[Ogiguro] Sketch time

>>15. "Fragile hopes, broken promises"

A cold, pale light shone stiffly from the top of the hallway on the white signage. The three dark Chinese characters of "infirmary" are particularly conspicuous and dazzling.

At the far end of the corridor, Ogiwara Chenghao had already noticed the pink-haired girl who was anxiously pacing back and forth in front of the infirmary.It wasn't until he walked in front of her and asked softly that he noticed that his voice had become hoarse because of the almost heart-piercing cry just now: "Excuse me... is Mr. Heizi here?"

"Ah... yes." Momoi Wuyue, who was immersed in extreme anxiety, realized that there was someone standing in front of her after hearing the voice, "but...he hasn't woken up yet..."

"...that's it." Originally full of hope of "wanting to see him", but finally realized that he was powerless, it all turned into ridiculous timidity, "...thank you." Turning around, I want to escape from the cowardice that can't look directly at myself. However, she was stopped at the same place by the girl's question: "Um... are you Zhejun's friend?"

It was just a pure and simple question, but it easily dragged my mind into chaos.

Thinking about his own definition in Heizi's mind amidst countless familiar images from the past, Ogihara raised his eyes and met the piercing gaze of the red-haired boy with strange-colored pupils who suddenly appeared in front of him——

"Who are you? What's the matter with Zhe Ye?"

Hearing the other party address the person he cared for by name, Ogiwara frowned almost invisible, but still replied politely: "I am Ogiwara Chenghao from Meikou Middle School, and I am here to visit a friend."

"The opponent in the final...Ogiwara?" Akashi Seijuro quickly searched for fragments of this surname in his memory, "...I see. It was because of you that Tetsu would play so hard before."

"You've heard of me?" Although he was a little upset that the other party kept calling Kuroko's name, Ogiwara was even more curious about how Akashi knew about their relationship.

"I just heard Tetsuya say it by chance before. But because he doesn't like to talk about his past, so I may be the only one who knows." Akashi narrated calmly, "And from this point of view, you are looking forward to fighting each other. . . . But unfortunately, Zhe will not be able to play in the next game against you.”

Even though he had a premonition of such a result, Akashi's words still emptied his inner hope little by little like a huge syringe.

"...Anyway, the result is the same, I hope you can fight to the end." Akashi said as he brushed past him, his expression indifferent and calm.

That expression gradually overlapped with Heizi's lonely voice on the phone in his mind. Ogiwara turned his head, and his voice was rare and dignified: "Wait a minute, do you... feel happy playing basketball?"

"..." The other party's calm expression was still unshakable, "I don't understand what you mean by asking this question."

"I also feel very reconciled to not being able to fight Heizi, but I don't plan to say anything more here. I have already made up my mind that you don't take us seriously. Diguang is indeed very strong-but You guys are just winning the game, I don’t feel anything else.” Ogiwara looked directly at Akashi’s cold eyes, and his tone was almost pressing, “There should be something more important than winning or losing. Bar?"

"...Do you want to say that is to enjoy the game? It's really boring." On the face like ice and snow, there is a colder indifference, "The words like 'even if you lose, as long as you are happy' are just excuses for the weak."

"Of course I won't be reconciled if I lose! But because of this, I can keep working hard to win next time. If I win the game, I will be very happy, so playing basketball will be fun!"

"Sure enough, it's just general words. The words you said are nothing but crown words that you only say after you lose." The cold eyes, as sharp as a knife, pierced straight into Hitomi Ogihara, "What a waste of time Just like your self-aware words, I will not take you seriously—whether it is strength or those nonsense."

"..." Frowning, Ogiwara finally deeply understood the reason why Kuroko Tetsuya showed such a sad and lonely expression - the basketball that lost its pure original intention and joy, and the team that was so torn apart.

Clenching his fists, Ogihara watched Momoi's trembling eyes, and finally shouted at Akashi's indifferent back: "Tell Kuroko! We will definitely play basketball together again!" Then, the brief moment of rebounding in the empty corridor Responding to the echo, he resolutely turned around and left.

At almost the same moment, Hei Zizhe on the hospital bed in the infirmary also seemed to hear the firm words just a few meters away through the solid door panel, and his consciousness slowly gathered back to his blank mind.

Slowly opening his confused blue eyes, Kuroko turned his head slightly, and saw Akashi Seijuro and Momoi Itsuki who opened the door and entered.

"Tetsuya, how are you feeling?" Akashi bent down and asked with concern.

"... Akashi-kun... Momoi-san..." Enduring the lingering pain in his brain, Kuroko managed to organize his words, "The competition..."

"Of course we won. — and the final is five minutes away, so sorry it's just me here."

"!!" After hearing this, Heizi threw off the quilt and got out of bed eagerly, "I want to play too...!!" However, the precarious figure scared Momoi to exclaim his name: "Zhejun!!"

"No. The doctor told us to let you rest, so you can sleep here obediently."

"But—" Ogiwara's smiling face jumped into the chaotic and painful mind, Kuroko almost paranoidly wanted to persuade Akashi, but the other party easily blocked all the words stuck in his throat: "I know, Ogiwara-kun is right Right? I ran into him in the aisle just now." The indifference and harshness not long ago could no longer be heard in the calm tone, "'We will definitely play basketball together'—that's what he said."

"?!!" In this short sentence, Heizi immediately heard the clear and painful voice of the promise being broken again, "...so... ah..." Holding back the tears of disappointment and loneliness Falling, Kuroko called softly, "Akashi-kun..."

"what?"

"Final... Please play seriously, please..." Looking up at the pair of beautiful but dangerous eyes with different colors like poppies, the voice almost begging trembled.

"It doesn't matter what point difference we play?"

"...Yes." Lowering his eyelids, Heizi could no longer hold on to looking directly into his eyes, "...'I still hate being put in water', if it was him... he would definitely say that."

"..." Looking down at such a fragile Kuroko with faint hopes, Akashi just agreed lightly, "I see. Then let them see clearly—Teiguang's strength."

However, among the four members of "Generation of Miracles" in the preparation area, a storm was quietly brewing that was about to sweep the audience.So when Akashi Seijuro stepped into the eye of the storm, he immediately noticed the abnormally flowing aura.

But he just curled the corners of his mouth slightly, and said with a proud smile: "...well, it's pretty good, it looks much more interesting than a simple scoring competition. And...it's also very suitable for the next game opponent."

——It doesn’t matter what kind of point difference we play.

——You agree with this, Tetsuya.

Deliberately distorting the original meaning of the conversation, Akashi indulged in tearing down the last thin semblance of the storm.

"All high school finals - Teiguang Middle School vs. Mingming Middle School, the official start!"

--------------------------------

Dark vision, chaotic consciousness.

Hei Zizhe also felt that he was wandering in endless darkness and dull pain, unable to find the place of light.

Countless fragments of torn memories flashed before his eyes from time to time.

He saw the boy handing him a popsicle, and his bright smile lit up the entire midsummer sky.

He saw the boy tightly wrapping himself in his arms in the rain, the warmth was like blood flowing all over his body.

He saw them make another promise that day full of hope and joy——

Then, it fell apart again.

"...Woo..." The sad groan escaped from his throat, tearing the pain in his mind more and more.

The girl who had been guarding the bed heard his voice and called eagerly: "Zhejun?!"

"Woo... the game... how is it going now...?" Struggling to sit up, Heizi felt that his heart had already been pierced by the fragments of the broken agreement.

"Zhe-jun! You can't move yet!" Momoi hurriedly supported his crumbling thin body, "...I heard that the fourth quarter has just started, I only know that our side has a big lead..."

"I'm going to take a look... I remember that the screens for the live broadcast of the game are nearby..." Heizi managed to get out of bed and walked towards the door, "Even if I can't play the game... at least I want to see the result of the game with my own eyes... "

"Zhejun..." Seeing that Heizi had made up his mind, Momoi, who had tried to keep him back, had no choice but to take the next best thing and accompany him to the display screen at the intersection of the aisle not far away.

When they arrived, audiences in twos and threes were gathering in front of the monitor and discussing.

"As expected of Diguang, the overwhelming gap... The championship has already been decided."

"But Mingming has done a good job, and he is already determined to lose..."

And on the LED screen relayed through the camera, the score at this time was displayed as 109-9.

"Looking at the difference in points, it shouldn't be a problem. The three consecutive championships are also in sight..." Momoi only felt that everything was taken for granted.However, Heizi couldn't help but start to tremble, his heart gradually froze as if he had been plunged into an ice age: "No... this game is a bit... strange..."

——Even if Ming Ming's strength can pass the test and enter the final, but according to Diguang's real strength, the point difference will not be only 100.

——Why is this happening?what did they do...

At this time, Kise Ryota made a fierce and wonderful slam dunk, which widened the point difference to 102, which caused a lot of exclamation, and even the announcer in charge of the commentary shouted excitedly: "Goal—— ——It’s really merciless!! Even after the victory was decided, Teiguang didn’t slow down the rhythm of attack at all!”

However, this excitement and enthusiasm has not been transmitted to the physical and mental body of the Diguang players on the field from the beginning to the end.

"It's so strong... not only the attack, but also the defense..." As a small forward, Shinji Fujikawa held the ball, sweat already dripping down his forehead, "Although we also relied on luck to break through and score a few times... But still can't even get ten points...?"

Hearing his teammates muttering a little self-defeating, Ogiwara Chenghao raised a bright smile of encouragement as always, and shouted at him: "We still have time! Don't give up!!"

"Huh? What are you talking about, the game has already-"

"I know that kind of thing... But it's too irritating to let the game end without doing anything like this! There are 15 seconds left, we must at least get double digits!" Even if the final outcome is known , but the true love for basketball has never cooled down, "Anyway, we are going to lose. Let's set the final goal and lose with our heads held high!"

"Ah Cheng..." Fujikawa was slightly stunned, while Ryohei Sugasaki laughed with a clear look, "Ah... that's right. Then give them back a ball and let them see Look at our ambition!!"

"Oh oh!!"

Ming's team members were inspired to fight again, but they didn't know that all this was reflected in the eyes of those people, as if it was just the dying struggle of the weak who were overwhelmed.

There were only 15 seconds left in the fourth quarter without suspense, but in Heizi's chaotic mind, a guess derived from that score was gradually taking shape, with sharp edges and corners emerging little by little.

"...Could it be..." He trembled in horror, then turned and rushed towards the field, "Why...why...?!"

On the court, as soon as Ogiwara Chenghao received the ball from his teammates, he immediately broke through Aomine Daiki's defense and threw the ball, but the ball just hit the basket, accompanied by a heavy vibration.

"...Ah, it's rare that I let you pass, so you just put in it." Qingfeng's indifferent voice without emotional ups and downs came from behind, "Hey—— Ziyuan—"

"Received—" Intentionally elongated his voice, Atsushi Ziyuan tiptoed lightly as usual lazily, and threw the ball in again, adding two points to Ming Ming at the end of the game.

"Huh...?" Ming's team members stared at the scene in front of them with dumbstruck eyes. They didn't recover until the referee blew the whistle to end the game.

"He did it on purpose just now...?!" Ogihara recalled Aomine's complaining words behind him at that time, and was momentarily puzzled, "Why did they do this..."

At this time, the chitchat of the Teiguang players who were not happy about winning caught his attention——

"Really, it's a waste of me to help them look good at the end..."

"But look, look, we made it together ~ the goal has been achieved!"

——Collect...? !Shouldn't...

He looked back at the LED scoreboard in disbelief.

——111-11.

The five scarlet numbers 1 froze there, as if turning into sharp daggers and piercing into the heart.

——Combine the scores of the two teams...to make up...1...

—Just...for...this...?

"Then... those points lost just now..." Ming's team members also noticed this cruel fact, and stood there blankly, "It was all... intentional...?!"

——From the very beginning...we were just...used to play by them...

——is regarded as... the kind of toy that is simply used to pass the time, to make up numbers...

"Ogiwara-kun——!!" Heizi stumbled onto the arena, realizing that his terrifying conjecture had become a cruel reality, and even his voice trembled out of tune.

"...Heizi." Turning around, the moment he met the other person's eyes, all the pretense of calm was broken in an instant.

——At this moment, the good news of Teiko's three consecutive championships on the radio seemed to be the cruelest irony.

The author has something to say:

I'm finally about to finish the abuse QvQ

Re-watching the Teiguang chapter is really a cruel torment...

Starting from the next chapter, it really deviates from the development of the original to send sugar! !