Black Basketball: A false start

Chapter 277 The final confession
"I lost again..." Akashi Seijuro sighed, turned his head and looked in the direction of Seirin High School, and sighed, "I'm sorry, Kaneki, I really have to break my promise this time..."

"Akagi-san..." Kuroko Tetsuya saw Akashi Seijuro standing beside him with a complicated expression, and slowly walked out from the celebrating crowd. He came to Akashi Seijuro, stretched out his hand and said, "Come again next time, Akashi-san."

"Yeah, let's come again next time." Akashi Seijuro said, shaking Kuroko Tetsuya's hand tightly.

"Winter Cup National Tournament Western Conference Finals, Seirin High School vs. Rakusan High School, 107 to 106, Seirin High School wins!"

"Thanks for the advice!"

"Thanks for the advice!"

As the referee's voice fell, the players of both teams lined up and bowed.

"Let's go, May." Kaneki Ken looked at Kagami Taiga in the field, took a deep breath, stood up and said.

"Oh, here I come, Ken-kun." Momoi Satsuki nodded slightly and left the audience with Kaneki Ken.

"Have you left, Kaneki-san..." Kuroko Tetsuya looked in the direction where Kaneki Ken left and muttered to himself, "Next, it's our battle."

"This is truly a fateful duel..." Aida Yako sighed as she looked at Kuroko Tetsuya on the field, "One was once the strongest of Teiko Junior High School's Generation of Miracles, and the other was once an unknown phantom sixth man of Teiko Junior High School... This year's finals will definitely be exceptionally exciting!"

"Why do you have such a stern face, Tatsuya?" Alex Garcia said to Himuro Tatsuya with a smile, "Vulcan entered the finals, aren't you happy?"

"Why should I be happy for him?" Himuro Tatsuya said coldly, "I am really bored to accompany you here to waste time."

Having said that, Himuro Tatsuya left the stands at the sidelines without looking back.

"Really? It's a different era now, and you're still playing the tsundere game..." Alex Garcia said with a smile as he looked at Himuro Tatsuya's back, "Tsundere is out of fashion, Tatsuya!"

……

"Oh oh oh!!!!"

After the game, in the locker room of Seirin High School at the Osaka Sports Center, the students of Seirin High School were splashing drinks excitedly, holding up the West Division championship trophy in their hands, and howling like ghosts.

"We are the Western Conference champions!" Ichiro Kusanagi excitedly raised the trophy in his hand and shouted.

"West Division Champions!!!" The other players from Seirin High School echoed in unison.

"What a bunch of immature guys..." Hinata Junpei crossed his arms over his chest, pushed the frame of his glasses on his nose helplessly and said, "They just got the ticket to the finals, but they act like they've already won the championship trophy..."

"Well, after all, we have defeated a strong enemy. Let's let them run wild today, Hinata." Kiyoshi Teppei said to his teammates in front of him with gentle eyes.

"Yes, anyway, you get to be the good guy and I get to be the bad guy." Hinata Junpei rolled his eyes speechlessly, then asked with a barely perceptible concern in his tone, "Is that rebound at the end okay? After all, your knee..."

"Not bad." Kiyoshi Teppei stamped his feet and said, "Thanks to Ming Hai for helping me share some of the pressure of fighting against Neya Takeshi. At least I can still play in the finals."

"You have a heavy burden to bear in the finals..." Hinata Junpei said with narrowed eyes, "Kabachi Shigehiro is a stronger center than Nango Koichiro and Neya Takeyoshi..."

"Aren't all the opponents we've defeated stronger than us?" Muji Tieping smiled and shrugged his shoulders and said, "We just have to fight them one game at a time."

"Yeah, just fight one battle at a time..." Hinata Junpei sighed.

"Dong dong~"

Just as Teppei Kiyoshi and Junpei Hyuga were discussing the upcoming finals, there was a sudden knock on the locker room door.

"Who is it..." Shinji Koganei, who was closest to the door, opened the door curiously, only to see the frosty-looking Himuro Tatsuya appear at the door.

"Hey~ You are the God of Fire!" Shinji Koganei was about to say something when he was interrupted by Tatsuya Himuro's cold words.

"Is Kagami here?" Himuro Tatsuya asked expressionlessly, looking into Koganei Shinji's eyes.

"Oh, it's there..." Koganei Shinji nodded fearfully, then made way for the door and pointed in the direction of Kagami Daigo in the house and said, "It's inside..."

"Himuro..." The exhausted Kagami Daiga looked at Himuro Tatsuya with some confusion, but only got a pair of cold eyes in return.

The atmosphere in the entire locker room quickly cooled down due to the confrontation between the two. The players of Seirin High School, who were originally cheering and celebrating the victory of the game, also became quiet, their eyes constantly wandering between the two.

"I'll wait for you at the door. Come out when you're done packing." Himuro Tatsuya seemed to have noticed something was wrong. He took a deep breath, said something coldly, and turned to leave the locker room of Seirin High School.

"There's nothing to be said between brothers. If you want to go, go ahead, Kagami-san." Kuroko Tetsuya came to Kagami Daiga and said with a smile, "Basketball is not everything in life, but friends are."

"Ah... I understand." Kagami Daiga patted his cheek, took out the necklace from the innermost compartment of his backpack and said softly, "I'm going to be out for a while, remember to ask for leave from the captain and coach for me."

"Don't worry, Kagami-san." Kuroko Tetsuya nodded heavily and said.

……

"Hey, Tatsuya!"

Not long after, when Kagami Daigo walked through a dark player tunnel and arrived at the entrance of the gymnasium, Himuro Tatsuya was already waiting there.

"Tatsuya, this is..." Kagami Daigo walked forward with a conflicted look on his face, wondering whether he should return the necklace to Himuro Tatsuya.

"Don't talk, Kagami." Himuro Tatsuya said coldly, "Originally, I came here today just to see you lose miserably, but I didn't expect you to be so lucky that you actually won the game." "What are you talking about?" Kagami Daiga said with an unhappy look on his face, "It's not luck that we can win the game! Everyone worked hard!"

"Effort? Is it useful to work hard?" Himuro Tatsu sneered disdainfully, and then walked towards a street court not far away. Seeing this, Kagami Daigo hesitated for a moment and followed.

"Well done, Yonghui!"

"You cast well, too, Yiping!"

At this moment in the stadium, a young player named Yonghui, who looked about seven or eight years old, made a wonderful assist to Yiping. After Yiping walked up and high-fived Yonghui to celebrate, the two returned to the backcourt side by side, ready to defend against the opponent's next attack.

"That's great..." Kagami Daiga looked at Yonghui and Yiping who were working together on the field, with unspeakable envy in his tone, "Once upon a time, we also worked together like this and defeated one black player after another who looked down on us..."

"What's the point of talking about the past?" Himuro Tatsuya sighed and said, "Since you have already got the chance to fight Kaneki Ken before me... then our 100th duel will be considered as your victory, Taiga. From today on, we are no longer brothers."

"Can you please stop talking to yourself here, Chen Ye!" Kagami Daiga said unhappily, "Since you said you don't want to be my brother anymore, then at least let's sort things out! Why did your attitude towards me get worse and worse before I returned to Neon? I clearly don't remember doing anything wrong!"

"You didn't do anything wrong, Kagami." Himuro Tatsuya looked at the young players who were playing fiercely on the field with lifeless eyes and muttered to himself, "I'm just... a little jealous of you!"

"Jealous... of me?" Kagami Dai, I looked at Himuro Tatsuya in surprise, feeling like my brain was about to overload.

"Yeah... I'm jealous of you." Himuro Tatsuya smiled self-deprecatingly, "As your elder brother, I should be happy for your outstanding talent... But your talent is so dazzling that it makes me feel inferior. This jealousy and entanglement drives me crazy. Gradually, I want to stay away from you more and more... I hate you more and more."

"Tatsuya..." Kagami Daiga stared blankly at Himuro Tatsuya's back, not knowing what to say.

"Oh, stupid Big Wo!" Alex Garcia suddenly jumped out from the side, quickly took out a necklace from Kagami Big Wo's pocket and said, "Why don't you give me a gift if you have one?"

"This is not a gift... It's just a proof of our breaking up!" Kagami Daigo said stubbornly with a hypocritical face.

"A gift...?" Himuro Tatsuya looked at the necklace in front of him with a complicated expression. His fingers kept rubbing the ring on the necklace, his eyes flickering, and no one knew what he was thinking.

"Okay, brothers, just talk it out." Alex Garcia forced their hands together and said with a smile, "Just have a fight! We can still be good brothers after the fight!"

"I would like to be a good brother to him..." Kagami Daiga said with a complicated tone, "It's a pity that I wasn't the first one to propose breaking up..."

"Not breaking up... It's not impossible..." Himuro Tatsuya clenched his fist, tightly grasped the necklace with the ring in his hand, stretched out his fist and said to Kagami Daigo word by word, "Try to be the best basketball player My brother! (Try to be the best basketball player, my brother!)"

"Of course!" Looking at the fist handed over by Himuro Tatsuya, a hint of surprise flashed in Kagami Daigo's eyes. He stretched out his hand and punched Himuro Tatsuya heavily to celebrate.

……

After the finals roster was released, the entire high school basketball world in Japan fell into an eerie silence again. Seirin High School and Shonan High School were both doing their final pre-match training as planned. Time passed by minute by minute, and in the blink of an eye, it was the night before the start of the game.

"This haircut looks very neat. You really are worthy of being the son of the barber shop owner, Junpei." Reiko Aida said with satisfaction while looking at herself in the mirror.

"Haha, I follow my dad every day and learned some skills later. You are my first customer, and I was worried that you wouldn't like the hairstyle I cut." Hinata Junpei chuckled, shook the scarf that was covered with broken hair, looked at Aida Reiko in the mirror and said.

"What are you talking about? I like the way your hair is cut." Reiko Aida said smugly while looking at herself in the mirror.

"That... Reiko!" Hinata Junpei seemed to have remembered something, and his tone suddenly became a little awkward. After coughing twice tactically, his face flushed as he said, "Actually, there are some things I wanted to say after the game... but now the atmosphere has come to this point... I think I'd better say it now... If we can really win this final... can you..."

“Ah~~~~ sneeze!!!”

Before Hinata Junpei could finish his words, Aida Reiko sneezed loudly at him.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!!! What are you doing!!!" Hinata Junpei quickly rushed to the sink beside him and washed the saliva off his face with a look of disgust.

"I'm sorry, Hinata..." Aida Reiko said a little embarrassedly, "I have a cold recently, so I sneeze a lot... By the way, you just said that the game is over, how about if I can win?"

"Nothing! You've ruined the atmosphere!" Hinata Junpei grabbed a towel and wiped his face, saying unhappily.

"Tsk, that's weird." Aida Reiko curled her lips and said, "Forget it."

……

"Hey kid, tomorrow is your last game in Neon, how do you feel now?"

At this time at Kaneki's house, Kaneki Ken was yawning, and then a phone call came from the other side of the ocean.

"My feeling now is that if you keep calling me in the middle of the night regardless of the time difference, I will definitely beat you up after I enter the NBA," Kaneki Ken said unhappily.

"Fuck you boy, you are young but you have such a big mouth." Michael Jordan scolded with a smile, "I will watch your games. Not only me, but also Stern, Jerry Buss, and that old guy Auerbach will watch. So you must play with dominance, otherwise, I will lose face in the American basketball world."

"Why do I always feel something is wrong, Michael..." Kaneki Ken said speechlessly, "Why was it me who played the game, and you were the only one who acted?"

"Don't worry about the details, kid. What you need to remember is that you must play well in tomorrow's game. This will determine your future starting point in the NBA." When it came to business, Michael Jordan's tone became serious.

"Don't worry, Michael." Kaneki Ken yawned and said, "I never let anyone down when it comes to basketball."

"I hope so, kid. I look forward to seeing you in the NBA soon." Michael Jordan said with emotion.

"Wait, Michael, this day won't be long." Kaneki Ken said in a deep voice, "Before that, I want to give my old friends a final explanation."

(End of this chapter)