NOVEL WEB Chapter 60: 63
"Huh? Huh??"
"Do you even hear yourself right now? Is that really your line, Akashi?!"
Kota's mouth twitched. He had no idea how to respond to that. Akashi just smiled at his reaction, flashing a bright, almost annoyingly confident grin.
"Relax, it's fine. Don't get nervous. I've just switched up my playstyle. Honestly, it's not that different from earlier. You can still try to bully me in the post anytime you like."
"With that… unique anti-steal talent of yours."
By the time he finished, Akashi's expression was calm again.
Kota frowned slightly. Had he been figured out? Kaijo's game plan for the next few possessions really was to have Kota keep attacking Akashi one-on-one to maintain their lead.
Well, I don't know what you're planning… but if that's how you wanna play, then fine! I won't hold back either!
Kota grabbed the inbound pass from a teammate and did an exaggerated "clear out" motion.
"Everyone outta the way! Time for the Kota Show!"
The rest of the players played along, giving the two of them a proper isolation. This time, Kota didn't even bother with a triple threat stance. No point in faking when Akashi wasn't buying any of it. No sense wasting energy.
Akashi lowered his center of gravity, quietly waiting for Kota's move.
Between the legs? Crossover? Nope. Not for a clutch one-on-one like this. If I don't back him down, it just won't feel right.
Kota cracked a mysterious grin, then — right from behind the three-point line — he just went straight into a full-on post-up. Like a train, charging straight at Akashi.
Akashi blinked, then chuckled softly.
"You're… really something else."
His left eye sharpened. Akashi moved. He had no intention of letting Kota's backside get anywhere near him. Instead, he slipped in front, going for the steal.
Danger alarms flared in Kota's head.
Oh, it's coming! The steal!
He instantly spun around to shield the ball, using his off-arm to block Akashi behind him. He lifted his head, scanning the defense. No way. With Akashi's current decision-making and awareness, there's no way he's still stubborn enough to guard me one-on-one like before.
And sure enough—
Even though Kaijo had pulled their spacing wide, Rakuzan's help defense wasn't slow at all. The fastest on the team, Hayama, had already followed Akashi's earlier cue. The moment Akashi went for the steal, Hayama dropped back inside to cover the paint.
Now Kota was caught in a sandwich between Akashi in front and Hayama behind, completely boxed in with no passing lane.
Kota's brain kicked into overdrive. High-speed processing born from years of fighting against bigger defenders. Textbook small-on-big problem-solving… and now it was pushed to the absolute limit!
Suddenly, Kota's eyes lit up. He took a huge step-back to the right, then launched himself into the air for a full fadeaway!
The pose... kind of had a certain… Aomine-vibe to it.
A monster fadeaway jump shot?!
Akashi, standing behind Kota, was dumbfounded.
Where did that come from?! Since when did he have that move?! What's the point of my Emperor Eye if it doesn't see this coming?!
Being… vertically challenged… Akashi had no chance of blocking it.
But Hayama reacted fast, leaping with everything he had for the block.
To most spectators, this was clearly an insanely tough, high-degree-of-difficulty shot…
But from Kise's point of view, it looked… way too familiar.
A flash of gold streaked along the baseline. Kise was already sprinting towards the paint on Rakuzan's side.
Hayama's not the only guy fast enough to help here.
You'll pass it, won't you? Kota.
If you don't… I'm seriously gonna be mad, you genius idiot!
While still floating in midair, Kota spotted that familiar golden blur cutting in. A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth.
He tightened his core, then—despite Hayama's defense—he launched the ball up, high… stupidly high.
For you? This height's nothing.
Kagami Mode!
As the ball reached a height almost level with the top of the backboard, Kise couldn't help shouting:
"Are you trying to turn me into a giraffe or something?!"
Despite the complaint, Kise exploded off the ground, stretching his arms to full length. For a split second, a golden flash of lightning seemed to flicker in his eyes. He got it!
"THIS ONE'S A GAME CHANGER!!"
Kise roared mid-air, slamming the ball through the hoop with everything he had.
BEEP!
End of the third quarter!
The gym went absolutely nuts.
That dunk… Kise practically perched in the air like a giant bird above the rim. Even non-basketball fans in the crowd were left stunned by the sheer hang time.
On the sidelines, Kagami stared in disbelief.
"Can… I even jump that high? He's copying me… and pulling off stuff I'm not even sure I can do…"
Kaijo's bench jumped to their feet, hands in the air, screaming like maniacs. Even Takeuchi stood up, fists clenched. That dunk… was pure catharsis.
The refs, shockingly, didn't warn the Kaijo bench for excessive celebration. Even they were too stunned.
Hey, with a dunk like that, who wouldn't get a little hyped?
Meanwhile, thanks to the crazy fadeaway angle, Kota had landed flat on his back after the shot. He stayed there, staring up at the ceiling, but still managed to catch Kise's slam with his peripheral vision.
Lifting his right hand, Kota grinned and gave a big thumbs-up.
Check it out. That's our ace. Kaijo's absolute kingpin… Kise!
Kasamatsu stood with hands on his hips, a nostalgic smile on his face.
Back during tryouts… these two pulled this exact same stunt…
Akashi watched it all unfold, a strange flicker crossing his eyes.
For the first time since awakening his Emperor Eye… victory actually felt uncertain.
And the root of it all… was Kota.
95-89. Kaijo leads.
Start of the fourth quarter
Akashi continued to orchestrate the offense with his ridiculous playmaking and penetration skills. Honestly, he was every bit as good at running a team as Kota… except with the Emperor Eye, he could see everything on the court like some overpowered cheat code.
Add in Rakuzan's Uncrowned Kings, plus Mayuzumi throwing in extra tactical wrinkles, and Kaijo's defense felt like… well… like a hostess at a sketchy karaoke bar—all fake resistance and zero real commitment.
On offense, Kota kept trying to force another one-on-one with Akashi. But this time, the clear-headed Akashi wasn't giving him the chance.
With Hayama's rapid help defense, Rakuzan basically wrapped Akashi in bubble wrap. Kota couldn't get near him.
No matter how many times Kota tried, the iso just wasn't happening. In a mild panic, Kota started switching to all kinds of plays: horn sets, three-point kickouts…
But under the Emperor Eye's gaze, none of those lasted more than three possessions before being completely read and broken.
The result of that kind of gap in team strength… was brutal. A weak individual can get carried by the team. But a weak team…Can it really get carried by one guy?
Out of options, Kota even unleashed their brand-new double point guard fast break tactic! But still… no stable scoring emerged.
After Akashi crossed up Kasamatsu again, breaking Kaijo's defensive rotation, he dished the ball inside to Nebuya — who'd been lurking for just this chance. Nebuya caught it mid-air and smashed an alley-oop dunk right over Kobori, knocking him flat!
Kaijo called their final timeout of the game.
There were five minutes left.117-118.
After three full quarters of trailing, Rakuzan had finally taken the lead—for the first time all game.
On Kaijo's bench, everyone was gasping for air.Leading for three straight quarters… only to get overtaken right at the end…Nobody felt good about it.
Takeuchi looked at the exhausted bench and sighed. If I'd known this would happen… I wouldn't have burned that timeout earlier when my wig almost fell off…
Yeah. In hindsight, compared to a championship…His fake hair really didn't matter.
Just as Takeuchi was racking his brain for a solution…
Kota spoke up.
Same lazy, cocky tone as always. Like this was all according to his master plan.
"Hey, genius. I've got a plan. Let's go out there… and cut those Rakuzan clowns down where they stand!"