The Vanishing Basketball, You Can't See It!

"Vanished?"

Kaede Rukawa's pupils contracted to the extreme in a single instant!

Just then, the moment Shirakawa uttered those words, the basketball in his hands simply vanished from his field of vision into thin air!

No!

It didn't vanish into thin air!

Kaede Rukawa was a top-tier genius after all, and his dynamic vision far surpassed ordinary people.

He caught a trace of an afterimage!

The moment Shirakawa spoke to draw his attention, Shirakawa's body sank by an extremely minuscule margin, and his right hand holding the ball completed a behind-the-back dribble at a speed that surpassed the limits of human reaction!

From right hand to left hand!

This movement itself wasn't rare, but Shirakawa's speed turned this ordinary movement into something close to "magic"!

Because it was too fast, fast enough to produce a deceptive visual effect as if the basketball had just disappeared into thin air!

"On the left!"

Kaede Rukawa's brain made a judgment in a hundredth of a second, and he lunged fiercely toward his right side, which was the direction of Shirakawa's left hand!

He trusted his judgment!

However, when his body was halfway through its movement, the ominous premonition in his heart climbed to its peak!

Because he saw a smug, triumphant smile on Shirakawa's face!

He fell for it!

Shirakawa's behind-the-back dribble was not to break through from the left at all!

That was merely a feint!

Just as Shirakawa finished the behind-the-back dribble and the basketball reached his left hand, his left hand didn't even touch the basketball for more than 0.01 seconds!

He merely tapped it gently with his wrist!

"Thud!"

The basketball struck the floor, producing a crisp sound.

A second change of direction behind the back!

And the basketball bounced back to his right hand from behind him at an incredible angle!

Meanwhile, his body followed the trajectory of the basketball, flashing past Kaede Rukawa's left side—where he had lost his center of gravity—like a gliding cheetah.

"Swish!"

The sound of wind whistled past his ears.

Kaede Rukawa's body completely lost its balance due to the wrong judgment, and he could only stiffly turn his head, watching helplessly as Shirakawa's back moved further and further away from him.

"Wh... What kind of dribble is this?"

Kaede Rukawa's mind went blank.

He had played basketball for so many years, watched countless games, and imitated the moves of countless basketball stars.

Yet he could swear he had never seen such a bizarre, unreasonable, and unfettered way of dribbling!

That was no longer skill.

That was... art, magic!

As for the spectators on the sidelines, they were completely dumbfounded.

"Where... Where did the ball just go?"

"I didn't see it clearly! I just blinked, how did Kaede Rukawa get crossed?"

"How did he do that? That's definitely not a move humans can make!"

Even Takenori Akagi and Ryota Miyagi, two experienced players, completely failed to understand what had just happened.

In their eyes, Shirakawa and Kaede Rukawa were confronting each other, then the ball in Shirakawa's hands suddenly vanished, and the next second, Shirakawa appeared behind Kaede Rukawa.

The entire process was bizarre to the extreme!

"Streetball techniques..."

Only Coach Anzai had a trace of comprehension flash within his turbid eyes.

"Perfecting the fusion of that self-willed, unrestrained streetball style with professional-grade explosive power and speed... This kid... is a true freak of nature!"

On the court, Shirakawa, having bypassed Kaede Rukawa, did not immediately attack the basket.

He stopped at the free-throw line, turned around, and leisurely watched Kaede Rukawa, who was still standing frozen in place.

"Hey."

Shirakawa's voice was like a hammer, waking up the dazed Kaede Rukawa.

"I said, you can't see my basketball."

This sentence was filled with absolute confidence and unquestionable dominance!

Kaede Rukawa's body shook violently; he raised his head and stared fixedly at Shirakawa.

His gaze was filled with unwillingness, anger, and a hint of... bewilderment he refused to admit to himself.

For the first time, in front of a peer, he felt the gap of a "dimension."

Shirakawa did not give him any more chances.

Under Kaede Rukawa's gaze, he slowly raised the basketball in his hand.

No jump.

Standing right there in place, he shot the ball with an extremely casual, almost lazy posture.

This was another Formless Shot.

The basketball traced a high, somewhat wobbling arc in the air.

Everyone's heart jumped to their throats along with that ball.

Time seemed to become incomparably slow at this moment.

Kaede Rukawa just stood there, tilting his head back, watching the basketball that would decide his fate.

He hoped it wouldn't go in.

He prayed it wouldn't go in.

However, the basketball would not lie.

"Swish!"

Accompanied by a crisp sound that broke Kaede Rukawa's heart.

The basketball steadily passed through the center of the net.

3:1!

The game was over.

Shirakawa defeated Shohoku's recognized super rookie—Kaede Rukawa—with a posture of near-total suppression.

The entire basketball gymnasium plunged into unprecedented silence at this moment.

Everyone was too shocked by this outcome to speak.

If Shirakawa defeating Miyagi earlier and challenging the three core pillars was the counter-attack of a dark horse,

then defeating Kaede Rukawa in a one-on-one just now was the... coronation of a new king!

Shirakawa slowly lowered his arms without even looking at the basket behind him.

He walked over to Kaede Rukawa, who was still trapped in the massive shock and unable to extricate himself.

He didn't say any taunting words.

He simply reached out and patted Kaede Rukawa on the shoulder.

"Good game."

Shirakawa's tone was very flat, just like a senior encouraging a junior.

"But you're still a hundred years too early if you want to beat me."

With that, he turned around and walked toward the sidelines.

Leaving behind only a solitary, proud figure and, behind him, the talented youth who had tasted complete defeat for the first time.

Kaede Rukawa stood motionless in place, as if he had turned into a statue.

Inside his mind, Shirakawa's final words and his ghostly, unfathomable dribbling echoed repeatedly.

For a long time.

He clenched his fists tightly, and in those icy pupils, far from being crushed, an even more vigorous flame of "revenge" burned than ever before!

"Shirakawa..."

He squeezed the name out from between his teeth.

Starting today, this name would become the sole target in his life that he needed to chase and surpass!