69 Chapter 69 : VS Toō Academy II : A High Pace Game

In the audience seat, Kagami who doesn't get the clearance from the doctor folded his arms while his eyebrows furrowed deeply. Besides him, Midorima is doing the same while Takao is giggling like crazy at how they both have a huge animosity yet they act very similar in this position.

"So, what do you think would happen next?" Takao asked, the corner of his mouth still curled in amusement.

"Aomine would go crazy next," Midorima answered without hesitation. "He doesn't take provocation quite well, and it is what Kuroko did before. Your team would have no chance to defend him."

Kagami snorted a little at that.

"You take that bastard too lightly." He pointed his finger at Furihata. "Believe me, he would come out with some crazy shit to catch up. That bastard is too crafty to my like."

"Huh.." Midorima snorted at the red-haired boy. "You sound like Kuroko. You sure have a lot of confidence in your teammates. Let's see if he can meet your expectation."

And after that, they turned their attention back to the court, waiting for the next play to begin.

Back to the court, it is time for Toō to attack. And just like before, Aomine is the one who handled the ball.

'Smart.' Furihata muttered inwardly. 'They let Aomine go crazy to preserve their energy so when Aomine feels bored, they are still on their best condition against their tired opponents.'

But he didn't have time to think about it too deeply, as Aomine is starting to make a move. First, the power forward raised his head slightly as if he wanted to take a shoot. It triggered Furihata's quick reaction as he closed down the distance immediately. And by that, he opened his guard for Aomine to drive.

However, Furihata didn't panic for a bit by that. Instead, he yelled at his teammates, asking for help.

"PHANTOM!"

And right before Aomine could drive further, he was stopped by Kuroko who suddenly appeared in front of him.

"I know you are there, Tetsu!"

Aomine didn't bulge even for a second and decided to charge into Kuroko's body like a mad bull, dropping Kuroko down to the floor. However, it was enough for Furihata to recover as he is now back to defend the tan-skinned boy.

"Don't think it would be that easy!"

Aomine just smirked as his response.

"Oh, I know this would be easy. Just watch."

And right after that, he charged forward again from near the sideline, which was followed by Furihata. When he noticed Furihata keeps pressuring him further to force him to go out of bounds, as if he is hitting his brake, Aomine makes a sudden quick stop with a crossover move, shaking off Furihata's balance.

"SHIT!"

Furihata tried to recover as quickly as possible. But when he noticed Aomine's eyes move slightly toward the basket, the memories of him being trained by Godai suddenly kicked in.

'Eyes could be deceiving, especially when you face Aomine. Always look at his waist, and you will have the slightest idea of where he would go.'

And that is what Furihata did. He observed his waist quickly and noticed that even though it seems like he wants to take a shoot, his waist is moving slightly toward the sideline again, so he knows what Aomine would do.

'It is fake again! A hesitation move!'

Unfortunately, Hyuga who comes to help him stop Aomine is falling for Aomine's trap. Right when he jumped to stop the shoot, Aomine lowered his stance and shifted the ball to his other hand before he drives toward the basket again.

"Damn!"

Hyuga cursed out loud as he is out of position and couldn't help the defense now. But Furihata who realized what Aomine did even before the power forward makes his moves recovered immediately, pressuring Aomine back to the sideline.

"Ha! Not bad, you bastard! But can you stop this?"

And then, suddenly, Aomine makes a slight jab step with his left foot as if he wanted to make a crossover move again. But when Furihata reacted to the left, Aomine changed his dribble direction to the right side with a quick in-an-out move, shaking off Furihata's balance again and dropping him to the floor.

An ankle breaker!

"Shit! He is going to drive! Someone, stop him!" Furihata yelled at his teammates. He is relieved that Mitobe appeared quickly, covering the defense and pressuring Aomine to the baseline.

Honestly, this is really a bad defense on Seirin's side. Almost all of their players are out of position and leaving Toō's players without anyone guarding them. It is just fortunate for them that Aomine and passing the ball is not a term that could be used in the same sentence.

But right when Aomine is almost out of bounds, he did something that shocked all of Seirin's players to the core.

The tan-skinned boy dived backward to the outside of the court while grinning manically, confusing Mitobe and the other Seirin players who wanted to help.

'Why would he do that? Does he finally give up?'

Or so that was their thought as they dropped their guard.

However, they forget that as long as Aomine could face the basket, anything is possible. And Aomine showed it as in the next moment before he fell to the floor, he extended his arm that has the ball in it and flicked it high, passing through the backboard like a rainbow before it went into the basket smoothly.

*Splash!*

A behind-the-board layup!

All Seirin players are looking at Aomine's direction in utter awe, still couldn't grasp the impossible play that Aomine just pulled against them. However, Furihata knows it is their chance to score when Aomine is on the floor, so he yelled at his senpai to start the play quickly.

"SENPAI! HERE!"

It snapped his teammates from their thought as they suddenly realized what Furihata intends to do. Mitobe runs quickly toward the ball and throws it immediately to Furihata who is already sprinting toward the opposite side.

But Toō knows what they are doing here. When Aomine is pulling some shit like that, it is their job to cover the defense so Aomine's play wouldn't be for nothing. And right now, that is what they did, as four of them are already on the defense position, ready to stop him.

"Don't think we are just Aomine, Bastard!" Wakamatsu yelled at him.

However, Furihata ignored the center as he dishes the ball toward his left side before moving to the opposite side without even slowing down for a bit. And before Wakamatsu could comprehend what is just happening there, the ball went back to Furihata once again, surprising all Toō's players.

"Nice pass, Phantom!"

Now, he is already in the high post area, ready to drive further toward the basket. However, he was stopped by Imayoshi and Susa, the senior players of Toō Academy. Furihata clicked his tongue as both are excellent defenders and he has no doubt that he would get blocked if he forced his way to the basket.

That is when he noticed that all his teammates are already on the spot, ready to support the offense. Seeing as he was trapped inside the paint area, he kicked the ball outside to Izuki who is cutting inside from the corner right after receiving the ball.

"Nice pass, Furihata-kun!"

He dribbled toward the basket for a second before he stopped and released a floater from the low post area. However, to Seirin players' shock, the one player they didn't expect to come back for defense is already in front of Izuki, blocking the ball from going to the basket.

"Not going to happen, Seirin!"

*SLAP!*

"What?! How could he be here?!" Izuki widened his eyes in surprise.

Yeah, the player who blocked the shoot is Aomine who is running from the opposite side and slapped the ball from behind. Fortunately, Furihata saw the power forward coming from behind, so he has already moved even before Izuki make a floater. And the moment the ball almost went outside the court, he dived into the ball, trying to save it before it goes out of bound.

*BRAAK!*

He fell right into the reclame board outside of the court, causing a lot of winces from the audience. However, he doesn't really care about that as he yelled to his senpai,

"SAVE THE BALL!"

And fortunately for him, Mitobe comes right on time to clean his mess as the silent center grabbed the ball and launched it with a hook shoot before anyone could stop him.

*Splash!*

"Nice one, Mitobe!"

"Nice save, Furihata-kun!"

"Are you alright?"

Several players wanted to help Furihata to get up from the floor. However, the first-year point guard yelled at them.

"Don't mind me! Go back for defense! Fast!"

That was when they realized that the game has been restarted again by Toō Academy. And now, Aomine is running alone toward Seirin's basket without anyone stopping him.

*BAAM!*

The tan-skinned power forward makes a huge show for the audience by doing a powerful 360 dunk, triggering thunderous claps from all over the gymnasium. This is just the first five minutes, and this game is already running at a very high pace much to the audience's liking. Nobody likes to watch a slow and boring game, after all.

Furihata is walking back to Seirin's side helplessly as he is ready to start the game again. But when he turned around to Aomine, the power forward let out a wide infuriating smirk as he said,

"Don't think only you can do this quick fast break trick, bastard."

4 – 6

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Author note :

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-Zeta Faes-