Black Basketball: A false start

Chapter 238: Dinner, Trigger, Preparation, Travel Expenses

"Great, Kuroko!" On the bus back to Seirin High School, Hinata Junpei rubbed Kuroko Tetsuya's head excitedly and said, "I didn't expect you had this trick up your sleeve!"

"Yeah! We thought it was great that you could dribble and shoot, but we didn't expect you to be able to fool the players of Toou High School!" Shinji Koganei also echoed, "Can you teach me? How do you use this trick?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know either." Kuroko Tetsuya looked at Koganei Shinji seriously and said, "It feels like I just used it involuntarily..."

"You can't help but use it?" Kagami Daiga said in surprise, "Then your feeling is very similar to me entering the zone!"

"Zone? Can Kuroko also enter the zone?" said Mitsuki Furihata in shock.

"I don't know..." Kuroko Tetsuya's expression changed slightly and he shook his head, "But when I was on the court, I felt good..."

"Anyway, no matter what, winning is a good thing!" Hinata Junpei said, "Let's find a place to celebrate!"

"Great! Long live the captain!" The players of Seirin High School raised their arms and cheered.

……

"Good shot! Nice!" In front of a basketball shooting machine in Ginza, Taoi Satsuki jumped up and hugged Kaneki Ken's neck to celebrate, "You are so good, Ken-kun!"

"Congratulations to our customer for breaking our store's scoring record!" A staff member nearby smiled and handed a large doll to Tao Jing Satsuki, saying, "Your boyfriend is great, little sister~"

"Thank you~" Tao Jing Mayu's face was full of happiness. She hugged the doll with both hands and looked at Kaneki Ken and said, "Let's go get something to eat, Ken-kun~"

"Yeah." Kaneki Ken smiled and rubbed Momoi Satsuki's head lovingly, "I'll do as you say."

“Hehe~” Tao Jing Wu Yue smiled and narrowed her eyes. She looked around and pointed at a Chinese restaurant and said in surprise, “Let’s go to this restaurant. It’s said to be very authentic!”

"Okay." Kaneki Ken nodded and followed Momoi Satsuki into the Chinese restaurant.

"Hello, boss, both of you..." As soon as Taoi Satsuki lifted the door curtain, she saw the players of Seirin High School sitting in the hall, looking at her and Kaneki Ken with some surprise.

"Why don't you come in and sit down, May..." Kaneki Ken also walked in from outside at this time, looking at the scene in front of him with some surprise, then waved his hand and greeted the players of Chengling High School with a smile, "Hey, long time no see everyone."

"Ah, long time no see." Kuroko Tetsuya stood up and said, staring at Kaneki Ken.

"Do you want to share a table?" I, the God of Fire, also stood up at this time and asked with an eager look on my face.

"We can share the table..." Kaneki Ken smiled and walked over with Momoi Satsuki. After slowly sitting down, he looked at Kagami Taiga and said, "But Kagami, you might as well relax a little. We are not on the court now."

"Kagami-san is really the same as Sakuragi-san..." Taoi Satsuki covered her mouth and laughed, "You are always so passionate..."

"Okay, Kagami, sit down." Hinata Junpei looked at the somewhat embarrassed Kagami Daigo and spoke to help.

"Ah? Oh..." Kagami Daigo nodded belatedly and sat back in his original seat somewhat awkwardly.

"Alas, Kagami-san is still the hot-blooded idiot as always..." Kuroko Tetsuya said, shaking his head.

"Come on, Kuroko, even you say that to me..." Kagami Daigo suddenly felt like he was being backstabbed.

……

"A-Dun, did you hear? Tonghuang High School actually lost..."

At Yangquan High School, Himuro Tatsuya, who had just finished team training, was walking home with Murasakibara Atsushi. Hearing the sound coming from the mobile app, Himuro Tatsuya took out his phone curiously and looked at it, then said to Murasakibara Atsushi beside him in surprise.

"I know." Murasakibara Atsushi muttered while eating rice bran rolls in boredom.

"I didn't expect Kagami to actually beat Aomine Daiki..." Himuro Tatsuya said with a complicated expression, "He's a guy who can control the key to enter the zone on his own..."

"It's not really true to say that Kagami won..." Murasakibara Atsushi sucked his fingers casually and said, "Although I'm not sure how, I always feel that the key to winning this game lies with Kuro-chin..."

"Kuroko?" Himuro Tatsuya said with some confusion, "Didn't you say he was just a shadow and had no combat power?"

"Don't underestimate Kuro-chin..." Murasakibara Atsushi said in a somewhat dissatisfied tone, "To be honest, besides Yanzi, Kuro-chin is the one who loves basketball the most and has the strongest belief in his own basketball..."

"Yeah... it's a pity that his strength is not enough..." Himuro Tatsuya said with some regret, "otherwise, maybe he can really enter the zone..."

"How do you know he doesn't have a black kiss?" Murasakibara Atsushi retorted without hesitation.

Himuro Tatsuya looked at Murasakihara Atsushi with some surprise, as if he had just met this innocent big guy. After a long silence, Himuro Tatsuya said with emotion: "It's really a cause for celebration, Atsushi... You are starting to grow your brain..."

"Murochika, I'll be angry if you say that!" Murasakibara Atsushi frowned and muttered in dissatisfaction, "I'm not a fool like Qingzai..."

……

"Ah, Ah!"

Sitting on the bus on the way back, Aomine Daiki suddenly couldn't control and sneezed twice.

"It's so annoying. The temperature seems to have dropped recently..." Aomine Daiki tightened his coat and said while huddled in a corner of the bus.

"Or you can guess why the current competition is called the Winter Cup?" Imayoshi Xiangyi shook his head helplessly and looked at Aomine Daiki and said.

"Tsk, I know." Qingfeng Daihui said with a curled lip.

"Come on, forget it. You said you knew before the game..." Wakamatsu Kosuke complained unhappily, "In the end, you couldn't even block a dunk..."

"You make it sound like you played really well against Kagami..." Aomine Daiki rolled his eyes at Wakamatsu Kosuke, "And Zhe must have entered a zone in this match... A zone that belongs exclusively to Zhe!"

……

"What? You want me to tell you the trick to enter the zone on your own?" Standing in the hotel corridor, Kaneki Ken looked at Kuroko Tetsuya in surprise, "What do you think?"

"I want to defeat you." Kuroko Tetsuya said seriously, "Only Zone can defeat Zone. I don't know if it's my case, but it's always good to know more, just for Kagami-san's sake." Kaneki Ken looked at Kuroko Tetsuya with a sincere face, suddenly laughed and said, "I was really defeated by you... Forget it, just think of me being relied on by you."

Kaneki Ken turned around, leaned on the windowsill, looked at Kuroko Tetsuya seriously, and said word by word: "If you want to enter the zone completely independently, the first thing is... you can't think about entering the zone."

"..." Kuroko Tetsuya suddenly fell silent after hearing Kaneki Ken's almost teasing tone. He realized that he was missing the point.

"It seems that you have figured this out." Kaneki Ken looked at Kuroko Tetsuya's thoughtful expression, paused for a moment and then explained, "In addition to not deliberately pursuing the power of the zone, there is another point... You have to find your own trigger."

"Trigger?" Kuroko Tetsuya looked at Kaneki Ken with some confusion, as if he didn't understand what he meant by trigger.

"You can call him Trigger or Inducement, that's the meaning anyway. I'm used to calling him Trigger." Kaneki Ken casually crossed his hands in front of his chest, shrugged, smiled and looked at Kuroko Tetsuya and said, "Just like Seikaze Daiki's Trigger was a hearty all-out battle with the opponent, Akashi's previous Trigger was to give up all his teammates and fight alone..."

"Then what is your trigger?" Kuroko Tetsuya asked, looking into Kaneki Ken's eyes.

"Your question is very inappropriate. How can you just ask about your opponent's cards?" Kaneki Ken said with a chuckle, looking at the endless stream of cars outside the window.

"Sorry..." Kuroko Tetsuya bowed apologetically and was about to say something, but was interrupted by Kaneki Ken's next words.

"But it's okay to tell you." Kaneki Ken chuckled and answered confidently, "My trigger is that I always believe that I am the strongest player. If I can't stand up, no one can."

"Kaneki-san..." Kuroko Tetsuya looked at Kaneki Ken's domineering smile and was a little dazed for a moment.

"That's a very good point, Kaneki. Why don't you guess what the trigger is for me to enter the zone?"

Just when Kaneki Ken and Kuroko Tetsuya fell into a strange silence, a slightly frivolous voice came from beside them, breaking the silence.

"Kise-san?" Kuroko Tetsuya looked at Kise Ryota in front of him with some surprise, his eyes constantly wandering between Kaneki Ken and Kise Ryota. In a trance, he seemed to see two Kaneki Ken standing in front of him.

"Why are you here?" Kaneki Ken raised his eyebrows and said, "I remember there is no match for you today?"

"I originally came here to watch the match with Kasamatsu-senpai..." Kise Ryota chuckled, walked over to Kuroko Tetsuya, patted his shoulder and said, "After all, I've been looking forward to having a good fight with Aomine-chan, so I was thinking if I could gather some information in advance... But it would be nice to have a good fight with Kuroko-chan!"

"Thank you for your kindness, but I feel like you look down on me a little bit..." Kuroko Tetsuya asked honestly.

"No, I haven't~" Kise Ryouta smiled and rubbed Kuroko Tetsuya's head, "Come to think of it... the previous match with Haizaki was thanks to you, Kuroko!"

"I just said what was in my mind." Kuroko Tetsuya said expressionlessly.

"No matter what, Kuroko really inspired me at that time~" Kise Ryota chuckled, turned his head and looked at Kaneki Ken and said, "I was so excited that even if I faced Kaneki right away, I might not lose~"

"Is the owner of this store selling fake wine?" Kaneki Ken picked up the bottle on the ground and took a look. "You may not be able to win against Kuroko and the others."

……

"Xiao Zheng, all of Kise Ryouta's game videos have been edited and are in this USB drive."

In the video analysis room of Rakusan High School, Mibuchi Reo handed a silver-gray USB flash drive to Akashi Seijuro and said.

"Thank you, Rei." Akashi Seijuro said while playing with the USB flash drive in his hand, "Go and call all the team members over. The next round will be a duel with Kise Ryouta. I have some tactics to arrange in advance."

"But Xiao Zheng... Seirin High School seems to be playing very well recently..." Mibuchi Reio said hesitantly, "They just eliminated Seirin High School. Don't we really need to pay special attention to them?"

"Kuroko..." Akashi Seijuro pondered for a moment, and finally shook his head and said, "Seirin High School will most likely not be able to pass Kise. Just do as I say."

"Okay, Xiao Zheng." Seeing that Akashi Seijuro had made up his mind, Mibuchi Reo nodded, turned and left the analysis room.

"Kise..." Akashi Seijuro inserted the USB drive into the computer and opened a video named after Kise Ryouta. He stared at the Kise Ryouta who was killing everyone in the video and muttered to himself, "I won't be wrong... You are definitely the most difficult opponent besides Kaneki..."

……

"Ken-kun, what are you laughing at?" After dinner, Tao Jing Satsuki looked at Kaneki Ken's smiling profile curiously and asked, "You have been laughing since you said goodbye to Xiao Huang and Tetsu-kun..."

"I'm laughing at Kise Ryouta. He's going to have a hard time in the next round..." Kaneki Ken chuckled and shook his head, "If Kuroko and Kagami can find their triggers..."

"Come to think of it..." Tao Jing Wuyue counted on her fingers, "The next round will be our match with Xiao Zi, right? I don't know how they are preparing. But I heard that Xiao Zi has always been looking forward to a good fight with Yanjun..."

"I will satisfy him." Kaneki Ken nodded slightly without comment, then turned to look at Momoi Satsuki and said, "By the way, I plan to watch the next round of Kuroko and Kise's match. Do you want to come with me?"

"Okay~" Tao Jing Wuyue said with a surprised look, "I haven't watched a game with Ken-kun for a long time~"

……

"Have you saved enough money?"

In a small ramen restaurant, the Sakuragi Army gathered together. Noma Chuichiro took out two crumpled bills from his pocket and said bitterly, "I only have 2,000 yen in my hand now... I promised to watch Sakuragi's game. The next game is the Winter Cup semi-finals. If I don't save money quickly, I won't be able to watch it..."

"I only have 3,000 yen..." Takamiya Nozomi suggested helplessly, "How about we go play a game of Pachinko? If we're lucky, not only can we watch the game, but we can also stay in a luxury hotel!"

"Stop it! Don't you remember how we lost the money we worked so hard for?" Mito Yohei slapped Takamiya Nozomi on the head and said.

"Oh...there's nothing I can do about it~" Gao Gongwang wilted like an eggplant hit by frost.

"Oh, Amaterasu, no matter what, let me get 20,000 yen right away!" Noma Chuichiro looked up and wailed.

"careful!"

Just when everyone was sighing, a wine bottle suddenly flew out from somewhere and hit Gao Gongwang on the head.

"Who! Who attacked me!" Gao Gongwang stood up with his head covered, roaring and looking around.

"Hurry, lie down!" Mito Yohei rolled his eyes, poked Takamiya Wang's waist, leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Isn't the travel expenses here? If we're lucky, we can even stay in a high-end hotel!"

(End of this chapter)