One motion—hook shot.
Net.
9 – 8.
The arena exploded.
Taiga landed, frozen.
His chest rose and fell like a piston.
His fists clenched.
That was twice.
Twice now he'd been made to look like a fool.
His pride?
Cracked.
…
After that bucket, Yuto didn't celebrate.
He walked calmly back on defense.
Straight toward Masaki.
Leaning in, he muttered beneath the roar of the crowd,
"We target their hustle first."
Masaki gave the faintest nod.
Because just like Horizon studied Toyonaka's stonewall defense—
Toyonaka had studied Horizon too.
And one of Horizon's keystones?
Taiga Okabe.
The hustle guy.
The man who'd throw himself across the floor to save a ball,
Block a shot from three meters behind,
Who never hesitated.
But hustle has a flaw.
It commits.
Yuto's eyes glinted.
"So we shatter that first. We fake. We twist. We make him doubt."
Either Taiga would keep biting,
Or worse—
He'd start to hesitate.
And a hesitant defender…
Is already broken.
…
