Chapter 47

After a few passes, the basketball quickly found its way into Yukimiya Kazuma's hands. Yukimiya Kazuma drove with the ball, compressing Zuojia Middle School's defense, then immediately dished it out to Liang Huayin beside him.

Liang Huayin's mid-range shot wasn't bad—in regular practice games and some small regional official matches, he could maintain a shooting percentage above 40% on average.

Add in the boost from Yukimiya Kazuma's 'Pass Maestro' effect—he'd kept stats in previous games. Liang Huayin and Takefusa Misaki, who received a lot of his assists, both saw their shooting percentages rise by around 20%.

And so…

Liang Huayin's shot this time was, naturally, exceptionally smooth and silky.

Swish!

The ball went through the net as called—21 to 8!

Liang Huayin actually preferred to initiate offense by handling the ball himself, but whenever Yukimiya Kazuma passed to him, receiving the ball always felt especially comfortable.

In the last game, of Yukimiya Kazuma's 25 assists, 10 went to Liang Huayin, which made him grow increasingly used to shooting immediately after catching a pass from Yukimiya Kazuma.

Zuojia Middle School's offense.

Zuojia's point guard already knew that the Hakusui-kan point guard standing before him, Kasuga Yuji, had firmly committed to a sticky, full-effort defense today on the court—this kind of energy-draining defense was no joke.

So after advancing to the frontcourt, he simply passed the ball out.

He Xiuyang held the ball at the high post, surveyed the situation, and successfully found the small forward cutting off a screen—the team's second-leading scorer, right after himself.

Zuojia's small forward caught the ball and charged the paint, but he failed to notice that, behind his takeoff path, a figure had suddenly appeared.

Yukimiya Kazuma's long arm sealed the ball in Zuojia small forward's hands.

No attacking the rim here!

Smack~!

A massive block was delivered!

Right after He Xiuyang, Yukimiya Kazuma also completed a block, though the moment he rejected the shot, he felt a pang of regret.

Why didn't He Xiuyang take that shot himself!

Where's the roar from earlier!

Go yourself!

Hurry up and let me block a few, so I can grind out the badge, will you!

Teruyama Daisuke got the ball and his first instinct was to find Yukimiya Kazuma.

After catching the pass, Yukimiya immediately seized the fast-break opportunity and launched the transition. Takefusa Misaki was even faster than him, charging out in front. As for why he was faster—of course it was because when Yukimiya jumped for the block, that guy had already taken off running with impressive court sense.

He Xiuyang had just blocked Takefusa Misaki and roared at Yukimiya Kazuma right in front of him, so naturally Takefusa Misaki wanted to save face—as a player, who doesn't have a bit of temper?

Yukimiya Kazuma's advance was rock-solid and airtight. When Zuojia Middle School's point guard tried to intercept him at the frontcourt, he was shed with ease.

Seeing Takefusa Misaki trust his block so much and run so hard, Yukimiya Kazuma returned the favor with a long pass—one precisely measured to Takefusa Misaki's max reach for a perfect lob connection.

Smack~

Takefusa Misaki leaped, caught the ball with both hands in mid-air at a very comfortable height.

From the ball arriving, to grabbing it, to sending it toward the hoop.

Everything was silky smooth.

Boom~!

A two-handed rim-rattling dunk instantly ignited the entire arena!

Takefusa Misaki shot He Xiuyang a glare, finally feeling his frustration cleared.

As he ran back feeling thoroughly satisfied, he made a point of coming over to Yukimiya Kazuma for a high-five celebration.

……

Hakusui-kan Middle School continued to hold the advantage, and with Yukimiya Kazuma's assists, their offensive firepower was naturally beyond question.

On the other side, Zuojia Middle School's already inferior offense grew harder and harder to sustain as time wore on.

One He Xiuyang carrying the offense, five 'Shooters' alongside him, plus Yukimiya Kazuma's extremely precise help-defense reads—Hakusui-kan was ruthlessly suppressing Zuojia, leaving them no room to resist at all.

However…

On Yukimiya Kazuma's end, the badge mission had stalled.

He'd been wanting to find a chance to block He Xiuyang, but it was just too hard.

It wasn't that the opponent's ability was enough to withstand Yukimiya Kazuma's block—rather, the opponent kept using screens to hunt mismatches, and whenever a screen failed, or Yukimiya Kazuma appeared in his line of sight, he simply refused to shoot, and didn't drive to the rim at all.

"This guy…"

"Playing so soft—what were you roaring about earlier?"

"Trying to play the gap moe card on me?!"