Black Basketball: A false start

Chapter 232 A Coin

"Hello, Dad, are you there?" Aida Reiko said coquettishly to the other end of the phone, "Is the gym business busy recently?"

"You're not very busy, what's wrong?" Aida Katsuyori said nonchalantly, holding a cigarette in his mouth, looking at the clients who were training in front of him, "Are you planning to use me as free labor again?"

"Hey, Dad~" Reiko Aida said coquettishly with a smile, "How can you call it free labor~ I just want to ask you to design another training plan for us~"

"Alas..." Aida Katsuhiro sighed and said helplessly, "Okay, okay, I'll come up with a new plan for you in the next two days."

"Thank you, Dad~" Aida Reiko said excitedly on the other end of the phone, "When we win the national championship, we will definitely advertise your gym more!"

After saying that, Reiko Aida hung up the phone neatly.

"This little brat..." Aida Katsuhiro shook his head, smiled bitterly, and muttered to himself while looking at his phone, "The gap between those first-year kids and the rest of the Generation of Miracles probably can't be made up by training..."

"Boss, can I watch TV here?"

Just as Aida Katsuyori was in a daze, a customer next to him pointed at the TV hanging in the corner and asked.

"What a pity." Aida Katsuhiro picked up the remote control and walked to the TV to adjust it skillfully. "What do you want to watch, sir?"

"Let's watch the Winter Cup National Competition..." A customer wearing a basketball shirt wiped his sweat with a towel and said, "Watch the match between Futian Comprehensive School and Kaijo High School."

"Huh?" Aida Katsuyora said in surprise, "Won't the guests look at Kaneki Ken?"

"Kaneki Ken will definitely win, there's nothing to see?" The customer said with a smile, "I really want to see the duel between Kise Ryouta and Haizaki Shogo, the old enemies~"

"Wow, you're an old fan now." Another customer said in surprise, "Nowadays, people only follow the Generation of Miracles after they have formed. Few people remember Haizaki Shogo. It is said that Haizaki Shogo left in anger because Kise Ryouta took away his starting position."

"That's why this kind of grudge match is so interesting." The customer who spoke first urged, "Boss, hurry up, the match has already started for more than ten minutes."

"Okay." Aida Katsutoro quickly turned to the Tokyo Sports Channel. At this time, the game had reached the last minute of the first quarter.

"32 to 11?" The guest who suggested watching this match said in surprise, "Is Haizaki Shogo so much worse than Kise Ryouta?"

"I never thought... Haizaki-san is so much worse than Kise-san now..." Kuroko Tetsuya said with some emotion as he looked at Haizaki Shogo who had a look of doubt on his face about his life.

"With only this level of strength... no wonder Kise was squeezed out..." Kagami Taiga listened to Kuroko Tetsuya's sigh and said with a curled lip, "I really wasted so much time today to accompany you to watch this game..."

"How could this happen..." Haizaki Shogo looked into Kise Ryouta's eyes with a look of frustration, "I've never lost to him before, whether it was women or basketball..."

"Are you talking about the kind of appearance association that offers as many as you want?" Huang Lailiangta listened to Haizaki Shougo's murmur and chuckled, "It's obviously a person who claimed to be my girlfriend without permission. It really bothers me... If you like, I can give her to you at any time... Compared to this, what I care more about now is to lead Kaijo High School to win the championship!"

As he said that, Kise Ryota used Aomine Daiki's signature lightning first step to break through Haizaki Shogo's defense and score a slam dunk.

"Buzz~"

As the timer buzzed, the first quarter came to an end with a score of 34 to 11, with Haichang High School leading by 23 points.

"I'll go out and have a rest first." Haizaki Shogo had a cold face, ignoring the depressed mood of his teammates at the moment, and walked towards the player tunnel without looking back.

"Haizaki!" Nakazato Takashi was about to stop Haizaki Shogo when he was stopped by Ishida Hideki.

"Don't worry about him. Just let him do whatever he wants." Ishida Eiki said in a deep voice, "Anyway, as long as he comes back to play basketball, it will be fine."

"..." Haizaki Shogo listened to the discussions of his teammates behind him, snorted coldly, and his back disappeared from the court.

"Welcome~Please insert coins~"

Haizaki Shogo came to a vending machine, and his eyes aimlessly scanned the goods on the counter. He finally chose a bottle of soda, and after inserting a coin, the spring inside ejected the soda... but it didn't eject completely. The soda was ejected to the edge of the shelf, tilted slightly, and got stuck on the shelf and the glass plate, and didn't fall off for a long time.

"Why the fuck?!" Haizaki Shogo angrily smashed the vending machine with a hammer, "Kaneki Ken looked down on me, Kise also looked down on me, and now even you, a fucking machine, look down on me!"

"No one looks down on you, Haizaki." Just when Haizaki Shogo was looking annoyed, a gentle and steady voice came from the side.

"Who are you...Captain Nijimura!" Haizaki Shogo looked to his side with an unhappy face, only to see Nijimura Shuzo smilingly putting another coin into the vending machine. As the cans at the back were pushed to the front, two bottles of drinks fell out together.

"Here, your drink." Nijimura Shuzo handed a bottle of Coke to Haizaki Shogo and said with a smile.

"You saw it all?" Haizaki Shogo looked at Nijimura Shuzo who was laughing in front of him, and a complex emotion suddenly surged in his heart. He pretended to be bad and said, "Now it's good, even you saw me being beaten by Kise Ryouta... They were right to look down on me..."

"No one looks down on you. Akashi was under a lot of pressure during that time, and he did make some bad decisions." Nijimura Shuzo opened the can with a chuckle, took a sip and then said, "You know, Kise Ryota has always regarded you and Aomine as his goals to catch up with since junior high school... As for Kaneki Ken, he has always been cold on the outside but warm on the inside, and he only uses spurring methods to urge you. He deliberately treats you very harshly, just to enable you to better display your talents..."

"Target...Have you ever seen a target being chased away?" Haizaki Shogo took a sip of his drink and said impatiently, "Now that Kise Ryouta has beaten me to death, I guess he won't consider me a target anymore. As for Kaneki Ken...Will a genius like that really care about my insignificant talent?"

"You have very little patience, Haizaki. Kaneki Ken is actually quite optimistic about you, but sometimes you are too emotional and only focus on the situation in front of you." Nijimura Shuzo said, playing with the can in his hand, "Just like just now, the drink was just stuck there and didn't fall down... If you put in another coin at this time, maybe two bottles of drink would fall down."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Haizaki Shogo turned away from the vending machine with a sullen face, and waved the soda in his hand at Nijimura Shuzo behind him and said, "But I still want to thank you for helping me get the drink out, otherwise, my 500 yen would have been wasted."

"Brat..." Nijimura Shuzo cursed with a smile, then raised his soda and drank it all in one gulp.

"Nijimura, is this the new ace you recommended to me?" Domoto Koichiro, standing by, crossed his arms over his chest, walked out of the shadows of the corridor, frowned, and said, "This guy doesn't have a very good reputation..."

"Didn't I also do bad things before?" Nijimura Shuzo shrugged nonchalantly. "Akagi forced him to leave Teiko, and now those guys at Fukuda General only use Haizaki as a tool to win... It's understandable that he's a little upset."

"Then how can you be sure that he can come to our Fenghuang High School without causing any trouble?" Domoto Koichiro said with a raised eyebrow.

“第一，我会揍他。”虹村修造笑盈盈地看着灰崎祥吾离开的背影说道，“第二，能在被人扫地出门的情况下，依旧不放弃篮球，这个家伙还是对篮球存在一丝热爱的。青峰大辉那个笨蛋曾经说过一句话，我还是比较认同的，凡是热爱篮球的人没有坏人……至少没有坏到彻底的。”

"Buzz~"

As the timer buzzed, announcing the start of the second quarter, Haizaki Shogo finally appeared on the sidelines.

"We thought you wouldn't come." Nakazato Takashi said with a look at Haizaki Shogo.

"What do useless people like you know?" Haizaki Shogo said with a disdainful look at Nakazato Takashi.

"You!" Nakazato Takashi was so angry at what Haizaki Shogo said that he wanted to go up and beat him up. However, Haizaki Shogo ignored him and walked straight onto the stage with an angry look in his eyes.

"If he can't win this game, get him out!" Nakazato Takashi said to Ishida Hideki while pointing at Haizaki Shogo's back.

"I had already retired by that time, so whatever you want to do is up to you!" Ishida Hideki said with a helpless sigh.

"Uh~~~~" Kagami Daigo stretched lazily, looked at Kuroko Tetsuya helplessly and said, "The game has been decided by now, right? There's no need to watch any more..."

"I don't really think so." Kuroko Tetsuya stared into Haizaki Shogo's eyes and said, "Haisaki... hasn't given up yet!"

……

It was halftime at the Tokyo Gymnasium, 65:49, Shonan High School was leading by 16 points. "Sure enough, at the critical moment, we still have to look at Kaneki Ken..." Himuro Tatsuya sighed as he watched the wonderful replays above the stadium, "This game probably won't be worth watching."

It's no wonder that Himuro Tatsu would think so. After all, he watched Kaneki Ken start to show his prowess after that dunk. He stole the pass from other players of Shutoku High School to Midorima Shintaro more than once, and blocked Midorima Shintaro at least three times in one-on-one situations.

"It's too early to say that, Tatsuya." Alex Garcia said as he looked at Midorima Shintaro who was accidentally swept by the camera in the replay video, "Look at the look in Midorima Shintaro's eyes, he hasn't given up yet... The match can't be declared over!"

"Damn it, why is Kaneki Ken so difficult?" After returning to the locker room, Takao Kazunari punched the locker in annoyance.

"Be quiet, Takao." Nakatani Jinliang said solemnly, "We haven't lost yet."

“Yes, coach.” Takao Kazunari’s voice suddenly became quieter, and he apologized in a low voice, “I’m sorry, coach.”

"Coach, I want to go outside and take a breath." Midorima Shintaro suddenly said.

"Go ahead, just come back before the second half starts." Nakatani Jinryo nodded, agreeing to his somewhat unconventional request.

"Huh..." After taking a deep breath, Shintaro Midorima opened the door of the locker room and walked out.

"Coach, do we really not need to make any special arrangements?" Tsuchiya Jun said, a little worriedly, "The current situation doesn't look good..."

"Let Midorima solve it himself..." Nakatani Jinliang sighed as he looked at Midorima Shintaro's back, "Tactics can't make up for the gap in strength... Midorima can only make up for the missing part himself..."

"How about I go out and take a look?" Takao Kazunari said a little worriedly.

"Okay." Nakatani Hitoshi said after a moment's hesitation.

……

"I guessed you were here, Shin." On the rooftop of Tokyo Gymnasium, Takao Kazunari easily found Midorima Shintaro and handed him a bottle of red bean soup. With a hint of relief on his face, he said, "Speaking of which, I'm really lucky today. I only had enough money to buy you a bowl of red bean soup, but the drink bought by the person in front of me got stuck in the drink machine and didn't fall off, so I got a bargain~"

"What are you doing here?" Midorima Shintaro said coldly.

"I'm afraid you're upset~" Gaowei Kazunari said lazily, "I don't know why you always like to come to such a high place when you're in a bad mood..."

"The higher the place... the closer to God's will." Midorima Shintaro said in a deep voice, "Climbing high and looking far will make my mind more agile. Over time, I have developed this habit."

"Then with your quick thinking, have you figured out what we should do now?" Takao Kazunari asked with some boredom, "Your two-handed shooting method has been cracked... You fought Kaneki Ken in the zone for the entire first half... I guess your stamina is not that good anymore, right?"

"I don't know." Midorima Shintaro answered honestly, "Actually, I don't understand. I've done so much... why can't I beat Kaneki Ken..."

"You're really being very Versailles..." Takao Kazunari chuckled, "I've also been training for so long, why can't I shoot as accurately as you? And to be honest, I never played basketball with Kaneki Ken in junior high school... But Senior Fujima told me that you were much more difficult to deal with when you were next to Kaneki Ken than you were later..."

"Yeah..." Midorima Shintaro chuckled, "The reason why we were able to win the championship since the first grade is really thanks to Kaneki helping us attract a lot of defense..."

"Speaking of which, Kaneki Ken is indeed very difficult to defend..." Takao Kazunari said lazily after taking a sip of soda, "You never know where he will be and how he will handle the ball. You have to keep a close eye on his every move from the beginning of the game..."

"Actually, I really don't understand. He can obviously shoot three-pointers all over the court like me, so why does he sometimes have to use those slam dunks that even monkeys can do to score points?" Midorima Shintaro seemed to be asking Takao Kazunari, but also seemed to be asking himself.

"Who knows?" Takao Kazunari said with a chuckle, "If he only shoots three-pointers, maybe it will be easier to defend..."

"If he only shot three-pointers, maybe it would be easier to defend..."

"I won't give you the chance to pick and choose, Midorima Shintaro..."

Takao Kazunari's words and Kaneki Ken's previous words suddenly appeared in Midorima Shintaro's mind, as if two thunders exploded in his mind.

"I see..." Midorima Shintaro laughed at himself, "Facing Kaneki Ken, I actually wanted to get the highest score in every round... I should have scored when I could... that's the best I could do!"

"What did you say, Xiaozhen?" Takao Kazunari didn't hear clearly what Midorima Shintaro said, and asked with some confusion.

"Nothing." Midorima Shintaro raised his red bean soup and drank it all in one gulp. "I just realized that I haven't finished my business yet."

"So mysterious..." Takao and Cheng finished the remaining drink in the can.

"Let's go, Takao." Midorima Shintaro pulled his coat together and walked towards the rooftop gate.

"Going back so soon?" asked Takao Kazunari uncertainly.

"Well." Midorima Shintaro said in a deep voice, "There is only one bottle of my favorite drink left. I have to put the coin in quickly, otherwise it will be snatched away by Kaneki Ken."

Having said that, Midorima Shintaro walked into the stairwell without looking back.

……

"A lightning-fast first step! Kise-san has once again broken through Haizaki-san!" the commentator on the sidelines roared excitedly.

At this time in the Osaka Gymnasium, Kise Ryota once again used Aomine Daiki's signature dribble to break through Haizaki Shogo's defense, and the spectators on the sidelines excitedly cheered for Kise Ryota.

"I said this game is boring..." Kagami Daiga stood up and looked at Kuroko Tetsuya with some boredom, "I have to go back. I heard that the coach wants to sign us up for an intensive training class. I have to go back and prepare well..."

"Let's go..." Kuroko Zheya stood up with some regret and was about to leave the audience.

"Come on, Kise!"

"Defeat them in one fell swoop!"

Seeing Kise Ryota performing so well on the court, the Kaijo High School players on the sidelines stood up excitedly and cheered him on.

"Facing you as the challenger is truly the biggest mistake I have ever made."

Just when the basketball in Ryota Kise's hand was picked up, Haizaki Shogo's gloomy voice suddenly sounded in Ryota Kise's ears.

“What…” Kise Ryota looked at Haizaki Shogo’s big hand hitting the basketball in shock, and muttered to himself in disbelief, “Didn’t I already pass it…”

"It's just a speed difference, Kise." Haizaki Shogo snorted and said, "If you really have Aomine's speed, I really can't keep up... But in terms of basic physical ability, I won't lose to you!"

"boom!"

With a loud bang, the basketball was nailed hard into the backboard by Haizaki Shogo.

“Haisaki…” Kise Ryouta narrowed his eyes, smiled at Haizaki Shogo and murmured, “I didn’t expect you had this trick up your sleeve…”

"What's the point of hiding it? This is the soda I was supposed to get, but it got stuck accidentally." Haizaki Shogo's pupils were filled with swirling vortices, and he stared at Kise Ryouta's golden pupils and said, "Now, I have already thrown in the second coin."

(End of this chapter)