Chapter 015
The next day, Murasakibara arrived at the meeting point to find the second-string players and Ranki already waiting. He looked around at the assembled group and greeted them with mild embarrassment: "Sorry, looks like you've all been waiting for a while..."
"Of course we have, Murasakibara-san! Please develop some sense of time—you're ten minutes late!" An orange-haired girl immediately voiced her displeasure the moment Murasakibara approached. Knowing that Atsushi Murasakibara was a first-string member and a rare talent in the basketball program despite being only a first-year, she felt the need to establish some authority from the start.
Murasakibara looked up at her—she was quite cute and appeared to be about a year older than him.
Ranki felt somewhat helpless since everyone knew Atsushi but wasn't particularly familiar with him. He tried to smooth things over: "Sorry, Sakura-senpai. Atsushi didn't mean to be late."
The senior named Sakura remained unyielding: "Because of Murasakibara-san's delay, we just missed a bus, and now we'll have to wait another ten minutes."
"Sorry, I overslept a bit. Really sorry," Murasakibara apologized with genuine contrition. "By the way, who are you?"
"I'm Akai Sakura, the second-string team manager and a second-year at Teiko Middle School—your upperclassman, little Murasakibara." Akai Sakura looked surprised that Murasakibara wasn't as difficult to approach as she'd expected. He seemed completely easygoing and friendly. "I'll be leading you all to Senko Middle School today, so you must follow my instructions during the trip."
Murasakibara tilted his head: "Eh, but Akashi-chin said I'm the captain for this game. Why should I listen to you?"
"What an airhead! I'm your manager—basically, until we reach Senko Middle School, everything goes through me. Understand?" Akai Sakura placed her hands on her hips with obvious authority.
The second-string members behind her looked at Murasakibara's somewhat unreliable demeanor. Initially, his towering figure had seemed imposing, but hearing him speak revealed an almost childlike naivety. "Atsushi Murasakibara is obviously very powerful, but he's quite different from what I imagined," one whispered.
"I feel the same way! When I saw him from a distance before, he had this overwhelming presence, but now I can't sense it at all!"
Ranki smiled ruefully from the sideline: "Don't worry, everyone. Atsushi is always like this with friends, but you'll see—when he's on the basketball court against Senko Middle School, he's completely reliable."
Akai Sakura studied Murasakibara with slightly furrowed brows. He was quite different from her initial expectations. She'd thought he would be difficult to approach due to his intimidating height and build—the sense of pressure and deterrence was usually overwhelming whether viewed from afar or up close. But actual conversation revealed a completely different personality.
Moreover, as second-string manager, Sakura had limited contact with first-string players. She'd only heard about and occasionally glimpsed Atsushi Murasakibara and Seijuro Akashi but didn't really understand them.
While the school had plenty of Akashi, Midorima, Aomine, and Haizaki fans, Atsushi Murasakibara seemed to have remarkably few admirers.
Initially, Sakura had assumed this was because his tall stature and distant appearance intimidated girls from approaching him.
But direct contact revealed a massive discrepancy. Murasakibara pulled out a bag of potato chips and began eating casually. Seeing this behavior, Sakura developed several stress lines on her forehead: "Murasakibara-san, eating that kind of food first thing in the morning isn't good for your health. Didn't you eat breakfast?"
"Of course I ate, but we're waiting for the bus now anyway, right? What's the harm?" After popping a chip into his mouth, Murasakibara noticed the second-string members staring at him with surprise. He pulled out several more chip bags: "Oh sorry, I forgot—since this is our first meeting, these are for you."
"Is this... a greeting?" The second-string members looked at the potato chips in their hands, their mouths twitching slightly. Even Akai Sakura stared at her bag, feeling like her entire perception of Atsushi Murasakibara had been turned upside down. This felt like children exchanging snacks on a playground!
Though this guy was technically in first year, he really did seem like a child!
Suddenly realizing this, understanding flashed through Sakura's mind. The gap between his intimidating physique and childlike mentality was enormous—while his build was genuinely intimidating, his actual behavior resembled that of an overgrown kid.
No wonder Murasakibara had so few fans at school. Thinking this, Sakura sighed helplessly, tore open the chips he'd given her, and began eating slowly.
She whispered to herself: "Really, I guess I was overthinking things. But this is probably better—this personality is at least very easy to get along with." She watched Murasakibara mindlessly munching chips with somewhat vacant eyes.
Arriving at Senko Middle School, their basketball facilities were quite substantial, though not as large as Teiko's. Unlike Teiko, their basketball program wasn't divided into multiple tiers since the entire club only had about thirty members total.
A man in his thirties from Senko Middle School approached them: "Hello, I'm the basketball coach at Senko Middle School. Please take care of us today."
"Hello, I'm the manager for Teiko Middle School's basketball program. Please take care of us as well," Akai Sakura replied politely.
Senko's coach looked at Atsushi Murasakibara while noting that the rest didn't appear to be first-string members. His brow furrowed slightly: "It seems only Murasakibara-san is from the first-string team?"