[Kuroko's Basketball] The First Promise

What he really has is just a gradually transparent light.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ is the gold general meeting To shine, if there is a foil, the light will be emitted earlier and the bend will be less.

Heizi wiped his chin symbolically, his azure blue pupils became slightly serious.Standing in front of him was a first-year high school freshman with dyed blond hair. He had a gentle appearance, but judging by the ball just now, he was completely incompatible with the temperament brought by this appearance.

The astonishing speed and proficient basic skills made Kuroko immediately think of Akashi.

"Akutagawa-kun, did you systematically learn basketball before?"

While slowly dribbling the ball, Heizi looked up at the blond man.He didn't look scornful in the slightest, but he didn't put on airs like a senior. He just performed oneonone like an ordinary teammate, but the rules were different. Heizi set the standard for this young man named Akutagawa to be within five goals. , Do your best to steal each other's ball.

Anyone who is familiar with Heizi's ability knows that Akutagawa cannot break Heizi's ball, let alone prevent his own ball from being broken by Heizi.

But the ball just now, although Akutagawa didn't break the ball in Heizi's hand, it really made people sweat.That person's speed is a terrifying tool. The moment Heizi started dribbling the ball, the explosive force under his feet made him suddenly speed up and rush over. The ball just now was definitely blown away.

"Yes." Akutagawa smiled slightly, nodded humbly, and did not let go of his outstretched arms, waiting for Heizi's attack at any time: "My father is a basketball coach and coached in the United States. So I played basketball with my father since I was a child." , but it is certain that the ability is not as good as the predecessors, so please give me more advice."

"Akutagawa-kun is too modest." The voice of dribbling became more serious, but Heizi's tone didn't change much: "Akutagawa-kun's height is no problem playing small forward, why would you think of playing point guard?"

"Ah, well——" The smile on Akutagawa's lips widened slightly, and his voice suddenly rose to a higher level: "I like the feeling of controlling the whole court, and all the players are centered around me. Without point guards, the team will There's no organization, so it's rewarding to play point guard, right?"

"..." Heizi didn't speak any more, and leaned forward slightly, as if preparing to break through.

The same breakthrough method as before, purely swinging left and right, holding the ball with one hand to surpass others, simple tricks want to be done well, rely more on accuracy than speed, if there are no mistakes of your own, no matter how simple The breakthrough method can also be perfect to the extreme.Heizi had already reached such a level. When Akutagawa flashed in front of him, Heizi slammed his right heel and broke through to the right. Akutagawa also realized that this was a misleading fake move, and directly blocked it to the left. Heizi did not change direction. , dribbles easily along the neutral position on the right.

"If you choose to play point guard just to increase your own sense of presence," Heizi said quietly, his azure blue eyes were as silent as water, but his voice was slightly cold: "—then, Seirin is not suitable for you."

Akutagawa was a little stunned, and then laughed: "It adds a sense of presence, I can't deny it. But it's because of the excitement of being the center of attention on the court that playing basketball becomes very enjoyable. Don't you often Say, you have to be happy to play basketball."

Heizi couldn't refute this sentence clearly, so he used silence instead.Or, he felt that there was no need to refute this question at all.It's just that my personal understanding is different. Anyway, there are quite a few people he knows who play for the sake of being the focus.

"And... I really admire you, senior." Akutagawa smiled gently: "I have been following senior's games since I was in junior high school, whether it is passing or stealing...all are great, so I have always wanted to compete with you. The seniors have played against each other, it would be best if we could play together!"

Heizi didn't speak any more, and chose the same fast break as the opponent for the third ball, swinging from side to side extremely fast, and successfully passed Akutagawa's defense with several misleading situations.A set of movements was completed within a few seconds. When Heizi crossed Akutagawa's body, the latter had just put his arms outstretched. He was obviously not fully prepared for Heizi's speed breakthrough and misleading.

"Oh..." Akutagawa paused for a moment, then laughed: "It's really worthy of being a senior!"

Heizi still didn’t speak. Just as the fourth ball was being dribbled, his peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of Vulcan walking into the field. Players in twos and threes ran over to talk to Vulcan. The latter took off the backpack on his shoulder and put it on the coach’s chair. looked at him.

He gave Vulcan a faint smile back, and Kuroko withdrew his gaze and continued to look at Akutagawa.

"Oh—that's Senior Vulcan! I've paid attention to him too!" Akutagawa followed Heizi's gaze, and then retracted it at the same time, smiling: "Everyone is very strong, I really want to fight against you .”

As soon as this sentence fell, Heizi had already broken through with the ball.

Toes of one foot pointing straight ahead.Take a dribble, switch sides, speed up.The ball quickly bounced back to his hand, and he staggered half a step. When Akutagawa was still marking the previous move of changing sides, Heizi had successfully staggered his position and was ready to break through.But it was obvious that Akutagawa was not willing to let it go, he tapped his heel to draw a scroll, and his outstretched arms changed direction to directly slap the basketball that Kuroko had just mastered the new rhythm.

Akutagawa clearly felt the spinning basketball with his fingertips, but unfortunately the contact surface was too small. He tried to straighten his arms to reach more, but in the next second, Heizi grabbed the ball back.

The fourth ball passed without any risk.

Heizi stopped, lowered his head and wiped the slightly sore corner of his right eye with his wrist guard.He felt that the scene in front of his right eye was a bit blurred.Blinking hard, the scene became clear again.

On the fifth ball, Heizi still chose the breakthrough method of switching sides and accelerating. Although Akutagawa is tall, the higher the height, the more unstable the center of gravity will be. Heizi clearly and fully utilized this point, causing Akutagawa to continuously increase the number of turns when marking left and right. The distance, the center of gravity is unstable, and the feet are not firm. Sure enough, when Heizi changed hands and dribbled the ball for the third time, the movement of Akutagawa's feet was half a beat slower.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, he rushed directly to the space on Akutagawa's right. When Heizi was about to end this five-goal interception match, which seemed to be a provocation by his juniors but actually tested the freshmen, his right eye suddenly felt severe pain.

Heizi gritted his teeth and endured the pain without revealing on his expression that he was suffering from pain at the moment.

But the pain caused serious deviations and fluctuations in his dribbling route. Akutagawa immediately took advantage of the victory and pursued. He reached out and hooked directly from Heizi's bent arm, directly hitting Heizi's dribble out of the latter's. within control.

Akutagawa broke the last ball smoothly.

A few onlookers on the sidelines applauded sparsely, and a boy even blew a whistle to express his congratulations.

After all, being able to win a goal under Seirin's strongest point guard is as difficult as putting a hot pot on Vulcan.

What's more, he is still a freshman in high school, which not only indicates that he has unlimited potential, but also indicates that the ability of this senior student will be extraordinary, and there will even be players as powerful as Heizi and Vulcan.

"Oh... oh, no—" Akutagawa looked at his palm in disbelief, and after a while he suddenly covered his mouth with excitement, and looked at Heizi in surprise and excitement: "I——I actually broke my hand." I broke your ball! I broke senior's ball!" After a pause, he suddenly put down his hand, his eyes suddenly swept away the excitement at the beginning, and turned more seriously: "Senior, I will work hard-one day I must Overtake you!"

Heizi looked at him, and suddenly felt that his eyes were unusually familiar and long-lost.

Before he could say anything, a blush suddenly passed behind him, and he patted Akutagawa's shoulder directly: "Haha, you're very imposing! Not bad, not bad, I like you! Let's work hard towards the goal!"

Heizi looked at Vulcan's expression beside him, who smiled happily.He couldn't help but raised the corners of his lips because of Vulcan's smile, but it was unexpectedly bitter.Yes, he should be happy because he recruited such a player with great potential, but now, he can't laugh from the bottom of his heart no matter what.

Hiding his emotions and aura has always been his best skill, he turned and walked out against the crowd.A few juniors ran over to hand Akutagawa towels and water. Heizi felt a little thirsty when he saw it. He wanted to turn around and ask if the box of water that Vulcan had ordered before had arrived, but he saw Vulcan being surrounded by a group of people. The graders were talking and laughing around.

After a pause, Heizi still closed his mouth, turned and left.When he got to the empty corridor, he smiled wryly and raised his hand to cover his aching right eye.

The pain is getting worse and worse. The wound has been throbbing from time to time since the street basketball game last week. A little overuse of the eyes will cause soreness, and sometimes bloodshot eyes will appear, and even tears will flow out directly.But because he didn't want to delay Vulcan's training plan, and he didn't want to drag everyone's pace because of himself, he didn't mention his injury.

Heizi knew very well in his heart that the wound around his eye socket was getting worse.

He took a towel and went to the bathroom to soak it in cold water, covered his right eye with ice for a while, he let out a sigh of relief, and constantly adjusted his emotions.Most of the people are still training in the gymnasium, so he decided to leave half an hour early today to go to the hospital for a proper checkup.

When I entered the locker room, I happened to run into Vulcan who was taking the wristband.

Looking at each other, Vulcan shook the team uniform that had been turned out, and immediately frowned:

"What's wrong, Heizi? Your right eye is very red, why does it feel swollen? Do you want to go to the hospital?"

"No, it's fine." Heizi put the cold towel into the cabinet and began to pack his things, because his back was facing Vulcan, so he didn't need to hide his expression.Raising his hand and rubbing his right eye again, he felt warm liquid flowing out.

Silently wiping away the painful tears, Heizi couldn't help frowning slightly.

"Okay...you just need to be sensible." Vulcan didn't think too much about it, after all he trusted Heizi the most, and the latter said he was fine, so he didn't ask any more questions.He sat down on the chair and opened a bottle of water, and he took a few sips: "What, are you leaving now?"

"Well, I suddenly remembered that there is something that needs to be done."

"Oh, let's go then."

"When will Vulcan Lord leave? Do you want to practice more today?"

"Ah, there is an extra half hour of practice. The freshman who just told you that he wants to stay and practice alone for half an hour, I will accompany him for a while."

Hearing this, Heizi tilted his head slightly, his thick eyelashes trembling slightly:

"——Kurami-kun, do you value Akutagawa-kun?"

Vulcan nodded without hesitation:

"Ah, that person has great potential at first glance. If he plays PG, he can definitely fill the team's substitute PG seat. Although Heizi, you are the strongest point guard in the team, it's too much to play the whole game. "

Heizi didn't say anything, he stuffed the team uniform into his schoolbag, and just as he was carrying it on his back, he heard Vulcan add another sentence.

"—By the way, how did you let him in your last ball?

His breathing was slightly stagnant.Looking down, Heizi found that his white sneakers were somewhat dirty.There is half a footprint on the toe of the shoe, which was stepped on just now.The not-so-deep footprint gradually expanded several times in his heart, pressing heavily on his chest.

"No."

After a long time, Heizi closed the door of the locker and made a crisp sound: "I didn't let him."

Vulcan suddenly looked at him with some embarrassment.But he met Heizi's eyes when he turned around.

The blue right eye was obviously bloodshot, and looked indescribably tired.

"Vulcan Lord, I have always wanted to ask you a question."

"Ok?"

"—Vulcan Lord, if there is a point guard who is stronger than me, what will you do?"

Heizi's enunciation was clearer than before, and his eyes were always fixed on Vulcan's eyes, never leaving.

In the small space, breathing seems to have a kind of oppressive sluggishness.

The wind outside the window gently brushed the hair around Heizi's ears, and it tickled slightly on his cheeks.Heizi squinted his eyes, and just looked at Vulcan like this, but there was a stubborn and serious expression in his red eyes.He seemed to wait like this until he heard an answer that satisfied him.

I don't know how long it took, Vulcan suddenly laughed.He rubbed his hair, unscrewed the cap of the water bottle and put it aside, picked up the towel that was on the door of his own cabinet, spread it over Heizi's head, and rubbed his blue hair through the soft towel .

Heizi was suddenly relieved by the familiar movements.

"Don't think too much, I've already said it, you are my only shadow."

Heizi lowered his eyebrows slightly following the force of his head rubbing, and finally smiled slightly after a long time: "...Well, that's it."

The sunlight from outside the curtains smashed in and shattered into Vulcan's pure smiling eyes.

That brilliant appearance seemed to indicate that the bitterness in Heizi's smile had never existed before.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++ Heizi has been liking reading more and more recently.Either during or after class.He will focus on one page, and will not move his eyes away for a few minutes, but he will not turn to the next page. He does not seem to have great enthusiasm, but has a kind of "reading because there is nothing to do" killing time" illusion.Giving will always be linked to giving up. If you spend more time on reading, you will spend less time playing basketball.

"Why is reading so important?"

Vulcan didn't know how many times he had complained about this sentence. After the school bell rang, the evening self-study bell also rang.He kept taking out the books on the desk and putting them back together, and then continued to take them out and put them back together again, repeating this over and over again, but his eyes were always not on the textbooks but on the person behind him, and again and again. After a few seconds, he finally gave up and sighed: "—I said, the club activities are about to start."

Heizi flipped a page of the book. Although the sound was not loud, Vulcan could hear him clearly.

"Since you left early last time, you haven't participated in club activities for three days." Vulcan frowned, and his tone was a little impatient: "Isn't it okay to read a book at home? There are already many members because of your position." Due to the absence of the team, the training game cannot be carried out normally."

"Isn't Akutagawa-kun still in the club?"

Heizi finally raised his head, his eyes were not warm, as if what he said had nothing to do with him: "He is also a point guard, and he is also very talented. Didn't Lord Vulcan always want to train him?"

"Yes, I want to cultivate." Vulcan's answer was straightforward: "He is very strong, you don't know Heizi, right?"

Heizi smiled slightly, but it looked a bit bitter: "Well, I know."

"That's why I need you more." Vulcan rubbed his head, and his tone seldom lowered: "How can you say that you are also a senior who plays PG, so it is more appropriate for you to guide him?"

Heizi once again responded to Vulcan with silence.

"What happened?" Vulcan couldn't see Heizi's appearance the most, and he didn't talk about it even though he had something on his mind, and he wasn't afraid of getting sick: "You have been in a bad mood recently, is there anything you can't tell me? "

"It's not like that." Heizi lowered his head again, and immediately turned over the page before he finished reading it: "It's already the third year of high school, I hope to focus on my studies first, Kanagawa University is not so easy to take the exam."

"I know, of course I know this." Vulcan frowned and interrupted him: "But now the main force in the club, except you and me, aren't most of them also in the third grade of high school? And the daily club only An hour won't affect you."

Heizi closed the book and put it in his bag, and began to organize the things in the desk.

"What's the matter? You bastard..." Vulcan looked at the person in front of him with a headache, and stretched out his hand to hold Heizi's wrist that had just pulled out the textbook: "Tell me, can you? Don't you always talk straight? ?”

Because the relationship is too close, even if Heizi does not participate in social activities, he will turn a blind eye and close his eyes, but this kind of connivance will not last long after all. If it affects the progress of the club, then he will have to talk to Heizi.

"I'm not capable enough."

After a long time, Heizi raised his head to look at Vulcan, and said word by word:

"The me now will only disappoint Lord Vulcan more and more. Is this reason acceptable?"

"...What, this is not a reason at all!" Vulcan couldn't help but smile after hearing this: "Heizi, you have never let me down! What are you talking about?"

Heizi looked at him seriously, his blue eyes were as silent as before.

This heavy recognition made him suddenly depressed.

"Vulcan Lord, you trust me too much." After half a second of silence, Heizi spoke quietly, as if describing a conclusion he had drawn long ago: "But, please don't trust me like that. With my current ability... ..."

"Okay, okay, don't say such incomprehensible words anymore!" Vulcan interrupted Heizi's words impatiently, rubbed his hair, and took out a twisted and twisted paper from his schoolbag. Handed over the list: "You should know that the new year's high school league will start next Monday."

Heizi nodded.

"So--Heizi, don't embarrass me! If you don't come to the training, who will distribute the personnel list with me--you know this is the most troublesome thing for me every time! Isn't it you who gave opinions before- ——" Vulcan tugged at his stiff hair in distress, and almost crumpled the piece of paper uncontrollably: "If you don't come, Heizi, I won't be able to understand everyone's strength in detail. Isn’t the new place always under your control, otherwise I can’t arrange the lineup. Without you, I can’t make the best lineup at all, Heizi, you know that I have the hardest hand.”

Heizi stared at the list silently, and when he was about to speak, Vulcan suddenly slapped the table and stood up.

Heizi looked up at him in a daze.

"Otherwise it's fine!"

Vulcan seemed to have thought of some great idea, he smashed his hands and laughed: "Let that first-year Akutagawa be the starting PG for the first game! Don't you, Kuroko, don't want to participate in training recently? You just resume tomorrow It’s not so fast to get back the touch after training, so when you find your form and continue to play the starting lineup, don’t you feel that you have plenty of time now? I’ll also see how that Akutagawa will perform as the starting PG!”

Smiling more flamboyantly than before, Vulcan looked like a child.Heizi understood that whenever Vulcan made a decision that he was very satisfied with, he would show this kind of smile.

Vulcan thought he was considerate and reasonable arrangement, but Heizi's blue eyes dimmed in an instant.

It doesn't matter whether he starts or sits on the bench, what matters is that he didn't hear what he wanted to hear.Vulcan has his own tenderness and consideration, but Heizi still feels that he is greedy. Obviously... Vulcan has done a good job, but he still can't be happy.

He can't blame anyone.It seemed like an inevitable coincidence.In the face of reality, those words that sound the most sincere have already become vulnerable.

Heizi knew why he couldn't have the same mood as Vulcan.

Because each has a different position.

Kagami is already Seirin's captain, no matter what choice he faces, he must put the interests of the team first.

Vulcan is a qualified captain, he has a strong team, and he has the trust and love of countless people.

And he, no matter what's in front of him, even if he puts teamwork first and works hard on it.

——What he really has is just a gradually transparent light.