Lying in his hospital bed, Makoto Hanamiya felt nothing but regret—deep, deep regret. If he could go back to that afternoon, he'd remind himself of two things: first, keep his hands clean; second, watch his mouth.
"Well, well. Look at you two." Shoichi Imagawa carried in a lunchbox and pushed open the hospital-room door. Adjusting his glasses, he smiled in a way that was hard to read. "One of you got his jaw broken, and the other got his ribs cracked. You might as well have just gone up and fought those two."
"Shut up. Why didn't you go up against them?" Makoto Hanamiya glared at Shoichi Imagawa, still deeply dissatisfied with how he'd performed that afternoon.
"I may be unpopular, but I'm not stupid. Forget the golden-haired kid—the purple-haired one alone is beyond anything you can predict by ordinary standards!" Shoichi Imagawa shuddered. A flicker of fear passed through his narrowed eyes, and for a moment, he seemed to be back on the practice court that afternoon...
"Hey, senpai, Murasaki and I are newcomers, and we don't know how to play yet. Why don't you teach us how to settle things on the basketball court?" Ken Kaneki spoke gently, but his presence kept growing stronger on the court. Beside him, Atsushi Murasakibara could barely hide his feelings. His face was full of irritation, and he looked like he wanted to get on the court and beat someone up right away.
"Hey, hey, what exactly are you two trying to do?" The center from Kirigi First Affiliated Junior High School nervously stepped forward and challenged them.
"Murasaki and I just want to have a friendly exchange and learn some basketball tips. What are you senpais so nervous about?" Ken Kaneki spread his arms and smiled kindly.
"Hahahaha! This is fun. Too much fun." Feeling provoked, Makoto Hanamiya grinned and walked up to Ken Kaneki, holding out his right hand. "If you're really eager to learn, how could we possibly keep anything from you?"
Just as Ken Kaneki was about to shake his hand, Makoto Hanamiya slapped his palm away. Sticking out his tongue, he cackled, "Of course I was lying. Who'd teach you? You're dead, you bastard!"
Ken Kaneki looked at his hand, then gave a scornful laugh and glanced at Makoto Hanamiya. "You're so young and already crazy? Sigh, I'm a kindhearted person, so in a little while, I'll show you our family's traditional medical techniques."
After that, Ken Kaneki didn't even look at Makoto Hanamiya. He shoved past him and headed straight onto the court.
"Let's go together, Murasaki." Ken Kaneki turned to Atsushi Murasakibara. "Don't slack off today. If you crush your matchup, I'll buy you potato chips for a whole month. But if you dare slack off, I'll hand your manga over to the teacher."
"Yeah, got it." Atsushi Murasakibara, his hair tied up, rolled his shoulders and complained, "Ken-chan, you really nag like an old lady. Even if you don't buy me chips, I'm still gonna crush them today."
"Oh? Such confidence?"
"...At least a week's worth, Ken-chan."
Watching the two of them chat as if no one else were there, Makoto Hanamiya's expression twisted to the extreme. Shoichi Imagawa hurried over to calm him down. "Take it easy, Makoto. Those two aren't easy to deal with. You could tell from the warm-ups before the game. At least the purple-haired one's got some real strength. If we go after them recklessly, we could get hurt..."
Makoto Hanamiya gave Shoichi Imagawa a strange look but said nothing, only signaling the referee to continue the game.
There was no need to explain Atsushi Murasakibara taking over at center. The Second String's two point guards were both out for the season, so Ken Kaneki had no choice but to play point guard.
As Makoto Hanamiya slowly dribbled toward him, Ken Kaneki smiled faintly and stepped up to meet him.
"You little brat, you're really getting on my nerves," Makoto Hanamiya ground out through clenched teeth. "I'm going to destroy you today."
Ken Kaneki picked at his ear and looked at Makoto Hanamiya without expression, as if he were looking at an idiot.
"Bastard, what's with that look?" Like the final straw that broke the camel's back, the last thread holding Makoto Hanamiya's sanity snapped. He no longer cared who won the game. He only wanted to cripple the kid in front of him.
After sizing him up, Makoto Hanamiya tried the same trick again, feinting a drive so he could repeat the dirty move he'd used against the Second String point guard in the first quarter. Seeing Ken Kaneki make the exact same move as the other defenders, Makoto Hanamiya let a sly smile creep across his lips.
But this time, things didn't go as planned. Ken Kaneki seemed to have his feet fixed in place. He blocked Makoto Hanamiya only slightly, then left him a clear path to drive.
So he can only shoot accurately... What a softie. He's no threat. Makoto Hanamiya instinctively gathered the ball, ready to go up for a layup.
"Senpai, you're unbelievably naive." Ken Kaneki's voice came from behind him. "Someone gives you a lane to drive through, and you just take it? Aren't you afraid they'll wreck you from behind?"
Makoto Hanamiya realized something was wrong, but he was already in the air, and the ball had left his hands. He couldn't adjust his position or pull the ball back. All he could do was pray it went in.
As expected, who'd listen to the prayers of someone as vile as Makoto Hanamiya? Ken Kaneki swatted the ball against the backboard and brought it down. Kirigi First Affiliated Junior High School's players rushed in to fight for it, but Ken Kaneki under the basket shouted, "Ahhh, don't fight over it, don't fight over it! This is my rebound, mine!" He stuck out his thick elbows and swung them from side to side, pretending to be afraid someone would steal the ball.
As luck would have it, Makoto Hanamiya had just gotten up after Ken Kaneki's block knocked him down. He was trying to figure out how to get even when Ken Kaneki's elbow struck him squarely in the stomach. It felt as if a massive impact drill had hit him, and he crumpled on the spot.
Seeing Makoto Hanamiya go down, Ken Kaneki stopped clowning around and fired a long pass to Atsushi Murasakibara, who had already charged down the court. Atsushi Murasakibara caught the ball and slammed it into the hoop with a bang.
"Seriously, you really trust me that much? What if I couldn't beat them to the rebound? Then you'd have run all that way for nothing." Ken Kaneki teased with a smile.
"Ah, are you serious, Ken-chan? If you couldn't grab the rebound against a bunch of losers like them, Old Platinum would train you to death when we got back." Atsushi Murasakibara yawned, taking Ken Kaneki's words for nonsense.
"Why don't you just play properly, Makoto? Those two don't seem to be cut from the same cloth as ordinary people. They look like trouble..." Shoichi Imagawa urged, looking at Makoto Hanamiya, who had just taken a hit to the gut.
"Tch, quit nagging. If you're scared, I'll put someone else in." Makoto Hanamiya, clearly seeing red, could no longer hear any advice. His eyes were bloodshot as he growled, "I'm taking those two down today. Not even Amaterasu Omikami can save them. I said it!"
Makoto Hanamiya's bloodshot eyes turned toward the team's two big men. "Kojiro, Kentaro, you two take the purple-haired one. I want him unable to walk out of Kirigi First Affiliated Junior High School on his own!"
Before you continue