King's Blessing!

"Whoa, that's amazing~~!"

"What a beautiful shot!"

"I didn't know Teiko had another amazing player besides Ken Kaneki—a dark-skinned kid, too."

"Teiko!" "Teiko!" "Teiko!"

Daiki Aomine's sudden emergence got the spectators excited, too. The stands, which had originally been overwhelmingly cheering for Shibuya First Junior High, now rang with scattered shouts for Teiko Junior High.

"Yellow hair! Do it again!" Daiki Aomine seemed not to hear the shouts from the sidelines. His face was alight with excitement as he stared fixedly at Kotaro Hayama.

"Aomine's in a rather strange state right now, Coach," Seijuro Akashi asked Kōzō Shirogane curiously. "It's almost as if..."

"Almost as if he's just like Kaneki?" Kōzō Shirogane finished the thought Akashi had left hanging, as if he knew what Akashi wanted to say. "No, it's completely different. I don't doubt that Aomine has this kind of talent, but he hasn't reached that level yet."

"I don't quite understand." Seijuro Akashi nodded slightly. "Please enlighten me, Coach."

"Kaneki is in what's called the Zone right now. As for what the Zone is... It's hard to explain in words. You'll understand once you experience it yourself." Kōzō Shirogane watched the players on the court, lost in thought. "But Aomine's current state is more like he's entered a better state of play under Ken Kaneki's influence. He's still a long way from the real Zone."

"Coach, do you mean I might be able to enter the Zone someday, too?" Seijuro Akashi keenly picked up on the detail in Shirogane's words.

"Maybe. Who knows?" Kōzō Shirogane smiled as he looked toward the court and said no more. Seijuro Akashi nodded thoughtfully as well, asking nothing further and silently turning his attention back to the game.

"Pass the ball, Yellow Hair." Daiki Aomine grinned at Kotaro Hayama. "You can't get past me."

"Tch, quit nagging." Kotaro Hayama knew he couldn't back down now, or his team's morale would collapse completely. He gritted his teeth and started dribbling, searching for an opening. As he put more and more force into each dribble, the ball seemed to multiply, and the sound of it pounding against the floor roared like thunder. Even the reporters sitting courtside and taking pictures had started putting in earplugs.

"Now!" The instant Daiki Aomine shifted his weight to the right, Kotaro Hayama's eyes caught it precisely. He switched the ball to his left hand and shot forward like an orange-yellow meteor, about to break past Aomine's defense.

"Pathetic... Absolutely pathetic!" Electricity flashed in Daiki Aomine's eyes, the blue within it beginning to show. "Your skills are a mess, and your movements are too slow!"

Daiki Aomine's long arm lashed out like a whip and struck the ball. It flew out of Kotaro Hayama's control and toward the sideline.

"Honestly, Aomine, take it easy." Shintaro Midorima shook off Keisuke Kobayashi's tight defense with a feint off the ball, then caught the ball securely before it went out of bounds.

"Fast break!" Shintaro Midorima roared as he threw the ball upcourt.

"Get back on defense!" The moment the ball left Midorima's hands, Kotaro Hayama realized they were in trouble and sprinted toward the other end.

"Good awareness!" Daiki Aomine's voice came from behind Kotaro Hayama. "But don't get in my way!"

Kotaro Hayama felt a gust of wind rush past him as Daiki Aomine overtook him from behind.

"How is that possible? I started running first!" Kotaro Hayama stared dumbfounded at Aomine's back. He remembered it clearly: the instant the ball left Midorima's hands, he'd started running back. At the time, Aomine had still been watching where the ball was going...

As Kotaro Hayama watched, Daiki Aomine leaped inside the key and caught Shintaro Midorima's pass. Before he even landed, he casually tossed the ball toward the hoop. Swish! The ball went in, and Daiki Aomine completed an alley-oop layup that covered the length of the court.

"Ooooooh!" The spectators erupted in excited cheers at the astonishing shot.

"Nice pass!"

"No way... His scoring this quarter is incredible! That was an alley-oop!"

"Way to go, dark-skinned kid!"

The cheers from the sidelines surged like a tide, and a suffocating feeling, like drowning, welled up in the hearts of the Shibuya First Junior High players.

"Timeout!" Keisuke Kobayashi took a deep breath and looked toward the referee. He wanted to give his teammates a moment to recover and interrupt Teiko Junior High's blazing momentum.

"Shibuya First Junior High has called a timeout!" The referee's whistle sounded, and the players on the court returned to their benches for a brief break.

"Good work!" Kōzō Shirogane patted Ken Kaneki on the shoulder as he walked at the front of the group, his face full of approval.

"Thanks, Coach!" Ken Kaneki nodded, patted Shirogane's hand on his shoulder, then returned to the bench and sat down to drink some water. Only then did he notice that he had an unread system message.

"Congratulations, Host! One of your skills has leveled up. Please check it!"

Ken Kaneki opened his stats screen. Sure enough, the "Zone" trait had disappeared, replaced by "King's Blessing." Curious, he opened the skill list and read the description.

Skill: King's Blessing (Zone 2.0), Skill Type: Concept, Skill Trait: Protection, Skill Rank: SS+ (can grow to SSS-class), Skill Effect: When the Host is in the Zone and a teammate is in poor form, if the opposing team scores two or more consecutive baskets, the skill can be triggered once the Host completes either of the following: "interrupt the opponent's next basket / score a response basket." Once activated, all players on the court simultaneously enter a false Zone state. Stamina consumption increases by 80%. All attributes except durability increase by 40%. Shooting accuracy increases by 40%.

"Damn, a bunch of useless idiots. They couldn't even get me warmed up." Ken Kaneki laughed as he cursed. "But I like it."

Kōzō Shirogane looked at the kids before him without giving them any instructions or reminders. With Ken Kaneki there, he knew he didn't need to worry about any of that.

"Dad, things don't look too good for Shibuya..." Reiko Aida noticed the shift in momentum at the sidelines. "And there are a lot fewer people cheering for Shibuya First Junior High now..."

"Those things happening off the court are minor," Kagetora Aida said calmly, as if everything were within his expectations. "I don't know what's happened to the Teiko kids, but judging by what we've seen, they're in a state more than twice as good as they were in the previous game."

"Th-then can Shibuya still win...?"

"Win? They should first see if they can get past this obstacle themselves." Kagetora Aida gave a derisive laugh. "That scoring run they just had was probably the best basketball they've ever played. To be crushed mercilessly despite playing that well... Most people wouldn't even have the courage to keep playing after that. If they can't get past this, they're as good as dead."