Chapter 222

"Sure, I, a Cancer, today..."

Midorima Shintaro shot with confidence, flicking out a pair of scissors, only to be met by Takao Kazunari's stone.

Not only did Midorima freeze, but Takao Kazunari, who had been riding with Midorima all the way through a string of defeats, was also stunned; however, he soon let out a cheer.

"I won, Shō-chan!"

"Your turn to ride~"

Midorima Shintaro looked at Takao Kazunari with a grave expression. "You... are you sure you're a Scorpio, not a Dou..."

Before he could finish, the small trailer suddenly sank downward, even emitting a dangerous 'creak', followed immediately by a figure appearing beside Midorima.

Midorima turned his head, raised an eyebrow, and immediately understood.

As expected...

A Gemini.

Huang Se Liang Tai.

"Huang Se, I knew it was you."

Hearing the strange noise from behind, and simultaneously feeling the bicycle pedals become much heavier, Takao Kazunari turned his head and saw a blond figure sitting on the trailer behind with Midorima.

"Who are you?"

"Huang Se Liang Tai?"

"No wonder I couldn't pedal; I thought I had run over a stone..."

Huang Se Liang Tai turned back and greeted them enthusiastically, "Hello, I am Midorima's teammate from middle school, Huang Se Liang Tai~"

Takao Kazunari, of course, knew who he was, but it seemed the other party had already forgotten him; the defeat against Teiko during the middle school era was surely not a match worth remembering for Teiko.

However...

"Midorima-kun?"

Takao Kazunari's attention was quickly drawn away by the nickname Huang Se Liang Tai used, after all, the 'Midorima-kun' in the other's mouth had a similar charm to his own 'Shō-chan' for Midorima.

"Shō-chan~"

"The Generation of Miracles calls you Midorima-kun~"

Huang Se Liang Tai's eyes lit up: "You call Midorima 'Shō-chan'?"

Takao Kazunari smiled: "We are in the same grade, sit as front and back desks in the same class, and are teammates in the basketball club; wouldn't calling him Midorima make our relationship seem very poor?"

"Calling him Shintaro would seem too old-fashioned, but Shō-chan is different, right?"

Huang Se Liang Tai patted Midorima beside him, "I worried for nothing; you've made friends so quickly~"

Midorima's eyes flickered, "I said it before, don't call me that, Huang Se... both of you!"

"Okay, Midorima-kun."

"Okay, Shō-chan."

Huang Se Liang Tai and Takao Kazunari answered simultaneously; the moment the words left their lips, they glanced at each other, paused slightly, and quickly read each other's eyes through their silent exchange:

You know Midorima is a tsundere too, right?

"Heh~"

"Didn't Midorima-kun say he wouldn't come watch the match between Yukimiya and Kuroko?"

"But you came in the end~?"

Midorima's expression was somewhat unnatural, then Huang Se added another blow: "I not only called you, but also Aomine-kun, hmm... although I couldn't reach him, Momoi answered the phone in the end."

"You might even see Aomine-kun today."

Midorima raised an eyebrow, "Aomine is one thing, after all, Tōō is also in the Tokyo district, but isn't your Kaijō in Kanagawa? Why specifically run all the way here?"

Hearing this, Huang Se let out a snort and complained, "Because I'm unconvinced; the training match was originally scheduled for our Kaijō first, but for some reason, it suddenly changed to Yukimiya's Izumishin-kan."

"It completely ruined my plan to recruit Kuroko."

"And..."

"Does Seirin think I'm inferior to Yukimiya?!"

Midorima adjusted his glasses; although he was a Teiko teammate and bore the title 'Generation of Miracles' just like them, the Thoughts Inside Midorima's heart were actually the same as Seirin's.

Huang Se, who only started playing basketball in his second year of middle school, is a genius; there is no doubt about that, but if one had to choose between Kaijō and Izumishin-kan for a training match, he would also choose Izumishin-kan.

Not because of the Western King.

Simply because of Yukimiya Kazuma.

Just then, suddenly, a Crack!

The not-so-sturdy trailer, unable to bear the weight of two people, had a wooden plank used for carrying cargo suddenly split open with a creak.

"Meeting a Gemini indeed brings no good things."

Between old teammates, Huang Se easily understood Midorima's words, "Eh? Is the morning horoscope very accurate today? What is the lucky item?"

Midorima said seriously, "Every constellation is naturally different; I only paid attention to..."

"Shō-chan's today is a sun charm~"

What Midorima was originally about to say was suddenly interrupted by Takao Kazunari, causing his face to darken.

"Oh~"

"It's that one."

"I seem to recall it from the Teiko days; it really is reused, Midorima-kun."

"..."

The cart could not be fixed for now; Huang Se and Midorima each sat on opposite sides of the small trailer, being pulled forward on the bicycle by Takao Kazunari pedaling.

At this moment, Takao Kazunari had already started chatting with Huang Se Liang Tai.

"When we played against Teiko before, you made us look very bad, especially Shō-chan, hitting the hardest, three-pointers with a hundred percent accuracy and so on..."

"Later, I kept training hard, wanting to beat him, but I never expected to end up at a school."

"In that case..."

"Holding onto my old thoughts would be pointless, and since we were in the same class, we gradually became friends."

The naturally friendly Takao and the naturally friendly Kise quickly started chatting; Midorima, not wanting to join them, kept fiddling with the sun-doll on his side until Kise Ryota called him out.

"By the way, didn't Little Midorima lose just now?"

"Why is Takao still the one riding?"

Hearing this, Takao Kazunari paused slightly.

"Because of Kise-kun..."

"He suddenly showed up, making me forget about the rock-paper-scissors earlier, but... Little Shin is definitely doing this on purpose, right? Not reminding me to prepare a way to bluff my way through?"

Midorima Shintaro: "Now there are three of us."

Kise understood Midorima's meaning and eagerly suggested: "It's fine, let's play rock-paper-scissors; the loser rides all the way to Izumishinkan~"

To be fair.

The morning fortune-telling Midorima often listens to does have some merit.

Just like right now.

After the three of them played rock-paper-scissors.

The driver in front became Midorima, his face grim.

"Stop pushing me, May, we've already reached Izumishinkan; I'll walk myself!"

"This is the school Yukimiya Kazuma-kun joined, and today they're having a practice match against Teiko-kun's Seirin; hurry up, we mustn't miss it."

"By the way..."

"I heard from Little Kise that Little Midorima will be coming too; it's been so long since we all met~"

Inside the Izumishinkan campus, Momoi Satsuki said while pushing Aomine Daiki.

Aomine frowned: "Who wants to see them..."

Although he said that, in the end, Aomine still stepped into the Izumishinkan gymnasium with a displeased expression, and what happened next instantly perked him up.

"Big Brother, are we not allowed in?"

Momoi looked past Aomine, who had stopped there, and glanced into the gymnasium.

Momoi Satsuki: "!?"