Black Basketball: A false start

Chapter 212: Leaving, Night Run, Gathering
Five days later, late at night, at the hotel entrance.

"Okay, May, Coach Anton, just send us here." Kaneki Ken turned his head and looked at the two figures standing behind him and said.

"Can't we wait until dawn before leaving? Say goodbye to everyone..." Momoi Satsuki said to Kaneki Ken with some reluctance.

"Forget it, I don't really like parting scenes." Kaneki Ken smiled, "Besides, I've been with you all for a long time, and it will be too late if I don't leave now."

"Yeah." Taoi Mayu nodded and said nothing more.

"Let's go, Coach Anton." Kaneki Ken said goodbye to Anton Mitsuyoshi.

Anton Mitsuyoshi put his hands behind his back, nodded, and said nothing.

"Squeak~"

At this time, a taxi stopped right in front of the three people.

"Go back and rest early." Kaneki Ken gave the two of them a final word, took a deep breath, opened the car door and got in. With a muffled sound of the car door, the car slowly started and drove away from the hotel.

"Don't be sad, Momoi-san." Anton Mitsuyoshi watched the car gradually disappear from his sight and said slowly, "Neon... even Asia is too small for Kaneki-san. I have a feeling that Kaneki-san will become famous in the United States when he goes there."

"I have always believed in Yan-kun, Coach Anton..." Tao Jing Satsuki said in a low voice as she looked at the direction where the car left. "Yan-kun...has always been the focus of everyone's attention."

……

Shortly after Taoi Satsuki and Anton Mitsuyoshi returned to the hotel, a bus slowly stopped in front of the hotel.

"We're finally here... I've been on the bus for a whole day, and I feel like my whole body is stiff..." Kagami Daiga, who looked relieved, was the first to get off the bus. He stretched, looked around and said, "This place looks so remote... and it's so dark, is there any ghosts in the middle of the night?"

"Mr. Kagami is afraid of ghosts?" Kuroko Tetsuya said as he followed behind Kagami Daiga, carrying his bag.

"I was scared at first." Kagami Daiga looked at Kuroko Tetsuya who suddenly appeared beside him and said, "But when I thought that ghosts are similar to you, I'm not afraid anymore..."

"Okay, no more nonsense." Hinata Junpei also slowly got off the bus, took a quick look at the hotel's surroundings and said, "Hurry up and check in, have a good night's rest, and start training tomorrow."

"Yes!" the players of Seirin High School responded in unison.

After everyone from Seirin completed their check-in, peace returned to the outside of the hotel.

"The Generation of Miracles... and Kaneki Ken..." Kagami Taiga lay in bed tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. The century-long battle between Akashi Seijuro and Kaneki Ken that had just happened not long ago was still replaying in his mind.

"Hey, Kuroko..." Kagami Taiga asked uncertainly, "Can I still defeat the Generation of Miracles... or even Kaneki Ken? Kuroko... Kuroko?"

Kagami called out several times but heard no response from Kuroko Tetsuya. Confused, he turned over and sat up, looking at the bed next to him, only to see that the bed where Kuroko Tetsuya was supposed to be lying was empty.

"Where did this guy... go?" Kagami Daigo got out of bed curiously, walked around the room, but did not see Kuroko Tetsuya.

"crunch..."

Just then, there was a noise coming from the beach outside the window. Kagami Daigo walked to the window and saw that it was indeed Kuroko Tetsuya who was running.

"What is this guy doing here, not sleeping so late at night?" Kagami Daigo put on his clothes with some confusion and left the room.

"Huff...Huff..." On the beach, the breathing rhythm of Kuroko Tetsuya, who was not good at sports, gradually became disordered. Just when he wanted to stop and rest for a while, the sound of footsteps behind him made him turn around.

"Hey, don't disappear from your room in the middle of the night..." The person who came was Kagami Daigo, "You scared me, you know that?"

"Kagami-san..." Kuroko Tetsuya stared at Kagami Daiga blankly and didn't know what to say for a moment.

"What are you standing there for? Run!" Kagami Daiga stopped and said to Kuroko Tetsuya with some confusion.

"Yeah." Kuroko Tetsuya nodded and ran side by side with Kagami Daiga, "I thought Kagami-san had fallen asleep..."

"How can I sleep?" Kagami said unhappily, "Rather, I haven't slept since watching the finals, okay?"

"Huh?" Kuroko Tetsuya stared blankly at Kagami Daiga's profile, "I never thought that a single-celled organism like Kagami-san would also be unable to sleep."

"Hmph!" Kagami Daiga snorted in displeasure at first, then as if remembering something, he sighed and said, "The reason why I chose to come back from the United States was actually because of Kaneki Ken..."

"Kaneki-san?" Kuroko Tetsuya asked in confusion, "Did you know Kaneki-san in the United States?"

"More than just knowing each other..." Kagami Daiga sighed, "He beat me and my older... friend badly back then..."

I originally wanted to say "big brother" to Kagami, but after thinking about it, I changed it to "friend".

Kuroko Tetsuya listened quietly to Kagami Daigo's story without saying a word.

"Kuroko, do you think I can still defeat the Miracle Generation... or even Kaneki Ken?" Kagami Taiga asked the question he wanted to ask most thoughtfully.

"I don't know." Kuroko Tetsuya said in a deep voice, "But just like Qingfeng once said, not giving up may not necessarily bring you anything, but once you give up, you will really have nothing. I really can't understand the thoughts of you geniuses, but as I promised you, I must do my best to accompany you to become the number one in Japan!"

"I never thought that someone with Aomine Daiki's personality would actually say such a thing..." Kagami Daiga's face showed some complicated emotions, but his tone began to become high-spirited, "But you are right, Kuroko. We will definitely become the number one in Neon!"

The two ran on the beach for an unknown amount of time until they were exhausted and returned to the hotel to rest. As expected, they woke up late the next morning. "Wake up, Kagami! And Kuroko!" After opening the door, Hyuga Junpei yelled at the two sleeping in the room, "What did you do last night? It's already seven o'clock, and you're still not getting up? Do you think you're here for vacation?"

"!!! I'm sorry, Captain!" Kagami Daiga, who was half asleep, was startled by Hinata Junpei's voice. He quickly turned over and sat up, and began to put on his clothes in a hurry.

"I'm sorry, Hinata-senpai, I went out for a run with Kagami-san last night, so I went to bed a little late." Kuroko Tetsuya also started to put on his clothes with an apologetic look on his face.

"Alas... I really can't do anything about you..." Hinata Junpei took off his glasses, gave up half of his body space and continued, "It doesn't matter on my side, you can go and explain to the coach yourself."

"You're still able to go out for a run so late... It seems that Kagami-san and Kuroko-san are very fit..." Aida Reiko smiled and appeared in front of the two of them and said, "So remember to run 30 laps around the hotel later~"

"...Yes, coach." Kagami-sama, I said dejectedly with a helpless look on my face.

……

"It's so unlucky that I slept late on the first day of training..." After washing up, Kagami Daigo came to the hotel restaurant helplessly, holding the plate and muttering, "If I had known, I wouldn't have gone out for a run last night..."

"Hey, Xiaozhen, remember to bring two glasses of milk..."

"I see. You're so wordy."

Just as Kagami Daigo came to the dining table and sat down, two familiar voices came from behind Kagami Daigo.

"Who is this? Sounds so familiar..." Kagami Daiga turned around curiously, and what caught his eyes were Takao Kazunari and Midorima Shintaro wearing Shutoku's jackets.

"Hmm? Shutoku High School?"

"Hmm? Seirin High School?"

The three of them looked at each other, and for a moment, the scene seemed to be frozen.

"Hey, isn't this Kagami from Seirin High School?" Takao Kazunari was the first to react and greeted Kagami Daiga with a smile, "Good morning~"

"Uh, good morning..." Kagami Daiga waved his hand stupidly, not even noticing that the sausage stuck on the chopsticks had fallen off, "No, why are you here?"

"I should be the one asking you this..." Midorima Shintaro and Takao Kazunari came and sat down opposite Kagami Daiga, "We come to this place every year for intensive training..."

"Really? What a coincidence." Kagami Daiga recalled the scene of being defeated by Shutoku High School, chewing the food in his mouth with some dissatisfaction and said, "I came out for a training camp and actually met my old rival..."

"Really? You're too cold, aren't you?" Takao Kazunari said with a grin, "And the old rivals you're facing this time aren't just from Shutoku High School..."

"More than one?" Kagami Daiga said in confusion, "Could it be that Aomine Daiki from Touou High School is here too?"

"That's not the case..." Gaowei Kazunari drank a sip of milk, looked towards the entrance of the restaurant with some confusion and said, "But it's a bit strange, they didn't seem to get up early for training today..."

……

"It's over. I got up late. I got up late. I'm going to be scolded to death by Gilgamesh!" In the hotel room, Sakuragi Hanamichi just opened his eyes and saw that the wall clock clearly showed that the time was already eight o'clock. Sakuragi Hanamichi was frightened and the remaining sleepiness was swept away.

"Why are you panicking, Sakuragi..." Miyagi Ryouta turned over on the bed next to him and said in a daze, "Didn't Kaneki Ken say yesterday that we should take a day off today..."

"Oh, take a rest..." Sakuragi Hanamichi first muttered to himself while looking at the wall clock thoughtfully. Suddenly, as if he remembered something, he hurriedly put on his clothes and said loudly, "If you want to take a rest, you should get up now. Otherwise, there will be no breakfast in a while!"

"Fuck, breakfast!" Upon hearing that he might not be able to have breakfast, Miyagi Ryouta could no longer sit still and hurriedly put on his clothes with Sakuragi Hanamichi.

"Hey, you guys got up late today?"

When Sakuragi Hanamichi and Miyagi Ryouta rushed into the restaurant, Takao Kazunari and others had already finished their breakfast and were queuing up to send their plates to the storage area.

Sakuragi Hanamichi ignored Takao Kazunari and looked at Kagami Daiga with surprise, but found that the other party was also looking at him with surprise.

"Red monkey?"

"Red monkey?"

The two spoke in unison.

"Really? I didn't expect that two single-celled organisms would come to such a small hotel at the same time..." Takao Kazunari looked at Kagami Taiga and Sakuragi Hanamichi, who were becoming increasingly tense, and shook his head and sighed, "It seems that this year's training camp won't be so easy..."

……

"We are about to arrive at Norfolk International Airport in Virginia. Thank you again to all passengers who took this flight..."

After a long transoceanic flight, the broadcast announcing the plane's landing finally sounded, and Kaneki Ken stretched lazily.

"We're finally here..." Kaneki Ken poked his head out the window, a hint of anticipation on his face, "It's time to give these arrogant Americans a little international shock..."

"Hey, Coach Stevenson, you called us here so early in the morning to meet us at the airport..." Stephen Jackson yawned tiredly, tears welling up in his eyes. "Aren't you giving this kid too much face? And you're just telling us now that this kid is Asian... Can Asians play basketball?"

"Shit, don't say that when you see Kaneki later." Stevenson cursed, "Nashgordo, who discriminated against Asians in front of him last time, has now fallen to playing street ball..."

(End of this chapter)