"Pa!" "Pa!" "Pa!"
Haizaki Shogo dribbled the ball at high speed. In front of him, Aomine Daiki stared fixedly at him without even moving his gaze, and an uncanny chill rose within Shogo.
A sideways block—Shogo hurled the ball into the hoop with seemingly chaotic force.
But that was only the beginning. After receiving the ball, Aomine's eyes sharpened even more. Azure lightning flashed around him, his expression turning colder—aloof, as if he were ruling everything from above. In the next instant, the ball was already up and in the net.
Entering the Zone—Aomine with it, and Aomine without it, were two entirely different people. Even prepared, the Shogo who hadn't entered the Zone couldn't keep up with Aomine's speed at all.
A streak of gray lightning flashed. Crushed moments ago, Haizaki Shogo now stood equal with Aomine Daiki again. Blue and gray auras pressed against each other, refusing to yield, as if each intended to utterly overwhelm the other.
"Plop!"
Like falling into water, then slowly sinking toward the bottom of the lake—dark depths, bubbles rising upward.
So this is the deeper layer of the Zone…?
Before he realized it, he had reached the lake's bottom. A massive door stood there, and a figure appeared in front of him. Haizaki Shogo's pupils shrank—he immediately understood where he was, and that the person before him was the gatekeeper of the second door.
For Kagami Taiga and Aomine Daiki, the gatekeeper was Kuroko Tetsuya. Then who would be his gatekeeper?
Haizaki Shogo tried to step forward and see clearly—one step, two steps, three steps… and then he vanished into the depths of the lake.
No one knew how long had passed. Exhausted of stamina, the two whose clashing wills finally returned to their bodies were both gasping for breath. Dribbling the ball, Haizaki Shogo threw a long, arcing shot from afar—the ball barely dropped through the hoop.
"How is it? Call it a draw?"
"Sure. You're stronger than I thought, Shogo."
"Same to you. Did you see that door?"
"I did. Do you have any way to open it?"
"Not yet. You?"
"No. I feel like that person is really strong—I can't see who it is."
For the two who could not yet open the second door, it was indeed both a challenge and a form of pressure.
They paused their one-on-one and walked, one after the other, toward Satsuki Momoi, who was sitting nearby.
Left and right—they plopped down beside her. Seeing how drenched in sweat both of them were, Momoi took the initiative to pull out bottles of mineral water, twisted the caps open, and handed them over.
Haizaki Shogo noticed a small detail. Whether she was handing out water just now or offering cherries, Satsuki Momoi always gave it to Aomine Daiki first.
These unconscious little gestures are sometimes what truly reveal how important someone is in your heart.
He shook his head slightly, using the motion of flicking off sweat to hide it, and sighed inwardly.
I want a childhood friend who always follows right behind me too! For ten-plus years, day in and day out… just thinking about it feels blissful.
So, Aomine Daiki—you really are lucky. But your talent is more than enough to match that luck.
The three of them drank water, ate snacks and cherries. As the wind blew, Satsuki Momoi's long pink hair—already reaching past her shoulders—fluttered slightly.
Restless youth, passionate days, innocent boys and girls—Haizaki Shogo closed his eyes, leaning lightly back in his chair as if falling asleep, enjoying this rare tranquility and golden time.
He didn't know how much time had passed before a sentence jolted him out of his light sleep.
"Daiki, lately Murasakibara-kun and Akashi-kun haven't really been going to basketball club practice, either."
"Yeah?"
"Mhm! I don't even know what's happening to us anymore."
"It's normal. Training doesn't really matter."
"Daiki…"
"Mm."
"…Sigh, forget it."
Haizaki Shogo stayed silent. Clearly, Satsuki Momoi still hadn't realized that yet another flower of the Generation of Miracles was starting to bloom.
And as for who—did that even need guessing?
"Moi-chan, Daiki, how about we go get some ice cream?"
"Sure! Sure!"
"Let's go. I kind of want some too."
Talking and laughing, the three stood up and headed toward the convenience store, leaving the empty court behind.
At the convenience store's rest area, the three sat together drinking soda, each with a teriyaki burger in hand.
This was Aomine Daiki's treat—having burned through his stamina, he had bought them his favorite food: teriyaki burgers.
While sipping his soda and seeing the slightly gloomy Moi-chan, Haizaki Shogo thought for a moment and spoke.
"Moi-chan, Daiki, how about we play a little game?"
Before the other two could reply, Haizaki Shogo already began explaining the rules.
"Moi-chan, do you see your milk tea cup?"
"I see it, Shogo-kun."
"Remember—when I point my finger at your cup, you say the word 'Forget.'"
Then he turned to the very-interested-looking Aomine.
"Similarly, Daiki—when I point to your cup, you say 'Love.'"
"Of course, my cup stands for 'Water.'"
"We're starting now. Moi-chan, you go first. I'll point at the cup; you say the word, okay?"
"Okay, Shogo-kun!"
Smiling with his eyes, Haizaki first pointed at his own cup, hinting to Momoi what it was.
"Water."
Momoi played along with the game perfectly. Haizaki pointed at Aomine's cup.
"Love."
Then he pointed at Momoi's cup again, and she continued.
"Forget."
The rhythm was set. Haizaki Shogo began to deliberately speed up, sometimes pointing at his own cup, sometimes at Aomine's.
"Water." "Love." "Water." "Love."
Seeing that the timing was right, Haizaki Shogo kept pointing at Momoi's milk tea cup.
"Forget." "Forget." "Forget."
"Woof." "Woof." "Woof." "Woof."
Facing Momoi, Aomine had been half-heartedly drinking his milk tea. Hearing her go "Woof, woof, woof," he burst into laughter—milk tea sprayed from his mouth, nearly splashing onto Momoi.
Thankfully, Aomine reacted quickly and turned his head slightly—the spray landed on the floor instead.
"Shogo-kun…"
Only then did Momoi realize what she had been saying. Her face flushed bright red as she looked at Haizaki Shogo, then turned a pitiful, blaming gaze toward Aomine Daiki.
Now it was Haizaki Shogo's turn to laugh out loud. Soon, the aggrieved Momoi seized control of the game and demanded that Aomine play.
Then she kept vigorously pointing at her own milk tea cup, while Aomine—wanting to laugh but not daring to—could only weakly respond:
"Forget, forget, forget… woof, woof, woof, woof…"
Watching this scene, Haizaki Shogo couldn't help bursting out laughing again, for quite a while.
Then he suddenly realized something serious—while he was laughing foolishly, the two in front of him were basically shoving dog food at him nonstop, and he was happily eating and laughing along.
Thinking of that, pitch-black lines filled his forehead.
Good grief—after all that circling around, I'm still the one eating dog food. Is there no justice!?
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