The two of them had no idea that Daiki Aomine had already heard their quiet conversation.
At the same time, their little gestures had not escaped Daiki Aomine's eyes either.
However, Daiki Aomine had no intention of doing anything about it. After all, his strength really was inferior to Miyamoto Tokima's.
Then, with his back to everyone, Daiki Aomine casually waved a hand and left without looking back.
"You guys keep going. I'm heading back first."
In truth, Daiki Aomine had only come to the street court because he had been bored while waiting for the tournament matchups to be announced.
Now that he knew the matchups, it was time to go back and prepare.
Besides, the person he was going to play against was Miyamoto Tokima.
The people on the street court looked at one another, but no one said anything else.
Daiki Aomine walked slowly toward the exit with both hands in his pockets.
If anyone looked closely, they would notice the corners of Daiki Aomine's mouth rising wildly.
At the same time, a faint, barely visible aura began to surface around him.
In the end, he could not hold it back anymore. The corners of his mouth lifted sharply as he muttered,
"Miyamoto..."
... Rakuzan High School.
Seijuro Akashi was sitting alone in an empty classroom, playing chess by himself.
There was no sound in the entire classroom except for the pieces being placed on the board.
After an unknown amount of time, Seijuro Akashi's brows suddenly furrowed, and his hand froze.
At that moment, the situation on the board was...
Seijuro Akashi...
Had lost.
"You lost, Seijuro."
A gentle voice sounded in Seijuro Akashi's mind.
Seijuro Akashi ignored it. He only let out a cold snort, then turned his head toward a corner and said coldly,
"Mayuzumi-senpai, sorry to keep you waiting."
Chihiro Mayuzumi slowly stepped out from the corner, his expression completely blank, almost like another Tetsuya Kuroko entirely.
"Akashi, the matchups are out. Our first opponent is Seirin High School."
His tone was just as flat, without the slightest trace of emotion.
It was almost as if he were a machine.
Seijuro Akashi did not speak, and Chihiro Mayuzumi said nothing either. The air fell silent just like that.
After nearly eight seconds of silence, Seijuro Akashi finally spoke in a calm voice.
"I know."
Hearing that, Chihiro Mayuzumi nodded lightly and prepared to leave the classroom.
Just as he had taken half a step out, Seijuro Akashi's cold voice sounded behind him again.
"Mayuzumi-senpai."
Chihiro Mayuzumi paused, and Seijuro Akashi continued,
"Thank you for your hard work."
The moment those words came out, Chihiro Mayuzumi's body suddenly stiffened. A trace of surprise flashed through his eyes, but it disappeared almost immediately.
He still replied without any emotion,
"It's what I should do."
After that, Chihiro Mayuzumi left.
Seeing this, Seijuro Akashi turned back and began tidying up the chessboard.
The voice in his mind sounded again, gentle as before.
"With his personality, becoming a shadow must have taken a great deal of effort."
As Seijuro Akashi tidied up the board, he replied coldly,
"That was the path he chose for himself."
The voice in his mind suddenly chuckled softly and said nothing more.
... At that moment, inside Taiga Kagami's house.
Because Taiga Kagami's house was fairly spacious, the members of Seirin often came over to eat together or hang out.
This time, the Seirin members had gathered at Taiga Kagami's house again because they had something important to announce.
Everyone from Seirin sat together solemnly, all of them looking at Riko Aida.
Riko Aida looked at everyone with a serious expression and said nothing.
At that moment, Taiga Kagami walked over with a fruit platter and placed it in the middle.
"Sorry for making you wait, everyone."
After he set it down, the Seirin members wasted no time picking up the fruit and eating.
It had to be said that Taiga Kagami really did have some money. After all, fruit was expensive in Japan.
The fact that Taiga Kagami could bring out this much fruit for everyone to share was enough to prove that he was fairly well-off.
Everyone was eating fruit except Riko Aida. She remained silent.
Junpei Hyuga noticed this, picked up a strawberry, and handed it to her.
"Riko, what's got you looking so worried? Have some fruit first."
Riko Aida sighed and waved her hand, refusing the fruit Junpei Hyuga offered.
Then she looked at everyone seriously and said,
"The matchups are out."
Everyone from Seirin paused.
Riko Aida sighed and said,
"Our opponent is Rakuzan High School."
The moment she said that, everyone from Seirin froze, and their expressions became extremely serious.
Junpei Hyuga also put down the fruit in his hand and muttered,
"Rakuzan, huh... This is going to be troublesome."
Teppei Kiyoshi nodded and said seriously,
"Hyuga's right. Compared to the other schools, we know far too little about Rakuzan High School."
That was true. During the Summer Cup, Seijuro Akashi had not played at all, so the only information they had on Rakuzan High School was about the three members of the Uncrowned Kings.
They had nothing on Seijuro Akashi himself.
And during the Winter Cup qualifiers, Rakuzan High School's Seijuro Akashi had not appeared either. All the matches had been left to the Uncrowned Kings.
Even during Rakuzan's first game in the Winter Cup National Tournament, Seijuro Akashi had taken the court, but he had not shown much.
What Seirin had been hoping for all along was to be matched with another school, ideally Kaijō or Shūtoku, because they had the most complete information on those two teams.
If they were matched against either of those schools, they could fight it out. If they won, not only would they advance, they could also gather information on Rakuzan High School.
After all, against the other schools, Seijuro Akashi would have to make a move no matter what.
At that moment, Tatsuya Himuro spoke.
"At least we weren't matched against Kirisaki Daiichi. That counts as good news."
That was true.
Among the remaining schools, there was not a single team that wanted to run into Kirisaki Daiichi right now.
Of course, that did not apply to everyone. There were still a few battle maniacs among those schools.
The Seirin members could not help nodding, but they quickly came back to their senses, and their expressions turned serious again.
Good news: they had not run into Kirisaki Daiichi.
Bad news: they had run into damn Rakuzan High School.
Just then, a loud scream suddenly rang out.
"Ah! Alex! What are you doing?!"
...
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