"What were you thinking, punk!" an angry driver's voice yelled as he braked in time to let a drowsy biker pass.
Oh. That drowsy biker? He's one of the most popular highschool basketball players in the Kanagawa prefecture. Rukawa Kaede.
Exhausted from the month-long Interhigh basketball competition and training with the All-Japan team, Rukawa Kaede took a few days off from school. Though it may seem much to anyone else, it wasn't that big a loss to Rukawa. He didn't care much about schoolwork anyway.
He spent his first two days eating and sleeping. But on the third day, he actually got up and out of the house. He had gotten tired of the old place and decided to take his bike out for a ride.
For the whole morning, he rode wherever his bike took him, his trusty Walkman hanging on his waist. For lunch, he had gone to a noodle house to eat. Passersby who recognized him stopped by occasionally to shake his hand, or ask for an autograph, or just stare at him. He was famous after all, known as Shohoku's Ace or Super Rookie. These antics of his so-called fans just struck him as incredibly annoying. He was pretty fed up with the girls in his school who always shrieked at the sight of him, too. He never really wanted these. A quiet nap and a satisfying game of basketball were enough to please him.
Feeling sleepy once again, he slapped a handful of coins on the counter and went back on his bicycle. Besides being one of the best players in the prefecture, Rukawa Kaede was known for one other thing—falling asleep anywhere without regard to time or place.
Like right now, as he was rounding around a corner, his eyelids were drooping ever lower, although he still pumped his legs to pedal his bike. He would've fallen asleep right then and there, if not for an unfortunate incident.
WHAM!
His bike had collided into someone on a skateboard and he fell onto the sidewalk.
"Oi! Daijobu?" (Hey! You OK?)
Rukawa ran a hand through his jet-black hair grumpily. 'Nobody gets away from destroying my sleep' he thought, anger swelling up inside.
He got up on his feet, stood up to his full-height to see the dimwit who woke him up. He was utterly surprised (though his face remained emotionless) to see a girl standing there.
"Daijobu?" she repeated.
Rukawa's anger faltered. He didn't want to hit female, no matter how annoyed he was. She looked up at him over her dark sunglasses and off an earphone under her backwards cap.
'A Walkman?' Rukawa thought blankly. She blew out a pink bubble and raised an eyebrow at him.
"Yo, are you deaf or what?" she snapped impatiently.
"I'm fine," he grunted.
"Hey, you're Rukawa, aren't you?" she said, cracking her gum. She eyed the tall boy with sudden recognition. "Number 11 Shohoku right?"
Rukawa just nodded.
"I knew I've seen you somewhere before," she told him. "I've seen you play. You're pretty good."
'Pretty good?' That had caught him off-guard. Not only did this girl not swoon, sigh or giggle at the sight of him, she also described him as pretty good, which was the understatement of the century. Anyone who has seen Rukawa play would say he's incredible, at the very least.
"You sure you're OK?" she asked again.
He nodded.
"Good," she said. "Shohoku can't afford an injured ace, or that idiot Sakuragi will let it go to his head."
The image of the red-headed amateur Sakuragi Hanamichi popped into his head saying his favorite line ('Orewa tensai basket-man!' I am the genius basketball-man) followed by manic laughter, not knowing that the girl was thinking the exact same thing.
"Do aho,(Asshole)" they said at the same time, with the exact same expression.
The girl let out a soft, catching laugh. Then she flipped her skateboard back onto the ground. "Well, I guess I'll just see you around."
She skated off, leaving a very puzzled Rukawa behind.
A/N: so what did you think? this is just the first chapter and sort of a preview. Please review! Arigato gozaimasu, minna!