Coming Back To Tokyo

After that insane match against Tōdaiji Private Middle School, Kyōsen finally had some breathing room. They all went into a few days of vacation to spend with their family and go to school.

Their visit to Tokyo will only be for around a week. They will go there during Friday night after school and go back to Nara the next week. Since Seiji will miss a lot of lessons, he made sure to tell Kosaki that he will be going out of town for while to practice.

Kosaki also gave him some confectioneries that she made. "It's so that he have something to eat during the trip," she said.

"Are you sure you have everything ready, Seiji-kun?"

"Yes Mia. You've asked me that question multiple times already. Also, are you not going to prepare for your own trip to Tokyo with Rena?"

"Preparations is already done in that one. We'll be leaving three days later."

The two of them talked with each other until Rena came and joined in on their conversation. They only stopped when the bus that will take Seiji and his team to Tokyo arrived.

"I'll be taking my leave first then. I'll see you guys in Tokyo in three days!"

Seiji waved his hands at Mia before patting Rena at the back of her head. She's currently clinging to Seiji as he carried his luggage.

"Mmmm… I'll visit you with Mama and Papa when I go to Tokyo to prepare my clothes."

"Alright. I'll see you soon then," Seiji said before separating himself and Rena.

After waving at them one last time, Seiji entered inside the bus while carrying his luggage.

※・※・※・※

When Seiji entered inside the bus, Akagi immediately greeted him first.

"Ou, Seiji. Is that your sister?"

"Yes. We're not blood related though."

"Is that so? She does seem like she's attached to you even though that is the case."

When Akagi said that, the loud voice of Wakamatsu joined in on their conversation.

"She doesn't look like my type of girl. I bet she wouldn't be as warm to others aside from Seiji…"

"Oi oi… If I were you, I'll stop that right away. You won't like it when she gets angry at you, Wakamatsu," Hyuuga said after hearing Wakamatsu.

"Why? She doesn't look dangerous to me…" Wakamatsu replied.

Hyuuga just facepalmed at his teammate's antics before saying, "You see here. If you don't want to die at the tender age of 14, don't piss her off okay? If you don't trust my words, why don't you try and see what happens to you?"

"Nah, I'll pass. My instinct tells me that you are right."

As Hyuuga and Wakamatsu talked with each other, Seiji just smiled slightly and proceeded to take a seat. Rena really is a pretty hard person to deal with when she's angry so Hyuuga is right about stopping Wakamatsu.

*sigh*

'She's still a bit too impulsive as of late.'

While Seiji is resting his head on his seat, he suddenly heard someone talk from the back.

"That was a very deep sigh. Do you have some kind of problem or something?"

When Seiji looked back, he was Izuki peering from above his seat.

"Oh, that? I was just thinking about something."

"Hee…"

Before the conversation could go deeper, Seiji diverted the topic.

"By the way Izuki-senpai. I'm just wondering if you ever thought of enhancing your court vision? You know, like, removing the blindspots on it?"

This immediately piqued Izuki's interest. He have long since noticed the fact that Seiji owns the same eyes as him so he is curious as to what he is trying to say.

"You mean you have an idea how to remove my blindspots?"

"Yes… In fact, I don't have any blindspots until half court."

"For real? I thought there is no way to remove this…"

"Nope. Every ability can be improved with some practice," Seiji said nonchalantly.

It's like he experienced it himself when he really just received the enhanced version of the ability on a silver platter. Seiji continued to bullshit his way through their conversation and managed to convince Izuki to join his training/experiment.

Really, it's just an experiment to see if abilities could really improve through practice. Seiji have seen some research papers during his childhood about people managing to improve their abilities through hardwork and effort.

Seeing that his ability could improve the abilities he copies, except for the ones that are already too strong to be improved further — a main example of this being the 「Eye of Odin」 and 「Balor's View」 — Seiji thought that he might just be able to find a way to improve the abilities through practice. This isn't for him but for the people around him.

Aside from some small conversations from time to time, Seiji and his crew quietly passed their journey to Tokyo.

※・※・※・※

Inside the bus where Seiji and the crew is, the situation inside can only be described as something straight out of a brutal massacre scene. People are laying down, sleeping in awkward positions.

The only one who's awake is Seiji who is currently live streaming his game with a face cam, the current scene being his background.

—・※・※・—

ThousandBewbsInOneStroke: Up! Are you sure that you aren't streaming while being present in a murder scene?

MadLad_Ricardo: The person above, your username is hilarious!

ThousandBewbsInOneStroke: Don't divert the topic Ricardo! Go do your thing and let me ask my questions to the streamer in peace.

HotDawg: That's right streamer. Are you sure the people behind you aren't dead yet?

CutiePie: I'm pretty sure they aren't. Those guys are the teammates of streamer-san in his basketball club.

BigDaddyVader: Oh, you know UP CutiePie?

CutiePie: Yep. He's a great basketball player from Kyōsen.

ThousandBewbsInOneStroke: That infamous Kyōsen?

CutiePie: Yep, that one. However, right now, it doesn't seem like they'll be losing any games in the Nationals.

MadLad_Ricardo: How are you so sure about that? Pretty sure Kyōsen who's infamous for choking time and time again would once again choke.

HotDawg: You really deserve the name, mad lad.

CutiePie: I'm pretty sure he's just new here. Beware Ricardo. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be able to use your computer for today.

ThousandBewbsInOneStroke: Totally. He's seeking death, alright.

Lurker1: He's seeing death +2

Lurker2: He's seeking death +3

…

Lurker9999: He's seeking death +9999

—・※・※・—

Seiji, who just looked at his chat for a moment, was confused as to what the hell they are talking about.

"Hmm? What are you talking about chat? Who's seeking death?"

He then scrolled up and saw the chats of one of his loyal viewers, CutiePie, ThousandBewbsInOneStroke, and HotDawg.

"Ohh… you guys are asking about the ones in the background? These guys are my teammates."

Seiji then saw a comment asking about which team he is and if they're going to the Nationals.

"I'm going to the nationals, yes. My team is the basketball team of Kyōsen Private Middle School. The Nationals will be held in the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium this year so you guys can go and watch."

—・※・※・—

CutiePie: What do you mean 'this year' streamer-san? Nationals always take place every year in Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.

HotDawg: Yeah, it always take place in the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.

—・※・※・—

Seiji just smiled mysteriously when he saw those comments.

"Oh, right. I will be off for a while after this so you guys wouldn't be able to catch me here for a month of so."

The chat immediately turned chaotic when he said that but Seiji ignored it. His schedule of streaming had always been been chaotic so Seiji knew that these people are already used to it.

"Alright, let me go back to the game… Hmm… it looks like our enemy team is out fragging us. Let's change that, shall we?"

※・※・※・※

Hours passed and the Kyōsen Basketball Club finally arrived at Tokyo. They all groggily got up and booked a room in a hotel and then went to hit the sack after that.

The next morning, everyone woke up early and gathered once again at the bus. The driver took them to the Aida Sports Facility this time, with Kagetora waiting for them at the entrance.

When Chu Lin alighted the bus, Kagetora greeted him with a pat on the back.

"It's been a long time, Lin! You're still quite rich, huh? Spending your own money on the players you're teaching and all."

"Well, these guys are having some problems with their games so we went here in order to have a more in-depth analysis from you, Tora. Besides, you know how I always bring my players here every year…"

Kagetora smiled widely when he heard him say that.

He then wrapped his arms around his old buddy before saying, "You can just do it yourself but you refuse to teach them anything but the basics. Well, I can't blame you since your other moves are laced with your ability. You really are too careful when it comes to young talents."

While stroking his mustache in the process, Chu Lin said, "They are the future of the league after all. We can't have these youngsters be too influenced by us old guys. Carving their own future is what they should do—"

"—I'll just guide them through their journey, is that right? You really never changed, Lin. Hahahaha!"

※・※・※・※

To be continued…

[A/N¹: Kyōsen have complete facilities but Chu Lin still chose to go and ask for Kagetora's help. His ability is already present in each and every moves that he uses during his time in IBA so he didn't want to teach them any further than the basics and strengthen their base. In his own words, "I don't want to make them take a path similar to mine when they have a better future path to take."]

[A/N²: I really wanted to write about an adult having such philosophy since, as far as my short twenty or so years of experience in life taught me, Asian adults often 'tell' or 'instruct' young people to take a certain path because it's 'better to take that path'. Trust me, I've experienced this multiple times with my mom and I deviated a lot to what I really wanted to do when I grow up. I kinda get the whole, "parents think of what's better for their own child", thing but it's kinda messed up when you think about it. This is why if you have a lawyer for a father and mother, you HAVE to grow up and be a lawyer as well! Well, that's the kind of mindset they have.]