After the warm up, the five starting pyers of both teams lined up in the middle of the court with a referee standing iween them.

  From Bonyari High School, Yanagi stood o the referee as the team captain. Then to his side were Asahina Kenji, a tall, lean-figured sed year student and shooting guard of the team, and Tateyama Ichiro, a muscur, built young man as well as another sed year student.

  Then there was Ishikawa Suzuki, the tall, built, promising first year rookie who will be pying as the small forward.

  And stly, Yuuji, who will be pying as the point guard.

  After the practice sessions he had doh the team, Yuuji had iently showed off his skills.

  The members of the basketball team were all instantly impressed by his speed, his teiques, his power, and stamina, all of which surpassed any high school, or perhaps even, adult athletes they’ve ever seen. By these alone, he could easily fit into any position and excel tremendously.

  But Coach Haguoticed something in Yuuji that was even more valuable than his almost superhuman-like athleticism.

  His space awareness.

  As he observed Yuuji pying, he noticed how perfectly he could grasp his enemies and his allies’ positions, and exploit it to gain the adva was as if he could see the court from a bird's eye perspective.

  And with that information, he passed the ball with perfect accurad impeccable timing that would actually improve the accurad performance of the pyer.

  In addition to his dribbling skills that have caused many of the other members of the club to get ankle broken, there was simply no one more ideal to take up the point guard position than him.

  Kasamatsu, Koji, Yoshitaka, Shinya, and Kise also took their position and lined up before the Bonyari team.

  And as Kise stood before Yuuji, he couldn’t help but stare at him with narrowed eyes.

  Now that he could see him up close… he looked even more immacute than before, which made him wonder even more, why would he not use his looks and take the modeling and fashion industry by a storm?

  He could easily get brand deals and incredible tracts that offered money nur high school student could even dream of.

  Is he the son of a millionaire or something? Was he so rich that money doesn’t even i him? He does have this air of nobility and elegance, so that might be the case…

  The two teams bowed at each other and began going to their respective side of the court to take up position for the tip off, except for Yanagi and Koji.

  But as Yuuji was about to go to his position, Kise suddenly called out to him.

  “Hey, you! Have… Have you ever thought of modeling for a magazine?”

  Yuuji turowards the blonde-haired guy and tilted his head in fusion.

  Modeling for a magazine…? Why would he do that? Why would he want even more attention to himself? If he became a model, wouldn’t that just make it harder to go out with his family o out in publi general?

  He’s already having a hard time right now. It’d be a nuisance if he got even more attention by being a model.

  “No.”

  Kise’s jaw dropped from the sheer disi, and eveion, Yuuji showed with his answer.

  “W-Why…?!”

  “...I’m just not ied.”

  “But-”

  “Oi, Kise!!! Get your ass here!”

  Kise flinched and immediatley turned around to go to his position after hearing his captain’s shout.

  But theopped for a moment and turned around towards Yuuji o time.

  “L-Let’s tihis ter!”

  “KISE!!!!”

  “Y-Yes!!!”

  Yuuji watched the blonde-haired guy, apparently called Kise, and looked at him strangely.

  But, he simply shrugged his shoulders ao his position, refog his attention to the game.

  --------------------------------X--------------------------------

  The two ters from both teams stood in the middle with the referee holding the ball up iween them.

  A tense silence filled the air. But it was soon brokehe sound of the whistle resouhroughout the gym.

  “Begin!!!”

  *WHISTLE*

  “Haaah!!!”

  “Kuh!!!”

  The ball flew high into the sky when the referee threw it for the tip off, and the two ters leaped up into the sky at the same time.

  They reached their hands up towards the ball, and although they were both quite simir in terms of height, Koji mao reach his peak faster and tipped the ball towards Kasamatsu.

  “Go!!”

  Immediately, Kaijo charged forward and invaded Bonyari’s side of the court as Yanagi and the rest scrambled to form some sort of dense against their offense.

  With all of his team charging forward, Kasamatsu quickly followed suit and make a run for it. This was a ce to score easily while their enemies had not yet formed a solid defensive line.

  But all of a sudden, before he could even move past the ter line, a figure stepped right in front of him that immediately stopped him right in his tracks.

  ‘He’s fast…! When the hell did he get here?!’

  Yuuji appeared right when he was about to charge, pletely ready in a defensive form.

  It was as if he was already waiting for him there… That was how fast he was able to appear before him.

  Kasamatsu dribbled defensively as he tried looking to find an opening to pass him. His eyes looking around on a while as he kept his focus on the handsome first-year student before him.

  He did not know what he was capable of… But the feeli from him, in addition to his coach’s warning, put him on high alert.

  At that moment, he noticed Koji approag from Yuuji’s blindspot with his arms in front of his body. A form indig that he was going in to s Yuuji for him.

  The moment Koji got into position, Kasamatsu burst into speed and rushed to his right!

  With Koji there to block Yuuji’s path, he’d be able to gh unscathed and take the first point!

  But from the er of his eyes… Kasamatsu noticed something and widened his eyes in shobsp;

  The moment Yuuji was about to pursue him, he actually turned around instantly, avoiding Koji who was standing right in his blind spot, as if knowing he was there.

  And in but a split sed, Yuuji was right there before him once more, blog his path, and pletely ued by the s.

  “What the-?!”

  Kasamatsu halted abruptly. And in that moment of pse and shock, his body froze for an instant, locked in pbsp;

  But his eyes tio track Yuuji’s swift movements, albeit barely. He saw Yuuji reag his hand to the ball, and tapped it off his hands mid dribble.

  In the moment, the slowed time returo normal as Yuuji was no longer before him, and was already dribbling the ball towards the other side of the court.

  “Kuh…! Defense!!!”

  Kasamatsu shouted, snapping all members of Kaijo out of their shock, and ran back to their side of the court.

  But no matter how fast they run, the gap between them and Yuuji only grew. And before they could do anything, Yuuji jumped slightly from uhe ring, and scored with a simple yup.

  *WHISTLE!*

  Kasamatsu, Koji, Moriyama, Nakamura, and Kise all stood in shock, their widened eyes staring at Yuuji in disbelief as he ran back to his side of the court along with his team gratuting him.

  “What was that…?”

  “What just happened…?”

  “...”

  Even Kise, who had seen and pyed with monsters, couldn’t help but look at Yuuji in shock…

  To dodge a s to his blind spot, as if he was already aware of it. And stealing the ball with such speed and perfect timing. Did he possess the same eyes as Akashi…?

  In addition, that speed… It was as if he was looking at Aomine for a moment.

  A terrible gut feeling sank to the pit of his stomabsp;

  This… This still might be a fluke. He might just have above average speed aio time that caught them off guard sihey were uimating Bonyari.

  Moreover, The game had only begun.

  Kasamatsu, although careful, might not have expected anyone from the Bonyari high school team to be this aggressive and got a bit careless as well.

  Yes… That must be it.

  Kise rationalized it in his mind. But for some reason… he could feel a child slowly creeping down his spi was a dreadful feeling.

  Was this… how their oppo felt all this time when fag “them”?

  Kise shook his head and tossed all his delusion away, fog himself on the game.

  ‘I o focus…’

  The game tinued. And although the flow of the game was not what they had expected, Kaijo mao rake up points and slowly recover their pabsp;

  But everytime their fidence was rebuilt, they witnessed something that destroyed it again and again.

  Though his body was slightly leahan Yanagi, Koji mao gain the upper hand in a test of strength uhe ring, thanks to his superior teique, skills, and experienbsp;

  The mome the ball, he pushed Koji off of him and jumped high towards the ring.

  And as he was about to dunk the ball in… something fshed across his eyes. And the ball was no longer in his hands.

  He nded bato the ground dumbfounded, and Yuuji o his side with a tap on the ground.

  His eyes widened in shock. And in that moment, he didn’t realize that the ball Yuuji swatted away from his hands, had fallen to Bonyari’s shooting guard, Kenji’s hands, and they'd already made a break for it.

  “Dammit!”

  “Go back!!!”

  Kasamatsu’s shout drove all of Kaijo to run back to hold a defensive line against Bonyari’s break.

  Kenji passed the ball to Yuuji. And just as Kasamatsu held his ground to face him, Yuuji redirected the ball with one hand and made a swift pass towards the power forward of Bonyari, Ichiro, who was already charging towards the ring.

  The ball nded snuggly in his hands, and the tall, muscur power forward unched into the air and duhe ball into Kaij.

  ‘T-That pass…! It looked like Kuroko’s…!”

  The shadow, sixth man of the geion of miracles… Kise hought he’d be able to see someone do a pass like him.

  But that looked so simir… no, eveer. Although it was impossible for Yuuji to have such a thin presence like Kuroko, he more than made up for such a pass with sheer speed and accurabsp;

  Before anyone realized what he had dohe ball was already in the hands of his teammate.

  Such a thing…

  ‘Seriously… Just who is this guy…?’

  Kise had pyed against teams from numerous schools known for their basketball, and even more skilled pyers. He had also pyed with the best pyers in his geion.

  But… he did not expect to find another one on par with “them” in this pce…!

  The score tio widen… And no one expected it to widen in Bonyari’s favor.

  Kise went and charged forward with the ball in his hands. With him not being marked by Yuuji and making sure he was as far away from him as possible, Kise dribbled past several members of Bonyari easily.

  And when he reached the two-point nd, the first year promising rookie appeared before him.

  “I’ll stop you!”

  Kise smirked slightly, and stretched his arms towards Moriyama, who was standing by at the three-point lio pass.

  “I won’t let you!”

  Suzuki immediately reached out to block it. But the momeook a step too far away, Kise pulled the ball back, took a step backward, and jumped into a fadeaway shot that scored them two points.

  *WHISTLE!*

  Kaijo quickly made their way back to their side of the court after the score. And as they did, Moriyama approached Kise with a smirk.

  “Nice shot. Though I would’ve totally made that too.”

  “Thanks, senpai. But that handsome guy was already eyeing you from afar. I had a feeling he’d steal the ball when I tried to pass it, so I took the shot.”

  “Eh? Seriously? Damn… I didn’t notice it.”

  Moriyama’s eyes narrowed at Yuuji’s figure.

  He… was definitely awed by his monstrous skills… But at the same time, he was extremely jealous of that ikemen!

  After all… he noticed that all those supremely beautiful girls he had his eyes on the moment he came in were all cheering for him and shouting his name whenever he even so much as touched the ball!!!

  How envious… He was so envious of him!!! He wanted beautiful girls to cheer for him as well!!!

  Kise smiled softly, but a frown quickly reappeared in his fabsp;

  That was… extremely close. If he hadn’t realized Yuuji’s movement in time, he would’ve pletely passed to Moriyama. In fact, he almost did.

  And from everything Yuuji had shown him… Kise could easily imagine him being able to read move so quickly as to steal the ball from mid air when he passed to Moriyama.

  ‘Seriously… What a monster…’

  The ball was bato Bonyari’s possession, and it was currently held by Yuuji.

  Yuuji charged forward and dribbled with immense speed.

  Kasamatsu held his ground against him, spreading his arms wide, keeping his hips low and his heels above the ground, allowing him to move at any dire at a moment's notibsp;

  But to his shock… Yuuji stopped.

  He held the ball with both of his hands… and turowards Asahina, who was on the right side of the court, along the three-point line.

  Kasamatsu immediately reacted and reached out to block him the moment Yuuji made the motion to make a pass.

  But just before the ball left his hands… Yuuji took it back, made oep backwards, and made a fadeaway shot.

  ‘T-That was…!’

  ‘T-That’s… The move I just did…!’

  Kasamatsu, Kise, and all Kaijo members, including the coach, all wideheir eyes in shock as they witnessed Yuuji exeg the same exact move Kise had just done.

  And the moment the ball pierced through their ring, they all stood there dumbfounded in silence.

  “Did… that just happened…?”

  Moriyama mumbled in disbelief…

  They’ve seen Kise “copied” other pyer’s movements and shots… But this was the first time they’ve seen someone “copy” Kise instead. And to such… a terrifying degree.

  Not only was it simir… Yuuji’s movement seemed even more seamless and… Better. They could hardly believe their eyes…

  *Whistle!!!*

  The loud sound of the whistle echoed throughout the gym, snapping Kaijo out of their daze.

  “Timeout! Kaijo!”

  Still in a bit of shock, they all turned and looked towards their coach, who was standing in front of the shocked first year-students sitting on the bench, making a “T” with his hands.

  VergsX