Kaijō High School locker room.
Everyone ate lemon slices to recover their stamina while listening to the coach's instructions.
Clearly, they had fallen behind in the first half.
In the second half, they would have to push hard if they wanted to erase that deficit.
After Genta Takeuchi had gone over most of the tactics they needed to use, he turned and asked, "Kise, do you have any way to deal with Seirin's so-called shadow?"
Ryota Kise thought for a moment, then shook his head helplessly.
"So far, I haven't thought of any way to defend against Kurokocchi."
"But there's a good chance Kuroko won't play in the third quarter."
"His low presence isn't enough to let him stay on the court for the entire game."
Genta Takeuchi thought it over briefly, then said, "Alright. Since he can't play in the third quarter, we'll go all out in the third!"
Everyone nodded and shouted, "Yes!"
...
On the other side, Daiki Aomine had to use the restroom, so he headed to the bathroom.
But the moment he stepped inside, he froze.
The bathroom was packed with people.
Splash, splash, splash...
"Ah! My tongue!"
Junpei Hyuga had his mouth under the faucet, desperately rinsing out his mouth with water.
Taiga Kagami was doing the same beside him, looking like he wanted to rip the faucet right off the sink.
Almost every faucet had someone standing in front of it, and without exception, every single one of them was rinsing out their mouth.
Kōki Furihata was not at a faucet. Instead, he stood behind Shinji Koganei, hopping in place impatiently.
"Koganei! Hurry up! I can't take it anymore!"
Shinji Koganei kept rinsing his mouth as fast as he could, looking like he was about to cry.
"I can't help it! The taste is still in my mouth!"
Daiki Aomine stared at the scene and asked in confusion, "What... happened to you guys?"
But everyone seemed completely absorbed in rinsing their mouths and ignored him.
"Daiki Aomine."
Tetsuya Kuroko's voice suddenly sounded beside Daiki Aomine, startling him badly.
"Damn it! Tetsuya! Stop showing up out of nowhere!"
Tetsuya Kuroko raised his hands innocently and said, "I was here the whole time. You just didn't notice me, Daiki Aomine."
Daiki Aomine calmed his startled heart and asked, puzzled, "Tetsuya, what happened to them?"
Tetsuya Kuroko looked at everyone and slowly explained what had happened.
Back in Seirin High School's locker room.
At that moment, everyone in Seirin was staring at Riko Aida.
More precisely, they were staring at the lemon slices Riko Aida had taken out.
Riko Aida held out her hand in invitation and smiled sweetly.
"Everyone, please."
Everyone picked up the neatly wrapped lemon slices and examined them.
When they saw that they really were lemon slices this time, not lemon chunks, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Junpei Hyuga also let out a sigh and thought to himself, 'There shouldn't be any problem this time, right?'
With that thought, Junpei Hyuga opened the wrapping, took out a lemon slice, and ate it.
Teppei Kiyoshi and the others all looked at Junpei Hyuga without eating right away.
Clearly, they wanted to use Junpei Hyuga as a test subject.
They needed to see if it was edible first.
Seeing Junpei Hyuga take the first bite, Riko Aida immediately looked at him expectantly.
After Junpei Hyuga put the lemon slice into his mouth, his pupils contracted twice despite himself.
Then he met Riko Aida's hopeful gaze.
Riko Aida looked full of anticipation.
"How is it? Is it good?"
Everyone else also looked at Junpei Hyuga, waiting to see how he would answer.
Junpei Hyuga swallowed the lemon slice, nodded seriously, and said with a straight face, "It's good!"
Riko Aida looked pleasantly surprised and asked, "Really?"
Junpei Hyuga nodded earnestly.
"Really. It's very good."
Since Junpei Hyuga had said that, Teppei Kiyoshi stopped overthinking it. He picked up a lemon slice and ate it.
Shun Izuki did the same.
Tatsuya Himuro, however, silently stuffed the lemon slice into his bag, then pulled out the empty box from the lemon slices he had eaten earlier.
Although he had not joined the team for long, he understood something very clearly.
If something was actually good, Junpei Hyuga would never say it with such a serious face.
If he was saying it was good with that serious an expression, then it had to be so awful that he was afraid his face would break.
So Tatsuya Himuro simply hid the lemon slices.
Shinji Koganei and Kōki Furihata had not eaten yet either.
They were still a little worried, so they planned to wait until the others ate and watch their reactions first.
After the others had eaten, Riko Aida quickly asked, "Is it good?"
Teppei Kiyoshi chewed twice, then paused before smiling.
"Riko, these turned out really good this time, right, Shun Izuki?"
Shun Izuki nodded repeatedly, his lips trembling slightly.
"Yeah. They're much better than the ones sold outside."
After saying that, Teppei Kiyoshi turned to Shinji Koganei and Kōki Furihata.
"Koganei, Furihata, you two should hurry up and eat too. They're really good."
Riko Aida immediately looked at the two of them.
Seeing that everyone said they were good, the two stopped hesitating and began to eat.
Kōki Furihata picked up one slice and put it in his mouth.
Shinji Koganei picked up two.
The instant they ate them, both of their bodies went a little stiff.
At that moment, Taiga Kagami walked over, slowly opened the wrapping, and said, "Are they really that good? Everyone keeps saying they're good."
Shinji Koganei and Kōki Furihata nodded again and again.
"They're good. Really good."
Seeing this, Taiga Kagami said, "In that case, I'll try them too. But this doesn't look like enough."
Just as Shinji Koganei and Kōki Furihata were about to give theirs to Taiga Kagami, Teppei Kiyoshi spoke up.
"Kagami, take mine."
Taiga Kagami looked surprised.
"If you give yours to me, what are you going to eat?"
Teppei Kiyoshi smiled.
"It's fine. I already had enough from that box earlier."
Seeing that, Taiga Kagami stopped refusing. He took Teppei Kiyoshi's box and poured the lemon slices inside into his own.
Teppei Kiyoshi then said to Riko Aida, "Riko, I'm going to the restroom."
The others followed along.
"I'll go too."
"Yeah, I haven't gone yet either. I'll go too."
Junpei Hyuga also said with a straight face, "I drank too much water just now. I'll go too."
After that, everyone slowly walked out of the locker room, leaving only Taiga Kagami behind.
At first, everyone walked slowly.
But the moment they got through the door, they instantly broke into a sprint.
"Water! Water!"
...
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