15

"Not bad at all, Kise. Looks like I'll have to take this a bit more seriously" Aomine said, cracking his neck.

Internally, he thought,

"He's stronger than our last one-on-one. Did he improve? No, probably just in good form today.That's what I want, Kise—give me a little more fun!"

Even though Kise won the last exchange, Too still had absolute trust in Aomine. They passed him the ball again, spacing out with four players at the corners.

Kise took a deep breath. This battle between aces was far from over.

Aomine suddenly switched up his usual playstyle, pulling off a series of flashy streetball moves. As his dribbling grew more elaborate, Kise's center of gravity was gradually thrown off. With a sharp crossover and burst of speed, Aomine broke through, sending Kise to the floor, staring helplessly as Aomine dunked the ball.

"Kise... actually got dropped?!"

"Was that a streetball move?"

"Dude got his ankles obliterated!"

Too had seen Aomine's skills before, so they weren't surprised. But for Kaijo, this was a first — and their jaws were on the floor. Aomine had straight-up turned Kise into a meme.

Kota casually walked over and helped Kise up. Kise looked up with a tearful face and wailed,

"Kota! I got crossed! This is a social death sentence!"

Kota was sweating nervously but tried to comfort him,

"Relax, man. It's just two points. The game's barely started."

Then Kota glanced at Too's lineup and started thinking:

"No chemistry, no coordination. They're all just orbiting Aomine like he's gravity. What a weird team. Total opposite of us."

Kota received the inbound pass and slowly advanced while surveying the defense. His eyes scanned his own teammates —

"Waiting for my signal, huh?"

Even though Kise had just eaten the floor, his spirit was still burning. He clearly still wanted to go head-to-head with Aomine. Kota gave him a quick look and muttered,

"This game's gonna be long. You'll have plenty of chances to embarrass yourself later. For now, let's show them something cool…"

With that, Kota reached the center court and raised a hand—signaling a six.

Kasamatsu's eyes lit up —

"He's calling the Horns play?"

After Kota suggested the core strategy, Takeuchi had refined it. The play always started with Kota, but its real threat came from using fake and real screens with smart passing to generate multiple shot opportunities in seconds.

Which meant that vision and decision-making were key — and who better than Kasamatsu, a born point guard, to run that?

Coach Takeuchi sighed from the bench.

"A play like this should be saved for a real match… Not burned in a practice game."

Still, seeing his players fired up, he couldn't help but smile.

"Youth, huh? Nothing wrong with wanting to win. Let them go wild."

On the court, the Kaijo team began moving as soon as Kota raised his hand.

Imayoshi's brow twitched.

"All five of them are moving?"

Momoi sat courtside, gripping her pen tightly. She had a feeling Kaijo was about to drop a tactical bomb.

Kasamatsu pretended to set a screen for Kota, while Kobori ran to the other side to do the same.

Imayoshi was sandwiched — Double screen?!

Kota took Kobori's pick-and-roll and broke through to the right. Kasamatsu flared left. Kobori also rushed to the bottom of the basket after the pick-and-roll. Meanwhile, Kise circled around the baseline to the right wing.

Too's defense completely crumbled.

Momoi was so shocked she dropped her pen. In just a few seconds, Kaijo had generated four open looks!

Kota quickly surveyed the chaos and passed to Kasamatsu on the left. His defender had no clue who to guard. With no hesitation, Kasamatsu launched a three.

Swish

BEEP — Kaijo leads, 5–2.

"Didn't expect you to have skills too" said Aomine on the way back up the court.

Kota turned and raised an eyebrow. "And here I thought you were just a walking ego with sneakers. Guess you've got some moves."

"You sure you should be chatting with me? Looks like your teammates need help, Mr. Aomine"

Kota pointed toward Imayoshi, who was up top handling the ball and constantly glancing at Aomine for backup. Aomine just picked his ear and said, "Relax. My teammates may suck, but they're not completely useless."

Imayoshi, realizing help wasn't coming, quickly passed to Wakamatsu in the post.

Kota leaned on his knees, watching Wakamatsu try to back down inside. The ball bounced off the rim. He couldn't help but tease: "Is your team's strategy just… ISO one at a time? You take turns going solo until someone scores?"

Aomine didn't argue. He hadn't come over for a debate — he just wanted to say hi. It had been a while since anyone outside the Generation of Miracles piqued his interest.

"Basketball's not that simple" Kota said, still low-key salty from something Aomine had said during their last meeting.

Aomine sighed. "People like you are always preaching teamwork this, teamwork that. I'll admit — you've got something. But not enough."

"I'll show you. Pure individual talent crushes all your fancy tactics."

His voice trailed off as he added the last part under his breath. Kota leaned closer, confused — and then saw it. A spark in Aomine's eyes, like lightning.

Kota froze, then shouted, "Kise!!"

Kise, who was mid-drive, looked back. "What's up, Kota—"

Before he could finish, a blur of blue streaked past him.

"Wait… the ball?"

Kise stared at his empty hands, baffled.

BEEP—

Too's basket counted. Two more points.

Takeuchi's jaw nearly hit the floor. Too's coach looked just as dumbfounded.

Momoi covered her mouth in disbelief.

Kota blinked, stunned. Then clenched his teeth and gave Takeuchi a nod.

Kaijo called a timeout.

"Okay, what the hell was that?"

"I couldn't even see it! How'd he steal it and score before Kise blinked?!"

Takeuchi rubbed his temples. "The human body naturally holds itself back to avoid injury. But sometimes, a player breaks that limiter — tapping into 100% of their potential. We call that state… the Zone."

Kise's eyes widened. "Wait, so Aomine… entered the Zone?"

Takeuchi nodded slowly.

"Then once the timeout's over, he's done, right?" Kasamatsu reasoned. "The Zone's a fluke, it shouldn't last."

Takeuchi said nothing. He turned to Kota.

Kota had his head down, deep in thought. Noticing the attention, he looked up and said,

"I think… Aomine might be able to enter the Zone at will."

"Wait—WHAT?!"

The whole team exploded.

Kota forced a bitter smile as his teammates chattered around him.

"Hold up. He's already using Zone? In the original timeline, that didn't happen 'til the Winter Cup! The Nationals haven't even started yet! This is like bringing a tank to a water gun fight!"

Then he remembered how Aomine had never trained since middle school.

"Makes sense. He hit the Zone once, felt invincible, and stopped training out of boredom. Guess that tracks…

Welp. Guess I'm screwed"

Kota scratched his head and looked over — only to find Aomine staring straight at him… with that smug, punchable grin.

Kota's eye twitched.

"This guy…"