The second quarter began.
Kirisaki Daiichi had the ball.
After receiving the pass, Shogo Haizaki slowly dribbled toward the frontcourt.
As he advanced, a smile gradually appeared on his face, as if something interesting was about to happen.
He slowly reached the three point line in the frontcourt.
Shoichi Imayoshi had already been waiting there, arms spread as he defended.
At the same time, Shoichi Imayoshi sensed the change in Shogo Haizaki.
'Hm? His presence changed...'
Just as Shoichi Imayoshi was still thinking, Shogo Haizaki's voice slowly drifted over.
"Fourteen seconds."
Shoichi Imayoshi froze for a moment and looked at Shogo Haizaki in confusion.
That single look left Shoichi Imayoshi stunned.
Because at that moment, Shogo Haizaki's body was giving off a milky white glow, and even his gray hair had started to change.
Under that milky white light, his gray hair looked almost snow-white.
Shoichi Imayoshi even had a strange illusion.
Shogo Haizaki... had become handsome...
The others also looked at Shogo Haizaki in surprise, shock showing on their faces.
Off the court, Makoto Hanamiya paused, then said in confusion, "Is that Selfless? But why does it feel a little off?"
Kentaro Seto shook his head and said, "I don't know what's going on either."
On the court.
Daiki Aomine frowned and thought to himself:
'Selfless? No, not quite. Then what is it?'
Shoichi Imayoshi quickly snapped back to his senses. He spread his arms to defend and asked, "What do you mean, fourteen seconds?"
Shogo Haizaki did not answer. He only smiled faintly, then launched his attack.
Shogo Haizaki's center of gravity instantly dropped to an unbelievably low point, and his speed shot from zero to max in an instant.
Before Shoichi Imayoshi could even react, Shogo Haizaki had blown clean past him in one step.
Shoichi Imayoshi only blinked once, and Shogo Haizaki had already vanished. His heart shook.
'How is he so fast?!'
Daiki Aomine was stunned too, because Shogo Haizaki's movement just now, as well as the way he accelerated from a standstill, was exactly the same as his own!
It was as if it had been carved straight from his bones!
After breaking past Shoichi Imayoshi, Shogo Haizaki reached the free throw line and jumped for a shot.
Kosuke Wakamatsu and Ryo Sakurai immediately came over to help defend.
Seeing this, Shogo Haizaki did not panic. Instead, the smile on his face widened.
Then Shogo Haizaki passed the basketball out in midair, sending it to Dicky Anthony on the perimeter.
After catching the ball, Dicky Anthony said happily, "Nice."
Then he jumped and shot.
Because Ryo Sakurai had gone to help defend Shogo Haizaki, there was no defender in front of Dicky Anthony at all.
Of course, even if Ryo Sakurai had been in front of him, it would not have mattered.
After all, Dicky Anthony's wingspan was beyond ordinary.
Dicky Anthony released the ball with an extremely standard jump shot. Compared to before, his shooting speed had improved significantly.
His shooting motion had also become smoother and cleaner.
Clearly, this was the result of Dicky Anthony's formal training with the Black Dragon Team and at Kirisaki Daiichi.
What was surprising was that after the shot went in, exactly ten seconds remained on the shot clock, though not many people noticed.
Because once the ball went in, possession effectively changed, and the shot clock immediately reset to twenty-four seconds.
Possession changed.
Tōō High had the ball.
As Shoichi Imayoshi brought the ball up the court, he was still thinking about the "fourteen seconds" Shogo Haizaki had just said.
In fact, he already had a guess in mind. He simply had not had time to verify it yet.
And that guess was terrifying.
Just thinking about it made the hairs on Shoichi Imayoshi's body stand on end. He looked at Shogo Haizaki and thought:
'If it really is what I think it is, then this is going to be difficult...'
Shoichi Imayoshi arrived in front of Shogo Haizaki and took a deep breath. He had already made up his mind.
On the next possession, he would pay close attention to what Shogo Haizaki said and how the time passed.
"Nine seconds."
Suddenly, Shogo Haizaki slowly said those words.
Shoichi Imayoshi froze and instinctively asked, "What?"
The next second...
Smack!!!
The basketball in his hand was suddenly slapped away by Shogo Haizaki.
Shoichi Imayoshi immediately cursed inwardly:
'Damn it! I got careless!'
However, to confirm the thought in his mind, Shoichi Imayoshi still turned to glance at the clock.
Then he saw it.
The shot clock... had fifteen seconds left...
In other words, Shogo Haizaki's slap had happened exactly nine seconds into their possession!
Shoichi Imayoshi felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He stood frozen in place, even forgetting to get back on defense.
While retreating, Kosuke Wakamatsu saw Shoichi Imayoshi's state and hurriedly shouted, "Imayoshi! What are you doing?!"
Shoichi Imayoshi instantly snapped back to his senses and said, somewhat at a loss, "Huh? I..."
Kosuke Wakamatsu looked confused. Then he looked ahead and saw that Shogo Haizaki had already dunked the basketball in.
So he stopped trying to get back on defense and stood where he was, asking worriedly, "Imayoshi! What happened to you?"
On the sideline, Tōō's coach Katsunori Harasawa also noticed something was wrong and immediately called a timeout.
Seeing this, the referee blew the whistle.
"Beep! Tōō High requests a timeout!"
After they came off the court.
Katsunori Harasawa was the first to speak.
"Imayoshi, did something happen just now?"
Shoichi Imayoshi gave a bitter laugh, took a deep breath, and explained his discovery and his theory.
After hearing it, everyone on Tōō fell into thought and silence.
Katsunori Harasawa also felt that the whole thing sounded a little absurd. He asked again, "You mean that Haizaki can predict how many seconds it will take for them to score, and how many seconds it will take for us to lose the ball?"
Shoichi Imayoshi nodded with a bitter smile.
He had not believed it at first either, but it had happened that way on both offense and defense in a row. It had shaken his confidence.
On the other side, after Shogo Haizaki excitedly showed off to Kirisaki Daiichi, they also fell into thought.
Makoto Hanamiya quickly asked, "Haizaki! Is this the reason you were reading books before?!"
Shogo Haizaki nodded excitedly and said with great pride, "Of course! This is the secret technique Tokima-san told me about! It's called the [Limit of Selfless Brilliance]!"
"To pull it off, you need a smart brain, fast thinking, and strong calculation skills!"
...
Translator's Note: In a few earlier chapters, the term No-Self was used for this technique/state. This was a translation consistency issue during terminology adjustment. The correct standardized term going forward is Selfless. Any previous instances of No-Self should be understood as referring to Selfless. Thank you for your understanding.