Chapter 011
"Seriously, how can there be ghosts in this world? Satsuki really knows how to create problems out of nothing." Walking alongside Murasakibara toward the newly constructed gymnasium, Aomine had been complaining the entire way. He'd had the perfect opportunity to show Atsushi his slam dunk, but instead he was wasting time on this ridiculous ghost hunt. Though he knew that even if Atsushi had stayed for training, it wouldn't have lasted very long anyway.
Murasakibara listened with complete indifference. "What's the big deal? We don't have anything else to do anyway, right?"
"Tch, if there really is a ghost, I hope it can fight me so we can see who's stronger," Aomine said sarcastically. He couldn't believe anyone would actually buy into such nonsense.
When they reached the gymnasium entrance, the distinct sounds of basketballs bouncing against hardwood and sneakers squeaking on the court echoed from inside. Murasakibara looked genuinely startled: "Could it actually be a ghost?"
"Don't be stupid—that's impossible! Someone must be playing basketball in there!" Aomine immediately shot back with obvious irritation.
He marched over and yanked open the gymnasium door, but the moment it swung open, all the basketball sounds and sneaker squeaks abruptly stopped. Looking around at the completely empty gymnasium, Aomine felt a chill run down his spine as fear crept into his heart: 'What the hell is going on? There were definitely sounds just now... could it really be...?'
Murasakibara glanced around with mild surprise. "Huh, that's weird! I definitely heard something just now. Maybe it was a rare case of mass auditory hallucination?"
"How could it be auditory hallucination? Those sounds were absolutely real, and they stopped the exact moment we opened the door," Aomine replied, looking at Murasakibara in amazement. How could his reaction be so incredibly dull?
"Um, who are you two?" a quiet voice suddenly spoke from behind them.
Aomine immediately shivered when he heard it, dropping to the ground and shouting in terror: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Ghost-sama! I didn't mean to invade your territory—please spare me!"
"Ahhh! Who are you?" Murasakibara looked at the light blue-haired boy standing behind them, who appeared almost ethereally pale and weak.
The mysterious boy looked at Murasakibara with surprise: "You're Murasakibara-san, and Aomine-san as well."
When Aomine heard someone call his name, he turned to look at the person behind him. "Who are you? How do you know us?"
"Hello, my name is Tetsuya Kuroko," the boy replied politely. "As for knowing Murasakibara-san and Aomine-san, of course I do—after the middle school league tournament, your names became famous throughout all of Teiko Middle School."
Murasakibara looked at Aomine, whose mood had stabilized somewhat, and said mockingly: "Didn't Mine-chin just say he wasn't afraid of ghosts? How did you get so scared? You're really useless."
Aomine reacted as if someone had stepped on a cat's tail, immediately sputtering incoherently: "That's... that's not... damn it, that kind of situation is a completely normal reaction! But why are you here anyway? School ended ages ago!"
Kuroko looked at Aomine and stated matter-of-factly: "I'm just practicing basketball."
"Practicing?" Aomine looked stunned.
"Yes, there are too many people on the main basketball courts, so I train here by myself every day," Kuroko explained calmly.
Murasakibara pouted with obvious dissatisfaction and deliberately drew out his words: "Really~ now! Do you realize that your training here made everyone think this place was haunted? And what's the deal with this situation? Why didn't we see you just now? Were you hiding somewhere?"
"No, I've been here the entire time," Kuroko replied flatly. "Because my natural presence is very thin, most people don't notice my existence."
"No way," Aomine said in amazement, touching his chin with a detective-like expression. "That explains everything! So the gymnasium haunting incident—you're the culprit."
Seeing Aomine pointing his finger at Kuroko with that ridiculous look, Murasakibara couldn't help but respond with mild exasperation: "Mine-chin, don't you usually only watch sports programs? When did you start liking Detective Conan?"
"Huh! You've seen it too, apparently," Aomine looked at Murasakibara with genuine surprise at being called out so quickly.
"Of course I have—Conan's been running for over ten years. You'd have to be living under a rock not to have seen it," Murasakibara rolled his eyes at Aomine's surprised expression.
"Heh, hehe... hahahaha," Aomine laughed awkwardly, feeling somewhat embarrassed. When had this guy Atsushi started watching anime? He really didn't understand.
Watching Aomine's flustered reaction, Murasakibara yawned helplessly. "This whole thing is such a boring farce. I'm going home."
"Wait a minute, Atsushi! We still haven't settled our match!" Aomine shouted as he saw Murasakibara turning to leave. There weren't many opportunities for this guy to stay and train! Moreover, their usual training was organized by the coach and Captain Nijimura, leaving no extra time for one-on-one battles.
Murasakibara looked confused: "A match? We didn't fight at all! What match are you talking about? Let's just call it a draw and be done with it." He turned around and walked away directly after speaking—if you wanted to fight, there would be time for it later. Right now, it was better to go home and eat.
"What kind of draw would that be? We haven't even started fighting yet, and you're declaring it a draw!" Aomine looked angrily at Atsushi, who was already walking away. Once this guy decided he didn't want to fight, nothing you said would matter.
"Um, Aomine-san..." Kuroko suddenly called out from behind, startling Aomine since they'd both forgotten there was still another person there. He turned around and said: "Don't suddenly scare me like that, Tetsuya!"
"So, Aomine-san, aren't you going home?" Kuroko asked, looking at him curiously.
"Well, there's no rush for that. By the way, Tetsuya, how about we play a quick game together?"