It was the same old brand new day in Shohoku High School. The crystal clear blue skies and the heavenly clouds are swimming above with the sun's heat. It was two months since the opening of the school. Rukawa, Hanamichi and Haruko are now sophomores and at they're all in the same class. The teacher arrived very late and she entered the class with a girl not in uniform.
"Ok, I know all of you here are familiar with each other. Anyway, I am going to introduce you to your new classmate."
"Hi! I'm Minako Hanasaki. You may call me by my first name, Minako." She told the whole class with a smile.
"She was accelerated once and that made her age younger from yours but still you must treat her well."
The guys in class were just staring at Minako including Rukawa who was supposed to be sleeping but awaken with noise from whispers. He found himself staring at her the whole time and Haruko noticed that.
"Oh my! She's so pretty! But mind you Haruko, you're simply the most beautiful girl I've ever met." Hanamichi told Haruko. They are both seatmates.
"You may seat beside… Rukawa."
Minako sat on the chair where the teacher pointed his finger to. She was just smiling to all the guys who were looking at her.
"Rukawa's so lucky that her seatmate is Minako."
"Yeah. But it's ok. She's our classmate and she seems friendly and nice. I'll try to talk her later."
They started the class and Rukawa found himself gazing at Minako's face… once more.
"Any dirt?" Minako asked Rukawa as she points to her left cheek, smiling.
"None… you are just beautiful the way you are…" I couldn't believe I could say that. The words just slipped from my mouth. My heart… the beat… Rukawa said to himself.
All the guys were eavesdropping to Rukawa and Minako's conversation. They were jealous of this.
"Thank you. Your name?"
"Kaede Rukawa."
"Nice name. Kaede… maple tree and Rukawa… flowing river, do I got it right?"
"Yeah."
Time passed by so fast and the bell rang indicating that it was time for lunch. They all stood up. Rukawa and Minako were sitting while Hanamichi and Haruko were approaching them.
"Hi! I'm Haruko and he is Sakuragi."
"Nice to meet you."
"So, how do you find him as your seatmate?"
"Kaede? Well… he's nice and I think he'll be a good friend… Right?"
Rukawa was blushing and he just nodded. Sakuragi was shocked of Rukawa's cold attitude slightly changing to a friendlier one.
Haruko invited Minako for lunch. Sakuragi and Rukawa went to the gym to meet all the other players.
IN THE GYM…"Hey guys! Have you met a girl with long straight jet-black hair with almond-shaped brown eyes and what else shall I say… a very beautiful face with a slender body? I think she's from another school…" Mitsui asked them.
"Do you mean Miss Hanasaki? She's a newcomer and our teacher told us that she was accelerated once so that means she's younger than us…" Hanamichi said and the other guys were just listening.
"I am going to tell it to Haruko. You seem so informed about the new girl. Nyahahahahahaha!!!"
"Well, as for me, Haruko's the only girl in my life."
"Anyway… it's the first day of school and she' only a newcomer but she's a little bit popular already. I think many guys would try courting her…"
"Including you Micchan? Well, well, well, sorry but Rukawa had his hands on her already. He's just the seatmate of Miss Minako Hanasaki."
"Is that true?"
Rukawa was blushing again. "Yeah…"
"Oh my… we've got one lucky guy here."
At the school cafeteria, Haruko introduced Minako to Matsui and Fujii. They became friends and with all the time… guys were just looking at them or some few introductions.
"I guess all the people here in Shohoku are friendly. I admire it very much."
"I see. Well, would you like to come and see the practice team of our basketball team later? I'm sure you'd love meeting Mitsui, Ryota and the others."
"Well, I'd like that."
"You've just met the two other team members a while ago."
"Who?"
"Hanamichi and Rukawa. Rukawa is Shohoku's ace player while Hanamichi is the king of rebound."
"Really? I think I'm lucky enough to have the three of you as my classmates. I love basketball but I'm not a player though."
"Anyway, I think we better go ahead. We are going to be late for the remaining class."
IN THE CLASSROOM…"Hi Kaede! I've heard that you're Shohoku's ace player."
"Well, yeah."
"I want to see how you play ball. I'm going to watch the practice later. I'll be expecting your good shots, ok?"
"Sure."