That Manager - Kuroko no Basuke (Book 2)

第28Q

The night before the Winter Cup preliminaries, Yasu was sitting on the sofa watching TV with piles of DVDs on the coffee table. She wasn't watching any ordinary basketball tournaments. She was watching the games that involved the schools the Generation of Miracles had enrolled in; Shutoku, Kaijo, Touou, Yosen and Rakuzan.

"They've really progressed way more and quicker than I expected." commented Yasu while writing down a few notes.

Suddenly, she heard the door knock. Yasu wrote a few more things before putting her blue notebook and dark green mechanical pencil on the table. She paused the video before going to open the door. "Izuki-senpai!" she gasped when she saw the said boy standing in front of the door. She shut the door behind her after stepping out, asking, "What did you want to talk about?"

"Nothing, really." he said sheepishly, with his hands in his pockets. "I couldn't sleep and thought of visiting you."

'But I thought he doesn't live in this neighbourhood?' wondered Yasu before brushing it off. "Are you nervous with the upcoming preliminaries?" she asked with concern.

"Maybe." admitted Izuki, who then noticed something different about the girl. "Your hair has gotten longer, Yasu."

The said girl touched her shoulder-length hair and laughed sheepishly. "I've always had short hair since I started playing basketball. So I thought of growing my hair to get the feel of having long hair."

Izuki smiled. "I see." he said before looking up at the full moon. "I've done everything that I can." He was silent for a few minutes while Yasu looked at him, not uttering a single word as she waited for him to continue. "All that's left is to give everything I have for the team."

"You guys will do great." she assured, making him look at her. "You just need to believe in yourselves."

He stared at her before smiling, ruffling her hair with a hand. "You're right." He realised that it was getting late and slowly made his way towards the walkway. Just as he was about to return home, he turned around to look at the girl and murmured, "Good night."

She nodded at him, saying, "Good night. And do your best!" Izuki smiled back, then started to walk back home.

~Time skip~

Everyone gathered at the school gate on the following morning. While waiting, Kagami was doing tricks with his left hand. Yasu noticed this and smiled, saying. "You're getting pretty good with your left hand, Kagami."

"Yeah." he said while spinning the ball on his fingertip. "It's even been easier to eat with this left hand lately."

"So, you still can't sleep the day before a tournament, huh?" noted Furihata when he and Kawahara saw Kagami's bloodshot eyes. "You look terrifying."

On the other hand, Kiyoshi was smiling brightly. "What are you smiling about, Tep-nii?" asked Yasu when she noticed his expression.

"It's creepy." commented Hyuga, looking at him suspiciously.

"Oh, sorry." said Kiyoshi, with the smile still on his face. "Don't let it bother you."

"I know what it is, Kiyoshi." said Koganei. "You're excite because we have new uniforms, right?"

"What?!" gasped the said boy. "They are?"

"You should've noticed sooner!" shouted Koganei, realising that he was wrong again.

"We'd better get going." said Riko. "Is everyone here?"

"We're still missing one." replied Hyuga when he looked around. "Oh, Kuroko?"