This shout was full of vigor and echoed throughout the stadium.
Sakuragi Hanamichi, who was tangled with Ikegami in the paint, shuddered. His mind hadn't yet registered what "combine" meant, but his body had already formed a conditioned reflex. The body reacted faster than the brain.
Sakuragi charged out of the paint like a red cannonball, instantly blocking the sides of Koshino and Uekusa. He was like a thick red brick wall.
"What?!"
Koshino slammed headfirst into Sakuragi's hard back muscles, feeling as if he had hit a truck, and bared his teeth in pain. Taking advantage of this momentary gap, Hayashi Rin shifted one step to the left. The space in front of him was wide open.
"Thanks, genius."
The corners of Hayashi Rin's mouth curled up as he raised the basketball again. Left hand supporting the ball, right hand holding it up. A textbook posture. Knees slightly bent, he jumped. That desperate sense of hang time appeared once more.
"Stop him!!!" Taoka Moeichi screamed, clutching his head.
But it was too late. The basketball left his hand. Once again, it flew toward the dome of the gymnasium. Everyone had to look up again, as if performing some kind of collective worship ritual. Time was stretched thin. The basketball drew a perfect parabola in the air.
Swish!
Nothing but net. 85:80.
"Waaaaah! He scored again!" "My god! Was that ball thrown down from the second floor?" "Is that number 16 a monster? Does he always score as long as he's unguarded?"
The stands were completely boiling over. Even the Ryonan supporters began to switch sides, cheering for this miraculous shooting.
"Did you see that!" Sakuragi Hanamichi, although he didn't know exactly what had happened, immediately put his hands on his hips and laughed triumphantly. "This is the combined tactic of This Genius and Master!"
"That's called a pick-and-roll, idiot," Rukawa Kaede passed by and coldly added a verbal jab.
In the following minutes, the game entered a suffocating offensive mode. The Ryonan team was united in purpose. Uozumi took advantage of Akagi's unhealed injury to force a basket under the hoop. 87:80.
Turning back, Hayashi Rin repeated his old trick. "Sakuragi! Combine!"
"Coming!!"
Sakuragi was more proficient this time, taking a large stride to block Sendoh, who was coming to help defend. Two meters outside the three-point line, Hayashi Rin shot directly. An ultra-high arc.
Swish! 87:83.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Taoka Moeichi paced back and forth on the sidelines in a panic, the tactical board in his hand having been completely snapped by him. "Why can't we stop him?! Why?! He can score as long as there's a tiny gap?!"
Ryonan attacked again. Facing Rukawa Kaede's relentless pestering, Sendoh's stamina was heavily depleted. He chose to drive and kick, assisting Ikegami for a mid-range jumper. 89:83.
A 6-point gap. Only one minute left.
Shohoku's possession. Hayashi Rin dribbled the ball, sweat sliding down his cheeks. "Exhausted... This skill is accurate, but it's hard on the waist." Hayashi Rin felt like his kidneys were protesting. But he glanced at the scoreboard. "One more bucket."
This time, the entire Ryonan team extended their defense. Even Uozumi moved up near the free-throw line. "Don't give him any chance to shoot!"
Hayashi Rin looked at the airtight defense and suddenly slammed the ball against the ground.
[Ability: Aomine Daiki · Super High-Speed Dribble]
The basketball seemed glued to his hand, dancing along with the violent swaying of his body. Koshino and Uekusa instantly lost their balance. Hayashi Rin charged inside the three-point line. Just when everyone thought he was going for a layup, he suddenly stopped and stepped back, retreating outside the three-point line again.
He jumped.
"Don't even think about it!" Sendoh lunged from the side, his long arms blotting out the sky.
But Hayashi Rin's fadeaway angle was astonishingly large; he was almost lying in the air as he shot the ball. The ball cleared Sendoh's fingertips and flew high into the air. Everyone's hearts were in their throats.
Thump, thump, thump.
The basketball bounced twice on the rim. Then, it obediently rolled into the net. 89:86.
The gap was down to only 3 points!
"Defense! Defense! Defense!" On Shohoku's bench, everyone stood up, arms linked, screaming at the top of their lungs.
Coach Anzai pushed his glasses, a white light flashing across the lenses. "Sakuragi, Rukawa." Coach Anzai's voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached the ears of the two on the court. "Double team Sendoh."
Hearing this command, Sakuragi and Rukawa Kaede were both stunned for a moment. The two looked at each other. Sparks seemed to crackle in the air.
"Huh? Pops, are you joking? Me, cooperate with this Dead Fox?" Sakuragi had a look of disgust, as if he had stepped on dog poop.
"No way," Rukawa Kaede was even more direct, turning his head to walk away.
Sakuragi gritted his teeth. Rukawa Kaede clenched his fists.
"Tch!" "Humph!"
The two turned around simultaneously; though their faces screamed "unwilling," their bodies honestly closed in on Sendoh.
At this point, there were 30 seconds left in the game. Ryonan's ball. Sendoh held the ball. He looked at the two figures, one red and one black, in front of him and showed a bitter smile. "Give me a break. Isn't this treatment a bit too grand?"
On the left was the physically freakish Sakuragi Hanamichi, flailing his limbs like a crab. On the right was the technically complete and fierce-eyed Rukawa Kaede, poised like a leopard. A double team!
"Stop him!!" Akagi roared from the paint.
Sendoh took a deep breath. Since he couldn't avoid it, he would break through. Slap! Slap! Sendoh's dribbling frequency instantly accelerated. He first faked to the left, tricking Sakuragi into shifting his center of gravity. Then he suddenly changed direction to the right, forcing a breakthrough against Rukawa Kaede's defense.
"Too naive!" Rukawa Kaede firmly held his position.
But at the moment of contact, Sendoh used an extremely smooth spin move to actually squeeze through the gap between the two!
"What?!" Rukawa Kaede's pupils constricted.
"That Spiky Head is so slippery!" Sakuragi tried to reach out and grab him, but caught only air.
He broke through! Sendoh had bypassed Shohoku's two strongest defensive lines! Ahead, the path was clear. As long as this shot went in, the game would be decided. Taoka Moeichi clenched his fists, a look of victorious ecstasy appearing on his face. "We won! It's our Ryonan's victory!"
Sendoh dribbled toward the hoop, preparing to end the game with a safe layup. However, just as he gathered the ball to take his steps, an extremely discordant feeling suddenly surged in his heart.
It was too quiet. Why... did it feel like someone was missing? No! Where did that number 16 go?
At the very instant that thought flashed by, a hand appeared beneath the basketball without any warning. No sound of wind. No murderous intent. It was as if a hand had originally been growing in that position.
Snap!
A soft sound. The basketball in Sendoh's hand was gone. Sendoh maintained his layup posture, but his hands were empty. He looked down in shock.
"Huff... huff... I'm exhausted... Luckily, I made it in time."
Hayashi Rin held the ball, those dead fish eyes looking at Sendoh, the corner of his mouth hooked in a successful smirk. "Sendoh. You have to keep a better eye on your things."
With the highly conspicuous Sakuragi and Rukawa double-teaming Sendoh, Hayashi Rin had successfully reduced his own presence to the minimum.
[Ability: Kuroko Tetsuya · Misdirection]
The entire stadium was in an uproar!
"A steal!!" "It's that invisible number 16!" "Fast break! Fast break!" "Hayashi Rin! Pass the ball!"
Akagi Takenori reacted the fastest, pointing toward the frontcourt and roaring. Rukawa and Sakuragi had also already charged out like arrows from a bow.