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

Coffeemaverick: hehehe… why is it complicated? Hehehe… anyways, yeah I do have a lot… one per week… for like 10 weeks I think… thank you….

Kalyope Medina Burato: thank you… well, sometimes I don't want other characters to be suddenly out of the picture.. gotta bring them back.. hehehe.. how outrageous could Sakuragi get? Only he knows, hehehe… Miyagi hiding something? Like what?

Simmic: hehehe… yeah, I thought that well, why wouldn't Sakuragi be invited? So I put that part… hmm… about the haruko part, haven't read the manga but only seen the anime… I don't even remember that part… but I guess that can't be helped… I didn't even know she told Sakuragi about Rukawa.. maybe I missed that episode, my grandma didn't allow me to watch anime either, she said it was for kids… well, whatever… hehehehe…

The Writing On The Wall

"Sir, you called?" I stood in front of the doorway to the manager's office. He motioned for me to enter and when I did he invited me to sit down on the chair in front of me.

From his drawer he pulled out a folder and started to flip over the pages. When he found what he had sought for, he placed a finger to rest as a bookmark and showed it to me.

"You have far too many absences." But some of them were reasonable! I sometimes suffered from sleep depravation and exhaustion that I would get sick on certain days, and at other times I excused myself since I was on the verge of losing my chance for scholarship. In fact, maybe I just became disqualified.

"I know you're busy and everything. But this restaurant has a different priority." He closed the folder and plopped it down on the tabletop. I could sense nothing good that could ever come out of this. "You should also know your priorities. If you want to earn a scholarship, concentrate on your studies." He was making sense and nonsense at the same time.

"What do you mean sir?" I did not prepare myself for what would come next. "I'm going to have to fire you Takahashi-san. Our restaurant needs responsible and regular workers. You're juggling two things at the same time, and that makes it for you hard to handle. I'm sorry." He gave me my last salary for the few days I worked for this month, and asked me to pack my things. I did, and left bitterly. I needed that money, I needed the education, and I needed both.

When I told my aunt about what had happened, she gave me a good knock in the head. "I was hoping you're manager would say that." I furrowed my brow in frustration. This was serious. I was. "You should be studying you know, not working. There's plenty of work for you after you finish school." She took out some papers and started rummaging over them.

"We'll just have to sell the house and move to a smaller apartment." I grabbed both of her shoulders and looked her in the eye. She was dead serious. "No, you can't do that." She shoved my hands away. "You can't let your emotions interfere Karin. Either this or we spiral down to bankruptcy." I rested my head on the sofa. "But –" I knew our needs had to be met first. They had to. "It's your house. Do whatever you want with it." I slowly got up and walked back to my room, plopping down my bed, not even bothering to close the door behind my steps.

I didn't know our situation was this serious. I worked to pay for my school fees and everything concerned with it, for the food that I cooked for both of us, for transportation, for myself. I thought if I did that, I wouldn't burden her. Yet despite what I did, I still was.

I needed some ideas. Mitsui volunteered to lend me money, Ayako thought a loan would be better, the Sakuragi-guntai opted for gambling and hope to win big, Tetsuo said he could share some of the loot with me, Haruko told me I needed to get another job, and Miyagi had no idea.

I dialled for the second time Jin's home phone number. Maybe he has some solution to the ideas they presented. I heard it ring twice before somebody picked up. "Good evening, Jin residence." I asked for Souichiro Jin and I mentally sighed in relief when she told me to wait and heard her call his name.

I was hoping for Jin's voice to come across as the phone was picked up, but I found out it was the same voice that greeted me earlier. "I'm sorry, he's at work right now, I'll immediately connect you to his cellphone." I quickly replied, saying, "No, it's ok, there's no need to do that." There was only silence on the other line. "Hello? Hello?" I didn't want to believe that the connection process had started. "Hello?"

"Hello?" Jin's voice came through from the other line. "It's me." I replied. "Oh hi Karin." Hi Karin? No 'I'm at work right now' explanation? "How are you?" Did he have to ask about that? "Um, about that, I need to ask you about something." I promise it'll be quick. "Is there some wrong?" He asked, concern not missing from his tone.

I replayed all the suggestions in my head, brushed through what had happened, and waited for the sound of his voice after all I said. "Well, there's a vacancy at where I work." He suggested. "I can help you get in." I felt like thanking him already. "Plus, it's not really packed, so you'll have lots of free time." I found that useful for doing my homework. It was like an advertisement. And I was getting lured to and into it. "Ok, can you get me an application form?" Please? I heard him say, "Yeah, no problem." It was then that I remembered that he was still at work. "Isn't you manager angry by now?" From him came a laugh. "No, we just had our break."

Well, since he's on break, I might as well move on to my next problem: school. "Well, what subjects are you having trouble in?" I could've come up with a couple of real troublemakers, but I ranked them and ended up with one. My worst subject: History. With history, I skipped the way and immediately waved the white flag. "It's just that, dates, places, events, conventions, treaties, names, geography…" My head was already swirling just thinking about it. "It's too much to take in and remember."

I heard another faint laugh come through. "Just read ahead of time, underline the important words, and when you're drowsy, there's a lot of coffee by your side." I laughed bitterly. This was definitely one of those times where your sad face has reached a dead end, and there was none more to spare you had no choice but to laugh instead. "Jin!" I whined. "Seriously, just read ahead of time so when the teacher starts to discuss the topic you'll have more of a grip. While reading have a map beside you, geography plays importance especially if you want to know why a certain country has colonized another, it may be useful for military strategies, or trade, you know. With the names, know their connection and their job, and when you don't understand I'm here to help ok?" He's right. If my application gets accepted and I'm hired, I'll be his co-worker. I blushed at my stupidity.

"Oh yeah," He broke of my current train of thought. "Can you come by this Friday? So that I could teach you how's of coffee making. They usually test applicants on those." Brewing coffee, such an enticing smell. "Sure."

"So, I must've disturbed you more than enough by now, thanks again, and –" I was supposed to end my closing sentence with a goodbye before Jin interrupted me, saying, "Are you busy?" I looked at the pile of papers strewn all over my study table, becoming a blanket to the books that lay hidden. "Yeah." I wanted to say no, but I knew that I would have to suffer the repercussions later if I did so. "I see, well –" I supposed he was about to end this conversation when I followed in his footsteps and interrupted him instead, saying. "What is it?" I was too lazy to do homework anyways. I reasoned with myself. 'Sure.' It replied twice as sarcastically.

"It's not that important ok?" I didn't mind if it was important or unimportant. I didn't care if it was either of the two. I just disliked the idea of putting this phone down. "I want to know." I heard a sigh, followed by quiet laughter. "I just wanted to ask you how the rest of your day went."

"The usual." Though I didn't stop at that. I told him briefly about the incident with Sakuragi, left out the part with Haruko, informed him of Hagino's farewell concert but not the one that dealt with Miyagi, he told me he'd come, and that's when I heard a voice yelling in the background. "Is everything all right?"

I heard another laugh. It was a split between nervous and guilt-stricken. "My boss just discovered me. I need to go before he comes back. He really has a loud voice."

I wanted to say I'm sorry – for everything. For calling at the wrong time, for not excusing myself right away after you answered, for talking too much, for insisting to tell me what you wanted to ask, for talking too much for the second time. "Ok, see you Friday, ok? Ok!"

"Bye!" I replied hastily. He said his farewell twice as fast as me. There was another series of yelling before we became disconnected. It's entirely my fault, and I admit it.

It's Friday tomorrow, at the very least. It managed to lift my hopes up before they crashed and fell on top of one another. I forced myself to open my eyes to the load that was waiting for me to transform into work. I sighed, took my pen, sat up straight though that didn't help, and opened the book's pages.

That's all… hehehe… kinda unpredictable the way that I submit my chapters… hehehe… just wanted to ask of what you think with the pace that I am going with this story… anyways, next chapter aside from the obvious, is the answer to Miyagi's sort of what if question to Karin… hehehe… it'll be good.. hehehe.. anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter…