JSWGAS Chapter 57

Chapter 57

57.

The ten-minute game ended quickly, with the final score settling at 19:16. Hachihonmoku stood on the sidelines, but noticed that everyone seemed to want more, having just warmed up their bodies.

The attacking power of Nijimura’s team wasn’t weak; each individual member could be considered a scoring machine. However, compared to Kokonoe’s team, which had a point guard, they had too few options. Moreover, it was their first time playing together, so it was inevitable that they would be out of sync.

Although Nijimura would occasionally act as a ball-handler, he was undoubtedly better at rebounding and one-on-one play. Midorima received passes from his teammates multiple times, but his handling of the ball was too inexperienced, and Akashi guarded him closely, limiting his scoring ability.

As for Aomine Daiki… that guy was completely caught up in the game, chasing Kokonoe Taka the entire time. After the game ended, he even crowded around Kokonoe Taka, his eyes showing excitement and eagerness: “That fadeaway jumper was amazing! How do you manage to shoot from that angle without losing your balance? And that move you used to get past me at the end, that whoosh—”

Kokonoe Taka was slightly taken aback, and just as he was about to answer, the manager, who had been waiting for a long time, ran over with several bottles, handing them out to the players coming off the court: “Kokonoe-kun, here you go!”

“Ah, thank you.”

He smiled politely, taking the water bottle from the girl’s hand. The manager’s eyes curved slightly, her face flushed, and she hurriedly stuffed another water bottle into Aomine Daiki’s hand: “Aomine-kun, this is yours, please have it.”

Aomine Daiki clumsily took the water bottle, stammered his thanks, and stared blankly at the manager as she ran off to distribute water to the other team members for a moment.

“Satsuki is cute, isn’t she?” A voice echoed softly in his ear.

“Whoa!… Hachihonmoku-senpai?” Aomine Daiki was startled. Hachihonmoku shrugged, tossed a towel into his arms, and said with the air of someone who’s been there, “Do you know why Kokonoe is so good at basketball?”

Aomine Daiki was surprised by his serious tone, thinking there might be some secret, and involuntarily lowered his voice, “Why?”

Hachihonmoku said with a serious face, “Because he swore to dedicate his life to basketball and has cut off all emotional ties… So, he’s not Human Kokonoe anymore! He’s Basketball Robot Kokonoe!”

Kokonoe Taka glanced at Aomine, who seemed to actually believe it, and helplessly pulled Hachihonmoku back: “Don’t say nonsense, this guy will take it seriously.”

He paused and turned to Aomine: “The jump shot I learned from a senior, it’s not difficult, as long as you seize the opportunity and have good balance. As for the move to get past you…” He tilted his head and thought for a moment, “I used the tactics of Tsubakijihara.”

“Hachihonmoku-senpai’s tactics?” Before Aomine could ask again, another voice interjected. Akashi Seijuro, who had been listening nearby for who knows how long, was quietly watching them.

Kokonoe Taka took another gulp of water, casually tapping the bottle: “In that position, there are several blind spots on the court that can be utilized. Tsubakijihara is good at using feints to deceive people…”

Hachihonmoku protested: “What do you mean deceive people! It’s tactics! Tactics!”

Kokonoe Taka patted his head dismissively and continued: “You have to use your brain when playing against him because he can shoot, pass, and dribble. Aomine, when you were guarding me, what do you think I should have done?”

Aomine Daiki pondered for a moment, and said uncertainly, “Pass?”

“Because you saw Akashi was in a perfect passing lane, right?” Kokonoe Taka chuckled, “Totally wrong. You didn’t notice that my positioning was intentionally close to Akashi, he was just bait to make you hesitate.”

“You were distracted by that choice, and the few seconds of hesitation were enough for me to break through your defenses.”

Midorima had also walked over at some point, “What if Aomine hadn’t been distracted?” He pushed up his glasses and asked.

“In that case, just pass.” Kokonoe Taka smiled cunningly, “Create a new attacking route. Well, that’s the ideal situation when there’s still room for maneuver. But normally people get distracted by two choices, and Tsubakijihara is best at deceiving people.”

Hachihonmoku weakly corrected: “It’s tactics…”

Nijimura walked over: “There’s no need to quibble.” He stabbed Hachihonmoku with the final blow, “However, this year’s freshmen are very good.”

Kokonoe Taka squinted at Haisaki, who was standing outside the crowd, shamelessly approaching the team manager, Satsuki, “Does that guy pass the test?”

Nijimura Shuzo followed his gaze and twitched his mouth: “Satsuki is a reinforcement from the karate club, that guy is really brave…. The coach said he passed, after all, he could play to that extent against me.”

As he spoke, a loud bang came from over there—Haisaki was lying on the ground with a blank expression, apparently having angered Satsuki, who had rewarded him with an over-the-shoulder throw.

Nijimura Shuzo: “…That kid is really not afraid of death.” Although he said that, he still went over to clean up the mess in the end.

The basketball club usually starts morning practice at 7:00 AM. After a half-hour run and an hour of basic exercises, morning practice ends at 8:30 AM. In the afternoon, they practice from after school until 7:00 PM in the evening. Sometimes they organize team members to play training matches with other schools. There is training on Saturday mornings only, and Sundays are rest days.

A significant number of people came for the sake of the Inter-High Championship title. But with the daily monotonous training, quite a few people were dropping out. Although the hard training was one reason, after two weeks of testing, the first string finally welcomed new blood.

“You’ve been familiarized with the morning run route, don’t fall behind, just keep a steady pace.”

At 7:05 AM, in front of the basketball club, Nijimura Shuzo said with his hands on his hips to the team members: “Hachihonmoku and I will be watching you from the front and back—Haisaki, stop sleeping!”

He was halfway through his speech when he angrily rushed over and shook Haisaki Shogo by the collar, who was startled awake from his sleep, struggling to get up: “I know!”

Kokonoe Taka exercised his hands and feet next to him, his tone cool: “If he doesn’t cooperate, just beat him up, just don’t kill him.”

Haisaki Shogo glared at him, but fell silent like a quail under more than one pair of iron fists. Nijimura Shuzo let go in satisfaction and returned to the head of the line.

At his command, the team began to move forward.

Nijimura Shuzo took care of the new members who had just joined the first string, maintaining a pace that was neither too fast nor too slow. Kokonoe Taka stared at Haisaki for a while, making sure that he wasn’t slacking off, before running out of the team and following beside Nijimura Shuzo: “I’ll go ahead.”

Nijimura Shuzo responded.

A ripple of commotion spread through the team. The old members were quite familiar with the habit of the team’s scorer disappearing during the morning run, but the newcomers stared in surprise at the figure running out of the team, disappearing in an instant.

And this was just the tip of the iceberg of what the scorer showed.

Nijimura Shuzo obviously had no intention of explaining. He observed the condition of the team members during the first half of the morning run, and coldly increased the speed again in the second half. By the time a group of people returned to the gymnasium, exhausted and panting, they saw the missing scorer had already started physical training.

Compared to the soaking-wet crowd, Kokonoe Taka looked quite refreshed and even had the energy to make a few jokes about the leading Nijimura and the pale-faced Hachihonmoku. But soon he was silently immersed in training again. When Aomine Daiki and the others started doing the first set of weighted squats, Kokonoe Taka had already started the third set of shuttle runs. And when they finished their physical exercises and started doing basic shooting and dribbling training, Kokonoe Taka was still working on his core strength.

Aomine Daiki couldn’t help but ask Nijimura Shuzo next to him: “When will Kokonoe-senpai finish?”

Nijimura Shuzo dribbled the ball, “Probably after he finishes this set of push-ups and about two more side bridges…” He glanced at the time, “He’ll make it. Kokonoe usually doesn’t touch the ball much in the morning.”

Several upperclassmen of the same grade joined the conversation: “Kokonoe’s training is the most of all of us, right? Coach Shirogane even subtly suggested that he not train so hard last time.”

“It’s the same usually. I’ve run into Kokonoe jogging at night several times when I go out to play.”

“A genius who’s already so strong still works so hard, it’s hard not to feel frustrated sometimes…” The two joked a few times, not out of bitterness, but simply out of emotion. Nijimura Shuzo interrupted them in time, “Okay, stop slacking off, go train!”

He glanced at Aomine Daiki and explained a couple of sentences: “Kokonoe knows what he’s doing, and he’s taken the coach’s suggestions into account when it comes to his training menu, so don’t worry.”

It was clear that Aomine Daiki wasn’t the only one who noticed that the training of this scoring senior was on a different level from everyone else’s.

At least Akashi Seijuro, who had been delayed by student council affairs, also vaguely noticed the identity of the continuous footsteps when he passed the brightly lit sports field after finishing his work.

If it were Murasakibara or Midorima, they would probably not be interested in the people who were doing extra training at this time. Aomine might rush in to join the training, but Akashi Seijuro did not belong to either of these two situations.

The surrounding corridors were quiet, with only the faint sound of wind passing through the trees. The lights on the road he came from had all been turned off, and a deep darkness fell into the depths of his eyes at this time, with only a little dazzling light leaking from the door in front of him.

Akashi Seijuro stood at the door for a considerable period of time, the footsteps and the sound of the ball inside continuing to echo without any awareness. Akashi Seijuro knew more than a little about Kokonoe Taka. The first time he met him was in his mother’s ward, he was lying at her knee, and suddenly heard someone knocking on the door, then the man in the black suit bowed his head and made way, and he walked into this world that could not hide the cold ticking of the instrument with a bouquet of flowers in his arms.

This alone made it impossible for Akashi Seijuro to view this senior with ordinary eyes.

At that time, he hated anyone who disturbed him and his mother, so he deliberately ignored him, letting him ask to leave on his own accord. He succeeded, but he vaguely felt that his thoughts were seen through and fulfilled by the intruder.

His mother died not long after that. The bouquet of flowers that she had once admired had long withered and been thrown into the trash by the nurse. At his mother’s funeral, he met Kokonoe Taka again.

The latter came with his grandmother. Dressed in black, with a solemn expression, holding a bouquet of birds of paradise in memory. The petals fell on his black cuffs, as if the flowers were also struggling to escape the shackles brought by their owner. They had no dialogue, no communication, and if nothing unexpected happened, the two would not have any further interactions.

—But Akashi Seijuro saw Kokonoe Taka’s photo again in the school information that was about to be enrolled.