JSWGAS Chapter 69

69.

Kokonoe Taka didn’t expect that the first person he would wait for wasn’t Aomine Daiki acting like an idiot.

After the late autumn, Tokyo entered a period of continuous drizzle. There were few pedestrians on the school road, and occasionally people rushing into the rain curtain had to endure the cold water stains wetting their shoes and socks. When the wind blew, the chill completely seeped into the bones, making people shiver uncontrollably.

But in an empty classroom in the teaching building, the atmosphere was fiery.

Kokonoe Taka’s good reputation with the teachers allowed him to easily get the key to an empty classroom. As soon as he turned around, he rushed Nijimura Shuzo and Hachibongi Kensuke inside. One of these two was about to graduate and go abroad, but only knew a handful of words; the other’s target high school was a private school with a high deviation value in Tokyo, but he was still a bit short of his goal.

Kokonoe Taka happened to pass by their classroom door and saw these two clueless idiots trying to tutor each other. The scene was so intense that he stood there watching for a while, and neither of them noticed.

It was only when their class representative came in and greeted Kokonoe Taka that they realized he had been standing there silently, watching the joke for who knows how long. The hands that had just wanted to grab the other’s collar and give them a headbutt sheepishly lowered, and then they looked around and talked about other things.

Kokonoe Taka watched the two of them stammer for a long time, not daring to look at him. He impolitely grabbed their report cards and, in the end, helplessly opened a small black room to lecture them on the questions. The tutoring drama that had played out many times in the Kokonoe family was staged again. On one side, Kokonoe Taka was grabbing Nijimura Shuzo’s ear, wishing he could pour the words into his brain. On the other side, he ordered Hachibongi Kensuke not to even think about leaving the room unless he could memorize the math formulas—

But before long, a suddenly delivered message made him frown slightly and fall silent.

Hachibongi Kensuke noticed it: “What’s wrong?”

“A message from Momoi,” Kokonoe Taka replied. He stood up and stuffed his phone into his pocket, looking down at the two muscular idiots. “Perfect.” Nijimura Shuzo and Hachibongi Kensuke blinked, looking up, and heard their friend say, “Let you two take on the responsibilities of a senior for the last time.”

Momoi Satsuki’s message was purely a desperate plea. That afternoon, she had been standing on the sidelines recording the training of the basketball team. But when she was packing up, Murasakibara Atsushi suddenly complained about why they had to keep practicing, when they could win even without practicing, right?

What happened next was even more chaotic. Akashi Seijuro disagreed with Murasakibara Atsushi’s idea of not coming to practice, and the latter even provoked him by saying, “I don’t want to listen to someone weaker than me.” The conflict was about to erupt, and the two of them got angry and agreed to play a 1v1 game to see who would listen to whom.

Momoi Satsuki was at a loss and instinctively sensed that something was wrong. She hurriedly lowered her head and quickly found that name in her address book and sent a message.

…Please.

She held her phone and begged, Senior Kokonoe, please.

But perhaps she also knew that Senior Kokonoe, who no longer had much to do with the basketball team, didn’t need to make a special trip over because of her message. Akashi Seijuro and Murasakibara Atsushi had agreed to a five-point game, and Murasakibara’s ‘just’ character on the scoreboard was only two strokes away from completion, while Akashi Seijuro’s side was still blank. Akashi was being firmly suppressed by Murasakibara.

Another shot was blocked by Murasakibara.

A gasp went through the crowd of onlookers, all of them stunned. They couldn’t imagine that the always-strong Akashi Seijuro would lose. Even Akashi himself, standing on the court, was panting, his pupils constricted, repeatedly questioning himself.

Murasakibara lazily looked down at the captain, who was shorter than him: “Ah… is that all you’ve got?”

His tone was disappointed and nonchalant, and a little bit of eagerness. It undoubtedly added fuel to the fire of Akashi Seijuro’s rationality.

“…”

“…Will I lose…?”

“No.”

“Akashi Seijuro… absolutely won’t.”

The chaotic thoughts reached a climax at this moment. The death of his mother, the flowers she loved, his father’s whispers, his affirmation, his teammates, the games, the empty student council office, the gently closed door.

Isn’t victory everything?

…

He was almost about to get the answer.

He was almost about to walk out of that golden light and slowly walk into the darkness.

“Bang!” A loud noise.

The door of the gymnasium was kicked open by an uninvited guest.

Everyone’s eyes couldn’t help but look towards the door, including the two on the court.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the newcomer unhurriedly took off the suit jacket that was draped over his shoulders and mostly wet, and when he raised his eyes, he was expressionless.

“Sorry.” First, a light apology, “Although it’s rude to say this… but I think my timing is pretty good, right?”

Kise Ryota was shocked: “S-Senior Kokonoe…?”

Midorima Shintaro stared at the door with a wet footprint on it for a long time, the newcomer not being kind: “Senior Kokonoe, if I remember correctly, the third-years should still be in tutoring at this time…?”

Kokonoe Taka spread his hands: “Do you think I need that?”

Midorima Shintaro: “…” Remembering the other party’s grades, he couldn’t refute.

Kokonoe Taka smiled reassuringly at the uneasy Momoi Satsuki. Then, his gaze fell on the particularly conspicuous court: “Oh, Murasakibara, you’re full of energy.”

His tone was slightly raised, but his face remained unchanged, the two contrasting quite starkly. Nijimura Shuzo and Hachibongi Kensuke had argued all the way about who should hold the umbrella. Just as they reached the entrance of the gymnasium, they saw their friend, who had matured a lot compared to when they first met, reveal a long-lost aggressive side.

Nijimura Shuzo: “…” He’s angry.

Hachibongi Kensuke: “…” He’s angry, right.

The two exchanged a look and decided to stay put for the time being.

If those two knew him so well because of their years of understanding, then Murasakibara Atsushi had the intuition of a small animal. When he had just entered the school, his height had firmly occupied a place in the tall and strong basketball team, and now he looked down on everyone. But when he made eye contact with Kokonoe Taka from a distance, Murasakibara Atsushi took a slight step backward.

He obviously realized this himself and was therefore rarely annoyed: “The third-years have already retired from the team, right? What are you doing here?”

His words were merciless, but his eyes were darting around, almost hiding behind Akashi, who was not far from him, under Kokonoe Taka’s focused gaze–this idea was nipped in the bud almost as soon as it appeared.

“That hurts me to hear,” Kokonoe Taka said. “I’ve brought you so many snacks, Murasakibara. How about being a little friendlier to a senior who’s always taken care of you?”

Murasakibara Atsushi: “…”

He took another step backward, even more wary.

Kokonoe Taka didn’t care at all about the trail of water he was leaving behind. He took big steps and reached Murasakibara in a few strides, coincidentally or deliberately blocking Murasakibara and Akashi: “That’s interesting. I don’t think we’ve ever had a 1v1.” He gestured for Kise to throw him the basketball from the sidelines. “Want to have a game?”

Murasakibara refused: “No, this has nothing to do with you.”

“–Oh, that’s what you say.” Kokonoe Taka laughed, slowly and deliberately, “Aren’t you just afraid?”

“You!” Thank goodness his provocation was still so effective. Murasakibara Atsushi was immediately enraged by him, his expression so ugly that he wanted to tear him to pieces. But Kokonoe Taka wasn’t affected by this imposing pressure at all. Instead, he cocked his eyebrows triumphantly.

“…Senior Kokonoe.” Akashi Seijuro finally found his voice. He looked out through his red hair and only felt a bright golden light surrounding him. Kokonoe Taka was standing in that golden light, especially casual, especially calmly looking back at him.

“Akashi.” He narrowed his eyes. “Be good.”

The eyelids of the junior behind him trembled violently, eventually struggling to return to their original calm.

Aomine Daiki was originally in the next gym arguing with Haizaki Shogo, and he was sent to get clean towels by a call from Momoi Satsuki. When he came back, he happened to see the senior who shouldn’t be here wearing Kise Ryota’s spare sneakers. “Why are you here!”

He was covered in goosebumps and subconsciously recalled whether he had been training properly recently. Momoi Satsuki snatched the towel from his hand and carefully handed it to Kokonoe Taka. The latter randomly wiped his half-wet hair, “What are you afraid of?”

Aomine Daiki: “…” You tell me what I’m afraid of!

He sheepishly walked away and learned the whole story from Kise Ryota. But to Kise’s surprise, Aomine Daiki glanced with considerable sympathy at Murasakibara, who was occupying a bench all by himself, looking unhappy. “Kise,” he said softly, very sincerely, “Do you want to learn how to play center?”

Kise Ryota: “?”

Kise Ryota: “…Why?”

Aomine Daiki said with certainty: “What if that guy is so beaten that he wants to quit the team–”

Kise Ryota: “…Murasakibara is glaring at you, you know.”

Kokonoe Taka wiped the hair that had gotten wet when he rushed from the teaching building to the gymnasium and stood up.

“Ten points to win.”

Aomine Daiki trembled, his toes uncontrollably moving towards the door, ready to run away at any time.

Midorima Shintaro glanced at him without a trace: “I was just wondering, Aomine, why do you look more panicked than Murasakibara?”

Aomine Daiki: “…” Because he hasn’t come out of the shadow of being beaten up yet.

Although that’s what he said, compared to the closed-door game between him and Aomine Daiki, the game between Kokonoe Taka and Murasakibara Atsushi was watched by half of the basketball team–that is to say, almost everyone saw Murasakibara, who had always suppressed his opponents with his physical qualities, being restricted by his size. The inside had always been Murasakibara Atsushi’s territory, but in front of another person who dominated the inside, the scales of victory undoubtedly abandoned him.

“–So, is that all you’ve got?”

The person who won even responded with Murasakibara’s words in a frivolous manner.

Murasakibara gritted his teeth, his expression turning into an irritated childishness. But before he could speak, the senior who had only let him get one point from beginning to end spoke again: “I thought you were so confident that you could show me something interesting. But all you can do is recklessly hit around?”

These words could be said to have ignited Murasakibara Atsushi’s anger, and even the people on the sidelines felt like they had been hit by a flying disaster, all of them revealing expressions of daring to be angry but not daring to speak.

The senior who had attracted the hatred was even wearing an inconvenient shirt and pants, with only the top button undone. Murasakibara glared at him: “One more game!” he shouted angrily.

Kokonoe Taka thoughtfully dragged out his tone: “Hmm—if it’s always 1v1, I’ll get bored too.” His expression was full of ill intentions, “So, let’s play 3v3?”

“Huh?” Murasakibara didn’t want to. “The others are weaker than me. How can we win!” Kokonoe Taka didn’t force him, spreading his hands with a rogue-like manner: “Oh, then you can just keep wearing the hat of losing to me.”

Midorima watched as Murasakibara was obviously beginning to waver and pushed up his glasses. “…Senior Kokonoe.” He was silent for a moment and racked his brains to find a descriptor in the other senior’s confused gaze, but failed. “Is that what kind of personality you have?”

Next to him was Hachibongi Kensuke, who thought of the past and wore a helpless smile on his face: “You should say he was never a good kid.”

The brief conversation ended, and Kokonoe and Murasakibara had made a decision.

“Then our side will be me, Shuzo, and Kensuke.”

Murasakibara turned to his teammates with a pout.

Aomine didn’t hesitate to hide behind Nijimura Shuzo, and Midorima refused with a face that said it was none of his business—Murasakibara called for Kise, and in the end, he had to focus his gaze on Akashi, who hadn’t said a word.

Hachibongi Kensuke walked onto the court and whispered: “You did all this for that?” He lifted his chin towards the two people with stiff attitudes.

Kokonoe Taka slightly bent over and tilted his head, “Having a point guard and a center play 1v1 is as absurd as Kuroko thinking of playing 1v1 with Aomine.” He replied in a low voice, pausing for a moment. “Besides, basketball isn’t a sport that can be done by one person alone.”

“…Yeah.”

“We haven’t really played ball together since you were discharged from the hospital.” He no longer looked at Hachibongi Kensuke, but his voice became even lower. “…I kind of want to receive your passes again.”

Hachibongi Kensuke lowered his eyes and smiled, “Okay.”

Some things don’t need to be repeated, and there’s no need to say more. Kokonoe Taka disappeared after winning the championship in his final year. At that time, he ran to the hospital and asked Mrs. Hachibongi to hand over his medals and trophies to Kensuke, but was hugged by Hachibongi Kensuke, who had stumbled to his feet.

–“Kokonoe, I’m sorry.”

–“It’s okay.”

The two relaxed and stood side by side, not saying anything more. Nijimura Shuzo walked over: “Get ready to start.”

They didn’t hold back, firmly suppressing Murasakibara’s team. Their methods were so cruel that Aomine Daiki, who was watching, shivered in empathy. One person can never defeat a team. They were using their actions to tell their juniors this truth–whether it was Akashi, Murasakibara, or Kise and Midorima.

At the beginning, Akashi’s passes to Murasakibara were slightly stiff, and the latter received them reluctantly. But in the face of a strong opponent, they could only barely cooperate: after all, none of them wanted to lose.

Pass the ball that you can’t handle to your teammates, and the one point you get isn’t just a point you get.

Akashi Seijuro seized an opening. He intercepted the ball as decisively as ever, and in this position, only Murasakibara, who was already waiting by the basket, could score.

There was no communication, and even their eyes didn’t meet, but they inexplicably felt connected by this ball. Murasakibara received this ball, which was unusually comfortable in terms of timing and angle. He still felt a little awkward in his heart, but he dunked fiercely with his hands.

“Akashi.” The senior who was intercepted by him was a little surprised and bent his eyes. He didn’t look back at the basketball that Murasakibara had thrown in. “Some things are more interesting than victory, right?”

Akashi’s throat was dry.

A soft sigh: “…Yeah.”

The two teams only played five points, and it ended quickly, with the score stopping at 3:2. But even though Murasakibara’s team lost, the atmosphere in the gymnasium inexplicably became more relaxed, with none of the previous tension.

The third-year seniors were soon planning to leave, reluctantly returning to the classroom to tutor. Before leaving, Kokonoe Taka turned his head and looked at the sulking Murasakibara: “I’ll say it again, you played terribly, Murasakibara.”

Everyone: “…” Is he still going to provoke him at this time?!

“But,” he raised his eyebrows, “the positioning and cooperation with Akashi at the end was not bad.”

…

…………

On the way back, the three of them squeezed together, sharing an umbrella. The tallest Kokonoe Taka stood in the middle, holding the umbrella, and the other two huddled beside him quite awkwardly. The strange combination made the students who passed by couldn’t help but cast strange glances. Fortunately, the distance from the gymnasium to the teaching building wasn’t long. After stepping under the eaves, the three of them breathed a sigh of relief in unison.

Kokonoe Taka threw the umbrella into the empty umbrella basket. Behind him, Nijimura and Hachibongi complained in low voices, all about topics without substance. The three went upstairs, their footsteps falling on the floor, only to be quickly swallowed up by the sound of the rain outside the window. After opening the door, walking into the classroom, and sitting down, Hachibongi Kensuke took off his jacket, leaving only the pullover and shirt inside.

“–Speaking of which,” he said as if unintentionally, “Does Kokonoe care a lot about those juniors?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Kokonoe Taka’s answers were ambiguous, but he admitted it. He pushed the test paper towards Hachibongi Kensuke and slapped away Nijimura Shuzo’s hand, who wanted to secretly touch his phone. “I just feel,” he paused, as if also looking for a reason, “I can’t just leave them alone.”

At least, he can pull them back when they’re about to step on the wrong path.

Such thoughts didn’t need to be spoken out. Hachibongi Kensuke made an “oh” sound and didn’t ask any further, instead saying: “I’m going to Itachiyama. Shuzo is going to America—what about you? What school are you planning to go to?”

“This guy doesn’t have to worry about that at all, right?” Nijimura Shuzo stared painfully at the dictionary in front of him. “Many high schools have sent him special admission invitations that don’t require exams—although he can get in on his own anyway.”

Kokonoe Taka spun his pen. “Well.” He pondered for a moment, “I probably won’t continue to study in Tokyo.”

The two were stunned: “Huh? Why?”

Even though this consideration included his reluctance to accept those special admissions that required him to lead the school’s basketball team in competitions in high school, there was more to it—

“I’m going to break a promise.” He said vaguely, narrowing his eyes helplessly, “For high school, I’ll probably go back to Miyagi.”

“Why that expression?” As gazes gathered, Kokonoe Taka laughed: “It’s not like we’ll never see each other again.”

“You two can still see each other,” Nijimura Shuzo said. “I’m going overseas! That’s so, so far!” He was usually carefree, but at this time, he seemed to be complaining casually, but also mixed with fear and seriousness. “Maybe we’ll even forget each other’s faces!”

The meaning of going their separate ways lies in this. How long can a person’s memory last? How many people forget their past companions because of separation? Therefore, the anxiety that arises is also understandable. He looked at his two friends, his voice clearer than the sound of the rain outside the window.

“Then.”

He suddenly remembered the morning star he had seen when he was still in Aoba Castle.

Bright, dazzling, ardent.

“–As long as we keep looking at it, right?”