Chapter 111 - Finals: #8 (1/2)

Shun sighed as he sat on the bench in the time-out called out by Coach Koetsuji.

Midorima's last shot had raised several alarms in the team's mind.

Shun sipped water from his bottle as he listened to the others talking about Midorima.

Coach: ”I never expected Midorima-kun from Teiko to shoot from such a long distance. That was about eight-meters from the basket.”

Mibuchi sighed as he commented.

Mibuchi: ”And, if we know anything about Midorima Shintaro is that his shots have perfect accuracy.”

Yuki, who was a defensive player, sighed as he added his two cents.

Yuki: ”Now we need to tighten his defense from further behind. We leave him for a single moment, and he would end up getting the ball and score without a doubt.”

Shun removed the towel from around his neck and wiped his arms. He bought his right leg up and rested his feet on the bench to retie his shoes.

Shun: ”I think you shouldn't lock in Midorima's range at eight-meters. I think he can shoot from another meter from where he shot, that would be nine-meters of hundred-percent of shooting accuracy.”

He put his right leg down and repeated the process with the other leg.

When he was satisfied, Shun stood up and said.

Shun: ”Nine-meters is the goal, you need to tighten him up for at least this quarter, or till the time, Kuroko stays on the court.”

Shun straightened out his jersey and said.

Shun: ”There is still a little time left in the second quarter, and I want to increase the point-gap by the end of this quarter.”

He turned his head back to look at them and said.

Shun: ”Let's go.”

Sora crossed the ball to the half-court and handed the ball to Shun.

Shun took a deep breath as he saw Aomine walking towards him, and Akashi also heading towards him to complete the double team.

Shun dribbled the ball once very hard as he thought.

Shun: 'If I don't let them corner me, then I don't have to worry about the double team.'

Shun ran full-speed towards the basket.

Aomine and Akashi weren't expecting Shun to run straight to the basket. They tried to meet him at the three-point arc.

At the three-point arc, Aomine approached from his direct right, and Akashi was closing in diagonally from the left.

Shun did a sharp turn to diagonally right and went further into the inside.

Inside, Murasakibara stood in Shun's way.

Shun stopped just near Murasakibara. He pivoted to the left in front of him.

Shun accelerated to the top of his ability and sprinted to the basket.

Murasakibara wasn't going to give that easily and followed Shun.

Shun and Murasakibara were running parallel to the baseline, and both of them jumped near the basket.

Murasakibara fully extended his hand above Shun, completely blocking that path for the ball.

Shun's eyes saw everything, and then god-speed impulse enabled Shun to decide his attack.

Shun bought his hand down and switched the ball from his right hand to the left hand, and then extended his hand sideways to formless-hook the ball towards the basket.

The ball made a mini-arc, from Shun's hands to the basket. It hit the inside of the rim and dropped into the basket.

Shun got to the ground, and it took him a few hurried steps to regain his balance.

Shun couldn't help but yell in celebration.

Shun: ”YEAH!!!”

Tokiwadai's club members cheered the loudest in the stands, as they went wild seeing Shun score.

-*-*-*-

Hikigaya was startled when the club members in front of them cheered loudly in front of them.

Hikigaya: ”Woah, that scared me!”

Hikigaya put a hand on his c.h.e.s.t to calm his heart down.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Aomine and Shun ran side by side as both of them charged towards Tokiwadai's basket.

Aomine had the ball, and both of them were running to the basket.

Shun wasn't able to put a hand on the ball while they were running. Aomine was too fast for Shun to try anything.

Aomine decided to attack from mid-range and jumped forward as he threw the ball towards the basket.

Shun simultaneously jumped with Aomine and put a hand on the ball. Shun had put so much power behind his attempt that the ball went out of bounds.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Akashi got away from Yuki, with the help of a screen by Midorima.

He scouted his teammates and saw that Murasakibara was the only one free to attack.

He directly threw an overhead pass to Murasakibara.

Murasakibara jumped to catch the ball, and then according to his usual protocol, he started to push Aone as he made his way to the basket.

Shun, who was nearby, decided to move in for a steal.

Murasakibara, who was busy with Aone, didn't see Shun come in and steal the ball from him.

Murasakibara: ”Who-!”

Shun ran towards the basket, and around the three-point arc, Midorma stood there in Shun's path to block him.

Shun did a between the legs change, followed by a left-to-right cross over. The whole thing performed with an irregular change-of-pace and laced with Shun's swift reflexes.

Midorima slipped, and while falling, he saw Shun flash by him.

-*-*-*-

Kise clenched his fist as he saw Shun using Aomine's irregular change-of-pace.

Kise: 'How can he use their moves? I can only store them in my memory. I can't perform them, so how can he?'

Kise narrowed his eye as he recalled Shun's move against Midorima.

Kise: 'And, something is lurking underneath the surface, that I can't see, he is using something to bind his skills together. What is it?'

Alas, Kise's eyes couldn't see the ever-active God-speed Impulse, that helped Shun make decisions on a fly.

Shun jumped at the boundary of the Dee and jammed the ball down with a wide one-hand windmill dunk.

When Shun got down to the floor, he turned to the stands and raised his arms wide in celebration, and the Tokiwadai's students and club members cheered the loudest in the stands.

The chants of 'Kageyama' filled the stadium as all eyes in the stands were attracted to Shun.