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Time flowed silently.
Every minute and second pushed the match closer to its end.
The competition between Seirin and Kaijo intensified. Although Seirin's sudden outburst caught Kaijo off guard, Kaijo's overall strength remained far superior to Seirin's.
Suddenly, something unexpected happened. Kise Ryota accidentally bumped Kuroko Tetsuya's head, causing it to bleed. Kuroko Tetsuya was forced to leave the match.
"Ouch! That was quite a hit!" Looking at the amount of blood covering half of Kuroko Tetsuya's face, Ryu even wondered if he might actually die.
The match was thus suspended.
'That idiot,' Ryu thought to himself, seeing Kise Ryota's worried and self-reproachful expression.
If nothing unexpected happened... In the original story, this was probably one of the reasons Kise Ryota lost the game. Playing with this kind of self-blame would only bring disaster to the team.
Sure enough, the rest of the game unfolded as Ryu had predicted. Seirin seemed to have flipped a switch; everyone was playing incredibly well. Kaijo, on the other hand, was constantly suppressed. Most importantly, Kise Ryota was practically ineffective.
With one and a half minutes left in the third quarter, Kuroko Tetsuya returned to the court.
"Oh, he's really tough!"
It seems the result will be the same as in the original story! Knowing the outcome, Ryu lost interest in watching any further. Just as he was about to turn and leave, he saw a familiar figure walk through the door.
Hmm?
'Midorima,' Ryu's lips curled slightly as he murmured. "You really came!"
Ryu looked at Midorima Shintaro, whom he hadn't seen for a year, and noticed the frog plush toy still clinging to his bandaged left hand.
'Still the same old thing, always believing in these things.'
Ryu shifted his gaze from Midorima Shintaro, then glanced at Kise Ryota on the court. He murmured to himself, "Too bad, you could have won this match."
With that, Ryu turned and left through the second-floor exit.
However, in that instant he left, Midorima Shintaro, standing at the stadium entrance, and Kagami Taiga and Kise Ryota on the court, all seemed to sense something and looked towards the spot where Ryu had left. But they saw nothing.
Midorima Shintaro adjusted his glasses, staring at that spot for a long time without speaking. For some reason, he had sensed a fleeting sense of danger from that spot.
Kise Ryota and Kagami Taiga felt the same way. However, unlike Kagami Taiga, Kise Ryota and Midorima Shintaro sensed a familiar feeling within that danger, while Kagami Taiga simply sensed pure danger.
Seirin's coach on the bench, Riko Aida, also noticed Kagami Taiga and Kise Ryota's gazes. She followed their gazes but saw nothing.
'What is Kagami doing?'
"Coach, what's wrong?" a brown-haired boy exuding a timid aura asked.
"Ah, nothing," Riko Aida shook her head in response.
On the court, Kuroko Tetsuya, observing the entire game, noticed something amiss between Kagami Taiga and Kise Ryota. He walked over to Kagami Taiga and asked, "Kagami-kun, is something wrong? You and Kise have been staring at the second floor."
Kagami Taiga looked away and replied, "Nothing, maybe I was just imagining things!"
Over at Kaijo's bench, Yukio Kasamatsu noticed Kise Ryota's gaze fixed on the second floor and curiously went over to ask, "What's wrong, Kise?"
Kise looked away and smiled slightly at Kasamatsu, "Nothing, I was just spacing out."
"What's wrong with you! Get serious!"
Kise Ryota smiled after being scolded by Kasamatsu, "Okay!"
Though his expression was all smiles, Kise Ryota was internally grumbling. 'What's going on? Why do I have this familiar feeling, and why do I feel threatened?'
...
At Kaijo High School, Ryu was fiddling with his phone as he walked towards the school gate.
'Are you just going back like this? Aren't you going to say goodbye?' Karupin, perched on Ryu's shoulder, spoke with his head held high.
Ryu's fingers, which had been busy pressing buttons on his phone, paused for a moment, then tapped the green button. Seeing the message "sent" displayed on the screen, Ryu put his phone back in his pocket and replied, 'There's no need for that. We'll meet at the competition.'
Karupin licked his fur and said, 'Whatever! But I don't want to take another long subway ride, at least not now.'
Hearing this, Ryu knew exactly what he was thinking, "What do you want?"
Karupin said directly, "I heard the sardines in Kanagawa are good."
Goodness, this cat was already setting conditions.
Ryu's lips twitched as he asked, "Where did you hear all this from?"
Karupin arrogantly flicked his tail, "Mind your own business."
Sigh…
"Fine, fine, let's go try it! I'm a little hungry too." Ryu was helpless. Sardines? Even he didn't know about that. He wondered where this gluttonous cat got this information from.
Meanwhile, not far away, a short-haired boy in a black school uniform was pushing a tricycle, panting as he walked into the school. Judging from the boy's clothes, they were exactly the same as Midorima Shintaro's. And on the left chest of the boy's clothes was his name, Takao Kazunari.
He just happened to see Ryu talking to a cat perched on his shoulder. The boy was completely dumbfounded. He wondered if he was seeing things—a person carrying a cat on his shoulder, and talking to it. Could this person be mentally ill?
Because Karupin spoke using telepathy, while Ryu spoke directly, to outsiders, it appeared as if only Ryu was speaking to the cat on his shoulder. The scene was extremely bizarre.
Pushing his tricycle, Takao Kazunari warily eyed Ryu, suspecting him of being some kind of mentally unstable oddball. So, with a flick of his wrist, he pushed the tricycle away, creating some distance between them.
Once the distance was greater, Takao Kazunari finally let out a long sigh of relief.
Whew…
"What a weirdo. Judging by his clothes, he doesn't seem to be from Kaijo High School. Could he also be here to watch the game? Speaking of which, Midorima ran off on his own."
…
Beep…
Inside the Kaijo High School basketball gym, the referee blew the final whistle. The score was now 100 to 98. Seirin had won the final victory.
After lining up, Kise Ryota walked out of the basketball gym looking dejected, and went to the outdoor washbasin to wash his face. He wanted to clear his head.
Suddenly, a slightly familiar voice came from beside him.
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