Chapter 116 - Finals: #13 (1/2)

Akashi approached the three-point arc, this time, he wasn't going to pass, and was going to score on his own.

Shun immediately got in Akashi's range and got into a low defensive position, his eyes locked onto Akashi, looking out for any movement made by Akashi.

Emperor-Eyes came to life inside Akashi's eyes as he looked for the information to formulate the best way to pass Shun.

Akashi locked on to the future and began his move.

Akashi had his left forward and the right on the backfoot, he passed the ball between his legs and then squared his legs towards Shun and once again proceeded to pass the ball between his legs.

Just as Akashi started the motion for the second between the leg dribble, Shun tipped the ball at the most vulnerable moment, when Akashi had squared his legs and didn't have much choice with moving the ball.

Akashi's eyes widened as he felt the ball escape his hands.

Akashi: 'He targeted the gap between two moves.'

Shun ran around Akashi and got control of the ball.

Midorima was behind Akashi for defense against the steal.

Shun looked at him, and changed his direction to move away from him, and made his way to the basket.

Shun: 'Scoring against him at the basket will be easier.'

Midorima was a guard and had worked on his defensive skills, so when he saw Shun moving away from him and making his way to the basket, he didn't chase Shun and took a direct route to the basket.

Midorima and Shun reached the basket at the same time.

Shun held the ball in his right hand with a strong grip and jumped for a dunk.

Midorima read the motion and jumped for blocking the dunk, but he was shocked when he saw Shun, who had got into jump motion, hadn't actually jumped.

Shun had delayed his jump and jumped late for making Midorima's block attempt redundant.

Shun ascended for the dunk, while Midorima was descending from his failed block. Shun dunked the ball and gained praise from a lot of people.

-*-*-*-

Commentator A: ”That was an unusual move by Kageyama-kun. A delayed jump-fake. I haven't seen that a lot in the Dee.”

Commentator B: ”Due to the inside area cluttered with players, a jump-fake would be a bad move, but in this situation where there were only two players at the basket this move was a great choice.”

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

Shun's onslaught continued, and he kept on dominating.

Shun ran through the court with the ball in his possession.

Kise was running beside him, trying to pressure him.

-*-*-*-

Kuroko looked at Shun and saw the direction he was heading.

His eyes widened as he saw him heading straight to Murasakibara.

Kuroko: ”Kageyama-kun is heading straight towards Murasaskibara-kun with Kise-kun on his tail.”

Shirogane too frowned as he looked at Shun.

-*-*-*-

Shun stopped a little distance from Murasakibara and immediately pulled up for a mid-range jump shot.

Murasakibara and Kise immediately jumped for shot contesting.

Shun brought the ball down in a pump-fake and ran away the encirclement of Kise and Murasakibara.

Shun: ”Bye-Bye.”

Shun drove to the basket leaving behind the two of his defenders.

Midorima was next in line, positioned at the basket.

This time Shun didn't do a fake and directly jumped for a dunk.

Midorima also jumped for the dunk and said.

Midorima: ”Don't underestimate me!”

Shun winded-up his arm, with a grunt he brought it down to the basket with force.

Midorima's hand was pushed aside by the force of the dunk.

Midorima: ”Urgh!”

-*-*-*-

Shirogane looked at Shun from Teiko's bench and thought.

Shirogane: 'What aggressiveness!'

Satsuki was worried about her team, but she calmly assessed the situation. She turned to her coach and said.

Satsuki: ”Coach at this rate...”

Shirogane nodded while keeping his eyes locked on Shun.

Shirogane: ”Yes, I think the situation will continue until the end of the quarter.”

He sighed and spoke.

Shirogane: ”Let's hope our team would be able to keep the point-gap from widening.”

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

Shun was outside the three-point arc with the ball in his possession. In front of him, Akashi stood ready to block him.

He looked at Akashi and made his move.

On Akashi's side, the Emperor-Eyes activated to see into the future.

Shun pulled a stiff-leg crossover to the right, but Akashi, who saw the future didn't fall for it and immediately closed for when Shun would pull back.

Shun smiled, and with his right leg as the pivot, he spun and was now ahead of Akashi.

Akashi was stunned once again. This time he didn't stop there and immediately moved for another attempt at defending.

He turned back to face Shun and saw Shun already mid-jump for a three-pointer.

He frowned as he tried to contest the shot, but he was too late.

That was Shun's plan, Akashi might be able to stop anyone mid-dribble, but because of his short height, Shun was sure that if he could make him delay, then Akashi wouldn't be able to reach the ball.

Shun released the ball at the highest point possible, and it followed the arc and dropped into the basket.

Shun: ”You are correct when you say that my God-Speed Impulse is restricted by my body, but your Emperor-Eyes are also restricted.

You can't look into the future after a single move, can you?”

Akashi furrowed his brows at Shun's words. Shun put an indifferent face and said.

Shun: ”Well, my skills are better than yours, so it doesn't matter if you could see further into the future.”

Shun jogged away from Akashi. Akashi glanced back at Shun, and the usual cold look was now tinged with slight anger.

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

It was the last play of the third quarter. Shun's aggressive playstyle had put Tokiwadai up by twenty-three points.

Shun looked at the time, and there wasn't much left. He straight away ran to the basket.

He ran away from Akashi to avoid a lengthy matchup to get past him.

Shun found an open spot to penetrate the inside, and he took it without any hesitation.

Shun, who had just stepped inside the three-point arc, stopped in his track.

Through his court vision, he saw Murasakibara approaching him from the front, Aomine from the left, and Akashi from the behind.

Shun frowned as he thought of the time remaining and three Generation Of Miracles approaching him in a possible triple-team.