[Kuroko's Basketball] The First Promise

Don't be afraid, little Heizi, we are always here.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ When I walked out of the outpatient department, the setting sun dazzled my eyes, implicating my temples They all jumped up suddenly, with a dull pain.Heizi couldn't help but raised his hand to cover the scorching light, and suddenly felt the soft cloth buckle on the top of his head, and then looked up and only saw the dark brim of the hat.The dazzling light was instantly blocked.

"Hey——Xiao Heizi really looks good~ I bought it during the audition last time, I didn't expect it to be so suitable for Xiao Heizi~"

Without speaking, Heizi felt that Kise pressed his head through the sun visor.Following his movements, Heizi lowered his head slightly, and glanced at his watch. The inspection and testing took a lot of time, and the game over there had already ended.

Just as he was thinking, Heizi faintly felt the phone vibrating in his pocket, and when he took it out, he found that there were more than a dozen missed calls, all of which were from Qingfeng.Rubbing the screen with his thumb, he pressed the answer button.

"Ah... ah? Azhe, you finally picked it up! How is your eye? Does it still hurt? When will you go back? I'll go and see you at night! Oh oh——or else you should sleep first, tomorrow Shall I go to see you again? Remember to rest well! Ah yes, the game is completely fine, you—”

Qingfeng spoke very fast, and Heizi was a little dazed when he heard it. He didn't say a word for a long time, but when he was about to speak, he heard a noise from the other side, and then the voice on the other side changed: "Ah——Little Heizi—— I just bought a delicious blueberry bar on the way back~ I’ll give it to you to eat—ah, it hurts, Xiao Qingzi, don’t grab your phone, I haven’t finished talking to Xiao Heizai—”

Suddenly there were a few noises of "stinging, stinging" over there, as if they were fighting for the phone. Occasionally, they could hear Ziyuan's complaints. Heizi moved the phone a little away, and the next second there He was forced to hang up the phone.

Huang Lai leaned over to ask Heizi what he said, when a text message suddenly lit up.Kuroko looked down, the sender was Akashi.

"Take a good rest and talk about it tomorrow. 』

Looking at the short sentence, Heizi gripped the phone slightly.

The sky was a bit cloudy, and Heizi felt that his heart was as heavy and dull as the weather, even though Kise beside him tried to cheer him up with various cheerful tones, it was of no avail.

But Heizi knew very well that it wasn't the injury that made him so depressed.

Only he himself understands that kind of regret.

When he returned to the dormitory, Heizi took off his hat, opened the closet, picked up the towel and bathrobe, and was about to enter the bathroom. Kise had just put down the bag containing the medicine box in his hand, and was slightly surprised by Heizi's actions: "Xiao Hei Son, it's still early, shall we go take a shower after dinner?"

"It's ok."

Heizi responded in a low voice, and went straight into the bathroom and closed the door.

Unbuttoning his clothes, he took off his clothes and stepped into the bathtub. Heizi raised his hand and poured cold water.The freezing feeling when the cold water droplets sprayed on the top of his head gradually made his hot and dry feeling subside.After filling a pool of ice water, he sat down slowly.He lowered his head to look at his palm. The rough feel of the basketball hadn't disappeared yet. He squeezed it hard but there was nothing. The outline of the palm in his sight was even blurred.The cold water splashing on his body was bone-chillingly cold. Heizi raised his hand to wipe off the falling water from his forehead, his fingers trembling a little.

He should have found out a long time ago, he thought himself too great, thinking that as long as he worked hard, he would be fine.

In his last year of high school, he didn't want to touch basketball anymore, so even if he could no longer stand on the court due to physical reasons, the depressive pain would not make him so depressed.

But it's different now.He wants to play with everyone, so he will try his best to show everyone that he is still the sunspot he once was, that he will not be defeated by injuries, and that he can confidently stand in his position to play with everyone and walk side by side with everyone.But what happened today was so absurd, so absurd that he even thought it was extremely normal, as if it should have happened long ago.

Maybe he was wrong, from the beginning.

Looking up, he faced the cold water and took a deep breath to adjust his mentality, like a long and mournful sigh.

The ice water fell into the eye sockets, and there was a burst of soreness. Heizi raised his hand and rubbed the corners of his eyes, and tears fell down.

He was convinced that the reason for his tears was because the wound hurt so badly.

Huang Lai sat by the bed and sorted out the medicines brought back from the hospital, repeatedly checked the instructions above, and remembered the dosage and time of each time.He casually took out Heizi's medical record from his bag and looked through it, recalling the doctor's instructions at that time.

Double vision is exacerbated by overuse of the eyes due to orbital fractures that cause trauma to the extraocular muscles.

Kise didn't know that Heizi's eye injury would be so serious, because that person had never told him about the eye injury, and he thought he would be fine as long as he rested after the operation.Huang Lai smiled self-deprecatingly, and flipped through the medical records.

In addition to taking a good rest and not overusing the eyes, the dietary requirements are also very high. There are not many fresh fruits and vegetables in the dormitory, so Kise thought it would be better for him to go to the supermarket to buy some for later.Because the eyes are one of the most sensitive organs, the extraocular muscles should not encounter strong light or touch water after trauma.

Huang Lai was stunned when he saw the next line of instructions, and immediately blamed himself for being careless. He immediately stood up and walked over to knock on the bathroom door: "Xiao Heizi? Xiao Heizi, don't forget to be careful when taking a bath." , don't get your eyes wet."

There was only the sound of running water inside the door, Huang Lai waited for a while but did not hear Hei Zi's reply, frowned slightly, Huang Lai knocked on the door again: "Little Hei Zi? Did you hear that? Keep your eyes clear of water."

Huang Lai listened carefully to the voices inside the door, and the only thing he could distinguish was the noise of water splashing on the wall of the pool.

Feeling a little anxious, Kise twisted the doorknob and found that it was not locked, so she immediately twisted it and pushed the door in.

What he saw was such a scene, Huang Lai felt a sudden ache in his throat, and he didn't say a word for a long while.

Because it was soaked by water, the bangs were tightly attached to the forehead, and the water flowed down and continued to flow into the eye sockets.Heizi opened his eyes very wide, bloodshot in the blue pupils.Hearing the sound of the door, he didn't pay much attention, and after a few seconds, Heizi raised his head and looked at Kise who rushed in beside him.

"Little blackie, you..."

Huang Lai immediately rushed to turn off the shower after regaining consciousness, only to find that it was cold when the water splashed on the back of his hand, the coldness seemed to reach his heart.

Taking a cold shower...

Clenching his back teeth, Kise pulled a dry towel and covered Heizi's shoulders exposed to the air after turning off the water, squatting down, Kise hugged him tightly across the wall pool, trying to use his own The body temperature helped him recover.

He raised his hand to wipe off the water droplets around Heizi's eye sockets, but when he touched it, he realized that the water droplets on his cheeks were not as cold as he expected.

It felt warm to the touch.

Huang Lai's fingers froze slightly, then turned around and found another towel, and carefully wiped off the wetness for him.

"Little Heizi, are you alright? Don't take a cold bath anymore, it's easy to catch a cold in this weather. Besides, didn't the doctor tell you not to get water in your eyes?" Kise wiped Heizi's eyes dry, and raised his hand After adjusting the water temperature and turning on the hot water, he rolled up his sleeves and hugged him again, and said in a low voice, "Little Heizi, don't be sad... I know you're in a bad mood, but don't vent like that."

Heizi showed no expression, his expression was slightly gloomy.

"Just take a good rest for a while, right? Little Heizi, don't think too much." Putting a pool of warm water on, Kise lifted some water onto Heizi's shoulders, hoping that the warm water would make him tense The nerves were relaxed: "Everyone needs you, so Xiao Heizi will get well soon."

"It's just that the team needs me." Heizi said slowly, his eyes finally fell on Huang Lai's face: "Once I can no longer use misleading, then I will only slow down when I play."

"Little Heizi, what are you talking about?" Huang Lai frowned slightly: "It's not because you can mislead everyone that you value you. If you give up on you because of your injuries, then you won't be called a partner at all."

Heizi forced a smile with the corners of his mouth pulled, and didn't speak any more.

"Hey... Little Heizi, don't bully me because I can't talk." Huang Lai took a new towel, soaked it in warm water, and put it on Heizi's shoulders to warm him slowly. Heizi didn't dodge, just He whispered: "Mr. Huang, please go out, I will wash it myself."

"That's not okay~ It's rare to have such a good opportunity to eat tofu, I'm so happy~" Kise tried to use humorous words to relax Heizi, but the latter obviously didn't have this tendency.Pursing her lips, Huang Lai turned directly to another topic: "Little Heizi, don't wash it now, go out after warming it up, just after checking your eyes, it's not suitable for bathing. Does it still hurt? I'll go out in a while I'll apply medicine to Xiao Heizi."

Heizi shook his head: "It doesn't hurt, no need."

Kise didn't care much about Heizi's evasive indifference.In other words, he has long been familiar with this "chasing and running" mode of getting along. The more he wants to get closer, the farther that person will run away.Sometimes Kise is also very helpless, but in a sense it is not a bad thing, because he knows Heizi well.On the surface, the person who keeps saying "Kise-kun, please don't disgust me", but when he feels inferior because he is on the verge of failure, can shout "Kise-kun, I believe in you" in front of the audience.Such a person is the Heizi he knows, not the current Heizi who relies on cold water baths to torture himself and hates himself.

Sometimes he can only sigh that a year can really change a person so much, and even change a person's personality so obviously.Although still the same tenderness, Heizi is far more sensitive and worrying than before, and most of the time he can't put himself in a correct position to look at.

"Little Heizi, you take yourself too lightly." Kise kept pouring warm water on the towel, always paying attention to whether any water would splash into Heizi's eye sockets: "Little Heizi, you really need to be more confident." Ah, I haven't seen such an unconfident little Heizi since we entered the main election in the second grade of middle school... Indeed, as Xiao Heizi said, everyone has changed a lot. Although I still desire to win, I am no longer an emperor. That kind of winning is everything. I am working so hard now because I like basketball and want to win the game happily with you. Everyone must think so. Xiao Heizi, you think so, right? , after all, I only knew these things when I played with you before. So Xiao Heizi..."

"-Even so, so what." Kuroko interrupted Kise, lowering his eyelids slightly: "If there is a better point guard than me in the future... Akashi-kun will definitely appoint him, then I will be useless .Besides, I can't play now."

The movement of Huang Lai's hands paused for half a second, and continued: "Little Heizi, you must take care of your eyes first."

"What Huang Lai-kun means is that I still don't want to play?" Heizi turned his head to look at him, his tone slightly stiff.

"Xiao Heizi, although I understand how much you like basketball and how much you value basketball, it's not worth ruining your eyes for basketball! Wouldn't it be better to raise your eyes before playing basketball?" Kise Wipe the drops of water on Heizi's cheeks: "If you are allowed to play regardless of your eye injury, that would be the worst mistake."

"Then...can I play again in the future?"

Heizi hesitated for a long time before saying this sentence that had been kept in his heart for a long time.

Kise looked up at Heizi in surprise, the latter's eyes revealed a kind of sadness.

"Little Heizi, why do you think this way?" Kise spoke almost without any hesitation, and his tone was raised a bit: "Of course it is possible! Didn't you agree to keep playing in college? Of course it's best to graduate We can still play ball together in the future! Little Heizi, don’t you remember the game I played with Little Huizi back then? It was Little Heizi who cheered me up for me to stand up, so Little Heizi, let me accompany you this time , nothing will change, Xiao Heizi will still play with everyone as before, and this day will come soon. So, don’t say whether you can play or not, you can’t live without you on the court.”

Maybe it was because Huang Lai had never spoken to him in this tone before, Hei Zi stared at the opposite person in a daze for a moment.

"Okay, little Heizi, stop soaking, let's go out." Feeling that the warm water in the pool was a little cold, for fear that Heizi would catch a cold again, Kise let go of the water in the pool, and brought over the bathrobe that was put on the side Put it on Heizi, and help him tie the belt of the bathrobe carefully.Instead of letting Heizi stand up and step out, Kise directly lifted him up and carried him out.

Putting Heizi down, Kise took a towel, pulled him over and sat on the side of the bed, bent over to help him wipe his hair slowly.

"...Kise-kun."

"Yes, little Heizi."

"……nothing."

The wet bangs were slightly uncomfortable on the forehead, Heizi stopped talking and lowered his eyes.The hands that wiped his wet hair through the towel moved very lightly, as if massaging his head according to the acupoints, and a drowsy feeling seemed to surge up.

Noticing that his head was shaking slightly under the towel, Huang Lai knew that Heizi must be very tired after playing for half a day and going to the hospital for so long, so he wiped his hair again, supported him and lay down.

"Little Heizi, get some sleep first. I'll go to the cafeteria to buy food. Call me if you have something to do." Covering the cover for him, Huang Lai whispered a few words in Heizi's ear, and waited until Heizi After a reply, he got up, picked up his coat and went out, closing the door gently.

When he heard the door knock, Heizi slowly opened his eyes, turned over and lay on his side, curling up slightly.

It's not that he can't understand Kise's mood, so he is very grateful.It's not that he's suffering from an eye injury, it's just that he wants to play with them too much, but he can't achieve it because of his own reasons, and he's afraid of losing them because of it.

He was afraid and moved further and further away from them.

He was afraid, and when he really stood up one day, he couldn't see them when he turned around.

Because I have lost it, I want to cherish it even more.

Heizi clenched the sheet tightly with his hands, and pursed his lips.The screen of the mobile phone next to the pillow suddenly lit up, and the vibration was transmitted along the pillow.Heizi didn't raise his head, he groped for the phone and opened it.

"The convenience store downstairs is selling vanilla milkshakes, Xiao Heizi, wait for me to buy them for you~ After drinking the milkshakes, you will definitely feel better, right >3<"

The next second the phone vibrated again.

"Don't be afraid, little Heizi, we are always here.There are always six people in the Generation of Miracles! 』

Perhaps it is because the state of mind has long been different from before. When support and affirmation are most needed, such words are far more deeply rooted in people's hearts than "take a good rest".

Kise has always been very clear about his fear and anxiety.So he chose to believe in Kise, deeply, without hesitation.

Even if you close your eyes and fall asleep the next second and have a nightmare, you will feel very at ease when you wake up and look at a few lines of text on your phone.

Rubbing the screen of the phone, tears slid down the bridge of the nose, feeling like burning the skin.

——Heizi clearly knew that he was too cowardly before.

——And he also clearly knew that it was the left eye that cried this time.

Not because of anything else, but because of that sentence "We have always been here."