[Kuroko's Basketball] The First Promise

The touch and pain brought about by the memories of the past will all end in this night.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++Many times Lizi can't figure out what Heizi is thinking in his heart, this person rarely shows his emotions on his face, and his too restrained and cautious appearance makes Lizi feel helpless all the time.She always felt that such self-repression would affect her growth.

For example, this meeting, she is happy from the bottom of her heart, but she is not sure that Heizi is in the same mood as her.

Leaning on the railing of the overpass, Lizi let out a sigh of relief, then turned her head to look at the people beside her: "Are your eyes better?"

Heizi looked over, paused for half a second and nodded:

"Better."

"That's good." Reiko smiled: "It was very late when Hinata and I found out about this matter... I wanted to call you and Vulcan, but you both changed numbers, and that guy Hinata specially called back. I went to Seirin and couldn't find you two."

Heizi listened quietly, his eyes fell on the sparse and blurred lights under the bridge.The light spots in the blue eyes are blurred.

"You—" Lizi kept looking at Heizi's side face, and after a long time, she said slowly, "What happened between you and Vulcan?"

Heizi didn't speak.

"I went to see Seirin's last game." Reiko seems to be recalling, but also seems to be narrating: "Because I have been busy with the basketball club of the university since I went to college, many competition systems overlap with yours. Only the last game can be watched live if I catch up. But... neither you nor Vulcan played in that game."

"Vulcan Lord is in America."

"I know." Lizi smiled: "But Heizi, you didn't go to America."

Heizi chose to remain silent again.

The night wind blows away the vague memories layer by layer.Heizi felt that the night was a bit cold, so he couldn't help but shrunk his hand on the edge of his trousers into his cuffs.Those blue eyes reflecting the night scene under the bridge seemed to be cold, so cold that they looked at the world as if they were indifferent.

Lizi felt that the people around her had changed. It was no longer the person who called her coach to ask her to train more, and it was no longer the No.11 who was active on the field and sent out subtle circuits.Although it still feels reliable, it has indeed changed.

She is no longer Seirin's coach either.I can no longer use my fists to teach these little devils one by one, and I can no longer cook them the meals I have worked so hard to learn.

"Feel sorry."

After a long time, Heizi became the first person to break the silence.

"...Why are you apologizing?"

"Because I didn't fulfill the promise I made to my predecessors."

"Ah—that, Seirin, a sophomore in high school, has already won a championship, isn't it already achieved, there is no need to apologize."

"Senior Hinata hopes that Seirin will also win a championship in the third year."

Lizi was slightly stunned, then laughed for a while:

"Of course... Everyone hopes to win the championship. Although Seirin is the runner-up, it doesn't mean it's your fault, Kuroko. Besides, Seirin's runner-up doesn't mean it's a failure."

The light-colored hair floated up slightly, brushing against the cheeks and itching slightly.Heizi raised his hand to support the railing in front of him, and said slowly: "Yes. That's right."

"However, Vulcan's approach is indeed wrong." Reiko added later, she brushed her messy long hair and continued: "As the captain, even if Seirin can't win the championship, You should also support the team to go on.”

"It's not Vulcan Lord's fault." Heizi said quietly.

"You, you are too partial to him." Lizi waved her hand and laughed out loud: "Let me tell you a little secret." She leaned over and said softly: "Actually, we discussed the handover of the team before we graduated. Question, at that time I suggested Kuroko to be Seirin's future captain."

Heizi looked over with a little surprise, and met Lizi's smiling eyes.

"According to what I said, I think Heizi can rationally organize the attack at the critical moment of the game, and can arouse everyone's emotions. Compared with Vulcan, Heizi, you are more stable and cautious, aren't you?" Lizi smiled. Laughing: "However, although the fire god guy is a little too hot-blooded and sometimes impulsive, it is undeniable that Seirin can have these brilliant achievements, most of which are thanks to him. It is also hoped that Hinata recommended him as the captain. He can make himself more mature after taking on the position of captain."

He was a little dumb, although Heizi could guess this, but he always felt that his throat was slightly astringent.

"Of course, everyone also understands from the bottom of their hearts that you and Vulcan supported each other and grew up. It would be a huge loss to lose anyone, so we have always been worried about whether you will have any conflicts in the coming year. The Vulcan Idiots always can't get rid of their bad temper..." Lizi smoothed her flying hair behind her ears, and her voice was gradually buried in the wind: "I just didn't expect that your conflicts would become so big. Besides, So complicated."

Heizi lowered his eyebrows slightly, and said bluntly for a while:

"Sorry, I have to go back, otherwise Akashi-kun will be angry."

Lizi subconsciously clenched the rough railing when she heard the words, turned around a few times before lowering her head to look at her watch, and then laughed out loud: "Hey, hey... I didn't think it was too late to talk, so it's so late. Go back quickly!"

"Let me take Miss Lizi back to the hotel first."

"No, no, I'm not a weak little girl and I'm still being given by a boy." Lizi raised her hand and patted Heizi's shoulder vigorously, then smiled: "It's a pity that you didn't get into the same university... But you can continue to play basketball, It’s already very good. Remember to go to the hospital for reexamination on time for your eyes or something.”

Heizi nodded: "Thank you. I will work hard."

"Ah——Still as serious as ever." Lizi smiled again, and stretched out her hand to him: "Well, how about a handshake?"

Heizi obediently raised his hand to hold hers.

"Sophomore at Kanagawa University, coach of the basketball club, Reiko Aida."

The voice suddenly became serious, and Reiko held his hand tightly.

Heizi raised his eyes to look at Lizi's pupils, and after a while he slightly curled his lips and responded:

"Tetsuya Kuroko, a freshman at the University of Tokyo. Please give me your advice."

"Then Heizi-kun, let's play hard." Lizi smiled with satisfaction, let go of his hand, and waved his right arm vigorously while stepping back: "When we meet on the court—we will be opponents— "

Heizi looked at her receding gradually blurred figure, and said for a while:

"I'll do my best, coach."

Lizi's eyes widened slightly, as if she heard his words clearly, or saw the shape of his lips, she suddenly bit her lower lip tightly as if she couldn't control her emotions, and raised her lips towards Heizi after a long time. With an exaggerated smile, he quickly turned around and walked down the bridge.The neon lights made people's eyes sour, Lizi went to the bottom of the steps, raised her head vigorously and blinked her eyes, but her eye sockets were still astringent and sore, she wanted to cry from the pain.She is not a person who loves to cry, she thinks crying is a sign of cowardice, but now she can't restrain this feeling, the rapidly expanding, painful feeling of losing something that cannot be retrieved.

She had known for a long time that parting was the inevitable end, and she managed to face it with a smile, but the sense of powerlessness made her unable to pass this step calmly.

It turns out that memory can be copied.It was only when she felt all the familiar things that she realized that she was so nostalgic for the past time. The more nostalgic she was, the more she realized that the time was too fast, and things had changed in a trance.Because Xiangri was by her side, she was not overwhelmed by graduation.

But now she really felt that those two years together were really like a dream about being young.

The touch and pain brought about by the memories of the past will all end in this night.

Akashi quietly leaned against the street lamp under the bridge, he was not interested in the girl who left in a hurry on the other side of the bridge.Looking up, he looked at the lonely person lying on the railing. After a long time, he walked up the steps step by step. He went up but didn't approach. He just stopped at the corner and opened his mouth to the person over there. : "Tetsuya, go back."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++ The opponent of the University of Tokyo the next day was Hitotsubashi University.Akashi pulled everyone up at 05:30 in the morning and began to talk about the formation and introduce the list of opponents. It is estimated that he played too late the night before and was drunk. Basically, no one listened to what Akashi said. He got in the car and drove to the venue On the way, several people fell asleep one after another.

While holding the list of personnel, Akashi looked at the car of "unconscious" people expressionlessly, and his impression turned black.Seeing the angry face of the person standing in front of the car, Heizi wondered whether he should shake Qingfeng beside him awake first.

When they entered the venue to report, there was less than 10 minutes before the game. Akashi asked them to change clothes first and then do a simple warm-up.The remaining three preliminaries were all scheduled for the morning, and the burnout made these people unable to cheer up.

Heizi took out his team uniform while listening to Kise's complaints, and took out a bottle of iced drink from his bag and stuck it on the cheek of Aomine who was sitting next to him and yawning.

"...Wow! It's so cool, Ah Zhe!"

"Is Qingfeng-kun awake?"

"...Well, I guess. I'm not very drunk, but I'm very sleepy."

"Please don't affect the game."

Over there, Kise was still rubbing his aching head vigorously, and suddenly felt an inexplicable and powerful aura of resentment shrouded behind him, and when he turned around, he saw the reflective mirror of Midorima.

"Hey!? What happened to the little green room..."

"What happened last night." Midorima pushed his glasses, reflecting the light again: "——who saw it?"

Huang Lai was stunned for a while before he realized what was going on, suddenly wanted to laugh but tried his best to hold back, coughed twice and said, "Hmmmmmmm, probably not many people saw it."

"Where is Heizi?"

"Cough... I don't know..."

Just as he was talking, Akashi, who came back from the report, opened the door and came in. After a simple instruction, everyone was ready to play.

When Kuroko passed by Akashi, he deliberately raised his head to look at him. When the latter met Kuroko's gaze, he didn't say anything, but just raised his hand and patted his back as encouragement.

Although his mind was also in a state of unconsciousness in the morning, Kuroko was a person who was very good at grasping key points, and he didn't miss Akashi's key words.For example, the outstanding ability of the NO.13 player of Hitotsubashi University.

whistle.After the referee threw the ball, Ziyuan still got the ball easily. When Heizi adjusted his position to meet Ziyuan, a person suddenly appeared from the opposite side.The conspicuous NO.13 number made Heizi slightly squint his eyes.

"Hello~ I'm Kazuma Moriguchi who is in charge of marking you, and I'm a PG like you!"

Heizi was slightly surprised by the other party's direct self-introduction, but as a courtesy, he also said bluntly: "Heizi Tetsuya, please take care of me."

Moriguchi grinned at him, and while smiling, Murasakihara's ball hit directly from his crotch. After receiving the ball, Kuroko went around Moriguchi and rushed inside without stopping for half a second.Because Qingfeng was designated as a substitute, the starting power forward was a selected freshman. Although Heizi was not very familiar with him, he had also partnered in practice games, so when Heizi raised his hand to pass the ball at close range, he felt that the freshman should cooperate well. There was no problem, but I didn't expect that the force of the ball seemed to be too strong. After the ball hit the opponent's palm and spun half a circle, it was dropped.

Heizi was stunned for half a second, and Huang La, who ran over from behind, patted him on the shoulder:

"Xiao Heizi, that's not Xiao Qingfeng, don't use so much strength."

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Heizi rushed to fill his seat immediately.After the ball was dropped, the opponent's No. [-] counterattacked. The fastest Kise rushed over to intercept it. No. [-]'s footwork was very stable. He thrust out his non-dribbling leg and immediately started to the other side. Although Kise I won't be fooled by such a simple trick, but there was a half-second pause under my feet. No. [-] took advantage of the gap to dribble the ball smoothly, but faced Heizi head-on, probably because he saw Heizi's height and felt that it was not very lethal. , No. [-] stood upright, crossed the ball to the other side, then quickly switched back, and directly went around when Heizi opened his arms to block, but felt a sudden thrust under the bent arm when he passed by Heizi. , and when he reacted again, the ball had been broken by the sunspot behind him.

Kise smiled mischievously, dribbled the ball directly to the basket and raised his hand to score two points.

Although the first ball took a little longer, it clearly showed that the rhythm is in the hands of Dongda.

Heizi tugged at his tight wristband, and Moriguchi who ran over from the opposite side looked excited: "Oh--that interception just now was so exciting! It's exactly as written in the data!"

Heizi looked up at him, but said nothing.

"—However, I guessed it just now, you will steal the ball like this."

Moriguchi's words made Heizi, who was pulling on his wrist guard, pause slightly.

The ball was in Hitotsubashi University, and after the opponent's No. [-] took possession of the ball, he bypassed Dongda's forward without difficulty. Seeing No. [-] who was dribbling the ball head-on, Heizi was ready to continue stealing.He noticed that although Moriguchi was in charge of marking him, he never made any aggressive or close-up marking. Although he didn't know what the man was thinking, he didn't have time to think about it. When No. [-] appeared, Heizi One step forward, throwing off Moriguchi's defensive horizontal hand, and hitting the opponent's ball is a slash——

The ball was forced to change its course and bounced into the air, but was held in Moriguchi's hand in the next second.

Heizi was stunned for a moment, Moriguchi quickly rushed out of the outside line and made a three-point shot, and Midorima's jump height from the outside line was not high enough to stop him.The ball hit the hoop and spun a few times before scoring.

"You guy..." Kise turned back to look at Moriguchi who was smiling brightly, and frowned after a while and said, "Can you see the route of Xiao Heizi's interception?"

"Haha no more!" Moriguchi laughed heartily, shrugging his shoulders by the way: "It's just a guess~"

Heizi's expression became slightly serious.When Murasakihara's long pass hit his arms, Heizi subconsciously glanced at Moriguchi, who was marking on the right, and the latter still showed a row of white teeth and smiled friendlyly at him.

...I always feel uncomfortable.

Thinking so, Heizi quickly dribbled the ball past others.It has to be said that Moriguchi's marking was too loose, or that he had no intention of marking Heizi at all. When Heizi passed, Moriguchi even took a step back to give way, but raised his hand at the moment when Heizi raised his hand to make a direct pass.

The ball that was swung by Heizi hit Moriguchi again without flying far.

He probably guessed that the ball would be received by Moriguchi. Heizi frowned unwillingly and immediately rushed to steal the ball. Moriguchi laughed twice and dribbled the ball directly. He pulled away, but never thought that Moriguchi would dribble and change hands at the same moment he shot.

Heizi didn't even touch the ball with this swing.

"Oh...it seems that he can really predict the interception and passing route of Xiao Heizi? Not bad—"

Kise frowned, but laughed.When Moriguchi dribbles into the interior, he immediately fills the crossbar.

"No." Moriguchi dribbled the ball slowly, met Kise's gaze with a smile, then turned his right heel, and quickly dribbled the ball to the left when Kise raised his arm to block to the right: "—Actually Not just Heizi-kun, everyone can move—guess it!"

When Moriguchi raised his hand for a layup, Murasakihara, who was waiting next to him, easily raised his arm to block the shot. At the same second when he saw Murasakihara make a move, Moriguchi's finger hooked back to control the ball in his palm and did not throw it. Murasakihara opened his eyes slightly. At this time, "hehe" laughed, changed hands with a back pass, and took a step back to take advantage of Ziyuan's pause point to make two easy shots.

2 minutes before the first quarter, Dongda fell behind 2:5.

After the ball was scored, Akashi stood up and signaled for a timeout.

"Hey~ It's against common sense~ I can guess the action line or something." Kise took the water and took a few sips, his tone was not very good.In the past, there were very few cases where the rhythm at the beginning of the first quarter was controlled by the opponent. Although the point difference is small, the point difference will only get bigger and bigger if this continues.

"Tetsu thinks so too." Akashi handed Kuroko a bottle of water.

"I don't know." Heizi whispered, took the water but didn't drink it.After pondering for a few seconds, I expressed my feelings: "Because I focused on the ball, I didn't pay much attention to the NO.13 movement. But there has always been a feeling of being stared at engrossingly, and the movement has been pre-analyzed. .”

"It looks very strong... That person, the pressure in his eyes?" Huang Lai couldn't help but ask.

"No matter how strong it is, it's useless." Aomine, who was acting as a substitute, was always in a bad mood, and impatiently leaned on the chair and glanced at Akashi: "Hey——are you going to change people if you want this timeout? When will I play? ?”

Akashi didn't speak, and looked towards the rest area of ​​Hitotsubashi University on the right.

No matter what method is used to predict the movement of the players, there will be a way to break it. After all, we are all human, and there are no special functions.

Pulling off his coat, Akashi patted Kuroko on the shoulder:

"Alright Tetsuya, I'll replace you."

Huang Lai was stunned for a moment: "Xiao Akashi is going to play? The first quarter..."

Heizi immediately said, "Akashi-kun, I can try again..."

"—With the current you, you can't deal with it."

This sentence made Heizi startled, but he couldn't find any words to refute.

The bench was very cold, and when Kuroko sat on it, he suddenly felt a sense of loss, and he pursed his lips slightly unwillingly, he was somewhat puzzled by Akashi's arrangement.Seeing what Heizi was thinking, Aomine next to him yawned and then raised his hand to ruffle Heizi's hair: "Well, don't mind Azhe, that guy Akashi just talks like this."

"……I know."

Kuroko thought about it, and in his memory, Akashi seldom played in the first quarter.

Looking up, the back of the red-haired youth stood upright.The dazzling lights on the arena intertwined with the dark reflections on the smooth floor, revealing a violent paleness.