Black Basketball: A false start

Chapter 256 The Secret of Evolution and Brothers on the Brink of Breaking Up

"Buzz!"

As Murasakibara Atsushi dunked the ball into the basket across Sakuragi Hanamichi, the buzzing sound of the timer on the sidelines rang out, and the first half of the game ended with a score of 65 to 50, and the difference between the two sides remained at 15 points.

"Are you okay, Ken-kun?" As soon as Kaneki Ken left the stage, Momoi Satsuki came over with a worried expression and asked with concern.

"It's nothing serious, it's just that the game is a bit interesting now." Kaneki Ken said with a smile and shook his head.

"Is it Kozuki?" Tao Jing Satsuki looked up at Kaneki Ken's chin and asked tentatively, "Is Kozuki stronger again?"

"Becoming stronger? It's not as simple as just becoming stronger..." Kaneki Ken smiled complicatedly, looked down at Momoi Satsuki and said, "It would be more appropriate to say that I'm transforming..."

"That was a good shot, Murasakibara." Murasakibara Atsushi had just sat on the bench when he saw Kensuke Fukui coming over excitedly. "I didn't expect you to be able to knock Kaneki Ken down! Did you enter a deeper zone?"

"I don't know..." Murasakibara Atsushi shook his head gently and said, "I just feel... there is infinite power in my body waiting to burst out!"

"Okay, don't waste time." Araki Masako looked at her players with a rare smile, clapped her hands and said, "Go back to the locker room quickly and take some time to rest."

"Um, Masako-chan..." Murasakibara Atsushi raised his hand and said, "I won't go back to the locker room."

"Then where are you going?" Masako Araki looked at Murasakihara Atsushi with a puzzled look and asked.

"I'll just stay on the court..." Murasakibara Atsushi sat on the bench, covering his head and face with a towel, and said word by word, "I'm not going anywhere."

"Okay." Araki Masako seemed to see what was on Murasakihara Atsushi's mind and said with a sigh, "Have a good rest. The second half of the game depends on you."

"Don't worry, Masako-chan." Murasakibara Atsushi nodded and said nothing more.

"Okay, let's go." Masako Araki looked at the players behind her and waved. The players of Yangquan High School followed Masako Araki into the player tunnel.

……

"Tatsuya..." Kagami Daiga looked at Himuro Tatsuya who was like a walking corpse in the team, his eyes full of anger at his lack of fighting spirit.

"If you want to say something, go ahead, Kagami-san." Kuroko Tetsuya saw Kagami Taiga's mood from his clenched fists and said softly, "Basketball is not everything in life, emotions are."

"Thank you, Kuroko." Kagami Daiga looked at Kuroko Tetsuya with gratitude and said, "I'll be back soon."

"Xiaolu, where are you going?"

At the same time, in the Shutoku High School formation on the sidelines, Takao Kazunari looked at Midorima Shintaro with a look of surprise and asked when he suddenly stood up.

"It's a bit boring to sit here all the time." Midorima Shintaro said coldly, "Let's go and catch up with old friends."

"No, you're in such a bad condition now that you can hardly walk. Why are you still reminiscing about the past?" Takao Kazunari quickly stopped Midorima Shintaro and said.

"I forgot to tell you, but I can actually walk normally a long time ago." Midorima Shintaro said as he took off the plaster on his leg.

“No…” Takao Kazunari stared at Midorima Shintaro in front of him with his mouth wide open. After a long pause, he stammered, “You said before that you were not well yet and your recovery was not ideal…”

"Yes, I was kidding you." Midorima Shintaro said as he pushed his glasses up with an unnatural expression, "It's just fun to watch you running around."

"No, Xiaozhen, your personality is really too bad, isn't it?" Takao Kazunari suddenly felt that his three views were shattered.

"I'm leaving and will be back soon." Midorima Shintaro threw away the plaster splint and waved to his teammates behind him.

……

"Hey, where are you going, Aomine?" Wakamatsu Kosuke asked Aomine Daiki, who stood up and patted his butt, "The game isn't over yet..."

"I have to pee urgently. Can't I go to the bathroom?" Aomine Daiki rolled his eyes at Wakamatsu Kosuke and disappeared into the player tunnel without looking back.

"What's this guy's attitude?" Wakamatsu Kosuke pointed at Aomine Daiki's departing back with an unhappy look on his face and complained to Imayoshi Shoichi.

"Go with Aomine, Wakamatsu." Imayoshi said with a smile, "A talented player like Aomine must have long been unwilling to be inferior to Kaneki Ken, right? Now that he finally has a direction to move forward, I guess he's already very patient to be able to wait until the halftime break."

“Really…” At this time, Aomine Daiki muttered to himself in the player tunnel, “I actually let that dumb idiot Murasakibara walk in front… If this gets out, won’t I be firmly known as the person with the lowest IQ among the Generation of Miracles?”

"What do you mean by 'sit tight', A-Da?" Taoi Satsuki's voice suddenly sounded in Aomine Daiki's ears.

"Ahhhhhh!!!" Aomine Daiki was startled by the sudden sound beside him and jumped back involuntarily.

"What's wrong, A-Da? You're so startled..." Taoi Satsuki was also shocked by Aomine Daiki's reaction. She patted her chest and complained, "By the way, why did you suddenly appear here?"

"Ah, I just came to take a look..." Aomine Daiki was too embarrassed to say directly that he came to ask Kaneki Ken for advice, so he could only scratch his cheek awkwardly and speak nonsense.

"Then you can look around at will. Mayu and I will go back to the locker room first." Kaneki Ken suddenly appeared behind Aomine Daiki and teased in a playful tone.

"Ah, there are indeed some things..." Aomine Daiki saw Kaneki Ken about to leave, and quickly stepped forward to stop Kaneki Ken. After thinking for a while, he asked shyly, "Well, Ziyuan's ball just now was really scary..."

"Let's go, May." Kaneki Ken looked at the hesitant Aomine Daiki and turned decisively towards the locker room.

"Wait!" Aomine Daiki saw that Kaneki Ken had no intention of staying, and without caring about his face, he quickly stopped Kaneki Ken and said, "Actually, I came here today to ask you, how can I go further like Murasakibara?"

"There is a way." Kaneki Ken crossed his arms over his chest and said with a playful look on his face, "But why should I tell you? It was you who came to ask me to do something, and you didn't even say a nice word..."

"..." Aomine Daiki looked at Kaneki Ken's playful expression, clenched his fists, gritted his teeth and suddenly bowed, saying sincerely, "I really want to improve, please teach me, Kaneki!"

"Hmm..." Kaneki Ken looked at Aomine Daiki's serious expression, touched his chin, waved at Aomine Daiki and said, "Come with me."

"Thank you!" Aomine Daiki looked at Kaneki Ken's back and followed him in surprise.

……

"What are you thinking about, Murasakibara?"

No one knew what happened in the player tunnel. At this time, Midorima Shintaro had already come behind Murasakibara Atsushi.

"Oh, it's you, Midori." Murasakibara Atsushi looked back in confusion, then patted the bench beside him and said, "Come and sit down."

"Thank you." Midorima Shintaro took out a tissue from his pocket, wiped the seat next to him, and sat down calmly.

"Midori is still as picky as before." Murasakibara Atsushi couldn't help but tease as he watched Midorima Shintaro's actions.

"How did you feel about the singles match against Kaneki Ken just now?" Midorima Shintaro ignored Murasakihara Atsushi's teasing, turned his head to look at Murasakihara Atsushi, and asked with a hint of curiosity in his tone.

"What was it like?" Murasakibara Atsushi was stunned by Midorima Shintaro's question. He frowned and recalled for a while before slowly speaking, "I didn't have any feelings. I just felt that I had to score this goal... and then it was as if an infinite amount of power suddenly emerged from my body..."

"Zone?" Midorima Shintaro asked, frowning, "Zone shouldn't be that powerful."

"It's not Zone..." Murasakibara Atsushi shook his head and said, "That power feels strange, just like the feeling of just changing from walking to running... I've never felt this way before, but I feel very familiar with it, like an instinctive reaction..." "Instinctive reaction?" Midorima Shintaro frowned even deeper. In Murasakibara Atsushi's words, Murasakibara Atsushi's change just now was no different from Zone's state. However, both Murasakibara Atsushi and himself knew that this extraordinary power was definitely not Zone - even the deep-level Zone did not have this power...

"Green boy! Green boy!" Just when Midorima Shintaro was still in a daze, Murasakibara Atsushi beside him woke him up with an impatient look on his face, "If you have nothing else, go back first. We still have a game later."

"I understand." Midorima Shintaro nodded, knowing that this was not the time to argue, and left the player tunnel.

……

"I knew you were here."

At this time, in the stands of the Tokyo Arena, Kagami Taiga pushed open the iron door and stood on the balcony behind Himuro Tatsuya.

"Why are you here?" Himuro Tatsuya asked in confusion, "Shouldn't you be watching the game on the sidelines at this time?"

"What kind of battle are you watching?" Kagami Daiga said unhappily, "Look at how you are now. You're not even as responsible as that idiot Murasakibara!"

"Everything you said is right, I accept it." Himuro Tatsuya said with a bitter smile, "It's just that there's nothing I can do... Some games can't be won just by responsibility and cooperation. Kaneki Ken was right, in the sport of basketball... the gap in talent is absolute."

"So? Are you just going to give up like this?" Kagami Taiga said angrily, "You are not facing a direct attack from Kaneki Ken, but only Rukawa Kaede! If even a challenge of this level can completely knock you down, then you really don't deserve to be my brother!"

"You're right. I'm not worthy of being your brother." Himuro Tatsuya seemed to be hurt. He pulled off the necklace from his neck and threw it at Kagami Daigo's feet, saying, "Kagami, from today on, we are done with each other."

"..." Kagami Daigo squatted down, picked up the necklace on the ground and held it tightly in his hand. After a long silence, he suddenly took a step forward and punched Himuro Tatsuya in the face.

"You're crazy, Kagami! What right do you have to hit me?" Himuro Tatsuya touched the corner of his mouth that was oozing blood, looked at Kagami Daiga in disbelief and shouted, "Yes, you have talent, you are amazing! You can look down on me now..."

"I have never looked down on you, but that was before." Kagami Daiga shook his head and said in a tone that was almost pitying, "But now you... it seems that there is really nothing I can look up to."

Having said that, Kagami Daiga threw the necklace back to Himuro Tatsuya's feet.

"Kagami, what are you doing?" Himuro Tatsuya looked at Kagami Daigo in confusion, somewhat unsure of what he meant.

"My brother is the warrior who tries every possible means to win and dares to challenge his opponent no matter how strong he is!" Kagami Daigo said word by word, "You are not worthy of representing him now and saying that you don't want to be my brother!"

"Fire God..." Himuro Tatsuya squatted down and picked up the necklace, and the hand holding the necklace began to tremble.

"Go do what you should do first! Go back to the court and play this game with all your might!" Kagami Taiga grabbed Himuro Tatsuya by the collar and yelled, "As for whether you want to continue to be my brother... Let's talk about it after you finish this game!"

"..." A glimmer of light flashed in the corners of Himuro Tatsuya's eyes. After a moment of silence, he grinned and said, "Really, I was actually taught a lesson by a single-celled organism like you."

As he said that, Himuro Tatsuya pushed Kagami Daiga away, put the necklace into his pocket, waved his hand behind him and said, "I'll talk about the beating you just did after I finish the game."

"Okay, I'll wait for you." Looking at Himuro Tatsuya who had regained his fighting spirit, Kagami Daiga said with a chuckle.

……

"You called me here... not just to fight me one-on-one, right?"

In an open-air stadium outside the Tokyo Gymnasium, Aomine Daiki sat on the ground with a helpless look on his face as he looked at Kaneki Ken on the field and asked.

"How much did you remember about the feeling of entering the zone just now?" Kaneki Ken did not answer Aomine Daiki's question, but instead asked Aomine Daiki a question.

"How much did you remember?" Qingfeng Daihui curled his lips imperceptibly, supported himself on the ground with both hands and said, "This is not a text to be recited, how can I remember it?"

"So I told you that you need to use your brain when playing basketball, idiot." Kaneki Ken complained mercilessly, "In this regard, Murasakihara does better than you."

"Just say whatever you want to say." Qingfeng Daihui said with an unhappy look on his face.

"The so-called evolution is actually to fully stimulate the potential hidden in the deepest part of the body." Kaneki Ken sighed and explained, "Just like when a person just learned to walk, it was an evolution compared to a baby crawling on the ground. In a sense, the zone is also a short-term evolution. When your body gradually gets used to the state of the zone and your functions can maintain this state, you have completed the evolution."

"Does that mean that we can't enter the zone after evolving?" Aomine Daiki asked with some confusion.

"So this is the meaning of growth." Kaneki Ken sighed and said, "As the body's functions continue to grow, yesterday's zone becomes today's norm, and today's zone will become tomorrow's norm... Until the potential of this body is fully tapped, continuous growth is the secret of evolution. This is also why Murasakibara was able to evolve before all of you... His physical talent is the best among you, and his growth rate is the highest."

"Growth..." Aomine Daiki fell into deep thought after listening to Kaneki Ken's words.

"Don't think about anything too advanced right now." Kaneki Ken looked at Aomine Daiki who was lost in thought and smiled. "Strengthen your physical training, try to adapt to the intensity of the zone as soon as possible, and then normalize it. That's what you should do at this stage."

"Okay, I get it." Aomine Daiki shrugged helplessly and said, "But how are you going to deal with Murasakibara later? He just knocked you away!"

"Do you want to provoke me so that I can give Murasakibara a good beating?" Kaneki Ken said with a smile while looking at Aomine Daiki.

"How is that possible? I'm not a tsundere weirdo like Midorima." Aomine Daiki's expression changed unnaturally after his secret was exposed. He said, "I just simply want to see the world."

"You'll see." Kaneki Ken smiled and patted Aomine Daiki's shoulder and said, "I'll wait for you guys to grow up... until you're about to fall asleep."

"Tsk... still as cocky as before..." Aomine Daiki said with a curled lip as he looked at Kaneki Ken who had a nonchalant expression.

"Okay, I'm not going to talk nonsense with you here anymore." Kaneki Ken came to the sidelines, picked up his coat from the basketball rack and said with a smile, "Sakuragi and Mayu are still waiting for me."

Having said that, Kaneki Ken walked towards the Tokyo Gymnasium without looking back.

……

"Buzz~"

Just after Kaneki Ken returned to the locker room to take a short rest, the buzzing sound of a timer echoed over the broadcast above the stadium.

"Let's go." Kaneki Ken, who was leaning against the cabinet, suddenly opened his eyes, lifted up his coat and said, "The second half is the really interesting game. Stay with me and have a good time!"

"Yes, captain!" The Shonan High School players present shouted loudly.

"I'm back, Atsushi." At this time, the players of Yangquan High School returned to the stadium before Shonan High School. Himuro Tatsuya smiled and sat next to Murasakibara Atsushi and said, "The second quarter was a big win for us, thanks to you. The last dunk was awesome."

"It looks like you've recovered, Muro." Murasakibara Atsushi breathed a sigh of relief, "Play well in the second half. I was exhausted in the first half."

"Well, don't worry, Atsushi." Himuro Tatsuya patted Murasakibara Atsushi's shoulder and promised.

"It feels like the atmosphere in the stadium is getting more and more tense..." Takao Kazunari said as he looked at the players who had returned to the field, "What did you talk about during the halftime break?"

"Nothing much, just some old friends catching up." Midorima Shotaro shook his head and said, "Stop talking and watch the game."

"Beep!"

With the referee's whistle, the second half of the game officially began.

(End of this chapter)