"Three minutes left. No room for slacking now."
Kota glanced at Aomine, then turned to Kise and said,
"That guy still hasn't given up. You can see it in his eyes—he's about to go all out. Not that he can change much now, though."
He casually kicked Kise in the leg.
"Anyway, it's your turn now. You've been chilling for way too long. What kind of ace gets to nap mid-game?"
Kise looked completely lost.
"Chilling? Bro, I got smacked in the first quarter, chased the score in the second, got smacked again in the third, and now I gotta go one-on-one in the fourth?!"
"And whose fault is that?" Kota snorted. "You've been coasting the whole time. If you'd stopped posing for the crowd earlier, we'd already be done with this."
Kise started to mutter a retort, but stopped as he saw Kota's smile—bright and honest.
...
"Crap... is my body hitting its limit?"
Sitting on the bench, Aomine spat in frustration. His legs had been burning for a while, and even his fingers felt sluggish while drinking water. Classic signs of total exhaustion.
"Dai-chan..." Momoi looked at him with obvious worry.
She was about to convince him not to go back in—"It's just a scrimmage! Who cares about winning?"—but then she saw him smile.
She shut her mouth. There was no point. She knew Aomine too well. Once he found a rival worth giving everything against, he'd never back down — not even if his legs fell off. Especially not now.
And more than that… he looked genuinely happy. She hadn't seen that smile on him in a long time.
...
"Alright... last three minutes. No reason to hold anything back now."
Kise's eyes lit up with intensity. He had been pacing himself the whole game — letting Kota take care of the offense early in the fourth and just working with the team to slow Aomine down on defense. The result? His stamina was still solid. Honestly, he was probably the freshest guy on the court.
Aomine, on the other hand, had been dragging Too along with brute force, barely keeping the score close. But that last timeout had cooled him down too much — he couldn't get back into the Zone, and his tank was empty.
Kise was on the rise, while Aomine was barely staying upright. And even though the score said it all, Aomine kept running. He knew they had basically lost, but he didn't stop. Even when Kise scored on him again and again, he kept fighting.
Kota didn't trash talk anymore. In fact, he had real respect for Aomine now. Yeah, they argued earlier — but no one deserves to be mocked for giving their all.
...
Final score: 112-104. Kaijo wins.
"Thanks for the game!"
As soon as he bowed, Aomine muttered to Momoi that he was heading to the bathroom. She watched him walk away, worried. After a moment, she followed.
Kise, meanwhile, was basically a golden retriever that just won the lottery. His rival Aomine? Defeated. His copy technique? Leveled up. If he could copy Aomine's normal form now, how far was he from the Zone?
He started grinning like a maniac, even laughing out loud. Kasamatsu gave him a good smack and dragged him off before he embarrassed the team any further. He still bowed to Too out of courtesy, though.
Takeuchi tried to keep a straight face, but inside he was glowing.
"We just beat THAT guy? Maybe aiming for the championship isn't ambitious enough..."
The Too team was bummed, sure — it was a loss — but they knew it was just a scrimmage. Well… most of them knew. Wakamatsu, on the other hand, was practically celebrating. He couldn't stand Aomine, so watching him struggle was like his birthday and New Year's rolled into one. Seeing Aomine's face turn darker than a charcoal briquette made his day.
Kota gave the coach a quick wave and left. He was already on his way home.
[System Alert: Host has defeated a Generation of Miracles-level opponent. Reward ready for collection.]
Riding the train, Kota rubbed his hands together in excitement.
"No way! I beat Aomine in the Zone—I better be getting some god-tier reward! Maybe a 'Team Zone' skill so I can teach Akashi humility early!"
He was smiling so hard imagining himself smashing Akashi's squad with a perfect Team Zone play that he accidentally freaked out a nearby mom and her kid. She grabbed her child and bolted, probably thinking "stranger danger, run from the lunatic!"
...
Bottom line? Kaijo won, and they beat a serious threat. The whole team was buzzing.
But for every win… someone's gotta take the L.
...
Toorooftop.
"There you are, Daiki."
Momoi pushed open the rooftop door and looked up at Aomine, who was lying there.
"Huh? Satsuki? Didn't I say I was going to the bathroom?"
Aomine's voice was hoarse. Maybe… just maybe… he had cried a little.
"Yeah, I know" she said, grinning a bit
"I went looking for you and figured you'd be up here."
Aomine was silent for a while, then asked
"Isn't this the boys' bathroom? How'd you look for me there?"
Momoi didn't answer. She just kept looking at him.
He didn't push it further.
After a long pause, Aomine finally said,
"Hey… what time's practice again, Satsuki?"
Her eyes lit up. "Daiki! You're coming back to practice?!"
"Yeah. I've got someone worth beating now."
He thought of Kise, Kota, and that well-oiled machine of a team called Kaijo.
He smiled faintly. "Akashi… you're in trouble. This year's Kise? He's the real deal."
...
"Claim! Claim!"
Kota burst into his room the second he got home—didn't even shower—and called for the system.
Congratulations! New Talent Acquired: Ultra-Deep Three.
Increases three-point shooting range. Long-range threes have the same hit rate as normal threes.
Three is always more than two, right?
New Tactical Talent Acquired: Three-Point Strategy.
Deepens understanding of 3-point tactics. When initiating a strategy, teammates' tactical awareness and execution are boosted.
The era has changed, old man. Ever heard of small-ball?
...
Kota frowned a bit.
"I just beat Zone Aomine, and this is what I get? Come on, I want a broken skill! At least give me Zone mode!"
The system didn't respond.
"Sigh... figures." Kota rubbed his nose.
"I see the pattern now. It's all team-oriented skills. Even the deep three, which looks like a solo buff, is really just to open up the paint for teammates. I guess I'm never getting a 'one-man army' type ability"
Still, he couldn't help but chuckle. Maybe being the guy who lifts the team was his role.