Kobori won the tip-off, giving Kaijo the first possession of the game.
Kota took the ball, scanned the court, and saw there was no opportunity for a fast break.
Not in a rush, Kota casually dribbled past half-court and passed the ball to Kise.
"First possession's gotta give the ace some face, right?"
Kise licked his lips, his eyes lighting up as he faced Aomine.
"Finally... another chance to go head-to-head with Aominecchi. Those prelim matches were boring as hell."
In an instant, Kise's gaze sharpened as he activated his Perfect Copy — specifically, mimicking Aomine.
Aomine frowned slightly.
"Tch... his body's already memorized my moves? He can copy me anytime now, huh?"
Kise dribbled twice, then suddenly shifted his rhythm. His movements grew aggressive, sharp, and unpredictable—completely shedding the formality of textbook plays. This wasn't Kise... this was basically another Aomine on the court.
Aomine's eyes narrowed. He already learned from the last practice game against Kaijo — if he gets dragged into playing Kise's game, they'll fall right into Kota's tempo.
"In that case... guess I'll just blow this game wide open right from the start!"
A purple flash of lightning seemed to spark in Aomine's eyes. Just as Kise broke through into the paint and prepared to jump—
"Huh?"
Suddenly the ball felt light—
"Where's the ball?!"
Turning his head, Kise saw that Aomine had already stolen it—no one even saw when—and was barreling down the court straight at Kaijou's defense.
Kota's face darkened.
"Bro's opening the game with Zone? Seriously? Overkill much?"
But he didn't hesitate. Charging forward, he planted himself in front of Aomine, lowering his center of gravity, arms spread wide. And with a dead serious face, he muttered:
"Yo! Someone help me double him!"
Before the words fully left his mouth, Aomine had already blown past him like he wasn't even there. He sliced through Kaijou's defense and slammed down the game's first dunk with one hand.
Kota stood frozen for a moment, then sighed.
"Welp... yeah, that tracks."
Kasamatsu didn't let it slide. Charging over, he chopped Kota right in the waist like a samurai.
"Help you double-team my—! You got crossed like a traffic cone! If you can't defend properly, quit acting like you can play delay defense!"
Kota rubbed his side pitifully.
"Man... pretty sure kidney stones wouldn't dare form in me. Any rock would shatter under Kasamatsu-senpai's hand chops."
"My bad, my bad! Totally my fault"
Kise chimed in, raising his hand.
"Yeah... getting the ball stolen right off the bat was kinda on me... threw the whole defense off."
"Forget it. Let's get it back next play."
"Yeah, yeah, obviously. Whose ball do you think it is—yours? Ha!" Kota butted in immediately.
WHACK!
Kasamatsu walked over and chopped the other side of Kota's waist without a word.
Refocused, Kota brought the ball up again. This time, he didn't pass immediately. He coolly analyzed the court, then held up six fingers.
Horns set!
The entire Kaijo squad sprung into motion, shifting into their designated positions.
On Too's bench, Momoi frowned.
"Ugh... this set play really is a pain to deal with. But... not impossible."
After several clean screens and cuts, Kaijo finally freed up Kasamatsu on the left-wing three-point line. He raised his hand, calling for the ball.
Kota glanced over and was just about to pass when—his expression suddenly shifted. His hands jerked, pulling the ball back at the last second.
From the bench, Momoi clicked her tongue in surprise.
"He actually caught that? Kota-kun's basketball IQ is seriously nuts.... Shame he won't shut up with the trash talk though...
On the court, cold sweat rolled down Kota's back. Sure, Kasamatsu was open. Too's defense had been completely pulled apart. But standing just three steps away from Kasamatsu... was Aomine.
"Three steps. Normally, for any decent shooter, that's basically 'wide open'."
But that's Aomine in Zone. His acceleration and vertical leap are straight-up terrifying. At that distance, if I pass to Kasamatsu, he's getting stuffed the moment he pulls up.
"Bruh... one guy defending an entire zone by himself? Since when can you defend Horns like that?"
Kota side-eyed Momoi. Don't even need to guess—this was 100% her idea. She flashed him a bright smile in return.
Only 8 seconds left on the shot clock. Kota glanced at the timer and waved Kobori over.
Kobori instantly understood and came up to set a screen.
Defending Kota was Too's captain, Imayoshi. His eyebrows twitched.
"Crap... flashbacks to that scrimmage where Kota spammed pick-and-rolls and turned me into a training dummy... But this time... I'm ready!"
As soon as Kobori set the screen, Imayoshi quickly slid back, slipping around it like he'd practiced a hundred times.
"Heh... didn't expect that, did ya? I grinded that anti-screen movement just for this!"
...Except the moment he thought that, Kota rose up into a jumper right where he stood—completely ignoring the screen.
Pump fake? Nope. Step back? Nope. Just a clean pull-up jumper.
Swish.
Pure net.
Kota turned to Imayoshi with a huge grin, shaped his fingers into little pistols, pretended to blow the smoke off them, then holstered them at his hips like an old-school cowboy.
[Three-Point Strategy ] Activated. Team's shooting accuracy temporarily increased.
Kaijo's bench went absolutely wild, towels waving like crazy. Thanks to Kota's antics earlier, the whole squad was riding a wave of momentum.
Aomine watched Kota's ridiculous celebration, and a throbbing vein appeared on his temple.
"These idiots are seriously loud..."
"Huh?"
Kota noticed Aomine glaring at him. He turned and met it head-on with a bright, sunshine smile.
Aomine couldn't help but burst into a half-laugh, half-scoff.
"This punk... really knows how to get under people's skin..."
Fueled by the annoyance, Aomine shifted into overdrive and launched a savage offensive.
With Aomine going full throttle, Kise was suffering on the court. He couldn't stop him. Couldn't outscore him. All he could do was run off-ball and try to burn Aomine's stamina.
"Wait... am I... am I just bait...?"
Takeuchi wiped the cold sweat off his forehead.
"Kota really does know how to "maximize" his ace, huh..."
At this point, Kise was feeling thoroughly scammed.
"What ace? What Jordan? What kind of "ace" gets stuck doing grunt work the whole game?!"
The difference between Kota's and Kise's workload was stark.
On offense? Kota controlled everything with precision. On defense? Kise was getting blown by. Kota scores on one end. Aomine scores on Kise the next. Kota misses a shot. Aomine dunks right over Kise in response.
BEEEEEP.
Kaijo called a timeout.
Score: 22-16. Too leads. Three minutes left in the first quarter.
Kise slumped onto the bench, eyes dead, soul escaping.
Kota watched him and couldn't help but feel a little guilty.
"My bad, Kise... Guess I got carried away. Ace players really do need to be treated with care. Nobody likes an ace who's forced into manual labor..."