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: hehehe… I kinda wanted Miyagi to be the obvious one… hehehe… thank you… well, kiyota's not too happy, but oh well… hehehe…
Simmic: thank you… hehehe… yup, oh and with my essay, I'm nervous… I was planning to do this mosaic thing alongside the essay, I didn't finish it… but I managed to finish the essay, but metaphysics was a wide topic to cover, so I don't know if I managed to somehow pull through… waaa… I'm scared… hehehehe…
The Writing On The Wall
"Hey Karin, why weren't we invited to your birthday?" Sakuragi said as he reached my seat. "I thought you were part of the gang, act like one dammit!" I thought I was expelled from the gang. Anyways, does that mean I'd have to dress and talk like one too? I couldn't even bring to imagine myself in such a situation even if I tried.
"I wasn't the one who organized the party," I tried my best to explain. "Then who did? I'll beat him up to pieces." Sakuragi must be joking, right? Well, for one he's not allowed to participate in fights because he's a basketball player, and two, I've never really seen him serious so I can't really tell if he'll break the rules.
"Jin." The guntai stopped cracking their knuckles to look at me. "So it was him." Sakuragi scratched his chin. "Let's go to Kainan." They can't be serious! And here I was telling the truth, were did I store my pack of lies again? Oh, I think I remember burning them not so long ago. "Hanamichi!" Yohei yelled, while all 4 of them tried to hold him down.
"Sakuragi, there's something that fell off from your bag." Takamiya distracted him, though it was only second in the agenda since something really fell from his bag. 'Do not read this aloud.' Was written on the envelope in bold letters. 'You are invited to Karin's surprise birthday party. Please come and meet me in front of the Kainan gate. If you're from Shohoku please meet Ayako in the basketball gym, bring a disguise.' Signed by, 'Jin'.
"So you were invited," I said trying to sneak a peek from Sakuragi's shoulder. He grabbed the piece of paper, read it again, and tore it to miniscule pieces. "So don't go around blaming anybody." I warned. Sakuragi cried in a corner. "And there I was, starving for the weekend, while you, and everybody else, ate." Don't use that on me. Why didn't I bury my conscience six feet below the ground again?
"Fine. Let's go to the canteen, my treat." The guntai had smiles that reached the heavens. "Each one is limited to one meal only, and only one. I'm on tight budget you know." Though in the end, they asked for a combo meal, which was still considered one order. Note to self: leave conscience at home.
During basketball practice, Akagi, Kogure, and Mitsui visited yet again. Mitsui was having a conversation with Haruko along the sidelines, though when I walked to the bleachers, he pointed to me and said, "Ask her." He patted Haruko on the shoulder and headed back to court to train Toki Kuwata.
Haruko appeared to be too shy to approach me of the matter that I decided to come up to her and ask her myself. Rukawa chose that time to do a fade-away jump shot. Haruko was immediately distracted yet again. "Rukawa-kun's so good in basketball," She sighed dreamily.
"Yeah." I had to agree with her. His skills were exceptional for a first year. But he has some troubles within the sharing and passing department.
"Senpai," Haruko exclaimed. She hadn't noticed I had already been standing beside her. She looked down and began to fiddle with her fingers. "What –" She looked away, a blush forming on her face. "What would you do if you liked someone?" So is this what Mitsui said, 'ask her?" He is lazy when dealing with questions concerning the relationship area.
Well, as they say, if you don't know the answer, then answer it with another question. "What do you think you should do?" Haruko remained silent after that. I rephrased the question. "What do you think you should do, but are afraid to do it?" She lifted her head and stared at the court. "I don't know if I should tell him my feelings." It was like playing tennis, the ball had bounced to my side of the court, and it was up to me to return it to her side.
"Don't you think that when a part of you doubts, there's a good reason behind it?" I seem to be the one buying time for Sakuragi. Why am I personally avoiding the question anyways? Why does the thought of answering that question frighten me? What do I have to be afraid of anyway? A lot of things, I said.
"You're right." Haruko finally replied. Did she understand what I was trying to say or did she misinterpret it? I hope it's not the latter one or I will have to bear the blame and shame for not making things clear and concise.
How did I get into this mess again? Oh yeah, first, in order to save myself from paying the bill, I became the epiphany to Sakuragi and after that he asked for my advice and support, Mitsui passes Haruko's inquiry to me, I give another advice, I don't know what she's going to do, I may have boosted Sakuragi's hope on one hand, it might be false hope after all, I may have encouraged Haruko to confess in the other, Rukawa might not feel the same, Sakuragi might still have a chance, she might be hurt or enjoyed. This is utterly confusing.
I snuck out from the basketball gym and took a walk around the campus to catch a breath. There was a petite girl standing by the principal's office holding her violin case. It was Hagino Naru, I had not been mistaken. I wonder of the reason as to why she had paid our school a visit.
Hagino-san and the principal exchanged bows before she walked away. "Hagino-san!" I called out. She seemed to be glad that I had seen her. "Takahashi-san, it's been quite a while since we have seen each other." I nodded my head. "Yeah, it has been quite some time." She pulled out from her pocket four tickets.
"Here." I had figured four tickets had been too much. "One for you, Miyagi-san, Mitsui-san, and Ayako-san." I accepted the tickets and skimmed along the title of the event. The joy of being invited was completely wiped off from my face. "Farewell concert?" I questioned myself in disbelief. "Yes." She answered. "I've finally made a decision to start on composing musical scores. I believe a little bit of seclusion like Okinawa would do me some good. Lately my asthma has been getting worse."
There was something in my head that kept the information from sinking into my heart, and into acceptance. "But what about -?" She looked up to me to meet my gaze, with not a single clue as to whom I was referring to. "Yes?" She urged me to continue. I shook my head. "Just don't forget us when you're famous." She giggled and cradled her case in her arms. "I don't plan on anything like that. I just want to build my own school and teach all kinds of people how to play the violin."
"I see." I remembered the basketball practice and invited her to come. "Actually, I need to start packing now, and help clear out our house since we're selling it." She apologized, and I reassured her that it was fine with me, and I excused myself and returned to the gym.
It turned out that Miyagi had already dismissed them. When I found the players cleaning up the gym, I quickly ran to Ayako's table and left the two tickets with a note to explain, and dashed to Miyagi's locker. He was already there, packing up the last of his books and was about to leave when I called out his name. "What's up Karin?" I dug onto my bag for the ticket and handed it to him. "So this was what she was talking about." It was my turn to be lost in the present. "Oh, I passed by her on my way to my locker." He offered a brief explanation. He took the ticket from my outstretched hand and pocketed it.
"That's it Miyagi?" He looked at me, and this time it was his turn to be puzzled and clueless. "Is that it?" I repeated. "You're just going to let her go?" A smirk formed on Miyagi's lips. "Why don't we discuss this while walking to the bus stop? Agreed?" I couldn't figure why he had that grin plastered to his face.
Is he trying to say he didn't really like Hagino-san? But – ok, save the face plan A. If I'm right and he did like her, then I'm going to scold him for not doing anything, and well that means there's something other than that behind his smirk. Plan B, if I'm wrong, and he doesn't like her like I think he likes her, I'll have to pretend I meant it on a friendship level. I'm safe – for now.
"Are you coming?" Miyagi asked. He was ahead of me by a few paces. I jogged to catch up with him. "So answer my question." I pushed the issue further inside. We turned left on the corridor.
"Well, before I answer your question, let me ask you one." Ok, either he heard my conversation with Haruko, or this is what they call karma. I moved to my left to avoid a collision with a locker in the hallway. "If Jin wanted to pursue a career in professional basketball and he needed to go abroad and train, would you stop him?" That was my original question, re-questioned only with different ingredients along with a different cooking and serving style.
I was stumped. It was very possible that Jin would want to increase his skills, and play basketball both as a passion and as a source of living. I wouldn't want to eat my words later if it did really happen, I do have some pride built in me. "I-" We were getting closer and close to the gate. "If he wants to, who am I to stop him?" Miyagi smiled; clearly he got the better of me.
"There's my answer." I was disappointed. He had no originality. " I wouldn't want to hinder her from her dreams. I had to let her go. Besides, where she's going is still part of Japan. It's not impossible for me to reach her, so chill." I smiled and waved goodbye as we arrived on the bus stop, and his bus came right on time, and he left before my bus arrived.
At that time of solitude provided to me, I couldn't help but think back to the previous incident. It had suddenly opened my eyes, wide and clear. I knew that I couldn't bring myself to stop him, I would want to, but I wouldn't anyways. He has a separate life that he has to live, and if I prevented him from getting a shot at achieving his dreams, he might regret it, and that would hurt me the most. Not the fact that he left, not the fact that he was far from me, but the fact that I had been the cause of his misery. I knew it would really hurt me; it would hurt both of us. I forced myself to let go of that thought.
I grabbed my cellular phone and called my manager and excused myself, saying that the load of work had been piling up. I had a lot of late homework, missed homework, barely passing quizzes that I had to take a lot of days off from my work. I received another good scolding, before my manager agreed to grant me the day off. I sighed in relief and thanked him. My bus soon arrived, and carrying the heavy bag with me, I went straight to home, straight to my bedroom and went straight to do my homework. Though the earlier thought kept on clawing at me, I kept pushing it at the back of my head, till I could no longer concentrate at the task at hand. I collapsed right on my bed, and as my exhausted body longed for sleep, I gave it what it need.
That's all for now… hmm… hope you have some suspicions going on… heheheh… next chapter kinda answers miyagi's question… or like jin answer's miyagi's question… that's all I have in mind right now… I have a theodicy essay this time… so yeah… see you next week… no jin and Karin, I know… but hey, it has to remain natural… hehe… kanagawa isn't really a small place you know… hehe.. hope you enjoyed it anyways…