With only ten seconds left on the shot clock, the spectators on the sidelines thought Hasegawa had completely shut down Yo Aoki, and immediately started yelling at the top of their lungs, " Hasegawa! Hasegawa!"
Mizuki that time was running out, Yo Aoki to meet him.
Hasegawa was staring at the ball, and his attention had just drifted towards Mizuki when Yo Aoki's eyes suddenly changed, as if they had been frozen solid.
Fujima had been watching Yo Aoki's every move. Seeing that Aoki's performance was off after he entered the arena, he became suspicious. Now, noticing Aoki's sudden change in expression, he immediately shouted, "Watch out!"
But it was too late. Yo Aoki suddenly lowered his center of gravity, pushed off the ground with his left foot, and charged forward like a leopard that had just leaped out, directly breaking through Hasegawa!
Hasegawa only felt a blur before his eyes, and Yo Aoki had vanished. Then a gust of wind came from his left, and he was still in a defensive stance, completely stunned. "He... he broke through?"
Yo Aoki quickly passed Hasegawa and cut towards the inside. Hanagata quickly came to help defend, but he underestimated Aoki Yo's explosiveness. By the time Hanagata got into position, Yo Aoki had already jumped up.
He gripped the ball with both hands, pushed off the ground with both feet, twisted his waist and abdomen, and used the momentum of the jump to smash the ball towards the basket over the Hanagata.
With a muffled thud, like a firecracker exploding, the ball slammed solidly into the basket!
The score difference suddenly widened to ten points.
The entire venue fell silent instantly. Everyone gaped, eyes wide, as if they had seen a ghost.
Immediately afterwards, the bench of Takezato erupted into chaos. Coach Akai reached out and grabbed Shirota by the neck, yelling at the top of his lungs. Shirota's eyes rolled back as he was choked, while the others jumped around, waving their arms and howling wildly.
"Am I seeing things?"
"Is this a human? It's a monster!"
"That's incredible! That's real basketball!"
The players from Shoyo were in a similar state to the spectators on the sidelines, and Hanagata even had the thought that Yo Aoki was completely unstoppable.
Fujima was the first to recover. He leaned over, patted Hanagata on the shoulder, and said with a smile, " Hanagata, don't take it to heart, it's just a ball."
Hanagata nodded slightly. But Fujima knew that Hanagata hadn't recovered from the previous goal, so he didn't plan to call a timeout. Calling a timeout now would only increase Hanagata's psychological burden and make Takezato think that Shoyo was afraid. It would be better to boost Takezato's morale by scoring a goal.
Fujima gripped the ball, raised his right hand in a "one" gesture, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Cheer up! Let's win this one back!"
Just as Hojo was about to step forward to stop Fujima, he suddenly saw Yo Aoki rush over first. Yo Aoki spoke quickly, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Leave Fujima to me, you go back to your seat!"
At this moment, Hojo remained silent, looking completely lost and on the verge of losing his composure.
Seeing Yo Aoki staring at him, Fujima smiled, "Interesting!"
Yo Aoki stood a step away from Fujima. He was more than half a head taller than Fujima. If he got too close, Fujima would break through his defense; if he stayed too far away, Fujima would shoot a three-pointer. This step was the optimal distance for him to defend against Fujima.
Yo Aoki squatted down, lowering his center of gravity as much as possible, and spread his arms to expand his defensive range. As soon as Fujima dribbled the ball, he would reach out to steal it the instant it left his hand, putting maximum pressure on Fujima.
Yasushi Sanada, one of the top defenders on the Takezato Team, couldn't help but exclaim in amazement upon seeing Yo Aoki's defense, "That defense is too tough!"
Yuichi Nakamura leaned closer and asked, " Sanada- senpai, can Aoki really stop Fujima?"
Yasushi Sanada shook his head. "I've never seen such defense before! Look, Aoki is crouching even lower than Fujima, how much strength must his legs have to withstand that!"
Upon hearing this, Shirota suddenly recalled a past event. It was during the final year of junior high school, when it was pouring rain.
Shirota called Aoki's house to talk about high school, but Aoki's mother answered and said that Aoki had gone to the gym and wasn't home.
Despite the heavy rain, Shirota still insisted on going, as it was an important matter.
When he arrived at the Tōei Fitness Center, the door was closed, and a notice was posted on the door. "Closed for electrical repairs today, will be open again tomorrow."
Shirota muttered, "The school gym is closed at this hour, where could Aoki have gone?" Suddenly, he slapped his forehead, "Could he have gone to the park basketball court?"
I went to the park with an umbrella and sure enough, I saw Aoki hopping around like a frog in the rain.
Shirota asked him more than once, "Why are you playing so hard?" Aoki always just replied, "Because I love playing basketball!"
Shirota watched Aoki fiercely defend against Fujima, and his nose tingled with emotion, but he held back. He took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs, " Aoki, lead us to take down Shoyo!"
Fujima did feel the pressure from Aoki, but unlike Hojo, he was one of the two heroes of Kanagawa, gentle on the outside but strong on the inside, and never backed down when faced with a challenge.
Even when facing the threat of Toyotama's Tsuyoshi Minami, Fujima, Fujima dared to charge forward. Tsuyoshi Minami commented on him. "This is the first time I've encountered an opponent who isn't afraid of getting hurt!"
Fujima suddenly accelerated, trying to break through Aoki's right side. Aoki quickly moved to the side, but it was a feint. Fujima changed direction with his crotch and charged to the left.
In fact, Aoki guessed it was a feint from Fujima's movements and immediately shifted his weight to his left side.
But Fujima suddenly changed direction again, dribbling between his legs to the right, and Aoki quickly moved to the side to block him.
Fujima had the advantage in agility, Aoki used short, quick steps to improve his mobility. Although it was physically demanding, it was the best method he could think of at the moment.
Seeing that Fujima's two changes of direction were blocked by Aoki, Takezato's morale soared. Just as he was about to call out Aoki's name, he witnessed an unbelievable scene.
After Fujima's second crossover, he received a behind-the-back dribble and then crossed over again!
Aoki's heart tightened; he knew something was wrong. He quickly turned and moved to the right, but it was too late. Fujima had already rushed past him from the right.
The spectators on the sidelines applauded and cheered when they saw Fujima's excellent shot.
With the basket practically touching him, Fujima jumped and went for a layup.
Just when everyone thought Fujima had made a sure thing, a figure pounced from behind—it was Aoki; he hadn't given up yet.
Aoki's voice was deep and forceful. "I'm not as fast as you, but I'm taller, and my jumping ability and explosiveness are better!"
Despite Aoki's obstruction, Fujima remained calm and stretched out his arms to create distance.
For a split second, everything around seemed to slow down. Yo Aoki's fingertips brushed the surface of the basketball, about to tip it off.
But the moment his fingertips touched the ball, Fujima scooped it back, flicked his wrist, and tossed it lightly toward the basket. The ball spun twice on the rim before grazing it and falling in.
The score remains 12 points apart.
The players on Takezato bench felt sorry for Aoki. He clearly touched the ball, so why didn't he intercept it? But Aoki knew that this shot had nothing to do with luck. In that split second, Fujima's wrist moved quickly, instantly adjusting the power and angle of his shot. Aoki saw all those subtle changes.
"Impressive!" Aoki showed no sign of disappointment; instead, his energy was ignited.
The game transitioned, Takezato launched an attack. Aoki was still receiving the ball in his own backcourt, and when he dribbled the ball up the court, he found that Shoyo's defense had changed. Shoyo was still using a zone defense, but Hasegawa had changed it, specifically marking Aoki closely.
Aoki recognized it immediately; it was the man-to-man zone defense that Shoyo used against Shohoku in the manga, and I think that was the name of it. He remembered that this tactic was only shown twice in the manga, once when Hasegawa guarded Mitsui, and the other time when Sendoh guarded Shinichi Maki.
"Looks like Shoyo thinks Hasegawa can stop me?" Aoki smirked.
Shoyo did think so. Fujima knew Hasegawa's strength all too well. In the manga, he said, "As long as Hasegawa shows confidence, no one can defeat him."
"Then you'd better try to guard against me!" Aoki said with a smile.
Aoki opted for a drive again, but this time he deliberately slowed down, first pressing close to block Hasegawa who was defending him, and then suddenly charging towards the inside. Hasegawa was focused, and seeing Aoki about to drive, all his muscles tensed up as he desperately tried to stop him.
Just as Hasegawa gritted his teeth and desperately tried to block him, he suddenly felt that Aoki's strength had disappeared. Hasegawa was puzzled when he saw Aoki take a step back. He was about to step forward to defend him when he suddenly realized that there was a huge distance between them, and he couldn't pounce in time.
"He was right in front of me just now!" Hasegawa cursed inwardly, staring at Aoki's back.
Aoki pulled up for a jump shot, the basketball swishing through the net, scoring two points. The score difference was immediately reduced to 10 points.
Fujima looked at Aoki's shooting motion with surprise, "A step-back jumper? Are the freshmen this good now?"
Fujima walked over to Hasegawa, who was still standing there in a daze, patted him on the shoulder, and said with a smile, " Kazushi, are you just going to give up already? You've been working harder than anyone else, are you really just going to let it go like this in the end?"
" Fujima..." Hasegawa looked at him with guilt.
Fujima nodded to him. "It's our turn to attack."
Aoki used the same method to defend Fujima, trying to stifle his performance as much as possible. Fujima swept the ball around, saw Hanagata blocking Imamura and asking for the ball, and decisively passed it to him. Hanagata turned and shot!
Imamura jumped up and stretched out his arms to block the shot, thinking to himself, "I have to stop him." Whether it was Imamura's good luck or not, his hand happened to block Hanagata's eyes, directly interfering with the shot. The basketball slammed against the rim and bounced out.
When Hanagata released the ball, Takano and Nagano had already boxed out Mizuki and Shindo, waiting to grab the rebound. But the instant the ball flew out, the two jumped up simultaneously to contest for it. Just as their fingertips were about to touch the ball, a hand reached out first and snatched it away. It was Aoki who got the rebound!
"Fast break!" Aoki grabbed the ball and dashed off like an arrow. Fujima yelled, "Get back on defense!"
Hasegawa kept a tight grip on Aoki, determined not to let him score easily again. At that moment, Fujima also caught up with Aoki using his speed, and the two of them sandwiched him between them.
Just past half-court, Fujima noticed that Aoki was a bit slow and reached out to steal the ball without thinking. But just as Fujima's fingertips were about to touch the ball, Aoki suddenly grabbed it, stopped abruptly, jumped, and threw it!
Hasegawa saw Aoki choose a long-range shot and thought to himself, "The shot is too hasty, it's definitely going to miss!" But reality always proves him wrong. With a "swish," the three-pointer went in cleanly! The score difference between the two sides was only 7 points.