Everyone turned to look at Taiga Kagami, only to see him clutching his head with a pained expression.
Alex Garcia, meanwhile, had a stick resting on her shoulder as she burst into laughter.
"Hahahahahaha!"
Tatsuya Himuro, who was sitting beside Taiga Kagami, swallowed hard, looking extremely nervous.
Others might not have seen it clearly, but he had seen everything.
His coach, Alex Garcia, had appeared from who knew where and smacked Taiga Kagami over the head without warning.
Afraid that he might be next, Tatsuya Himuro slowly shifted away.
But Alex Garcia noticed.
She suddenly turned her head toward Tatsuya Himuro, smiled, and asked in English,
"Oh, my dear student, why are you moving away from me? That really hurts my feelings..."
As she spoke, Alex Garcia even put on a wounded expression.
Just as Tatsuya Himuro was about to say something, Alex Garcia suddenly burst out laughing.
"Hahahaha, I'm kidding. You're optimistic, so I won't hit you."
After saying that, Alex Garcia sat down and switched to Japanese.
"You all looked way too tense, so I just lightened the mood a little."
Everyone swallowed nervously, then looked at Taiga Kagami, who was still clutching his head, and fell silent.
Noticing everyone's reaction, Alex Garcia smiled and said,
"Don't worry about him. I told him before that when something happens, he shouldn't panic. He needs to stay optimistic and look at things calmly."
"But... you all know what he's like. He's a hot-blooded idiot who gets worked up way too easily."
"That was just my way of helping him cool his head."
Everyone forced stiff smiles and praised her awkwardly.
"Great method! Great method!"
Junpei Hyuga glanced at Taiga Kagami, then sighed.
"Still, Alex does have a point. So what if it's Rakuzan High School? We just need to face them calmly."
"We can't let them throw us off before the game even starts."
Riko Aida nodded and said,
"Exactly! We've already made it this far. There's no way we're backing down now!"
Everyone nodded, and the tense mood finally eased a little.
Teppei Kiyoshi smiled, held out his hand, and said,
"Then let's all give it our best and win this game!"
Everyone nodded and placed their hands together.
At that moment, a pair of trembling hands slowly rose and landed on top of theirs.
They belonged to Taiga Kagami.
Everyone froze for a moment, then burst into laughter and shouted,
"Let's go!"
... Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, game day arrived.
Today's match was Kirisaki Daiichi against Tōō High School.
The game was scheduled for ten in the morning.
However, by eight in the morning, the gymnasium where the match would take place was already packed so tightly that no one could get through.
Everyone wanted to get in early and watch the two teams play.
After all, a match between these two teams was guaranteed to be entertaining.
Meanwhile, inside Kirisaki Daiichi's gymnasium.
Everyone had arrived at the meeting point early and was ready to take the team bus to the venue.
Miyamoto Tokima and Satsuki Momoi arrived right at nine.
He waved and said with a smile,
"Everyone, I'm late."
Atsushi Murasakibara was eating a snack stick as he said blankly,
"Miyamoto-chin isn't late. You got here right at nine."
Miyamoto Tokima smiled and said,
"Then let's go."
Atsushi Murasakibara shook his head.
"Not everyone is here yet."
Miyamoto Tokima paused. Just as he was about to check who was missing, a voice rang out.
"Sorry, sorry, we're late!"
Shuzo Nijimura and Shogo Haizaki ran up to everyone, panting heavily.
It was obvious that the two of them had sprinted over.
Seeing everyone staring at them, Shuzo Nijimura immediately said with righteous confidence,
"Don't look at us like that. On the way here, we ran into an old lady crossing the street. As righteous people..."
Before Shuzo Nijimura could finish, Makoto Hanamiya exposed him.
"So which street was it?"
Shuzo Nijimura hesitated for a moment, then gave up and admitted,
"Fine, we overslept. It's all Haizaki's fault! Last night, he insisted on dragging me into playing chess, saying it would improve our intelligence!"
"He forced me to play all the way until dawn! And the worst part is, he didn't win a single game. He's terrible, but he still loves playing!"
Shogo Haizaki's face flushed red, and he snapped angrily,
"That's not true!"
The corner of Miyamoto Tokima's mouth twitched. He waved helplessly and said,
"Enough. Get on the bus. The match is starting soon."
Once Miyamoto Tokima gave the order, everyone nodded together and replied,
"Yes!"
... Over at Tōō.
Kosuke Wakamatsu gritted his teeth and said angrily,
"Where the hell did that brat Aomine run off to this time?"
Ryo Sakurai hugged his bag shakily and kept muttering quietly,
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Kosuke Wakamatsu pressed a hand to his forehead and shouted in frustration,
"What the hell are you apologizing for?"
Seeing that, Ryo Sakurai hugged his bag even tighter and murmured,
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
Kosuke Wakamatsu was completely helpless. He smacked his forehead and lowered his head in defeat.
Yoshinori Susa checked the time and said in surprise,
"That shouldn't be right. Facing [Magic Cube] should be when Aomine is the most excited. There's no way he'd be late."
Shoichi Imayoshi also found it strange.
If it were a match against another school, he could understand Daiki Aomine being late.
But Daiki Aomine being late for a match against Kirisaki Daiichi was definitely not normal.
Ding, ding...
Tōō's coach, Katsunori Harasawa, suddenly had his phone ring.
He picked it up and glanced at it, then said to everyone,
"Let's go. Aomine says he'll come to the venue by himself later."
Kosuke Wakamatsu cursed with frustration,
"That damn brat!"
But very quickly, Kosuke Wakamatsu asked worriedly,
"Coach, is that guy Aomine really okay? He didn't get kidnapped, did he?"
Katsunori Harasawa looked at Kosuke Wakamatsu in surprise, genuinely curious about what was going on inside his head.
Shoichi Imayoshi patted Kosuke Wakamatsu's shoulder with his left hand while pressing his right hand to his own forehead. Speechless, he said,
"Wakamatsu, with Aomine's strength, how many people do you think it would take to kidnap him?"
Kosuke Wakamatsu suddenly remembered Daiki Aomine's fighting ability and lowered his head awkwardly.
Right. Kidnap Daiki Aomine?
Without at least a dozen kidnappers, they would not even be able to move him.
Shoichi Imayoshi patted Kosuke Wakamatsu's shoulder again and said,
"Get on the bus. We'll head to the venue first."
Kosuke Wakamatsu had no choice but to nod and follow him.
...