Chapter 39 - Thoughts (1/2)

The Tokiwadai team returned to their school after the award ceremony by bus, the ride between the gymnasium and the school was a silent one.

Tokiwadai hadn't substituted a player in the match, so all of the regular members were tired, but none of them were able to sleep, all they did was stare outside the window of the bus and think about the game.

All of them were thinking about what they could have done better in the game, while the scenes of their mishaps and mistakes continuously played in their minds.

Many of the first-string members decided to hang out together and grab a meal before going home.

All of the third-year members headed to the school gym. The next day someone mentioned that the third-years played a friendly match with each and cried a lot in the gym.

Shun, Mibuchi, and Aone excused themselves and went straight to their homes.

Shun walked to his home, thinking about the game. The joy from the award ceremony had already worn out, and what left was the sense of loss.

As much as Shun liked for the thoughts about the game to go away, they were on a playback loop in his mind; he could see every single one of plays and moves that he had made in the game in his mind.

He could remember the feeling of adrenaline flowing through his body. He could still remember the sound of his heart beating faster and faster.

He could still remember the moment he lost.

Shun reached his home, and the lights were on.

Shun: 'They got home before me, huh.'

Shun: 'Or, maybe she would scold me for what happened at the ceremony, or maybe she would do both.'

A chuckle escaped from Shun's mouth. He smiled and headed inside to face his maker.

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Aomine Daiki was an individual who was feeling extremely complicated right now.

He was happy that his team won the Nationals, but he wasn't sure about what to think about the award ceremony.

Kageyama Shun had earned all the individual awards; he was by far the best player that played in the tournament this year.

Aomine: 'I couldn't outscore him, and when he was defending me, I couldn't score against him for the majority of the time. My attempt to pass the ball between his legs was also denied, he was right, and I don't have much experience about close situations, and that affected my game today.'

Today Aomine's team was unable to stop the player who was named the MVP of the tournament, the only reason they were able to win because of the lead that Kuroko helped them gain by occupying Shun.

Of course, Aomine didn't think that they won in an underhanded way. The strategy was an important part of the game, but Aomine couldn't help but think what would have happened if Kuroko hadn't occupied Shun in the third quarter.

Aomine: 'In a way, Tetsu and even Haizaki played a much important role than me in the game today.'

Aomine sighed as he moved to lay in his bed for a good night of sleep.

But then he remembered the bet that he made with Shun before the game.

Aomine: 'He was joking right, he won't make me eat her cooking for a week.'

Shun's irritating face during the award ceremony appeared in his mind, and all hopes of escaping hell were dashed at that moment.

Aomine curled in his bed, shivered a few times, and desperately hoped for the sleep to take over him so that he could escape his current chain of thoughts.

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Murasakibara Atsushi was not a happy camper.

Currently, Murasakibara was going through an existential crisis. He was staring at the box of candy that he had saved for himself as a celebratory treat for winning the finals.

But as he ate them, he couldn't experience the joy and euphoria that he usually experienced from sweets and candies.

Murasakibara couldn't keep the game out of his mind. He couldn't concentrate on his tasty treats.

Every single score that Kageyama Shun had scored upon him revolved in his mind. On top of that, he couldn't stop thinking about the block by Kageyama Shun that had stopped him from dunking.

Murasakibara had dunked extremely sparsely in the tournament, so when the time came that he actually wanted to dunk hard, but was rejected by a player smaller than him had Murasakibara bothered very much.

This was the first time Murasakibara had been blocked so badly. He hadn't met anyone that had been able to stop him from forcing the ball inside the basket.

Murasakibara: 'Damn him, how dare he disturb me during my sweets time. I will definitely crush him next time. I will put in more effort when I meet him next time I won't hold back my strength.'

With that, Murasakibara returned to eat his sweets, trying to gain some joy from them to distract him from the sense of defeat he experienced today.

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Haizaki Shogo was mad beyond what he thought was possible.

Today he was humiliated from repeatedly. His pillaging didn't work on Kageyama Shun.

But the thing he was most pissed about was.

Haizaki: 'Even after I copied him I couldn't stop him score over him, even he was able to stop me from pillaging he shouldn't have been able to score over me and defend me so easily. Our skills were the same.'

Moreover, the words that Shun said during the game were haunting his thoughts ever since the game.

Shun: You can't copy Aomine's natural ball handing or Midorima's perfect accuracy, or Akashi's pass accuracy, or Murasakibara's physical attributes. Next year, you won't be able to copy my skills at all. I would have moved far beyond reach.'

Haizaiki planted his fist on to a table at his home. Haizaki couldn't keep the words out of his mind.

Haizaki couldn't hold himself back and cursed out loud.

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Midorima Shintaro was disappointed with his performance in the finals.

Midorima firmly believed that shooting from the outside was the best skill in the game of basketball.

Midorima: 'You can score three points at a time.'

But today, despite that he wasn't able to score more than Kageyama Shun, the difference in points scored was so drastic that Midorima was ashamed of his performance in the game today.