Rebirth In Kurokonobasket - Chapter 189

Tokiwadai’s members had just changed out of their jerseys and were exiting their assigned locker room. The mood of the members was high. They had earned the qualifications for the Nationals, and to commemorate the victory, Kaitani proposed.

Kaitani: “How about we go somewhere to eat?”

Everybody was down for a celebratory meal. Securing a ticket to the Nationals was an achievement that warranted a celebration, so everyone agreed, but Shun raised his hand and spoke.

Shun: “While I would love to go celebrate with you guys, but I have some previous arrangements that I have to take care of, so I will not be joining you guys. And please don’t cancel just because I am not coming, you guys go out and enjoy.”

He looked at the coach and spoke.

Shun: “Coach, you talked to my parents. I will not be coming with you guys to the school, so go on without me.”

Shun and the others were still in Middle School, and it was the school’s responsibility to drop them safely at school from the stadium, but Shun’s parents had talked to the coach and school about leaving Shun in the stadium, and one of them would pick him later when he was done.

Coach looked at Shun and nodded as he had indeed talked to Shun’s parents about leaving him at the stadium, and he knew that Shun was responsible and won’t do anything rash, so he was comfortable with leaving Shun here.

Coach: “Yes, I have talked to your parents. You can stay here, but if you have any problems, call me. You have my number, right?”

Shun nodded and took his phone out of his pocket to show that he had it saved on his phone. The coach nodded and finished.

Coach: “Alright, make sure you take care of yourself.”

Shun said goodbye to everybody on the team, and in the end, he put an arm around Yuki’s neck and spoke so only he would listen to his words.

Shun: “I don’t know what you and Shoei’s forward talked about, but thank you for doing that. I am pretty sure what you talked about, so I know it was for the best.

Man, sometimes I really think you should be the captain. You are better at regulating the team than me.”

Yuki was stunned for a second before a small smile graced his face as he nodded and spoke.

Yuki: “It was nothing special, but I disagree about me being the captain. Forcing you to do the tasks that come with being the captain is fun and refreshing on its own.

You know the juniors look up to you, and that itself is a plus point. You have the charisma that is needed to be a leading figure. You inspire others, so don’t go dismissing yourself as captain material so quickly.”

Shun chuckled as he removed his arm from Yuki and raised his hand for a fist bump with Yuki that Yuki returned, and Yuki used the same fist for the fist bump to hit Shun in the shoulder, which caused Shun to rub his shoulder.

Shun: “Ouch! Hey, what was with that. I know I most probably deserved it, but what the hell, man?”

Yuki smiled widely and answered.

Yuki: “I might’ve said that you are captain material, but you still don’t do enough work, you still have a lot of things that you dump on me, that punch was for that.”

Shun put on a silly smiled and replied.

Shun: “Okay, I will try to better.”

Yuki sighed and shook his head.

Yuki: “You say that every time.”

Shun: “I am getting a little late. I should leave, see you tomorrow.”

Yuki nodded, and at the same time, he thought that Shun hadn’t said where he was going, so he asked.

Yuki: “Where are you going?”

Shun began walking away, and with a smile on his face, he answered.

Shun: “I am going to make sure that the future is interesting.”

Yuki didn’t understand, so he just shrugged and called out.

Yuki: “Well, best of luck with whatever you do.”

Shun waved his hands and answered while running away.

Shun: “Thanks!”

Kirisaki Daiichi High was a strong school-based in Tokyo and had a recognizable basketball team; that even though weren’t able to move the three kings of Tokyo from their thrones, but still placed in Tokyo top eight.

And this year, they had acquired an Uncrowned King; The Bad Boy, Hanamiya Makoto, so they were hoping to break into that top four space this year.

One of the third years of Kirisaki Daiichi, their small forward, asked as the whole team walked towards their assigned court.

Kirisaki Daiichi’s SF: “Who are we playing against today?”

His year mate, the center of the team, another third year, answered the question.

Kirisaki Daiichi’s C: “Hmm… What was their name, ah, Seirin High, I heard they are some upstarts in their first year of creation. They wouldn’t be a big deal. We can beat them easily.”

From behind the group, Hanamiya Mikoto spoke in his usual tone.

Hanamiya: “Senpai, you shouldn’t underestimate Seirin. Even though they are in their first year of creation, they have Kiyoshi Teppei leading them. He will be a troublesome opponent.”

Hanamiya scoffed in his mind, how he hated to address these morons as senpai. He dreaded every time the word exited his mouth. He hadn’t called Imayoshi like that even once, so he wasn’t used to addressing anyone as senpai.

Hanamiya: ‘Fortunately, these morons will be out the next year. The second-year wouldn’t be a problem, those guys are just a bunch of wimps.’

He glanced at the coach and evilly thought.

Hanamiya: ‘Now, I just need to get rid of him and take over the whole club.’

He had planned all things regarding how to make the basketball club his personal territory. The plans were coming along nicely, and he was coming closer to own the club, but right now, he had to nod his head as he pretended to hear what these morons were saying.

Just about that time, he heard someone call out to him.

???: “Hanamiya-san!”

Hanamiya didn’t recognize the voice. He wasn’t originally from Tokyo and had moved here for high school, plus he didn’t place it as someone from his middle school team, so he turned back with no idea who it was, but when Hanamiya saw the person’s face, it was the last person he was expecting to see.

The person he saw had silver hair, purple eyes, and saw smiling as he walked towards him. He had instantly recognized the person who had called out to him, and it had baffled him out of his mind.

Hanamiya: ‘Why is Kageyama Shun calling out to me?! What does he want?’

Hanamiya knew that he and Shun didn’t have a talking relationship or even a relationship where they would be pleasant to each other. After the practice game they had in middle school, he was sure that if he ever met Shun, he wouldn’t be called out with a pleasant smile on his face. But here he was, watching Shun walking towards him with a big smile on his face.

So, to Hanamiya, the smile on Shun’s face was like a signal that something he didn’t like was about to happen. And, his brain was telling him to avoid Shun and get away from him as soon as possible.

Hanamiya watched as Shun stop in front of him and started to speak with a smile.

Shun: “Hanamiya-san, so it was true that you came to Tokyo for high school. It is good to see you after such a long time.”

Hanamiya put up a smile for the show and replied.

Hanamiya: “Ah, yes. Kageyama-kun, it indeed has been a long time. How come you are here?”

Shun beamed and replied.

Shun: “Oh, Tokiwadai had their finals today, we won and are going to the Nationals.”

Hanamiya cursed his luck that their games had to be on the same day. It took all his strength and mental fortitude to keep up the smile as he congratulated Shun for his victory.

Hanamiya: “Is that so, congratulations. I expected nothing less from you.”

Hanamiya’s teammates behind him were startled when they saw Shun come and talk to Hanamiya. Most of the players on the team were from Tokyo, so they first hand knew how big of a deal Shun was, and even those who weren’t from Tokyo knew about Shun, so when he suddenly appeared before them, they didn’t know what to do.

Kirisaki Daiichi’s captain: “Hanamiya, you catch up with your friend and meet us at the court, but make sure not to be late.”

He nodded towards Shun, who returned it, and then the Kirisaki Daiichi team left the two alone, and while this exchange, Hanamiya’s thoughts weren’t pleasant at all.

Hanamiya: ‘That moron! Don’t leave me here. If you had stayed, I could’ve used that as an excuse! Why am I stuck with such dim-witted people.’

Hanamiya turned to his teammates and nodded to show his response, but when he turned back to face Shun, he found that the earlier bright smile was nowhere to be found.

Shun: “So, Hanamiya, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Hanamiya narrowed his eyes as he replied.

Hanamiya: “Heh, you sure dropped the honorifics quick. So, what does the King Of The Court want to from me?”

Shun laughed for a second before getting to the point.

Shun: “I heard that you are going against Seirin today.”

Hanamiya raised his brows and spoke.

Hanamiya: “Yeah, so?”

Shun stared at Hanamiya’s face as he talked.

Shun: “Knowing your whole philosophy about broken equals garbage, and seeing that you would be going against Kiyoshi Teppei, I thought I would come around and warn you a little.”

Hanamiya snorted and asked Shun.

Hanamiya: “Why do you care about that, goody-two-shoes?”

Shun shrugged his shoulders and answered.

Shun: “I don’t mind you using the tactics you used against me in the practice game, but I don’t want the serious injury crap that you tried to pull on me in that game.”

Hanamiya crackled and asked in an arrogant tone.

Hanamiya: “Oh, yeah? What are you going to do to stop me?”

Shun smiled, and that irked Hanamiya.

Shun: “Well, as you know, Kirisaki Daiichi is a prestigious school which caters to the students coming from families with wealth and higher social standing, so what do you think will happen if someone got to know that the students of such a prestigious school resort to dirty tactics and even got a player so injured that he wasn’t able to continue with basketball.

You know how those wealthy and high ranking parents get when they get a whiff of a scandal that might get them in trouble, plus a school that caters to such people also has a reputation to maintain. Do you really think that they won’t take action if they hear of such rumors?

All I would need is a clip of the game where you screw up, and with just the right moves, I can ruin your high school basketball career.”

Hanamiya was about to say something, but Shun cut him off.

Shun: “I know you would say that you don’t care for basketball, but we both know that it is not correct. Also, I am pretty sure that you have plans regarding the basketball club, and you don’t want them to get ruined because of one little mistake, do you?

Both my father and my coach are popular in sports circles, especially my coach, who has ties with the organization that handles youth sports. Even a vague video about you or anyone of your teammates doing something shady from my coach will be taken very seriously.

I don’t even need something concrete to make your life worse, even something vague would do. I will use the credibility of my contacts against you, and the rumor mill, human imagination, and your tendency to play rough that might not be evident to the referee, but is clearly visible in footage will take care of the rest.”

Shun stepped in closer to Hanamiya and spoke, but this time his voice was an octave lower.

Shun: “Hanamiya, don’t make me do something that you will regret. I can and will ruin your high school life if you give me a chance. I will make sure that your reputation is left in the mud when I am done with it.

I will tolerate the rough play and shady tricks when the referee can’t see. I know I can’t stop those, that kind of style is your basketball, and even I can’t stop that. If I take that away from you, you might just go haywire and bomb everything.

So, just don’t make serious injuries that might cause dire consequences on a player’s body, and we will be fine, but if you do that, I will make your life hell.

Understood?”

Hanamiya looked at Shun with an unpleasant expression for a while and then grunted to show his agreement. Shun chuckled and spoke.

Shun: “I didn’t hear a yes. Hanamiya, say yes, I understand. I want the full sentence.”

Hanamiya had to suppress the urge to beat Shun into a pulp then and there, his face warped into the heights of unwillingness, and he barely managed to growl out the sentence.

Hanamiya: “Yes, I understand.”

Shun’s smile made back its way to his face, and he patted Hanamiya in his shoulder.

Shun: “See, was that so difficult?

Now, that is out of the way. I sincerely wish that you lose.

And, just a warning, I will be watching the game, so beware, alright?

Now, I hope we never meet again, Hanamiya-san~.”

With that, Shun left a seething Hanamiya who barely managed to restrain his anger from showing on the surface. He was cursing the fates for having him meet Shun. With a single loud stomp from his foot on the floor, he left to join his team for the upcoming game.