Chapter 7: Misunderstandings

Haruko placed her bag on the side of her desk and sat comfortably, as it was another ordinary day for most students. But it wasn't for her. Her eyes peered to and fro the door, waiting for her friends, Fuji and Matsui. She was already used to be the one who always arrive the earliest at school among them, however today was different. Not wanting to be consumed with impatience, she took out her book to review their lessons. Minutes later, the classroom started to get noisy as her classmates arrive, chit-chatting while waiting for their first class. Just as she was starting to get absorbed in her book, someone shook her shoulders.

"Haruko!"

She jolted, and looking up behind her, "Ah! Good morning Matsui!" trying to sound normal. She really doesn't want anyone questioning her about yesterday.

With a troubled face, Matsui whispered, "I'm a bit worried for you. Those guys at the door have been looking at you for a while now."

Haruko froze, "Those guys have been what?" tilting her head to take a peek at the door, she saw three freshmen from other sections observing her from a distance. She must've been trying so hard to focus on reading that she never felt anybody keeping an eye on her.

"Here we go again," she sighed.

"What's up with you two?" Fuji said, dropping her bag off her desk and going over them.

Before Haruko could even explain, the students went to their seats as their teacher entered the room.

"I'll tell you later after class," she told them. "at the coffee shop near the train station."


"Now spill," said Fuji, sipping on her strawberry shake.

Matsui remarked, "How long will those guys follow you around? They've been watching you whenever we had free time, when you go to the canteen, and even as you go to the restroom!"

"Relax," replied Haruko in a reassuring tone, "if there's someone who has to be freaked out, it should be me. Don't worry, I've been through this before."

"Now I'm all the more worried!" Matsui cried.

"Onii-chan's the one behind this," Haruko said.

"Captain Akagi?" Haruko's friends chorused.

"Yeah. He always 'hires' some guys to stalk me whenever he thinks I'm goofing around."

"What made him think you're doing that?"

"Well…" Haruko fumbled, "It's because… he saw me… with someone…"

Fuji almost spewed her drink and exclaimed, "You have a boyfriend and you're not even telling us?"

"It's not like that!" Haruko answered, shaking her head in disagreement, "It's just that I stayed at his house for a night."

Fuji and Matsui's eyes widened in shock.

"I can't believe you're that kind of girl, Haruko," Matsui monotonously commented.

Haruko raised a brow. "What do you mean that kind of girl? Come on! You know me better than this! I think you two are overreacting too much."

"It's not like we can help it."

Fuji, in a suspense tone said, "But the question is, whose house is it?" she grinned as she waits for Haruko's answer.

Matsui giggled, "Could it be… Rukawa-kun?" she teased.

"No!" Haruko denied, though at some point she wished she was saying 'yes' to the question.

"Then whose house is it?"

Haruko pursed her lips, "I don't really want to tell anybody about this…"

Fuji leaned away from them and cried, "Don't you trust us? We've always kept each other's secrets!"

"Come on, Haruko, we want to know!" Matsui begged.

Haruko paused for a moment, and deliberated in her head. Will she tell it to them? It's not just a simple secret like 'I have a crush on some cute guy from another class' kind of secret. This was different. Will she tell them how she and Mitsui got drenched and how they cuddled and slept together? It was too private for her to tell. But they're her friends; they should be able to sympathize with how she feels about the situation.

Her friends looked intently at her, waiting for an answer. Clearing out the tense atmosphere, she finally gave in, "It's Hisashi Mitsui-senpai," she confessed and closed her eyes, as she does not want to witness their astonished faces.

There came a moment of silence, a moment for Fuji and Matsui to take in what they just heard. Haruko couldn't take this awkward ambiance anymore.

"Snap out of it," she told them, "It's not like something else happened between us!"

"That's not what I'm concerned about," Matsui answered, and turning comical, she held Haruko by the arm and started checking her, "Were you hurt? Did he harass you?"

"You stayed with the one who almost destroyed the Shohoku Basketball team?" Fuji rhetorically asked.

Haruko, annoyed by all these reactions she's getting, "Can you please stop the prejudice? And let's not bring up the past, shall we? He's really a kind person," she said in defense to Shohoku's three-pointer, "People just get mistaken about who he really is, but he genuinely cares for those important to him."

"We're sorry…"

"So what exactly happened?" her two friends inched a little bit closer as they listen to her story.


Haruko wasn't the only one who had an interesting day. Even the basketball team experienced more intense training due to the fact that Captain Akagi was more uptight than usual. After the members went home, Sakuragi and Mitsui were left alone to clean the gym and locker room.

Sakuragi yawned as he mopped the gym floor, "Gori gave us a hard time today!" pausing to contemplate what might have got into their Captain today.

Mitsui kept a blank expression, "It's not really odd for him to be so strict since inter-high school championship games are approaching," he nonchalantly said. He tried to avoid making any eye contact with the red head. He turned towards his locker, so that Sakuragi wouldn't see his face as they talked. Sakuragi was particularly nosy today, he thought. The self-proclaimed "ace player" of the Shohoku basketball team had so many questions to throw at him, and he did his best to give him vague one-liner answers to close the topic.

Does Sakuragi know about me and Akagi? Wait, why am I thinking as if there really IS SOMETHING? This is ridiculous.

Just when he was about to close his locker and bid his farewell (primarily to escape Sakuragi's curiousity), Sakuragi grabbed it with his hand, and blocked Mitsui's way with his hand. Mitsui finally lost his cool.

He looked intently at Sakuragi's face, "WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

Surprisingly, the ever war-freak Sakuragi kept a calm tone, "I know something is going on with you two…" he smeered.

"What are you talking about?" Mitsui answered, putting up a cool façade. He shoved Sakuragi's grip from his locker to move his way out of the locker room. However, Sakuragi just cornered him even further away from the door.

"Micchy, just tell me what happened between you and Go—"

"Akagi and I are not GOING OUT!" Mitsui blurted out in frustration to make Sakuragi shut up.

Sakuragi instantly became confused and glared at Mitsui. Mitsui couldn't talk himself out of what he just said to the red-head. Sakuragi released his hold to Mitsui's locker and backed off a little bit, comprehending the words that came out of Mitsui's mouth. On the other hand, the Shohoku three-pointer couldn't move an inch, wanting to leave now, but still he was hoping to find a resolution in this awkward situation.

"Micchy, I can't believe it," said Sakuragi who seemed to have been enlightened, "Gori likes you…"

Mitsui's eyes could almost come out of their sockets, "WHAT MADE YOU THINK LIKE THAT? There's no way… DO I LOOK GAY?"

"…but since you don't like him, you rejected him and now he wants you to feel the pain of being rejected…" Sakuragi went on, completely ignoring Mitsui's statements of denial, "So that's why…" he trailed off, his hand on his chin, as he finally reached a conclusion to the questions that's been bothering him all afternoon.

"THERE'S NOTHING BETWEEN ME AND GORI!"

Sakuragi nodded in agreement, "I know Micchy, everything's clear to me now," he peacefully answered.

"You got it all wrong!" Mitsui protested.

"You mean you like him too after all? Then why…"

Mitsui almost felt nauseous, "Are you out of your mind? Do you want me to throw up right here?"

"Then what?" the irritated Sakuragi asked, disappointed that his conclusions are not true after such 'careful' deliberation (in his head).

Mitsui cleared his throat, and said in a serious manner, "First of all, Gori and I had no romantic feelings for each other *Makes me wanna jump off a cliff in disgust* AND if ever Gori really is gay all this time *Why the hell am I even saying this* if someone becomes his target, there's no escaping! Can you imagine what would happen if someone actually rejects him?" Mitsui said, leaving room for Sakuragi to share his insights.

"Yeah you're right, that would be so much worse than losing the championships, I mean, Gori is so hardcore on the outside but underneath all that he's a cream puff!"

Crazy images flashed through their minds. The two eventually howled in laughter.

"I can't believe that we're actually talking about Gori's sexuality," Sakuragi uttered, his laughter still making its way out.

Mitsui, who had his fair share of laughs retorted, "Well, it all started with your stupid speculations!"

Shortly after, the atmosphere has finally become more relaxed and they have finished cleaning up the locker room and gym. As the two left Shohoku and were walking towards the train station, Sakuragi asked a question, "Speaking of romantic feelings, do you have any girl you like right now?"

Mitsui briefly glanced at Sakuragi and then looked straight ahead, as he carefully chose the words to tell.

"Well, let's just say there's someone who has always been on my mind lately."


Woohoo! After soooooo long, another update finally. Thank you for those who have patiently waited for my update. It took me ages to write this 'cause of school work and such, which are always getting in the way of writing fanfics! Well then, here it is, and I have another fic that I've been writing so the next chapter might take quite a while before I post it here, but it sure won't take me years now. XD Again, thank you for taking the time in reading!

For those who have been waiting for Rukawa, don't worry, you'll see more of him in the next chapter. ^_^