Chapter 12: Ryokufu
"BWAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
"Ha... Hana... michi... wh-what d-did you d-do to your... hair...?" asked Youhei, laughing very hard at the same time. He wasn't the only one. The gundan was laughing as well. Not to mention Haruko's friends, Matsui and Fujii, and of course, Mitsui and Miyagi. They were all laughing at Sakuragi, who had shaved off his hair.
Sakuragi ignored them and sighed. "It's because of me that we lost to Kainan. That's why I decided to punish myself by shaving my head." Then, with more spirit, he continued, "But, from now on, you don't have to worry anymore, because with the Tensai around, we will win the remaining games. Definitely! Nyahahahahahaha!" Suddenly, a ball flew out of nowhere and hit him on the head.
"Stop making so much noise and clean up the gym, do'aho."
"Teme kitsune! I'm going to get you for this!" He marched towards Rukawa, but was stopped by Akagi, who punched him on the head.
As everyone's attention was on the redhead, they didn't notice a blond figure coming into the gym and picking up the stray basketball. It was only when he started dribbling the ball did they notice him. Before anybody could react, he ran towards the basket and did a reverse dunk.
Falling to the ground, he turned to face them. "Konnichiwa."
"Ah! You're that gaijin I saw earlier today! What are you doing here?" Sakuragi pointed his finger at him.
"Michael, that's enough."
Everyone turned to where the voice came from, and saw a girl standing at the doorway to the gym, her hands planted on her hips. Behind her stood a man, who looked like he was in his fifties. The girl walked into the gym, bowed before them, and said, "Konnichiwa minna-san. Watashi wa Fujisawa Eri, the manageress of Ryokufu's basketball team." Pointing to the old man behind her, she continued, "This is our team coach, Ofuna-sensei, and that guy over there is our team captain, Michael Okita." To which the blond guy nodded his head and greeted, "Yoroshiku."
Everyone said their greetings, and then Fujisawa said, "We came here today to propose a practice game."
"Practice game?" everyone chorused.
Ayako quickly said, "I don't think that's a very good idea. In three days time, we will be playing against Takezato. It would be bad if anyone got injured before such an important game. We are aiming to get into the National Championships after all."
Fujisawa smiled and said, "Are you scared? I thought that you guys put up a good fight against Kainan that day. Hmm... I wonder if it's a fluke." Ayako visibly scowled at her remark. So did the others.
Michael walked up to Ayako. "Maa, maa, our team was just formed during spring, and we didn't even enter the Inter High Preliminaries, so I hope that you would consider our proposal." Having said that, he put his hand on Ayako's shoulder. It was a normal gesture, but for Miyagi, coming into skin contact with his Ayako was a taboo, especially if it wasn't him touching her.
"Hey you! Take your hands off her!" shouted Miyagi. He had to be held back by both Mitsui and Kogure in order to stop him from launching himself at Michael. Even when Michael apologised and took away his hand, Miyagi was still growling and seething with anger.
"Anyway," Fujisawa said, "so how about it? I mean, about our proposal? Are you agreeing or not? Unless of course, you are too um... wary and... worried, to accept it."
"I don't think there would be any problems, Fujisawa-san."
Again, everyone turned to look at the doorway, where the voice came from. This time, it was Hanayuki.
Ayako walked up to her and was about to protest when Hanayuki held up her hand to stop her, her eyes still fixed on Fujisawa.
"Who are you?" asked Fujisawa.
Hanayuki smiled. Strangely enough, her smile brought shivers to all the Shohoku members. They had never seen her like this before. Her smiles had always been so warm and genuine, but this time, it was as fake and as cold as it can be. And the look in her eyes, they were almost murderous. Compared to hers, Rukawa's famous icy cold stares actually seemed friendlier.
"I'm just one of the supporters of the basketball team. Unlike you of course, Fujisawa-san, who is the manageress of such a strong team," said Hanayuki, her smile never once wavering.
Everyone else gulped. Even her words seemed to be dripping venom from them.
Fujisawa smiled back and asked, "How do you know that our team is strong?"
"With a captain like that, how bad can the players be?" answered Hanayuki, gesturing towards Michael. Finally, she looked away from Fujisawa, and walked into the gym. "Anyway, about the practice game, it wouldn't be a problem, would it, Akagi-sempai?"
"Our practices are tougher in our case, so it wouldn't be a problem, having one or two practice games," Akagi answered.
"Well said, Gori!" Sakuragi chipped in, and was punched in the head by Akagi.
"That's right! We'll beat you anytime!" Miyagi angrily said. He still had to be held back by Mitsui and Kogure, causing Ayako to slap her forehead in exasperation.
"Ok. I guess we're done talking. Hurry up and come, everyone," said Michael. He was now standing beside Hanayuki. Undaunted by Miyagi's previous and still on-going outburst, he put his hand on her shoulder. Luckily, Sakuragi was too busy thinking about how to excel in the practice game to notice it. However, someone else did.
"We are already prepared for the game. We'll be playing later on today," said Fujisawa.
"Eh?"
"Today?" Even the normally calm Akagi couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
In response, Fujisawa continued, "We can play in great condition at our place."
Michael looked at Hanayuki and said, "I'm glad you agreed to this practice game. You guys were really good, you know. I saw you guys play against Kainan. It was um... er..." He hesitated, trying to find the correct word to describe the game.
"Fantastic?" Hanayuki supplied.
Michael snapped his fingers at the word. "Yeah! That's it. It was fantastic. Say, you speak English?"
"I grew up in the United States. What does that tell you?" Hanayuki answered. Meanwhile, Rukawa came over to where they were standing and roughly pushed Michael's hand, which was still on Hanayuki's shoulder, away. Michael held up both his hands in surrender.
"Michael, are you coming or not?" Fujisawa called to him.
"Hai. See you guys later." He raised a hand in greeting and went after Fujisawa, who stopped at the doorway and turned to look at Rukawa, her eyes narrowed.
"I'll be waiting for you, Rukawa-kun." With that, she left. Hanayuki glanced at Rukawa beside her, confusion written all over his face.
"Oi, Rukawa. You know that girl?" asked Sakuragi curiously.
"No."
"It's better for you to tell us the truth, kitsune," teased Sakuragi.
"How am I supposed to know when I don't know?" Rukawa answered.
"You'd better tell, kitsune. Look, Hana-chan's waiting for your explanation, too."
Hanayuki couldn't help but laugh. "Don't bring me into this, oniichan. You are the one who wants to know, not me."
"But don't you want to know why that girl said she'll be waiting for kitsune, Hana-chan?"
Almost at once, the expression on her face changed. So did the tone of her voice. "Anything that has to do with her, I do not want to know."
"Um... ok." Sakuragi was bewildered by the sudden change. He wasn't the only one.
Outside Shohoku High School...
"Rukawa Kaede. Who would have thought he would go to Shohoku?" said Fujisawa to nobody in particular.
"Oh? So, you tried to recruit him too?" asked Michael.
"Yes. It was while you were still in America," Fujisawa answered.
-Flashback-
Fujisawa got out from her car as soon as she spotted the person she was looking for. "You're Tomigaoka's Rukawa Kaede, right? I'm from Ryokufu's basketball team, I'm the-"
CRASH!
She watched in surprise as Rukawa got up from the ground after crashing into the door of her car while cycling. Recovering quickly, she continued, "I'm Fujisawa Eri, the Ryokufu basketball team manager. Rukawa-kun, I would like to ask you to... chotto!"
Rukawa was already cycling away from her, oblivious to his surroundings (he was sleeping after all).
-End of flashback-
"He's going to regret not coming to Ryokufu," Fujisawa ended her recollection, her eyes gleaming evilly.
"You're scary, Eri."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing. It doesn't matter."
Later that day...
The Shohoku team stopped in front of the entrance to Ryokufu High School.
"It looks like a rich private school," Kogure commented.
"Well, let's go in," said Akagi.
"Hai."
As they entered the school grounds, Miyagi started muttering angrily, "That stupid Michael guy. I'm going to beat him, just remember that!"
Mitsui smirked and said, "Hey, why are you getting so angry? This is only a practice game. Besides, they said that the team only formed last year."
"That doesn't mean you can take it easy," said Akagi, who heard their conversation. "That Michael guy is pretty good."
"It's ok, sempai. All you have to worry about is healing your leg. Just rest it," said Miyagi, forgetting about his anger momentarily.
"That's right, Akagi. You're not the captain today."
"Nyahahahahahahaha! Megane-kun, there's no need to worry, for as long as the Tensai, Sakuragi Hanamichi is here, there is no way Shohoku can lose."
"Do'aho."
Surprisingly, Sakuragi ignored Rukawa and went on saying, "No matter how bad you guys play, the key player to winning this game is..."
"Me." Having said the same thing at the same time, the four of them (Mitsui, Miyagi, Rukawa and Sakuragi) glared at each other.
"Those baka's. What should I do with them?" muttered Akagi.
"They're still thinking about the Kainan game, thinking that if only they had played a little better..." said Kogure, looking over at Akagi, who nodded.
Ayako frowned. "That's so stupid. Just because they lost once."
"Yeah, but that's why we have to win this game and get their confidence back up again."
They kept quiet for a while, before Ayako suddenly exclaimed, "Sou ka. So that's why she had accepted the proposal for a practice game at a time like this." They looked at Hanayuki, who was ahead of the group.
Before they could go on, they were stopped by Kuwata Toki, one of the junior members, who had spoken to his former school mate in junior high school, currently a student in Ryokufu. From what he had gathered, Fujisawa Eri was the daughter of the vice-principal of the school, and had actually taken the time to form a basketball team. Not only that, she had recruited top-level players from all over the district to join the team, and the team captain, Michael Okita, was sponsored by the school to train in America for a year.
At that last piece of information, Sakuragi remarked, "Hmm... no wonder his hair turned into that colour."
"Do'aho."
"Teme kitsune!"
"Enough! Let's get going already," said Akagi. They continued walking and found Fujisawa waiting for them.
"We've been waiting for you, minna-san. Please follow me." She led them to a big building which stood apart from the others. "This is our gym. It's for basketball only."
"Eh? A gym only for basketball?" everybody chorused.
"It was built just last month, so this would be the first game held here."
A few of the juniors talked among themselves.
"Hey, don't you think it's weird?"
"What's weird?"
"There aren't many students around here."
"Oh, now that you mentioned it..."
"What are you guys doing? Let's go!" said Miyagi, interrupting the conversation.
"Hai!" They walked after Miyagi, unaware that their questions would be answered in a short while.
When the doors to the gym opened, the team was greeted by cheers and shouts. No wonder the whole school had seemed deserted. All the students were already in the gym, waiting for the practice game to start.
"Students of Ryokufu High School. Thank you for coming to watch the first game of our basketball team. Let me introduce to you our opponent for today: the Shohoku basketball team. Even though they are currently participating in the Inter High tournament, they have come all the way here to play a practice game. Let's give them a big round of applause."
Much to the surprise of everyone in the team, Hanayuki moved forward, bowed down low, and said in a loud voice, "Konbanwa. Thank you for your support. Domo arigatou gozaimashita." It was Akagi who first came back to his senses, and as he bowed down hastily, so did the others.
"Domo arigatou gozaimashita!"
Fujisawa pointed to a corner of the gym. "Your rest room is that way." She watched as they walked in the direction she had pointed. All of a sudden, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand, and turned around to see Hanayuki watching her. She smiled at Hanayuki, and Hanayuki smiled back. They continued staring at each other, until Rukawa approached Hanayuki and tugged at her hand, leading her to follow the others.
In the rest room...
"What was that all about? It was just like a big show," Ayako complained.
"That's for sure," Akagi agreed.
"I don't like it at all," Mitsui added.
The door burst opened. "Oniichan!"
"Haruko?"
"Haruko-san!" (Guess who?)
"Yokatta. I'm glad I made it in time. I came as soon as I heard that you are going to have a practice game," said Haruko.
"Leave it to me, Haruko-san. I will win this game." Sakuragi stood up and put on his Tensai pose.
"Sou, sou. Youhei-kun and the others will be here soon. Anyway, look at this." She put down her bag and opened a magazine, holding it up for everyone to see. "Their captain was scouted by the NBA while he was training in America."
Everybody was silent at this latest piece of news.
"Are you guys scared?" They looked at Hanayuki, who was staring at the ceiling.
"NO!"
Hanayuki lowered her eyes to look at them and said, "Then what are we waiting for?" before leaving the room, followed by the rest of the team.
On the court...
Shohoku soon found out that whatever Kuwata had told them was true. Mitsui recognised one of Ryokufu's starting members as one of his juniors back in his junior high school days. He went on to say that the guy, Katsumi Ichiro, was very good since his first year and was even captain of the team last year. Anyway, the starting members of Ryokufu consisted of Michael Okita, Nadaka Hikaru, Katsumi, Ebina Kaoru and Totsuka Tetsuya.
The game started a few minutes later. Sakuragi faced off against Michael for the jump ball, and got to the ball first. Kogure got the ball, and then a series of passes was made, from Kogure to Miyagi, then to Mitsui, back to Miyagi, and finally to Rukawa, who scored.
Meanwhile, the gundan was on their way to the gym.
"Ryokufu is quite big," remarked Youhei. "Hey, hurry up guys!"
"Don't rush us. The game probably just started," said Takamiya.
"There's no need to hurry," added Ookusu.
"But what if Hanamichi already fouled out?" asked Noma.
"Now that you mention it... he didn't foul out of the Kainan game. It felt like something was missing."
"What are you talking about? He's serious about this, enough to shave his head," said Youhei.
"But, that doesn't mean he'll stop fouling out."
"Yeah!"
"Anyway, I think the game's already decided. They're playing against a team that was just formed only recently," said Youhei again.
"Easy win, easy win."
Easy win indeed. When they entered the gym, it was 10 minutes into the game, and the score was 8-16, with Shohoku trailing behind by 8 points.
"What's going on?" The gundan was shocked by the unexpected turn of events. They caught sight of Haruko and ran up to her.
"Haruko-chan! What's wrong with Shohoku?" asked Youhei.
"Youhei-kun. Anou, Ryokufu is really good. Especially that Michael guy."
Just then, Michael performed an alley-oop. "They scored again," said Haruko. "We can't stop their attack."
Soon, the gap between the scores had widened to 13 points. Akagi, who had been watching the game from the sidelines, stood up and shouted at his team-mates. "You fools! That's enough. Pull yourselves together!"
Seeing Akagi losing his temper, Fujisawa smirked and said, "I don't blame him for getting mad. Akagi's skills as the center can be ranked as number one in Kanagawa. But his team who had lost by two points to Kainan is playing such a bad game because of the absence of one player. I guess Shohoku is not such a big deal after all. They are not playing as a team; everything is scattered and everyone is playing selfishly." Her smirk got wider as she continued, "So how is it, Rukawa-kun? It would have been better if you had come to Ryokufu."
"Er... miss, I think the flow of the game is changing," said Ofuna-sensei. At this, Fujisawa quickly snapped her eyes back onto the court. Sure enough, Shohoku was beginning to gain the upper hand. And it was Rukawa making most of the attacks.
Fujisawa was furious. "Rukawa Kaede.... Ofuna-san, the defense is weak. Remove Ebina from the game," she ordered.
"Shikashi..."
"No buts! Just do it."
There was only 40 seconds left in the first-half of the game when Ryokufu called for a substitution, replacing Ebina with Seiji Tsurumi. The score was 29-38.
Kogure was surprised. "What's going on? There's only 40 seconds left until half-time."
"They're probably just trying to show their depth of talent," said Mitsui.
Meanwhile, at the bench, Ayako was thinking the same thing. "Grrr... they make me so mad, especially that high-talking manager of theirs."
"Ayako-san."
Ayako looked at Hanayuki beside her. "Yes, Yuki-chan."
The expression on Hanayuki's face was unreadable. "Do you know why she proposed this practice game?"
Half-time break, in the Shohoku rest room...
"I know exactly why that manager picked us as their opponent in this practice game," said Ayako to the team.
"Why, Aya-chan?" asked Miyagi.
"She thought we would be just perfect because we put up a great fight against Kainan... to start their way to the National Championships," explained Ayako.
"You mean we're just..."
"Practice material. Just to keep them busy," finished Ayako, a frown deeply etched on her otherwise pretty face.
Mitsui clenched his fists. "They've underestimated us. Now I won't be playing this game like it is a practice game."
"We must win no matter what, right Hana-chan?" said Sakuragi, looking at his sister. Hanayuki was leaning against the wall, her eyes closed. "Hana-chan?"
Hanayuki took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Nodding her head in response to Sakuragi's question, she said, "I'm sorry about my behaviour, minna-san. I'm just tired, that's all." Then, she smirked. "I didn't know that being angry for a long period of time makes you tired. Anyway, excuse me." She walked out of the room.
"Er... is she angry with us, Aya-chan?" asked Miyagi worriedly.
Ayako shook her head. "Nope. She's not angry with you guys. She's just VERY angry at that Ryokufu girl."
The second-half of the game started with Shohoku trailing behind by 9 points. 7 minutes later, the gap was narrowed to 4, with the score of 48-52. Ryokufu called for another substitution, this time substituting Totsuka, who was guarding Sakuragi.
"Yare, yare. I give up on that redhead. He's unbelievable." Initially, he was running faster than Sakuragi, but as time passed by, he got tired. But, unbelievably, Sakuragi didn't seem tired at all, and continued with the same speed throughout the game.
Anyway, he was substituted by Keiji Tsurumi. As he walked onto the court, the Shohoku players noticed something familiar about him. It was only when he stood beside Seiji that they realised why he had seemed so familiar.
"They have the same face," said Sakuragi.
"Are they twins?" Kogure wondered.
Meanwhile, at the bench...
"Are they making their guards stronger?" asked Ayako.
"Their defense is one level behind compared to their offense," remarked Akagi. "Their plan is to work on that to win."
The game resumed, and the twins started dribbling the ball to each other as they walked side by side. Miyagi watched them closely, trying to keep his concentration. What's with these guys?
As they kept on dribbling, Miyagi kept on looking from left to right. Then, Seiji got the ball, and Miyagi ran up to stop him, only to have the ball passed to Keiji. Sakuragi also tried to stop them, but was similarly tricked when Keiji passed the ball to Seiji, who then passed the ball back to Keiji, who scored.
Seeing this, Akagi said, "They are not for defense purposes. Their plan is to widen their lead."
It was Shohoku's ball. Miyagi ran to attack, and was stopped by the twins. He passed the ball to Kogure, who was also stopped by the twins. He tried to pass the ball, but it was deflected and stolen by another Ryokufu player.
"Just as I thought. They're also for defense," exclaimed Ayako.
With the addition of the twins, in just 2 minutes, the gap between the scores had widened from 4 points to 11 points.
"Just as planned," said Fujisawa, smiling at the results.
The weather outside was becoming dark and stormy (somehow, the weather is always connected to Shohoku's performance in a game). On the court, Nadaka committed a foul against Kogure, so a free throw was awarded to Kogure. I have to change the flow of the game somehow, thought Kogure.
As it began to rain outside, he aimed for the basket but missed the shot, and Sakuragi jumped up to get the rebound. However, the ball hit his face and was about to go offside when Kogure raced after the ball and managed to grab it and throw it back into the court. Mitsui caught the ball and successfully scored.
Everyone turned to see if Kogure was alright. They watched as he tried to stand up, his glasses lay broken on the floor.
"Don't worry, I'm fine." He tried to smile. And then, blood started to trickle out of his nose, and he collapsed onto the floor.
"Kogure!"
"Kogure-sempai!"
"Megane-kun!"
Everybody rushed to his side. As he was taken to the medical room by the juniors and Ayako, Hanayuki made her way after them.
"Hana-chan, where are you going?" asked Sakuragi.
"I'm going with them," she answered without looking back.
"But, aren't you going to stay and watch us play?" asked Mitsui.
She whirled around. "If that's the way you're going to play the rest of the game, I'd rather not."
"Ha... Hana-chan..." Sakuragi started.
Ignoring him, she walked towards the referee table and asked for a timeout, before walking back to the bench. She was still struggling to calm herself down when everyone had gathered around her.
"Daijoubu ka, Yuki-chan?" asked Akagi.
Hanayuki didn't answer him. Instead, she said, "The Kainan game is over. Like it or not, we lost. Let that be the end of it. Why do you have to dwell on it and carry it with you to the next game you play?" Nobody said anything.
"Let me tell you something. The real opponent in today's game, is not Ryokufu. It's yourselves. If you cannot win against yourselves, then you have truly suffered the worst defeat of your lives. Compared to that, the defeat against Kainan was nothing."
"Now, I want you go out there and play, while I go check on Kogure-sempai. How you would like to play, I leave it to you to decide. All I want you to do is this: think of Kogure-sempai while you play. Think of him."
In the medical room...
"Kogure-san, finally you're awake. That's good. You just had a light concussion."
Kogure sat up quickly at the sound of Ayako's voice. He looked around and saw Hanayuki standing at the foot of the bed. "How did the game go?"
When nobody answered him, he feared for the worst. "You mean..."
At that moment, Kuwata came bursting into the room. "It's incredible, Ayako-san, Yuki-chan! Ah, Kogure-sempai, you're awake. Yokatta."
"What's so incredible, Kuwata?" asked Kogure.
"It's Akagi-sempai. He's playing like he's never hurt his leg. We've almost caught up with Ryokufu."
"Sugoi!" exclaimed Ayako.
"What, Akagi?" Kogure knitted his eyebrows, worried for his friend.
"He'll be fine, Kogure-sempai. Don't worry," Hanayuki assured him.
"You know what, Kogure-san, you were right. Just like you said, they were thinking about the Kainan game too much," said Ayako.
"Our team has a lot of players who can't stand to lose," replied Kogure.
Hanayuki nodded at his statement. "I'm still trying to decide if it's a good thing or a bad thing."
"But, everything's fine now. It seems like everyone has recovered," said Ayako.
"It's because you worked really hard, Kogure-sempai," added Hanayuki.
Kogure smiled and said, "I would like to go back outside to watch them play."
Back on the court...
"What's going on?" Fujisawa banged her fists on the table. "Shohoku changed incredibly ever since Akagi came into the game, and he's hurt as well. Argghhh!"
"That's incorrect."
"What did you say?"
"Haven't you realised it yet? That Kogure player was the one who woke Shohoku up. I always thought he was a weak player, but I was mistaken. Anzai-san has really trained some good players. Too bad he's not here today," said Ofuna-sensei. Then, he saw Kogure coming in through the door. "Looks like he's back."
Kogure came in just in time to see Akagi do a slam dunk. Catching sight of Kogure, Akagi called out to him, "Kogure, you're back!" Kogure smiled in response. At the same time, Ryokufu called for a timeout. The score was 64-68, with 5 minutes left to play.
"Is your leg alright, Akagi?" asked Kogure.
"Yeah. We only have about 5 minutes left. I can manage," Akagi answered.
"You shouldn't be worrying about other people, Megane-kun," said Sakuragi. "I mean, Meganeless-kun," he continued when he realised that Kogure wasn't wearing his glasses anymore. "It's kind of hard to say."
Kogure blinked at his new nickname. Hanayuki tried to suppress the urge to giggle, but smiled anyway. Sakuragi was elated to see her smiling.
"Hana-chan, you're smiling! You're smiling! Nyahahahahahahaha! I am the Tensai after all. I made Hana-chan smile. Nyahahahahahahaha!"
The others looked at Hanayuki, and were also glad to see her smiling.
"Ok, ok. So I'm smiling. Anyway, it's good to see that you guys still have energy. Looks like you guys can still run." She looked over at Rukawa. "You still look like you can run too, Rukawa-kun."
Rukawa looked a little surprised, but nevertheless, he said, "Hai."
"Very well."
Suddenly, Sakuragi popped up in front of her. "Oh my..." Hanayuki jumped a little at his sudden appearance.
"Hana-chan, I can run faster than the kitsune!"
Oniichan... he never fails to make me laugh or smile. Hanayuki smiled again and said, "Yes. I'm sure you can, oniichan. Ganbatte ne?"
"You can count on the Tensai, Hana-chan. Nyahahahahahahaha!"
Meanwhile, at the Ryokufu side of the bench...
"What did you say?" Fujisawa demanded. "You're saying that you won't listen to me?"
"That's not it, Eri... but deciding on substitutions is the coach's job. Besides, the game has started to become interesting. Let us play like this," said Michael.
"That's right. Akagi is really good. And... that bald-headed guy is really interesting," added Nadaka.
Katsumi nodded. "Mitsui-san is an unbelievable person. It doesn't seem like he took a two-year break."
"That's why I am telling you to sub off," said Fujisawa, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
Michael turned to Ofuna-sensei. "What do you think, coach? Are you going to substitute Katsumi?"
"Iie, it will be ok." Hearing this, Fujisawa rushed to his side.
"What are you saying, Ofuna-san?" she demanded again.
"We will sub out," Seiji interrupted. "We've done our job."
"We'll leave it to Totsuka and Ebina now," continued Keiji.
"Ok. It's settled then," said Ofuna-sensei.
"Ofuna-san, can we win like this? Are you sure?" asked Fujisawa, once again challenging the coach's decision.
"Eri!" Fujisawa looked at Michael.
"This is our game. We've made it this far; it doesn't matter if we win or lose. We're just going to enjoy till the end. Right?"
"Yeah!" answered his team-mates.
"You guys..." Fujisawa could only stand and watch as Ofuna-sensei and the players walked away from her.
The game resumed, and Shohoku was slowly but surely catching up to Ryokufu. 25 seconds before the game is over, Shohoku was finally in the lead, with the score of 75-74.
"Fast break!" shouted Michael. Nadaka passed the ball to Totsuka, who raced to attack Shohoku's basket. Sakuragi ran after him, and as Totsuka jumped up to make a shot, Sakuragi also jumped up to stop him, swatting the ball away. In a flash, he was running back towards Ryokufu's basket, and Miyagi passed the ball to him. He was so fast that nobody caught up with him.
"Go Hanamichi!" The gundan cheered, and he jumped up to make a jump shot, only to have the ball bounce off the rim and back into his hands. The gundan fell over in shock.
I should have gone for a slam dunk, thought Sakuragi, his face getting redder than his hair, I mean er... head. Seizing the chance, Michael ran up to challenge him. Sakuragi was only too happy to meet the challenge. Using a fake, he successfully eluded Michael and headed towards the basket for a dunk. It was a beautiful dunk, but...
"Nani? Time over?"
"So this dunk doesn't count," said Akagi, his arms folded across his chess.
"It would have been fine if you shot half a second earlier," said Ayako.
"What a shame, Sakuragi," said Kogure, trying to comfort the redhead.
"No way..." Sakuragi whined. Hanayuki patted her brother on the back. "Hana-chan..."
"Too bad, redhead."
Sakuragi whipped his head around to see Michael laughing and walking up to him. "Teme!"
"But, I didn't think you would use a fake to pass me. Which is not bad."
"That's because I'm a Tensai! Nyahahahahahahaha!"
Michael smiled. Seeing Hanayuki standing beside Sakuragi, he winked.
Sakuragi stopped laughing abruptly. "Did I see you wink at my sister?"
Michael's eyes widened in surprise. "Your sister?"
Hanayuki quickly interrupted, "He's my um... god-brother. You know, not technically my real brother, or my stepbrother, or my half-brother, but my brother all the same."
"Oh I see."
Sakuragi looked from Hanayuki to Michael, scratching his head in confusion. "Anou... Hana-chan, what are you saying to this gaijin here?"
Hanayuki smiled at her brother and said, "Nothing, oniichan. I was just telling him that you are my brother, that's all."
"Oh, of course. Nyahahahahahahaha!"
"We'll see you next time in the winter," said Nadaka as we waved good-bye to the Shohoku team.
"Next time we won't lose. Please come and play again; we'll play anytime," called Totsuka.
"Alright, see you again." Akagi waved back, and then, together with the rest of the team, left Ryokufu's school grounds.
Sakuragi was at the front of the group, followed by the gundan. As usual, he was singing his Tensai song. He did not notice that he was approaching a big pool of mud, and stepped right into it. As hard as he tried to balance himself, he fell face first into the pool of mud.
"Sakuragi-kun!"
"What are you doing?"
"Be careful!"
"I think it's too late for that." The gundan laughed at his clumsiness.
Hanayuki rushed forward to help her brother. "Oniichan, are you alright? Come on, let's get you out of there. Look at you, all covered in mud."
"Hana-chan..." The gundan was still laughing when he finally got to his feet. He tried to chase after them, but was held back by Hanayuki.
"Oniichan, let them be. You'd better get home quick before- ONIICHAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN!"
While Sakuragi and the gundan disappeared from view, leaving behind a trail of dust, Hanayuki was left sitting in the same pool of mud Sakuragi had fell into.
"Ah! Yuki-chan!"
Why is it always me?
Author's notes: To all Fujisawa Eri fans out there, I apologize for the character-bashing. But I still don't like her. And so does Hanayuki. Ja!