Sudo, You Wouldn't Want...

After leaving the gym, Ken Kaneki strolled alone along a tree-lined path, turning things over in his mind.

Although he had just beaten Sudo in their one-on-one basketball game, making him attend Horikita's study group as the stakes of a bet would still have been a bit of a stretch.

Ken Kaneki considered several possibilities. Perhaps the likeliest outcome was that doing so would provoke fierce resistance from him, and might even make the guy give up on himself entirely.

Ken Sudō was short-tempered at heart and could not stand a single bad word about him-the classic sort who responded to a soft approach rather than force.

He was stubborn, too. Even coaxing him along was difficult enough, let alone forcing him. That would definitely backfire.

This conflicted somewhat with the role Ken Kaneki had in mind for Sudo in the future. He rubbed his brow, finding it rather tricky.

Returning to the first-year dormitory building, Ken Kaneki had just stepped out of the elevator when he ran into Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, who was about to open his door.

For some reason, Ayanokoji wore a somewhat helpless expression. To be honest, seeing that look on his face was rather absurd.

"What's wrong, Kiyotaka? That's not an expression I'd expect from you." Ken Kaneki walked over and asked with a hint of teasing.

"Don't even ask. Horikita got one over on me today." Ayanokoji sighed and rubbed his brow.

The two chatted in the hallway for a while, and only then did Ken Kaneki learn that Horikita Suzune had lured Ayanokoji out that day by offering to treat him to a meal.

During the meal, Horikita had trapped him with her words, forcing Ayanokoji, who had wanted to stay out of it, to agree to attend her study group and serve as unpaid labor tutoring the struggling students.

Seeing Ayanokoji so stymied, Ken Kaneki could not help silently marveling at how powerful the plot's momentum really was. Some things truly were beyond human control; even if he wanted to stop them, he could not.

Still, under his and Koenji's influence, Ayanokoji's personality was no longer as rigid as it had been at first. Horikita probably would not have an easy time of it during the tutoring sessions to come, either.

"By the way, I heard from some upperclassmen that the school's basketball tournament seems to be starting soon. You went to the gym today-are you interested in that sort of thing? Want to go watch it together when the time comes, with Koenji?"

As though something had occurred to him, Ayanokoji looked at Ken Kaneki and asked calmly.

Ken Kaneki had originally intended to refuse, but then he remembered that Sudo was in the Basketball Club. Perhaps he could find some way to get him to study properly.

Since Sudo had a dream, there ought to be something in the Basketball Club he could use as leverage over him.

"Sure. Let's go watch it together when the time comes." Ken Kaneki changed his mind and agreed with a smile.

The two returned to their respective rooms. Ken Kaneki took off his jacket and hung it on a hanger, then opened the laptop on his desk and logged into the school's club forum.

Sure enough, the red-highlighted, pinned thread on the forum's front page was a heated discussion about the upcoming Inter-School Basketball Tournament.

Ken Kaneki clicked into the thread and skimmed through it, his gaze soon settling on a new announcement jointly issued by the Student Council and the school administration.

The announcement clearly stated: to ensure students' all-round development, all players participating in this basketball tournament had to be official club members and achieve passing grades or above in every subject on their midterm exams. Anyone who failed to meet these requirements would be immediately disqualified.

Reading the announcement, the corner of Ken Kaneki's mouth twitched. Anyone who failed would be expelled, so of course they would lose their eligibility to compete.

Still, after reading the announcement, he gave a knowing smile. Just as he was worrying about finding a suitable opening, the school had promptly handed him a bargaining chip.

It really was like being handed a pillow just as he was getting sleepy.

Given Sudo's abilities, becoming an official team member should be a sure thing. Yet just after becoming an official player, he would be unable to play in matches and would also face the threat of expulsion.

Heh heh heh, Ken Sudō, you wouldn't want to get expelled, would you...

For Sudo, after investing so much, being unable to play in matches would be even more painful than expulsion. After all, with sunk costs that high, anyone would be unwilling to accept it.

Ken Kaneki thought using this condition to make him buckle down and study was feasible, but he needed to find the right moment.

He had to wait until Sudo went into the tryouts full of hope, only to have that hope brutally shattered by reality. Only by laying out his terms when Sudo was at his most desperate, most eager to clutch at a lifeline, could he make him fully commit to working hard and improving himself.

There was actually no need to go that far, since he would have the midterm exam questions and answers later, but he still needed to improve the guy's academic abilities.

Meanwhile, back in the gym.

Ken Sudō was still tirelessly working up a sweat. Perhaps his earlier showdown with Ken Kaneki had drawn out his potential, because his shooting touch was exceptionally good now. Several difficult fadeaway jump shots in a row all went cleanly through the net.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and broke into a broad, happy grin.

Feeling the abundant strength in his body and the rapid improvement in his basketball skills, he felt that next Monday's tryouts for official team members were already practically in the bag.

As long as he became a starter, he could prove his worth on the court. That was what Sudo thought.

Just then, the basketball gym's doors were shoved roughly open, and two thuggish-looking second-year students with rainbow-dyed hair swaggered inside.

They spotted Ken Sudō under the basket at once and walked straight over, ill-intentioned smiles on their faces.

"Well, if it isn't our genius first-year rookie, Sudo. Working pretty hard, huh?" one of the rainbow-haired upperclassmen said mockingly.

Ken Sudō stopped and frowned at the two of them. He recognized these guys. They were the basketball team's perpetual benchwarmers, water-cooler attendants who liked throwing their weight around as upperclassmen.

Having learned about Sudo's circumstances from who knew where, the other upperclassman began openly ridiculing him.

"What good is being good at basketball? I heard your quiz scores were complete crap. You couldn't even get forty points.

An idiot like you with nothing but muscle in your head is definitely getting expelled after the midterms, right? Hahahaha!"

They had hit a sore spot. Veins bulged on Ken Sudō's forehead in anger, and he abruptly tightened his grip on the basketball, itching to throw it straight into the other boy's face.

But he knew the serious consequences of fighting at school. To stay in the Basketball Club, he forcibly suppressed his anger and said coldly through gritted teeth, "My business is none of yours!"

"Tsk, tsk. Quite a temper." The rainbow-haired upperclassman curled his lip disdainfully, and then the two burst out laughing as though they had heard the funniest joke in the world.

"We couldn't be bothered with you. We're just being nice and giving you a reminder: stop dreaming. No matter how good you are, even if you become an official team member next week, you definitely won't get to play in any matches!"

Those words made Ken Sudō freeze, leaving him rather confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what we said, moron."

The two offered no further explanation. Having finished mocking him, they swaggered out of the basketball gym like victorious roosters.

Ken Sudō stood where he was, his brow deeply furrowed. He knew these two upperclassman substitutes had most likely come to pick a fight and mess with his head out of jealousy over his basketball talent.

He had long since grown used to being excluded and ridiculed, and he did not care at all what these weaklings thought.

Yet their parting words, "won't get to play in any matches," lodged deep in his heart like a tiny thorn, leaving him inexplicably irritated and uneasy.

He hurled the basketball at the backboard with a loud thud, only for it to rebound and knock him to the floor.

As he stared at the ceiling above him, only Ken Sudō's heavy breathing remained in the empty gym.