It was the end of the school day. Students of Shohoku high were going home.
Some were staying for their extra activities. Rukawa Kaede walked through
the white-painted corridor and entered the locker room. Some freshmen were
already there. They started whispering when Rukawa stepped in. He paid them
no attention though. They were probably talking about the issues of his
suspension anyway, so who cares. His hands groped into his sport bag to
pull out his nike shirt and blue shorts. Just as he was about to undress
himself, Sakuragi Hanamichi, his long-life rival emerged into his sight.
"Naaa Rukawa!!! I heard you were suspended!! Nyahahahaha!!! I guess I will
have peaceful practices during the times when you had to stay home! Aaahh…
It will be heaven… I will surely grab Haruko's atten-"
"Urusai…" Rukawa cut his foolish sentence. He was pissed about it already in the morning, and he got to meet this odd girl that ruins his idea of peaceful sleep on the roof, and he just don't want to hear anymore from Sakuragi's big mouth.
"What?! How dare you---" The rowdy sound of the sliding door broke Sakuragi's words.
"Deuce!" The captain, Miyagi, stepped in, accompanied with Ayako on his side. They were lovers, and they started going out everywhere together. With that they looked like a stamp sticked to an envelope. "Hi there Sakuragi, Rukawa, everybody…"
"Nyahahaha," Sakuragi bursted out into his enthusiastic, unpleasant-to- ears, laughter, "Oi, Ryochin! Did you hear about Rukawa? Nyahahahaha!!"
"Cut it, Sakuragi Hanamichi. Get dressed and go down to the gym." Ayako swung his folded paper fan in the air to threaten the redhead idiot.
Instead of being scared and warned, Sakuragi patted her on the shoulder and put an uncomfortable smile on his lips (for Ayako, though). "Hehehe… I was going to get change, Ayako-san… Demo, it seems like you are fully-dressed in your usual manager uniform then how come you are here? Nyahahaha! You must be wanting to see Ryochin naked aren't ya?"
"Pervert!!!!!!!" There's no further caveat, Ayako hit his head with her fan hardly, leaving a red, hot, bump on his head. Redder than his hair.
"Do'aho…" Now Rukawa was dressed in a violet T-shirt and a black oblong in front. His pants were blue and he didn't forget to wear his wristband and slid it near his elbow. He then left the uncanny but daily views inside the locker room behind and headed straight to the gym.
There were dead silence inside just after he left. Everybody's eyes were fixed onto the shut door. Miyagi and Sakuragi turned their head and looked at each other. "Oi, Hanamichi," Ryota began and finally break the hush inside the room, "What did you say about that issue thingy?"
"Oooh! I'm sure you wanna know… I heard from Tsukimiya he got suspended…" Informed Sakuragi. His mouth was fully round as he spoke.
"Oh… No wonder. I guess he must've had a bad start for the day…" Ryota grabbed his clothes and walked into the toilet to change.
A freshmen stood up and looked at Sakuragi and Ayako with concern on his face. "Demo, Ayako-san… Sakuragi-sempai… Does that means that he would be absent off the practices too?" (a.n : poor grammar, I know… T__T)
Ayako rubbed her chin and then tangled the strands of hair with her index. "I guess so… Yeah… How long will he be off-school, Sakuragi?" She bent down her head to look at Sakuragi who was beneath her, fixing his shoes.
"I heard… I don't think it's the exact thing but… I heard it's fifteen days…"
"Fifteen days?" The pitch of the curly haired freshmen raised. "He'll be absent for fifteen days?! Oh no…"
"Huh?"
"I won't be able to see his remarkable plays anymore…" He paused to take a deep breath. "I love Rukawa-sempai's skills… he's just soo good! No wonder he—" Before the newcomer could manage to finish his sentence, Sakuragi threw him out of the window.
"Teme… Rukawa's fans are growing everywhere… Not only females but… guys?!"
***
Rukawa was inside the gym already. The practice hadn't start but he had worked on his three-point shoots already. Haruko and the Sakuragi Gundan were already there too. "Ne… Rukawa-kun is so quiet today, huh?" Haruko veered back to ask Youhei and the others.
"Yeah… No wonder. I heard he got punished because of skipping class… He must be feeling poignant right now…" Ookusu scratched his head.
"It's no ordinary punishment," rejoined Tsukimiya as he chewed on his tortilla chips that he had brought from home, "He's sacked off school for 15 days…"
"Fifteen?!" Haruko gasped aloud but then she cupped her mouth. She must've been said it too loud and worried that Rukawa could hear her. "Fifteen?" She said with a softer voice. "Isn't that too much…"
"Haruko-chan… He didn't only skip that class… He's been doing that a dozen of times before, perhaps. And that girl too."
"Girl?" Haruko was shocked to hear that word; girl. The definition of what they had mentioned were still unclear in her head. What do they mean by a girl? "What do you mean?"
Youhei sighed and crossed his arms. "A girl who's as imprudent as Rukawa… She's always sleeping in class and skipping lessons. Tsukimiya-kun's in her class. You said she had bad manners and often curse right, fatso?" His elbow nudged Tsukimiya's wide ribs.
"Yeah… She's detested that chemistry teacher, Akihara, more than anybody one else. And she often call her bad names like witch, hag, and even slut…"
"That's terrible…" Haruko grasped her hands together in sympathy. "But what are they going to do for 15 days? I mean… It's kinda too long and too boring for them to just stay home and do nothing."
Youhei rested his palm upon Haruko's head. "Haruko-chan… The principle often gives assignments for them to finish. And it will be enough to fill their time. And oh," Mito Youhei clapped his hands, "I heard they were given groupwork project. Is it true?" The fattest among the four only nodded in reply because his mouth were stuffed with chips.
"Groupwork? Does that mean that Rukawa-kun has to work with that thug girl?"
"She… Her looks might not be as bad as her personality, Haruko-chan. She's not those kinds of bandit girls that were around this school… In fact, I suppose… She look kinda pretty…"
Haruko's attention turned to the person who swerved her head into the gap between the entrance of the gym to take a peek. "Oh… Someone is outside…" She put a charming smile on her lips and rushed to the door to greet her.
"Oi, Mito! That girl!! It's that girl!!"
"I know!!!!!! Sshh!! Rukawa might hear us…"
"Hello there, can I help you?" Haruko began their conversation with a friendly manner. The girl smiled back and then introduced herself.
"I'm Ririku Carmenita… I'm here to see Rukawa Kaede… Is he around?" Her eyes rolled around to look at the entire gym that lays behind Haruko's back.
"Aa… My name is Akagi Haruko. I'm the assistant manager of the team. You're here to see Rukawa, aren't you?" Haruko lowered her head and blushed. "Are you one of his fans?" Her voice was softer and calmer, enough for only the two of them to hear.
"…Fans?" Ririku's face looked puzzled. "That arctic guy has fans?"
"…Yeah. Rukawa-kun is famous throughout Japan for his outstanding basketball skills. He's titled for the Number One Rookie in Japan and he had helped our team a lot to accomplish national tournament's first place." Haruko detailed her explanation to her. How come such girl never know a guy like him?
"Maa… I heard Akira-kun said his name a lot but I don't have any idea who he is… Anyway, may I see him?" (a.n : Sendoh Akira?? Yes? No… Don't know… check out later on ^__^)
"Sure… I'll go inform him. Please wait for a short while, okay?" And with that Haruko left her standing within the opening of the door, rushing towards Rukawa. She cleared her throat before she called out for him. With her hand, she stroke the hair from her cheek and pulled it back to her ears in edginess. "Ano, Rukawa-kun…"
Rukawa turned his head and looked at her as he brought down the ball to from the air to his waist. "…What?" His hand started to fiddle around with the ball, tossing it lightly in the air and spins it on the tip of his finger.
"Ano… There's a girl, she's here to see you… I think she wants to talk to you…" Haruko was trembling. It happens often. Everytime when she was near Rukawa, her heart grow faster madly and she finds her lips shaking, making it hard to greet or just say hello to him.
Rukawa looked away and he sounds uninterested in meeting that person. "I don't wanna see her…"
"Matte!" Haruko stopped him from getting away by grabbing his shirt with her hands. It was done unconciously. She blushed as her hand loosen up his cloth. "I think you really have to see her, Rukawa-kun… I believe Ririku- san has important things to say to you…"
"..Ririku?" His eyes snapped wide when he heard the name.
Haruko was both confused and relieved at the time. She was quite perplexed at why Rukawa responded so much to that name, and was relieved for he has intentions to talk to her. "Yes… Do you know her?"
"Quite." And then he walked past Haruko and headed straight to the gym entrance. His head searched around for her figure. He finally spotted her. She was leaning her back against a huge tree trunk on the yard just before the gym while her head was tilted up.
She noted that someone was coming towards her. She bend her head towards the direction of the footsteps. "Aa… You're here. I wanna talk to you!"
"Make it fast, I had lots of important things to do…" Retorded Rukawa coldy.
"Geez, you don't have to be so rude." She sneered as her hand tossed back her long strands of dark hair to her back. "It's regarding this crap," Ririku lifted up the brown folder and shoved it forward, pushing it against Rukawa's masculine chest. "I wanna end it soon."
The Shohoku Ace slid the ball and locked it between his arm and his waist. "Yeah sure so I can have plenty of sleep without being bothered with those shit." Sarcasm escaped his lips.
Reflexively her hands rose between the fresh air of early-summer and hit him on the back, hard. "Don't mock me… I'm being serious… Okay, back to business. What do you say if we work these out together in your house?"
"My house? Why not yours? Trying to rob me?"
"Gosh, you don't have to be so insolent!!" Ririku hollered at him on the top of her lungs. "…My house is too far away… I think yours are close enough. Well, at least closer to here than mine…"
"…." Rukawa fondled his bangs and swipe it backwards. "Okay then… Whatever you like…"
"Affirmative," The long-haired lass smiled in delight when she heard Rukawa's reaction. She almost jumped in excitement. It was the first time for him to see her smile joyfully like this. Back then when he first met her eye-to-eye, she hadn't shown a single smile. She looked kind of amiable with those smile on her rose lips. Perhaps she's not the type of those who really don't own femininity in her heart. "So then… I'll be waiting for you. And since I don't have anything to do and today's singing club doesn't held a meeting, I guess I'll be watching today's practice."
"Fine with me…"
With that Rukawa re-entered the gymnasium, followed by Ririku on his back. She stopped just before the entrance and leaned onto the rigid doorframe while watching the members around practice.
a.n :: I think rukawa's being too boorish to her…
"Urusai…" Rukawa cut his foolish sentence. He was pissed about it already in the morning, and he got to meet this odd girl that ruins his idea of peaceful sleep on the roof, and he just don't want to hear anymore from Sakuragi's big mouth.
"What?! How dare you---" The rowdy sound of the sliding door broke Sakuragi's words.
"Deuce!" The captain, Miyagi, stepped in, accompanied with Ayako on his side. They were lovers, and they started going out everywhere together. With that they looked like a stamp sticked to an envelope. "Hi there Sakuragi, Rukawa, everybody…"
"Nyahahaha," Sakuragi bursted out into his enthusiastic, unpleasant-to- ears, laughter, "Oi, Ryochin! Did you hear about Rukawa? Nyahahahaha!!"
"Cut it, Sakuragi Hanamichi. Get dressed and go down to the gym." Ayako swung his folded paper fan in the air to threaten the redhead idiot.
Instead of being scared and warned, Sakuragi patted her on the shoulder and put an uncomfortable smile on his lips (for Ayako, though). "Hehehe… I was going to get change, Ayako-san… Demo, it seems like you are fully-dressed in your usual manager uniform then how come you are here? Nyahahaha! You must be wanting to see Ryochin naked aren't ya?"
"Pervert!!!!!!!" There's no further caveat, Ayako hit his head with her fan hardly, leaving a red, hot, bump on his head. Redder than his hair.
"Do'aho…" Now Rukawa was dressed in a violet T-shirt and a black oblong in front. His pants were blue and he didn't forget to wear his wristband and slid it near his elbow. He then left the uncanny but daily views inside the locker room behind and headed straight to the gym.
There were dead silence inside just after he left. Everybody's eyes were fixed onto the shut door. Miyagi and Sakuragi turned their head and looked at each other. "Oi, Hanamichi," Ryota began and finally break the hush inside the room, "What did you say about that issue thingy?"
"Oooh! I'm sure you wanna know… I heard from Tsukimiya he got suspended…" Informed Sakuragi. His mouth was fully round as he spoke.
"Oh… No wonder. I guess he must've had a bad start for the day…" Ryota grabbed his clothes and walked into the toilet to change.
A freshmen stood up and looked at Sakuragi and Ayako with concern on his face. "Demo, Ayako-san… Sakuragi-sempai… Does that means that he would be absent off the practices too?" (a.n : poor grammar, I know… T__T)
Ayako rubbed her chin and then tangled the strands of hair with her index. "I guess so… Yeah… How long will he be off-school, Sakuragi?" She bent down her head to look at Sakuragi who was beneath her, fixing his shoes.
"I heard… I don't think it's the exact thing but… I heard it's fifteen days…"
"Fifteen days?" The pitch of the curly haired freshmen raised. "He'll be absent for fifteen days?! Oh no…"
"Huh?"
"I won't be able to see his remarkable plays anymore…" He paused to take a deep breath. "I love Rukawa-sempai's skills… he's just soo good! No wonder he—" Before the newcomer could manage to finish his sentence, Sakuragi threw him out of the window.
"Teme… Rukawa's fans are growing everywhere… Not only females but… guys?!"
***
Rukawa was inside the gym already. The practice hadn't start but he had worked on his three-point shoots already. Haruko and the Sakuragi Gundan were already there too. "Ne… Rukawa-kun is so quiet today, huh?" Haruko veered back to ask Youhei and the others.
"Yeah… No wonder. I heard he got punished because of skipping class… He must be feeling poignant right now…" Ookusu scratched his head.
"It's no ordinary punishment," rejoined Tsukimiya as he chewed on his tortilla chips that he had brought from home, "He's sacked off school for 15 days…"
"Fifteen?!" Haruko gasped aloud but then she cupped her mouth. She must've been said it too loud and worried that Rukawa could hear her. "Fifteen?" She said with a softer voice. "Isn't that too much…"
"Haruko-chan… He didn't only skip that class… He's been doing that a dozen of times before, perhaps. And that girl too."
"Girl?" Haruko was shocked to hear that word; girl. The definition of what they had mentioned were still unclear in her head. What do they mean by a girl? "What do you mean?"
Youhei sighed and crossed his arms. "A girl who's as imprudent as Rukawa… She's always sleeping in class and skipping lessons. Tsukimiya-kun's in her class. You said she had bad manners and often curse right, fatso?" His elbow nudged Tsukimiya's wide ribs.
"Yeah… She's detested that chemistry teacher, Akihara, more than anybody one else. And she often call her bad names like witch, hag, and even slut…"
"That's terrible…" Haruko grasped her hands together in sympathy. "But what are they going to do for 15 days? I mean… It's kinda too long and too boring for them to just stay home and do nothing."
Youhei rested his palm upon Haruko's head. "Haruko-chan… The principle often gives assignments for them to finish. And it will be enough to fill their time. And oh," Mito Youhei clapped his hands, "I heard they were given groupwork project. Is it true?" The fattest among the four only nodded in reply because his mouth were stuffed with chips.
"Groupwork? Does that mean that Rukawa-kun has to work with that thug girl?"
"She… Her looks might not be as bad as her personality, Haruko-chan. She's not those kinds of bandit girls that were around this school… In fact, I suppose… She look kinda pretty…"
Haruko's attention turned to the person who swerved her head into the gap between the entrance of the gym to take a peek. "Oh… Someone is outside…" She put a charming smile on her lips and rushed to the door to greet her.
"Oi, Mito! That girl!! It's that girl!!"
"I know!!!!!! Sshh!! Rukawa might hear us…"
"Hello there, can I help you?" Haruko began their conversation with a friendly manner. The girl smiled back and then introduced herself.
"I'm Ririku Carmenita… I'm here to see Rukawa Kaede… Is he around?" Her eyes rolled around to look at the entire gym that lays behind Haruko's back.
"Aa… My name is Akagi Haruko. I'm the assistant manager of the team. You're here to see Rukawa, aren't you?" Haruko lowered her head and blushed. "Are you one of his fans?" Her voice was softer and calmer, enough for only the two of them to hear.
"…Fans?" Ririku's face looked puzzled. "That arctic guy has fans?"
"…Yeah. Rukawa-kun is famous throughout Japan for his outstanding basketball skills. He's titled for the Number One Rookie in Japan and he had helped our team a lot to accomplish national tournament's first place." Haruko detailed her explanation to her. How come such girl never know a guy like him?
"Maa… I heard Akira-kun said his name a lot but I don't have any idea who he is… Anyway, may I see him?" (a.n : Sendoh Akira?? Yes? No… Don't know… check out later on ^__^)
"Sure… I'll go inform him. Please wait for a short while, okay?" And with that Haruko left her standing within the opening of the door, rushing towards Rukawa. She cleared her throat before she called out for him. With her hand, she stroke the hair from her cheek and pulled it back to her ears in edginess. "Ano, Rukawa-kun…"
Rukawa turned his head and looked at her as he brought down the ball to from the air to his waist. "…What?" His hand started to fiddle around with the ball, tossing it lightly in the air and spins it on the tip of his finger.
"Ano… There's a girl, she's here to see you… I think she wants to talk to you…" Haruko was trembling. It happens often. Everytime when she was near Rukawa, her heart grow faster madly and she finds her lips shaking, making it hard to greet or just say hello to him.
Rukawa looked away and he sounds uninterested in meeting that person. "I don't wanna see her…"
"Matte!" Haruko stopped him from getting away by grabbing his shirt with her hands. It was done unconciously. She blushed as her hand loosen up his cloth. "I think you really have to see her, Rukawa-kun… I believe Ririku- san has important things to say to you…"
"..Ririku?" His eyes snapped wide when he heard the name.
Haruko was both confused and relieved at the time. She was quite perplexed at why Rukawa responded so much to that name, and was relieved for he has intentions to talk to her. "Yes… Do you know her?"
"Quite." And then he walked past Haruko and headed straight to the gym entrance. His head searched around for her figure. He finally spotted her. She was leaning her back against a huge tree trunk on the yard just before the gym while her head was tilted up.
She noted that someone was coming towards her. She bend her head towards the direction of the footsteps. "Aa… You're here. I wanna talk to you!"
"Make it fast, I had lots of important things to do…" Retorded Rukawa coldy.
"Geez, you don't have to be so rude." She sneered as her hand tossed back her long strands of dark hair to her back. "It's regarding this crap," Ririku lifted up the brown folder and shoved it forward, pushing it against Rukawa's masculine chest. "I wanna end it soon."
The Shohoku Ace slid the ball and locked it between his arm and his waist. "Yeah sure so I can have plenty of sleep without being bothered with those shit." Sarcasm escaped his lips.
Reflexively her hands rose between the fresh air of early-summer and hit him on the back, hard. "Don't mock me… I'm being serious… Okay, back to business. What do you say if we work these out together in your house?"
"My house? Why not yours? Trying to rob me?"
"Gosh, you don't have to be so insolent!!" Ririku hollered at him on the top of her lungs. "…My house is too far away… I think yours are close enough. Well, at least closer to here than mine…"
"…." Rukawa fondled his bangs and swipe it backwards. "Okay then… Whatever you like…"
"Affirmative," The long-haired lass smiled in delight when she heard Rukawa's reaction. She almost jumped in excitement. It was the first time for him to see her smile joyfully like this. Back then when he first met her eye-to-eye, she hadn't shown a single smile. She looked kind of amiable with those smile on her rose lips. Perhaps she's not the type of those who really don't own femininity in her heart. "So then… I'll be waiting for you. And since I don't have anything to do and today's singing club doesn't held a meeting, I guess I'll be watching today's practice."
"Fine with me…"
With that Rukawa re-entered the gymnasium, followed by Ririku on his back. She stopped just before the entrance and leaned onto the rigid doorframe while watching the members around practice.
a.n :: I think rukawa's being too boorish to her…