Crownless Kings: Court of Fire-Chapter 30 – Where Emotions Die

📰 Pre-Game Headlines

"Kaizen Faces the Machine: Ichibana Tech Awaits""Shoma Renzaki—The Boy Who Killed Emotion""Drift Stays. But Can Fire Burn Through Ice?"

🧊 Meet the Opponent – Ichibana Tech

Record: Undefeated. Never trailed in the 4th quarter.

Style: Surgical. Mechanical. No emotion. No celebrations. No fouls unless efficient.

System Name: "Glass Court" – Every player acts as a mirror of the others. One fluid, living algorithm.

Captain: Shoma Renzaki

Position: Point Guard

Nickname: "The Freezer"

Playstyle: Predicts opponents 2–3 moves ahead

Signature Move: "Cold Frame" – reads body tension to counter before the attack begins

Known for: Never speaking on court. All passes. No shots unless mathematically optimal

📍Private Meeting – Shoma vs. Riku (Pre-Game)

They meet in a media corridor, alone.

Shoma speaks first.

"You built a team on emotion.I built one on inevitability."

Riku:

"You built a system that can't feel loss.I built one that survived it."

Shoma:

"You're a spark, Aoyama.But sparks go out."

Riku smiles.

"Only if the court lets them.Let's see who the floor remembers."

🏟️ Game Begins – Kaizen vs. Ichibana Tech

First 5 minutes?

Kaizen can't breathe.

Passes cut.Cuts blocked.Screens? Reversed and recycled into steals.

Drift gets stripped.Renji's hesitation is read like a children's book.Souta gets out-calculated.

Score: Ichibana 17 – Kaizen 4

Commentary:

"Ichibana's not even celebrating. This isn't dominance. It's extermination."

🔥 Drift Starts to Snap

He dribbles—1... 2... spin...And Shoma's already there.

Block.

Fastbreak. Bucket.Ichibana still doesn't celebrate.

Drift slams the floor.

"They're not even playing us.They're dismantling us like software."

🧠 Souta's Crack

In the huddle, he breaks down the system.

"They run their Glass Court on shared visual data.Which means if we blur it—jam the logic—we blind them."

Riku:

"Then let's give them something they've never seen—A mistake on purpose."

🔥 Kaizen's Counter – "Fireblind Flow"

Play starts with intentional chaos.

Drift fumbles.Renji fake-falls.Souta screams mid-play.

Shoma twitches—just for a second.

Drift recovers.Cuts through two.Bounce to Keigo—slam.

Next play—Drift calls two plays at once.Souta and Renji break in opposite directions.

Souta fakes a pass—

Shoma reacts.

It was never a pass.Renji's already gone.

Three. Bang.

🧊 Shoma Responds

He doesn't yell.Doesn't blink.

Just taps his teammates once each.

Next play—Ichibana scores in 7 seconds flat.And again.And again.

Half ends: Ichibana 38 – Kaizen 28

🧠 Halftime – The Realization

Coach Tanaka:

"They're not unbeatable.They're just not afraid to lose the part of themselves we still protect."

Everyone's silent.

Then Riku:

"Then we strip it.No emotion.No hesitation.No rhythm. Just will."

⚔️ Second Half – Kaizen Fights with Ice

They copy Ichibana's style for 5 minutes.Call-and-react.No celebrations. No noise.They become shadows.

Souta calls plays with hand flicks.Drift doesn't speak.Renji doesn't blink.

Kaizen ties it: 50–50

Shoma—finally—frowns.

🩸 Final 2 Minutes – Soul Comes Back

Kaizen's trying to be cold.

But Riku calls timeout.

"Now bring it back.We made them feel.Let's *remind them how much it hurts.**"

🔥 Final Possession

Score: 63–638 seconds.Kaizen ball.

No play is called.

Drift holds it.Renji stands still.Souta fades to the right.

Drift looks up—no signal.

He smiles.

"Let's burn this book."

He drives.Shoma steps early—pre-cut read.

But Drift stops. Mid-step.

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Floater.

It's short—

Renji flies in—putback off the glass.

Buzzer.

🏆 Final Score: Kaizen 65 – Ichibana 63 🧢 Aftermath

Shoma walks over.Offers Riku a nod.

"You showed me something terrifying."

Riku:

"What?"

Shoma:

"That systems can be rewritten.And fire... remembers everything it touches."

🔮 Final Scene

Coach Tanaka gets a text:

"New tournament forming. Global invitational.Only 4 teams from Japan will qualify.""Kaizen is already on the shortlist."

"And so is Black Fang."