Chapter 112: Furuhashi Kojiro, having taken an Iron Mountain Lean from Yukimiya Kazuma, likely felt he was back in the game and sudde

"Heh..." Yukimiya Kazuma couldn't help but chuckle upon hearing this. "What? Are the injuries from the first quarter fully healed?"

Furuhashi Kojiro’s sickly, hollow expression visibly darkened.

"This stinky spider has indeed woven a web."

"However..."

"If we stop passing the ball, how will you respond, Your Excellency?"

Furuhashi Kojiro: "!?"

No...

Passing?

Hanamiya Makoto intended to use the 'Spider Web' in the second quarter to play defense-to-offense and close the point gap, and if there was an opportunity, he would also take out Yukimiya Kazuma along the way.

But the moment he dribbled the ball to the top of the three-point arc.

Yukimiya Kazuma stepped up to meet him.

1v1 man-to-man defense.

"A center defending a point guard?"

"Are there still people who think of him as a center?"

"Whoa!"

"What an agile body!"

Amidst the exclamations of the audience, Yukimiya Kazuma stood in front of Hanamiya Makoto, blocking his path. Furthermore, under Yukimiya Kazuma’s defense, Hanamiya Makoto’s movements were clearly struggling!

When Yukimiya Kazuma matched up against a point guard of the Uncrowned Kings level and locked him down tightly, everyone truly realized Yukimiya Kazuma’s physical capabilities.

This was a monster whose agility was in no way inferior to Aomine Daiki.

The Kirisaki Daichi players looked toward Hanamiya Makoto, their faces filled with astonishment, because Hanamiya Makoto was currently being forced into a bitter struggle.

Agility far exceeding that of an ordinary point guard, combined with long arms at a height of 196 centimeters.

The defense was terrifyingly extreme.

As one of the Uncrowned Kings, although Hanamiya Makoto was known for being a 'Bad Boy' and for his 'Steals', his various skills as a point guard were definitely not bad.

But even so, under Yukimiya Kazuma’s preemptive close-range pressure, Hanamiya Makoto no longer had time to create distance, and his dribbling movements were forced to accelerate to the point of deformation, his ball control in jeopardy.

"Spider Web?"

"Heh~"

Snap~Kuh!

With a 91.1 steal rating, he snatched the ball right out of Hanamiya Makoto’s hands!

"Beautiful steal!"

"An Uncrowned King, and a point guard at that, actually got his ball stolen in a 1v1 matchup by Yukimiya Kazuma!"

"Can't catch up!"

"Hanamiya, the point guard, can't catch up to Yukimiya Kazuma!"

"Dunk!"

Hanamiya Makoto’s face was terrifyingly dark. He couldn't imagine that in front of Yukimiya Kazuma, he couldn't even control the ball.

The Kirisaki Daichi player silently threw a baseline pass, but the target of the pass was not Hanamiya Makoto.

Because Hanamiya Makoto was currently being defended by Yukimiya, who had abandoned a portion of his 'Super Wide-Range Defense' to increase his 1v1 man-marking on Hanamiya, to the point where he wouldn't even let him touch the ball.

The goal was simple: to target Hanamiya Makoto, striking him from all angles, both physically and mentally.

In set-piece offense, Kirisaki Daichi’s Yamazaki Hiroshi found Furuhashi Kojiro, who had run out to receive the ball via a screen, and the ball was sent over immediately.

Furuhashi Kojiro, just about to receive the ball and shoot, was immediately blocked by Ōguchi Ryūji, who had navigated the screen with impressive speed.

Furuhashi Kojiro: "Tsk!"

Ssh~!

Furuhashi Kojiro pulled back his shooting motion and threw an elbow while passing, which Ōguchi Ryūji, with his decent combat reflexes, dodged, even continuing his counterattack as if nothing had happened.

"What's wrong, dead-fish eyes?"

"Why don't you attack with the ball?"

Before the game against Kirisaki Daichi, Ōguchi Ryūji had always found Furuhashi Kojiro unpleasant. Perhaps, as fellow masters of facial expression management, an idol-type like Ōguchi Ryūji naturally found the neurotic expression of someone like Furuhashi Kojiro repulsive.

Facing Ōguchi Ryūji’s provocation, Furuhashi Kojiro chose to pass the ball out.

However, the hollow look in his eyes flashed with a strange light at this moment.

Seto Kentaro ran over and received the ball via a hand-off.

In this instant.

It formed a front-and-back double-team on Ōguchi Ryūji by Seto Kentaro and Furuhashi Kojiro.

Seto Kentaro leaped up!

Shooting!

His back completely obscured Ōguchi Ryūji’s figure, while simultaneously cutting off the referee’s line of sight.

"Idiot."

"Just die here."

Seto Kentaro’s shot had one knee slightly raised in a crane stance, and Furuhashi Kojiro pushed from behind Ōguchi Ryūji, causing the latter to immediately face his chin toward Seto Kentaro’s knee.

Ōguchi Ryūji had never expected Kirisaki Daichi to have such a two-man combo, and for a moment he didn't react, looking like he was about to get hit.

If he took a hit like that...

Wouldn't he be disfigured?

Such a thought flashed through Ōguchi Ryūji’s mind for a split second.

However...

A figure suddenly swept past from the side, moving so fast that only a trace of snow-white remained, followed by feet landing heavily on the court as he leaped up to block the sky, saving Ōguchi Ryūji’s 'handsome' face.

It was Yukimiya Kazuma!

The height of the block, in Seto Kentaro’s eyes, was worthy of takeoff!

Seto Kentaro: "..."

So high!

This bastard...

Just how far are you going to fly?!

It wasn't until Seto Kentaro’s eyes were level with Yukimiya Kazuma’s chin that the latter finally stopped. And this was just the result of a 'I Love Blocking Jump Shots' sprint-jump; if it had been a vertical jump from a man-to-man position, the height difference would likely have been even greater.

Boom~!

A loud sound in the air!

The basketball was smashed down fiercely by Yukimiya Kazuma as if it were a volleyball, and the angle was truly like a close-range volleyball spike, targeting Furuhashi Kojiro, who had orchestrated this dangerous move!

That’s right...

It was that unlucky guy again!

Boom~!

The second sound was clearly much more 'muffled' than Yukimiya Kazuma’s spike, after all, it had landed solidly on a person’s face.

In that instant, from the perspective of the stunned Ōguchi Ryūji, one could even see Furuhashi Kojiro’s chin hammered askew and his tongue and saliva flying out from his slightly open mouth.

The audience was also stunned. The rhythm of this wave was too fast, from Kirisaki Daichi suddenly forming a double-team on Ōguchi Ryūji, to Yukimiya Kazuma’s full-sprint volleyball-style flying dunk!

In the blink of an eye, the audience saw an orange basketball smash into Furuhashi Kojiro’s face, then refract into an orange line toward the spectator stands.

In the stands, the Tōō team, who had appeared out of nowhere, were all dumbfounded.

Aomine stared intensely at Yukimiya Kazuma on the court, the rising fighting spirit causing even Imayoshi Shōichi beside him to show shock in his eyes.

However, after watching Yukimiya Kazuma’s game in person today, although he hadn't seen the full picture, just from the exaggerated ability displayed in his defense, he could understand Aomine’s recent changes.

This was an opponent that even Aomine needed to take seriously. No wonder Momoi had specifically taken Aomine to Senjinkan to watch their practice game.

And on the court at this moment.

Furuhashi Kojiro no longer had that neurotic, calm expression.

Or rather...

One couldn't even tell what his expression was.

On his face right now, a nosebleed was gushing fiercely, and wailing sounds were incessant.

The referee stopped the game. Everyone around, including the people from Kirisaki Daichi, looked at the terrifying state of Furuhashi Kojiro’s face and were all struck dumb.

The force of that 'spike' just now was so fierce that when it hit Furuhashi Kojiro’s face, even the little cheek flesh he had rippled, and it had already swollen into a patch.

Then, Furuhashi Kojiro’s hollow eyes gradually turned dazed.

That was the negative effect produced after the brain suffered an intense shock in an instant, commonly known as a 'concussion'.

Boom~

With a thud, he fell to the ground, unable to even stand steady.