11 The Eleventh Question

Mikado’s quarterfinal opponent was Tokyo’s second representative team. After a fierce battle, they emerged victorious with a narrow 92-90 win, advancing to the next round.

Both teams’ players were panting heavily, exhausted from the intense match, yet both agreed it had been a thoroughly exhilarating contest.

“We won,” Kuroko exhaled deeply, relieved.

It had been a long time since he’d felt this tense over the outcome of a game.

“What a great match,” Tetsu Aikawa praised, though true to his persistent nature, he added, “But every volleyball game we play is like this.”

Aoba Johsai might not have any prodigies at the moment, but their indomitable spirit—that refusal to give up easily on the court—was their most precious quality.

“Yeah, I definitely want to watch one of their games sometime,” Kuroko nodded.

It was his trust in Aikawa that sparked his curiosity about the volleyball scene he described.

Every match played with all one’s might, every point fought for with all one’s strength… that was exactly what Kuroko yearned for.

Hearing this, Aikawa couldn’t help but smile—a smile that refused to be suppressed.

He believed that if he took things slowly, someday he would move Kuroko.

“Hey, Kuroko’s here,” Atsushi Murasakibara suddenly called out from the players’ corridor, spotting Kuroko.

“Kuroko?” Ryota Kise blinked in surprise.

Wasn’t the manager supposed to have said Kuroko was injured and taking the day off? Kise had even planned to crash at Kuroko and Akashi’s room after the game to sleep on the floor.

Though, honestly, he wasn’t exactly confident about that plan himself.

Following Murasakibara’s gaze, Kise saw Kuroko standing in the first row of the stands, talking and laughing with an unfamiliar young man.

Kise frowned, about to call someone over, when a basketball player hurried over to Kuroko, his face alight with excitement and joy.

It was Kuroko’s childhood friend he had met yesterday.

He seemed to be from Mikado Middle School.

“Kuroko! We won!” Naruhiko Ogiwara hadn’t even changed clothes; he was eager to share his joy with his childhood friend immediately.

“Yeah, I saw,” Kuroko turned around.

Indeed… this kind of game was exactly what he loved most.

Tetsu Aikawa also praised, “An amazing match.”

Though he didn’t understand basketball, the intensity of the game made him feel the earnestness of every player.

This, he thought, was what Kuroko sought.

Naruhiko Ogiwara put an arm around Kuroko’s shoulder, urging him along. “Come on, let’s go eat lunch. Our semifinal this afternoon is against Shizuoka Prefecture’s team…”

Watching the three figures walk away from the stands, Ryota Kise felt as if he had mistaken someone.

Was that really Kuroko?

No, the Kuroko he remembered hadn’t shown such expressions in a very long time.

Long enough that he had forgotten what the original Kuroko was like.

Atsushi Murasakibara scowled, “Who were those two guys?”

Mitsuki Momoi recognized them: “They’re Tetsu’s childhood friend and a senior. I’ve seen them before.”

“Huh?” Murasakibara was puzzled. “How does Momoi know them?”

“By chance,” Momoi said, not wanting to dwell on it.

She just wanted to finish her tasks quickly and find someone afterward.

The restaurants around the gym weren’t necessarily safe or sanitary, and the gym’s own cafeteria was overcrowded. The three circled around several times but couldn’t find a seat.

In the end, they bought pre-packed meals from the cafeteria and ate hurriedly in a hallway inside the gym.

“Ah… a familiar taste,” Aikawa sighed.

Naruhiko looked up puzzled. “Aikawa-senpai, have you eaten here before?”

“No, I just meant the feeling of sitting on the floor eating a bento is familiar,” Aikawa said, breaking his chopsticks. “It’s been a long time since I had this experience.”

The gym had usable rest rooms. Usually, when the second and third rounds began and fewer teams remained, the officials would assign rest rooms to all schools.

However, Aoba Johsai had always been a seeded team, so they never had to play the first round.

By the time lunch came, Aoba Johsai already had their rest room.

---

The feeling of sitting on the floor, eating amidst the noisy hall… Aikawa’s last experience like this was back in his first year at Kitagawa Daiichi.

At that time, Kitagawa Daiichi hadn’t earned a seed, so he had the chance to experience it.

Naruhiko looked bitter. “I get that experience every year. Kuroko… never mind, I know.”

Teiko had always been a seeded team. Even before the Generation of Miracles, Teiko had a strong foundation; it was only that the Generation of Miracles raised them to a higher level.

“Kuroko,” Kuroko suddenly looked at Naruhiko.

“Hm? What is it? Want some of my fried egg?” Naruhiko said, about to place some into Kuroko’s bowl.

“No,” Kuroko dodged the egg and asked seriously, “What are your plans after graduation?”

“Why ask all of a sudden?” Naruhiko, confused, shoved the egg into his mouth.

But seeing Kuroko’s serious expression, he answered honestly, “I’ll probably find a strong basketball school in Saitama Prefecture. If you’re at Teiko, you won’t have trouble finding a place.”

Kuroko looked at Naruhiko with unwavering seriousness. “Then let’s go together. We’ll go to the same high school and be teammates.”

Naruhiko was taken aback. “Huh? What?”

Kuroko repeated, “I’ll come to Saitama to find you. We’ll work hard together in high school and aim for the championship.”

Aikawa buried his head in his food, overwhelmed with melancholy.

He had assumed he was just behind a certain school that might accept Kuroko, but now there was Naruhiko…

Well, Kuroko’s own wishes mattered most.

At that moment, Naruhiko realized. “Really?! Kuroko, you’re coming to Saitama!”

“I’m serious,” Kuroko nodded.

“That’s great…” Naruhiko rubbed his slightly sore nose. “We’ll finally be on the same court.”

Kuroko smiled. “Yeah.”

Before the afternoon semifinals began, Mikado held a team meeting. After finishing his last bite, Naruhiko hurried off to the meeting.

After all, for Mikado, which had barely ever made it to nationals, reaching the semifinals was beyond their dreams.

This opportunity was rare and precious—they had to cherish it.

Seeing Naruhiko leave, Kuroko turned to Aikawa. “Mikado’s semifinal is the second game in the afternoon. Shall we go next door to the gym and watch IH?”

Besides the ongoing national middle school league, the National High School Comprehensive Sports Tournament (IH) basketball games were happening simultaneously. This time should be the third batch of first-round elimination matches.

The IH main tournament was in August. What was happening now were the first-round eliminations to weed out some teams, with the main event starting directly with group round robins.

“Sure, we have nothing else to do, so let’s take a look,” Aikawa agreed decisively.

He had taken a week off since he had no matches for now. His grades were decent, so the school easily approved his leave.

—Though the cost was having to make up double classes if he failed the finals.

But Aikawa was completely unlike Tobio Kageyama; he absolutely would not fail!

After skipping Teiko’s matches, Kuroko’s mood improved considerably. Aikawa happily accompanied him to wander around various venues, watching the high school games.

“This team’s interesting. Is their captain bipolar? He changes completely as soon as he gets the ball,” Aikawa remarked as they passed a gym where the school had almost no cheering squad.

Only the top teams from the qualifiers made it through, and everyone dreamed of the championship.

So, schools with little to no cheering either came from very far away or were newly established.

Kuroko flipped through the player introductions at the gym’s entrance, surprised. “Seirin High just formed this year. For a brand-new first-year class to reach this level, that’s impressive.”

“Too bad they’re probably going to lose this game,” Aikawa glanced at the scoreboard. Seirin was trailing by a wide margin.

“But the first-years don’t need to rush. There’s the Winter Cup in the second half,” he added.

Volleyball had three major competitions a year, but the National Sports Festival in autumn was limited, with teams chosen directly by prefectures—usually the IH regional champions.

For a perennial runner-up like Aoba Johsai, the main tournaments they could enter were the summer IH and the spring high school nationals.

In high school basketball, besides the National Sports Festival (also limited to star teams), the Winter Cup was the main competition in the second half. Since volleyball’s spring nationals shifted from March to January, the two sports ran parallel.

“Yeah, the Winter Cup,” Kuroko nodded.

Unlike the single large event in middle school, there were more opportunities in high school.

As the game entered the fourth quarter, Kuroko realized it was time to leave. “Aikawa-senpai, let’s go. The Teiko and Kyoto third team game is almost over… Ah.”

“What’s wrong?” Aikawa was startled by Kuroko’s sudden pause.

Kuroko looked helpless. “My phone died—ran out of battery and shut down. I forgot my charger at home. I’d been using Momoi-san’s until now…”

He wished he had brought it with him.

But then again, no one would contact him anyway. Naruhiko had Aikawa’s number, and Kuroko had already asked the manager for leave from Teiko… though whether the manager would remember that was another question.

“Let’s check if mine works when we get back to the inn tonight,” Aikawa said.

But Kuroko’s phone was probably new, likely incompatible with Aikawa’s many-years-used flip phone… it was time for him to get a new one.

The first semifinal of the afternoon ended with Teiko crushing Kyoto Third, 112-44, advancing easily.

Even as Teiko gathered to return to their hotel, the figure Kise longed to see never appeared.

Feeling something was wrong, Kise couldn’t find Kuroko at the hotel. He took a leave of absence and took a taxi straight to Kuroko’s home.

Kuroko’s house was somewhat remote. Considering the next day’s final, Kuroko decided to stay with Aikawa at a nearby inn instead of going home.

Though Teiko was a local school, they too stayed in an official hotel.

Kise and the others assumed the absent Kuroko had gone home to rest, but in reality, Kuroko had been staying with Aikawa these past two days.

This led to Kise’s search ending empty.

The next morning, Kise rose early to stake out the gym for Kuroko, but again found no sign of him. Momoi, who had the same idea, also came up empty-handed.

Kuroko’s phone seemed off and unreachable, and Kise, feeling guilty, dared not look too openly for him, ultimately returning empty-handed.

“What did you do last night?” Daiki Aomine yawned, tired from a late night.

He hadn’t heard much about their final opponents, so he hadn’t paid much attention, though he was puzzled by the serious looks on others’ faces.

Kise didn’t answer Aomine’s question but kept searching the Teiko stands for that familiar voice.

With each fruitless attempt, his heart sank deeper.

“What are you looking for?” Aomine felt lost following Kise’s train of thought.

“Looking for Kuroko,” Murasakibara said confidently, since he had been searching too. “Looks like Kuroko didn’t come today.”

Murasakibara couldn’t find Kuroko in either the Teiko or Mikado areas.

From the opposite side came the playful voices from Mikado: “Ogiwara-senpai, you’re full of energy today. Did something good happen yesterday?”

“No, just talked with my childhood friend. He said he wants to come find me in high school,” Ogiwara’s silly laugh echoed across the court.

“The Kuroko-senpai you always talk about?”

“Yeah, that’s him.”

“That’s great! When I advance, I’ll come find you too.”

Hearing this, Kise’s eyes widened.

Childhood friend?

Kuroko?

“So today, I’ll do my best. At least I can’t let him down.”

Ogiwara’s voice kept coming from the other side, sending Kise into an icy despair.

So… the ones abandoned were actually them.

Right?

Kise searched the stands again desperately but found nothing. He slowly approached Seijuro Akashi.

“Little Akashi, I have an idea. Want to hear it?”

Akashi, who heard and guessed what Ogiwara was talking about, looked over. “Tell me.”

“I want to…”

Momoi, still searching for Kuroko, didn’t hear Kise and Akashi’s conversation. She guessed Kuroko’s phone might be off from no battery.

She should have gotten Aikawa’s number earlier so she wouldn’t be unable to contact Kuroko now.

In truth, Kuroko Tetsuya and Aikawa had simply missed the direct bus to the gym due to the crowd and were still on their way.