As the game continued, a heavy atmosphere shrouded the Too Academy players as they realized Aomine could no longer keep up with Tsuna.
The raging cheers from the crowd felt like a vise grip around their throats as Aomine's zone slowly waned, while Tsuna's monstrous speed and agility kept him dominant the whole quarter.
"..."
Harasawa went quiet and sighed deeply. He wanted to call a timeout but, seeing Aomine's expression, he decided against it.
"This will be good for his growth..."
He quietly muttered, watching Aomine's desperation as he kept trying despite already pushing past his limits. Seeing his team, Harasawa sighed once again and muttered, "And this could hopefully motivate them to train even harder..."
"It's getting boring," Tsuna muttered to himself, but everyone from Too Academy could clearly hear him.
Yet, they didn't even twitch their eyes or respond, which made Tsuna click his tongue in annoyance.
Too had accepted their defeat already.
He could see that these players were still playing because of their sense of responsibility.
They wore Too Academy jerseys, and no matter what they felt, they still had to at least fulfill their duty as players.
Tsuna shook his head and muttered, "Well, I was sweating enough, I guess..."
"Oh? One is still in denial, huh? That's cute..."
Tsuna noticed one person who seemed to be quite different.
Aomine, who was dribbling the ball, seemed lost in his own thoughts as he kept going.
It was Aomine's first time ever feeling this way; usually, it was his opponents who felt this sense of despair.
His chest felt tight, and everything seemed bleak. He kept pushing, yet he couldn't change his current situation, no matter how many times he tried.
Aomine could feel his ragged breath slowly clouding his mind as his vision started to blur. He could hear the sound of his soles hitting the ground as he moved, yet he heard nothing else but the sound he made.
"...!"
He widened his eyes as the ball slipped away.
Despite his sluggish body, he still turned around to chase after Tsuna, but all he could see was Tsuna's broad back as he leaped toward the basket and slammed the ball down.
BAM!
The reverberating sound snapped Aomine back to reality!
He could finally hear everything else around him as he looked at Tsuna's figure landing, disbelief written all over his face.
Whistle!
"Whoaaa!!!"
"Totsuki's won!"
"The game is finally over!"
The referee blew the whistle as the crowd cheered loudly. Seirin players stood among the excited crowd in silence.
"...That monster is defeated?"
"Even Zone isn't enough; how is that even possible?"
"This is so unreal..."
They couldn't help but murmur in disbelief.
Kagami looked at Aomine's lonely figure with a bit of frustration. He could feel what Aomine was feeling at that moment.
"..."
Kuroko was also looking at Aomine with a complicated expression.
Despite wanting to defeat Aomine, he still considered Aomine to be a close friend, and seeing his lost self made him feel quite worried.
"Is this what losing is like?"
Aomine questioned it as he turned to look at the scoreboard. He went quiet, seeing the score: 122 beside Totsuki's name with 87 under Too Academy.
He looked at the contrasting atmosphere, with Totsuki players surrounding Tsuna and hyping each other up.
The light in his eyes was slowly dimming as he looked at Tsuna's casual expression, as if he had done nothing impressive.
"...Is our gap really that wide?"
However...
"Aomine! I will defeat you next time we meet!"
"...!"
A loud shout was heard as Aomine's eyes widened, turning sharply toward the crowd. He saw the Seirin players looking at Kagami in surprise as he stood at the edge.
Aomine also noticed Kuroko standing beside Kagami, nodding at him. He muttered, "These dumb fools..."
"...You think I'd let you win?"
Aomine couldn't help but chuckle as he took a deep breath. The light slowly returned to his eyes as he made his way toward Tsuna.
"Hmm?"
Tsuna noticed Aomine approaching and turned around, asking, "What's up?"
"..."
Aomine just stared at him, his eyes narrowing sharply, making Tsuna feel slightly uncomfortable. He spoke, "Yo, what the fuck? Say something..."
"...I will not lose again..."
"..."
Aomine's declaration made Tsuna feel slightly speechless as he scratched his head in response.
"Yeah, sure," Tsuna sighed before adding, "Do your best, Aomine..."
Tsuna then slowly made his way toward his teammates while Aomine stared at him deeply from behind.
After the post-match ceremonies, both teams started leaving the court along with the crowd that slowly dispersed.
"Let's go, Aomine-kun..."
Momoi's voice was heard as Aomine nodded, and Too Academy slowly made their way back to their locker room.
However, as everyone was about to leave, Aomine said he wanted to stay a bit longer.
"..."
Harasawa and Momoi seemed to understand what was going on and left, leaving Aomine alone as he stared at his shaking hands.
"...I can't move my body," Aomine muttered, staring at the ceiling blankly.
The adrenaline was wearing off, and Aomine realized his body had long since reached its limit. He whispered to himself, "I will have to start training again..."
Meanwhile...
"Marui!"
Everyone in Totsuki shouted as Marui's expression went pale and he fell to the ground. Aoki and Sato slapped him repeatedly, but he didn't wake up. Tsuna intervened, "He's just tired, let him be..."
"Huh? Is it because of the popcorn?" Rindo asked, thoughtfully putting a finger to her chin.
Sakamoto furrowed his brows and added, "But why am I not feeling the same? I ate it too..."
"That's because you ate just enough. So when you're tired, your brain will register it. Marui ate so much he didn't notice he had exhausted his stamina a long time ago. His body just finally reacted," Tsuna explained, gathering his belongings to head back and open his restaurant.
"..."
Sakamoto was questioning whether he should continue their deal knowing this, but knowing Tsuna's character, he know he wouldn't get out of it unscatched.
And as Tsuna was about to leave first. Surprisingly, Sakamoto asked if they could celebrate their victory against Too at Tsuna's restaurant.
Tsuna gladly welcomed the idea with his best smile, which somehow made Sakamoto a bit nervous.
With that...
"Whoa!"
"What the heck is this fried rice!?"
Sato and Aoki exclaimed loudly as they stuffed their mouths with more fried rice. Tsuna casually walked out of the kitchen toward Rindo and handed her a bowl of ramen he had prepared.
"Mmmhh... This is so good!"
Rindo's response made Tsuna shake his head. He noticed Sakamoto was unusually quiet, only to realize he was quietly devouring everything.
Everyone kept asking for more, and Tsuna was immediately sold out since he hadn't prepared a lot of servings.
On the other hand, Marui was brought in, and as he slowly opened his eyes, he murmured, "Where... am I?"
"Oh, Marui woke up, guys!"
Sato and Aoki exclaimed excitedly while Marui, confused by the burning sensation on his face, felt a bit more at ease after realizing they were at Tsuna's restaurant.
However...
"Well, since we're done, we're gonna leave first. Tsuna, see you tomorrow! And, Marui, you can stay a bit longer to recuperate..."
Everyone seemed so friendly as they left the restaurant, which gave Marui a bad feeling. Gripping his head as it throbbed, he tried to shake off the pain.
Just then, Tsuna approached him and handed over the bill.
"...This is the bill. They told me you're going to pay."
"They what?"
Marui looked at Tsuna in disbelief. Seeing his nonchalant expression, he realized Tsuna was serious.
"50,000 yen!? Did they eat gold or something?"
His heart skipped a beat when he glanced at the bill, "My god..."
Marui fell unconscious again, foaming at the mouth, which made Tsuna twitch his lips.
"...I was just playing with you," Tsuna muttered.
He had already been paid as the club covered their little dine-out.
---
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