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The story is about to end soon (hopefully).

And Slam Dunk does not belong to me. It belongs to the genius mangaka – Inoue Takehiko!


Strangers Like Us #4

They had promised to meet at Danny's Diner at three on Saturday afternoon. The watch on her wrist showed that it was half-past two. She was early.

She sighed. Twirling the straw of her soda, she stared listlessly through the window. People of all kinds walked by, minding their own business, lost in their own world. Had any one of them ever been in love? She wondered. How does it feel to be in love? Does your heart beat faster just at the mere thought of him? Does your heart flutter every time the phone rings, a tiny part of your mind telling you that "It's him!", even thought it's impossible? Or does love make you feel at peace? She sighed and leaned against the cushioned seat.

Where is he? She checked her watch again. 2:45pm. Damn. She cursed herself for arriving too early. But the excitement of finally meeting him was too great, till she could not sit still at home and went out of her house at half-past one. She should have brought her friends along for support.

The bell chimed, signaling that someone had opened the diner door. She looked up. He was wearing a Ryonan Basketball Club jacket. Could it be...

No. He was shorter than HIM, and his floppy hair covered his eyes. Koshino, she recalled. The player who was always irritated with Sakuragi. A hint of a smile played at the corner of her lips as she recalled a hilarious incident involving those two.

The bell chimed again, snapping her back to reality. A confident young man walked it, his hands in his pocket, his mouth smirking. His eyes shone with amusement, as though he had just told a private joke to himself.

It's him. Akira Sendoh. Ryonan's ace. CheekyBoy. Definitely. Why else would he be at Danny's Diner at (she checked her watch) 2:52pm on a Saturday afternoon? She opened her mouth to call out to him, but her throat was dry. She must have looked stupid enough, sitting there with her mouth opening and closing, like a goldfish, for the Ryonan ace to notice her.

His eyes flickered with recognition as he saw her. He frowned, as though trying hard to recall her name, then shrugged and gave a friendly wave at her. He walked past her booth and sat three tables down.

Huh? What the...? She turned to look at him. Sendoh was blatantly flirting with the cute waitress as she took down his order. After the waitress walked away, she noticed that Sendoh was sitting with Koshino.

What...? Why...? How...? Her mind clouded with confusion. Maybe he had not realized that SHE was FujiFilM, the girl he had been chatting with all this while. Lost in her thought, she did not hear the bell tinkled again until a waitress exclaimed, "Wow! He's huge!"

She looked up. And looked up some more. Whoa... The Ryonan captain... Uozomi. She had seen him play against their matches against Shohoku. He was an excellent and talented (though a tad rough) player.

Uozomi walked past her. His big body appeared almost ominous, and it made the diner seemed smaller and cramped. His ape-like face took a short glance at her, then at the door.

That was when she noticed the boy happily trailing behind the Ryonan's captain. What was his name? Hikoichi. That's right. The irritating boy who always takes down notes and believes that Sakuragi will be the next captain. She snickered at the thought.

Hikoichi noticed her and waved. She gave back a small wave, then diverted her attention back to Sendoh. Should she approach him? Could she?

She took a deep breath. "You never know where it (the relationship) might lead to unless you try, right?" His words echoed in her head. Right. Here goes nothing.

She had to push herself out of the seat. Slowly, she turned around and scanned the restaurant. Then, she caught sight of her friend. There, sitting alone in a corner of the diner, was Haruko.


I'm sorry if this was a short chapter. But I wrote two chapters in one go, so I should be forgiven, yes?