JSWGAS Chapter 60

“Recently, it feels like Kokonoe-senpai’s extra training has decreased.”

“That’s just what you think,” Midorima looked over, “Overall, Kokonoe-senpai’s training volume is still the highest in the first string. And recently, I haven’t seen you at the gym here…”

Aomine Daiki let out an “ah”: “There are too many people at the gym here, so I’m at another gym…”

Before he could finish speaking, Murasakibara Atsushi interrupted, “Midorima-chin, what’s that in your hand?”

Midorima Shintarō pushed up his glasses and said calmly, “As you can see, it’s today’s lucky item.”

“But that’s a new limited edition curry rice ball from the convenience store…” Murasakibara Atsushi’s eyes showed desire.

“I’m not giving it to you.”

“…No, I’m saying, isn’t a curry rice ball a bit of a stretch as a lucky item? Someone should complain about that.”

As the others were joking around, Akashi thoughtfully looked towards the basketball court: “It’s not just Kokonoe-senpai,” he said in a low voice, “Nijimura-senpai has also taken leave from club activities these past two days.”

His gaze swept over Hachimoto Suzume, who was standing alone on the basketball court, and then quickly withdrew it.

And two hours later, the two people who had been mentioned in Akashi Seijuro’s whisper were standing in the hospital corridor, one just having come down the stairs from the upper floors, facing each other, looking at each other in surprise.

Neither of them were wearing school uniforms, but they quickly recognized each other: “Little Nine?” Nijimura Shuzo blinked, hesitatingly said, “…What are you doing here?”

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking that question? Are you injured?” Kokonoe Taka replied, he frowned almost imperceptibly, openly examining him, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he found that the other party was not injured.

“…No.”

If they were interacting as usual, Nijimura Shuzo should have started making jokes and teasing Kokonoe Taka at this time. But at this moment, he just silently lowered his eyelashes, concealing all his emotions in the shadow of his hanging hair.

Kokonoe Taka took a step forward.

“I came for a check-up,” he raised the report in his hand first, and said frankly, “Sometimes, I can’t taste the food.”

More than two years had passed since he discovered this. And in the past year, he had rarely experienced this situation again. He himself could even face this defect with considerable equanimity. If he hadn’t recently met with Takeuchi again, and Takeuchi had expressed concern about it, he wouldn’t have thought of coming to the hospital for a check-up.

“Huh? What’s wrong? Why can’t you taste anything?” Nijimura Shuzo widened his eyes and rushed over, asking anxiously, “What did the doctor say? Does it affect your health? Also, do Grandfather Zhíyě and Grandmother Yū know?”

A series of questions rained down on him, Nijimura Shuzo pinched his shoulders, his knuckles turning white from the force—”What are you laughing at?” he asked angrily.

Kokonoe Taka stopped laughing, and helplessly pressed down Nijimura Shuzo’s fingers, “Well, I’m a little flattered?”

“This is nothing to joke about!” Nijimura Shuzo glared, “Honestly, what’s going on?”

His voice was a little loud, attracting a dissatisfied glance from a passing nurse: “Be quiet,” she said sternly. Nijimura Shuzo had no choice but to glare fiercely at Kokonoe Taka, who was blinking his eyes innocently, and dragged him to the window at the end of the corridor—there were not many people passing by here, making it a good environment for conversation.

“—Tell me.”

Kokonoe Taka sat down on the chair next to the window.

“As for the cause.” He picked and chose, and finally decided to start from here, “It’s because of stress.” A strong wind suddenly rose outside the window, and the window was not tightly closed, so the cold wind took the opportunity to swagger in. Nijimura Shuzo shivered from the wind, “Stress?” he repeated, his eyebrows full of incomprehension.

His incomprehension was not unfounded. Little Nine was the most hardworking person he had ever met. He treated the things he valued seriously. Ordinary people would be satisfied with getting eighty points, but he insisted on striving for one hundred or even one hundred and twenty points. Sometimes this almost obsessive effort would make people feel vaguely afraid—afraid. Nijimura Shuzo couldn’t figure out why Shiraiwa was willing to return to the basketball club. But the way Shiraiwa sometimes looked at Little Nine undoubtedly contained a fear that even he himself didn’t realize.

Sometimes, Nijimura Shuzo would also wonder how Little Nine had become the shining person he was now. The sun, after all, was only an insignificant celestial body in the universe, distant, and treating all living beings looking up at it equally. But Little Nine was different. When he jumped up, when he scored, when he ran, when he smiled and bumped fists or high-fived—almost as soon as you saw any second of these moments, you would immediately realize that he was shining.

He was always determined to move forward, forward, and continue forward. Behind him, a bright banner was raised high, black characters on a red background, writing out not just a slogan. He was active on the court, and he was silently promising with his actions that they would win.

Even when he was at a disadvantage, he never showed a trace of weakness. It was a pleasure to be his teammate, and even many members of other schools who had played against them would occasionally come to arrange a couple of friendly matches, using the excuse of exchanging feelings to pull Little Nine into their team—winning or losing aside, as long as you were on a team with him, you could feel a silent and gentle reliability and peace of mind.

…Could such a Little Nine also be trapped by ‘stress’?

He suddenly raised his eyes and happened to see his friend looking at him quietly and gently.

In that fleeting moment, Nijimura Shuzo suddenly asked: “Little Nine, your right palm…how did you get that injury?”

“…It’s one of the results of a choice.”

Kokonoe Taka was not surprised by Nijimura Shuzo’s question. He stretched out his right hand towards him, revealing the light-colored scar that was still firmly clinging to his skin. He was now able to face it calmly enough. Just like he had picked up the tennis racket that Takeuchi had handed him not long ago.

He had never hidden this scar, which could be described as ugly, and although his friends were curious, they had never rashly asked him about it.

Nijimura Shuzo paused, and suddenly raised his hand to cover his right hand when Kokonoe Taka had just uttered the first syllable: “Forget it, I don’t want to know,” he said sullenly.

“…Shuzo.” Kokonoe Taka chuckled.

Warm palms, skin that had become rough from contact with the ball. Strange and familiar heat.

He came back to his senses, and like he was holding the paw of a puppy, he grabbed Nijimura Shuzo’s hand in return and shook it, “A large part of the stress is caused by me forcing myself, so don’t worry, it basically doesn’t happen anymore. It doesn’t affect my body much either. Grandpa and Grandma don’t know—this little problem can’t even disrupt my life, so there’s no need to make them worry too.”

Nijimura Shuzo suppressed his anger: “But that will only make people worry more!” He almost roared this sentence out, grabbing Kokonoe Taka’s hand fiercely, almost losing his composure, “Have you ever thought about how the people you’re hiding things from feel?!”

“…”

His fingers were hurting from being grabbed, but Kokonoe Taka smiled stubbornly, as if he hadn’t noticed.

Nijimura Shuzo belatedly felt embarrassed. He slumped his shoulders, released his fingers, and buried his face in his arms.

After a while, his deep voice came from next to him. “My father…was hospitalized this spring.”

He only needed to say this sentence, and all the disharmonious notes that had appeared before would have an answer—why didn’t Nijimura Shuzo train with him after the beginning of spring? His grades were never bad, so why had he been reduced to needing tutoring for a while?

This end of the corridor, which could only be described as a corner, was silent, one person standing straight, his eyes fixed on a point in the void; the other person bending his back exhaustedly, wearily enclosing himself in the shadows.

“I’m here today to see him…My father doesn’t want me to take care of him. He insists on hiding it from me even when he’s not feeling well,” he gave a bitter laugh, “Although his condition is still stable, I’m always worried…”

The window was rattling loudly from the strong wind, and his words stopped abruptly as if disturbed, turning into an abrupt rest.

“It’s really annoying,” Nijimura Shuzo raised his head, leaned back against the wall, stared at the pale light bulb on the ceiling that had never been turned on, the sudden tide almost made him feel like he could never climb back up, “…Why did you have to see it, Little Nine?”

Kokonoe Taka was silent, staring at the wall in front of him as if there was something there that could arouse his interest: “…”

“I clearly…”

What was so annoying, what were his thoughts, these questions seemed to no longer need answers. Nijimura Shuzo closed his eyes and continued: “—If my father’s condition worsens, I’m afraid I won’t be able to play basketball like I did before,” he could finally confirm this.

“Little Nine, I…”

“It’ll be okay.” The black-haired boy, who had been staring ahead, finally turned his head and interrupted him. Kokonoe’s gray eyes were floating with inexplicable dust, faint, turning into a blurry gray mist, “It will definitely be okay,” he repeated in a low voice.

Nijimura Shuzo thought, ah, it’s like this again. Little Nine is sometimes terribly sharp-tongued, but whenever he needs to express goodwill or comfort people directly—Little Nine will surprisingly become clumsy…a far cry from his quick-wittedness when he’s putting people down.

Reliable Little Nine, shining Little Nine, sharp-tongued Little Nine, hardworking Little Nine, clumsy Little Nine.

No matter which one, he’s a guy you can’t do anything about.

…He really makes you helpless.

He opened his eyes, his expression softening.

“Do you want to see my father? I also want to show off to him that I have such a handsome friend—that old man always doesn’t believe I can make real friends, it’s really a headache. I’m clearly also very popular.”

He smiled, swept away all the gloom, stood up and invited, “Want to come?”

“…Yes.”

…

…………

Nijimura Shuzo and his father looked similar, especially when they had just entered the door, when Nijimura’s father saw his son, the way he pursed his lips could only be described as exactly the same: “Why are you back again?” Nijimura’s father’s tone was not friendly, he said disdainfully, “Go home, don’t get in my way here…”

Nijimura Shuzo raised an eyebrow and skillfully argued with him: “Don’t be in such a hurry to chase me away. Don’t you always say I have no friends? That’s why I brought one over for you to see,” he stepped aside, proudly introducing, “One of my best friends—Little Nine. I mentioned him to you before and you didn’t believe me, now you have nothing to say, right?”

“Uncle, hello,” Kokonoe Taka smiled politely, a little nervous, “I’m Kokonoe Taka, I’ve received a lot of help from Shuzo at school before.”

Nijimura’s father rolled his eyes at his son, but became amiable when he looked at Kokonoe Taka: “Oh, Shuzo mentioned you before. This kid must have caused you a lot of trouble, right? I should be thanking you for not disliking this kid.”

“I didn’t!” Nijimura Shuzo skillfully adjusted the height of the hospital bed for his father, invited Kokonoe Taka to sit down, and then peeled an apple, “I’m the captain of the basketball club now! We even won the All-Japan Championship last year! Don’t always make your son sound so useless, okay!”

“Everyone in the basketball club respects Shuzo,” Kokonoe Taka spoke up for him at his prompting, “He’s also very reliable during matches, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him the ‘pillar’ of the team.”

Nijimura’s father nodded in surprise, “Oh? Is he actually not bragging?”

“I stopped doing such boring things after I went to middle school…” Nijimura Shuzo handed the peeled apple to his father, and quickly peeled another one and handed it to Kokonoe, “But it’s also thanks to this guy and another one who couldn’t come that we were able to win the match,” he touched his nose, “Don’t think Little Nine is so quiet now, his performance on the court is quite amazing.”

Nijimura’s father laughed, “That’s rare, you’re giving someone else such high praise.”

Nijimura Shuzo replied, “…That’s just what you think. You’ll understand when you’ve seen our match.”

Nijimura’s father patted the edge of the bed and said confidently, “I’ll definitely come and cheer you on when I get out of this hellhole—”

Nijimura’s father’s condition was not too bad, but he needed to maintain sufficient rest time. After they had picked and chosen and talked about some school matters, the nurse came in to chase them out.

The two walked out side by side, Nijimura Shuzo scratched his cheek a little embarrassed: “I always feel a little ashamed,” he was referring to Nijimura’s father becoming very talkative when they were chatting and spilling all of his embarrassing stories from the past.

“I’ve seen you embarrass yourself so many times,” Kokonoe Taka said with a slight smile, “It doesn’t make a difference if it’s just one or two more times.”

Nijimura Shuzo quietly gazed at his profile, and then slowly shifted his gaze forward.

He was not good at revealing his feelings. During this time, he was tormented by his father’s hospitalization, but he was freely playing basketball. He could not calmly face this fact, and he could not mention this to anyone either.

That was how it should have been originally.

He thought, he was going to take back what he had said not long ago.

…It’s really good to see Little Nine at this time.

“I said.”

They walked out of the hospital together, the sky was getting dark, and large swaths of dark blue swallowed the last trace of warm light in the sky. Those colors eventually turned into a deep and gentle gray.

“Hmm?” Kokonoe Taka turned his head to look.

Nijimura Shuzo looked at the distant azure sky, “Little Nine, have you ever done anything bad?”

“That depends on what you mean,” he paused, feeling a little speechless, “You don’t still think of me as a good kid, do you?”

“Hmm—” Nijimura Shuzo smiled, “What is it like, exactly?”

He saw Little Nine once again glaring at him with an expression of tolerance and helplessness, as if he was looking at an idiot, but he realized that the corners of his mouth were widening more and more.

He, like any ordinary teenager who was secretly mischievous, handed him an olive branch with a seductive tone and a mystifying expression.

“I’ve thought of a good idea,” he winked, “I’ve wanted to do this for a long time—Little Nine, want to come? Just saying, good kids are forbidden.”

He saw Little Nine looking at him helplessly again, that look seemed to say, ‘Even if he’s rejected, this idiot will only pretend to be stupid until his request is met.’ Nijimura Shuzo was amused by his own guess, so he put his arm around his friend’s shoulders like an idiot.

…

…………

The person they were targeting was someone they knew well—while Nijimura Shuzo was skillfully using a wire he had in his pocket to pry open Maki’s precious motorcycle, Kokonoe Taka was standing next to him, keeping watch. When he heard a crisp sound, he turned his head in surprise, “You’re a probationary criminal,” he said. Nijimura Shuzo took this as a compliment to his skills and smiled, stuffing the wire into his pocket, “Thank you for the compliment.”

But he still explained, “I had a fight with my dad a while ago, and he locked me in my room, so I picked the lock to get out. It seems like I haven’t forgotten those skills,”

Kokonoe Taka was speechless, “…It’s better to forget them, I don’t want to visit you in prison when we have a class reunion.”

Nijimura Shuzo said with certainty, “Come on, you’ll still come. But I’ll try my best not to end up in that situation.”

He squatted next to Maki’s motorcycle, studied it for a while, and successfully started it after removing half of the motorcycle’s shell.

The roar grew from weak to strong, just as the last ray of light in the sky was swallowed by the gray-blue. Nijimura Shuzo straddled the motorcycle and made a clumsy invitation gesture.

“Want to go for a ride together?”

“On the motorcycle you stole?”

“Forgive me, Little Nine.”

“Maki will be very angry.”

“Don’t worry about him—” he smiled, “Coming?”

Kokonoe Taka answered him with action. He stepped onto the motorcycle in one step and sat behind Nijimura Shuzo.

Kokonoe Taka had to admit that he had never ridden a motorcycle before. The fuel in the fuel tank was burning, and the exhaust pipe was making a buzzing sound, swaggering through the streets and alleys. At the same time, the wind was blowing fiercely, almost laughing in his ears. But maybe humans are inherently chasing danger, and the nerves in their brains are intoxicated with the feeling of weightlessness from walking a tightrope. So although it was unfamiliar, there was no fear or trepidation.

The strong smell of engine oil was swept away, and Nijimura Shuzo knowingly drove the motorcycle to a coastal mountain road. He faced the wind in front of him, laughed loudly, his laughter and the roar mixed together indistinguishably, but he still had to shout loudly to ask, “Is it great?”

As soon as he opened his mouth, his mouth was filled with cold air, cutting through his throat and tongue like a knife, leaving only a faint sound. Kokonoe Taka had to shout back in the same way: “Great!”

His black hair was also swept into the air by the turbulent air, and Nijimura Shuzo added fuel again, the streamlined body immediately rushed out at an even faster speed than before. The surrounding scenery blurred into a hazy patch of color, they were faster than the floating clouds in the sky, as if they were chasing the disappearing daylight on the ground.

Those shadows that were firmly stuck to their souls were thrown away at this moment, falling on the winding asphalt road they had come from.

They rushed forward recklessly, until the fuel ran out, the heavy motorcycle stalled, the night fell on their shoulders, and all that could be heard around them was the sound of the waves rising and falling in the distance.

Both of them were covered in coldness, with water droplets condensing on the corners of their clothes, reflecting the dim starlight.

Nijimura Shuzo squatted next to the motorcycle and fiddled with it for a while, “Oops, I drove too hard,” he shrugged, supported his knees, and looked up at the person standing there, “There’s no oil left.”

He shook his head: “How are we going to get back? Little Nine?”

He couldn’t see Kokonoe Taka’s expression clearly, the dim night covered all the information that could be reached, and he could only feel their eyes intersecting.

“We’ll always be able to get back.”

Nijimura Shuzo remained in a squatting position.

“Little Nine…I really want to play basketball.”

“Now?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I just suddenly thought of it.”

“…You should think about how to return the motorcycle first.”

“…You really spoil the scenery sometimes.”

“—After that, let’s play basketball together again.”

“…Okay.”