Chapter 80 – A Miracle in the Last Seconds
Facing Aore High School, a powerhouse that had qualified for last year's national competition, everyone expected Toyosaki Academy to be crushed. Few students even bothered showing up, convinced it would be a hopeless slaughter.
But the game stunned the entire stadium.
Final Score: Toyosaki Academy 87 — Aore High School 86.
The victory wasn't luck. It was grit. Under the leadership of captain Makishima Shoma and the electrifying debut of transfer student Aikawa Kazuhiko, Toyosaki clung on every possession, refusing to collapse even as Aore unleashed its fierce, veteran-level offense.
Then came the last 52 seconds.
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The Final Minute
Score: Toyosaki 79 — Aore 85. Time: 0:52.
Makishima passed the ball off a screen. Aikawa caught it cleanly, rose at the arc, two defenders clawing at him. He shot anyway.
Swish. Three points.
82–85.
Thirty-two seconds. Aore's point guard stumbled, the ball slipping. Aikawa's hand flashed like lightning—steal! He wove past three scrambling defenders, soared up, and kissed the ball softly off the glass.
84–85.
Twenty seconds. Aore clung to possession, shielding the ball, trying to burn time. Aikawa lunged in with a tactical foul, forcing free throws. One shot dropped.
84–86.
Nine seconds. The clock bled away. Aikawa accelerated upcourt, Aore collapsing around him at the three-point line. With Makishima's screen buying a heartbeat, he drove inside and leapt. Two defenders shadowed him midair. His shot would never clear. Instead, he faked, absorbed contact, and the whistle blew—foul!
The gym thundered with noise as Aikawa stepped to the line.
First free throw: perfect.
85–86.
Second free throw. Everyone expected him to sink it for overtime. Instead—bang!—he slammed the ball off the backboard and lunged forward.
Gasps echoed.
Four seconds. The rebound sailed high. Aore's tall forward reached it first… only for Aikawa to explode above him, snatching it from the air with both hands.
One beat of silence. Then—SLAM!
Aikawa hammered a two-handed dunk through the hoop. The buzzer blared.
87–86. Game Over.
For a second, the gym froze in stunned disbelief. Then it erupted. The roar shook the rafters. Toyosaki Academy, the underdog nobody believed in, had toppled a national contender.
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After the Game
When the crowd finally spilled out into the humid Tokyo evening, Eriri, Azusa, and Kiyo were still dazed. Their hearts pounded as if they had been on the court themselves.
"I swear I was watching Slam Dunk live!" Kiyo gasped, clutching her chest. "Aikawa-senpai is insane—he's literally my type!"
Azusa crossed her arms. "Dream on. He already has a girlfriend."
Kiyo wilted with a dramatic sigh. "Tragic…"
Eriri's lips curled into a satisfied smile. "If we can pull off two more wins, Toyosaki might actually make nationals."
The girls walked out buzzing with energy, voices tripping over each other as they replayed every detail. What had begun as a day of low expectations had turned into history.
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Harajuku Stroll
Still high from the win, the trio headed to Harajuku. Neon billboards bathed the streets, and crowds pressed shoulder-to-shoulder, the city alive with youth and noise.
They bought tickets to a romantic drama at the cinema. By the credits, Kiyo was bawling into an empty tissue box, and Azusa's eyes were rimmed red.
"It's so cruel," Kiyo wailed as they stepped out. "Why make the poor boy terminally ill right after confessing?"
Azusa sniffled, nodding. "I wanted them to be happy."
Eriri, embarrassed, tried to hide her own watery eyes. "It was fine. A little cliché, that's all."
Kiyo rounded on her. "Cliché? You cried loudest! You even stole my tissues!"
Eriri's face turned crimson. "D-Don't bring that up!"
They laughed their way into a milk tea shop, then wandered the streets, weaving between couples holding hands. The sweetness in the air was almost suffocating.
When a pair of girls walked past, fingers entwined, Azusa's chest tightened. Her eyes darted to Eriri. That memory—the café yesterday, Eriri and Shiina sitting together—still haunted her.
She decided to test it.
"There's that new anime, Lycoris Recoil," she said casually. "It's kind of a yuri series. What do you two think about… yuri?"
Kiyo perked up. "I love it! Cute girls together? What's not to love?" She threw her arm around Azusa's shoulder, then spun toward Eriri with a teasing grin.
Eriri recoiled instantly. "Gross! Don't cling to me—I'm straight!"
Azusa blinked. "You are?"
"Of course," Eriri said, brows furrowed. "Who told you otherwise?"
Azusa's heart lurched. So she'd been wrong? That scene she saw yesterday… maybe it wasn't what she thought.
Meanwhile, Kiyo clung harder, laughing. "Straight or not, you look adorable today, Eriri-chan! That ponytail is dangerous—totally a power move!"
"Get off!" Eriri shoved her away, glaring. "Go bother Azusa!"
"No way!" Azusa squeaked, covering her chest as Kiyo lunged toward her.
The three of them dissolved into laughter, their earlier tension breaking.
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Viral Fame
By the time Eriri returned home, darkness had fallen. After a long shower, she slumped in front of her computer, scrolling idly—until a trending video caught her eye.
Her breath caught.
It was the final 52 seconds of Toyosaki vs. Aore, replayed from multiple angles. Aikawa's miracle sequence—steal, layup, foul, rebound dunk—captured in perfect clarity.
Netizens flooded the comments:
"Is this real? He's like Rukawa Kaede in real life!"
"Forget manga, this is better than anime."
"Aikawa for nationals!"
Eriri replayed it again and again, goosebumps rising. Compared to this, even Lucien's Slam Dunk felt conservative. Reality had outshone fiction.
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Sunday at the Hospital
The next afternoon Eriri tied her hair back into her trademark twin tails—better to avoid Lucien's teasing—and headed for the hospital.
Lucien greeted her with his usual calm smile, but when she showed him the viral clip, even he sat forward, eyes wide.
"…Unbelievable," he whispered.
They watched it twice more before Eriri laughed. "See? Toyosaki really might make nationals. Don't you think Slam Dunk helped? So many people are talking about basketball now because of it."
She pulled up forum posts and showed him threads ranking Slam Dunk in the month's top 20 most popular manga, even ahead of long-running favorites.
Lucien's eyes gleamed. "Once I'm discharged, I need to accelerate. If I can finish the series and get the tankōbon volumes out quickly… that's where the real money is."
The hospital light glinted off the sketchbook he handed her. Inside were fresh pages—Chapters 81 to 84.
Eriri leaned in eagerly.
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Slam Dunk, Volume 10
Shohoku had reached the quarterfinals. Their opponent: Shoyo High School, Kanagawa's "second seed," towering in height and strength. Four of their five starters were over 190 cm. Their ace, Hanagata, matched Akagi Takenori in height and possessed a deadly fadeaway jump shot.
Even more shocking: their coach was a player himself—Kenji Fujima, a prodigy rivaling Kainan's Shinichi Maki.
"Wait, the coach plays? That's insane," Eriri muttered, frowning.
But she swallowed her complaint. Manga had always thrived on exaggeration.
As she read on, the match tightened. Hanagata scored with ease, using his fadeaway to neutralize Akagi's blocks. Tension rose. Shohoku looked on the edge of collapse.
Then came Rukawa Kaede.
He stole the ball clean, sprinted the length of the court, and slashed through Shoyo's defense. A double team closed in—he twisted in midair, switched hands, and laid it in.
The panel glowed with speed and confidence.
Eriri's eyes sparkled. "Rukawa… so cool!"
By the time she closed the sketchbook, her heart was racing as if she'd just left the gym herself.
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Eriri hugged the sketchbook to her chest, cheeks flushed with excitement. Between Toyosaki's miracle win and Shohoku's fight against giants, basketball felt more alive to her than ever.
End of Chapter 80