A/N: Oooooh~ I just finished my ¡®O¡¯s todae¡­*whoops in glee* btw, I just read a Phantom of the Opera fic¡­and I think it¡¯s quite sweet! Haha¡­so, as you have guessed, I am in a pretty good mood right now. Therefore, do not fear for Sakuragi¡­he won¡¯t be mutilated all that much~ Anyway, Fang commented that no girl in her right mind would say that a guy is beautiful, so I have changed that. (Chap 2) Gomen~

Disclaimer: Do I have to put it down? Oh alright. Slam Dunk does not belong to me. Eh, to whom then? Oh, you know it.

# sLL: Thanks very much for reviewing! It¡¯s so sad¡­I only have 6 reviews so far¡­oh well; it¡¯s the writing that¡¯s more important. #

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CHAPTER THREE

Sakuragi stopped dead in his tracks. He felt feverish. Sweat trickled from his temple, down his cheek. It was¡­Yohei.

What¡¯s he doing there? Sakuragi wondered jealously. Why is he with MY Haruko-chan??

Yohei and the girls had started chatting, oblivious to Sakuragi¡¯s presence. They could be seen laughing and giggling, slapping each other in mirth. Sakuragi suddenly felt hollow. Yohei had used underhanded means to stop him from winning the bet! That was the only possible explanation Sakuragi could think of. He felt betrayed and didn¡¯t want to confront them any more. He turned on his heels and stalked away.

The bubbling laughter continued. The tears flowed ceaselessly from their eyes as they attempted to halt their laughter. And somewhere, a little farther down the street, a little boy wept, as if heartbroken.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

¡°¡­I don¡¯t want to continue the bet any longer,¡± a despondent Sakuragi mumbled over the phone.

¡°What?¡± Yohei strained to hear the rest of Sakuragi¡¯s sentence. ¡°You don¡¯t want to what?¡±

¡°Continue the bet!!¡± Sakuragi yelled, losing his patience.

¡°Oh¡­you want to continue the bet?¡± Yohei had forgotten the rest of the sentence. ¡°Okay. That was the initial plan anyway. See you tomorrow!¡±

¡°Hello?? Hello?!!? What the hell!?!¡± Sakuragi banged his foot on the ground in frustration. Yohei had replaced the receiver.

Never mind, Sakuragi thought. He seemed to have come out of his reverie. I will show him this time.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The tall and lanky redheaded boy soon spotted his target.

¡°Aha!¡± Sakuragi whispered to himself. ¡°It¡¯s Showtime!¡±

The lean and slender girl, with brown hair falling over her shoulders, proceeded to walk to the canteen. Sakuragi followed stealthily.

¡°Haruko-chan!¡± A dark-haired boy waved at her.

¡°Yohei-kun!¡± she waved back enthusiastically, and the two fell in step. Yohei draped his arm around her casually and pulled her closer to him.

¡°Eh? Yohei-kun?¡± she questioned with a bewildered look on her face.

¡°Shhh!¡± he silenced her. ¡°I think Hanamichi is watching us from a distance. Let¡¯s proceed with the backup plan. You don¡¯t want him to go blaming Rukawa, do you?¡±

Haruko fidgeted nervously. She wouldn¡¯t want Sakuragi to find out that she had completely forgotten about their date because of Rukawa. Because of Rukawa, she had arranged to meet up with Yohei to discuss some ¡®melt-the-iceman-tactics¡¯. And if Sakuragi learnt about it, he would get on Rukawa¡¯s case.

¡°Okay, go ahead.¡± She shut her eyes in preparation for what was to come. The problem was, Sakuragi wasn¡¯t prepared for it at all.

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A/N: Please review to tell me what you think. If you think it sucks and not worth reviewing, I do apologise. Sigh~, my writer¡¯s pride is pressing me not to ask for reviews, but I have waited far too long. I need a good and critical opinion of my writing. P.S. Sorry if my chapters are too short, I think my brain dies every time I reach a certain word limit¡­