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: LOL… good thing your modem's fine now… um… my ideas? They just kinda come out of my head… lol… and now I just have to force myself from being lazy to write them down… lol… about ayako and mitsui entering the building… I know it sounds kinda crazy… lol… about how they got in… but probably just through sneaking inside as visitors or something… new transfer students… lol… taking the bathroom to change clothes… and then knocking out the guidance councillor after he had called Karin to come to his office and hiding him in the janitor's closet… lol… I do know why she was called to the office… lol…

Kalyope Medina Burato: LOL… Yoyogi should be killed, lol… yeah she annoys me too… lol… hmm… argh, the pressure of writing a game is getting to me… lol… sorry for the delay… I am going to make it up by posting well… as of now… I have 3 chapters planned to finish…

Santeira: sorry to hear that… I hope that everything is going well… my eyes are a problem too… the grade keeps on getting higher… argh… you printed my chapters? Lol… don't mind me… I'm just so happy that you took the time to read them… lol… oh and "I" stands for Karin… lol… I plan to write more for the underdeveloped characters of the slamdunk bunch…

Simmic: thank you… hmm… basketball games… not really good with it since I myself am not a player… LOL… anyways, sorry for the delay… and I hope it is good… more chapters are coming up… I'm making up for the long break that I took… lol

The Writing On The Wall

There stood down below the bleachers two great teams, both that have crossed paths before, and are crossing that same path again. Though this time, it is not as what has already been done, for here stands two teams retaining their previous name and honour, yet here they stand different in their making.

However, familiar faces still adorn the crowd. The previous captain of the Shoyo team was there, offering a couple of invaluable advice, perhaps regarding Miyagi, Sakuragi, and Rukawa, all of whom he had the opportunity to observe during the last time he had encountered them at court. Hanagata was there with him as well, giving words of encouragement, and laying his hopes of winning into their shoulders.

On the Shohoku Bench, Akagi, Kogure, and Mitsui were present. Akagi did not speak so much as to watch how Miyagi has taken on his role, and from the looks he was giving, he was fairly impressed with how Miyagi has taken care of this new team. Mitsui was joking around with the Toki Kuwata, who was nervous, and apparently, did not have as much confidence in his skills as Mitsui did.

The impending game was about to start. You could feel it in every corner of the room, the tension from both teams trying to break free, the excitement from both fans unwillingly subdued as of the moment. And as the referee called the teams to assemble themselves onto the court, and motioned for the centers of both teams to meet for the jump ball, everyone found themselves at the edge of their seats. I was no exception.

It was only mere seconds before the whistle blew. Both Sakuragi and Yamamoto jumped, reaching for the ball, but Yamamoto, who's height was greater than that of Sakuragi's, was able to hold it first, gently tapping it to his teammate Ishikawa, though Miyagi wasted no time in cutting through him and receives the ball. Both Ishikawa and Yamamoto were impressed by Miyagi's speed, but lost no time in gaining up to him.

Miyagi's efforts had been short-lived as from the side, a player overtook him, and as he made a plan to evade the opponent that was urging him to come, the rest of Shoyo's players had already positioned themselves, thoroughly guarding each Shohoku player. Miyagi was driven to a halt, and he now dribbled the ball with ease, he was ramming his brain of new ideas, new ways to get pass through their defence.

He looks to his right; Kuwata is guarded by Chiba, Shoyo's shooting guard. To his left, he finds Rukawa, guarded with great intensity by Ishikawa, who had quickly recovered himself from his previous slip. He tried to evade the point guard that stood between him and a chance at a score, and seeing that their new shooting guard was not letting his guard down for even a moment, he moved to his right, Nagato followed, he passed the ball to his left, and Rukawa running to get the pass was intercepted by Ishikawa, and soon the chance was reversed in favour of Shoyo.

Shohoku was now on the defensive. Miyagi was now running beside Ishikawa, when Ishikawa suddenly jumped and passed to Nagato who was heading straight for the net, the rest of Shohoku's player's trailing behind him. As soon as Nagato held in his hands the ball, Sakuragi had a burst of energy and was about to catch up to him when Nagato passed it just below Sakuragi's outstretched arm to Chiba on the far corner, and he immediately threw himself into a three-pointer. To our dismay, it soundly went in.

The ball was now in possession of Shohoku, and as Miyagi carefully laid out his plan, he decided that he was wasting time, and decided to make a plan on the go. He ran and as Nagato intercepted him, he attempted a throw that looked like a shot, though it had been too low, and Sakuragi jumped out to reach it. At that span of time, Miyagi was now a little bit more on the inside of Shoyo's court. At the touch of the basketball, Sakuragi fires up and jumps in the air, attempting a slam dunk, though Yamamoto drives the ball out of his hands, and Rukawa then screens off Nagato, leaving Miyagi free to catch the ball and aim for a successful jump shot.

Nagato now held the ball, and as Shohoku slowly retreated to their defensive position, Nagato passes to Torinaga while he himself went on ahead. However, as Torinaga got closer, Rukawa screens off Nagato, while Kuwata took on Ishikawa. Miyagi met Torinaga, and as he was not a skilled defender, Miyagi steals the ball from him, and charges to the opponent's net. Ishikawa evades Ishii and runs back to his court. Sakuragi breaks free from Yamamoto's defence and runs even faster, eventually overtaking Miyagi, Miyagi throws the ball into the air, and it was too high, out comes Sakuragi catching the ball, and slamming it into the net for a slam dunk.

After that shot, Shohoku began to experience the real power of Shoyo. Nagato was not a very skilled player on his own, but he had a powerful mind. His tactics lured most of the time Sakuragi and concentrated on his hot-temperedness. At other times, Ishii and Kuwata were the target, both of whom did not get much experience last year, but has just started to bond with the team. Ishikawa turned out to be a great player, and their best defender, and at the middle of the game, he was able to successfully hold off Rukawa, leaving him no choice but to pass to Sakuragi, which everyone knows must be the last person he would past to if given the chance. However, Ishikawa had made some slip-ups during the earlier part of the game due to his overconfidence. But approaching the halftime, it was clear he was making up for it.

Yamamoto is also excellent not only for his height, but also for his strength as he is able to hold off Sakuragi, except that at one point of the game, Sakuragi used his wall technique on him which completely threw Yamamoto off his game, and enabled Miyagi to tap the ball away from him. Torinaga and Chiba so far was not outshining the previous three members of the team, but it did not mean that they were not contributing to the tension that they were putting on Shohoku.

As the minutes dwindled down to seconds, the ball was now in possession of Shoyo, and as the clock was counting down less than half a minute, Shohoku was able to hold them off with allowing Shoyo just a four-point lead.

I quickly excused myself from the gang, following the path that I had come in, in the hope of finding the Shohoku locker room and to offer some cheering. I held the knob and turned it, pushing the door inside, and jerseys of violet and gold surrounded the area.

"How'd you know we have a game today?" Nobunaga was the closest one to the door, and as everybody's eyes settled on me, I found myself searching for Jin. He was beside the coach, and as the coach ceased to scribble on his whiteboard, Jin looked up. He didn't say anything, and I was still standing in the middle of their discussion. "But in any case, are you going to stay to watch our match?" I heard Nobunaga's voice in the background. I was still facing Jin when I nodded. "Sure, when is it?"

"After Shohoku's match, we're facing Ryonan." Nobunaga opened his water bottle and took a large gulp from it. "If you're trying to find Shohoku's locker," Jin's voice finally broke in, "They're on the next room." I still wondered why I was still standing inside the room, everybody waiting for me to excuse myself. "Well, good luck to you guys, Nobunaga, Jin." I slowly turned my back against them, and Nobunaga remarking again in that same cocky voice of his, "No problem, we beat Ryonan once, we can do it again." I smiled, and grabbed the doorknob, dragging it behind me, "Thank you." Jin's voice replied.

I remained standing outside of the Kainan locker room, just running through again everything that had happened in that brief moment. I recollected how my voice seemed distant, my manners even to some extent shy, and that they had conversed with me in the same formal manner, even for Nobunaga's usual cocky attitude.

I wondered what went wrong, when did we start to develop this gap, and why. Was it because of me? Was it because I never returned his calls, or rarely listened to the messages on my phone since I devoted so little of my time to talk with my friends, because I felt the distance that separated us? All these thoughts kept running through my head.

I heard the unmistakable shriek of the crowd; it signalled that the game would resume soon enough. I didn't bother to go where I had originally planned, but instead, left quickly for the bleachers. It did not take me much time to find it, but it did take me time to reach my seat.

Both teams once again re-appeared, and as both centers were once again called to the court, the intense feeling of that first jump ball lingered on us all.

This time around, Sakuragi reached the ball first, and tapped it confidently to Kuwata who immediately passed it sideways to Yasuda, and Yasuda ran passing it to Miyagi, who was then to direct the course of this play.

Though the audience had their favorites, nobody could really tell who would win. Neither of the teams dominated the other, resulting in no clear winner. It kept on going like this for a while, Shoyo retaining their lead, but not for long, for Shohoku would quickly make it's comeback and overtake them, and Shoyo wanting to win this, would drive Shohoku out of the lead again. Rukawa returned to his old selfish self, and started to play the game excluding his newly found technique of sharing. Though for a while, this served Shohoku some more points, this resulted in Anzai-sensei forcing Rukawa out of the court, so that he wouldn't repeat what had happened last year with Kainan.

He wasn't detained for long, as seeing as Shoyo took advantage of this loss, and was starting to grow the gap between them and Shohoku. However, just as usual, they made the mistake of underestimating the not so experienced players of Shohoku: Kuwata, Yasuda, and Ishii. With Miyagi's genius plans, he was able to work with the abilities of the following players and use them to the advantage of Shohoku.

But Shoyo learned quickly, and no longer fell unto Miyagi's trap, and guarded Kuwata, Yasuda, and Ishii equally. As the minutes continued to countdown, Sakuragi stepped up to the plate, and moved out of his boundaries. For once, he did not look tired, and there were even times throughout the course of the game, where he seemed to receive this energy boost that would just fire his spirit, and get him to overcome his opponent, whether it may be the skilled Ishikawa, the giant Yamamoto, or the genius Nagato.

I glanced once again at the clock. There were only three minutes to go. Next, I looked to the scoreboard. It was 98-96, in favour of Shohoku. But just at that moment where I averted my gaze, the crowd cheered, and the lead once again switched to Shoyo. It was 98-99, courtesy of Chiba who just performed a three-point shot.

There was only one minute and a half in the game. As I started to panic, and my fingers testifying to that, a time-out was issued by Shohoku. We waited, the crowd debating and some even betting, whose team would win? There was of course no doubting which team I wanted to win, but their formidable opponent, Shoyo, didn't seem to want to willingly give us this victory. And that thought was stupid, what team in their right mind would just give up? Maybe if their skills were far off, but it wasn't the case in this particular game.

The game was resumed. I had no idea what the plan was, but as soon as Sakuragi once again reached the ball from the jump ball, I figured what it was. It was a desperate attempt, but the team was taking a risk. Sakuragi landed on the polished floors of the court, and immediately used his strength to hurl the ball high into the air, Miyagi running before even that was executed, everybody wondering whether someone would be able to catch up with the ball's speed, and someone stepped up to the plate. Shohoku's point guard arrived just in time as the ball dropped and he caught it, dribbled it twice and as he saw from the corner of his eyes Nagato catching up to him, he quickly ran for an easy lay-up.

The score now was 103-102, still in favour of Shoyo. There was only now a minute into the game. And once again, Sakuragi stepped into the plate. He was successful in holding Yamamoto back, and as Yamamoto struggled, Sakuragi gone a bit overboard, and accidentally elbowed him in the process of defending. He received another foul, and was already suffering 4 consequently.

Thirty seconds remaining, and Anzai-sensei resolved to let Sakuragi stay on the court. Once again, Miyagi was seeking to find an opening, anything in which he could take advantage of, and help his team to win. He saw Rukawa raising his hand, and Miyagi trusted him, and passed the ball to him. He once again reverted to his old playing habits, and took on Ishikawa on his own. Nagata ran to double team with Ishikawa, though Miyagi blocked him, reminding him whom he was supposed to be guarding. Though Sakuragi hated the thought of Rukawa actually producing the winning shot, he didn't fail this time to let Yamamoto help.

Chiba however eluded Kuwata and rushed in, he arrived a bit late though, as of that moment, Rukawa chose to jump into the air, and take aim. It was clear that with both guys blocking him, there was no way he was going to get his shot in, he wasn't in a fade-away position, and for a split second everybody thought it was over. Until Rukawa lowered the ball and passed it behind him, and as the three players watched, Kuwata, one who is by no means equal to Mitsui in skills, assumed the role and attempted with courage a jump shot. It bounced off the rim.

Sakuragi, living up to the name The Rebound King, was there, and finished the game with a resounding slam-dunk before the horn blared the ending of another impressive game. Everybody stood up from their seats, and held their breaths. "The final score, 104-103, in favour of Shohoku!" The place roared with everything from shock, to happiness to disappointment from the Shoyo team.

The guntai and I couldn't help but jump from our seats, sparing each other a hug, and after everything settled down, the crowds parted, some left, and some stayed, and for those who exited the stadium, new ones filled them out. It was what reminded me that the game between Ryonan and Kainan was about to take place, exactly an hour from now.

I sat back down once again, fearing that if I stood, some eager fan would steal it from me. I saw Nobunaga and Jin making their appearance, exchanging handshakes with the Shohoku team, congratulating them, while Shohoku in turn wished them good luck.

Nobunaga seemed to have commented about the huge crowd gathering, as Jin looked into the bleachers, and for a second, I thought our eyes met, but I didn't do anything, and he didn't either, so I wondered if it just looked like that since he was so far away. He started to wave though, and I wanted to wave back, though some of the other fans waved back at him.

He walked up to the bleachers and sat beside me. "That was a great game." He commented. I nodded, still wanting to berate myself for missing other such games like this. "So…" We both said at the same time. "You go first." He said. It wasn't like I had something planned in mind. "Well, um… nothing much really. Just – well – good luck."

He nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Thanks. Ryonan is a tough team to deal with, especially Sendoh, but we'll give it our best." I smiled a little at his words. "You'll be fine." He gave the court a look. "We can't be anything else than fine, or else we'll lose." I agreed with him. "It's-" He started to speak, now pausing for a second. "It's been quite some time since we last talked to each other."

I nodded, yet again, something, which I seemed to be repeatedly doing ever since we started talking. "Yeah." I couldn't quite answer it in any other way. "How's everything is Miuradai?"

"Fine, I guess. I'm regaining the grades I need to apply for a scholarship and yeah. You?" He took a deep breath. "Well, I've just been preparing for the finals as well, I've already received my acceptance letter for the basketball camp, and I've been preparing for this… the Inter-High competition."

It was really two different paths I couldn't help but think. "I'm glad that you came today. To be honest, I was quite surprised that you were here." He was looking at me now. "I'm glad I came too." I bowed my head, I couldn't seem to look him in the eye, I felt my cheeks heat up, something that didn't happen for quite some time now.

"Karin-" His voice broke the silence. "Jin! Coach is looking for us!" Nobunaga ran up the bleachers, and Jin stood up to meet him. "We'll talk later okay?" I nodded and smiled.

But beneath that smile was the constant pounding of my heart. When he had said my name, something just made me want to make him stop. It was something I didn't wish to hear, it was something I didn't want to confront, it was something I didn't want to come true. At least, that's what I thought for myself.

I still stayed for the game. Cheered when his name was introduced, and sat in anticipation as the ball rose in the air. Only a few minutes in the game and I was starting to be drawn in, when my phone rang. It was from an unknown number, and I picked it up. "Hello? Takahashi Karin is that you?" It was the principal, looking for me. "Where are you? Do you know where Yoyogi Kana is? Your teacher reported that you and Yoyogi did not come back to class after you had been called to the Guidance Office."

My voice was held in my throat. "What is that noise? Where are you Takahashi? I want you to come back to school and pay my office a visit. I'll be waiting in my office after school hours, so you have no excuse not to show up. I expect a rational explanation for all of this." I hung the phone up without even saying goodbye.

"I knew this wasn't a good idea." I ran a hand through my hair. The game was still going. Jin was still dribbling the ball expertly, holding himself well against his opponent. I stood up and made my way out of the bleachers. There was another cheer as I was on my way out, just in time to see Jin's successful three-pointer. I found the exit, and took a lonely ride back to revisit the foreboding room of the principal's office.

Well, that's all for now. I'm really sorry that this chapter took so long… but I've been recently finding other areas that I'm interested in such as composing songs, and in some days I'm just lazy , and I still don't know what's going to happen next, so the next chapter might take some time again… I do hope that you enjoyed reading this chapter.