[Kuroko's Basketball] The winner is king

Ouch.

When talking on the phone with Mr. Heizi, I have been trying to maintain my emotions.

Perhaps it was precisely because a few hours had passed that Heizi wasn't as flustered as she was, but after sorting out her words, she slowly told her the truth that she had heard from her fellow club partners.

In fact, it is indeed the same as Wu Gendeng's guess, Akashi Seijuro's problem is indeed related to his long-standing knot.

"victory".

"This afternoon, Akashi-kun and Murasakihara-kun had oneonone at the gymnasium. The reason seems to be that Murasakihara-kun didn't want to listen to Akashi-kun's persuasion, thinking that Akashi-kun is weaker than himself..."

[But I feel that 'victory' is like a matter of course for me.I can't understand your feelings. 】

If you look at it from the perspective of a weaker person, Akashi Seijuro is unquestionably strong.However, the teammates who were in the same team began to use their strength to evenly divide the victory and defeat, and forcibly tore up the friendship between the teammates, forgetting what teamwork is and what is more important.

"Akashi-kun accepted the method of scoring five goals. However, Akashi-kun almost lost to Murasakihara-kun."

[As for Akashi Seijuro who 'can't fail' - he doesn't know what failure is, and he hasn't tasted failure. 】

Then, what will Akashi-kun, who will never fail, become when he is the closest to failure?

"So at the moment when Akashi-kun was about to lose..."

[Maybe you forget your true heart and reject your friends for "victory"?

...What does not know...it's not like that, you obviously know the answer.

Those are the things you desire more than victory.

……Is not it? 】

"Another one appeared, Akashi Seijuro."

Only when I saw him did I fully understand what Heizi meant.

——Akashi-kun gave up our companions, although Aomine-kun was also at fault, but if we work hard, we will definitely be able to return to the time when we first played together.

——But Akashi-kun said to me, "There is no need for that", and smiled and patted his chest and told me, "Of course he is Akashi Seijuro", but he has obviously changed.

——The person who pulled me from the bottom of the basketball team to everyone's side, that Akashi-kun...wouldn't have done such a thing.

Dengli stood in front of Akashi, put the bag on his seat, and then looked directly at the red-haired boy.

The vague sense of alienation instantly became obvious and clear. He looked at himself with a smile, but it was completely different from the previous smile, which made people feel a little fear.

Did the previous Kuroko-kun feel the same way when he faced Akashi-kun?

——Could it be that the Akashi-kun we have seen all this time is not Akashi-kun?

That's impossible.

Akashi-kun...he who faces us gently, definitely exists.

Now he just has a little problem because of "victory" and the mistrust of his teammates.

The boy put down the pen in his hand and looked up at her.

"Lengli, class is about to begin."

"come out."

Almost a quick answer.

"Take a good class first, you don't have a good grasp of the knowledge you learned before."

The answer is not much different from usual, but still...

It's becoming more and more unbearable.

"Isn't there something more important than that now?!"

The lamp patted Akashi's desk, trying to maintain his sanity.

This kind of mood seems familiar, just like when I was facing Liu Lizi, when I was facing that idiot whose name was remembered by everyone, and wanted to persuade her to come out from there.

He obviously wanted to help her.

"Is there anything more important to you than studying?"

"Isn't that you!?"

Although it is petty and can't clearly distinguish which side should be more important, Wu Geng Deng Li still stubbornly believes that the people around him are more important.

She wants to help them.

"It's because of this that you will always be a child, instead of taking advantage of the opportunity to learn but..."

"I don't want to be said that by Akashi-kun at all. Moreover, I don't need to pay so much attention to my cultural achievements, and I will have a stable high school education."

"Then spend the rest of your life at the bottom of society? Should I admire how easy you think about life?"

"No, I told you a long time ago that my achievements in the cultivation institute will never let you look down on me."

"So... don't you think about whether it will hinder my study?"

... at a loss for words.

Akashi's eyes gradually turned cold.

"Seijuro thinks this is good now? Is that so? Akashi-kun thinks it would be better if I don't care about you?!"

Is it better to watch you continue to be ostracized by your teammates, and the whole team ends up falling apart?

Is it better to see you showing a disobedient expression and seeing you continue to live like this?

The boy pursed his lips, and was about to speak when the ringtone overshadowed him.The movements in the lamp froze in place, and immediately didn't know what to do.

The students around were all looking at this side, so were Qianxun and Liulizi.

"Enough is enough."

It was Liu Lizi who spoke to stop it, but no one else.

The girl abruptly patted the table and stood up, looked at Dengli and Akashi and said without hesitation:

"Class has already started! Gossip outside if you have any gossip, don't disturb our class!"

"Then...after it's over, I can borrow any notes you need."

"So, go quickly."

For the first time, I really wanted to hug Liulizi and shout thank you.

Lantern led Akashi casually through the corridor, and no one made a sound along the way.The girl kept reflecting on what she said was too decisive just now, maybe it also wiped out the original good intentions of the other party.

The girl didn't stop until she reached the gymnasium, and turned to ask the quiet boy.

"Now, can I go in?"

"Well, because we have to train at night, the keys to the gymnasium have been kept by us and the physical education teacher."

So he successfully opened the door and entered, the boy's behavior was the same as usual, but the girl felt that there might be something wrong with her side.

The boy was wearing sneakers and school uniform and led the girl to stand on the court, chuckling.

"Don't tell me you just want to lead me here... want to try playing basketball?"

Lantern shook his head.

"I don't think I might beat Seijuro...but."

He stood in the opposite half of the court, Deng Li stood in the other half of the court, stood up straight, and the girl released the challenge letter.

"I want He Seijuro, just say ONEONONE once, as long as you can persuade me to give up you, I won't care anymore."

Akashi Seijuro accepted the invitation.

This was the first time that Dengli realized that Akashi did not hesitate to stand on a point of view completely different from his own.

"...First of all, it's off-topic, I apologize for my reckless behavior just now," Dengli said and bowed, "I sorted out a lot of things I wanted to say to Akashi-kun at night, but when I finally saw you, what did you do? I forgot and rushed straight up, I am sorry about this, I should be more cautious."

"About this, I shouldn't directly assert your...sorry."

"I don't care about that kind of thing. Seijuro feels that he is a lot more mature than me, and he knows a lot more than me. This is indeed true. Even if you treat me like a child, it's not surprising at all. But Doesn't that mean 'a mature person's point of view is completely correct'?"

Omniscient does not mean completely correct, and maturity does not mean that you will not make mistakes, just like this cannot be completely equal.

"It does. I don't think I'm entirely right either."

The same opinion arose in this matter.

"Hmm... Sure enough, I still want to confirm what 'Akashi Seijuro' thinks."

"That is to say?"

"I want to confirm whether your position and mine are really opposite, and the wording may make you feel uncomfortable."

"Please."

The girl just lowered her head, took a deep breath, and calmed down.

Then, he asked straight to the point: "Companion or victory, which one is more important to Seijuro?"

"...From a personal point of view, I can't value 'companion' as much as Lantern, but both are very important."

Indeed, very few people can give as much as they do, and she knows this too.

"The companion in your eyes... is it a friend?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Please answer my question. What Seijuro needs...is it a 'piece'? Or a 'companion'? Or as long as he can win, it doesn't matter?"

If yes, then there is no need to ask the following questions.

But Gogeng Dengri doesn't think that Akashi Seijuro is someone who will directly reject friends, he must have emotions.

However, at this point, the boy was silent for a while.

"It's impossible to be indifferent. I really feel very happy when I play basketball with everyone."

... As expected.

"Is that, is that... the truth?"

Suddenly shaken, maybe I felt a little lucky again.

If it's just a simple mistake, it's not Akashi-kun's problem, but other teammates' problem.

"Ah."

"Then...then, to Aomine-kun, it's just that there is no way to say that, right, there is no malice...right."

"what."

—It was just a mistake.

I felt lucky to have such an idea, and at the same time blamed myself for not trusting Akashi-kun.

Thinking of the previous conversation about victory made me wonder if he fell into that valley again, in fact, it was just my own thinking.Just telling yourself that will make you feel a lot easier.

"That's it... that's great."

Couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Instead of digging through the other clues, stop there.

"Is there anything else you care about?"

"...It should be...it's okay. Ah, maybe I'm more concerned about that, the 'Akashi-kun's eyes' that Kuroko-kun said... Ah, no, forget it."

"If you want to ask anything, just ask directly."

Lantern still shook his head.

She walked into the boy and looked into his eyes, as usual, there was no difference at all.

This is enough.

"No need. Seijuro still wants to go to class, right? Now that you've made up your mind, I'm satisfied——I can't continue to disturb you."

The girl turned around, thinking about how to relay the story to Heizi.

And Akashi-kun's eyes, it looks like there is no problem at all, I hope it's just an illusion.

There were a few times before when she seemed to have seen such a situation, and she was still thinking about whether there was something wrong with it.

If he saw Akashi covering his eyes now, Dengli would definitely rush over and pull him into the infirmary.

"..."

"……it hurts."

Then, the boy said that sentence.

The author has something to say: the specific content of the title will be revealed in the next chapter.

That last sentence, いたい.