The entire arena fell into stunned silence after Shigure Akihito's thunderous dunk.
"Fast break!"
On the court, Kaijō's second-year starting point guard, Kasamatsu Yukio, barked the order.
Though shaken, Kaijō—always disciplined on the floor—immediately shifted from defense into offense.
From the baseline, Kashigawa Tatsuo inbounded. Kasamatsu pushed the ball up with his usual straightforward but effective approach. Normally, his full-speed advance was unstoppable—but this time, Nijimura Shuzo cut him off with ease.
Kaijō's players: "!?"
On the wing, Moriyama Yoshitaka, ready to sprint in tandem with Kasamatsu, froze mid-step. Disbelief flickered across his face as he muttered to himself:
"I knew this might happen… but this early? That easily? Too much… this is humiliating. Good thing there aren't any cute girls watching…"
Grumbling under his breath, he quickly moved to back Kasamatsu up.
But if Kasamatsu had it hard, his side had it even worse. At midcourt, the opponent marking him was—Shigure Akihito.
Slap!
By next year, Kasamatsu's raw speed would be ranked among the fastest outside the Generation of Miracles. But even so, his full-speed dribbling was forced into desperation by Nijimura's relentless pressure.
With danger alarms blaring in his mind, Kasamatsu was forced to give up the ball before even crossing half-court.
It was a smart read: calm, sharp, with excellent vision. Even under crushing pressure, he noticed Akihito shadowing Moriyama and quickly swung the ball to their power forward, Mori Osamu.
Hayakawa Mitsuhiro charged in with boundless energy, shouting his usual "Ude! Ude!" ("Mine, mine!"). From the sidelines, Nakagawa Shinya could only watch enviously, translating under his breath: "My ball, my ball…"
Hayakawa's enthusiasm was overflowing—too much, in fact.
His full sprint couldn't stop in time.
At midcourt, Mori Osamu blew past him with a simple crossover.
"Ah!"
"Sorry!"
"My bad!"
Now wide open, Mori Osamu sprinted straight into the paint, gripping the ball with both hands as he leapt toward the rim
but a long arm shot out from behind.
A looming shadow crashed down from the heavens!
BOOM!
Man and ball were swatted aside in one violent block.
From the stands, all anyone could see was Akihito—his long black hair tied back—moving like lightning. He had abandoned his mark on Moriyama, raced past everyone from the backcourt, and closed in with terrifying speed to deliver the block.
"What?!"
Mori Osamu crashed out of bounds, his face frozen in shock.
"Senpai, you're too slow. And Hayakawa—when you apologize, at least your words come out clear. But as a power forward, what are you doing in the backcourt? Focus on your defense."
"..."
"S—sorry!"
"Truly sorry!"
At last, Hayakawa managed to get the words out properly, his pure hot-blooded self practically ready to salute Akihito on the spot.
Meanwhile, Nijimura, and Fukasaya Reiji, exchanged glances—half baffled, half used to this sight. Their thought was the same: This guy's grown taller, and even without Wild Instinct or the Zone, his baseline speed has clearly gotten faster.
Akihito himself reflected: with Mitsui Hisashi's legendary template now fully unlocked, his talent for "fast pursuit defense" had boosted his speed even further.
The ball flew out of bounds, Kaijō regained it. Kasamatsu passed ahead, and Moriyama Yoshitaka caught it. In his signature quirky style, he immediately pulled up for a three.
But then—his heart lurched.
The moment Akihito had been in the paint, now in a single bound he was charging out to contest. His leap was so explosive that by the time Moriyama rose to shoot, Akihito was already right there.
No way!
Even scarier—Akihito's jump hadn't even peaked yet!
Luckily, Moriyama had been on guard ever since Akihito's previous block. Though mid-shot, he forced himself to adjust, twisting his body midair to convert his three into a pass.
But the cross-court swing was rushed, imprecise
Smack!
Fukasaya Reiji, exploding into his top gear without warning, intercepted cleanly.
With Akihito's wide-ranging defense and Reiji's sudden burst of speed, the sequence left the crowd utterly speechless.
"Sh-Shigure Akihito just chased from the paint all the way to Moriyama?!"
"He did! He'd just blocked Mori Osamu at the rim, and in a blink, he was outside the arc again!"
"A big man that agile—I've only ever seen Hagioka Kasayuki pull that off!"
"That block height… insane! Thank god Moriyama held back."
"But even then, his midair adjustment was incredible!"
"And Fukasaya—how does he accelerate like that with no buildup?!"
On the sidelines, Coach Takeuchi Genta of Kaijō had already leapt to his feet, eyes blazing, muttering to himself:
"Shigure Akihito… with this evolutionary trajectory—he's still evolving? Still getting stronger?!"
END OF CHAPTER
CROWN BEFORE THE MIRACLES
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