Black Basketball: A false start

Chapter 213: First meeting, conflict, genius
"Hey boy, here!" Kaneki Ken had just walked out of the passenger passage when he saw a blond white man holding a sign with a huge Oak Hill High School logo waving at him. Next to him was David Falk, whom he had met several times.

"Hey, big boy~" When Kaneki Ken came in front of everyone, David Falk was the first to greet him, hugged Kaneki Ken and greeted him warmly, "Michael has a business event to attend today, so he specifically asked me to pick you up at the airport."

"Oh, thank you, David." Kaneki Ken patted David Falk's shoulder and said with a smile, "Would you like to introduce these friends of yours to me?"

"Hello, Kaneki..." Without waiting for David Falk to introduce him, Stevenson stepped forward and extended his right hand enthusiastically. He was about to get close to Kaneki Ken, but embarrassingly found that he had forgotten how to pronounce Kaneki Ken's name.

"Kaneki Ken. Asian names are indeed not very friendly to Americans." Kaneki Ken did not care about Stevenson's negligence and held Stevenson's right hand.

"Oh, yes, Kaneki Ken." Stevenson smiled awkwardly, "My name is Stevenson, and I'm your future coach."

As he spoke, Stevenson pulled over Stephen, who was looking at Kaneki Ken curiously, and introduced him, "This is our Oak Hill High School's current starting forward-guard swingman, Stephen Jackson. You can call him Steph or Jackson."

"Are you the strongest high school student that the coach mentioned?" Stephen Jackson looked Kaneki Ken up and down with a half-curious, half-provoking look, and stretched out his hand to Kaneki Ken and said, "You have a good physique."

"After knowing me for a long time, you will know that I am not only in good shape." Kaneki Ken held Stephen Jackson's hand and did not let go for a long time.

"Alright, alright." David Falk noticed that there was a trend of disagreement between the two, and quickly tried to smooth things over, "Kaneki just arrived today, and the car I called is waiting outside the airport. Let's go to the school together."

"Then I'll have to trouble Coach Stevenson." Kaneki Ken then let go of Stephen Jackson's hand and walked out of the airport with David Falk.

"What the hell were you doing just now?!" It was not until Kaneki Ken walked out of the airport gate that Stevenson looked at Stephen Jackson with a puzzled look and asked.

"No coach." Stephen Jackson simply moved his palms, looked at Kaneki Ken's back with a serious face and said, "This guy has really strong hands..."

"Hey, Kaneki." David Falk took advantage of Stevenson and the other man not arriving yet, and asked Kaneki Ken in a hurried tone, "How did you feel about fighting with that guy just now? Were you able to handle it? Michael asked me to get you to Oak Hill High School, not to let you come here to be the second in command."

"Don't worry, David." Kaneki Ken shrugged and said, "They are just a bunch of hot-blooded and aggressive young men. I can handle it."

……

"So you guys from Seirin High School are also coming here for training this time?" Momoi Satsuki looked at Aida Kagetora who was installing a basketball hoop on the beach, and asked Aida Reiko beside her.

"What? You booked this beach? Can't we come to train?" Aida Reiko stared at Momoi Satsuki's chest jealously and said unhappily.

"No~" Taoi Satsuki keenly noticed the look in Reiko Aida's eyes, and puffed out her chest inconspicuously and teased, "I just didn't expect that although Coach Aida is only a small B cup, he can think of the same training method as Ken-kun~"

"Basketball training has nothing to do with cup size!" Aida Reiko said unhappily, "And you said you and Kaneki Ken had the same idea, what do you mean?"

"It's nothing, you'll know tomorrow morning." Tao Jing Mayu smiled and shook her head, then turned and left the beach. "We've been training for a week, and today is our day off."

"Really? They're playing tricks on me..." Aida Reiko looked at Momoi with an unhappy face, and muttered to herself as Satsuki walked away, "Kaneki Ken, and this Momoi Satsuki... None of them are good!"

"Coach!!!" Just as Aida Reiko kicked the sand with an unhappy look on her face, Izuki Shun hurriedly ran over from behind and shouted, "Oh no, coach, Kagami-san and Sakuragi-san are about to fight in the restaurant!"

"What!" Now Aida Reiko and Momoi Satsuki could no longer sit still and hurriedly ran towards the hotel.

"Stop it all!"

When Aida Reiko and Momoi Satsuki came to the restaurant, Sakuragi Hanamichi, Kagami Dai, and I were pulling each other's mouths and refusing to let go.

"Our coach is here, let go." Kagami Daigo said a little panicked.

"Why should I let go? You let go first!" Sakuragi Hanamichi ignored what Kagami Daiga said.

"You two childish ghosts..." Tao Jing Wu Yue helplessly held her forehead and said, "How about this, I will count to 123, and you can release them together."

"Okay." Kagami Taiga and Sakuragi Hanamichi looked at each other and nodded.

"One, two, three!" As Momoi's May countdown ended, Sakuragi Hanamichi and Kagami Daiga reluctantly let go of their hands.

"Come on, tell me, why are you fighting?" Reiko Aida asked the two of them with a bad look on her face.

"He called me a red-haired monkey!" Kagami Daiga and Sakuragi Hanamichi said in unison, pointing at each other.

"Did I say you two are idiots?" Tao Jing Satsuki laughed out loud after hearing such a ridiculous excuse, "Sakuragi, take the parachute Kaneki gave you and run around the hotel 20 times!"

"Yes..." Sakuragi Hanamichi was about to leave the restaurant dejectedly and go back to his room to get his parachute. But when he reached the door of the restaurant, he suddenly seemed to remember and turned around and asked, "By the way, where's Gilgamesh?"

"Yes, it's such a big thing, why didn't I see Kaneki Ken coming?" Aida Reiko looked at the people from Shonan High School and Seirin High School who were gathered together, and finally understood why she always felt a sense of incongruity when she first came.

"Ken-kun..." Listening to Sakuragi Hanamichi talking about his sad story again, Taoi Satsuki sighed and said, "He went to the United States to participate in a competition... I guess he won't be back until the Winter Cup..."

"Go to the United States to participate in the competition?" Kagami Daiga listened to Tao Jing Satsuki's explanation, thought about it briefly, and said in surprise, "Could it be to participate in the Golden Arches High School All-Star Game?"

"Why, is it strange that Ken-kun is participating in an All-Star Game?" Momoi Satsuki looked at Kagami Daiga and asked curiously.

"No, it's not strange..." Kagami Daiga said with a complex expression of surprise and envy, "Rather, it would be strange if Kaneki couldn't participate in such a competition..."

"What are you sighing about?" Aida Reiko looked at Kagami Taiga, whose momentum suddenly weakened, slapped him on the back and yelled, "Go run laps quickly, don't stand here to encourage others!"

"Hiss, it hurts... I'll go right away!" Kagami felt the burning sensation on his back and his scalp suddenly went numb. He hurriedly walked out of the restaurant.

"Looking at Kagami's expression, that Golden Arch Bridge competition seems to be very valuable..." Aida Reiko looked at the gradually dispersing crowd and said to Hinata Junpei beside her with a serious face.

"Are you kidding?" Hinata Junpei's tone was a little shocked. "Since the establishment of this competition, almost every year, the main players of the NCAA championship team in the United States have come from this competition... Being invited to participate in this kind of competition shows that Kaneki Ken's current level is already recognized by the American basketball community as world-class..."

"That's right, Hinata-san." Aida Reiko nodded slightly, then smiled, "So I decided that from today on, all the training volume will be doubled~ After all, you don't want to confess naked, right?"

"Gurgle~" Hinata Junpei swallowed silently, looked at Aida Reiko's horrifying eyes and said, "Yes, I have no objection..."

……

"We're here, Kaneki-san." As the car slowly stopped, David Falk turned around and said to Kaneki Ken with a smile.

"Yeah." Kaneki Ken nodded slightly and was about to get out of the car, but he saw Stevenson had already opened the door for him.

"Welcome to Oak Hill, Jinmu." Stevenson smiled and pointed to the lintel of a gate that had the word "school" written on it, but looked more like a private manor.

"Is this Oak Hill High School?" Kaneki Ken looked at the vast school gate with a hint of admiration in his tone, "It looks bigger than some universities in Japan..."

"Haha, please follow me." Stevenson laughed and began to introduce Oak Hill High School like a competent tour guide. "Our Oak Hill High School is a small coeducational college preparatory boarding school, open to students from grades 8 to 12. The campus covers an area of ​​270 acres and has a variety of facilities."

"Well, not bad." Kaneki Ken followed Stevenson and took a quick look at him, then nodded without comment.

"And we're not bragging." Stevenson said with a smile as he stood in front of Kaneki Ken, "In the past 15 years, we have made it to the finals for 12 consecutive years, and we are ranked among the best in the American high school basketball world."

"But I remember that you seemed to have lost to Lower Merion High School in the final last year?" Kaneki Ken teased casually.

"Yes, we did lose to Kobe last year." Stevenson did not shy away from his failure. "That kid is a real genius, so we need you, a player who is more talented than him to join us."

"A wise choice." Kaneki Ken said with a chuckle, "But I still have to correct you. Genius or something... is just the threshold to compete with me."

"Then I wonder if I am a genius in your eyes?" Before Stevenson could speak, Stephen Jackson, who had been somewhat unhappy with Kaneki Ken from the beginning, suddenly spoke.

(End of this chapter)