Chapter 24 Basketball 23

The atmosphere was depressing and so quiet that the only sound was the gurgling water in the swimming pool.

Finally, it was Midorima Shintaro who frowned and broke the dead silence: "So what happened? Why did she fall into the water and faint?"

Murasakibara Atsushi glanced at the dark-skinned man calmly, "Fengzi, you weren't the one who pushed her over there? I'll crush you to pieces."

A vein popped out on Aomine Daiki's forehead. "Huh? How could I possibly do such a thing! I just said a few words and she suddenly fainted and fell into the water!"

"Tsk, Fengzi is so weak, he can't even catch her."

"...Looking for a fight, Murasakibara?"

Midorima Shintaro interrupted their elementary school quarrel with a headache, "Stop arguing, take her away from here first, she will get sick easily if she keeps catching cold like this."

"Well, okay." Murasakibara Atsushi walked out with Kurikawa Sana in his arms, muttering, "Kuri-chan...she's so light."

He reached out and gently poked the girl's fair and soft cheek, "Your face looks like a coconut daifuku."

Midorima Shintaro: "...Don't treat her like food, Murasakibara!"

"I'm so hungry." Murasakibara Atsushi lowered his eyes and looked at the girl in his arms, "The more I look at her, the hungrier I get."

Aomine Daiki frowned and looked at him without saying anything.

When Murasakibara Atsushi walked to the gymnasium entrance holding Kurikawa Sana, Momoi Satsuki was already waiting at the entrance. Midorima Shintaro sent her a text message explaining the current situation.

"Sana!" Momoi Satsuki hurried over, looking worried. "What should we do? Why did Sana suddenly faint? Should we go to the hospital?"

"His heartbeat and breathing were quite calm. He might have fainted because he was frightened when he fell into the water," said Midorima Shintaro.

Momoi Satsuki breathed a sigh of relief, "Is that so... Then let's send Sana home to rest."

Aomine Daiki twitched his lips and asked, "Do you know where her home is?"

Momoi Satsuki: “…I really don’t know.”

"Oh, I do know where she lives."

A male voice suddenly sounded behind them.

?Who is speaking?

Tao Jing Satsuki turned around in confusion, but the person she saw was extremely surprising.

Wearing the gray-green uniform of the Kirisaki First Junior High School team, with black hair and black eyes, distinctive thick black eyebrows, a fair and handsome face, and a gloomy temperament...

It turned out to be the captain of Kirisaki Daiichi Junior High School, Hanamiya Makoto! The guy who had used tricks to injure Murasakihara and the others in the previous match!

And didn't Kirisaki's match end long ago? Why is this guy still hanging around so late...

No, these are not the point. The point is why Hanamiya Makoto knew Sana's house address and when did he meet Sana?

Momoi Satsuki stared at him warily, "Hanamiya-senpai knows Sana? How did you know Sana's home address?"

Murasakibara Atsushi, Midorima Shintaro and Aomine Daiki also looked at the newcomer with unfriendly expressions. They had all experienced Hanamiya Makoto's "methods" in the competition, and of course they had no good feelings towards the person in front of them.

Hanamiya Makoto was already used to other people's wary looks. He shrugged indifferently and looked at Kurikawa Sana who was in someone's arms.

The girl huddled quietly in Murasakibara Atsushi's arms, her delicate little face leaning weakly on Murasakibara's broad chest. Her brows were tightly furrowed in her coma, and her eyelashes and long black hair wet by water all added a touch of fragility to her temperament.

"..." Hua Gongzhen closed his eyes.

I don't know what she did to make herself so weak.

After a long pause, Hua Gong Zhen finally spoke with a condescending attitude, "She lives next door to me. Of course I know her address."

Tao Jing Satsuki: "..."

This is an unexpected reason.

"But I can't open the door even if I send Sana home. I don't have the key."

Hanamiya Makoto: "Her door is unlocked with fingerprints. You just need to put her finger on it."

!!!

Now everyone's expression changed.

How does this guy know so much?!

…

*

The next day.

When Kurikawa Sana opened her eyes and woke up, she found herself back home, lying on a soft big bed.

Hey, how did she come back?

Her last memory was at the edge of the swimming pool, where Qingfeng was constantly deducting favorability points from her, causing the favorability points that had already been exchanged for health points to be recycled.

The physical manifestation was an instantaneous acute lack of oxygen and heart pain, which caused him to faint.

The system's electronic voice sounded: [Sana, you're awake.]

【After you fainted last night, Momoi and Midorima were the ones who brought you back.】

"Wow, it has to be May and Midorima-kun, so reliable... Wait, do they know where I live?"

They met Hanamiya Makoto at the gymnasium entrance, and he told them the address.

"Is that so? Then the toilet at my door will be seen again?" Kurikawa Sana's eyebrows twitched.

[Don't worry, I've already fixed the entrance. The view they see when they come in is beautiful.] The system paused and continued, [I will correct anything you point out as not being good.]

Kurikawa Sana instantly breathed a sigh of relief: "Huh...that's good."

System: [How do you feel now?]

"Well, my head still hurts a little." She sat up, covering her head. When she thought that the reason for the headache was that Qingfeng had deducted her favorability, she felt numb.

Qingfeng originally had 81 points of favorability towards her, but after deducting 10 and 15 points in succession, only 56 remained... It's not even the passing line, what a bleak number.

She really wants to give up.

System: [Perhaps Murasakibara was right to advise you not to look for Aomine. At that time, his comfort and persuasion would only have side effects.]

"Actually, if you think about it, it's not surprising that his favorability rating was deducted. I've always had a vague feeling that, with a favorability rating of over 80, Aomine's was a bit more precarious than Murasakibara's. His favorability rating increased too quickly... Now I finally know why."

The system is curious: [What's the reason? ]

Kurikawa Sana deadpanned, "Because I happened to be his 'type,' he only gave me superficial affection. If I said even one or two things wrong, it would be taken back."

Aomine Daiki's favorite type is girls with very big breasts.

system:【………】

It seems that she is really very angry and has started to make fun of herself.

System: [Are you giving up on your strategy against Aomine? Sana.]

Kurikawa Sana still felt dizzy after she stood up from the bed. She opened the refrigerator, took out a hamburger and heated it up. She took a bite of the burger with a wronged look on her face and choked up, "I'll try harder, wuwuwu."

"Actually, I have no right to blame Qingfeng. It's just that the feeling of discomfort reminded me of bad memories, which is why my emotions are fluctuating..."

The girl lowered her eyes and said softly, "I approached everyone for my health. My motives were impure to begin with. It's perfectly normal for my favorability to be withdrawn. It's completely their freedom."

"Next, just let nature take its course."

【……】

The system was silent for a long time before saying, "Perhaps we should focus our strategy on Kise and Midorima."

"Um……"

[As I've warned you before, if you don't gain at least 80% favorability before leaving this world, this body will collapse, and the next round of the Volleyball World will start with a Weakness debuff.]

Kurikawa Sana choked and suddenly felt that the hamburger no longer tasted good.

"I see."

*

After resting at home for a while, especially after eating and drinking enough, Kurikawa Sana finally felt that her body had recovered some strength and rushed back to school to participate in today's activities.

Before that, she replied to everyone's messages on her phone one by one.

[Momo: Sana, Sana, are you feeling better? You fainted last night and really scared me TAT]

[Momo: That guy Ada’s temper has been a bit unpredictable lately… Sana, don’t be angry, I’ll give him a good talk QAQ]

[Momo: Let me know when Sana wakes up. I’ll be waiting for you.]

Wuwuwu, May is simply an angel! So many text messages came in a row, and the eager concern was about to overflow the screen. Kurikawa Sana was so moved that her eyes turned into rolling fried eggs.

[Do your best and leave the rest to fate: Kurikawa, please keep warm after getting cold in the water. Although Momoi dried your hair and clothes, you still need to be careful these next few days, otherwise you will get sick easily.]

[Do your best and leave the rest to fate: I've told Akashi about the school, and he's already requested leave for you, so just relax and rest.]

Midorima is really a gentleman and a polite good man, but his nickname on the line [Do your best and leave the rest to fate] is a bit too serious, so serious that you can hardly tell his age.

Then came Murasakibara's text message—

[Yummy Stick: I was right, wasn't I? It would have been better if we didn't go looking for him, but Lizi insisted on going.]

Kurikawa Sana couldn't help but twitch her lips. Murasakibara's nickname was full of flaws, and what he said was really hurtful to her.

That's indeed the truth... If she didn't go looking for Qingfeng, Qingfeng's favorability wouldn't drop to 56. If his favorability could be stabilized at 81, then she wouldn't have to pursue Qingfeng anymore.

[A: Just rest and relax for the next few days. Don't worry about your work.]

As expected of Akashi, this extremely short sentence gives people a strong sense of security. Even the nickname starting with the single letter A in his surname Akashi is full of domineering.

[Kuroko Tetsuya: Sorry, Kurikawa-san.]

[Kuroko Tetsuya: I'll talk to Aomine-kun.]

Huh? Why would Kuroko apologize to her? It wasn't like he was responsible for Aomine's dark transformation... But Kuroko and Aomine were so close, and they were a combination of "light" and "shadow." With Aomine's current state, Kuroko must be feeling worse than anyone else.

Kurikawa Sana typed out her replies to everyone's messages one by one, and then realized belatedly that someone seemed to be missing?

——There is no information about Kise.

Akashi and Kuroko both sent messages, and it was likely that everyone knew that she was unwell and fainted. Kise should know about it, but he didn't intend to say much.

Ah, you are the type who is warm on the outside but cold on the inside, Kise-kun.

On the outside, he appears to be approachable, seemingly able to make friends with anyone, and often displays a friendly, bright smile. However, in reality, his inner walls are very high, making it difficult to truly enter his heart.

The favorability level of her early 60s wasn't enough for him to truly care.

Kurikawa Sana looked at it for a long time before turning off the phone screen and turning to walk out.

…

*

When she returned to the school gymnasium, Kurikawa Sana found that the atmosphere in the gym was abnormally depressing, and everyone's faces looked worried and shocked.

"No, no way?"

"That Minister Akashi was actually beaten unilaterally by Murasakibara!"

"Both of their expressions were terrifying, especially when Murasakibara said she was so disappointed. She didn't expect Akashi to be only this good..."

The members were talking about it, and everyone in the gym stopped training to watch the 1v1 duel between Akashi Seijuro and Murasakibara Atsushi.

The score on the white scoreboard showed Akashi vs. Murasakibara: 0 to 4 - Akashi actually didn't score a single goal.

Kurikawa Sana couldn't understand this sudden development.

"What happened? Why did they suddenly start a one-on-one fight?" She quickly grabbed one of the onlookers and asked.

The club member blushed when he saw her, but quickly replied, "Ah, Kurikawa-san, you're here..."

"It all started when Murasakibara-san said she wanted to be like Aomine and stop coming to club training. Captain Akashi didn't allow that, so it ended up being a case of strength being the deciding factor. The one who scores five goals first wins."

Kurikawa Sana: "..."

how so?

Kurikawa Sana looked anxiously towards the center of the court and met Akashi Seijuro's eyes.

She couldn't help but be stunned.

This was the first time I saw Akashi with this expression. Such a "fragile" expression appeared on Akashi's face.

I was confused and stunned, and couldn't imagine that I would be facing a situation of "losing".

There is no word "lose" in Akashi Seijuro's dictionary.

After meeting Kurikawa Sana's eyes and seeing her suddenly appear in the gym, Akashi Seijuro's crimson pupils contracted violently, and his body seemed to be nailed to the spot, unable to move.

Realizing that the red-haired boy seemed to have completely given up resistance, Murasakibara Atsushi let out a bored "tsk" and was about to dribble through to score the last point when—

Next second.

Kurikawa Sana saw that Akashi's left eye of the crimson eyes that were looking at her turned golden in an instant.

At the same time, his expression also changed, and the astonishment and fragility of the previous second were swept away.

With a "bang" sound——

Akashi Seijuro easily snatched the ball from Murasakibara Atsushi's hand at a speed that was impossible for anyone to see with the naked eye, and took it for himself.

Five minutes later.

Akashi Seijuro defeated Murasakibara Atsushi with undoubted strength, ending the match with a score of 5 to 4.

…

What happened just now?

Kurikawa Sana rubbed her eyes in disbelief. When she opened them again, Akashi's eyes, one gold and one red, were facing her.

Akashi held the ball in one hand and raised his chin slightly. His face was exactly the same as before, but he looked like a completely different person.

In his eyes, there was only arrogance and arrogance that looked down on everything, as well as the absolutely powerful strength that matched it.

The look he gave her became filled with indifference.

Kurikawa Sana stood there in a daze, and a bad premonition arose in her heart again.

No, this time it couldn't even be described as a bad premonition. She felt as if a taut string in her mind snapped.

Could it be that Akashi also...

Will the favorability be deducted as well?!