CHAPTER 5/? FIRST DAY AT SHOHOKU
The sun was shining brightly early in the morning. It is so much in contrast to the skin of the curly haired boy. "Where the heck is that guy?" He looked at his watch. "Another five minutes…" He said to himself. He just brushed his curly locks as if to fix it, not that it mattered as it always stuck the same way. He just waited as he already started to sweat in the heat of the sun.
He checked his watch again. "I'm going, no point in being late for school today for him." He picked up his stuff and was about to leave when he heard a faint voice from the distance. He looked back to see what it was. As the figure came closer, he instantly recognized who it was. He just had a blank stare on him.
"Wait up!" It was Mitsui. He was running towards Miyagi as fast as he could. When he reached him he just started to pant. "Let me just catch my breath." He almost fell to his knees.
"What happened to you?" A vein was starting to pop. "I've been waiting for the last 10 minutes for you!" He said angrily. He was raising his hands in his irritation.
"I'm sorry! My dad started to sermon me again." He paused to catch his breath. "He thinks I'm not going to school. He doesn't trust me." He said in disappointment.
"Well you really didn't give your parents much for them to trust you." Miyagi smirked a bit.
"Thanks a lot!!" He said sarcastically. Until now, this was a very touch subject.
"Oh come on." Miyagi noticed his pain by what he said. He sometimes thinks he's a bit too insensitive. If I were to become a good captain I really should notice stuff like this more. He was obviously starting to feel guilty by what he said. He knew he meant nothing about what he said but it struck a nerve in Mitsui. "I didn't mean anything about it. I was just kidding." Mitsui just looked at him but he said nothing. "You are doing your best to change and to make your parents see your improvements. Sulking will not help you." He paused. He didn't really know what to say. Kogure-sempai does this stuff better. "Fine. I was about to tell you of the new plays I have thought of but you don't seem to be interested…" He trailed to see what Mitsui's reaction would be.
"Well?!" Mistui suddenly said.
:::chibi:::
Yatta! It worked. I got his attention. "You sound angry. I don't think you really want to hear it." Miyagi started to grin evilly.
"Hey no fair! Tell me!" Mitsui quickly forgot his anger and pain for that moment. Although he was starting to get irritated.
"IYA DA!! NO!! I'll tell you later." He was playing with Mitsui already.
"You're no fun, CAP-TAIN!" Mitsui said sarcastically.
"Che… Fine!" His face became crooked. "I'll tell you on the way to school. We're going to be late you know." They picked up their stuff and started to walk to school.
Mtsui quickly forgot about the incident. This made Miyagi feel a little at ease, though he really felt sorry for the guy. Mitsui had many faults in his past but he has paid for all of them, he thought. He needs a fresh start. But his past just seems to haunt him even more. This troubled Miyagi. Despite their many problems in the past, Miyagi has come to accept Mitsui as his friend. There must be something I can do.
*****
Why do I always have to be so weak?! The raven-haired boy thought to himself annoyed. For 5 minutes he struggled to get up from his state. It was like he was so impaired he could not even move his body correctly. He sat for another minute before he got up and changed. He made sure no one saw him while he left the courts to get ready.
He slowly walked out the courts. He was wearing this old dark navy blue jacket and matching pants. He wore a white undershirt beneath the jacket that was buttoned all the way up except for the top button. He quickly fastened the last button in place and checked his clothes. It was his old Shohoku high school uniform. He even checked his black leather shoes he recently bought. Good. He thought to himself. He took his broken bike and slowly walked to school.
He paused for a bit to look at the time. There's still time. I don't have to hurry that much. It wasn't for another thirty minutes before school started and the school is just a few blocks away from the courts. He looked around again the area before he left, to see if anyone was there. He checked if Haruko was still around. I hope Akagi-san didn't see what happened. He was rather worried. The last thing he wanted was somebody to see him like that.
"BAKA!!!" He said to himself. He felt stupid and annoyed. Who cares about what others think? He thought angrily. All I know I will be the best player. Then he will recognize me. He was in full of anger and resentment. He thought if he could prove to his father he was good in one thing, maybe just maybe his dad will give him even just the time of day to let him know that his dad loved him.
*****
"Ayako-san, is this all?" asked Haruko.
"Yes, just set them there for a while." answered Ayako. She and Haruko have been checking the inventory of equipments for their practice later on that day. They had much to do and they didn't want anything to be missing later. They both felt it was their responsibility that practice goes without a hitch. They even checked the security of the gym just in case of gangs breaking in or wild fangirls disturbing the practice.
"Are you sure ALL of these are necessary?" Haruko asked with disbelief. There was just so much security check and equipment just to keep practice going smoothly.
"Well we never know now do we?" Ayako answered sternly. "The last time we had a gang break up practice."
"That was Mitsui-sempai. I'm sure he'll never do it again."
"Then how about times we get ambushed by those…" Ayako looks around. She brought her fan out just to make sure. "those stupid Rukawa fan girls."
"Rukawa is not here!!" Haruko suddenly shouted. Ayako was surprised a bit. "I mean I don't think we have to worry about them." She paused. It seemed to have affected her a lot. She couldn't speak for a couple of seconds and was stuttering. Could it really be him? She fidgeted around and looked away. "Who are those girls going to watch anyway?"
I guess she still misses him a lot. "We can never be too certain. The Shohoku team has a bad reputation of bad luck attracting its way." Though she was already convinced what Haruko was troubled about, she couldn't help but wonder about her reactions today. She thought it was really out of the ordinary.
"Ayako-san if there isn't anything else that you need, maybe I could leave to go to my classroom?" She was rather in a hurry as she was starting to feel uncomfortable with Ayako's staring at her.
"Oh sure, there's nothing for you to do now. You can head on to class." Haruko quickly excused herself and left Ayako in the storage room. "Kids nowadays…" She left the thought trail. She did finally checks and padlocked the storage room. She took the key and placed it in her bag. She took her bag and started to exit the gym.
*****
Rukawa was walking his broken bike to school. I should really be more careful. A few feet away from the school, he could see the students gathering and entering the school grounds. He missed this. Not that he enjoyed studying or anything. And everyone knows he did nothing all day in school except sleep or play basketball. He just enjoyed the feel of going to school seeing all these people and the thrill of being able to play basketball with his team again.
So he continued on walking into school. At this point no one really noticed him. He had grown his hair longer. His hair was long enough to cover the back of his neck and his ears. He even had bangs that covered partially his face. It wasn't until someone pointed out to him, "Hey guys, look it's a new student." People started talking about the "new kid" in school. The guys were curious of who the guy was as he looked kind of cool. The girls started to giggle. They found the new guy so cute that they couldn't take their eyes of him.
Some things never change. He thought quietly. Maybe, he thought, if he didn't say anything people would stop staring at him. He was kind of hoping no one would recognize him. Geh! I'll head straight to my class assignment. He chained his bike and got ready to head to his class. People continued to stare at him even at the corridors. People are such a bother. This semester he had been assigned to class 1-6. He knew where it was as it was beside his old class. He opened the door to the class to get in. But as soon as he opened it, the whole class stopped became quiet and started to stare at him. He quickly took his seat and fixed himself up. Some people have no shame either. He was irritated at the fact that people was still staring at him.
Suddenly the door opened again. In came this this tall guy with gelled up combed back hair. "Oi! Yohei, you're in this class too." One of the guys in the class called his attention.
"Yeah, I suppose we're classmates now." He replied.
"Where's the gundan?" The boy asked. He seemed surprised that he wasn't with the other 3 of his group and they were not there to bother him or anything. He tried to look around for them but they were not to be found.
"They got assigned to a different class. It figures, the school administration does not want any of us to be in the same class. They think we are too much of a trouble." He said frankly.
"Can you really blame them?" Another boy asked.
"I guess not." He rubbed the backside of his head. "But that doesn't really solve the problem they have with us."
"True…" they all said unison. "By the way…" one boy said, "How is Sakuragi?" Rukawa perked up a bit and listened.
"He's doing fine. The doctors say he will be released anytime soon." Yohei said frankly. But at that moment he noticed the other boy listening. "Hmm… who's that guy?" pointing to the raven-haired boy.
"New kid, don't really know him…" He said bluntly. "He's not really talking much." The boy paused. "But he looks so vaguely familiar."
*****
"Ohayou!" Shouted Mitsui. The scar-faced boy entered his class 3-2.
"Ohayou Mitsui-san!" One student said. "Ohayou Mitchan." Another one said.
"Yo!" The scar-faced boy answered. He started to look around the class and check around who was in his class. He looked for a free chair at the back as he did not really want to listen too much to his teacher. He arranged his stuff and took his place.
Another boy entered the class with his school bag. "Oh, Mitsui, ohayou…" A lean boy with glasses saw Mitsui in the corner sitting by himself.
"Kogure?!" Mitsui was genuinely surprised. "You're in this class too?" He sounded rather happy seeing a friend in the same class. He kind of wanted to be in the same class with someone he knew personally.
"You're rather happy…" Kogure asked as he took the chair beside Mitsui.
"Well I WAS hoping that I would have someone I knew in the same class." You can almost paint the excitement in his face. He stood up and moved away from the chair. He then casually sat down on Kogure's table and faced him with his hands in his pocket. "You know me, I hate being alone." He said as he raised shoulders a bit. He had a small smirk on his face. Kogure stared at him with disbelief.
"Well, you better get to your seat." Kogure said. "The school bell is about to ring and you wouldn't want to anger our sensei." He said with concern.
All Mistui could do was raise his eyebrows. He stood up and went for his seat. "You're no fun Kogure." He said as he sat down on his chair. "Who cares about that."
Kogure just stared. Unbelievable… after all this time he still hasn't changed his happy-go-lucky lifestyle. Then Kogure thought of something. "Then you must not be interested in basketball anymore." He looked at Mitsui and almost laughed at the expression on Mitsui's face. Mitsui face was in so much dread. He could hear the words "not interested in basketball" ring in his mind over and over again. And it took a couple of seconds before he could even speak.
"NA..NI?!" Mistui exclaimed. "Na-now hold on a mi-minute… You know that basketball IS my life?! How can you say that?" He was a bit flustered.
Kogure at this point couldn't handle it anymore and started chuckling. "That caught your attention." He paused and laughed a little more. "I was just kidding. But if you don't study you can't play remember?!" Mitsui was already flaming. "So calm down!"
"Fine I will do as you say. I always do anyway." Mitsui said in surrender.
Kogure just stared blankly at him and raised one of his eyebrows. "You always do?" He smirked a bit.
"Fine. I do as you say after a lot of convincing." He closed his eyes for a brief moment.
The bell rang and a teacher came into the class. "There's the teacher. So act a little more polite." Kogure suggested to Mitsui.
"Yes Kogure-SAMA" Mitsui replied sarcastically.
*****
When Rukawa started to notice they were already talking about him he started to look away. He still didn't want anyone to realize it was him. He suddenly remembered his cheering squad. Baka! Those stupid women will cheer for anyone they found handsome. If they found that do'ahou even remotely handsome they might cheer for him too. He started to daze off. He wanted to stop thinking about things so he slowly felt drowsy. But before he went off to dreamland the teacher entered just in time for class.
"Minna! Ohayou gozaimasu! Good morning!"
The class stood up. "Ohayou gozaimasu sensei! Good morning teacher!"
"Ok, everyone get settled into your seats. I am your adviser for this semester, Kimura-sensei." He said sternly. Kimura-sensei is a tall young man. He is towering man but lean-looking. "I think all of you know me already. No one new really but we have someone who just came back." The students were a bit curious. "Rukawa, I hope you can keep up in class this semester." Rukawa could only nod at him.
"Rukawa?!" One of the girl students exclaimed in disbelief. Everyone was looking at the raven-haired boy by now. He was trying to hide his face but he couldn't keep it away from them anymore.
"Boy! Many people will be shocked later." Yohei said smirkingly. "What a very interesting turn of events." He was saying so frankly but in reality he was kinda shocked at what happened. He suddenly remembered what was he supposed to say to Sakuragi. "This is probably going to spell trouble when Hanamichi finds out." An image of them fighting each other pooped into his mind. "Oh boy…"
A/N: I know this chapter is a doozy. And I'm dragging the timeline too slow I imagine. Then again the first few episodes of Slam Dunk happened in one day. But promise I'll speed up the story a little bit so we can move along. Please review and be brutally honest with the story so I know and I can improve my writing. ^_^