Inside the presidential suite of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, a blond, blue-eyed white man stood in front of the sofa, earnestly lecturing a large, obese black man.
"Charles! Can you stop overeating this early in the morning?! Your body shape is completely out of control!"
The man called Charles ignored him entirely. A bottle of liquor sat in his left hand, a slice of pizza in his right. He stuffed the pizza into his mouth and chewed noisily, mumbling, "Lance… hic! That bastard Mikell is going to laugh at me for the rest of my life!"
Lance shook his head. "He's not in the mood to laugh right now."
Charles grew more agitated as he spoke. "That guy won the championship and then ran away! Didn't even give me a chance to get revenge! I'm telling you, he did it on purpose! Even if I win a title in the future, he'll still say, 'You never beat me.'"
The more he talked, the angrier he became. He grabbed the bottle and slammed it down—only to realize it was already empty.
"Hic! Damn it! Why did I have to come all the way here anyway?!"
Lance replied indifferently, "Who told Stern and Nike to push into the Asian market? Stop complaining. This event only lasts a few days. We'll fly back once it's over."
"Hmph!" Charles sneered. "Nobody in Asia even understands basketball. This place is a basketball wasteland! Stern and his people want to do business here? They won't earn a single hair! Idiots, the lot of them!"
Lance shrugged, then reminded him calmly, "You still have to attend today's event. Don't drink anymore. I don't want you passing out or getting embarrassed by a bunch of amateurs."
Charles laughed loudly. "What, this level? Relax! I can beat all of them with one hand and one leg!"
Lance smiled faintly, neither agreeing nor arguing.
Smack!
Eri slammed her small hand on the table and stood up abruptly, shouting, "Kano! You're going to Shohoku?!"
Seeing Eri explode, Kano instinctively backed down. She reached out, holding Eri's hand, trying desperately to calm her. "Eri… please don't get so upset…"
Eri yanked her hand away and glared fiercely. If it weren't for him, how could her gentle and obedient best friend have dared to do something like this?
Nango had long expected this outcome. Knowing there was no good way to deal with Eri, he could only awkwardly scratch his cheek.
Seeing someone clearly feeling guilty, Eri snorted coldly. "Ryokufu High will definitely win the Winter Tournament!"
After leaving those harsh words behind, she turned and stormed out, completely ignoring Kano calling after her.
"Eri…"
Kano's voice was filled with guilt. She valued her friendship with Eri deeply and hated seeing things end like this.
"Nango…" Kano hesitated. "Maybe… I should just stay at Ryokufu."
"How could that be?" Nango refused immediately. "The words have already been said. The rift is already there. Besides, didn't we agree we'd go to school together? I was even planning to buy a car."
"But Eri is like this now…"
"She's just angry. She can't accept it yet," Nango said gently. "After a few days, once she cools down, we can apologize properly."
"Will that really fix things?" Kano asked softly, still unsure.
Nango smirked. "Of course. Even if you don't believe me, you should believe in your friendship, right?"
Kano froze for a moment. After thinking it over, she realized he was right—her bond with Eri wasn't that fragile.
Seeing her expression relax, Nango laughed. "Alright, alright. Let's go—let's head to Tokyo and look at cars."
Nango had originally wanted to buy a heavy motorcycle to experience the thrill of riding, but after thinking it through, he chose a scooter instead.
After all, he probably wouldn't be driving it for very long. There was no reason to waste money. Besides, deep down, he was actually quite conservative—not nearly as wild as people imagined.
Owning a vehicle naturally expanded one's range of movement. Since it was the first day, a test drive was inevitable.
Wearing helmets, the two cruised leisurely along the coastline, stopping now and then to enjoy the view.
The frustration from earlier faded away after buying the scooter.
Kano wrapped her arms around Nango's waist, resting her forehead lightly against his back. Breathing in his familiar scent, she felt her heart gradually calm down and closed her eyes, quietly savoring the moment.
Nango didn't know what she was thinking, but a sudden sense of guilt rose in his chest.
Since they started dating, Kano had always been the one accommodating him.
If she were any other girl, seeing her boyfriend practicing basketball every day, she would've probably complained long ago. But Kano had always been gentle and patient.
Even someone as straightforward as Nango couldn't remain unmoved by that water-like tenderness.
He pulled over to the side of the road, turned around, and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
Kano opened her eyes in confusion. "What's wrong?"
Nango smiled softly. "Nothing."
Then he turned back around and restarted the engine.
Kano didn't quite understand, but she smiled anyway, resting her forehead against his back once more.
As they rode farther along the coast, the road gradually became crowded.
Teenagers dressed in hip-hop outfits gathered around a large truck parked by the roadside, basketballs tucked under their arms.
Nango had seen similar scenes before and immediately recognized it.
"The NBA caravan," he said.
Kano looked around curiously. "Why are there so many people?"
"It's an NBA fan event," Nango explained. "Most of the basketball fans around here are probably gathered for this."
"Should we go take a look?" Kano's eyes sparkled as she stared at the performances on the caravan. "Let's go! It looks fun!"
Do you want to go?
Nango wasn't particularly interested. He'd participated in events like this before and knew how monotonous they could be.
Most of the participants were amateurs looking to beat weaker players. There was nothing appealing about that to him.
But Kano didn't care about any of that.
"Alright," Nango said with a helpless smile.