[Net King + Black Basket] Seijuro, your mother calls you to go home for dinner!

After eating, Yashi walked to the backyard alone, this small mourning hall built for Xunli.He didn't sit down immediately, but leaned against the wall at the entrance of the entrance, staring at the black and white photo opposite with his bright red eyes without saying a word.

Just like he once leaned against the window to watch Kaoriko Seijuro play as if nothing had happened.

Under the dimly lit street lights, Xunri took Seijuro's hand and walked towards him step by step.

……

Masashi, who was lost in thought, looked relaxed, and the hazy moonlight softened his stern face, making him look approachable.

The smile on his lips was thick with irony, because the coffin buried in the earth is empty, and the mourning is meaningless.This place——is not Xunli's home.And she, with the blood of freedom flowing in her bones, shouldn't be trapped in the empty and cold Akashi mansion.

Yashi glanced at it, and it seemed that no visitors had disturbed the mourning hall for a long time. Although the room was clean, the porcelain vase on the table was not full of new words, which seemed a bit awkward.He was still surprised, maybe Seijuro had made up his mind not to care about Kaori anymore.

The former regular customers no longer linger in his footsteps. After all, Xunli is just history, and life continues.

Seijuro's renunciation made Masashi heave a sigh of relief. With his son's current strength and means, if he was obsessed with the cause of her death, he would be able to find out all kinds of loopholes and doubts behind it. It would be complicated to trace it to Kanai and Akashi Nanami.

"Will you feel disappointed now? Seijuro has embarked on a path that runs counter to you." There was no apology in Masashi's voice, as if he had expected Seijuro's change a long time ago.

The young heir has unlimited potential, and Seijuro's excellence and honor are due to his nature, and are the crystallization of the continuation of the blood from generation to generation.While Masashi was proud of his son's growth, he occasionally felt sympathy and guilt.

"However, it's too late to say this." He laughed at himself.

Masashi gave Xunli 10 minutes of visiting time, and he had visited only a handful of times before that.If she found out by herself, she would definitely smash her jaw in disbelief.From her point of view, Masashi is the least emotional ghost - Masashi understands her evaluation of himself very well.

He turned his back and waved his hands in the direction of Xunli's photo, indicating that he was going back.

Goose feather snow drifted to his hair and shoulders, and the white air he exhaled almost condensed into ice instantly.Unexpectedly, he stood in the cold wind and heavy snow for 10 minutes.

"See you in a year."

At this moment, Masashi naturally did not expect that his unintentional "see you in a year" actually became a reality-this is a later story.

**

new York.

When Xunli and the others learned that Vulcan was about to leave for school in Japan in a week—soon—due to his father’s work, they collectively stared at Vulcan with incredulous eyes, fell silent for three seconds, and then unanimously agreed roar—

"Vulcan, are you kidding us!!!" The roar shook the sky.

Vulcan scratched his rough hair guiltily, "Sorry, I'm only telling you now."

"All friends!"

"Chen also knows about this!" In desperation, he had no choice but to drag the ice room into the water together, "I was going to play against those guys last week, so I didn't dare to mention it."

"You still have the nerve to argue!"

"Well, I can't do anything about what my parents decided~" He shrugged.

Xun Li gave him a disdainful look, "Who on earth skipped class to play basketball? He failed the mid-term and secretly practiced behind his parents' backs? And..."

Vulcan made a "terrible" expression, raised his hands and surrendered, "I have already bought the air ticket QAQ"

Mike showed a ferocious expression of "I want to beat you up", raised his fist and lowered it after comparing the height difference between him and Vulcan.The behavior of the other friends is similar to him.

Ice Room couldn't stand it anymore, and came out to smooth things over.Said that Vulcan's time is not long (...) and should cherish the next time, and proposed to go to a nearby restaurant to have a meal in his name tonight.

"Ice room! Are you really an ice room?" Dai Wen held his forehead, thinking that the ice room is really insane.It's not like he hasn't seen the sight of Vulcan, the big appetite king, eating wildly with all his firepower... I don't know how many meals Vulcan owes him.

"It will be difficult to see again later." Himuro's smile was a bit bitter, and Vulcan nodded movedly.

"Why don't we chip in and treat Tiger to a meal..."

Xunli grinned, and instantly thought of a good idea, "Why don't you go to the buffet, allyoucaneat!"

Her proposal was unanimously approved.The teenagers quickly felt relieved, and Vulcan was also very satisfied with her decision, and ran onto the court with the basketball in his hands.

"He really hasn't changed at all." Although the Vulcan's height had jumped during this period, the boy's body and immature face were completely opened, and his voice was deep and thick after the voice changer.It's a pity that his mind is still not very quick, so Xun Li can't feel the reality of "my son is just growing up".

On the other hand, the ice room beside him has become more stable and mature.Xun Li tilted his head and glanced at the beautiful young man, one of his eyes was blocked by his too long bangs, like a mask that perfectly concealed his inner emotions.

Undoubtedly, he has changed.

Even though Vulcan didn't know anything about it, Bingshi had tried his best in the previous sparring sessions, but as a senior, he was tied with Vulcan at most, so he must be very unwilling.

"I'm really worried about him. Without you by my side, I'm sure he'll just be in a hurry and cause trouble." Xun Li sighed amusedly.Ice room is really a good brother with a sense of responsibility.

"It's good for him to get to know the level of overseas basketball fans." Himuro thought for a while and said.He unknowingly sees Vulcan as a rival rather than a younger brother.As the leader of this group of fans, he felt an unprecedented sense of crisis.

"And you, will you come here often after he's gone?"

"Of course. I will work hard to improve my level during his absence." He couldn't let it go, but he had to face the fact that Vulcan was about to - or had already surpassed himself.

"Oh~ it is indeed a hardworking and down-to-earth ice room." She joked.

"No way, if you don't have talent, you can only work harder." Himuro also spoke the truth rarely, he thought that Xunli should be able to understand himself as an adult. "Don't expect life to be fair."

"Well, life isn't fair but still beautiful (well, life isn't fair but still beautiful)." Xun Li blurted out almost subconsciously, then met Ice Room's surprised gaze, and nodded to him with a smile. "It's what you said—cherish the remaining time, go and play with them!"

Vulcan was standing not far away, putting his hand to his mouth and calling for Ice Room to join them, and Xun Li pushed Ice Room into the court.She also felt that she had to act as a confidant sister to enlighten the ice room for a while.

Teenagers have all kinds of troubles in life during adolescence, which makes them more vivid and real.She was indeed healed by them, the sores of the wounds finally healed, leaving scars too pale to be seen.

Through them, she seemed to see the image of her ideal Seijuro.She worries about him because he has never experienced failure or disappointment.Xunli didn't even dare to imagine whether Seijuro, who had only been straight since childhood, would collapse when he encountered irreparable setbacks—seemingly powerful talents are even more vulnerable.The "weak" who often encounter failures are more accustomed to accepting the reality and gap of powerlessness.

Xun Li withdrew her thoughts and turned her gaze to the field—she also cherished the few leisure time left.

Vulcan and his little friends played happily all afternoon, when Xunli asked if she wanted to have dinner with them, she suddenly remembered that she had something to do, so she had to cancel the dinner amidst complaints.She vowed to Vulcan that she would go to see off the plane, and prepare a big gift by the way.

"Hmph, you agreed, don't break the appointment!" Vulcan muttered and let go.

"Yes, if I miss the appointment, I will become a basketball." She pointed at the innocent basketball and swore to him.

"... =="

The tutor in the Xun Li Department is Jessica's old friend, so naturally she takes extra care of this motivated and proud student. I heard that their family has helped a lot after they plan to open a branch in Japan/Japan.This time, she found a "successful investor" in her mouth for this matter, and arranged for Xunli to meet with him.

The meeting place will be at a cafe near the school.Xunli came to the reserved place early, and finally checked her dress and makeup—is there any difference between this and a blind date! !A coffee shop is not a good place to do serious business!She cursed in her heart.

To complain, I heard from the instructor that this successful man from Japan/Japan doesn’t like a restricted environment, and his taste is absolutely noble and elegant. This kind of evaluation instantly overturned the image of a middle-aged man with a big belly in Xunli’s mind.

"Hmm~ Maybe I should look forward to it." She dragged her chin and couldn't help turning her face to the side of the store door.

……

10 minutes later--

"=mouth="

Xun Li maintained this stunned expression, watching the elegantly dressed instructor walk into the cafe with the arm of the flaxen-haired man talking and laughing.

and many more!

What she cared about was not the ambiguous posture, but the identity of the visitor!

The person the instructor mentioned turned out to be an old acquaintance, that is, Sakaki Taro whom he met at the exchange banquet not long ago.

Xunli was so heartbroken that he wished he could hit his head directly on the table, and just pass out!

At this moment, she really doesn't want to face Sakaki Taro. Even Shin Keigo can't figure out the background of this long-legged gentleman. His character must be as unpredictable as his background.The point is—he might be able to see through Xun Li's identity with just one glance.

"I'm not ready!! Can I reload the file!?"

She took three deep breaths in a row, signaling to herself to calm down.

The mentor gave her a great opportunity, think on the bright side - if Sakaki Taro didn't recognize her as Akashi Kaoru, or if he didn't plan to expose/disclose her identity for the time being, she would definitely use all her strengths The three-inch tongue persuaded him to invest.

In just 30 seconds when the instructor and Sakakitaro walked to their seats, Xunli quickly thought of no less than five temporary contingency plans.Finally, she stood up bravely and greeted them with a standard bright smile.

"Wait a long time?"

"No, I just arrived too." Xunli greeted Sakaki Taro. "Hello."

The other party nodded, and the two exchanged names and shook hands.

Xunli, who was a master of the alarm bell, raised the level of defense to the highest level. In the short moment of "first" contact with Sakaki Taro, she watched the other party's reaction with bated breath.

however--

She couldn't catch any useful information from his face.He nodded, looked directly at Xun Li but didn't feel the slightest surprise.

Xun Li couldn't help feeling strange, but at the same time felt relieved.Could it be that his disguise and changes were so great that he really didn't recognize him?

But this is also good, saving unnecessary embarrassment.

Xun Li watched them sit down, and then sat down himself.She handed them the menu, Sakaki Taro ordered the Civet Coffee, and the instructor chose the Blue Mountain Coffee.Xun Li suppressed the desire to drink milk tea, hesitated for a while and decided to have a cup of Sia black tea which is suitable for winter.

They chatted about everyday topics first, and the tutor talked about the bad weather, which is inevitable for being British.The distance is narrowed by pulling homely routines, and the theme is cut into when the tea and coffee are served.

In front of Sakakitaro was a copy of Kaoru's improved plan.But he was not in a hurry to open it, but he slowly stirred the coffee with creamer with a silver spoon, and gracefully picked up the porcelain cup with his bony, slender and strong fingers under her eager gaze.He took a sip and frowned slightly, presumably not satisfied with the coffee provided by ordinary cafes.

Xun Li also took a sip of the black tea despite the scalding temperature.The mist smeared at the corners of her mouth, and the warm temperature spread to the bottom of her heart through her fingertips, causing her to generate some kind of energy inexplicably.

Afterwards, she gave Sakaki Taro a full 5 minutes, and the other party briefly glanced at the proposal, pointing out a few points that he didn't understand, and asked Xunli to explain in detail.There was no problem with all the steps, and Sakakitaro's subsequent questions showed his interest in investing.

Seeing that the fat (hey) was about to reach his mouth, Xunli couldn't help showing a relaxed smile, and the palms of his two hands under the table were sweating.

"Ah, I still have some things to go first." It was the mentor who broke the silence first, "You two have a good chat."

"Eh--"

The dramatic change came too suddenly, and before the mentor left, his meaningful eyes were clear and he said, "You must seize the opportunity... Sakaki Taro is a golden bachelor", Xunli was so frightened that his hairs stood on end, and he shook his head like a rattle in his heart.

She can't even handle a ghost, she doesn't believe in true love anymore, okay!

The cup of coffee in front of Sakakitaro, which he hadn't touched since just now, was completely cold. Xun Li drank the last sip of black tea slowly, and she waited expectantly for his final answer.

"Your decision is—"

He stroked the rim of the cup and fell into deep thought, the silence was too long.

"I think, I have no choice but to give Mrs. Akashi this face."

Sakaki Taro's words were like a small stone thrown into the water, setting off a thousand waves!

Xunli looked horrified, watching Sakaki Taro who was sitting opposite her said this sentence in a good mood after taking off her disguise.There was cold sweat under her forehead, and more wet sweat oozed from her palms.

"what are you saying……"

"Looks like I'm the first person to know that you're not back in God's arms. I mean, the first one besides your mother and sister."