Hello, minna-san! I've received e-mail's and reviews lately with complaints about the leading lady of this fic. Most say she's too much of a "mary sue". Well, pardon me for my stupidity but who is Mary Sue? I got the impression that she is some miss-perfect kind of gal. Hmm…anyway, I tallied up not only the reviews and the e-mails I got as well (starting from the time I posted this in animeslamdunk.com) and here's the result:
"I don't like Mary Sue!" (20 votes) ~ most are users from fanfiction.net
"I love this fic!" (50 votes)
"Your fic sucks!" (10 votes) ~ Ouch! That hurts! ^^;;
Numbers don't lie. So I guess we're stuck with the original plot. But if you hate this "mary sue" person very much, then you'll really hate Akari ^_^ Won't it be different to have a really twisted gal in a fic? I kinda like it, so I'll continue. But don't worry, she's not the only character anyway in this fic, and I think you won't abhor this as much if you continue. Hey, I'm not forcing you guys to read this (heaven forbid!), but it would be nice to know people read my hard work.
Btw, I'm currently making a sequel in this—this time it'll be more about Sakuragi. And I promise you Ellyta Akari will be there at only 5% of the content. Why is that? Well, you find out here. ^_^
Rj-chan ~ Thanks for your suggestion! Sure, I'll try hard to put them in. They're some of my fave characters in Slam Dunk, anyway. ^_^ Sniff, your mail gave me some strength to keep up! Okay, I'm feeling better already! Arigato!!
Okay, let's move on.
Itadakimasu!!
5 ~ Omedeto, Miyagi Ryota!
"If a tree can talk about its time
Its past can take a number of years" – anonymous
Miyagi couldn't stop from yawning as he spent his third period, Japanese Literature. He glanced at his watch and sighed.
This day wasn't going so well.
First of all, he saw a black cat crossing the street, right in front of him (Jealous, Rukawa? ^_^). Also, he almost got hit by a van driven by a drunk teenager, but the mud puddle didn't miss him. He had to go home and change to find out that he didn't have any more spare uniforms; his parents went out on a vacation.
When he finally got to school, he tried bribing the nerdy, skinny detention monitor, but he was unshakable. He started to threaten him in order to scare him into doing it, but they were seen by the school principal. After that he gave him a week's worth of detention.
He shuddered as he felt his wet shirt rub against his skin. His uniform still hasn't dried yet because he had to wash it quickly earlier. He blushed as he looked at Ayako, all engrossed in the reading material they were assigned to that period. What did she think about him now that she saw his clothes and humiliation?
He glanced at his watch again. Time seemed to go slow today. Or maybe they accidentally stumbled onto a space-dimension when seconds actually last an hour. What if the clock on the wall was slow because its wires were actually chewed by a rodent or something? He can't take any more of these subjects. He was tempted into skipping half the classes later, but then he panicked. Exams are only half a week away, and he had to know all those chapters he missed last week so he wouldn't be falling at the red mark again. What's a basketball guy to do?
Suddenly, someone tapped him on the back with a pencil. He turned around to see his classmate handing a piece of paper. "Who's it from?" he mouthed, so the sensei—who was concentrating on writing in the board then—wouldn't notice them.
His classmate pointed to a few seats behind.
Ayako-chan! His heart suddenly pounded like a kettledrum, it was almost impossible for the others not to hear. Swallowing hard, he unfolded the wrinkled stationary and started reading.
Ne Ryota,
I need to catch up on a few lessons I missed because I stayed home sick.
Can you come with me at the Lotta Café, so we could study together?
We'll need it for the exam days anyway. Bring your books, ok!
Ayako
And Ryota, don't ever count this as a date, alright?!
"Oh Aya-chan," he breathed in pleasure and held his face close to the letter, his cheeks pink and his eyes seeing only Ayako's lovely face. "I knew this day would come!" He said this even before he read the note below her name, but he didn't read anymore. He was already brimming with happiness.
"Aya-chan!"
All the students present there laughed, and Ayako had to cover her face in embarrassment. The teacher whacked him with his thick book. "Uruse!!"
"Okay, guys! We have something to announce!" Akagi bellowed something else except for "Assemble!" like he usually did every practice. Something must be going on.
The basketball members immediately went to the corner where Akagi and Kogure were waiting. Akagi looked just the same as everyday, but Kogure had a forlorn look on his head as he dribbled a ball, and he was looking away from the others.
Sakuragi got to the spot first, as always. "Oi, what's with the speech, Gori? We haven't had any practice yet and now you want us to go home?!"
Akagi punched him on the head. "Baka! I never said anything like that!" Kogure smiled a little.
"Ahem!" Akagi started to speak as the rest of the guys came. "As you all know, the seniors are supposed to leave at this season now that the Inter-High is finished. So, Kogure and I are…"
"You're picking the captain? Good! Here is tensai Basketman, reporting for duty! I promise to forever instill the members, under my—"
Akagi punched him once more. "Urusai and let me talk!"
The Sakuragi Guntai laughed as they watched from above. "Hahahahaha!! Hanamichi already received two punches after less than two minutes!"
"Let's make a bet! Hanamichi will get 20 lumps this time!" one of them, Soichiro, suggested.
"No, that's too few. Make it 25!" another raised the object of the bet higher.
"Thirty!"
WHAP! BONK!
"Uruse!!" Sakuragi yelled as he prepares to throw another ball at them. "Or you'll get a lump you'll never forget!"
Kogure laughed a little as he went towards the furious freshman. "Calm down, Sakuragi. You're right about the captain thing, though."
The red-haired monkey apparently turned around to let them see his smiling face. "Hontou, Megane-kun? Then hayaku and choose the tensai, already."
"Which can be anyone else besides you, Hanamichi," Mitsui commented.
"Micchy! Dare you say that to a genius?! Heh, you're just jealous!"
"I agree with Mitsui-san," Ryota sneaked in. "We gotta protect the whole club from your craziness, or it'll be doomsday for us!"
"Do ahou." Rukawa sighed.
"Grrrr….omae-tachi wa…!!"
With that Sakuragi got his third lump of the day. "Ohhh…" Smoke steamed out from the inflicted area and he had to grimace from the pain.
Akagi sighed and wondered if this was such a good idea. They haven't spat out even a word about it, and yet the session is then practically in chaos. But they couldn't stay away from this forever. It was time to let things take its turn—with or without them.
Even if things might start to break apart because of a certain baka who just doesn't know his own place in the club: in the basics corner!
Then he let out a deep breath and continued on. "Well, we didn't spend a lot of time doing the thinking, but we know you'd agree with this, so among the second-years who will be the seniors next time, we've chosen Ryota Miyagi."
"Don't let us down, Miyagi!" Mitsui smiled as he patted his shorter teammate on the shoulder.
Miyagi blushed as he looked at Ayako. "Ahh…thanks Mitsui-sempai," he answered even though he hasn't heard a word his sempai said.
Sakuragi sneered at the happy moment and turned away to glare at the two seniors. "Hmph! It's pretty obvious you didn't give a big thought about this! I object with the decision!"
"Nani? Respect your sempai, baka!" Miyagi defended himself. "Or I'll make you clean the whole gym if I take the place of the captain."
BONK! This time Miyagi was left with a huge lump by an enraged Akagi. "Don't be cheeky, Miyagi. I'll be checking on you once in a while to make sure you don't do anything to the club!"
"Aye, Boss," Miyagi mumbled.
Kogure clapped. "Okay! Enough with the talk. Let's have a practice game, shall we?"
~*Next Chapter – Sendoh and Ellyta*~
Okay, if you guys like this, there's plenty more where this came from. Stick around for the next chap: Sendoh and Ellyta (nope, it's not like what you think ^_^), and see how can the Ryonan captain can squeeze in all this.
Farewell!
PS Do you guys want me to set up an interview corner—with the SD characters? Tell me if you like or hate it, k!