Chapter 88: Aomine, Whose Repeated Offensive Advances Have Been Thwarted!

Aomine didn't pay any attention to Yukimiya's relentless mouth; he simply turned and fell back on defense, his aura climbing again and again, and faintly, Yukimiya Kazuma could see the outline of a black panther around his body.

It really wasn't an illusion…

He could really see it.

Yukimiya Kazuma dribbled the ball up to the top of the three-point arc at Teikou!

After a few simple moves, he discovered that the badge's ability was indeed extremely rigorous.

The moment he arrived on the offensive end, the abilities of the 'Spider Web' badge—whether the perceptive reaction Yukimiya summarized as 'Spider-Sense,' or the footwork of 'Dance of the Spider's Legs'—all abruptly lost their effect.

Looking at the Aomine Daiki before him, arms naturally resting at his sides, wholly devoted to defense, the 'Black Panther' phantom flickering in and out of existence behind him, Yukimiya Kazuma once again became 'well-behaved and proper,' extremely cautious as he dribbled.

*Slap~*

*Slap~*

Yukimiya didn't call for a pick-and-roll, but suddenly accelerated, rapidly dribbling and feinting!

Aomine followed the defense, completely keeping up with Yukimiya's movements!

In-step!

Step-back!

Crossover!

Yukimiya's textbook-level ball-handling, the technical movements connecting beautifully, made Aomine Daiki's gaze sharpen as his body closely followed Yukimiya's movement!

Suddenly, Aomine exploded off the floor, chasing at high speed toward Yukimiya's hip-turn step, and then at a certain crossover moment Yukimiya had caught, he abruptly appeared right in front of Yukimiya, the two nearly colliding and both startled at once.

Their eyes met!

Both Aomine and Yukimiya froze for a moment!

A few seconds later.

The finishing move of Yukimiya's offensive possession this time came from the pull-up jumper of McGrady that Yukimiya Kazuma had imitated from memory.

*Swish~! *

The offense failed.

Aomine: "……"

That's it?

He had thought that this possession, the opponent's offense would bring him a different kind of surprise just like the defense had, but he hadn't expected that, compared to the completely different defensive strength right from the start, the offense was still the same old routine.

This gave Aomine, who had just suffered an offensive setback and wanted to recover through defense, a feeling of having strength with nowhere to use it all over his body.

"Well……"

"Forget it."

"He probably really isn't good at scoring techniques……"

……

Teikou's offensive possession.

After once again using his super-strong 'Spider-Sense' to block Aomine Daiki's formless shot, Aomine called for the ball on the sideline.

Murasakibara Atsushi looked thoroughly unhappy, but seeing the smile on Aomine's face growing wider, he still went over and passed him the ball, thinking deep down that it was only because Aomine had promised him a whole box of delicious bars.

Sideline.

It was Momoi Mayumi with a face full of pleasant surprise.

Aa-tatsu……

Rare to see him this happy.

Momoi Mayumi put another asterisk next to the name 'Yukimiya Kazuma.'

Beside her, Kuroko Tetsuya, whose expression was unreadable, stared at Yukimiya Kazuma in astonishment—no one knew better than he just how terrifying Aomine Daiki's strength was, and even if it was only defense, he still found it unbelievable as he thought:

Yukimiya-kun, is actually this strong.

"He's pretty strong."

"You bastard, Yukimiya."

In Aomine Daiki's words, his steaming aura burst forth oppressively!

Others might not be able to see it, but in Yukimiya's eyes, that aura condensed into clumps, curling like burning black smoke, all of it falling onto Yukimiya Kazuma's body and exerting pressure on him!

The stands.

The spectators' eyes instantly went wide.

"Ah……?!"

From earlier until now, in the possessions where Aomine attacked and Yukimiya defended, the two had displayed abilities far beyond ordinary people; they had thought that was the limit……

They hadn't expected it could go even further!

Aomine's speed!

Too fast!

Even more unbelievable was that Yukimiya Kazuma's defense was also like an abyss with no visible bottom—even though the opponent's speed had suddenly kicked up another notch.

He could still use that slightly forward-leaning stance, like a sumo wrestler's ready posture, to thoroughly intercept Aomine Daiki, whether it was that exaggerated dribbling or that utterly willful shot.

His speed clearly hadn't improved all that noticeably, but it was as if he had foreseen the opponent's moves in advance.

"He really is fast enough."

"But you can't score on me."

Aomine gave a cold snort. Toward this Yukimiya guy, Aomine already understood that talking back was useless—he could only use actions to shut him up.

Fancy reverse jump-step!

Crossover pull-back!

Drop step!

Half-turn……

Inout!

Yukimiya Kazuma: "……!"

He felt it!

Facing Qingfeng's next move in his ultra-high-speed dribble!

Squeak~!

Yukimiya Kazuma suddenly reached out!

Swish~!

He successfully touched the ball, but the very next instant, a light suddenly flashed in the depths of Aomine Daiki's eyes, the black panther phantom behind him let out a ferocious roar as if to devour him, and the harsh screech of his sneakers grinding against the floor followed right after!

Under Yukimiya Kazuma's perception, Aomine Daiki's motion had, against all reason, forcibly twisted the ball-handling trajectory, so that Yukimiya only managed to graze it with his fingertips; the ball drifted slightly toward the far end, then was immediately reclaimed under Aomine's control.

And on top of that……

He even used the momentum to pull off a side-stepping lateral crossover to blow past him!

Yukimiya Kazuma: "……"

This is too absurd!

Wildness to this degree? That's impossible—agility talent? If that's the case, then under the prediction of 'Spider-Sense,' even with my height and reach I can only graze the ball, so wouldn't Akashi's Emperor Eye steals be able to dodge it entirely?

No wonder this guy hangs around with the Generation of Miracles every day and still dares to spout that line about "the only one who can beat me is myself."

What a freaking monster!

Realizing this, Yukimiya Kazuma immediately stopped obsessing over using 'Spider-Sense' for steals—after all, only grazing the ball was still too unreliable.

If he got blown past and scored on, all his effort for the whole game would be wasted, so from then on he only relied on 'Spider-Sense' and 'Dance of the Spider Legs' to seal off the opponent's driving lanes and finishing options.

Because of his ability to sense airflow and vibrations, combined with the hyper-reflexes of his highly concentrated spider nerves, Yukimiya Kazuma could keenly perceive Aomine's movements and respond with vastly superior timing.

Aomine noticed the adjustment in his opponent's defensive strategy, but what caught his attention most was that shadow-like, anticipatory movement of his.

Some kind of ability similar to the Emperor Eye's prediction?

What a pain……

In that case, how about this!?

Aomine's speed erupted in full force in an instant—no more feinting, he simply bulled his way in a straight line at full speed straight into Bai Shui Hall's paint!

However……

Beep~!