Disclaimer: The absolute undeniable fact that cannot be doubted is this: I do not own Slam Dunk. Pero pwede pa rin akong tumingin diba?

Calliope Medina Erato: hahaha… yeah, that' s one reason why I paired the two up… I figured there's already a lot of mitsui, sendoh, and rukawa, fujima not so much, but compared to jin and to other players, those 3 really kind of have the majority around them… and so I'm trying to use Jin as someone that could potentially have the same appeal with the audience… hopefully… hehehe…

Coffeemaverick: well… I just thought Nobunaga would do that if he had the chance… hehehe.. thank you….

Simmic: oh… yeah… it kinda seems not too direct… hehehe… I'm glad that you think it was a nice choice! Hehehe.. yeah… they are sort of rivals… hehehe.. yeah… but I mean… if Yohei was in the same grade… whoa… he's attitude would just be the perfect one to use… hehehe.. yeah, I figured Kiyota and Sakuragi have their similarities.. hehehe.. yeah, basically… because like I tried to portray.. it seems she wasn't in her right state of consciousness at that time…but she'll recognize later… oh and for the reason Jin was in the neighborhood… um… it's in chapter 4… hehe…

The Writing On The Wall

"Ne, Karin, where were you yesterday?" Miyagi sat beside me as I was doing make-up work for my absence. "Skipping? Tsk. Tsk. Tsk." He bowed his head, shaking it three times. "I was lost." I realized I had scribbled Jin's name. I quickly erased it before Miyagi had time to sneak a peek. "Sure. Whatever." Before I could dive headfirst into the heated discussion that was just begging for me to join, he tapped me on the shoulder, and with a later, left me squirming in my seat, my hands struggling to choke the air out of him until he turns purple that is.

Suddenly this girl started to chase this guy, though it seemed as if everything had been a joke. The look on her face however, was no joke. There was a huge stain on her shirt and she ran with what looked like a pie in her hands. The guy tried his best to evade her, though it seemed as if he did more destruction than escaping. This caused a crowd to band together against him, preventing him from going any further. The girl gladly wiped his face with the pie, though he still held a thumbs-up in approval.

They'd make a nice couple. As if to answer my question, "Those two are at it again?" I looked around to see that the Sakuragi-guntai occupied every single available seat on the table I had hoped to find peace. As if to voice out my question, "They should just hook up." Sakuragi commented. Right, now get out of my mind. "Those two? No way. I know those two. They're just friends." Takamiya explained.

I placed my pen down, resting my chin on my newly self-made divan of palms. From an outsider's point of view, it might seem as lover's quarrel, but from their shoes' point of view, it's just, normal, ordinary, a daily serving of get on your nerves for a complete day.

I smiled. Maybe that's exactly what happened to me. I became the outsider. I viewed our friendship from a different plane and angle. I never used to think that our casual piggyback ride when I'm tired or just plain lazy meant anything. I would readily take him on a battle of teasing, or staring contest. I never gave them any other meaning until I had changed. Since the way I looked at him changed.

Little by little, I began to associate certain feelings with what we normally used to do. I began to build my own Mt. Everest of false hope. It was then that I placed an invisible space that grew in between us. It was then that I would uncontrollably blush under his gaze. It was until then that words could no longer come out on upon his questions, comments, and violent reactions. Until then, everything had been all right.

We each spoke of a different language. I spoke of love, while he spoke of friendship. Somewhere, I misunderstood what he said.

"Sempai, are you listening?" Who? What? Oh. I nodded my head to reassure them that my consciousness was back where it belonged. "As I was asking," Sakuragi continued. "Senpai, could you please help me in passing my Bio class?" And how do you propose I should do that? "Of course you meant through tutoring, right?" Sakuragi scratched the back of his head. "Actually I meant that," At Yohei's jab to the side, "Sure. Sure. Later! I see Haruko." The rest of the gang where back to gambling again. After some debate, they decided to spend the rest of the day in the nearest panchinko club.

Two shadows loomed over me. "Hi Karin." Hi Ayako. Hi Mitsui. I greeted them with the best smile I could bring about myself. "So, are you feeling any better?" Huh? "It's just that, we heard that you were sick this weekend, so…" I smiled yet again, nodding my head. "Yeah. I'm fine. The flu checked itself out on the evening of Sunday." Ayako let out a sigh of relief. "Well, that's good to hear." Mitsui replied. "I guess… we better get going then." I bowed my head and the returned the bow before leaving.

A little farther away, Mitsui placed his hand around her waist, seeming to comfort her of her latest ordeal, and as she rested her head on his shoulder, he gave her a soothing kiss on the side of her head.

So, are you feeling any better? I couldn't answer right away back then. I was confused. Which one was she talking about?

Okay… seems to be like a new discovery… and trying to really put some answers into the why's from last time. And I think from the viewing it from a different perspective really helped on that one… there's obviously still some distance between the four friends that I'm still on the process of mending… and next chapter coming up is the reason as to why Jin was lurking around in the neighborhood… hehe…