Chapter 008
Third-year Huang looked at Haizaki with obvious contempt, tossed him the ball, and spoke in a condescending tone: "How about half-court, one-on-one? First to score ten baskets wins. Since I'm your senior, so—you can have first possession."
"Oh? How generous of you, senpai." Haizaki licked his thumb slightly and smiled, though his attitude toward Huang was already turning hostile. He silently vowed to completely demolish this guy with his basketball skills.
Nijimura looked at both players and spoke calmly: "Alright, let's begin. This is just a friendly match between upperclassman and underclassman—no need to get too heated. Start!"
After receiving the ball, Haizaki executed a series of left-right crossover dribbles, causing Huang to lean slightly off-balance. However, Huang had been playing basketball for years and quickly recovered his defensive positioning.
Seeing Huang react so promptly, Haizaki was mildly impressed. The guy was a third-year after all—he hadn't expected to break him down that easily.
Switching to a behind-the-back dribble to the left, Haizaki spun quickly after securing the ball, managed to get past Huang's defense, and drove straight for a three-step layup.
Huang's expression darkened with anger as he immediately gave chase, deliberately knocking Haizaki down with unnecessary contact.
Haizaki looked up with surprise in his eyes. As Huang retrieved the ball, Haizaki quickly got back on defense. Huang smiled with obvious pride: "Not bad for a first-year! You've got some skill—almost got me there. Now let me teach you what real basketball looks like."
Huang attacked aggressively after getting possession, but Haizaki's speed allowed him to stay in front defensively. Suddenly, Huang executed a sharp stop and pull-up jump shot.
Haizaki couldn't react in time, and Huang scored the first basket.
"This is what we call basketball—you've got a lot to learn, kid," Huang said smugly.
Rather than respond to the taunt, Haizaki simply sneered internally. That move had been genuinely impressive, and he grinned slightly: "Yeah, that was pretty good. I'll borrow that technique, if you don't mind."
When Haizaki got the basketball, he immediately replicated Huang's previous sequence—the same quick dribble drive, followed by an identical sudden stop and pull-up jumper.
Score: 1-1. Each player had made one basket.
Haizaki's perfect imitation shocked the first-string players watching. Murasakibara looked surprised: "I didn't expect Haizaki-chin to be so good! That was exactly the same!"
"That's incredible! I really want to play him and test myself!" Aomine said with obvious excitement, impressed by someone who could imitate a move after seeing it just once.
Akashi observed from the sideline with his usual composure: "It's certainly impressive, though slightly different from Huang-senpai's original shot."
Midorima responded dismissively to Akashi's observation: "For a first attempt at imitation, being able to do that much is already remarkable."
"Mm." Akashi nodded flatly, though he frowned internally: 'Is that really all there is to it? Why does that movement give me such an unpleasant feeling of discord, even though it's only slightly different from Huang's version?'
Huang felt like he'd been slapped in the face. After talking so confidently, he hadn't expected Haizaki to immediately return the favor using his own technique. Despite his internal frustration, he maintained his condescending senior facade: "Pretty impressive, Haizaki! It seems I was underestimating you. I'll use my full strength from now on—you'd better be careful."
Haizaki sneered internally while replying: "Looking forward to it, senpai."
Seeing Haizaki maintain that same cynical smile—which seemed to mock him directly—Huang's anger flared even higher. 'Damn brat, I'm going to crush you completely.'
Huang quickly employed crossover dribbling to create separation, his left-right body feints allowing him to get past Haizaki for a hook shot layup.
Watching this dribbling sequence, Haizaki's eyes lit up with excitement: "That looks pretty useful! I'll take that one too."
After getting possession, Haizaki immediately used the exact same crossover dribbling pattern Huang had just demonstrated, scoring in identical fashion to tie the game 2-2.
This time Huang's facial expression visibly changed. The first imitation could be dismissed as lucky, but now Haizaki had used his own basketball technique against him twice in a row.
Aomine grew more excited: "Amazing! Haizaki can just look at these moves and copy them instantly—watching this is getting my blood pumping!"
"Hmph, those are just basic basketball movements—imitating them isn't particularly difficult," Midorima said arrogantly. While he could probably replicate those techniques himself, he definitely couldn't learn them as quickly as Haizaki. It would likely take several practice attempts to achieve the same level of accuracy.
"Yeah, I could do those moves too," Murasakibara added, not wanting to be left out.
Aomine felt exasperated listening to his teammates' boasts, but he ignored them and continued watching the intense matchup.
After several more possessions, regardless of what technique Huang attempted, Haizaki would immediately reproduce it perfectly after seeing it once. The score remained tied at 6-6.
Huang was getting genuinely heated now. Despite trying several difficult layup variations, Haizaki continued watching once and replicating everything flawlessly, which was incredibly frustrating.
While Haizaki's imitation ability was annoying, Huang consoled himself with the thought that even though the first-year could copy his shots, Haizaki couldn't prevent him from scoring. Since Huang was shooting first each time, as long as he reached ten baskets before his opponent, he would still win. He sneered: "Impressive work, Haizaki. I'll admit you've got skill, but just imitating moves won't be enough to beat me."
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