Thoughts

The night of the day Shun arrived in LA and was sleeping, Tokyo was still bustling with activity.

Teiko Middle School basketball club was mid-practice.

Aomine and Murasakibara leaned against the wall of the gym as they took their break between practice.

Satsuki was sitting on a chair beside them, making notes on the players' progress.

She looked at her wristwatch, and a faraway look appeared in her eyes as she stared in blank space. She bit the tip of the back of the pen with her lips.

Aomine was looking around the gym with pure boredom on his face, and his eyes caught Satsuki's faraway look.

He looked at his childhood friend and asked.

Aomine: "Satsuki, what is wrong. Why are you zoning out?"

Satsuki didn't look at Aomine and lightly said.

Satsuki: "Hmm..? Do you know, Tokyo's time is sixteen hours ahead of LA time. Which means it would be night time at LA. I wonder if Shun-kun is sleeping?"

Aomine and Murasakibara's expression became serious when they hear about Shun.

Aomine looked at the ceiling and thought.

Aomine: 'America, huh. I wonder what is it like?'

Murasakibara similarly looked at his hands and the bottle in it.

Murasakibara: 'I wonder what would happen if I crush this bottle?'

In both Murasakibara and Aomine's minds, they acknowledge that Shun would return from America stronger and different than before, but that was not the main thing that they focused on.

Aomine: 'I wonder if there are players like us there?'

Murasakibara: 'I wonder if there is someone as strong as me out there?'

Aomine & Murasakibara: 'I wonder if there are people there that are fun to play against.'

Aomine and Murasakibara were once again in a rut of boredom, they came to practice every day and worked hard under the watchful eyes of Shirogane Kozo.

They worked on their personal skills in preparation for their next encounter with Shun. Aomine trained to increase his skill, and Murasakibara trained for more power, and they did personal training with complete seriousness and focus.

But these days, actually playing basketball was boring for them and failed to provide any stimulus. So, when they heard of the FIBA camp, they wondered if it would be fun.

Both the ace and the fortress of Generation Of Miracles felt that playing on the court was a task. They felt that they were trees with heavy and deep roots that tied them to the ground, and they were trying to move.

-*-*-*-

Not all of the Generation Of Miracles had similar thoughts to Aomine and Murasakibara.

Kise was extremely envious of Shun. He turned to Midorima and spoke.

Kise: "Ugh! I am so envious of Kageyama-cchi. He would get to copy so many new people! I wonder what kind of moves he would see? What kind of players would he get to meet?"

Kise knew that there were bound to be many different types of players at camps like Shun was attending, and for people like Shun and him, those were akin to treasure chests.

He understood better than anyone else what an opportunity had presented itself to Shun. And, if he knew anything about Shun, he knew that Shun would take full advantage of it.

Kise clenched his fist and declared.

Kise: "I need to work harder. More practice, I need to cut down on my modeling jobs. Let's do this!"

Even though Kise was talking to Midorima, he just said everything and then left without waiting for Midorima's reply.

And, Midorima was fine with that. Currently, he just had a single-track mind to increase his shooting and defense skills.

His performance in the finals might have been the best in the Preliminary finals against Tokiwadai.

Midorima: 'I was able to operate freely was because of Kageyama Shun not being in my region, if he was guarding me, then I would've ended the same as Aomine, or worse like Kise.'

Midorima knew that Shun wouldn't be his guard as he would've to bind Aomine, Murasakibara, and Kise on his own, and he couldn't do it from outside the three-point arc.

But, he wanted to do more than just shoot the ball. Midorima Shintaro would work his hardest for victory, but even he was human and just all of humankind, he too had pride.

So, instead of picking up something that would support the time, he chose defense to stop Shun.

Midorima thought how everyone other than him got to play head-on against Shun, and he too wanted to prove his mettle, so he picked something that would put him directly against Shun.

-*-*-*-

'Other' Akashi Seijuro's main motive in life was to be the victor. No matter what field it was, he wanted to come out on top.

Currently, his life consisted of studies and basketball, and he worked hard to achieve victory in them.

He studied hard and scored perfect grades on his report card, Akashi had never scored anything less than perfect in studies in his entire life.

On the other big part of his life was basketball. He stood near a wall of the first-string gym and took in all the happenings in the gym. He saw everything that happened here.

Akashi: 'Atsushi and Daiki are once again in a rut. They work harder than ever on their personal skills, but when it comes to practice games or in-house games, they don't show any motivation at all.

Kageyama Shun's effect has been both positive and negative on them. Well, it is good that they are getting stronger. The stronger we are, the easier achieving victory would be.'

Akashi turned to look at his blonde-haired teammate, who was running around the court, playing against the other first-string members.

Akashi: 'Ryota has been growing at a swift rate, but he still isn't anywhere near competing with the others. But, unlike others, he isn't focusing on one field. It seems Kageyama Shun's positionless playstyle has affected him.

But, unlike him, his level of play is progressing slowly and is not that diverse. Nevertheless, he will be an important asset.'

At last, Akashi turned to the green-haired shooter, who was practicing his shooting.

Akashi: 'Shintaro's has taken the path of a classic shooting guard. It would be remarkably helpful for our defense, we would be able to choke out our opponents' offense. Panic and despair would set in, and victory would arrive easily.'

Akashi ended the chain of thoughts about his teammates and got back to work. He wanted to be the victor, but it wasn't just against other schools and opponents, he wanted to be the victor in his own territory.

He wouldn't allow anyone to beat him, even if they were his own teammates. For that, he needed to ahead of them and to achieve that, he needed to work hard to improve himself.

He remembered his matchup against Shun, his eyes flared, just thinking about his inability to shut him out. He vowed to himself to not let that happen ever again.

Akashi: 'No one can defy me. Next time, I will shut him out by myself. I will rule them all.'