"Clang—!"
Aomine Daiki's earth-shattering dunk slammed into the floor of Teikō Gymnasium like a sledgehammer—and crashed hard into Bai Ze You's heart. The groan of the hoop had yet to fade, and the roar of the crowd surged against his eardrums like a physical force, but in Bai Ze You's perception, everything had become distant and blurred.
He sat on the floor, chest heaving violently, every breath bringing a dull ache from the impact. The spot where Aomine's shoulder had struck him head-on burned fiercely, his muscles seeming to protest in silence against the crushing weight of that raw strength. Yet the pain in his body was nothing compared to the suffocating sensation in his spirit, which swallowed everything like an abyss.
The bestial roar Aomine had released upon landing, the back he showed Bai Ze You as he stood like an insurmountable mountain, radiated a despairing aura of absolute, solitary supremacy. It was the declaration that "Only I can defeat myself," the cruel reality that individual strength stood above everything else. Under the pressure of that aura, the fire of awakening Bai Ze You had ignited after surpassing Sawaki seemed to have been thrown into an icy sea, flickering violently and threatening to go out at any moment.
"Yū!" Kise Ryōta's anxious voice rang out. He and Midori had already rushed to Bai Ze You's side.
Bai Ze You waved them off, refusing their help. He gritted his teeth, and a trace of metallic sweetness seeped from his gums. He planted both hands on the cold floor, sweat mixing with dust and coating his palms. He had to stand up by himself! On this court completely shrouded in Aomine's wild radiance, under this suffocating pressure from the summit, he had to rely on his own strength to rise again!