"Is that so?"
The center from Iizumi couldn't see the speaker yet, but just from that distinct lazy drawl, he instantly recognized the voice.
That lifeless-looking, muttering first-year center with messy purple hair, who, during the first half, had been completely locked out from receiving the ball and just kept grumbling under his breath.
Others might not have noticed it...
But as a fellow center, he could clearly sense the terrifying strength hidden beneath that massive frame. If not for his crude technique getting cut off at the very first catch, rendering him useless on offense, things might've gone very differently.
Honestly, without Shigure Akihito stepping onto the court, there was no way Teiko could have pulled off that 5-point lead by halftime. They would've lost this practice game outright to that same first-year center.
But now,
That same guy had gone wild in the third quarter, getting fed lob after lob by Shigure.
Even with Shigure already subbed out at the start of the fourth quarter, the excitement hadn't left his body.
And oddly enough, it seemed like this first-year was still trying to compete with Shigure, his playstyle inadvertently avoiding all the weaknesses in his fundamentals.
Take this, for example,
At the end of the third quarter, when Shigure went for a follow-up putback slam, this first-year had tried to copy it, again and again, with each attempt more aggressive than the last.
He…
He couldn't hold him back anymore!
Smack!
Murasakibara Atsushi charged into the paint and secured the rebound!
The Iizumi center, hearing that lazy voice again, reacted on instinct from previous rebounding clashes, he didn't even turn his head, just immediately pivoted and lunged toward him!
As expected, Murasakibara, having snagged the rebound, tried to mimic Shigure Akihito's direct putback dunk.
The defense's jump was well-timed, and Murasakibara, having used up much of his bounce in the previous post-up battle and lateral movement for the rebound, wasn't at full height...
Still, the Iizumi center's hands reached the ball!
Smack!
Hand-on-hand contact!
Murasakibara's putback attempt slammed straight into the Iizumi center's block!
And yet,
CLANG!
The ball was disrupted, crashing off the back rim and bouncing high into the air!
Murasakibara: "!? …Tch!"
Damn it!
This guy,
"I'll crush you!"
The next instant!
Purple hair flew wildly!
Despite his 190cm frame, his movements were swift. Even after the failed putback, in the blink of an eye, he was back in the rebound scrum!
Smack!
Even surrounded by the Iizumi center and power forward, Murasakibara's face twisted with ferocity, and he snatched the rebound again!
He landed with his back to the basket.
His still-developing first-year physique tensed to its limit, muscle fibers straining!
He jumped again,
Mid-air spin!
His posture stabilized!
Both arms swung behind his head, his long wingspan stretched even wider than Shigure's in the same pose. In that moment, Murasakibara's figure formed a crescent moon shape in the air!
Speed,
Power,
Still not quite on par.
But the motion, was identical!
BOOM!
The deafening slam as he crushed two defenders reverberated through the gym!
Everyone watched in shock as two bodies flew backward from the impact, and the ball was violently hammered through the hoop, flying through the net and bouncing off the floor, out of bounds.
The gym was dead silent, until the realization hit.
Then came the explosion.
"OOHH!!"
"He actually pulled it off perfectly!"
"That's the same two-handed dunk Shigure-senpai opened the third quarter with!"
"Watching it again, it's still terrifying... Even if it wasn't as clean as Shigure-senpai's, Murasakibara's just a first-year..."
"A first-year? That's not the issue, middle schoolers shouldn't even be able to do this!"
Speed.
Power.
No matter the metric,
Murasakibara's "Hammer of Destruction" didn't quite reach Shigure Akihito's level.
But,
At 190cm with an oversized wingspan, even without Shigure's freakish bounce, he could still complete the same motion. And from a pure presence standpoint, it had a unique intimidation that Shigure didn't.
The return of the "Hammer of Destruction" sent shockwaves through the crowd, and the whole arena erupted.
And in that moment, Murasakibara's eyes burned with frustration.
That rebound putback, he'd failed once.
He looked up.
The backboard was still intact.
Another kind of failure.
Still hanging on the rim, Murasakibara instinctively clenched his arms. One of the second-string players acting as referee saw this, pupils contracting,
And then he heard and saw something that made his face go pale.
"So strong..."
"But still..."
"It won't break..."
Clang! Clang!
"Murasakibara-kun!"
"Please get down from there!"
Tweet!
No hesitation.
The second-string referee, doing his job fairly, called a technical foul on the obvious violation.
Meanwhile
Murasakibara kept swinging on the rim defiantly, lips puffed out, as if unwilling to accept defeat. Two court-side officials had to come over and finally got the big guy to let go, preventing further damage to the gym facilities.
On the sidelines,
The first-string assistant coach's face had turned completely black.
Back when Shigure did something similar in his first year, it had been blown for a foul too, but that was from him enjoying the act of dominating his opponent.
At least that kind of attitude could be seen as either the arrogance of the strong or an eccentric habit, somewhat understandable.
But this guy?
Destroying things out of sheer frustration?
The assistant coach couldn't make sense of it at all.
Just a brat, huh…?
"Ahahahaha"
On the bench, Shigure Akihito was laughing out loud without holding back, almost making the assistant coach lose his composure. He shot him a glare.
Shigure turned his head away, still snickering.
Even after Murasakibara was subbed out, he didn't hesitate to give praise, "Keep working hard, you'll definitely get it next time"
The assistant coach could only sigh, unsure how to handle his ace.
Fine, better leave this to Coach Sanada… or maybe even Coach Platinum himself.
Sigh…
I wonder how Coach Platinum's health is these days.
Wait.
"Hey, Murasakibara!"
"I'm going to give Captain Nijimura a full report on your performance today."
At the mention of that fox-eyed captain and the memory of him beating up Haizaki, Murasakibara froze.
"?!"
Shigure Akihito patted him on the shoulder.
"Congrats, little Murasakibara"
Compared to Teiko's joyful side,
Iizumi Junior High was deathly silent.
And then…
After Murasakibara got subbed out in the fourth quarter,
With their mentality completely broken, Iizumi couldn't muster any real counterattack against the remaining second-stringers.
Tweet!
Teiko vs Iizumi.
119:87.
From the third quarter, when Shigure gave them a 20+ point lead, to the end of the fourth when both he and Murasakibara sat out, Iizumi didn't even narrow the gap, in fact, they fell another 10 points behind.
In the end,
The game ended with a 32-point blowout.
Everyone in the Teiko third-string could clearly see,
It was in that third quarter, where Shigure-senpai, just by passing the ball, completely broke Iizumi's spirit, even though they had been leading at halftime.
They hadn't seen the "scoring techniques" the seniors always mentioned.
But unexpectedly, they got a full quarter of "passing technique" and didn't understand a thing.
In conclusion, the only real takeaway from suspending their own practice to watch this match,
Was confirming once again,
That Vice-Captain Shigure, one of Teiko's Twin Stars,
Was unbelievably strong!
End of chapter...
To be continued...
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