As Expected of Shinichi Maki: Anyone Facing Him Would Be Crushed Breathless by His Ferocity

Morishita curled his lip. "So, either Takezato has no one else to use, or he's exceptionally strong."

Saki glanced at Morishita and chuckled, "Judging from the cheers, they must be really strong. Looks like someone else, a first-year student who can be a starter."

Ryo Aoki said, "Brother, that's awesome. So many people are cheering him on."

Ryoko Aoki clenched her fists and exclaimed excitedly, "This is wonderful!"

Mamoru Aoki was quite happy. He had only wanted to encourage Yo Aoki because of his recent changes, but he didn't expect such a strong reaction from the audience.

"Hey! As expected, the Aoki family are elites wherever they go!"

At this moment, the young man sitting next to Ryo Aoki asked, "Are you and Aoki brothers? My name is Asatani, and he's my friend."

Ryo Aoki replied, "What a coincidence! My name is Ryo Aoki, and I'm Yo Aoki's younger brother."

Both teams' players were in position. Kiyota happened to see Yo Aoki's mouthguard.

Kiyota muttered, "Why is he wearing braces? Is he planning to box?"

" Kiyota, concentrate!" Shinichi Maki reminded him.

Beep—the referee's whistle has blown, and the game begins!

Imamura and Takasago jumped at the same time to compete for the ball. Although Imamura had a slight height advantage, Takasago used his experience to tip the ball into his own hands.

The basketball flew towards Shindo, and just as Soichiro Jin was about to reach out to catch it, a figure rushed into his line of sight—it was Takezato's number 10, Yo Aoki!

Without hesitation, Yo Aoki, who had received the ball, charged toward Kainan's basket!

"I'll go!" Kiyota shouted, chasing after Yo Aoki.

"It's Kiyota! He was famous even in junior high!" "Yes, Kainan is indeed full of talented people."

At this moment, Yo Aoki had already run into the three-point line, and Kiyota rushed to his side to prepare for a one-on-one defense.

But Shinichi Maki was following behind, suddenly froze. He noticed that Yo Aoki had actually slowed down.

Yo Aoki glanced at Kiyota's position out of the corner of his eye, but he deliberately slowed his pace to an absurd degree. Seeing this, Kiyota took the opportunity to get close to him.

"Now is the time!"

With a powerful push from his feet, Yo Aoki gathered all the strength in his legs, flying sideways across most of the restricted area, heading straight for the basket to dunk.

Kiyota shouted and jumped up as well. He was 1.78 meters tall and could backflip Hanamichi Sakuragi in junior high school. His jumping ability was no joke.

The two collided violently in mid-air. Kiyota instantly clenched his chest in pain, then the world spun around him, and he was thrown backwards to the ground by Yo Aoki.

Yo Aoki looked down at him, then suddenly grinned, revealing red-rimmed dental braces in his mouth, his expression exuding a fierceness.

"Is this the power of a king?"

His dunk blew the crowd away, the entire stands erupted in cheers and exclamations.

"Oh my god, they're doing this again!"

"Last time it was Uozumi, this time it's Kiyota's turn!"

"That's incredible!"

The four Takezato players were frozen in place, completely still, their eyes wide open, mouths agape, and necks stretched out like giraffes.

Ishizuka stammered, "Is... is high school basketball... that good already?"

Nagashima also spoke hesitantly, "Perhaps we're already falling behind."

Aoki, who was sitting in the audience, jumped up with a loud shout and yelled into the arena, "Big Brother! Big Brother! Big Brother!"

Upon hearing the sound, Yo Aoki turned around to find the source and immediately spotted the three people he had been searching for.

He smiled, raised his arm, and waved, immediately attracting the attention of the surrounding audience.

The chubby uncle in the front row turned to Mamoru Aoki and asked, "Is Yo Aoki your son?"

Mamoru Aoki hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Yes."

The portly man was overjoyed. "This is truly amazing! I've never seen a player like this in my entire life! How did you develop him?"

Mamoru Aoki suddenly stammered, and just as he was feeling awkward, Ryo Aoki quickly chimed in, "My older brother does grueling training every day! You know what? He can bench press 80 kilograms!"

The chubby man clearly didn't know what a bench press was, scratching the back of his head and saying, "Really? That's impressive."

Sitting next to Asatani Ryo Aoki, Asaya's eyes reddened. Listening to the cheers around him, he thought to himself, "This is the talent I brought back with my 'justice'! Now he's a star player! I'm so awesome!"

Soichiro Jin rushed over and helped Kiyota up. " Kiyota, how are you?"

Kiyota clutched his chest, wincing in pain, but his eyes glared fiercely at Yo Aoki, his whole body trembling.

Shinichi Maki thought to himself, "He deliberately slowed down to wait for Kiyota to come closer, just to bump into him!"

He went over and asked, " Kiyota, are you alright?"

Kiyota, supported to his feet by Soichiro Jin, forced a smile, "Don't worry, it hurt a little before, but it's much better now!"

Shinichi Maki nodded slightly. "I feel that Yo Aoki is not the same as before. You need to be careful."

Kiyota replied with a straight face, "I know!"

Next up is Kainan's attack. The scene everyone was looking forward to, where Yo Aoki was marking Shinichi Maki, didn't happen. Yo Aoki is now marking Soichiro Jin, Hojo is going to mark Maki Shinichi Maki.

Shinichi Maki's body sank, and he pushed off the floor with his left foot. His first step was ridiculously fast, and Hojo didn't even have time to react before being left behind.

He plunged into the penalty area, leaped lightly, and Imamura, following Yo Aoki's instructions, only made a token attempt to block him. Shinichi Maki easily put the ball into the basket, tying the score at 2-2.

" Maki truly lives up to his reputation!"

"As expected of Shinichi Maki, anyone facing him would be suffocated by his fierce aura!"

The game transitioned from offense to defense, Takezato began to attack. In this match Takezato did not allow Yo Aoki to control the field, and instead substituted Hojo to organize the attack.

At this moment, Kiyota was assigned to closely guard Yo Aoki, intending to prevent him from receiving the ball.

Hojo dribbled the ball to the frontcourt, but facing Shinichi Maki's defense, he didn't dare to dribble for long. Before Maki could close in, he quickly passed the ball to Shindo.

Shindo, facing the 1.89-meter-tall Soichiro Jin, tried to use his height to break through, but Soichiro Jin squatted very low, giving him no chance at all.

Shindo was at his wit's end. Seeing Yo Aoki charging towards him, Yo Aoki stopped trying to change direction and run back. He shouted " Imamura!" and charged into the penalty area.

Imamura immediately crossed his arms in front of Yo Aoki, forming a human wall – this was Yo Aoki's off-ball screen to deal with close defense.

Yo Aoki slipped through the gap between the two in an instant, and Kiyota, caught off guard, was brought to a stop by the impact. Coach Takato shouted, "Watch out for his shot!"

However, after receiving the ball, Yo Aoki had no intention of shooting. He held onto the ball tightly and charged towards Kainan's basket like he was playing rugby.

Seeing Yo Aoki dash into the penalty area, Takasago immediately stepped in to block him, but Kiyota, who was tied up by Imamura, also rushed over, forming a pincer attack with Takasago. Seeing these two surrounding him, Yo Aoki's whole body tensed up, his muscles instantly clenching, already prepared for a head-on collision.

First, Kiyota lunged to the side to try and steal the ball, but Yo Aoki suddenly lowered his shoulder and leaned forward, darting out of Kiyota's defensive circle in a flash. Then, Yo Aoki thrust hard, Kiyota couldn't withstand the force, staggering and falling backward.

Turning to face Takasago, Yo Aoki roared and leaped into the air. Takasago, seeing Yo Aoki who was as fierce as a bull, lost all confidence in resisting and could only instinctively freeze in place, using his arms to protect his vitals.

"Bang!" Yo Aoki stretched out his arms and slammed the ball into the basket, making the score 2-4. Coach Takato lungs, "Foul! He fouled!" But the referee shook his head.

When Kiyota lunged at him, Yo Aoki had already positioned himself ahead of him, and Kiyota was charging towards Yo Aoki, which meant he had left his own vertical defensive zone. So, it should have been a foul by Kiyota. But the referee probably felt sorry for Kiyota, who had fallen to the ground, and didn't issue any further penalty.

"That's terrifying!" " Aoki is like a bull today, charging around recklessly!" The bench at Takezato was in an uproar, everyone was shocked by Yo Aoki's performance.

" Aoki..." Coach Akai stared at Yo Aoki on the court, still concerned about the tactics he had mentioned earlier against Kainan, hoping that these tactics would be effective as soon as possible.

Kiyota, sprawled on the ground, finally tasted the bitterness that Uozumi and Akagi had experienced back then. He was utterly helpless against such an unreasonable Yo Aoki. "How can this guy only be 16 years old!"

Soichiro Jin leaned over and asked, "Can Kiyota still fight?" Kiyota jumped up in a flash. "Is that even a question? Of course he can!"

Coach Takato, fanning himself with a folding fan, remained calm; the current situation was entirely within his expectations. " Kiyota still can't stop Yo Aoki, but changing players to defend Yo Aoki now might damage Kiyota's confidence..."

What concerned Takato even more was that Takezato had Yo Aoki defend against Jin Soichiro Jin, instead of marking Shinichi Maki as he had expected. " Takezato had Yo Aoki defend against Jin, was he trying to stifle his long-range shooting?" "But from the start, it seems Takezato didn't develop any tactics specifically targeting Maki. Did they not find Maki's weakness? Or do they have other plans..."

On the field, Shinichi Maki began to organize the attack. Hojo's face turned pale; Shinichi Maki was putting more mental pressure on him than Fujima. He could only grit his teeth and get into a defensive stance.

Shinichi Maki didn't bother with fancy moves. He moved close to Hojo, using his body to block him, and dribbled straight in. Hojo only managed two steps before he couldn't withstand the force and gave way. Maki easily cut to the basket, Imamura time Imamura didn't even have to help defend. Maki scored another layup, tying the score at 4-4!

Hanagata sighed, " Takezato's defenders are no threat to Maki at all." Takano asked in bewilderment, "Why not have Yo Aoki defend him?" Fujima replied gravely, "With Maki's skill level, even if Yo Aoki were to defend him, he wouldn't be able to stop him!"

It was Takezato's turn to attack. This time, Hojo planned to set a pick and roll with Imamura. Hojo raised his fist to give Imamura a signal, but at that moment, Shinichi Maki suddenly closed in and pressed Hojo tightly.

Startled, Hojo immediately stopped dribbling and clutched the ball to his chest; the pick-and-roll was called before it even took shape. Miyagi immediately exclaimed, "As expected of Maki, he single-handedly broke through Takezato's screen play."

Mitsui crossed his arms. "If Yo Aoki doesn't organize the attack, with Maki on the field, Takezato simply can't launch an offensive. And if Yo Aoki doesn't keep an eye on Shinichi Maki, Kainan's offensive won't be able to be stopped at all." Sakuragi didn't say anything, just stared at Yo Aoki. He also noticed that Yo Aoki's behavior today was a bit strange.

The pick-and-roll by Takezato failed, Imamura moved to the perimeter, forcing Hojo to pass the ball to him. Imamura received the ball, and seeing that Takasago was still some distance away, prepared to shoot a three-pointer.

But just as he got into position, he noticed Shinichi Maki standing nearby. Imamura panicked instantly and quickly threw the ball away. Takasago immediately saw that the ball was going to miss and rushed over to grab the rebound!

Imamura's shot missed, and Takasago, anticipating the ball's trajectory, immediately jumped, raising both hands high towards the basketball. He had already caught the ball in mid-air, but just as he was about to pull it down, another hand reached out from the side and forcefully snatched the ball away!

" Yo Aoki!?" Takasago finally saw who had stolen the ball. Yo Aoki, in mid-air, didn't stop after getting the ball; he suddenly straightened his back, leaned back, raised his hands, and dunked!

"Bang!" Yo Aoki slammed the ball into the basket. This Takasago, who lost his balance in mid-air and fell flat on his face! The score became 4-6!