Black Basketball: A false start

Chapter 34: Dinner and Chat

"Cheers!" Inside the Akagome Noodle House, the students from Teiko Junior High School celebrated happily with soda instead of alcohol.

"Yo~si! That feels great!" Aomine Daiki drank half a bottle of soda in one gulp and burped.

"Don't make so much noise when drinking, Aomine." Midorima Shintaro wiped the steam from his lenses and said slowly.

"Hey, you should be happy to celebrate your victory, Midorima! Don't be so serious!" Aomine Daiki said indifferently.

"Green boy acts like an old uncle." Murasakibara Atsushi muttered as he slurped noodles.

"I just think it's too rude to do that." Midorima Shintaro said seriously, holding chopsticks in his left hand and scissors in his right hand.

"Shintaro, I think we can relax a little today." Akashi Seijuro said with a smile, taking a sip of tea, "After all, it's the first victory, so it's understandable that everyone lets loose a little."

"Tsk, who cares about you?" Midorima Shintaro said arrogantly.

"Everyone played very well today." Tao Jing Satsuki also said happily, "I didn't expect that everyone played so well in the first game together."

"You're too kind, Momoi-san." Akashi Seijuro's voice was still so gentle, "In fact, today we should thank Kaneki for his excellent on-the-spot performance. He solved a lot of problems for us."

"Yes, yes." For some reason, Tao Jing Satsuki felt happy when someone praised Jin Mujian, "Today, Xiao Yan got the highest score of 37 points in the game."

"It's all thanks to everyone's good performance that they attracted the defense for me." Kaneki Ken said modestly, "Besides, Haizaki-san's performance today was actually quite good. It would be even better if his personality wasn't so bad."

When Haizaki Shogo, who was sitting in the corner, heard Kaneki Ken's unexpected cue to him, he shrank his neck awkwardly and said nothing.

“金木同学还是那么低调。”赤司征十郎笑吟吟地看着金木研说道，“只用了35分钟就拿到了37+8+12+6+7的数据，这可是东京区最新的记录呢。”

"That's right! Especially Kaneki's line 'Our Teikou is an invincible lion who wins every battle', it's so cool!" Aomine Daiki also agreed with Akashi's words, "When Kaneki left the court, the audience in the court were already calling him a lion!"

Kaneki Ken touched his earlobe somewhat embarrassedly and said with a smile: "Thank you for your praise, it was just a fluke."

Taoi Satsuki looked at Kaneki Ken who was chatting and laughing with others at the dining table, and her eyes smiled into crescent shapes.

"Oh, I didn't realize that our Lion King is shy." Shirogane Kozou, who had just paid the bill at the front desk, joined the discussion. "I think this nickname is very appropriate."

Shirokane Kozo patted Kaneki Ken's shoulder and said with a smile: "You performed very well today, keep up the good work."

"Yes, coach." Kaneki Ken nodded slightly and said yes.

"It looks like everyone has almost finished eating, so today's dinner party will end here." Shirogane Kozo looked around at everyone with a smile, ending the lively dinner atmosphere, "Everyone, go home early after dinner. See you in the basketball team tomorrow night."

"Hi!"

"Thank you for the treat, Coach!"

……

"Welcome to come next time!" With the polite farewell of the waiter, everyone from Teikou Junior High School left the noodle shop one after another. Akashi Seijuro waved goodbye to everyone and got on the car sent by his family to pick him up. Midorima Shintaro and Murasakibara Atsushi also boarded the bus to go home.

"Woo~ I'm full, let's go home and sleep." Kaneki Ken stretched contentedly and looked at Aomine Daiki and Momoi Satsuki, "Is it on the way?"

“On the way!”

"Not going my way."

Taoi Satsuki and Aomine Daiki spoke almost at the same time.

"We're not going the same way as Kaneki, Momo." Aomine Daiki looked at Momoi Satsuki in confusion and said, "If we don't go home now, there will be no subway..."

"Momoi-san, you and Aomine-san should go home first." Shirokane Kozo came over, "I just happen to have something to talk to Kaneki-san about."

At this moment, Tao Jing Satsuki wanted to give the Platinum Kozo a rocket headbutt. The Platinum Kozo, who usually looked kind and benevolent, now looked so hideous and hateful in Tao Jing Satsuki's eyes...

"Then I'll have to trouble Coach Shirogane to look after Xiaoyan. A-Da and I will go home first." Momoi Satsuki politely bowed goodbye to Kaneki Ken and Shirogane Kozo, then took Aomine Daiki and left.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's with this feeling of Yamato Nadeshiko asking others to take care of her husband..." Kaneki Ken was stunned by the scene in front of him, feeling a little weird, always afraid that the next second will happen "Momoi-san, you don't want Kaneki-san to not be able to play"...

As usual, Shirogane Kozo sent Momoi and the other person to the subway station and then returned to Kaneki Ken.

"Let's go, Kaneki-san."

"Yes, coach." Kaneki Ken followed closely behind Shirogane Kozo.

"What do you think of everyone's performance today?" asked Shirogane Kozo casually.

Kaneki Ken didn't expect that Shirogane Sarazo would suddenly ask him what he thought about today's game, but he still answered truthfully according to his own thoughts: "Very good. Aomine was very active and his breakthroughs were very sharp; Midorima was still so stable, and as long as he stood outside the three-point line, he was very reassuring; although Murasakibara lacked enthusiasm, she could already be on her own under the basket with her talent; Nijimura-senpai was still the one with an outstanding overall view and could stand up to stabilize the situation at the critical moment; although Akashi-san was on the bench, under his leadership, the substitute seniors also played beyond their level; Haizaki... emmmm, he also played, very energetic, not losing face, but his personality was a bit bad."

"You've been talking about others for a long time. How do you feel about yourself?" Shirogane Kozo listened carefully to Kaneki Ken's inventory and asked back.

"My old coach, you blocked a shot. What kind of stupid question is that? What can I say? Should I say that I think I'm awesome..." Kaneki Ken was stunned by the question, and for a moment he was not sure what Shirogane Kozo was thinking.

Kaneki Ken hesitated for a long time, and finally looked into Shirogane Kozo's eyes with some hesitation and evaluated himself, "I... am OK... I haven't held everyone back..."

"Haha, don't be nervous, Kaneki-san." Shirokane Kozo put his hand on Kaneki Ken's shoulder and said, "You performed very well today, and your evaluation of each player was also very accurate, except for yourself."

As he was talking, Shirogane Kozo suddenly changed the subject and asked, "Do you know how Haizaki-san got into Teiko Junior High School, and even the First Army?"

Although Ken Kaneki knew everything about Haizaki Shogo's career in Teiko, it did not prevent him from cooperating with Kozo Shirogane with great tact.

"I'm not sure about this, coach. I heard that he was promoted from the second team."

"Well, if you really put it that way, it's not wrong." Shirogane Kozo smacked his lips and said, "But Haizaki was not recruited through the normal basketball club recruitment. He was directly recommended to me by Shuzo."

(End of this chapter)