[Kuroko's Basketball] The First Promise

You are too close to my people.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ After the light rain stopped, the sky was still cloudy.The humid air made the crisp sweatshirt a little sticky.

The basketball was slapped on the wet concrete floor, covered with dust from the palms.Perhaps it was this wet feeling that made every movement of the body a little slower.

Heizi kept practicing dribbling for layups, but he felt that his movements had become sluggish. He added this eagerness to speed up to the strength of his dribbling. The sound of the basketball hitting the ground echoed in the open air. It's even more obvious inside the basketball court.

His right eye was sore, he couldn't help lowering his head, rubbed it a few times with his finger bones, and felt some liquid overflowing from the eye socket.

The rainy practice match in the morning had dealt a serious blow to his self-esteem.Perhaps because of the new players, the coordination was a little rusty, and he couldn't concentrate on practicing with those substitutes.In other words, from this arrangement, he has a mentality of resistance.

He naturally understood why Akashi arranged for him to practice with those substitutes, but because his own strength was questioned before, he wanted to prove himself in front of the substitutes more and more.

Perhaps it was because of his eagerness and the rain that affected his performance, and the practice match in the morning was not smooth.

——What kind of ball are you passing? Do you think normal people can catch it? ?

——You can’t even shoot a basketball...how did you join the club?

——It’s not at all the same as watching it from the sidelines before, I thought it would be very powerful...

——This level is not even considered a bench player.

He's had enough of this gossip.Although he is used to it.

Being questioned, ridiculed, speculated, and accused are all personal problems and have nothing to do with the other party.Heizi understood in his heart that he did have many deficiencies and deficiencies.It's just that he also hopes that his efforts and progress can be recognized by everyone.

Picking up the basketball that had rolled to his feet, Heizi threw it into the cart, turned around and went to the wall, and sat down against the wall.Taking the backpack next to him, he dug out the eye drops.Akashi once controlled his training volume, which is generally enough to be half of ordinary people. His current physical condition, let alone playing the whole game, can't sustain his daily training.

That's why he was even more anxious. Everyone was in the stage of rapid growth, and he was always afraid that because of his eye injury, the gap behind others would be widened.

After looking through the bag aimlessly for a while, Heizi almost forgot what he was going to take, when he was in a daze, a hand wrapped in a white bandage suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.

That hand holds medicine.Looking up along the hand, Kuroko saw Midorima's expressionless face.

"...Mr. Green Room?"

"Look up, I'll give you the medicine first."

Midorima's tone was a little low, but he found many reasons to explain why he appeared suddenly, unlike in the past.

Kuroko raised his head obediently, looking at Midorima's face against the light, but half of his vision was blurred.Soon he was aware that Midorima reached out and pinched his chin, making him lift his head higher.

Suddenly wanting to laugh, Heizi raised the corners of his lips slightly, and he felt that each other's posture was very fresh.

Midorima bent down, carefully dripped the potion into Kuroko's slightly narrowed blue eyes, and said softly, "Close your eyes, and turn your eyeballs."

Heizi closed his eyes in response, and moved his eyeballs. In the darkness, his other senses became much sharper, and he seemed to feel the approach of the person in front of him.

Half-kneeling in front of Heizi, Midorima lowered her head to look at the person who was still much shorter than herself, then raised her hand to help him gently massage his temples.The strength of the massage was just right, and Heizi squinted his eyes in comfort, looking like a cat lazily enjoying the afternoon sun.Looking at the contented look of the person in front of him, Midorima raised her lips slightly.

He seems to enjoy himself massaging him.

In fact, he would see Kuroko on the basketball court, which made Midorima a little unexpected.In the morning, I have been paying attention to the practice match between Heizi and the substitute, so I didn't practice shooting. I thought that I would wait for the rain to stop in the afternoon to find my hands, but I didn't expect that Heizi was still practicing dribbling here.

Of course he knew that Heizi was acting on his temper again.He obviously looks like a very well-behaved and sensible person, but he is stubborn enough to do things. If there is something wrong with this person's eyes, he will not forgive him.

"Go back now, you will only make your eyes worse by practicing so blindly."

Midorima massaged him and said:

"I'll give you a good massage when I get back."

"No, thank you Midori-san."

Hearing this, Heizi opened his eyes. Due to the potion just now, his right eye cannot be opened very wide: "I want to practice for a while. Please leave me alone."

Midorima's face darkened in an instant: "I can't look at my patients properly. As a doctor, you will make me feel very troublesome."

Heizi shook his head stubbornly: "Please leave me alone, my eyes are fine."

Now Midorima was completely annoyed: "Then, if you want to continue training, you can talk to Akashi in person."

Heizi paused for half a second, and his tone lowered slightly, with a hint of half-compromise and half-protest: "...don't."

Looking at such sunspots, Midorima lost his temper for no reason, and he said after a while: "The practice match in the morning is not your fault, you don't need to take all the responsibility on yourself."

Heizi shook his head and didn't speak, as if he didn't really want to hear what happened in the morning from Midorima.

He turned around and took the water bottle from his backpack, opened the lid and handed it to Midorima's lips as if asking him if he wanted a drink, Midorima shook his head, and Kuroko withdrew his hand and drank slowly.

"Whether it's Aomine or Akashi, they both told you clearly."

Midorima continued talking, withdrew the hand that was massaging him, and looked at him on his knee: "You are a shadow, the stronger the light, the thicker the shadow. Those substitutes are not strong enough to stimulate your ability. So in the morning The game was played poorly."

"—So I still say, I can't do without you."

Although Heizi's voice was very soft, it was also muffled:

"Without everyone, I can't..."

"—You are really getting more and more unreasonable."

Midorima's impatient voice rang out, directly interrupting Heizi's words.He stood up, looked condescendingly at the person sitting against the wall, and pushed his glasses, and Kuroko clearly saw the reflection of Midorima's glasses: "Where did the person who wanted to prove his basketball skills go?" ? The man I admire is nothing more than that... When you encounter any difficulties, you start to question yourself, so you can't become stronger at all."

"and also."

Midorima frowned, and her tone was a little annoyed:

"Why do you always want to leave? If you leave the Age of Miracles, you will not be able to display your true strength. Similarly, if the Age of Miracles leaves Heizi, you will be the same. You will be a member of the Age of Miracles peacefully." , Six people can exert their greatest strength together. Why do you always understand this?"

Heizi looked at him silently, his blue eyes seemed brighter than before.

He didn't say a word of rebuttal for a long time.

After waiting for Heizi for a while, Lvma continued:

"Understand it? Get up when you understand it, and go back quickly. I don't have so much time to delay you."

This time Heizi stood up obediently, patted his dusty pants, and followed Midorima back.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++ After taking a shower, it was indeed quite refreshing.Midorima changed into a refreshing yukata and went back, planning not to go out for training today. After all, Kuroko's eyes are developing in a bad way, so he has to keep a close eye on people and not let him mess around.

When he entered the house, Heizi was leaning against the window looking at the scenery outside after the rain, his eyes were a little loose, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

In this case, Midorima can only guess for himself.He sat next to Heizi, took out his phone and casually looked at a few text messages that had been read, and checked the recent incoming calls. After dawdling for a while, he called up a video and handed it to Heizi.

What caught my eye was the noise coming from the video, Heizi froze for a moment, and immediately came back to his senses.The screen of the mobile phone in front of him flickered, and he realized that what Midorima played to him was actually the video of the practice match in the morning.He didn't expect Midorima to record it.

And it's the full version, but Midorima obviously forgot one thing. After he clicked on the playback, the video started to play from the second half. He stopped awkwardly and switched to the beginning to start playing.

"I didn't record it specially, it was proposed by Akashi."

Luma did not forget to explain the reason, although Heizi didn't believe it at all:

"You look carefully. From the very beginning, your speed has been adjusted to the same level as the substitute players, which caused you to over-adapt to their abilities, thereby reducing your own original level."

In the video, the five running figures did not form a regular formation. Heizi had many ways to pass the ball, but none of them was the most effective assist to score.The responsibility for this is not his, but the strength of his teammates is indeed not good.

"Stop playing with emotions, you can do such a childish approach?"

Luma seems to like preaching very much today, and Heizi also understands that Luma will never do this unless he is angry, so he won't say anything to provoke Luma, Heizi listens obediently, watching the video on the phone while listening, analyzing every detail Shi Lujian's tone will be very serious: "You are not stable in holding the ball, have you found it yourself? It is true that you will not let the ball stop in your hands every time you pass the ball, but this gives you the ability to cultivate You have developed a bad habit, that is, even if you dribble the ball, you don’t use your wrists hard, are you thinking about being intercepted at any time?”

"Also see clearly, your dribbling route. Your body and dribbling direction must be consistent. Your upper body coordination ability is not enough. Akashi has said this before, and you didn't pay attention. Go tomorrow Ask Akashi if there is a fixed training program for this that can help you improve."

"The strength gap of these players does limit your ability to play, but you also have to learn how not to be negatively disturbed and maintain a stable and upward performance."

After Midorima said something, he turned his head to look at the people next to him, and found that Kuroko was staring at the phone screen, his eyes were still a little erratic.I don't know if he was thinking about the details of the practice match in the morning, or if he was thinking about something else.

Coughing, Midorima signaled to Heizi that it was time to get back to his senses.Seeing Heizi's gaze on his own face, Midorima frowned, and made a serious face on purpose: "I'm telling you about my shortcomings, what are you thinking?"

Heizi couldn't help laughing:

"Sorry, I'm sorry, I was just thinking about the morning practice match. By the way, Midorima-kun has changed a lot. During Teiguang, Midorima-kun was more focused on his own affairs, at most he was just watching as a bystander. This helps me ...Thank you very much. Anyway, I prefer the current Midorima-kun."

The last sentence successfully defeated Midorima, who had previously pretended to be serious.

Immediately unnaturally pushed the glasses that didn't slip off at all, Midorima's voice fluctuated slightly: "——huh? Say, what are you talking about, the person who has changed is obviously you! The old you is no matter what You won’t give up, and you won’t be discouraged even if you’re told it’s useless. Hmph... You were much stronger then than you are now. Kuroko Tetsuya, it’s not that you are not strong now, it’s just that you don’t have confidence and don’t trust your teammates enough.”

Heizi was stunned for a while before saying:

"...Don't trust your teammates enough?"

"Isn't that the case? Although the strength of those substitutes is indeed much worse than that of the Miracle era."

Midorima's tone returned to the way it was before:

"But Akashi told me that the Era of Miracles will not play in the game three days later, you have to cooperate with the substitute. If you still play like this morning, no matter how strong you are, you will lose ugly. If you don't want to lose, just try Just accept them, even if you're both against each other."

The pair of green eyes under the lenses of Lvjian are so peaceful and peaceful, just looking at his eyes like this, Heizi will gradually feel at ease, and it seems that he is not as restless as before.Midorima is indeed awkward sometimes, not very good at expressing his heart, but Heizi understands that Midorima is an extremely reliable existence at critical moments, calm and serious, and will never slack off or relax. Because of this, many Only when he reminded Heizi would he quickly find his position.

Every teammate is like this.Akashi's strength and cohesion, Kise's care and unique care, Aomine's reliability and unknown help, Murasakihara's protection and behind-the-scenes assistance-of course, there is Midorima's treatment and absolutely sensible advice.

It is really the greatest honor in his life to have such a teammate.

Midorima repeatedly played the video three times for Heizi to watch, and found that the latter would raise his hand and rub his eyes from time to time, knowing that he was a little tired, he closed his phone and patted him on the shoulder to signal him to lie down: "Take a rest, I will give you a massage one time."

He has always liked Midorima's massage service, and Heizi didn't refuse, just said "Thanks for your hard work" softly, and lay down.Midorima knelt beside him, supported Heizi so that his head rested on her lap, adjusted the position so that he could rest more comfortably, and then raised her hands to help him massage the acupuncture points on his temples and the top of his head.

Heizi closed his eyes, his curved eyelashes trembling slightly, as thick as black butterflies flapping their wings.Midorima silently looked at his expressionless face, and couldn't figure out why he was so attracted to him for a moment.

Sure enough, just as Akashi said, Kuroko is the one who unites the era of miracles. Whether it is on the field or off the field, he is undoubtedly the central figure, and his every move will affect people's emotions.

——It’s scary, Kuroko Tetsuya.This powerful man he admired and admired from the bottom of his heart.

——His true strength made him deeply admired.

"I see, Mr. Midori, thank you."

Suddenly, Heizi broke the original quiet atmosphere with a sudden sentence. He still closed his eyes and opened his lips: "I already know what to do, and I will let Mr. Lujian worry about it."

Hearing this, Midorima's eyes became softer, and the strength in his hands could not help but relax, he didn't speak, he just helped Heizi continue to massage, after a while, he patted him to get him up, and he also stood up.

It seemed that there was no need for him to stay and continue watching Heizi.He can absolutely trust this person's consciousness.

"I didn't do anything."

Midorima opened the door, turned his back on Heizi and threw the last words to him:

"——I just want to see Tetsuya Kuroko who believed in the strength of his teammates at the last second."

Walking out the door, Midorima didn't want to hear Heizi's thanks anymore, and he didn't need Heizi's thanks either.After closing the door, he thought about continuing to go to the basketball court to practice shooting to find his touch. As soon as he turned around, he met Akashi who was leaning against the wall and smiling with his arms folded.

The bright red bangs swayed slightly, implicating a sense of flowing fineness.Midorima's face was reflected in those sharp bright red pupils.

The greater the mood swing, the more obvious Akashi's smile will be.

Midori frowned slightly.He didn't know how long Akashi had been here, how long he had heard and seen.

There seemed to be some evil in Akashi's smile, but it was a little different from the usual domineering and chilling smile.

He tilted his head and spoke calmly for a while, but his tone suddenly became a bit cool, as if he was reminding and declaring ownership: "Shintaro, I seem to have told you a long time ago that Tetsu is also my man. You are too close to my people."