46 Chapter 45

And just as they had agreed, the next day after class, they immediately packed their bags in preparation for their trip to Kaijo High in Kanagawa Prefecture.

As they were walking out of the classroom, Ichigo stopped Takao and Midorima in their tracks. "Oh, by the way, Midorima, since you're so rich, could you pay for my train ride?" he asked.

"Train? Who said we're taking a train?" Takao replied.

Ichigo was perplexed by Takao's response. "Then how do you expect us to get there? Are we supposed to walk? How long would that take? The game would be over before we even arrive!" he questioned Takao.

"Trust me, man. I've got it covered. We have our own ride, so don't worry," Takao confidently assured him.

"A ride?" Ichigo's excitement grew upon hearing that they had their own transportation. He turned to Midorima and asked, "Did you provide a car? You spoiled brat, why didn't you say so?"

Midorima didn't reply, and Ichigo assumed he was just being shy about it. "Wow, you even arranged for a ride! How considerate of you. You're really treating us like friends. From now on, you're officially my best friend," Ichigo said enthusiastically.

Upon hearing these words, Midorima's eyes twitched as he monotonously replied, "No thanks."

Although Midorima's lack of enthusiasm didn't bother Ichigo, he continued walking with a spring in his step. Seeing his excitement, Takao looked at Midorima with a smile as they followed behind Ichigo.

"Hey, wait for us! You don't even know where we parked our ride," Takao called out, chasing after Ichigo and reminding him.

Hearing Takao's words, Ichigo stopped in his tracks, turned to face them, and said, "After you, gentlemen!" He said it in a formal manner, with a British accent. Midorima raised an eyebrow upon hearing Ichigo's incredibly poor attempt at a British accent, finding it quite appalling.

Takao led them to the back of the school where the bikes were parked. He then headed to a specific parking space and stopped Ichigo in his tracks, saying, "Wait here for me while I fetch our ride."

Ichigo, excited and unable to wait, started pestering Midorima to find out what they would be riding. Midorima grew irritated with the constant questions and simply told him to wait for Takao to bring their ride.

So Ichigo patiently waited for a minute until he saw Takao emerging from around the corner with their ride. To his surprise, Ichigo exclaimed, "What the hell? Is that it? Is that our ride?" His excitement quickly turned to disappointment as he saw a bike with a cart attached.

"How is it? Isn't it nice?" Takao asked proudly, displaying the rickshaw in front of Ichigo.

Taken aback by Takao's confidence, Ichigo turned to him and asked, "What the hell is that even called?" Then he turned to Midorima and questioned, "Did you know about this? Did you arrange for this?"

Midorima adjusted his glasses and replied, "Of course it was me, and it's called a rickshaw. And before you get angry, this was the only legal option to avoid getting stopped by the cops." He said this with a hint of pride in his voice.

Ichigo watched as Takao and Midorima climbed into the rickshaw. Takao took the driver's seat, while Midorima sat in the back. Takao turned to Ichigo and asked, "What are you waiting for? Get in now. If we delay any longer, we might be late for the game. And if one of the upperclassmen or Coach Nakatani sees us, we won't even get to see the game at all."

Ichigo let out a sigh and reluctantly joined Midorima in the cramped cart. With their tall frames, both of them struggled to fit inside properly. Once they were settled, Takao started pedaling vigorously, propelling the rickshaw forward. Midorima reached into his pocket and pulled out two items: a magazine and a toy frog.

Midorima looked at Ichigo expectantly, displaying the items in front of him. "Aren't you curious about this?" he asked, presenting the magazine to Ichigo.

Ichigo saw that it was an Oha Asa magazine and begrudgingly replied, "Let me guess, it's the Oha Asa horoscope, and according to it, the frog is your lucky item for the day," his voice filled with fatigue.

Midorima nodded proudly. "Correct. According to Oha Asa, today is supposed to be a great day for my zodiac sign, which is Cancer," he explained. Ichigo could only sigh at the sight of Midorima's self-satisfied smile, trying his best to get comfortable in the cramped rickshaw.

Ichigo closed his eyes and casually mentioned, "I'm going to take a short nap. Wake me up if we arrive." He didn't wait for a response and quickly drifted off to sleep, likely due to exhaustion.

Midorima noticed Ichigo sleeping and decided not to disturb him. Instead, he occupied himself by reading his Oha Asa magazine. Meanwhile, Takao remained focused on pedaling the bike as fast as he could, eager to reach the game between Seirin High and Kaijo High.

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A few moments passed, and Ichigo realized that they had stopped moving. He groggily woke up and asked, "Have we already arrived?"

There was no response. Ichigo looked around and saw Midorima already walking ahead towards the school, while Takao struggled to catch his breath and couldn't reply.

Concerned, Ichigo looked at Takao's exhausted face and asked, "What happened to you? Why are you so tired?"

Takao glared at him, attempting to form words but still gasping for air. Seeing his distress, Ichigo gently patted his back and reassured him, "It's okay, take your time. We're not in a rush. Just focus on breathing in and breathing out."

After a few minutes, Takao regained his ability to speak. He grabbed Ichigo's collar and angrily explained, "We were supposed to take turns pedaling the bike, but you were sleeping all this time."

Trying to calm him down, Ichigo responded, "Okay, okay, my bad, calm down. If you were so exhausted, why didn't you ask Midorima to take over?"

"Do you think I didn't try?" Takao snapped back. "He was so absorbed in reading his magazine that he insisted if he stopped halfway through, bad luck would come to us. I didn't believe him at first, but he showed me a passage in the magazine that said exactly what he claimed. I still didn't trust it, but he was too stubborn to pause his reading, so I had no choice but to keep pedaling."

Takao finished his story, his exhaustion evident, and almost teared up from sheer exhaustion.

Feeling sorry for Takao, Ichigo allowed him to get in the cart while he hopped on his bike and pedaled his way to Kaijo High, following Midorima. As they entered the school premises, Takao began to calm down and took in the sights around him. He noticed that Kaijo High was a much larger school compared to their own, and it had a noticeably cleaner and more pleasant atmosphere.

While Takao was busy observing the school, Ichigo was focused on locating the basketball gymnasium, determined to find Midorima. After a while, he finally heard the sound of bouncing basketballs and voices coming from a distance. As they approached the gymnasium gate, they discovered it was locked, leaving them with no choice but to circle around the building in search of a vantage point to watch the game.

During their search, Ichigo spotted Midorima through one of the windows, observing the game from outside. Just as Ichigo was about to call out to him, Midorima gestured for him to stay quiet. Recognizing the signal, Ichigo parked the rickshaw to the side and along with Takao, joined Midorima near the window.

"Did it already start?" Ichigo asked Midorima.

Hearing his question, Midorima nodded and replied, "It had already started before I arrived. It's already the end of the second quarter now."

Upon hearing that, Ichigo looked inside the court and noticed that both teams were already on their benches, awaiting the restart of the game. As he looked around, he tried to find the score and was surprised by what he saw.

The score was 66-59 in favor of Seirin High. Ichigo was shocked to see Seirin leading the game. He knew that with his former teammate, Ogiwara, joining Seirin's basketball team, they would be stronger compared to the anime. However, Ichigo didn't expect them to be good enough to compete against a team with a Generation of Miracles member. He wondered if Seirin and Ogiwara had improved rapidly or if Ryota Kise hadn't progressed as much.

Turning to Midorima, Ichigo asked, "Since you arrived here first, did you see both teams in action? How is Seirin High leading against Ryota Kise's team?" He hoped to gain some insights into the ongoing game.

Midorima adjusted his glasses before replying, "Based on my observation during the time I arrived, Kuroko was the one causing trouble for Kise's team. I didn't see much of the game, just less than two minutes, but from what I saw, it was Kuroko and that red-haired guy who were doing all the damage for Seirin High."

"How about my former teammate, Ogiwara? How did he perform?" Ichigo asked, curious about how much Ogiwara had improved.

Midorima shook his head and replied, "I didn't see him play. He was already on the bench when I arrived, so I don't know how well he performed."