17

"Second quarter is about to begin — players, please return to the court"

"Oh? Kise's not playing?"

Aomine raised an eyebrow at the sight of Kise still on the bench.

Kota adjusted the strap on his wristband and replied, "Our ace is tired and needs to rest. Not gonna lie, I'm pretty disappointed in him."

He didn't even look at Aomine as he added with a casual shrug,

"Losing so badly one-on-one like that... I mean, for someone like him, I guess it's not terrible."

"But now, your good time is over" Kota said, cracking his neck. "I'm locking you down from here on."

A vein popped on Aomine's forehead. "You've got a big mouth, don't you?"

Kota flashed a bright smile and jogged back to his half of the court to inbound the ball.

BEEP—

Kota received the inbound and pushed up slowly, keeping his usual laid-back pace. Even though they were 15 points down, he looked completely unfazed.

With Kota's relaxed rhythm, the rest of Kaijo seemed to feel less pressure, almost like they weren't the ones trailing.

With Kise out, Aomine was still a serious problem — even tired, he was hard to stop.

Kota scanned the court and thought,

"Let's avoid Aomine on offense. As long as we're not playing into his rhythm, we can still score consistently."

He passed the ball off to Kasamatsu and ran to the corner. Aomine followed closely, still annoyed from earlier and looking to return the favor.

But once Kota reached the corner, he just put his hands on his knees and stood still. No off-ball cuts, no calls for the ball.

Aomine stared at him. Kota stared at nothing. Aomine shrugged and mimicked him, also resting his hands on his knees. He was still feeling drained after that wild first quarter and Kise constantly breathing down his neck.

Kasamatsu glanced at Kota, then smirked:

"Ah, I get it now. Drag Aomine out of the play and keep him away from the paint. Classic Kota move."

He quickly called for a screen from Moriyama, read the defense, and bounced a pass inside. Easy bucket. Two points.

On the other end, Aomine took the ball and eyed Kota, ready to test his defense.

Kota looked calm, zero pressure in his expression.

"I can't stop him anyway, so what's the point in stressing?"

He even tugged up his shorts a little for good measure.

For some reason, Aomine felt a chill.

"You're one weird dude…" he muttered, grinning.

Then he went into his signature streetball style — crossovers, feints, fancy footwork.

But Kota didn't flinch. His stance was low and solid.

Aomine frowned.

"Still not biting?"

He pushed left and then hit him with a lightning-fast crossover —textbook Shammgod move — and blew past him. Easy layup. Two more.

He smirked.

"No matter how stable your stance is, if I break through, you're toast."

Kota stayed stone-faced.

Aomine was pleased:

"He's too stunned to even react. Got him."

But as the game went on, something weird happened.

Kota didn't move from the corner. At all.

Aomine found himself stuck there, too. At first it was great — he didn't have to play defense and could rest. But Kota kept not moving. So Aomine kept standing there. Just watching the game happen without him.

Kaijo was now playing 4-on-4... and winning.

Even with Aomine torching Kota on every possession, Kota's defense gave off just enough pressure to make it look like he was locked in—even though he wasn't doing anything. Every move Aomine made required full effort. Kota just stood there like a traffic cone with a really good poker face.

Now exhausted, Aomine tried one more time—he drove right, no tricks, just pure speed.

Kota didn't move.

He just tilted his head slightly, as if to say: Wait... you're still going?

Aomine felt a wave of frustration. He realized he'd been played. This wasn't just trolling—this was psychological warfare.

With one last burst of pride, Aomine jumped for a dunk.

"Wait—why am I so far from the rim...?"

He'd burned out his stamina. His body couldn't keep up anymore. The jump was weak. Predictable.

Kobori flew in and spiked the dunk attempt like a volleyball block.

Kota—who had barely moved all quarter — was now the closest player to the opposite hoop. Kasamatsu grabbed the board and launched a full-court pass.

Kota caught it, turned, and gently laid it in.

Aomine sat on the floor, stunned. Not by the block — by the fact he'd been outwitted by a guy who spent most of the quarter standing still.

Momoi panicked and called timeout immediately.

Kobori scratched his head and glanced at Aomine.

"Wait... did I just break him? It wasn't even that crazy of a block…"

He reached out a hand to help Aomine up, but Aomine just stared blankly.

Before it got more awkward, Momoi rushed over.

"Dai-chan! Are you okay?"

Aomine finally spoke, voice raspy. "Yeah... Satsuki, help me up."

Kota watched Aomine limp to the bench and rubbed his chin.

"Huh. He looks kinda upset."

Everyone else in the arena rolled their eyes.

"You think?! You trolled the guy into existential crisis and got him dunk-blocked!"

Kise glared at him.

"You might've actually broken Aomine. What're you gonna do if he quits basketball and becomes a monk or something?"

Kota just shrugged. "Not my fault he fell for the world's oldest trap—'stand there and let the guy tire himself out.' Classic move."

The timeout ended. Aomine remained benched. Kaijo sent out both Kota and Kise, and the final two minutes of the second quarter turned into a 12–0 run.

Halftime score: Kaijo 51 – 49 Too.

Too Academy, built on isolation plays, just couldn't keep up with Kaijo's team chemistry. Without Aomine defending the paint, Kasamatsu had an easy time feeding his teammates. Aomine still scored efficiently, but one guy can't outscore a full team — especially when that one guy needs five minutes to recover between plays.

By the time Aomine subbed out, Kaijo had already taken the lead.

Halftime locker room.

Too's bench was silent.

Momoi flipped through her notes and addressed the team.

"Kaijo's main playmaker is Kota. But their captain, Kasamatsu, is also good at setting up plays. They're basically running a dual-point system. So next half, our priority is to cut off their connections. Don't let them score so easily."

"Kota's smart. High basketball IQ. But his defense is... let's say, 'decorative.'"

She glanced at Aomine, relieved to see him listening attentively.

"Good—he's not giving up. He's focused."

"In the second half" she continued, "we need to exploit that. Attack Kota whenever possible. Our strength is in isolation plays. Their strength is teamwork. So let's play to ours — go for more one-on-one matchups."

Then she hesitated... before making a call.

"Aomine, sit out the start of the third quarter. You need rest."