"Damn!"

"It is a fastbreak! Go back! Defense!"

Unfortunately, they couldn't catch Tatsuya's run, as he sneakily dribbled all across the court, using a series of quick crossover, behind-the-back dribbles, and his change of pace to get a pass through all Seirin's players.

"Damn! How the hell is he escaping like that?!"

"Someone, stop him!"

"Don't think you can just score that easy, Tatsuya!"

Kagami who just recovered from his state sprinted frantically back to Seirin's area, trying to stop his childhood friend from scoring the ball. However, seeing Kagami like that, Tatsuya smirked slightly, knowing that this would happen.

'You are still an open book, Tiger. It is another win for me.'

When Kagami is close enough to his position, instead of doing another trick shoot, Tatsuya lobbed the ball to the back. Within a second, the figure with pink hair appeared once again, grabbing the ball in the air, and slammed it right under Kagami's nose.

*BAAAM!*

Another posterized dunk!

"Let's fucking go!"

"Nice one, Himuro! Murasakibara-kun!"

The deafening cheers exploded in the gym, celebrating the consecutive highlight play from Yosen High. However, instead of celebrating like the others, Murasakibara just looked at Tatsuya in annoyance.

"Muro-chin, how many times do I have to tell you, I don't want to be a part of your shenanigan."

"Sorry, Atsushi-kun."

However, seeing the insincere gaze from the shooting guard, Murasakibara just clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Just don't do it again, Muro-chin."

"Sure."

The last part from Tetsuya was an automatic response, as his eyes were focusing on Kagami. Coincidentally, Kagami also turned around and met his eyes, and even if it only happened for a second, Tatsuya let out a small smirk.

"Now, what would you do, Tiger?"

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Author note :

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-Zeta Faes-