"What?" gasped Yasu when she and the rest have heard his request. "Tep-nii, are you serious?"
"Yeah." he replied seriously. "The last two- No, one minute is enough. I need to be able to play."
"You're going back in?" asked Koganei worriedly.
"You can't do something reckless!" scolded Tsuchida.
"They're right, Tep-nii." said Yasu. "What if you get hurt again?"
Riko contemplated for a moment before giving in. "Fine." she said.
"Coach?" said the manager, surprised.
"Are you sure, Riko?" asked Kiyoshi.
"What are you talking about?" she said before standing up to roll up her sleeves. "Even if I tried to stop you, you'd force your way in. So it's up to you, Yasu-chan."
"What?" she responded, blinking at her.
"Give me three minutes." said Riko while tying up her hair. "Lead the team while I'm gone."
Yasu looked down, still not sure about the idea. Kiyoshi suddenly held her hand, making her look at him. "Please." he pleaded softly, looking at her in the eyes.
She stared back into his eyes and sighed, finally giving in. "Okay." she said.
Kiyoshi smiled and patted her head. "Thank you, Ya-chan." he said before leaving with Riko.
Fukui received the ball and was surprised to see the formation Seirin was using. "It's a 2-3 zone!" said Araki, who recognised it as well.
'They're running the same formation as us?' questioned Fukui while bouncing the ball.
'Is he trying to cover the entire inside like Atsushi?' thought Himuro while looking at Kagami, who was covering the inside by himself. He tried to break past Hyuga's defense, but failed.
'Are they afraid of our inside?' wondered Fukui. 'This formation creates a surprising amount of pressure against a normal team!' He stepped back and did a high pass.
'Crap!' cussed Izuki.
"It's an alley-oop!" said Hyuga.
"Murasakibara!" yelled Kagami in a challenging manner, as he jumped to block him.
"All we have to do is pass." said Fukui. "After all, our center is Murasakibara." The said boy dunked the ball backwards, avoiding Kagami block.
"Kagami-kun!" called Kuroko worriedly when he fell to the floor.
"Do you really think you can stop me alone?" mocked Murasakibara. "Don't be so conceited, Kagami."
"If that's what it takes to win, I'll do it." he said determinedly. "I'll stop you." Aomine and Yasu fixated their gazes on him with their brows furrowed.
'The Stealth Full-Court Man-to-Man Defence again.' noted Okamura, who passed the ball to the shooting guard.
'Everyone left after giving Himuro the ball.' thought Hyuga when the Yosen players ran off. 'Is he trying to one-on-one Kagami?'
"You're not going anywhere!" said Kagami.
"Do it, if you can!" challenged Himuro. He drove to the right, and as soon as Kagami's eyes followed, he drove from the other side, making him fall for the fake.
'Seriously?' he questioned. 'His fakes are good enough, but he's going even faster now!'
"Muro-chin, stop!" yelled Murasakibara when he turned around. The said boy stopped in time before Kuroko could steal the ball.
"Hello." he greeted.
'They switched from full-court to half-court.' noted Araki. 'Seirin's insisting on using the same formation as us.' She then glanced at the manager and internally sighed. 'I expect better from Yukimura's daughter.'
'Taiga really intends to defend the inside alone.' thought Himuro, who was bouncing the ball while his teammates were marked. 'He's as reckless as ever. However, that's not courage. It's underestimation!' His glare intensified, and Hyuga and Mitobe noticed the dark aura coming from him.
"Himuro, pass!" yelled Fukui from the side.
Hyuga rushed over to interrupt the pass, but Himuro had driven past him, letting him fall for the fake. 'Crap!' he cussed.
'I hate it.' he growled. 'You can mark whoever you want, but I hate that you think you can stop everyone yourself! Kagami!' He stopped in front of the said boy, and jumped to make a shot.
'The truth behind the Mirage Shot is he's releasing the ball twice.' thought Yasu. 'First, he jumps and snaps the ball in the air at the peak of his jump. Then, he catches the ball and shoots it again. To an ordinary player, it simple looks like he released the ball twice. However, Himuro's skills are so elegant, even his fakes look like a real shot. When he does it, his first release makes the air shimmer, concealing the ball on his second release.'
'In other words, in order to stop him, I have to delay my block!' noted Kagami, who was thinking the same thing as her about the Mirage Shot.
'He figured the trick behind the shot.' thought Murasakibara when Kagami jumped later. 'Ya-chin is too nice to tell him.'
'But then again, he might not do the Mirage Shot.' thought the girl worriedly.
"I know you know, thanks to Yasu-san's intelligence." scoffed Himuro. Instead of snapping the ball in the air like the two had predicted, he shot the ball on the first release. "Did you think it was just some trick shot? I can shoot on either release after seeing how my opponent times his jump. Knowing how it works is useless." Kagami's teammates watched the ball go through the hoop, and Yosen scored another basket. "No one can touch the Mirage Shot."
'I can't win like this, but...' thought Kagami. 'If I could just enter the Zone like I did against Aomine...'
Yasu seemed to have heard his thoughts, and gave herself a hard facepalm, which caught the attention of the boys sitting around her. "How could I be so reckless to agree with this?" she berated. "What is that idiot thinking?"
"What's wrong, Yasu-chan?" asked Koganei, but she politely brushed off the question, assuring him and the others that there was nothing.
Just then, the Kaijo players entered the stadium. "Seirin seems to be hanging on." said Kise. "Who do you think we'll be playing tomorrow?"
"We still have our game to play." scolded Kasamatsu. "Don't let your guard down! I'll hit you." When their attention went to the court, he was surprised to see one of the regulars missing. 'Are they missing their center, Kiyoshi?' he questioned worriedly.
'What's Kagamicchi doing in the middle?' wondered Kise when he noticed the 2-3 zone formation. 'And he seems...' He then looked at the manager, and furrowed his brows. 'Yasucchi looks very annoyed with him. So I was right.'
Kuroko caught the ball and shot the ball, but it bounced on the rim. 'The Phantom Shot isn't a guaranteed basket.' thought Hyuga. 'We can't ask him to keep making them.'
'The core of Seirin's offense is collapsing.' noted Alex. 'And once their full-court defense is broken, they can't do anything. At this rate...'
Fukui passed the ball to Murasakibara, who scored another basket with a dunk. The game went on with Yosen scoring and Seirin falling behind. And with less than seven minutes left, Yosen was ahead of Seirin by nine points. "We're falling behind." commented Tsuchida.
"Just one of them would be exceptional, but they've got two." said Koganei. "How are we supposed to stop them?" But the manager said nothing as she stared at the court, waiting for the right time to make her move.
"It's too reckless." said Izuki while wiping away his sweat. "Does Kagami have some kind of plan?"
"It's that I think he doesn't have a plan." said Kuroko. "But I get the feeling we can't keep doing this."
"What an idiot." remarked Aomine. "At this rate, they'll loose."
"What?" responded Momoi, looking at him.
"It's obvious what he's thinking." he said. "Even looking at Yasu's face can tell you. I'm sure he's wishing he could enter the Zone. But at this rate, he'll never enter the Zone in a lifetime."
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"It's harder to enter the Zone a second time because you've already experienced it once." he explained. "Once you learn what it's like for everything to go your way, you naturally want to experience it again. But those are idle thoughts. That's what you absolutely can't have to enter the focused state of the Zone. Yasu used to tell me this when she helped me train on it, "If you want to enter the Zone, you can't try to enter the Zone.""
Momoi was even more surprised when she heard the girl's name. "Yasu-chan knows about the Zone?" she asked.
"I've watched videos of her playing in the elementary-level tournaments before." said Aomine. "Yasu was in the Zone in every match I'd watched. She is familiar with the Zone because, unlike most of us where we have the door shut all the time, her door opened so widely that she could enter and exit as much as she liked. In other words, the Zone became a part of her. I tried to get to that level, but it never worked." Momoi gasped and was amazed at Yasu's achievement.
Kagami was about to slam dunk the ball, but Murasakibara blocked it, and the ball rolled out of the court. "Out of bounds!" shouted the referee after blowing his whistle "Black ball!"
"Damn it." cussed Kagami as he went after it.
The ball rolled towards someone, and they picked it up. "Why do you look so miserable?" he remarked.
"Kise." said Kagami, surprised to see him.
"Kise-kun." said Kuroko.
"Kise-chin..." said Murasakibara.
"Oh?" said Kise after staring at Kagami. "I mistook you for someone I know. Who are you?"
"Huh?" responded Kagami, clearly confused by what he said. "What are you-"
"I don't know any idiots who rely on anything when they play basketball." scoffed the Kaijo ace before passing him the ball. "Looks like I'll be playing Murasakibaracchi in the semifinals. I look forward to playing you."
"You're right." said Murasakibara. "Actually, I'm in a game right now. Don't talk to me."
"I don't know what to say." said Kise while walking back to his teammates. "Someone I know was far scarier in our practice game." The game resumed, but his attention was focused on Yasu, who was giving him a grateful look. He smiled at her and nodded. 'Anything for you, Yasucchi!' he chirped internally before looking back at the game.
'Relying on something?' repeated Kagami. 'When have I ever relied on anything when playing basketball? All I could do then was fight recklessly. I was far weaker then, and I couldn't enter the Zone. If anything, it was natural, but I-' He stopped his chain of thoughts, and realised what he had just said.
"Kagami-kun?" called Kuroko, when he noticed him being idle.
"Kuroko, have you entered the Zone?" he asked suddenly.
"The Zone?" repeated the said boy. "I don't know, but from what Yasu-san told me, it's something that can't be entered into that easily."
That was when Kagami realised his mistake, and let out a chuckle. "She's right." he said before slapping himself with both his hands.
"Kagami?" called Hyuga when he heard the sound.
"No matter how much it hurts, I just have to do whatever I can do." he said.
Liu had the ball and was about to shoot, but Kagami jumped to block the shot. 'Has he always jumped this high?' he questioned. He passed the ball around Kagami, and Okamura scored a basket.
Just then, the buzzer went off. "Seirin High, time out!" announced the panel.
While the boys helped Yasu to pass the towels and refilled water bottles to the five, Yasu stood in front of them to change the strategy. Before she began, she looked over to Kagami and said, "I'm glad Kise managed to clear your mind, though he's known for doing roundabouts and not get straight to the point. Otherwise, we'll lose this game too easily."
"Yeah." he said. "Sorry."
"It's fine." she assured before looking at the rest. "We have to change the formation. Here's what I suggest: Kuroko, Hyuga-senpai and Izuki-senpai triple-team Himuro, and Kagami and Mitobe-senpai handle the inside. That way, we'll reduce Kagami's defensive range to the paint, and not pressure him to cover until the three-point line."
"We may be able to reduce the number of Himuro's attacks, but we'll be suddenly weak on the inside." said Hyuga.
"If we're not providing enough defence, we should focus on our goals, even if it leaves us open." said Izuki.
"Yeah, but..." trailed off the captain, looking at Kagami to see if he agreed with the plan.
"Roger than." he said. "I couldn't do what Murasakibara's doing. Sorry." His teammates looked at him as if he had grown another head, for they weren't used to Kagami admitting his mistakes. "In any case, I'll focus on the paint." When the time out was over, the buzzer went off, with Kagami going to the court as the others watched with concern.
"What's gotten into Kagami?" asked Hyuga worriedly.
"I think it's a good thing." said Yasu otherwise.
"Huh?" he responded, looking confused by what she said.
"Kagami seems like him now." she said.
"Like him?" he repeated.
"Yes." she replied with a smile. "He feels like Aomine when he's on fire."
The game resumed with Okamura having the ball. He jumped to score a basket, but Kagami blocked it, only to have Murasakibara get the rebound and dunked it. 'What's going on with Kagami?' thought the center. 'His movements have changed.'
'We're the ones applying pressure.' thought Fukui, who was trying to catch his breath. 'But they're giving me chills.'
Kagami did what Yasu had planned. He kept his defensive range within the painted zone. He would successfully block and get rebounds, which irritated Murasakibara. 'Oh, come on!' he growled. 'You're so annoying, I can't stand it!' Izuki passed the ball, but Murasakibara caught it.
"Crap!" cussed Hyuga, who began running after Murasakibara with his teammates. "Get back!"
"It's a counterattack!" yelled Koganei.
While they kept running, Hyuga noticed that Kagami was ahead of them, and recalled what Yasu had said to him before they went back to the court. Kagami caught up and blocked the shot with both his hands. To the Yosen team's surprise, he knocked the ball out of Murasakibara's hand.
'Could it be?' questioned Himuro.
"Kagami!" snarled Murasakibara.
"I truly believe Kagami-kun is Seirin's light." said Kuroko with a smile.
Aomine let out a chuckle when he saw Kagami's eyes. "I knew he could do it." he said. Kise and Yasu smiled at him as well.
"Sorry, thanks for waiting." said Riko as she joined the bench. "Did something happen?"
"Kagami's in the Zone." replied Tsuchida.
"He stopped Murasakibara." added Koganei.
"What?" gasped Riko before looking at the team's ace.
"Hope..." trailed off Tsuchida. "I think we might have hope."
'How does he generate so much pressure when he's sticking to the paint?' questioned Fukui, who was bouncing the ball.
"Hey!" called Himuro with his hand held out, and Fukui passed the ball to him. With his fakes incorporated into his drives, he got past the players who triple-teamed him, and Kagami stepped up to block him. 'You think you can stop me?' he challenged. 'Interesting!' He jumped up to make the shot, followed by Kagami at the first release.
Himuro snapped the ball and caught it again, but Kagami still had his hand held up high to block the shot. 'Impossible. Is he floating? A super-jump in the Zone! This is no ordinary jump!' As soon as Himuro released the ball, Kagami slapped the ball away. 'He's like a bird!'
"Nice block!" shouted Tsuchida.
"He stopped the Mirage Shot!" cheered Koganei.
"Crap!" cussed Fukui when Kuroko caught the ball. "Get back!"
"Kuroko!" called Kagami, and the said boy passed the ball to him, who made a shot behind the three-point line.
"A three?" questioned the shocked Fukui.
Knowing that the ball would go through the hoop, Kagami returned to defence, hearing the swish of the net as the ball entered the hoop. "Amazing..." muttered Kuroko with awe.
'He started heading back before he made the shot.' thought Yasu before quietly giggled to herself. 'Who is he, Midorima?'
Himuro froze on the spot as he stared at Kagami with an uneasy expression. "Give me the ball!" yelled Murasakibara, and Fukui passed it to him. 'I'll jam it in with full power!' he thought as he jumped up high to dunk the ball. 'Take this! Thor's Hammer!' But Kagami jumped and blocked the dunk with his hands.
"Impossible!" exclaimed Okamura.
'This power doesn't just come from being in the Zone.' noted Kise. 'He's adding power by jumping forward. But it's still...'
"Even I'm impressed." commented Aomine with a smirk.
Kagami knocked the ball out of Murasakibara's hands, which surprised the latter's teammates, and he fell to the ground. "Sorry." said Kagami. "I used too much strength." Murasakibara glared at him while clenching his teeth.
"Amazing." said Momoi. "I can't believe he stopped Muk-kun."
"Only someone in the Zone could stop Kagami now." said Aomine.
"Doesn't Yosen have that potential, as well?" she asked. "They have Muk-kun and Himuro-san."
"Maybe, but I don't think so." said the boy.
"Impossible?" repeated Moriyama when Kise said the same thing to his team. "What do you mean?"
"I don't completely understand the Zone like Yasucchi does, but there is something I can say." continued the latter. "The minimum requirement for entering the Zone is that you stake everything on the sport you're playing. Broadly speaking, you have to love basketball more than anything. But that's the one thing Murasakibaracchi doesn't have. He may be the most naturally talented of the five of us. But Murasakibaracchi can't enter the Zone."
"What about Himuro?" asked Kasamatsu. "He probably doesn't lack that."
"Him?" said Kise questioningly, as his gaze landed on the said boy. "Well... I hate to say it, but I think he has other problems."
Kuroko stole the ball when Fukui passed it to his teammates, and passed it to Kagami who was dashing towards the hoop. Once he got the ball, Himuro got up to block him, but Kagami drove past him after he had fallen for a fake. Kagami jumped and made a slam dunk with Murasakibara guarding him. 'You can't be serious.' he thought when he realised that he was already landing while Kagami was still going. 'Why am I falling first when I jumped second? I've heard of this, but I can't believe anyone can actually do it! Air walking!' While avoiding Murasakibara, Kagami dunked the ball, scoring another basket for Seirin.
The buzzer went off when Araki had requested a time out. Yasu passed the towels and water bottles to the team when they sat on the bench. "Amazing!" cheered Koganei. "We could really win! Kagami's too amazing!"
"Hey!" scolded Riko, making him flinch. "It's too early to celebrate."
'But Kagami really is godlike now.' thought Izuki.
'We're four points behind with three minutes remaining.' noted Hyuga. 'At the very least, we're controlling the flow of the game.'
Yasu looked over to Yosen's bench, and saw that they were having a conflict over what Murasakibara had said. Suddenly, Himuro got up and punched him across the face, before grabbing him by the front and scolded him. But the purple-haired boy was clearly unfazed by him.
"What do you mean, Himuro-san has other problems?" asked Momoi when Aomine said he couldn't enter the Zone.
"Haven't you started to notice, as well?" he began. "Only the chosen can enter the Zone. At first I thought he might be able to, but I was wrong. I'll admit he's good. He's very close to the five of us. But he's no prodigy. He's good, but he's only the best an ordinary man can be. No matter how close he gets, he'll never come to this side."
The buzzer went off, and both teams returned to the court. "They were fighting about something." noted Hyuga. "Is everything okay?"
"No, it's probably the opposite." said Kagami.
"They're more dangerous than ever." said Kuroko as Murasakibara stepped into the court with his hair tied up.