Black Basketball: A false start

Chapter 296 Here I come, America!

"My passport is here...and the clothes I need to bring are here..."

The day after the reunion of the Generation of Miracles, at Momoi's home in Tokyo, Momoi Satsuki was humming a little tune and packing her personal belongings with an expectant look on her face.

"Hey, my dear daughter, do you really want to go to the United States with that little yellow-haired kid?" Tao Jing's father complained to Tao Jing Wu Yue, whose mind had already flown to the other side of the ocean, with an unhappy face, "I have long seen that this kid is not a good person. You will not get any good results if you follow him to the United States!"

"Hey, Dad, I'm not going to the U.S. with Yanjun to elope. I'm just accompanying him to study basketball there~" Taojing Mayu looked at Taojing's father who looked jealous, and hurriedly helped her father to sit on the sofa with a smile on her face. She squatted beside Taojing's father with a flattering smile on her face, gently patted Taojing's thigh and said, "And Yanjun didn't go to the U.S. without any preparation. You know Michael Jordan, who just won his fourth championship, right? But he is looking forward to Yanjun's study in the U.S. basketball world and then enter the NBA~"

"That's why you can't hang around with this kid!" Tao Jing's father said with a worried look on his face. "When I first saw this kid, I thought he had a pair of peach blossom eyes and was definitely not a reliable guy! Especially in the glamorous world of the NBA, he might let you get on the bus first and buy the ticket later, and then abandon you!"

"Hey, Dad, what are you talking about!" Hearing Momoi's father madly slandering Kaneki Ken, Momoi Satsuki stood up and stomped her feet angrily, then went back to the room to pack up her things, no longer paying attention to Momoi's father.

"Alas, my daughter has grown up and is no longer under my control..." Taojing's father sighed sadly, "I still remember when Wu Yue was little, she hugged my face and said that she would not marry when she grew up and would stay with her father for the rest of her life..."

"Hey old man, you've got enough~" Mommy Tao Jing rolled her eyes at the disappointed gold digging dad and said, "I think Kaneki is a pretty good guy, and he's about to enter the NBA. He's much more promising than you were back then. How dare you criticize him?"

"You... why are you speaking for outsiders?" Tao Jing's father covered his chest angrily and gasped for air, "I'm so mad... Don't let me catch this guy, otherwise, I will beat him to death!"

"Ding dong~"

Just as Momoi's father was angrily scolding Kaneki Ken, the doorbell outside the Momoi family's door suddenly rang.

"Kan-kun, you're here~" Momoi Satsuki, who was packing her things, hurriedly stopped what she was doing and looked out the window with anticipation. After seeing the handsome face she had been thinking about day and night, she immediately rushed out of the room, took two steps at a time to the door, opened the door for Kaneki Ken, and dived into Kaneki Ken's arms like a young swallow returning to its nest.

"How's the packing going?" Kaneki Ken asked, smiling as he touched the top of Momoi Satsuki's head in his arms. "Don't bring too many things. When we get to the United States, we can ask David and Michael to buy them for us."

"How can you say that? Of course you should bring your own things before you use them~" Taoi Satsuki raised her head from Kaneki Ken's arms, frowned coquettishly and said, "Wait a minute, Ken-kun, I'll pack it up in a moment!"

"Well, let's go~" Kaneki Ken said with a smile as he helped Taoi Satsuki tidy up her hair at the temples, "If we don't leave now, I feel like that guy Michael will fly to Neon to hunt me down."

"You little brat! Let my daughter go!" Momoi's father, who had been unhappy with Kaneki Ken for a long time, rushed out of the kitchen with a kitchen knife in his hand.

"Run, Ken-kun!" Seeing her father's crazy expression, Momoi Satsuki quickly pushed Kaneki Ken away, rushed forward, hugged Momoi's father's waist, turned her head to look at Kaneki Ken and shouted, "You go to the airport first, I'll wait for you at the airport after I'm done packing!"

"See you later!" Seeing that the situation was not good, Kaneki Ken immediately picked up his luggage and ran away.

"It's all your fault, Dad!" Seeing Kaneki Ken running farther and farther away, Momoi Satsuki finally let go of her father, panting. She looked at Momoi's father with an angry face and complained, "I was thinking of going to the airport with Ken-kun, but you ruined it all!"

"Alas, this old man..." Taojing's mother, who was standing aside and silently watching the farce between father and daughter, shook her head helplessly and sighed softly, "He is so old, but he still does whatever he wants like a child..."

……

"I was really scared just now..." Not long after, Kaneki Ken, who was in the terminal of Tokyo International Airport, looked at Momoi Satsuki who was carrying a lot of bags and said, "What happened today? When I went to your house before, I didn't see that your uncle disliked me so much..."

"Maybe it's because I'm going abroad with Yanjun... Dad has been unhappy about this for a long time..." Perhaps because they really had to face separation, after the anticipation before leaving, Tao Jing Satsuki sat down on the chair with some sadness and whispered, "Speaking of which, this is the first time I've left my parents and gone to such a far place alone..."

"How can you be alone?" Kaneki Ken, who always keeps to himself, rubbed the top of Momoi Satsuki's head and comforted her clumsily, "Don't you still have me?"

"Yanzi, you are so stupid. You should be holding Xiao Taozi at this time! I really don't know how you, with your emotional intelligence, could get together with Xiao Taozi..."

Just as Kaneki Ken and Momoi Satsuki were looking at each other in silence, Murasakihara Atsushi's lazy voice suddenly came from the side.

"Murasara? Why are you here?" Kaneki Ken looked at Murasakihara Atsushi who was eating seaweed crumbs with some surprise and asked, "I didn't tell everyone that I was leaving..."

"I told everyone." Akashi Seijuro stood up from behind Murasakibara Atsushi and said with a smile, "The discounted first-class tickets you and Momoi bought happened to be from my airline, so I told everyone without your permission. When you went to the United States before, I didn't have the chance to see you off, and this time, I can't miss it no matter what."

"Really... It seems that Aomine and the others also know that I'm leaving today?" Kaneki Ken shook his head helplessly and said with a wry smile, "What a hassle. I'm the worst at saying goodbye to people..."

"What's the meaning of that expression? Don't you really want to see me?" Qingfeng Daihui walked out from the shadow of a nearby pillar with an unhappy look on his face. "Have you forgotten who sent you to the hospital?"

"Of course I didn't forget. I also haven't forgotten that it was you who hit me into the hospital with your bike." Kaneki Ken stepped forward, smiled and hit Aomine Daiki on the chest.

"In short, play well in the United States and don't embarrass us Asians." Qingfeng Daiki said arrogantly, "In the future, we will also go to the United States to play basketball. After we get to the NBA, we will have a good game."

"If you want to enter the NBA, you have to work harder." Midorima Shintaro joined in without knowing when, gently pushed the frame on his nose, and looked at Aomine Daiki seriously. "You are so long-winded, I have been training hard recently!" Aomine Daiki complained to Midorima Shintaro with an unhappy face.

"Hey~" Murasakibara Atsushi on the side glanced at everyone and asked in confusion, "Is this an illusion? I always feel like... is there someone missing?"

"Oh, right..." Qingfeng Daihui scratched his head and said, "It seems that Azhe hasn't arrived yet..."

"And Sakuragi-san..." Taoi Satsuki poked her head out from behind Kaneki Ken, raised her hand and reminded him in a low voice.

"Um... I'm here..." Kuroko Tetsuya, who was blocked by a group of tall figures, struggled to squeeze past Aomine Daiki and others, and came in front of Kaneki Ken and said with a complicated expression, "After the game, I didn't have the time to tell you, Kaneki classmate... your basketball won... No matter how tacit the teamwork is, it can't compare to the unparalleled individual strength... So, I wish you all the best in the United States..."

"Thank you for your blessing, Kuroko." Kaneki Ken smiled and looked at Kuroko Tetsuya, stretched out his hand and said, "I have never denied your basketball skills. It's just that a good team and a good individual are not in opposition to each other, but complement each other."

"I understand, Kaneki-san." Kuroko Tetsuya bowed deeply to Kaneki Ken thoughtfully and said, "I will work with Kagami-san and Seirin to do our best to defeat Shonan High School... although it will be Shonan High School without you."

"Then this is the mission of that guy Sakuragi." Kaneki Ken said with a calm smile.

"Come to think of it, it seems that Sakuragi-chan and Kagami-chan haven't arrived yet..." After hearing Kuroko Tetsuya mention Kagami Taiga and Sakuragi Hanamichi, Kise Ryota raised his hand belatedly and said.

"Kagami is staying in school for special training, and the coach has already obtained approval documents for Alex Garcia to be a special guest basketball coach at Seirin High School." Kuroko Tetsuya looked at everyone present and said seriously, "So just wait and see, when the IH and Winter Cup come next year, the winner will definitely be our Seirin High School!"

"It seems that Kagami and you are already full of confidence..." Kaneki Ken smiled and patted Kuroko Tetsuya on the shoulder and said, "Then work hard. You know, the evolution speed of Sakuragi and Rukawa Kaede is not slow at all~"

"I understand the logic, but what about Sakuragito?" Kise Ryota asked Kaneki Ken with a puzzled look on his face.

"Golden Flash!!!" Just as everyone's eyes were on Kaneki Ken, Sakuragi Hanamichi was running towards the door waving his arms and shouting.

"Dear passengers, please note that check-in for flight KLM8941 from Tokyo to Los Angeles has begun. Passengers on this flight are requested to hurry to the terminal and wait for boarding."

"Okay, I've received everyone's farewell wishes." Listening to the broadcast over the airport, Kaneki Ken smiled and pulled up his shopping bag, took Momoi Satsuki's hand, looked at his old friends in front of him and said, "Don't slack off. If you don't like it there, I may come back to Neon at any time. Don't get beaten up by me then~"

"Tsk, take care of yourself first!" Aomine Daiki pouted deliberately in dissatisfaction, took a step forward and patted Kaneki Ken on the back and said, "Just go to the United States with confidence, stay there and don't come back. Anyway, we will go there to find you when the time comes."

"Haha, that's right." Kaneki Ken smiled and glanced at everyone present, then turned to look at Momoi Mayu and said, "Mayu, we should go."

"Oh, here I come~" Looking at Kaneki Ken's receding back, Momoi Satsuki hurriedly picked up her luggage and followed behind Kaneki Ken.

"I didn't expect that today, among all of us, Kaneki Ken would be the first to take that step." Aomine Daiki said with some envy as he looked at Kaneki Ken's back as he disappeared in the crowd.

"It seems like it's time for me to let my father plan some NBA business." Akashi Seijuro looked at Kaneki Ken who was walking away, his eyes gleaming, and he muttered to himself thoughtfully.

"Kagami, didn't you go with Kuroko and the others to send Kaneki Ken off?" In the gym of Seirin High School, Hinata Junpei asked Kagami Daiga curiously while doing shooting training.

"Yeah." Kagami Daiga, who had become more reluctant to speak after his defeat in the finals, nodded slightly, snorted and said, "Anyway, we still have to meet in the United States in the future. There's no need to send him off now. For me, the most urgent task is to become stronger!"

"Kagami-san is right!" At the gate of the gym, Kuroko Tetsuya leaned against the door frame and said with a firm look to his teammates, "Not only Kagami-san, but each of us must become stronger!"

"Did you hear that?" After hearing what Kuroko Tetsuya said, Aida Reiko turned around and said loudly to the players of Seirin High School with a smile, "So you all have had enough rest, right? Stand up and practice another set according to the training plan I gave you!"

"Yes, coach!" The Seirin High School players present shouted in unison.

……

"Is this the United States..." After an unknown amount of time, when the plane entered U.S. airspace, Tao Jing Mayu gently stroked the window, put her face against the window with a curious look and murmured to herself, "It does look very different from Japan..."

"The difference is still to come." Kaneki Ken flipped through the magazine in his hand boredly, turned his head to look out the window and sighed, "What awaits me next is a more intense battle."

"Don't worry, Ken-kun." Taoi Satsuki looked at Kaneki Ken's thoughtful expression, and couldn't help but reach out and hold Kaneki Ken's big hand, saying softly, "No matter what kind of opponent we face next, I will always be with Ken-kun."

"Yeah!" Kaneki Ken raised his lips slightly, nodded heavily, looked out the window with endless ambition in his eyes and said, "The United States... I'm really here this time!"

(End of this chapter)