Chapter 3

It was dead silent outside. The dark sky was covered with bright stars and the moon. Everyone was tucked away in their beds, sleeping, except for one. Mitsui lied down on his red, basketball-covered bed in his bedroom, staring at the ceiling, thinking about his cousin. Who could stop her? He definitely couldn't do it . he had tried countless times, but he always ended up getting a punch in the face.

Shizumi's father and mother were in America; they were always traveling around the world and Shizumi was left all alone in their house. They hardly spent their time with their daughter. That was the main reason why Shizumi had a bad attitude. Her parents had started their journey ever since she was only eight years old.

Out of boredom, she joined a group of junior high school students who turned out to be gangsters when she was ten. She was hospitalized twice when she got involved in several fights with high school students. She was kicked out of the group two years later when they knew she could play basketball; they probably hated basketball for that matter.

RING! RING! RING!

The phone was ringing. Who would call at a time like this? Mitsui got up and picked up the phone.

"What do you want?"

He knew he sounded rude, but he was in a bad mood, so he didn't care much.

"Ne, Micchy, how's it going? Daijoubu deska?"

"Oh, it's you, Ryochin . I'm fine ."

"You don't sound fine. If you don't sound fine, you don't feel fine, and you won't play fine basketball."

"It's probably just the phone line ."

"No, it isn't. Come on, Micchy. Get a hold of yourself. She's your cousin. You're older than her. Deal with her. Don't tell me you're scared of her?"

"Of course I'm not scared of her! It's just that . that ."

"Nani?"

"Mum doesn't want me to do anything to her."

"But your parents are away now, right? It wouldn't hurt to just give her a good slap in the face, would it? I'd do it for you if someone gave me a chance to do it."

Mitsui sighed.

"I guess you're right, Ryochin. But what if I can't stop her?"

"These sort of problems will sort themselves out, Micchy. Who knows what might happen . maybe she'd be the next Head Prefect?"

He smiled.

"Arigatou, Ryota."

He put down the phone and lied on the bed, hugging his pillow. He felt a bit better. He felt more like sleeping now. He closed his eyes and tried to forget about his troublesome cousin.

***

"Shohoku!" roared Akagi. "We're strong, remember that! Don't let Ryonan beat us! Show them that we're better than them!"

Everyone stared at the bunch of giant Shohoku basketball players.

" . Akagi-sempai . don't shout, please . we're in a public train," said Kogure.

"Go, Shohoku!" shouted Sakuragi, standing up and raising his right fist.

"Ah! Not you, Sakuragi-kun!" said Kogure, pushing Sakuragi back to his seat.

"Ryonan? . I've never heard of them before," said Shizumi. "They're just a bunch of lousy monkeys, right?"

"Lousy?" said Ayako, startled. "No, they aren't!"

"We're better than them, aren't we?" said Shizumi.

"Yes, we are, but that doesn't mean that they're LOUSY," said Mitsui, rolling his eyes. "They have Sendoh, but we have Rukawa."

"Who's Sendoh? - and what's so good about Rukawa? Isn't he just like you? He hardly talks, anyway . and look at his face-BLUR! What kind of ace is that?"

Rukawa's eyes widened. He heard what Shizumi said and felt like strangling her. Instead, he got up and said, "Do you want to die?"

"Rukawa-kun!" said Ayako. "Watch your manners! Everyone can hear you!"

Shizumi stood up.

"What if I want to? What would you do? Kill me?"

"Stop it, Shizumi. Sit down, the train is still moving," said Mitsui, tugging on Shizumi's t-shirt.

She ignored him and stared at Rukawa, not blinking at all. For a short moment, it looked as if there were streaks of lightning bolts coming out of their eyes.

"Teme, do'aho!" said Rukawa, preparing to punch her, but Mitsui stood up and stopped him.

"Yamette," said Mitsui. "Stop it, the two of you."

Rukawa made a 'hmph' sound and walked back to his seat, giving Shizumi a 'you-will-regret' look. Shizumi replied it by sticking out her tongue at him. After ten minutes, they got off the train and walked to Ryonan High. They were greeted at the entrance gate by Hikoichi Aida, who had a very wide smile that day.

"O'hayo, minna-san!" Hikoichi greeted cheerfully. He seemed to be extra- happy today. "Taoka-sensei is waiting for you in the gym. He hopes all of you are in perfect shape because Sendoh, Fukuda and Uozumi are in their best condition today! I don't really know who might win today . everyone seems so confident. Maybe Ryonan might win because Taoka-sensei has been making us practice day and night everyday . or maybe Shohoku might win because -"

"We've been training enough, Hikoichi," said Akagi. "Now shut up and get out of our way."

They forced their way through, pushing Hikoichi aside. They made their way to the basketball gym and opened the door.

"Hey, human beings of Ryonan!" said Shizumi. "How's it going, big bros?"

Everyone stared at Shizumi, not recognizing her as she was a new student at Shohoku. Akagi put his hand on Shizumi's mouth to shut her up before she said anything else.

"Who was that?" asked Uozumi.

"A disturbing flea," Akagi replied.

Shizumi forced Akagi's hands away from her mouth.

"Yuck! Your hand stinks!" she coughed. "And I'm not a flea, you baka! I'm the tensai Miyazaki Shizumi!"

"Tensai?! Ne, I'm the tensai, not you!" said Sakuragi, hopping in front of Shizumi.

"You? You don't look like a tensai to me!" laughed Shizumi. "You're the monkey, remember?"

Ryota and Mitsui sniggered at a corner.

"Who're you laughing at?!" snarled Sakuragi.

They looked away and whistled innocently.

"Can we just start this game?" said Sendoh.

"Right, Sendoh," said Uozumi.

"Nandato?! You're Sendoh?!" said Shizumi. "Sendoh Akira?"

"Yeah."

Shizumi's eyes started to water, and then she burst out laughing. Kogure, Ayako and the rest of the team had no choice but to tie her up and shut her mouth with a piece of cloth. The starting members, Rukawa, Sakuragi, Ryota, Mitsui and Akagi stepped into the court and got ready for the game. The referee blew the whistle, signaling that the game was about to start.

"Remember the long, hard practices, Ryonan!" shouted Taoka-sensei. "Hard work pays off! Do your best!"

"Kambate o, Shohoku!" shouted Kogure.

"Do your best, Shohoku!" shouted Ayako.

"Ohohohoho ." chuckled Anzai-sensei.

There was a rustling sound coming from behind. Shizumi was struggling to free herself from the ropes that Ayako used to tie her up with. She kept banging herself on the wall to make some noise.

"We'll free you after the game, Shizumi," said Kogure.

Shizumi frowned. She shook her head.

"Promise me you won't make anymore noise and I'll free you," said Ayako.

Shizumi nodded. Ayako cut the ropes off and took the cloth away from her mouth.

"Arigatou gozaimas, one-san," said Shizumi, walking out of the gym.

"Ne, where're you going?" asked Kuwata.

"Somewhere out there . probably over the rainbow if I could."

The game had already started by the time Shizumi left. Akagi had managed to tap the ball before Uozumi could and Sakuragi caught it.

"Ike, ike, Sakuragi!"

"Ike, ike, Hanamichi!"

"Go, go, Sakuragi!"

"Fight, fight, Hanamichi!"

"Make a fool of yourself, Sakuragi!"

It was Sakuragi's gang, cheering for him loudly. Next to them was .

"Shizumi! I thought I told you not to make any noise?!" Ayako shouted from the Shohoku bench.

"I'm here as a spectator, and spectators cheer loudly for the team they support, right?" replied Shizumi.

"But you're not cheering! You're criticizing!"

"Don't worry, Ayako! We'll handle her!" said Noma.

"We'll punch her if she says anything bad!" said Takamiya.

"I'll punch you before you punch me, fatty tofu," said Shizumi.

Ookutsu, Noma and Mito burst out laughing, clutching their stomachs.

"Good one, Shizumi!" said Mito.

"I never knew Takamiya was fat enough to be called a tofu!" said Ookutsu, tears of laughter streaming down his face.

"Baka!" said Takamiya. "You wanna fight?!"

Haruko, Fujii and Matsui, who were standing not far from them, heard their conversation.

"Nani?! They're starting a fight?" said Haruko, a worried look on her face. "They can't fight in here!"

"That girl's just a troublemaker, Haruko," said Matsui. "Let her be."

"You sound like you hate her, Matsui," said Fujii.

"She called me a hairy goldfish yesterday," replied Matsui.

"That's bad ." said Haruko.

Shizumi and Takamiya were about to start their fight when Mito, Ookutsu and Noma pulled them apart.

"You'd better not fight here or we'll be kicked out," said Mito.

Takamiya glared at Shizumi.

"All right, I'll make it fair, then," said Shizumi. "ALL of you will have nicknames!

"NANI?!" Mito, Noma and Ookutsu exploded. "No, no, no . don't ."

"I'll call you a giraffe, Ookutsu," Shizumi began. "You'll be the mussytacchy man, Noma. Mito will be . Sir Piece Of Cake!"

"Sir Piece of Cake?" said Mito.

"Ora, ora, ora! Akagi's gonna do the famous gorilla dunk!" said Takamiya, pointing at Akagi.

He was about to jump when Uozumi blocked his way and slapped the ball out of his hands. Sendoh caught it and did a swift attack. He passed the ball to Koshino, who did a successful 3-point shot.

"Yosh, Koshino-san!" said Sendoh, giving Koshino a high-five.

"Ne, it's not fair!" said Shizumi. "It's just not fair!"

Sendoh and Koshino looked up.

"Not fair?" said Koshino.

"Shohoku's supposed to score first!" she said. "The winning team always scores first, right?"

"Winning team?" said Sendoh. He laughed. "How can you tell who's the winner when the game has just started?"

"That's because -"

Mito covered Shizumi's mouth with his hand to stop her from saying anything else.

"Sumimasen, Sendoh-san!" Mito apologized.

The game continued. After the first half ended, Shohoku was leading the game with 45 points. Ryonan was not far behind with 40 points. Meanwhile, Sakuragi's gang had tied Shizumi up because she was talking too much nonsense and had already insulted Ryonan five times.

"Yosh, we're ahead now," said Akagi, wiping away his sweat with a towel.

Mitsui was sitting down on the bench, shaking his head.

"Insensible ." Mitsui muttered to himself. "That red head's gonna regret one day."

"Eh?"

Sakuragi could seem to hear Mitsui from far with his super sharp hearing sense.

"I didn't do anything to YOU, Micchy, so why should I, the tensai, regret anything? - or are you just jealous that I play better than you, eh?"

"Oh, I'm not talking about you," Mitsui replied. "It's the other red head - Shizumi."

"Mitsui, can't your cousin say anything good for a change?" said Ayako, looking a bit frustrated.

"She's always been like that," he said. "Only she can stop herself."

"OK, tell you what," said Kogure. "Bring her to my house this weekend and I'll try to -"

"Iya, Kogure," Mitsui objected. "You'll be sick for a month."

"So what can we do?" asked Ayako.

"I'll send her to the mental hospital next -"

"Mitsui-san!"

"Nani? There's nothing else we can do about that little brat."

"Have you ever tried doing the same thing she does to you to her?" asked Ryota, who was obviously eavesdropping.

"Err . no."

"Then why don't you try it?" said Ryota, giving Mitsui his usual I'm-daring- you-to-do-it look.