Chapter 33: Kyōsen Private Middle School Vs Tōdaiji Private Middle School; Second Half
「Nara Preliminaries, Day 5, Winners of Both Blocks, Round 5: Exhibition Match.」
After seeing Mitsui use his abilities once, Seiji already got a response from his ability 「The End」. The ability to see trajectories and the ability that gives him great touch.
These will definitely help him a whole bunch since Seiji never really took any shot that he haven't practiced before. Also, Seiji doesn't really take a shot that he knew would miss.
With his inhuman speed of calculation and reflex, Seiji could make a split second calculation on whether he could sink a shot in or not. If the shot have a probability to miss, Seiji wouldn't take it and would just pass the ball to an open teammate.
This is also why Seiji is quite thankful to have unlocked 「The End」 and learned 「Balor's View」 from DeAndre Paul. With just that ability in hand, Seiji could safely create space and take a comfortable shot without going through any of the hassle of thinking, "What move should I do next? Would my shot go in? What if he doesn't buy my fake?".
During the match between Kyōsen and Tōdaiji, Kyōsen got the ball possession and the ball is in Seiji's hands. Seiji and Kogure switched defenders, making him and Mitsui, the two aces of both teams, face each other in an isolation play.
"What do you mean by, let me show you?"
At Mitsui's question, Seiji just smiled slightly and continued to dribble the ball. Seiji couldn't completely free form his ball handling, only doing the fundamentals, so Mitsui, who have a ton of experience guarding players like that, could handle him just fine.
Not to mention that Mitsui is also a phenomenal defender. Last year, Mitsui was able to defend against Fukuda who is only second to Seiji when it comes to scoring ability.
"It looks like you're not as good as Akagi says—"
Right when Mitsui said this, Seiji begin his move. With a step back, Seiji managed to create a bit of space between him and Mitsui. Then, without any hesitation, Seiji pulled up for a three-point attempt.
Of course, this seemingly forced three-point attempt was easily read by a veteran in the middle school basketball scene like Mitsui. When he tried to block the shot, the shot seemingly passed through his own hand.
The ball created a beautiful parabola in the air that perfectly passed through the hoop with a swish. After coming down from the air, Mitsui looked at his own hands then at Seiji.
He can't believe that just happened. The ball passed right through his hands like it's some kind of magic.
After that, a few more shots like that happened, completely baffling Mitsui. No matter how much he tries to block Seiji's shot, the ball just pass right through his hands and go through nothing but the net.
Seeing Mitsui's expression, Seiji couldn't help but smile slightly. This is something that he thought of after hearing about Mitsui's ability.
The ability to see trajectories is rather vague but it really is just an ability to see trajectories AND 'lock' on a target.
It's like your eyes is a camera that sees many trajectories in your vision depending on how much force you put into the supposed shot. The 'lock' on comes into play when you 'select' a 'target' of your choosing.
It's similar to those kids games where you could see where the object will land after applying a specific amount of force. However, unlike those games, you could see many of these trajectories.
When you 'lock' on a 'target', the other unnecessary trajectories will vanish, while the trajectories that will lead to that specific target you are aiming for will be emphasized even more.
It's like your brain is automatically telling you where you could shoot and which angles could be used in order to hit that specific shot. If this is a game, for a shooter, 「Eye of Odin」 is basically a cheat code that will grant you 100% accuracy and unlimited scores depending on your stamina gauge.
This is not the only benefit of having this ability though. Since you could see trajectories, you could also see where the block of the defender would be heading while he is still in motion for a block.
It's basically a future prediction for a shooter.
It's like, "Oh, a block is coming in this angle? I have to adjust my shot a little bit to this side in order to avoid it". What Seiji did to Mitsui is quite similar to what he did to Seiji the first time they first faced off.
However, unlike Mitsui who thoroughly avoided the trajectory of Seiji's block, Seiji used his 「Balor's View」 in conjunction with 「Eye of Odin」 in order to predict the timing of Mitsui's blocks.
Basically, what he did is shoot the ball just at the perfect timing when the block is just about to reach it's highest point. The timing of his release is so pixel perfect that it gave Mitsui the illusion that the ball just passed right through his hands.
While this technique certainly is quite fancy and could quite possibly break a defender's psyche, it really is a hard shot to pull off.
He could only use this shot to a person who doesn't know the trick in his shot. If not, there might be some deviation that could happen.
The thing is, Seiji uses not only his 「Eye of Odin」 and 「Balor's View」 but also his inhuman calculation speed and reflexes to ascertain whether his shot could make it. Just a single missteps in this shot could spell being blocked after all.
'If my 「Superhuman Physiology」 could awaken early, I'll be able to make this shot into a real unlockable shot.'
After that, many other quarters and possessions passed but Mitsui could not block a single shot of Seiji. Meanwhile, Mitsui is starting to miss more and more shots as time goes by. His psyche is affected quite badly, resulting in his shots missing or getting blocked more often.
This whole game turned into a shoot off between Mitsui and Seiji from the start of first quarter 'til near the last five minutes of the second quarter. Even though the pace is quite slow, at the rate of a shot being taken each 20 or so seconds, the score still ballooned to 74-54.
After that, the coach of Tōdaiji pulled out Mitsui in order for him to take a rest for five minutes, with the halftime break not included. He wanted him to be in his best condition in the upcoming third and fourth quarter.
After Mitsui was benched, Seiji returned to practicing and polishing his defense. Unlike offense, Seiji couldn't practice this alone and he needed more experience guarding different kinds of players.
This is why Seiji chose to practice his defense in this preliminaries.
The crowd, who remained at the edge of their seats watching the three-point shootout between Seiji and Mitsui, finally managed to breathe a sigh of relief. However, even as the remaining five minutes of the game played out, the crowd still couldn't move on from that very long three-point shootout.
The game's pace became slightly faster after Seiji and Mitsui's duel, resulting in the score at the end of the second quarter to be 96-68.
※・※・※・※
After the halftime, the game continued in a similar fashion as the first and second quarter. Mitsui and Seiji once again rained down threes upon their helpless enemies who could only watch as the ball go in over and over.
Watching these two players do all these, the remaining players on the court couldn't help but be amazed. Both teams are now only relying on their aces to possibly break this balance.
Mitsui tried again and again to block Seiji's magic-like shot but it never succeeded. Meanwhile, Seiji also tried to block and cut the angles Mitsui could take but Mitsui would just take another angle to shoot a three.
His reflexes and jumping ability helped him cut many angles but that just wasn't enough to stop him.
"To think that Mitsui will reach this height without even a proper trainer. Me, on the other hand, is having problems controlling myself," Akagi murmured.
He is aware of his problems but he just couldn't help it. As a youth, who wouldn't pass on the chance to dunk over people if they can?
Along with the fact that no center aside from Hanagata could really stop him from going to that paint and dunking the ball, Akagi got quite used to it.
When it was only two minutes remaining, Mitsui's plays became more and more sharp. Seiji didn't have any problems keeping up to him but he did notice him focus more and more every play.
It was when the game time have only two minutes remaining that the balance between the two aces tipped. With both players attempting twelve three-pointers and sinking all twelve of them, it is quite normal for someone to feel tired.
*slap*
With his jump being higher than normal, Seiji finally managed to block Mitsui's shots this third quarter. There's just something about Mitsui this quarter that made it difficult for Seiji to guard against him.
As the ball flew away and go out of bounds, Mitsui couldn't help but go into deep thought.
'I'm feeling tired. The score never came close. This Arisugawa doesn't look like he's tired at all. Even if he is tired, his teammates aren't. With a lead like that, a team such as Kyōsen could maintain it until they eventually win the match.'
*prrt*
"Black's(Tōdaiji's) Ball"
With the referee's call, the Mitsui absentmindedly went to the corner and inbounded the ball to his team's point guard.
'The game is already over if this continues but why am I still playing so hard to the point of near exhaustion? Didn't I play this game because I was coincidentally good at it? Then… why… why am I trying so hard to win?'
After his thoughts arrived to that point, the ball flew towards his direction, a pass from Koganei. Holding the ball in his hands, Mitsui showed a smile.
"That's right. I just wanted to win against a great opponent like this guy. I hate it when I'm not better than everyone, after all."
*tzzzt*
*tzzt* *tzzzzzt*
Along with his quiet murmurs, a flash of gray lightning surged from his eyes. His vision turned monochromatic and his ears also filtered what he is hearing. His senses got even more sharpened and he felt like he could now do anything he wanted to in the court.
*dang* *dang*
With two crossover dribbles to sell out a drive, Mitsui stepped back, creating a lot of space between him and Seiji, before shooting a three-pointer. Without even looking if his shot went in or not, Mitsui addressed Seiji who is in front of him.
"I'm gonna beat you and then everyone else to get the championship this Nationals!"
*swish*
"The Zone… huh. Just when I'm getting the hang of how to properly handle his ever changing shots, he entered the zone. Great…"
※・※・※・※
To be continued…
[A/N¹: I guess you all know why Seiji couldn't block Mitsui's shots as much? Even if Seiji manages to cut many angles, Mitsui could just take another trajectory to still make the shot. It's like you are against a mix between Midorima and Aomine. Even though it is like that, Mitsui still have a chance to miss unlike Midorima's Perfect Accuracy. However, if Mitsui could utilize his ability's full potential, he could do something like what Seiji is doing.]
[A/N²: Take note that Mitsui couldn't use the ability like how Seiji is using it. He is just using it simply, choosing a trajectory and shooting the ball. There are many things he could do, like extending his range, but he didn't really explore his ability that much.]
[A/N³: Do give me some input about different abilities a player could use. Thank you.]
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone