Black Basketball: A false start

Chapter 147 It’s really you
"Hey, Dad, I'm back!" As the moonlight fell on the window lattice, Sakuragi Hanamichi returned home after completing the basketball team training.

"Oh, it's Hanamichi who's back." Sakuragi's father, wearing an apron, came out of the kitchen and said with a smile, "Hurry up and wash your hands and get ready for dinner. The meal will be ready soon."

"What are we having for dinner today, Dad?" Sakuragi Hanamichi put down his schoolbag and walked into the kitchen and asked, "Is there anything I can help you with... Wow, we have beef today..."

"Oh, don't worry about it. Just go wash your hands and prepare for dinner!" Sakuragi's father smiled and pushed Sakuragi Hanamichi out of the kitchen.

"Ah, hey... stop pushing me!" Sakuragi Hanamichi was pushed out by his father unexpectedly. He looked at the closed kitchen door and sighed, "Dad is really something, so mysterious..."

Sakuragi Hanamichi walked to the sink helplessly and washed his hands, then turned back to the kitchen door and shouted, "Dad, is the meal ready? I'm starving..."

"Okay, okay~" The sound of serving dishes came from the kitchen, and then Sakuragi's father slowly opened the door and said, "Come on, it's time to eat~"

"I'm starting to eat~" Sakuragi Hanamichi looked at the table full of his favorite dishes, happily picked up his chopsticks and started to gobble up the food.

"Eat slowly, eat slowly. If it's not enough, there's more in the pot." Sakuragi's father smiled kindly as he looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi eating with relish.

"Hmm? You eat too, Dad." Sakuragi Hanamichi said with a smile as he looked at his father who had been smiling at him but didn't move his chopsticks.

"Haha, you eat first, I'll eat right away, I'm not hungry now." Sakuragi's father said with a smile, "Haha, Dad is particularly happy today."

"Oh? What's wrong? Did your bastard president give you a promotion and a raise?" Sakuragi Hanamichi mumbled incoherently with his mouth full of food.

"Really? You have no manners at all. You can't treat your seniors like this in public." Sakuragi's father pretended to be serious and taught him a lesson, "Especially Kaneki-san, you must get along well with him."

"Oh, I know, dad. I get along really well with Gilgamesh." Sakuragi Hanamichi said impatiently, "He gives me special basketball training every day."

"That's good, that's good." Sakuragi's father was relieved and continued, "You don't know, today when I just got to work, I saw people coming to me with newspapers, asking if you were Sakuragi Hanamichi from Shonan High School. I was shocked at the time, I thought you were causing trouble outside again and were arrested by the police."

"Dad, I never take the initiative to cause trouble outside. I only fight back when others provoke me." Sakuragi Hanamichi said somewhat unhappily.

"I know that Hanamichi is a good kid." Sakuragi's father smiled and touched Sakuragi Hanamichi's head and continued, "Then I snatched the newspaper from their hands and took a closer look. It turned out to be about some Neon basketball tryout. You performed very well in the game..."

"It's the Kanagawa Prefecture trials of the Neon Country IH High School Basketball League, Dad." Sakuragi Hanamichi raised his head and looked at his father with a puzzled look, "What's wrong with you today, Dad? You talked about Gilgamesh again, and you talked about your work..."

"I just heard that those who can make a name for themselves in this competition may be able to get scholarships from famous sports universities. Even if they can't become professional players after graduation, they can still become basketball coaches in colleges and universities." Sakuragi's father looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi with satisfaction and said, "Your academic performance was not good before, and I often worried that you wouldn't be able to go to a good university. High school students like you can only work hard like me after graduation..."

As he spoke, Sakuragi's father's eyes became moist and his voice became a little choked: "I used to worry every day whether you would associate with some questionable people outside, become a delinquent, and fight and make trouble every day... Thanks to Kaneki-san for discovering your basketball talent... To be honest, when those guys today said that you might be specially recruited into the Sports University, I didn't know how happy I was... When I had a heart attack that day, the only thing I was worried about was you... I don't know what you would do in the future without me... Now you finally have a way out, and I can be considered to have given an explanation to your mother..."

"Dad..." Even if Sakuragi Hanamichi was a thick-skinned man, he put down his bowl and chopsticks, looked at his father in front of him, his eyes slightly red, "Dad, what are you talking about? How can I just be a basketball coach? Gillian said that I will become a basketball star in the future! By then, everyone will take me as an example and become the Hanamichi of tomorrow! Don't cry, Dad, it's embarrassing to cry like this at your age... Let's eat!"

"Okay... then I'll wait for that day!" After saying that, Sakuragi's father picked up the chopsticks with a smile and started enjoying his dinner.

This was the first time that the father and son had finished a meal in a calm atmosphere since Sakuragi Hanamichi was in the second grade of junior high school.

……

"I don't know if it's an illusion, but I feel like Sakuragi worked extra hard in today's training." The next day, Ayako looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi who was killing everyone in the team training, and said to Momoi Satsuki beside her with a smile, "Even Rukawa Kaede was beaten by Sakuragi tonight."

"What's going on..." Kaneki Ken raised his eyebrows slightly, looking at Sakuragi Hanamichi on the field with a playful look. The system interface in his mind suddenly displayed a bright red message: "Player: Sakuragi Hanamichi, Current Status: Zone, Zone Evolution Degree: 22%..."

"It shouldn't be... After the battle with the Sea God, Sakuragi's zone evolution level is only 11%..." Kaneki Ken muttered to himself, "Could it be that... Sakuragi has touched the edge of the key to enter the zone independently?"

Thinking of this possibility, Kaneki Ken looked around the venue and became even more confused: "It shouldn't be, Akagi Haruko didn't come today..."

Just as Kaneki Ken was lost in thought, a group of young men who looked like bad boys opened the door of the basketball hall and shouted, "Mitsui Hisashi, come out with me!"

"Aaron, what are you doing?" Mitsui Hisaichi saw that the person was coming for him, and stood up and said with a serious expression.

"If you have anything to say, let's talk outside." Aaron glanced at the 203-cm Kaneki Ken, the 205-cm Kabaji Shigehiro, and the 197-cm Akagi Takenori on the field, and continued to say viciously to Mitsui Shou, "Don't hide behind your teammates like a woman, I'll wait for you outside." "It seems that you haven't learned your lesson from last time..." Kaneki Ken stopped Mitsui Shou who was about to follow Aaron, and said to the bad guy in front of him with a bad face.

"Mitsui, if you don't want your teammates to be beaten up after school, then come out and find me. Otherwise, I don't see how you can play basketball without your teammates!" Aaron looked at Kaneki Ken walking towards him with a bad face, his face turned a little pale, "Last time I gave you face and helped you to stop the people, not only did we get beaten, but we were also arrested by the police and detained for two days! And now you come here to pretend to be an athlete! If you don't solve this matter with me today, I swear..."

"What do you swear to do?" Before Aaron could finish his words, Mito Yohei's nonchalant voice came from outside, "Tell us what you want to say!"

"That's right! What do you want to do with our mistress?" Horita Tokuo's low voice also sounded at the side.

"Yohei!" Sakuragi Hanamichi said worriedly, "Do you need my help?"

"De Nan!" Mitsui Shou was also a little worried, fearing that his friend would suffer a loss.

"Mind your own business!" A tall figure walked through the crowd to the door and closed the door of the basketball hall.

"Iron Man!" Mitsui Hisashi couldn't bear it anymore, he pushed Kaneki Ken's arm away and went to the door, but found that the door of the stadium was tightly held by someone and couldn't be opened no matter how hard he pulled.

"You are here to see me, don't disturb the club activities of a group of students." Tienan's voice came from outside the door.

"Come, let's go to the side and talk about what you just wanted to do to the people in the basketball club?" Mito Yohei's voice also interrupted.

As the footsteps of the crowd receded, Mitsui finally opened the door of the gym, but there was no one outside.

"Sakuragi, Mitsui, come with me. Murasaki, go and notify the teacher to come over." Kaneki Ken ordered in a deep voice.

"Yes!" The people who received the order responded in unison.

……

"So what you mean is that Aaron originally planned to plot against Tienan to get to the top, but couldn't find Tienan, so he came here to cause trouble for Mitsui?" In a ramen restaurant outside the school, Kaneki Ken crossed his arms and said to Mito Yohei in front of him.

"It's all my fault. I'm really sorry for getting you into trouble." Tienan raised his glass and drank it all in one gulp, feeling somewhat guilty. "I'll take care of these things later."

"Don't be so conceited. If we weren't afraid that Sakuragi would have no place to play basketball in the future, we wouldn't help you." Mito Yohei said lazily.

"Yohei..." Sakuragi Hanamichi looked at Mito Yohei and said from the bottom of his heart, "Thank you!"

"Don't disgust me, buddy." Mito Yohei laughed and teased, "Follow Kaneki and play well. I heard that the top eight players in the country can get scholarships to enter the Sports University. Just treat us to a good meal then."

"Yes!" Sakuragi Hanamichi nodded solemnly.

"Kaneki..." Just when everyone was silent, Kaneki Kochi's voice came from outside the store, interrupting the silence.

"Okay, I should go too." Tienan picked up the motorcycle keys and walked towards the door. "It will be bad for you if the teacher sees you hanging out with people like us."

"Tetsuo!" Mitsui Shou wanted to say something but was interrupted by Tetsuo's next words.

"Mitsui, I went to watch your game. You played well." Tienan smiled and patted Mitsui's shoulder. After taking a closer look at Mitsui, he said, "Sure enough, this hairstyle suits you."

After saying that, Tienan walked towards the door without looking back. Just as he grabbed the door handle with both hands, Tienan seemed to remember something, turned around and smiled at Mitsui Shou, "Goodbye, sports boy."

"Player: Sakuragi Hanamichi, Zone evolution level: 31%..."

Just as Kogure Mitsunobu brought his teacher into the ramen restaurant and saw that Mitsui Hisashi and others were unharmed and breathed a sigh of relief, the system prompt sound in Kaneki Ken's mind rang again.

"Sakuragi Hanamichi...you're really amazing." Kaneki Ken looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi who was lost in thought in front of him, and for the first time exclaimed in admiration from the bottom of his heart.

(End of this chapter)