"Unbelievable…"
"A block!"
"Fukaya Reiji is at least six or seven centimeters shorter than Midorima, right?!"
"He jumped so high!"
"That burst of power in that instant—reminded me of Hayama Kotarō!"
"..."
"This is upside-down! Reiji's explosive ability — he had it even back in junior high! But what's really shocking is his defensive ability just now, right? He's way stronger than last year!"
On court
Fukaya exploded forward, yet Midorima astonishingly maintained speed and chased him down. In just a brief moment, they clashed repeatedly!
The arena fell silent!
Fukui Kensuke's face was full of disbelief.
He couldn't believe Midorima was blocked, nor could he believe the overwhelming ability Reiji showed at this moment. Everyone knew Fukaya Reiji's trademark ability was instantaneous catch-and-shoot. But now? He was attacking off the dribble and engaging Midorima defensively!
BOOM!
Another burst!
Reiji's long hair flicked upward, charging into the paint. Midorima shadowed him step-for-step, and with a single flash, positioned himself perfectly to contest!
Everyone held their breath.
Both benches—every player stood up uncontrollably!
Then
Midorima's eyes flickered!
Swoosh!
He suddenly stretched from the side to block!
But
Whoosh!
In what should have been an unavoidable situation, Reiji flipped his wrist mid-dribble, flinging the ball to the backboard with tremendous force. It rebounded sharply—he caught it…
Then came his specialty—his instantaneous receiving technique!
PAK!
PAK!
The moment the ball touched his hands, Reiji chained a terrifyingly fast behind-the-back crossover!
Illusion dribble—"Buddha fake."
Turn!
Everything completed in lightning speed, and just as his pivot step fell——that extremely high-arc hook shot flew out!
SWISH!
Bucket!
Flawless.
Kaijō vs Yōsen — 22:26!
Seeing this, every Teiko player in the stands went dumb.
The third-years—even though most of them were second- or third-string back then—had at least spent one year with the Twin Stars.
But the second-years…
They basically lived under the blinding glory of the Generation of Miracles.
Now
Seeing Reiji overpower Midorima before the Twin Stars even took action, their eyes nearly popped out.
Teiko squad: "..."
So THAT'S what it means to have once been teammates...
With those legendary Twin Stars!?
On court
After scoring, Reiji turned to Midorima:
"Shintarō… I know exactly what level you're at. Don't bother trying to ration your stamina."
"Come at me full force."
As he spun around to defend, that venomous-spider aura surged even higher. His eyes—finally ignited for real.
Midorima advanced.
This time
He didn't waste time wrestling with Reiji in the backcourt. He patiently brought the ball across mid-court, received the pass from Fukui Kensuke, set up in triple-threat, and stared straight at Reiji.
195 cm vs 188 cm. He held undeniable height advantage, while Reiji relied on that spider-like defense and explosive bursts.
Tactical Divination activated
95%…
Position locked.
But before attacking that marked spot, he had to break through Reiji's spider defense!
Facing Reiji, Midorima's aura crashed forward like invisible pressure. Reiji, in return, felt a spider-sense like instinct—hair standing on end.
Reiji knew
It was coming
Midorima!
BOOM!
Midorima's acceleration made Sanada Naoto in the stands widen his eyes!
He thought Midorima's previous speed already shattered expectations. Yet he actually went even further?! And this wasn't even the shooting style he used to know!
But what stunned him more
Was that Reiji wasn't falling behind either?!
These brats…
They've changed WAY too much!!
Midorima was ridiculously fast. He almost escaped Reiji's spider range—until Reiji forcefully cut him off the instant they made body contact, breaking the continuity of Midorima's drive!
Then the spider struck again—limbs woven into relentless entanglement. Midorima countered, even fiercer, his ball-handling chaining moves one after another!
Dragged by the rhythm, Reiji couldn't just sit back. The spider defense showed its true face—lightning-fast footwork born from explosive bursts, entwining arm pressure designed not to steal, but to control pace.
Yet at the perfect distance
Reiji suddenly shattered the spider-web himself!
PAK!
Contact!
At that exact moment, Midorima forcibly changed his dribble. Reiji touched the ball, but only barely. Midorima used his back to shield, securing possession again.
A test, but not wasted—he broke Midorima's tempo.
Midorima: "..."
This defense…
Aside from hand techniques, the footwork frequency was clearly far higher than Reiji's normal state. And the contact force—packed with explosive power, yet instantly controlled to continue the entanglement.
It's a technique that wields explosiveness…
while maintaining delicate defensive precision.
Midorima looked at Reiji and thought
No wonder you're… Senpai.
The entire stadium focused solely on Midorima Shintarō and Fukaya Reiji.
Reiji had still not been broken through!
But
Midorima wasn't rattled.
He sank low—shifted—drove right, and Reiji's spider defense responded instantly!
But this time—Midorima's rhythm grew strange. Bigger steps, disrupting his usual shot-timing. He even added shoulder contact!
Then
Torso upright!
Hand raised!
Even earlier that shooting motion hinted at something—Midorima's shooting trait of "as long as the form isn't broken, it goes in"—may have changed.
Either:
He evolved to land shots even when form is broken…
OR
He no longer obsesses over 100% accuracy. If there's a chance, he'll shoot.
Reiji leaned toward the second. But regardless, he had to jump to contest!
Then
Midorima faked and blew right past!
Reiji: "!"
A brilliant fake…
With his height disadvantage, Reiji had to rely on spider deceleration plus explosive jumping to defend—forcing him into jumping situations easily.
Meanwhile
Midorima shot forward!
Kurokami Shinji rushed in to help, but Midorima hit a textbook in-out dribble, then spun!
Kurokami was still a center. Even with enhanced wild-instinct speed, compared to Midorima, he got shaken off!
Just like Reiji's sequence earlier—all these dribble actions happened like lightning. That final slip-by spin—silky smooth—like watching Aomine.
Kurokami immediately rotated to protect Atsushi Murasakibara, because Reiji was exploding forward to chase Midorima, and Midorima's eyes were locked on the rim—razor sharp!
BOOM!
In the paint!
He pushed off HARD—took flight! Reiji followed immediately to block!
Sanada Naoto stared dumbfounded—he couldn't understand these old-generation players anymore. But seeing Midorima abandon threes to attack the rim shocked him even more.
On the court.
Midorima Shintarō, suspended midair
Contracted his core!
With both hands, he pulled the ball down from its raised shooting posture and swung it sharply to the left—toward Murasakibara Atsushi waiting on the side.
But then
It was a feint!
Fukaya Reiji's block clearly reacted to Midorima's supposed pass. In that split second, the "pass" transformed smoothly into a left-to-right switch for a reverse layup!
Off the glass—clean!
Landing, Midorima turned and looked at Fukaya Reiji.
Was that enough?
…Senpai.
"Beautiful!"
"Midorima!"
On the other side, Okamura Kenichi had also been shaken by Midorima's feinting motion.
But he had to admit—what Midorima just did was just like his earlier fake-shot real-drive move to shake off Fukaya.
Whether it was the eyes,
The motion,
Or the timing of baiting Kurokami Shinji's help defense to pull toward Murasakibara
It was all too convincing.
Even the crowd genuinely believed he was going to pass.
Nijimura Shuzō and Shigure Akihito didn't comment on anything else, but in terms of pure basketball technique, it was obvious—Midorima had put in serious work. His skillset was extremely refined.
In the stands, from the beginning of the second quarter to now, just these few exchanges of possession had already shocked the entire Teiko group speechless, including Coach Sanada Naoto and their current captain, Aioi Keishi.
"That was…"
"Really Midorima-senpai?"
"He actually… reverse-layup dunked…"
"If it weren't for that green hair, I would've thought I'd just seen Aomine-senpai."
"The seniors from last year… when they went to join the veterans' special training camp… what actually happened there? Captain Aioi, do you know?"
"…"
"I don't. After that, the seniors basically self-trained half in retirement."
On Kaijō's bench,
Everyone stared at Midorima Shintarō.
Thinking
So this is the so-called Miracles' Generation… the juniors of Captain Nijimura and the others?
But weren't they supposed to be
A three-point shooter?
What kind of "three-point shooter" plays like this…?
Well…
If you force it, sure, the opportunity originated from three-point threat pressure,
But it was absolutely not just that
Every part of his game was beyond the Kaijō bench's expectations.
How to even describe it
Speed, ball handling, passing,
and the threatening shooting that forced Fukaya Reiji to treat him like a deadly enemy
Every aspect was flawless.
Except…
He didn't look flashy?
On the other side.
Coach Takeuchi Genta stared intensely at Fukaya Reiji. He understood deeply just how hard Reiji had worked as a basketball player.
Since last year's Winter Cup, just like Nijimura and Shigure, Fukaya almost never encountered anyone who could push him to full power.
Now facing someone like Midorima…
It wouldn't take long before he found that feeling again.
Perhaps…
They might see it again—the form that appeared once by chance
Just like last year's Hayama Kotarō
Fukaya Reiji's strongest state.
That path no one expected
A state reached through pure defense.
On the court.
Kurokami Shinji also looked toward Fukaya Reiji, who was receiving the ball on the baseline, thinking:
C'mon, Reiji. Don't take too long.
Just like you used to say
There's no reason why you can't do it.
But regardless of what anyone else thought, for Fukaya Reiji right now, there was only one thing on his mind
Pay Midorima back with one of his own.
Front court.
Midorima's expression sharpened—fully prepared to defend.
And at that moment
Fukaya Reiji suddenly moved.
It was the signature ability from middle school, learned from Shigure
Shadow of Perfection!
Instant!
Like tit-for-tat, last possession Midorima used a fake shot to open his path, and a fake pass to finish.
Now, Reiji did the same—using a flawless fake pass to initiate the breakthrough, letting everyone see, before he even moved
A phantom of him frozen in place, passing the ball!
Whether it was the motion or the aura, from any angle, it looked exactly like a real pass
None of the hesitation that comes from normal fake setups.
It was like
At the exact moment of passing, someone cut a frame
And immediately after that frozen frame, the breakthrough action burst out, creating that phantom pass effect.
And in terms of quality
Without question, this was beyond anything Fukaya Reiji had ever shown before!
And then
In the blink of an eye, he had already blown past Midorima's defense!
END OF CHAPTER
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