The air in the Teikō First Team Training Hall seemed to be sucked into a vacuum the instant Aomine Daiki coldly uttered the words "one-on-one." All the noise, sweat, and dull thuds of basketballs hitting the floor froze beneath that brief, gunpowder-laced declaration. One spotlight-like gaze after another focused on the two figures facing off at center court—the beast with dark-blue, tousled hair and the phantom with short silver-gray hair. Nijimura Shūzō folded his arms, no intention of stopping them showing on his rugged face. Instead, keen interest burned in his sharp eyes. Akashi Seijūrō stood silently at the edge of the court, his Heterochromatic Eyes like cold mirrors reflecting the battle about to unfold. Murasaki-bara Atsushi yawned and lazily chewed on an Umaibo, a trace of bored scrutiny in his purple eyes. Midōrima Shintarō pushed up his glasses, his gaze behind the lenses sharp as a surgical blade as he prepared to dissect every detail. At the side of the court, Momoi Satsuki's cherry-pink eyes were filled with tension and faint, barely perceptible worry, while the Shorthand Notebook in her hands had been squeezed slightly wrinkled.
"Come on." Yū's voice was calm and emotionless. His amber eyes were still as water, without the slightest ripple from the provocation—only a focus so intense it was almost frozen. He bent down and lightly brushed his fingertips over the basketball's rough surface, feeling the familiar grain that steadied him. This wasn't a performance. It was a battlefield.
Aomine grinned, revealing a smile charged with savage force. Blazing Burn lit his dark-blue pupils as he said, "Don't make this too boring, Phantom Boy!" Before the words had even left his mouth, he launched forward! The explosive power of his First Step struck like thunder from flat ground, fast enough to tear through the air! Without a single Fake Move, pure speed and power combined like an unrestrained Battering Ram, ruthlessly crushing toward Yū's defensive position! He intended to use the most primitive and violent method to smash through every one of his opponent's techniques!
"Bang!"
The dull impact of muscle against muscle exploded again!
Yū felt an overwhelming force surge in from his shoulder, sending him staggering backward against his will! The difference in pure physical strength was magnified infinitely in that instant. Aomine's Wildness First Sense was an existence that broke beyond common sense!
Yet just as Aomine used that brutal collision to force open space and prepared to accelerate a second time, completely tearing through the defense, Yū's body—slightly knocked off balance—again displayed astonishing resilience and control! Like a supple willow branch swaying in a gale, he "floated" with the impact and dispersed its force, but his right heel was an iron stake welded to the floor, forcibly halting his retreat! At the same time, his left hand, pressed against Aomine's body, was like the most precise surgical forceps, once again interfering beneath the basketball Aomine had just bounced upward!
"Smack!"
The ball's trajectory was violently disrupted again! Aomine's smooth driving rhythm was forcibly broken!
"Tch!" Irritation like a fly buzzing around him, along with deeper impatience, flashed through Aomine's eyes! The slippery feeling of this newcomer left him exceptionally frustrated! He was forced to slow down and regain control of the ball, his dark-blue eyes locked on the opponent clinging to him like a bone-deep affliction.
"My turn." Yū's voice remained steady, as though the savage collision moments ago had never happened. He caught the ball Aomine tossed over and stopped one step outside the three-point line. Without any flashy dribbling warm-up, his body instantly entered a strange rhythm. He lowered his center of gravity, the basketball striking the floor rapidly and steadily from side to side beneath his legs, producing heavy "thump, thump" sounds like knocks against Aomine's taut nerves.
He moved!
Yū's upper body suddenly faked a drive to the left front, the motion huge and every detail lifelike to the extreme! His shoulder dipped, his sharp gaze stabbed toward the left lane, and his left foot's Hesitation Step nearly landed beside Aomine's defensive foot! Aomine's Wildness First Sense went berserk with warnings. His center of gravity was instantly deceived, and his feet instinctively slid left!
At the instant his weight shifted, Yū's right wrist, which controlled the ball, flicked with such speed that it seemed to vanish! Within that tiny space, the ball traced a bizarre "Z" and unbelievably passed between his legs into his left hand! At the same time, his body, having baited his opponent's center of gravity, used powerful abdominal strength and core explosiveness to pivot on his right foot and execute a swift Spin Move, leaving only an afterimage! Aomine saw a blur before his eyes and felt a sweat-scented wind brush past his side!
"That move again!" someone whispered from the sidelines.
But Aomine's reaction was inhumanly fast! The shame and fury of being deceived instantly transformed into savage kinetic force! He forcibly twisted his center of gravity like an enraged tiger and, relying on an instantaneous burst beyond common sense, caught up to Yū by half a body! A huge shadow descended again!
Just as he was about to be caught and blocked, Yū, driving at high speed, abruptly took a step backward near the free-throw line! It was a sudden retreat with a bizarre change of rhythm! Aomine's anticipated pursuit and block both missed, and his enormous inertia carried him one step forward!
At the instant Aomine leaned forward, his previous force spent and his next force not yet formed, Yū's retreating body became like a spring compressed to its limit. Relying on explosive ankle strength and core power, he charged forward again! It was a Fake Move that shifted between fast and slow, a highly deceptive "shot fake into drive"!
Aomine's Wildness First Sense was fooled again by this rhythm that completely violated common sense! His reaction speed, which he took pride in, suffered a fatal hesitation beneath the combination of extreme flexibility and Rhythm Control!
That fraction of a second was enough! Yū slipped like a phantom through the fleeting opening at Aomine's side! The basket stood wide open ahead!
"Don't even think about it!" A roar exploded from behind! Aomine's fury at being toyed with transformed into a terrifying second burst! Like a cheetah whose tail had been stepped on, he forcibly halted his forward momentum, twisted his body through muscle control beyond reason, and erupted at a speed even greater than during his first pursuit! His dark-blue figure nearly clung to Yū's back. His massive palm came down with a howling wind, slamming toward the basketball Yū had just raised! His terrifying leap and wingspan let him strike from behind and blot out the sky!
A game-winning shot—or a crushing block off the backboard?!
Everyone's hearts rose to their throats! Momoi covered her mouth, Nijimura leaned forward slightly, and Akashi's Heterochromatic Eyes narrowed!
In midair, Yū sensed the volcanic pressure and deadly threat behind him! At the critical instant, he didn't choose to force a layup and clash head-on! Just as that huge palm was about to touch the basketball, Yū's airborne body once again displayed flexibility and Air Time Ability beyond common sense! His waist and abdomen twisted as if an invisible giant hand had wrung him hard, and his entire body bent backward impossibly in midair like a fully drawn bow! At the same time, with his body horribly twisted and nearly facing away from the basket, his right wrist flicked with extraordinary softness, changing the layup into a floater! Carrying heavy backspin, the ball followed a low, swift, bizarre arc that nearly brushed Aomine's fingertips before narrowly escaping the shadow of his sky-covering palm!
"Swish!"
The basketball softly kissed the backboard and dropped through the net!
"It went in—!!!" A tremendous wave of astonishment swept through the entire gym! That shot had been too extreme! Under the pressure of Aomine Daiki's terrifying second pursuit and block, Yū had still finished with unbelievable flexibility, air time, and touch!
Aomine landed, his enormous inertia carrying him two steps forward before he steadied himself. He spun around and glared at Yū, who had just landed. Shock, fury, and a more intense, dangerous flame that had been thoroughly ignited burned in his dark-blue eyes! His speed, strength, and Wildness First Sense, which he took pride in, had repeatedly come up short against this newcomer! To him, it was an unprecedented provocation!
"Again!" Aomine's voice was low, like a volcano on the verge of eruption, carrying an unquestionable command.
Yū breathed slightly harder, his chest rising and falling as sweat dripped from his chin. He said nothing. He simply bent down and picked up the rolling basketball. His amber eyes remained calm, but deep within them, a faint light called "excitement" had finally been ignited completely. He loved challenges, especially ones capable of forcing him to his limits!
The real one-on-one had only just begun!
Possession changed hands. Aomine no longer sought to overwhelm his opponent with the brute force of blowing past him in one step. He pushed the speed and instantaneous explosiveness of his wild talent to the limit, combining them with powerful changes of direction and Fake Moves. Every drive was like lightning tearing space apart, carrying destructive impact! Yū, meanwhile, brought his flexibility, balance, and Rhythm Control to their peak, dancing like an elf amid raging waves. Dispersing force, holding position, precise anticipation, and using rapid lateral footwork to seal off the path—every defense was precise art, dissolving Aomine's savage attacks again and again. When Yū attacked, his unfathomable Fake Moves, strange Rhythm Change, and unbelievable bodily control repeatedly frustrated Aomine's vaunted Wildness First Sense. Midair double-clutches, difficult floaters while off balance, extreme fadeaway jumpers—Yū scored in every possible way beneath Aomine's airtight defense!
Sweat streamed down both of them like rivulets, their Red and White Training Uniforms clinging tightly to their bulging muscles. Sneakers screeched against the wooden floor, and their heavy breathing rang especially clearly through the silent gym. Every physical clash exploded like muffled thunder, while every successful defense or score drew an irrepressible gasp. This was a pure collision of talents, an ultimate symphony of wildness and flexibility!
The score rose alternately in a deadlock. Every one of Aomine's points carried a release of savage power, while every response from Yū was filled with the aesthetics of technique and physical control.
"9–8! Bai Ze is ahead!" The upperclassman serving as referee sounded slightly unsteady.
The final ball! Possession was in Yū's hands.
The entire gym fell so silent that a pin could be heard dropping. Every gaze focused on the silver-haired figure outside the three-point line, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. Aomine Daiki stood one step in front of him, his dark-blue eyes like burning magma, sweat soaking his temples and his heavy breaths carrying scorching heat. He lowered his center of gravity slightly and spread his arms like a beast about to pounce, raising all his attention and every trace of his Wildness First Sense to its peak! He would not be deceived again! He would completely tear apart this final ball, along with his opponent's "phantom"!
Yū dribbled slowly, every bounce heavy and steady. He could feel Aomine's tangible killing intent and suffocating pressure. Sweat blurred his vision, while the soreness in his muscles surged against his nerves like a tide. Yet his amber eyes shone with unusual brightness. Every distraction had been cast aside, leaving only the basketball in his hands, the opponent before him, and the orange basket.
Time seemed to stretch.
He moved!
Yū's upper body suddenly faked a huge drive to the right front! His shoulder dipped, his gaze stabbed toward the right lane like a knife, and the ball in his right hand was thrust exaggeratedly toward the right front! It was an extremely obvious Fake Move to drive right!
Aomine's pupils contracted sharply! Every instinct of his Wildness First Sense screamed: Fake move! But every cell in his body felt how lifelike the details were—the angle of the lowered shoulder, the focus of his gaze, the omen of his feet starting... It was too perfect! His center of gravity nearly shifted right on instinct to block him!
Yet at that critical instant, Yū's body, tilted dramatically to the right, forcibly halted at the Critical Point just before his weight completely shifted, relying on waist and abdominal flexibility and core strength beyond common sense! It was as if time froze around him for a moment! Under an imperceptibly fast inward twist of his wrist, that exaggerated motion of pushing the ball right transformed into a rapid pullback behind his body, tight against him! As if drawn by invisible threads, the basketball instantly passed behind him from his right side and returned to his right hand!
A rhythm gap! That damned rhythm gap again!
The tremendous strain caused by Aomine forcibly twisting his center of gravity made his movement stiffen ever so slightly!
At the instant that stiffness appeared, Yū's right wrist flicked again as if vanishing! Within that tiny space, the ball traced a bizarre arc and unbelievably passed from between his own legs into his left hand! At the same time, using the rebound of his body and the advantage created by that instant of stagnation, he slammed his left foot into the floor. Like a cheetah fully charged with power, he erupted toward the only opening that had appeared—Aomine's left side!
One step!
With only that one step, Yū used the gap created in the flash of an instant and his own explosiveness to force half his body past Aomine's side!
"Don't even think about it!" Aomine's roar was the howl of an injured beast! He forcibly suppressed the stiffness in his body and unleashed the final strength beyond his limits. His huge frame clung to Yū like a bone-deep affliction once more, and his massive palm came down with an air-rending howl toward the basketball Yū had just raised! This time, his position was better. The angle of the block was nearly flawless!
The crisis had returned!
In midair, Yū's pupils reflected Aomine's distorted face and his giant palm blotting out the sky. Time seemed to freeze. Enormous inertia carried him upward, and he was about to collide with that hand of death! In the final fraction of a second, Yū's airborne body once again performed a movement beyond its limits!
He didn't force a confrontation, nor did he try to evade! His body twisted and folded forcibly to the left in midair, impossibly! His powerful core strength granted him a brief moment of suspension! At the same time, with his body horribly contorted and his vision completely blocked by Aomine's arm, the right hand holding the ball relied on the muscle memory formed through countless repetitions and an almost instinctive feel for the ball to give a soft, concealed flick!
The basketball did not fly toward the front of the basket! Instead, it traced an extremely bizarre arc with powerful sidespin, as though given life, and unbelievably curved around the outer edge of Aomine's enormous blocking palm! At an incredible angle that nearly brushed the outside of his arm and skimmed the edge of the backboard, it spun toward the basket!
"Swish!"
The basketball grazed the very top of the backboard, spinning and trembling, and finally—barely—rolled into the net!
The shot went in! The lights came on, symbolizing the end of the one-on-one!
"10–8! Bai Ze wins!" The referee's voice shook with unbelievable excitement!
"Whoa—!!!" The entire Teikō First Team Training Hall erupted! Like a volcano suppressed for far too long, it exploded! The players on the bench jumped up excitedly, waving their towels wildly! The difficulty and imagination of that final shot had already exceeded the limits of their understanding!
Aomine Daiki landed, his enormous inertia carrying him several steps forward before he stopped. He spun around and glared at Yū, who had fallen from the air and was kneeling on one knee, breathing heavily after exerting himself to the limit. Then he looked toward the basketball still spinning faintly in the hoop. Shock, fury, and disbelief tangled wildly in his eyes before finally becoming an extraordinarily complex, blazing light, as though he had discovered a new continent! He had lost! He had been defeated fair and square in a one-on-one by a newcomer who had only just entered the First Team! It was unprecedented humiliation to him, but deep in his heart, an even stronger fighting spirit and desire to explore had surged like molten lava!
"Whew... whew..." Yū knelt on one knee, sweat flowing from his forehead and chin to the floor and quickly spreading into dark patches. His chest rose and fell violently, every breath carrying a burning ache. Muscle soreness and the weakness following his extreme burst swept through his entire body. He raised his head and looked from the scoreboard to the dark-blue figure standing opposite him like a statue. At last, the corner of his mouth lifted into an extremely faint yet perfectly clear smile of a victor's satisfaction. He had done it.
At the side of the court, Nijimura Shūzō clapped his hands forcefully, his booming laughter echoing through the boiling gym. "Good job, kid! Beautifully done, Bai Ze Yū!" That cheer was like the final coronation. At that moment, Yū had firmly seized a starting position on the First Team through undeniable strength and this thrilling one-on-one victory!
Akashi Seijūrō stood motionless. Beneath the frozen surface of the lake in his heterochromatic eyes, Undercurrents Surging churned. He stared intently at the silver-haired youth on the court, breathing heavily yet burning with intensity. His fingers tightened unconsciously, nearly wrinkling his cuff. That final ball...the unbelievable Rhythm Control...physical flexibility and balance beyond the limits...and the terrifying spatial awareness and on-the-spot creativity displayed by that final shot curving around the arm... This was no longer merely talent. This was the true "phantom" Core Variable, powerful enough to change the course of a game! He picked up Momoi's Shorthand Notebook and wrote several words heavily across it: Core Variable. For the first time, a clear, cold curve appeared at the corner of Akashi's mouth, carrying deep strategic meaning. It seemed Teikō's puzzle had found its most crucial piece.
On the second floor of the training hall, Kise Ryōta was so excited he nearly flipped over the railing, his golden eyes shining like the sun. "That was so cool! So cool! That turn! That Fake Move! And that final floater! Wow! Bai Ze-senpai! Please teach me!" The way he addressed Yū had already changed from "that guy" to "senpai."
At the side of the court, Momoi Satsuki's cherry-pink ponytail trembled slightly with excitement, while her fair cheeks were red as ripe apples. The pen in her hand danced furiously across the Shorthand Notebook, and her cherry-pink eyes were filled with shock and pure admiration. "He won... He really beat Aomine-kun... The data from that final ball... It's completely impossible to analyze... That spatial awareness... That physical control... It's simply..." She raised her head and looked toward the silver-haired youth kneeling on one knee in the middle of the court, breathing heavily yet resembling a victorious king. Her heart pounded like a drum. Beside the name "Bai Ze Yū" in her Shorthand Notebook, amid the dense data, she quietly drew a tiny symbol of unclear meaning.
Aomine Daiki stood where he was, his dark-blue eyes still fixed on Yū. He neither roared in anger nor left in dejection. After several seconds of silence, his chest heaved violently, and sweat dripped from his sharply defined chin. Finally, he bared his teeth in a smile utterly different from before, brimming with savage challenge and intense interest. His voice was low and hoarse:
"Tomorrow, we continue."
Those words were not the unwillingness of a defeated player, but the acknowledgment of one strong player by another, the excitement of meeting a worthy opponent, and a declaration that the battle would never end.
Yū slowly rose to his feet and met Aomine's battle-hungry gaze. The same unyielding flame burned in his amber eyes. He nodded lightly, his sweat-soaked Red and White Training Uniform clinging to his smooth, powerful muscle lines.
"Anytime."
The Trial Ground of Teikō's First Team had only just sounded the first earth-shaking note of the legend belonging to the White Phantom. And the collision between wildness and flexibility was destined to become the eternal main theme of this battlefield.
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