"Enough with the cheap tricks, Iwamura-senpai. Show me the real strength of Seiho!" Akashi Asuka picked up the ball from the ground and tossed it over to Iwamura Nudo.
"Huh? Real strength? Don't tell me you guys haven't been going all out until now?"
As soon as Akashi Asuka said this, before the black team players could react, it was actually his own white team members who were visibly shocked.
"Of course not! We're talking about Seiho here, one of Tokyo's 'Three Kings'! If this was all they had, then the title of 'national powerhouse' really doesn't mean much, does it?"
============
Catching the pass from Akashi, Iwamura paused for a moment, then chuckled.
"Well, well. Looks like we've got a real firecracker among the rookies this year. In that case…"
He rolled his shoulders, and as his grin gradually faded, he continued, "Then I suppose there's no reason to hold back. Kasuga, let's show these kids what true kings look like."
The black team's main lineup began to organize another offensive. But this time, something about them had visibly changed.
"Their presence… it's different. Even their movements feel off somehow."
The first-year students tasked with defending the black team sensed the change immediately. If the black team had seemed powerful before, now they felt heavy.
Unimaginably heavy.
"Damn it, what the hell happened? Why is the difference so huge?"
The Seiho starters had already been fast before, but now their movements were not only faster, they were sharper. Stripped of all excess, their motions had become shockingly efficient.
The freshmen stepped up to defend, but before they even knew what was happening, the black team players had already slipped past them.
Tsugawa Tomoki moved in to help cover.
Without a moment's hesitation, Kasuga Ryuhei fired off a pass. There was no window for Tsugawa to intercept, the pass was lightning-fast.
"So fast. And so clean…"
Tsugawa's eyes widened.
At this point, calling the black team's plays "clean" was an understatement. Their movements felt like they'd cut out a whole step from the usual pass-and-receive sequence.
Back when Tsugawa had tried to intercept earlier, he had been just a hair too slow.
But now, the moment he even reached for the ball, it was already gone.
The black team's power forward, Omuro Yoshikasu, caught the ball and immediately went up for the shot. Akashi didn't block it, couldn't block it. His current defensive reach only covered about 80-85% inside the three-point line. He hadn't expanded it to the entire arc yet.
Besides, Iwamura had deliberately boxed him out during the shot.
Swish!
The ball sailed cleanly into the net. The black team finally scored their first two points.
6–2.
Immediately, Akashi called for a timeout.
Beeep~
Both teams retreated to the benches.
From the black team's perspective, the timeout made no sense. It was too early to call one, especially since Akashi's white team was still in the lead.
Logically, now wasn't the time to stop the game.
Even the white team rookies were confused. But they were smart enough to stay quiet, especially when Akashi started stretching that increasingly muscular elbow of his right in front of them.
The moment he did that, all doubts vanished.
Tsugawa Tomoki looked like he had plenty to say, but Akashi didn't give him the chance.
"Let me cut to the chase. I'll explain what just happened. The black team is using a technique borrowed from ancient martial arts. You probably noticed it too, the way they move, it's always the same hand and same foot."
"This weird movement style, trained through traditional martial arts, makes Seiho's players faster and more efficient. It also saves them a ton of stamina."
"That's why, even if Seiho's players seem to be running more on paper, in most matches it's actually their opponents who burn out first."
"Ugh, that's so unfair! That's totally cheating!" one of the rookies blurted out.
"Ancient martial arts? Which kind?" Tsugawa's eyes lit up with curiosity.
"Shut up. That's not the point right now."
Akashi shot him a sharp glare. Leave it to Tsugawa to ask something completely off-track at a time like this.
"Here's what is important, the key to countering their technique lies in their feet."
"Normal players keep their center of gravity at the waist, but those guys shift theirs down to their feet. So when they move, their feet always move first. If you can catch the direction their toes are pointing in, you can anticipate their next move before they make it. Got it?"
"Got it!"
The rookies nodded firmly.
"I have a question," Tsugawa raised his hand again.
"What is it now?"
"How are you so good at this? Aren't we all first-years?"
"Get lost. As far away as possible. You've got the weirdest damn brain."
Of course Akashi knew this trick, he had the advantage of memories from his past life.
If he remembered correctly, this exact flaw was what led to Seiho's downfall against the protagonist team in the original timeline. Since he had now joined Seiho, it only made sense to warn the coach in advance.
That said,
Using this flaw to smack around his Seiho senpai a bit before they caught on? Nothing wrong with that either.
That's also why Akashi had called the timeout so early. The sooner he pointed this out, the faster the rookies could adapt. The faster they adapted, the longer they'd have to mount a counterattack.
Oh, and to be clear, by "they," he meant the rookies.
Akashi didn't include himself in that category. Whether he could see through Seiho's tricks or not didn't matter much to him.
Beeep~
The ref's whistle blew again.
Both teams returned to the court.
The white team had possession. Tsugawa passed it from the perimeter straight to Akashi under the basket. Akashi effortlessly pushed through a double team and scored two points.
8–2.
The black team countered.
This time, the white team rookies had Akashi's warning in mind. As they defended Seiho's starters again, their attention zeroed in on their opponents' lower halves.
And they repeated to themselves in their heads:
"Watch the toes. Watch the toes. Watch the toes…"
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