"Huh? Has your coach lost his mind? He's sending you to guard me?"
Aomine pointed at Kota with an exaggerated look of disbelief.
Noticing the contempt in Aomine's tone, a vein popped on Kota's forehead, but he still kept a smirk on his face.
"Can't be helped. You've been acting way too cocky, so coach figured someone had to humble you a bit."
Aomine let out a mocking chuckle and pointed to the scoreboard.
"Finally" he thought, "finally I get to throw this back at him!"
Kota followed Aomine's finger and glanced up.
55 to 45, Too in the lead.
Feigning surprise, Kota clapped sarcastically.
"Wow, only a ten-point lead by halftime, and Aomine Daiki's already this excited? As expected from the ace of the Generation of Miracles. Definitely built different."
He even gave a few fake applause claps, pretending to celebrate Aomine's 'achievement'.
Aomine's smirk immediately stiffened, now plastered right onto Kota's face. Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm down.
"Get ready... I'll show you how God plays basketball."
"Oh~ The way you hype yourself up is really inspiring, Mr. Aomine~"
Aomine didn't bother replying, mainly because — let's be honest — he couldn't outtalk Kota anyway. He turned to get ready for the inbound pass.
Kota scratched his nose, staring at Aomine lowering his stance, ready to drive. And then, out of nowhere, Kota lunged for a risky steal, going straight for Aomine's lower body.
Aomine's eyes sharpened as he instantly adjusted, spinning with an exaggerated motion to shake Kota off completely.
"Got him."
A smirk tugged at Aomine's lips. Beating Kota felt way more satisfying than beating Kise ever did.
...Or so he thought.
Smack!
A smack came from behind — Kasamatsu had rushed over and slapped Aomine's shooting arm. Aomine scowled, twisting mid-air to switch hands and finish the layup with his left. The ball floated... and went in.
BEEP!
"Too 5 — Basket counts. Plus one free throw."
Landing, Aomine turned back and glanced at Kasamatsu, grumbling internally.
"Was that... on purpose?"
Still, he shrugged it off.
"Guess he finally snapped after getting bullied this whole game."
Except... then things got weird.
Every single time Aomine drove to the basket, someone from Kaijo would jump out and foul him. At first, Aomine just raised a brow, thinking,
"Did these guys hit their heads? Why hand me free throws?"
But after the fourth... fifth... sixth time, he realized something. His stamina was draining faster. His scoring efficiency wasn't improving.
Why?
Because Kaijo didn't care about fouling anymore — they cranked the physicality to the max. Every possession was a wrestling match.
This... was Kota's halftime special: The Foul Strategy.
If Aomine's gonna score no matter what, then why let him do it comfortably? Two points from a layup and two points from free throws are the same on the scoreboard... but one comes with extra pain, broken rhythm, and wasted stamina.
Even Momoi, watching from the bench, sat there in stunned silence. The world of Kuroko no Basket had never witnessed something this... morally questionable. No wonder Kasamatsu's soul almost left his body when Kota first suggested it.
Aomine frowned.
"Tch... Keep this up, and you guys are gonna foul out soon."
Kota shot him a look as if he was watching someone lick a frozen pole in winter.
"Bro... do you not understand what we're doing here?"
Before Aomine could process that, the referee's whistle blew.
"Kaijo substitution"
Two players — who had never seen the light of day in a real game — checked in.
Aomine stood there, mouth wide open.
"...No way. These lunatics are actually serious."
Up in the stands, everyone else was equally stunned.
Seirin and Shuutoku's players gawked.
Kagami practically broke his jaw.
"Yo... you can play basketball like this!?"
Kuroko nodded respectfully toward Kota, eyes full of admiration.
Midorima adjusted his glasses, covering his surprise.
"...As absurd as it is... the tactic works."
Takao blinked twice, deadpan.
"Man... this feels illegal. Like, morally illegal."
...
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?"
Aomine got yanked down again mid-layup, dragged straight to the free throw line like it was some kind of theme park ride. He walked up mechanically, eyes hollow, looking like a broken man as he tossed the ball up.
Kota watched with a glint in his eyes. This is it... the chance for counterattack. He shot Coach Takeuchi an 'OK' sign. Takeuchi nodded instantly.
Taking advantage of the free throw break, Kaijo made yet another substitution. Kasamatsu and the others returned to the court.
Aomine noticed, rubbing his temples.
"Here we go again... what now?"
But this time... something was different.
Kota grinned, raised three fingers, and tapped his temple.
Everyone on Kaijo instantly straightened. They knew exactly what that meant. Other than Kasamatsu, the rest sprinted straight to the three-point line.
Aomine blinked.
"...Huh?"
Kota casually passed the ball to Kise.
"Oh? Finally gonna try scoring now, Kise?"
Aomine licked his lips. Even though he was dead tired and out of the Zone, he could still handle Kise in regular mode.
During all the chaos of the foul-fest, Kise had been resting on the bench. Now, he looked much fresher.
Lowering his stance, Kise muttered,
"Man... I really wanted to go one-on-one with you, Aominecchi... but nah, not today."
"Huh? What was that?"
Before Aomine could finish the thought, Kise exploded forward. Aomine reacted instantly and spun to stay in front of him.
"Useless, Kise. You're not beating me with this level of—"
Aomine locked eyes with Kise, silently daring him to bring it on. But Kise didn't even look back. As soon as he hit the paint, Kise whipped a slick behind-the-back pass... straight to Kasamatsu at the perimeter.
Aomine's eyes widened.
"COVER HIM!"
Too scrambled. Someone rushed toward Kasamatsu, but Kasamatsu didn't hesitate — he swung the ball to the top of the key. Kota caught it clean.
Imayoshi lunged to contest — or tried to. Kise stepped right in his path, blocking him perfectly.
"AO-MI-NEEE!!" Imayoshi barked.
"Yeah yeah, no need to yell!"
Aomine sprinted over... but someone slid into his path. Kasamatsu again, setting a perfect screen.
No escape.
Kota smiled, rose for the shot, and with no one in his face...
SWISH!
Three-pointer, nothing but net.
Kota raised his right hand, tapped his temple with three fingers. This was the signal for Kaijo's trump card: Three-Point Strategy
[Deepens understanding of 3-point tactics. When initiating a strategy, teammates' tactical awareness and execution are boosted]
Kota turned toward Too, grinning from ear to ear.
"Hope you guys are ready... 'cause the three-point tsunami is coming for ya."