Rebirth In KurokoNoBasket

Both teams ended their warmups, but the organizers were still not ready to start the game, so the players had time, so they decided to mingle with each other.

Mibuchi and Aone went to talk to the three third-year members of the team, that left the rest of them to talk with each other.

Shun was talking to a second-year, who was on the bench but rarely saw any playing time.

Then he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see that Aomine, Kise, and Kuroko were standing behind him.

Shun smiled and turned to talk to the three.

Shun: "Hey! I haven't seen you guys in a while. How are you guys doing?"

Shun did a slap-five with every one of them.

Aomine smiled and replied.

Aomine: "It has been a boring couple of months."

Shun smiled as he knew Aomine was going through, so he decided to keep the conversation light.

Shun: "Dai-chan~, what are you saying? That is not what I heard. I heard that you are having quite the fun reading certain magazines."

Aomine froze, and then whipped his head in Satsuki's direction.

Aomine: "That, Satsuki! What has she been blurting?!"

Shun decided to answer the rhetorical question and yapped some facts that he picked up from Satsuki.

Shun: "That you like them big, you have picked a new hobby of looking at gravure idol, you have become a fan of Horikita Mai.

Now that you have picked this hobby, now you divide your pocket money on buying magazines and basketball shoes."

Shun pulled closer to Aomine and said with an evil smirk.

Shun: "If I am to believe Satsuki, then I even know where you hide those magazines."

Aomine was embarrassed when he heard Shun list out his preferences, and paled when he heard that Shun knew about his hidden magazine stash.

Shun smiled like an innocent angel and said.

Shun: "Don't WORRY. I WON'T tell anyone. It's our secret. The information is SAFE with me."

Shun patted Aomine's shoulders, and then without saying anything else, he moved on to talk with Kise.

Kise was shocked when he saw Aomine crumble with a few words.

Kise: 'Kageyama-cchi is really terrifying. He took down, Aomine-cchi with mere words.'

Shun turned to Kise and said.

Shun: "Kise-kun, have you grown in the past few months. I hope you won't disappoint me."

Kise snapped out his musing and answered.

Kise: "Kageyama-cchi, Today, I will show you how much I have improved. I worked hard these past months."

Shun smiled and said.

Shun: "Then, I look forward to playing against you."

Aomine had snapped out his doom-like state and commented.

Aomine: "Don't get your hopes up. He has only begun to develop a sense for the game. He isn't that good yet."

Shun was impressed.

Shun: "He is already at that point. Huh, Kise-kun, you sure grow fast."

Shun decided to clear one thing while he was on the topic of Kise.

Shun: "Now that I look around, I don't see him. Where is Haizaki?"

Aomine and Kuroko became somber.

Kuroko was the one who spoke to break the news.

Kuroko: "Haizaki-kun, quit the club."

Shun internally hummed when he heard that.

Shun: 'It seems Akashi got rid of him. That means the other one is already active in the background. I have to see if he had already taken over, or the one playing today is the True one.'

Shun pretended to be surprised.

Shun: "Eh, when did that happen?!"

Kuroko sighed and replied.

Kuroko: "At the start of this year."

Kise: "Kageyama-cchi, why are you asking for Haizaki-kun."

Shun glanced at Kise, while Aomine and Kuroko looked at Shun.

Shun: "Ah, it was nothing serious. We made a bet last year, and I told him something during our game last year. I was wondering if he would confirm it this year, but it seems he already quit, huh."

Shun didn't mention the details of the bet or the conversation Haizaki and Shun had last year.

Shun: "Well, no use of talking about someone who is not here. Kuroko-kun, how are you today?"

Kuroko faintly smiled and replied.

Kuroko: "I am fine. Thank you for asking, Kageyama-kun."

Before they could continue, three more people joined the group.

Akashi, Midorima, and Mursakibara had arrived.

Akashi: "It has been a while, Kageyama-kun."

Shun extended his hand to shake hands with Akashi, and Akashi did the same. Shun gave a similar smile and said.

Shun: "It sure has been. When was the last time we met?"

Kuroko decided to answer.

Kuroko: "During the award ceremony, last year."

Every except for Kise looked at Shun when they heard of the award ceremony.

Shun decided to laugh off the stares.

Shun: "Hahahahaha... That was a good ceremony, wasn't it."

Kise was confused at the reactions, so he asked.

Kise: "I heard that Kageyama-cchi won all the individual awards, but did something else happen."

Aomine decided to answer the question.

Aomine: "He flipped us off when he got the MVP award, and then his mother shouted at him from the stands, and his teammates chased him down the court to beat him."

Shun colored a little, but still up a solid front. He crossed his arms and said.

Shun: "I don't regret shouting at you guys from the stage, but I do regret going to that ceremony, my back was not happy by the time the ceremony ended."

Kise chuckled, but then a strange thing entered his vision. He looked at Midorima and pointed at the thing in Midorima's hand.

Kise: "Midorima-cchi, why is there a ladle in your hand, don't tell me."

But, before Midorima could answer, Shun answered.

Shun: "Ah, wasn't ladle the lucky item from Oha-sa Horoscope, for cancer, today?"

Midorima and the others were shocked by Shun's knowledge of the horoscope.

Midorima: "Kageyama, you follow Oha-sa horoscope?"

Shun smiled and brought out the thing he had specially prepared to show Midorima.

He put his hand in a pocket and took out a playing card, and held it between his index and middle finger.

Shun showed the blue backside of the card to others.

Shun: "Oha-sa lucky item for Leo's today. A single playing card of your choice."

Shun spoke as he flipped the card to show what card he had chosen.

Shun: "The King of Spades is the card I have chosen."

Akashi spoke when he saw the card.

Akashi: "King Of The Court, it is fitting."

Shun smiled and said.

Shun: "Well, I think Generation Of Miracles is also a fitting title for you guys."

Shun looked at everyone, including Kuroko, which surprised him as Kuroko didn't think himself a part of the Generation Of Miracles.

Shun decided to end that topic and turned to the tallest person in the group.

Shun: "Murasakibara-kun, you have grown once again. How tall are you now?"

Mursakibara raised his hand to indicated to wait for him to finish chewing.

He once again stuffed his mouth with food.

Shun, who saw that, spoke.

Shun: "...Oye."

A few seconds later, Muraskibara spoke.

Murasakibara: "195 cm."

Aomine slapped Murasakibara on his back and yelled.

Aomine: "That was too long of a break, for you to say two words!"

Kuroko looked at the Tokiwadai bench and pointed out.

Kuroko: "Tokiwadai also has a tall player this year."

Shun turned to look at Hyakuzawa.

Shun: "Ah, you are talking about Hyakuzawa. He is 190 centimeters tall, but he is still comparatively new to basketball."

Midorima also looked at the Tokiwadai's bench and said.

Midorima: "I see a first-year on the bench. Is he any good?"

Shun smiled as he replied.

Shun: "He has his uses, maybe we will see him play today. You will be surprised when you see him play. He is also good at staring contests."

Midorima: "Eh, staring contest..."

Shun nodded and said.

Shun: "Yeah, staring contest."

Midorima wasn't sure how he should respond and could only say.

Midorima: "Ah, is that so."

It was when Satsuki came to call her team members.

Satsuki: "Everyone, the game is about to start."

Shun smiled and greeted her.

Shun: "Ah, Satsuki-chan. How are you doing today?"

Satsuki stared at Shun for a while and then said.

Satsuki: "... I am fine."

Shun was a little surprised by Satsuki's weird behavior.

Shun: 'Did I do something wrong... Hmm, I can't recall anything. Well, let's see if that works.'

Shun gave a pleasant smile and said.

Shun: "Satsuki-chan, I recently came into a couple of discount coupons for a good dessert parlor. I heard they have some good ice cream flavors, wanna go together."

Satsuki's mood changed 180 degrees, and she thought.

Satsuki: 'Eh, w-what is this? Is he asking me out on a d-date? What should I do? W-Well, he is asking so intently, then there is nothing wrong with me agreeing.'

Satsuki blushed a little and said.

Satsuki: "Well, if you insist that much."

Shun smiled and nodded.

Shun: "Let's sort out the details afterward. I look forward to it."

Satsuki's blush deepened as she suddenly became very interested in her feet.

Satsuki: "Un."

Everybody around the two smiled.

Kise gave a short whistle and murmured.

Kise: "That was smooth~."

From Tokiwadai, Sora came to call Shun.

Sora: "Senpai, the coach is calling everybody to gather for the huddle."

Shun pulled Sora closer and spoke to Aomine.

Shun: "Dai-chan, how many of your juniors call you senpai. You see him, this is my precious junior, and he calls me senpai."

Then Shun laughed pretentiously.

Aomine clicked his tongue and turned his face to the side. He didn't want to admit it, but none of the first-years at Teiko were in the first-string, and he didn't hang out at the second and third-string, so he didn't have anybody, who would call him senpai.

Shun looked at Sora and said.

Shun: "Sora, you are such a good junior. I will treat you for lunch at school."

Sora was confused.

Sora: "Eh, Aree... Okay."

Both of the parties turned to their benches walked away.

Shun's relaxed smile faded, he glanced back at them and thought.

Shun: 'I am not going to lose this time.'

The stage for the two teams to duke it out was set.

The game between the two behemoths of Tokyo was about to begin.