The Winter Cup's opening ceremony concluded in a blur of anticipation.
The initial restlessness in the crowd transformed into palpable excitement as the prospect of the first games loomed.
"I'm telling you, Too's got this one in the bag!"
"Shutoku is also playing, though! I'm so excited!"
"But hold on, the other game is where the real action is! Fukuda Sogo, the Interhigh champions, are hitting the court!"
"Take a look! Too Academy's going head-to-head against Seirin today!"
Excitement and buzz filled the stadium, a chorus of voices eager to witness the unfolding events.
While all of the Generation of Miracles would be playing their first-round matches today, the most anticipated clash was between titans—Too Academy and Seirin. The atmosphere was charged with anticipation for this thrilling encounter.
Amidst the middle of these excitement...
"Ugh! Where is Kagami?"
Aida exclaimed, the exasperation was clear in her voice. She was thoroughly frustrated.
Her irritation was palpable. Despite Kagami's earlier assurance of being on his way, he was conspicuously absent before and even after the opening ceremony. Her anticipation had turned into frustration, and Aida couldn't hide her vexation.
Seirin players exchanged wry smiles seeing their coach's frustration. Izuki attempted to pacify the situation, "He mentioned he's on his way. He should be here soon..."
Kuroko, however, felt a vibration in his pocket. Retrieving his phone, he stood up and approached Aida, a sense of urgency in his calm demeanor.
"...Coach, I'm going to leave for a while," Kuroko stated with his usual expressionless face.
Hearing this, veins bulged out of Aida's temple. She grabbed Kuroko's head, shaking it furiously, all the while speaking gently, a stark contrast to her actions.
"...Our first years have been very daring, huh? Come and leave as they please, such audacity..."
Kuroko stumbled around with Aida's hand shaking his head, trying to maintain his balance. He broke into a sweat as he explained, "I was summoned..."
"Summoned?"
Aida stopped her hand, tilting her head in confusion.
Kuroko took a step back, creating a bit of space, and casually adjusted his hair. "Yeah, I'm heading to meet Akashi..."
"Wait, Akashi from Rakuzan High?" Hyuga exclaimed, eyes widening in surprise. The others murmured Akashi's name, recognizing him as the former captain of the Generation of Miracles.
Aida sighed and conceded, "Fine, do your thing..."
Kuroko expressed his gratitude before making his way out.
Watching Kuroko leave, Aida turned to Furihata, a first-year player, and requested, "Furihata, could you stick with Kuroko? I don't want a repeat of Kagami's disappearing act. Make sure he's back before our match..."
Furihata nodded with a wry smile and hurried to catch up with Kuroko.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the stadium...
"Captain, where are you off to?"
Ogiwara inquired, noticing Tsuna about to leave.
The others turned their attention to Tsuna immediately at Ogawara's question. Tsuna calmly spoke, "I'm going out for a while, I have to meet some people..."
Hearing this, Nijimura stood up as well as he was about to follow Tsuna. However, Tsuna shook his head as he spoke, "I'm going alone, Shuzo..."
Nijimura frowned at this, however, knowing Tsuna's personality, he would likely not going to take back the order so Nijimura just shrugged his shoulder as he sat back down.
Right outside of the gymnasium, there were three teenagers wearing different jersey sitting on the stairs.
The dark-blue haired teenager was playing with a basketball in his hand as he noticed two people joining them as he spoke, "...What is this?"
"Tetsu, why are you bringing a babysitter along?"
Kuroko who had just arrived with Furihata replied, "Sorry to keep you guys waiting..."
However, before Aomine managed to say more, the purple haired teenager who was eating a chocolate bar suddenly spoke, "Mine-chin, don't you have Sa-chin as your babysitter?"
"Satsuki got nothing to do with all of this, Murasakibara..." Aomine frowned at this.
The blonde haired teenager tilted his head as he spoke, "Well, that's not important, but Midorimacchi, why do you have a scissor with you?"
Midorima scoffed at Kise's question as he spoke, "It's obviously my lucky item, you idiot..."
"...It's dangerous though, please don't walk around with that!" Kise rolled his eyes in response.
"...Wha-! Are all of the Generation of Miracles are all here?"
Meanwhile, Furihata who was in the middle of these conversation was terrified. Just their pressure alone already made him felt so weak that his legs almos gave out. "Seriously, I wanna go home. These guys are terrifying..."
Kise sighed as he complained, "...Why is the one who called us here hasn't arrive yet?"
However, as soon as he spoke that, steps were heard as they all turned toward the one who had summoned them all.
"Sorry that I've kept you waiting, I'm glad to meet you all again but..."
Aomine just clicked his tongue at Akashi's tone that wasn't so apologetic.
Furihata suddenly felt a tremendous pressure coming at him as Akashi suddenly turned toward him as the guy suddenly addressed him, "...there is someone who doesn't belong here."
"I wish to speak only to my former teammates. Sorry but, could you leave us?"
Furihata widened his eyes at this, he really wished he could leave at the moment, but he just couldn't move his body at all. He looked down on his feet and saw it was trembling.
"Come on, man. You're no fun! Don't exclude us..."
Just as Furihata opened his mouth, a hand suddenly was placed atop of his shoulder as the pressure suddenly lifted away from his body.
Kuroko turned to look at the person as his eyes widened in surprise.
"Kagami?"
Kagami nodded at Kuroko before turning back to Akashi as he spoke, "You're Akashi, huh? Glad to meet you..."
Akashi was nonchalant, but his eyes flashed with a ruthless light as he walked down the stairs, "Shintaro, could you give me your scissor?"
"...Sure," Midorima didn't know what Akashi was about to do, but he just shruged his shoulder as he handed over his lucky item.
With the scissors in hand, Akashi approached Kagami, asking, "...You're Kagami, right?"
Kagami was ready to respond, but suddenly, Akashi thrust the hand holding the scissors towards Kagami's face.
In disbelief, Kagami swiftly leaned to the side, avoiding the thrust. However, he widened his eyes as another figure quickly appeared at Akashi's side, grabbing his wrist and preventing the scissors from reaching Kagami.
Akashi turned his gaze to the person who intervened, saying, "Tsunayoshi, huh?"
Akashi swatted Tsuna's hand away, causing the scissors to fall to the ground. Midorima looked on disapprovingly as it was his lucky item.
His nonchalant expression had shifted into a frown after Tsuna's intervention.
"Easy there, Seijuro," Tsuna said casually, his face reflecting nonchalance.
His eyes briefly flickered to the fallen scissors before returning to Akashi. "I just saved you from a potential lawsuit for attempted murder. You should be thanking me instead of giving me that expression..."
Seeing Akashi's reaction, Tsuna couldn't help but chuckle.
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