Capítulo 25: Aftermath And Reactions
After the game between Kyōsen Private Middle School and Nada Middle School came to an end, everyone who witnessed it showed a wide a array of expressions. Some winced at the fact that Nada got stomped so hard that they went home with their tails between their legs.
Some were stunned and dazed, not knowing what they should feel about what they just witnessed. Some people who knew the entire roster of Nada were exuberant as they witnessed them get clapped so hard that they probably wouldn't be able to escape Kyōsen's shadow for their entire middle school basketball career. That's just how brutal team Kyōsen massacred Nada in the game of basketball.
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The news about this game spread like wild fire. In this modern age of technology, news could travel faster than the time it would take for that hot soup that you sipped during cold rainy days to reach your stomach. It travels so stupidly fast that it's not even funny anymore.
Inside the gym of one of the said to be top contenders this year for that championship title this upcoming Nationals, two grown men, one who's in his mid thirties to early fourties, the other being someone who's around his mid to late fourties is having a conversation at a corner. The former is just relaxed while the other has a dead serious look on his face.
"What the problem with this news, Head Coach Shirogane? It looks to me like it's just a slightly better player beating a team of newbies. There's nothing extraordinary about it when you think about it."
The man around 30 to 40 year old spoke to the man with some white hair on his head. The man he called Shirogane, however, didn't have the same view as him.
"Are you absolutely certain about that, coach Sanada?"
With this question alone, Sanada quietened down. From his perspective, a boy who's only around 12-13 years old could never score a hundred points unless the enemy is far too weak. However, this man he is talking to is someone who's far more knowledgeable than him.
"From this article, the one who the reporter interviewed is the man who goes by the name Chu Lin. He's the coach of the said player who scored one hundred and two points against their opponents at the quarter finals of their prefectural preliminaries…"
After a brief pause, Shirogane continued.
"…Chu Lin further stated that this said player is one of the most talented youngsters he's ever seen. "I finally have the final piece of the puzzle for this team that I've been looking for," he said. Is someone like Chu Lin a person who would casually speak words without any weight on it?"
With a shake of his head, Sanada indicated that he does not think so.
Chu Lin, even though he's a pretty outspoken individual, knew what he could and could not say in public. He's extremely good at hiding secrets and he would only slip up when he's absolutely happy or something.
"We have to watch out for Kyōsen Private Middle School when we enter the Nationals. Make sure to tell that to all of our players."
"Of course, Head Coach Shirogane."
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At Teikō Middle School's cafeteria, a certain group with a wide array of hair color stood out amongst the sea of students. There's a purple haired teenager who's probably around 186cm among them. There's also a stern looking teenage boy with green colored hair, wearing a pair of glasses. Also, he's probably the second tallest amongst the whole group.
Sandwitching the purple haired guy is a teenage boy with tanned skin and dark blue colored hair, and a teenage boy with gray hair who's around the same height as the dark blue haired boy. Sitting across them is a teenage boy with bright red colored hair, and a girl with pink hair.
"Did captain tell you what he's gathered us here for Akkachin? Is it about training again?"
At the purple haired boy's inquiry, the boy with bright red hair looked at him and replied.
"Captain Nijimura didn't say anything prior to saying that we needed to gather here during lunch. I don't think it's about practice, either, Atsushi."
"Good…"
While the two of them conversed with each other, a sneaky hand tried to grab the snacks that are resting in between the purple haired fellow's arms. When Atsushi noticed him, he immediately got mad and emitted his killing intent.
"Don't you dare try to steal my food!"
"Ma~ ma~, why so serious? It's just food."
The suspect in all of this is the boy with gray hair who tried to steal the food away from Atsushi.
"Oi oi. What are you doing Haizaki!? Don't anger Murasakibara! Why are you doing that anyway?" the boy with dark blue hair said.
"It's because stealing something away from someone feels really great to me."
When the rest of them heard the gray haired boy's declaration, everybody felt very uncomfortable. Thankfully, the one they're waiting for finally arrived to dispel this awkward atmosphere.
"Oi Haizaki. Are you stealing Murasakibara's food again? Do you want me to teach you a lesson again, huh?"
The one who arrived is of average height. He has short black hair with his bangs parted to the left and has light grey eyes. As soon as he arrived, he immediately threatened his unruly underclassman while carrying a very light hearted atmosphere around him.
"It seems like everyone of you are here already. That's great! Coach Sanada asked me to pass a message to you guys."
When he said those words, the atmosphere around him immediately made a 180° turn, changing from lighthearted to extremely serious.
"It seems like there's another strong opponent that will be waiting for us during the Nationals in the next few weeks. Akashi, you better finish whatever business you have with that boy from the third string as soon as possible."
"Is it that serious?"
The boy with dark blue hair asked in a rather surprised manner. He've never seen his captain act so seriously. He only knew him for a few months but he never saw him be so serious except when they're playing basketball.
"It is. Here, Momoi. Read it out to these guys so that they could have an idea as to how serious the current situation is."
The guy called Nijimura handed over a piece of bond paper to the pink haired girl who he referred to as Momoi before sitting down next to Akashi with a plop.
"H-Haa… Uhmm… Is this a profile of someone?"
Her question was immediately answered by a, "Yep. It is." From their captain.
"Let's see… Arisugawa Seiji. Age, 12. His position is Small Forward like Dai-chan and his only recorded playing experience in basketball is this last two matches during the preliminaries. Then… uhmm… eh?"
Everyone except Nijimura was puzzled when they saw the stupefied look on Momoi's face.
"What's wrong Satsuki? Is there something wrong about the data?—"
Before the blue haired boy could continue his questioning, he was interrupted by the boy with green hair who cooly adjusted his glasses before saying, "Don't ask too much questions, Daiki. Let her gather herself first."
"Shintarō's right. Just wait for her to calm down Daiki."
"O-Oh… right. Thanks Midorima, Akashi. I was just curious."
They didn't have to wait for Momoi to recover for long as it only took a few seconds for her to gather herself.
"It seems like he scored over a hundred points during his second official match, the quarter finals of the Nara Prefecture's preliminaries. His stats were; 102 points, 19 rebounds, 20 assists, 6 blocks, and 10 steals."
While everyone is slack jawed at the amount of points and how the starts were not just high in terms of points, Momoi suddenly dropped a bomb at the dark blue haired boy who is still recovering from the surprise that this news brought.
"Also, Dai-chan… It seems like we already met him."
While saying so, Momoi turned the bond paper in her hands and showed it to the dark blue haired boy, Daiki. When Daiki saw it, he immediately recognized who it was.
"Isn't that the super rich 'prince' who played with us when we were kids!? His appearance is quite different but it really is him. Man, I didn't know I'll be able to see him again after all this time!"
Aside from these two, there's another person in their group who recognized Seiji.
"Arisugawa? Is it that Arisugawa? The one in that party that we attended before my seventh birthday?"
Midorima, Haizaki, Murasakibara, and Nijimura immediately got curious as to who this Arisugawa Seiji is. As the represented of these curious souls, Nijimura was the one who asked the questions inside their heads right now.
"Do you know him, Akashi? You as well, Daiki, Momoi. When did you guys meet him?"
"Well, if what Daiki said earlier is correct, I'm pretty sure that this guy is a member of that prestigious Arisugawa clan of the past."
When everyone heard the keyword 'Arisugawa', everyone including Daiki and Momoi was surprised.
"I didn't know he's an Arisugawa. All we know is that he played with us in that park where me and Satsuki usually play when we were kids…"
"Un. There's also that girl who sticks to him like glue."
Hearing Daiki and Satsuki's narration, Akashi raised up a question that will most likely confirm all of this suspicion. The appearance of this boy is different but he's pretty sure that this next question will finally confirm his suspicion.
"Is this girl around our age too, with blonde hair and baby blue eyes?"
"Yep. That's the feisty girl alright. I remember her glaring at me so intensely when I didn't speak up immediately after that boy bowed to apologize…"
"Then the ones you met and the one I saw in that party are one and the same. The boy and girl you met during your childhood is most certainly Arisugawa Seiji, the genius of the Arisugawa clan, and Arisugawa Rena, the young mistress of that said clan."
"Heeh… Satsuki, it looks like that prince IS a real life prince. Amazing," Daiki said with an amused face.
"Eh? EEEEEHHHHH!?"
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To be continued…
[A/N¹: Well, that's the reactions to the previous game wrapped up. If you're wondering where Kuroko is, he's still in third string, studying his book about misdirection and such. In the fandom, it was stated that Kuroko joined the first string 3 months after meeting with Daiki, before their match against Nambara Junior High. It wasn't specifically mentioned whether Teikō faced Nambara during the Nationals so I placed them in Tokyo as Teikō's next opponent during Tokyo's Prelims.]
[A/N²: I've made sure to read the history of Kuroko in particular since I don't know much about him. I mean, I don't know much about sports anime in particular but I've watched them(casually). Kuroko joined Teikō's basketball team the same time that GoM joined the team(he got into third string). Then, it wasn't specifically mentioned when but Daiki met him when he wanted to practice somewhere quiet so he headed to the third string's gym. Then, three months later, things happened… yada yada yada… you get it. During his first year, Kuroko just relays Akashi's passes. He doesn't do any bounce passes or anything, just some taps to alter the ball's trajectory. It was in second year that Akashi taught him some other passing techniques to add to Kuroko's arsenal.]
[A/N³: There's no romantic interest involved when Satsuki described Seiji during their childhood as someone akin to a 'prince'.]
[A/N⁴: I wanted to add some solid data like PER and such into the profile that Satsuki read but I'm too lazy to even bother searching how it's calculated and such. Let's just stick to what we know, shall we?]
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