Chapter 5: Kendo Basketball
Seeing Akashi taking his ball and dribbling out of the three-point line, Mitsui Daichi's expression became serious. You know, before, he only used part of the strength he had in normal practice to fight against Akashi, because he could not feel the threat from Akashi. At least in his opinion, Akashi was not serious.
Now Akashi, who was dribbling the ball and looking at Mitsui Daichi, began to slowly become serious. While dribbling the ball, he checked Mitsui Daichi's defensive movements, trying to find a gap in them. But Mitsui Daichi's movements were too steady, so steady that there was no trace of a flaw at all. But Akashi was Akashi after all.
As the next captain who had already been scheduled, he was able to find a loophole in Mitsui Daichi's movements and took advantage of this flaw to perfectly break Mitsui Daichi's defense. But just after he broke through Mitsui Daichi, he thought he could never catch up, but suddenly Mitsui Daichi appeared in front of him.
He stopped Akashi again. Mitsui Daichi looked at Akashi very calmly at this time. Thinking back to the flaw that Akashi had caught when he switched his steps and it was easily discovered by Akashi, Mitsui Daichi gradually began to perform the movements more perfectly. At least now there was no trace of incoordination at all.
But Akashi, who was already on guard against Mitsui Daichi, did not bump into him at once. Instead, he stopped his movements, pulled the basketball back with all his strength, and then pulled it outside the three-point line. The two men were once again in a confrontation.
This exciting game also made a group of people on the sidelines exclaim that it was wonderful, but Midorima Shintaro raised his glasses with his hand and said, "So why not make good use of the three-point threat?" In his opinion, if Akashi's three-point threat on the court was strong enough, he would not have struggled so much.
Akashi doesn't have such a stable shooting ability now, at least he doesn't have a very high hit rate from the three-point line now.
Akashi, who was constantly dribbling the ball and looking for opportunities on the court, was slightly surprised when he saw Mitsui Daichi in front of him lowering his center of gravity and looking at him seriously. You know, such one-on-one duels are rare in the team, and he only knew Mitsui Daichi during training and practice games, mostly as a teammate.
At this moment, he also understood why in the previous practice matches, whether it was Aomine or Haizaki, they found it difficult to score against Mitsui Daichi's defense, even if the two were fast enough. If they wanted to score, they almost always had to rely on all kinds of unreasonable shots.
Sometimes even Haizaki couldn't shoot at all, and only Aomine could barely score. The defense of Mitsui Daichi in front of him was too stable. No matter whether he wanted to break through or shoot, Mitsui Daichi could almost keep up with the opponent no matter where he stood.
This also made the competitive Akashi have some ideas. He wanted to see the true strength of Mitsui Daichi. The strength that Mitsui Daichi usually showed was completely incomparable to what he was displaying now. At this time, he was also convinced that Mitsui Daichi did not use his full strength when attacking, especially during training games; he spent more time running tactics.
With this in mind, Akashi gradually revealed his flaws, allowing Mitsui Daichi, who originally had no chance to steal the ball, to find an opportunity to do so. However, he didn't know that this was a flaw that Akashi deliberately revealed to him. He wanted to see what Mitsui Daichi would look like on the offensive end.
The few goals scored just now did not fully reflect most of Mitsui Daichi's strength. It can only be said that it was just average, just like what he usually showed.
Just when Mitsui Daichi was still wondering why he got the ball so easily, Akashi's defensive move made him realize the opponent's intentions, which also aroused Mitsui Daichi's interest.
Ever since learning kendo, Mitsui Daichi has been constantly trying to integrate kendo into basketball. With his day-to-day persistence and practice, he has integrated most of the kendo routines and has good enough physical fitness. Now he has perfectly integrated kendo and basketball.
Now, even without relying solely on his natural abilities, he can fully display his own basketball style. Mitsui Daichi grabbed the ball behind him with one hand, looking like a samurai about to draw his sword. This also intrigued Akashi. Mitsui Daichi had never made such a posture before, and he had never even seen anyone use kendo moves in basketball.
Just when Akashi was about to anticipate Mitsui Daichi's next move, Mitsui Daichi in front of him had already thrown the ball. Mitsui Daichi put one hand on his waist and threw the ball calmly without jumping at all. The speed of the shot made Akashi unable to keep up or defend.
Seeing the basketball pierce into the basket like a sword, the whole basketball court was in an uproar. Even Midorima Shintaro on the sidelines showed a hint of surprise. He couldn't comprehend preparing with one hand and shooting without jumping; this one-handed action was completely inconsistent with the fundamentals of shooting.
The ball was placed too low, and it looked like a preparatory move for a breakthrough. However, this sudden attack defied everyone's expectations. Even Akashi, who was preparing for a defensive breakthrough on the court, was deceived by this move.
Seeing Mitsui Daichi who got the ball again, Akashi asked him, "What is this?" Mitsui Daichi did not understand what Akashi meant, so Akashi continued, "I mean, what is this shot?" Mitsui Daichi said calmly, "Kendo Iai Slash."
"Did you hear that? He said kendo?"
"Iai Slash? Really?"
"It really looks like the Iai Slash, the sword is sheathed and drawn in one go."
"But fusing kendo with basketball is too unorthodox!"
"Really? Wasn't Aomine's goal just now even more unorthodox?"
"Okay! They are all monsters, and I am not worthy of them."
People on the sidelines who heard Mitsui Daichi's words began to discuss what he said, and Aomine Daiki, who was attracted by Mitsui Daichi's action, said happily: "Shintaro, did you hear that? Daichi said this is kendo! I want to learn it too!" At the same time, Haizaki Shogo beside him also nodded.
Midorima Shintaro, who also loves shooting, nodded silently while looking at the ball, but he kept thinking about something in his mind, and even his gaze towards Mitsui Daichi became intense.
At the same time, Akashi, who was facing the ball directly, also whispered: "Kendo? Is this your true strength?" But Mitsui Daichi did not answer, but looked at Akashi with an undeniable expression, while continuing to do the same action with the basketball in his hand, but this time Akashi came directly up.
The shot just now could only be said to have caught him off guard, but as long as he got close enough, such a low shooting preparation point was too easy to defend. But at the moment he got close, Mitsui Daichi bypassed Akashi with a huge turning arc, and the whole person came behind Akashi, completely blocking Akashi's space to return to defense.
Although Akashi was fooled by this move, the ball exposed behind him could be easily intercepted by him. Thinking of this, he reached for the ball behind him, but Mitsui Daichi's next move directly avoided his attempt and even threw the ball out.
Mitsui Daichi gently pulled the exposed ball, turned sideways, and completely shook Akashi off, and followed up with a shooting action, and the basketball went straight into the basketball hoop.
Watching Mitsui Daichi's two breakthrough moves, Akashi asked calmly, "What are these two moves? This is not an ordinary turn; the arc is very large, and it can also pull back and turn." Mitsui Daichi, who was spinning the ball, also replied calmly, "Kendo, a combination of Qi Fan and Yan Fan, but I used it for the turn."
At this time, Nijimura Shuzo, who was the referee on the sidelines, was also watching Mitsui Daichi's movements carefully. There were no fouls, no traveling, and his movements were very clean and neat. After hearing what Mitsui Daichi said, he was also secretly surprised. At least in his opinion, Mitsui Daichi had reached a level in the action of turning around that was difficult for ordinary people to surpass.
Mitsui Daichi got the ball again and made the same ball-holding action as before. This time, Akashi did not approach easily but made the same defensive posture as before that was easy to defend against shots and easy to follow breakthroughs. However, what he did not expect was that when Mitsui Daichi saw his action, he directly lifted the ball and made a normal shooting action.
This made it impossible for Akashi to keep up at all. Although the posture he changed could defend against shots, it was an adjustment made for Mitsui Daichi's Iai technique, and it was not so easy to defend against normal shots. Sure enough, when Akashi pressed forward to interfere, Mitsui Daichi had already shot the ball.
In the end, Mitsui Daichi won the duel with a score of ten to eight, but among these ten goals, the subsequent seven goals made Akashi rack his brains to defend, because almost every time Mitsui Daichi's movements were switching between kendo style and normal style, and even combined the two later.
This made Akashi suffer a loss for the first time, and he had no idea how to deal with it. But at the same time, Akashi used continuous breakthroughs to create space in the subsequent attacks and showed his personal dribbling ability to everyone for the first time. He could even do the ankle break like Aomine easily, but he didn't have Aomine's speed.
It was more of a unique change of rhythm of his own. Although Mitsui Daichi was not completely knocked down, it delayed his defensive action, which caused his subsequent defensive action to be delayed, thus gaining space for shooting.
But in the subsequent attacks, Mitsui Daichi also found something wrong. Most of the time, his breakthroughs were discovered by Akashi, even after combining them with kendo. He always felt that Akashi still hadn't fully exerted his strength, and there was always a sense of incongruity with Akashi.
And in the following few attacks of Akashi, that sense of disharmony became more and more obvious, especially a few times when he could obviously keep up, but there was always a problem with his ankle. If he didn't know that he would not be easily injured, he would have suspected that he had suffered some serious injury.
This was something he discovered himself. When he saw that he would not get hurt in the system, he thought that he would never get hurt. However, he sprained his waist during a kendo practice. Only then did he realize that his inability to get hurt only meant that he would not suffer from major injuries that would ruin his career, but he was still prone to minor injuries.
After the duel ended, Mitsui Daichi looked at Akashi with a serious look. At least in his opinion, Akashi in front of him did not really exert his full strength, otherwise there would not be such a sense of incongruity.
Akashi, who was recording Mitsui Daichi's new information in his notebook, also noticed Mitsui Daichi's gaze and smiled at him. He was recording something seriously. If someone looked closely at his hand while he was writing, they would find that Akashi's arm was shaking constantly.
He kept responding to the voice in his heart, and a hint of fear came from his heart, and that voice kept asking himself: Exchange? After the exchange, you will be the strongest on the basketball court. But in the end, Akashi still suppressed her and kept suppressing herself by writing materials.
On the other side, after leaving the court, Mitsui Daichi was also pulled by Aomine Daiki, who wanted him to continue to challenge him, but Mitsui Daichi couldn't accept it at this time. Just when he was about to refuse, Nijimura Shuzo said to everyone on the basketball court: "Assemble!"
After hearing what Nijimura Shuzo said, Aomine Daiki, who was still clinging to Mitsui Daichi, was pulled away by Nijimura Shuzo with a reluctant look on his face. After they all stood in place, Nijimura Shuzo said to everyone, "Starting tomorrow, the practice match between Teikou and other schools will also begin. This time I will announce the roster of players."
As he said this, he took out a piece of paper from his pocket. It was filled with dense writing. After he flipped through the list, he began to read out the names on it: "Starting PG, Akashi Seijuro. Starting SG, Midorima Shintaro. Starting SF, Aomine Daiki. Starting PF, Nijimura Shuzo. Starting C, Shion Atsushi."
The whole stadium was in an uproar when they heard this arrangement. Even Aomine Daiki asked Nijimura Shuzo in confusion, "Where's Daichi? Why isn't he in the starting lineup?" Even Midorima Shintaro, who had been calm all the time, looked at Nijimura Shuzo in confusion. You know, he didn't think that he was stronger than Mitsui Daichi now.
Nijimura Shuzo paused and said, "Mitsui Daichi will be the substitute for both PG and SG, and the other substitute will be Haizaki Shogo at the SF position. The old players will all leave the basketball club this time, so this will be our roster from now on. Unless there are special circumstances, it will be like this."
After Nijimura Shuzo finished his announcement and disbanded, Aomine Daiki and the others came to Mitsui Daichi to ask about this matter, and Mitsui Daichi replied calmly: "I applied for it myself, so it's like this, and I believe you won't let me play because you are beaten, right? I really want to rest for a while."
His words also caused dissatisfaction among those around him, and they all said that they would definitely not let Mitsui Daichi play. In particular, Midorima Shintaro looked at Mitsui Daichi with shining eyes, and no one knew what he was thinking.