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Chapter 17: Promises

Everyone in the Shohoku basketball team was surprised to see Kogure when they gathered at the stadium for the match.

"Kogure, what are you doing here? What about Hiroko?" asked Ayako.

"She wants me to attend this match." said Kogure quietly and turned to Mitsui. "Mitsui, how's your knee?"

"It's okay now, I'm as good as new." said Mitsui, giving a cool smile.

"Good... I promise Hiroko that we will win the match today, now that you have recovered, I'm sure that we can win today…"

Mitsui stared at Kogure but he didn't say anything.

At the locker room, everyone gathered to listen to Coach Anzai for final instructions before they changed. Mitsui kept on looking at Kogure, who was putting on his jersey absent-mindedly.

"Err, Kogure, you are wearing your jersey in the wrong way…" pointed out Miyagi.

Kogure looked down and noticed his mistake. Wordlessly, he just removed his jersey and wore it in the right direction.

Mitsui looked at his number 14 jersey and made up his mind. He went behind a row of lockers, out of everyone's sight.

"Yoshi, team, let's go and win today's match!" said Akagi when everyone heard a loud bang, like something against the metal locker, then Mitsui yelling in pain.

"Mitsui!" yelled Ayako and everyone ran to the direction of the sound. They found Mitsui on the floor, rubbing his knee in pain. "Itai…" he muttered.

"Mitsui, what happen to you?" asked Kogure in horror.

"I hit my knee on the locker… by accident." he added quickly.

Ayako examined Mitsui's knee. "Yare yare, it sure looks bad…"

Mitsui looked at the coach. "Anzai sensei, I don't think I can play today."

"Nani?" yelled Kogure in panic. "But you have to! I promise Hiroko that we will win today…"

"When?" asked Sakuragi, but Kogure ignored him.

"You can still win. Sensei, I want Kogure to take over my place. He's a decent player too."

"Very well then, Kogure, take Mitsui's place."

"Demo…"

"Kogure," said Mitsui seriously. "Since you are the one who promise Hiroko that we will win the match, it's better that you go and win the match together with the rest."

"Demo…"

"I won't let you to sit at the bench and let us take the credit." said Mitsui in a louder voice. "You are the one who make the promise and you must fulfil it yourself!"

The locker room was silent.

"Mitsui, you injure your knee on purpose, right?" asked Kogure quietly.

Everyone turned to look at Mitsui.

"None of your business," snapped Mitsui. "Now are you going to play or what?"

Everyone turned back and looked at Kogure.

Kogure was still for a while before he nodded.

Mitsui smiled. "Good. Now get out of here and win the game for Hiroko."

"It's the Shohoku team, they are out!" called the Shohoku supporters.

"Eh? Where's Mitsui?" asked Kiyota, who came with his school, Kainan University High School to watch the match.

"His knee should have recovered by now." said Maki slowly.

"The vice-captain of the team has taken his place…" said Jin worriedly. "Is he good enough for it?"

"Don't underestimate Kogure, he's the one who score 3 points at the match against Ryonan at the last minute." said Maki.

"Go Akagi!" called Uozumi Jun.

"Ahh, Rukawa!" called the Rukawa Brigade in excitement and they waved their pom-poms at the sight of their idol. "Go Rukawa go!"

"Go Sakuragi!" yelled Sakuragi's Gundam.

"Where's Mitsui? Has anyone seen Mit-chin!" yelled Mitsui's gangster friends as they looked around for their former gang leader.

"What a racket…" said Kiyota in annoyance.

The other team was out and it was the Kirameki Independent High School, their players were as tall as Sakuragi and well-built.

The ball was released and Akagi and the Kirameki's captain, Fujisaki, jumped to catch the ball.

The match had officially started.

Sendoh didn't go for the match, instead, he stayed at the hospital to watch over his cousin. Hiroko was awake, but she was very weak. Sendoh quickly glanced at the clock. The match had started and wouldn't be over for another 35 minutes…

"… Akira…"

"Nani?" asked Sendoh gently.

"Get a pen."

"E'?"

"… Onegai…"

7 minutes had gone and the score was now 16-20, Kirameki in the lead.

Kiyokawa of the opposed team got the ball and threw, attempting to make a 3-points shoot.

Sakuragi jumped. "Want to do 3-points shot? Dream on!" he yelled and hit the ball off course before it could get in.

"Yeah, Sakuragi!" cheered the Sakuragi Gundam.

"Sakuragi's jumping skill certainly is excellent." commented Maki.

"So what? He's still a monkey…" muttered Kiyota.

The ball flew into Rukawa's hands, he ran to the other net, with the rest of the players chasing after him.

Rukawa jumped up in air and threw the ball neatly through the net.

Sakuragi's mouth dropped in horror, he didn't mean to hit the ball to Rukawa's direction… now Rukawa had earned 10 points for himself.

"Yeah, Rukawa!" screamed the Rukawa Brigade happily. "Rukawa, Rukawa, I love you!"

"Stupid monkey, who asked you to pass the ball to Rukawa!" asked Kiyota.

"Wild monkey, shut up and just watch the match!" yelled Sakuragi in anger.

"You monkey, how dare you make noise when you are the one who…" started Kiyota.

Maki knocked Kiyota on the head just when Akagi knocked Sakuragi on the head.

"Stop distracting other people, Kiyota!"

"Stop arguing and concentrate on the game, Sakuragi!"

"Two idiots…" thought Rukawa.

"Don't bother about Kiyota, Hanamichi," said Miyagi after Akagi left. "And…" he put his arm around Sakuragi's shoulder and said quietly, "pass the ball to Kogure more often. He needs to get some points for himself."

Sakuragi nodded.

The score was 18-20.

"Megane-kun!" called Sakuragi and passed the ball to Kogure. But Fujisaki hit it away and Kiyokawa caught the ball.

"Kiyokawa you bastard! That ball is for Megane-kun!" yelled Sakuragi in anger and he chased after Kiyokawa.

"Sakuragi is angry, better get ready to stop him!" said Mito of the Sakuragi Gundam.

Kiyokawa looked back and found Sakuragi chasing after him like a lion, quickly he passed it to Sato of his team before Sakuragi jumped right onto him.

The referee blew the whistle at Sakuragi. "Foul! Red jersey number 10!"

"Nani?" yelled Sakuragi in horror.

Sakuragi got up and immediately, Miyagi went to kick him on the butt. "Baka! I told you to pass the ball to Kogure for him to gain points for our team, not to give points to the other team!"

"Do'aho." muttered Rukawa.

Kiyokawa's two penalty shots went in and the score was now 18-22. To make the matter worse, Sakuragi jumped onto Kiyokawa on purpose, so it's Kirameki who would have the possession of the ball after the two penalty shots.

Kirameki scored easily and the score was now 18-24.

Soon, the score was 24-28 and Shohoku still couldn't catch up with Kirameki University High, there're only a few seconds left at the first-half of the game.

"Defence, guys, defence!" yelled Mitsui.

Miyagi got the ball and immediately, he was surrounded by the Kirameki University High players, quickly, he ducked and passed the ball to Rukawa, who ran to the net. He jumped and found that he was blocked by Kiyokawa. At the corner of his eye, he saw Kogure and he threw the ball to the vice-captain while he was still in the air.

Kogure caught the ball and he threw it before anyone could get to him. His friends watched the ball sailed through the air and neatly through the net.

The referee blew the whistle, indicating the end of the first half. The score was now 27-28.

"3 points! Yeah!" cheered Sakuragi.

"We are behind by just one point!" said Miyagi happily. "We can win!"

"Good job, Kogure, keep it up!" called Akagi.

Kogure smiled, then he ran for the phone booth at the resting room to make a phone call.

"Hiroko is fine, she's still hanging on." said Sendoh at the hospital reception counter.

"Good." said Kogure.

"How's the game?"

"We are still behind by one point."

"Gambatte."

"Arigato. We will go over after the match." said Kogure and he hang up the phone.

"How is she?" asked Ayako.

"Still hanging on." said Kogure. He then sat down on the chair.

"We must get more points, otherwise we will never catch up with Kiremeki." said Miyagi.

"Sodesu. Sakuragi, you handle Sato. Rukawa, deal with Kiyokawa and I will take care of Fujisaki. We must win this match, both for ourselves and Hiroko-san." said Akagi seriously.

Everyone nodded. Sakuragi turned and found Kogure in a trance. He elbowed Miyagi and put his hand on Kogure's shoulder. "Megane-kun…"

Kogure looked up.

"Don't worry, we won't let you and Hiroko down." said Sakuragi. "We will win this match if this is the last thing we do."

"Now let's work hard together and show those Kirameki players that we are the best." said Miyagi.

Kogure smiled slightly and nodded.

The second half of the match started. Shohoku put up a good defence and wouldn't let Kirameki to score easily.

Sato caught the ball and he was blocked by Sakuragi.

"Hurry up, 30 seconds is almost up!" yelled Fujisaki.

"Oi, Sato!" called a voice. "Throw it here!"

Immediately, Sato threw the ball to the direction of the voice.

"Sato, no!" said Fujisaki.

Sakuragi turned and laughed. Sato looked and found that he had thrown the ball to Miyagi.

"Arigato!" called Miyagi as he ran off. Then he did a jump shot.

The score was 29-28.

"That's a dirty trick!" said Kiyota.

"But pretty clever." said Maki coolly.

Shohoku's supporters roared and cheered as their team was now ahead by one point.

As Sakuragi and Miyagi gave each other a high-five, Fujisaki knocked Sato on the head.

The score was now 60-59, Kirameki managed to catch up with Shohoku and now there's only 1 minute left in the second half.

Fujisaki got the ball and he made a fake pass to Kiyokawa before he threw the ball backwards, to Sato. Not wasting another second, Sato ran and jumped.

"Block him, Akagi!" called Uozumi.

Akagi jumped to block Sato but Sato didn't try to score, instead, he threw it aside to Fujisaki, who had arrived to the other side of the court.

Fujisaki then threw the ball in behind Akagi. The score was 60-61. Kirameki was in the lead once again.

"Don't let them score again!" yelled the Kainan University High team players, who were getting anxious as well.

There was only 15 seconds left in the game and Shohoku still hadn't scored. Every player was getting tired. Sakuragi did a rebound and he was blocked by Fujisaki, Sato and Kiyokawa. Sakuragi looked around and found that none of his team mates were near him.

10, 9, 8…

Getting panic, he saw Kogure rushing towards him.

"Pass it to me!" he yelled.

Without hesitation, Sakuragi threw the ball to Kogure.

"Kogure, do whatever you want, you must score!" yelled Mitsui.

Kogure ran with the ball and with Hiroko in his mind, he jumped high up in the air.

"Nani?" exclaimed Kiyota in shock.

"What a great height!" said Mito.

"He's jumping as high as Rukawa and Sakuragi!" said Aida of Ryonan. "Incredible!"

7… 6…5…

"Nobody is blocking him!" said Fujisaki.

4… 3…

"Dunk it!" said Mitsui.

Kogure dunked the ball through the net.

2… 1

Everyone gaped at Kogure. No one would ever thought that he could do a slam dunk, just like Rukawa, Sakuragi and Akagi.

Kogure landed on his feet before the referee blew his whistle.

The score was 62 – 61. Shohoku won.

"Yatta!" yelled Kogure.

The Shohoku team supporters cheered and everyone in the team (except Rukawa) ran to congratulate Kogure.

"We won, we won!" cheered Ayako.

"You did it, Kogure, you have fulfilled your promise!" said Mitsui (who seemed to be able to walk again) to Kogure as he hugged his best friend.

"That's a beautiful dunk shot!" said Ayako, slapping Kogure's back.

"Who could imagine that you would actually do a dunk shot?" said Miyagi.

"Some credit goes to Sakuragi too, if he didn't pass the ball to Kogure, who knows what will happen?" said Haruko.

"Mochiron, I'm a tensai!" said Sakuragi as Miyagi slapped him on the back, laughing.

"Yes you are." said Haruko happily.

"Come on, let's go and line up." said Akagi.

Sendoh held onto Hiroko's free hand. "Hang on, Hiroko. The match should be finished at this time. Kogure and the others will come back soon."

Hiroko looked at her cousin. "… Do you think they will win?"

Sendoh smiled. "Don't underestimate the Shohoku team, they beat Ryonan, Shoyo and almost beat Kainan as well, they will win."

Hiroko smiled back but then her smile faded and she tightened her grip on Sendoh's hand.

Sendoh's smile faded. Hiroko was breathing steadily at first, but at the next second, everything just changed. She was now breathing with difficulty and her heartbeat increased.

"Sensei, sensei!" yelled Sendoh, then he watched helplessly as the beeps on the monitor ceased.

Kogure ran out of the stadium with his friends and tried to get a taxi.

"Megane-kun! Don't bother about the taxi, I will give you a lift!" said Sakuragi as he unlocked his bicycle.

Kogure stared uncertainly. "Are you sure?"

"Hanamichi can ride a bicycle faster than a car." said Mito helpfully.

"Go Kogure, we will catch up." said Mitsui.

Kogure swallowed and got onto Sakuragi's bicycle.

"Hang on, Megane-kun." said Sakuragi seriously and immediately, he took off, like a jet.

The doctor tried to work on Hiroko but no matter how hard he tried, Hiroko's heartbeat just went slower and slower. Finally the monitor gave a long beep, signalling her death.

Sendoh sat back on the chair in disbelief as the doctor told him that his cousin was gone.

"Here we are." said Sakuragi as he stopped outside the hospital. Kogure got off and tried to steady himself.

"Don't worry, you will get use to it." said Sakuragi.

As soon as Kogure had steadied himself, he ran off to Hiroko's room.

Once he opened the door, he called, "Hiroko, we won!"

Hiroko was motionless. Sendoh was on his chair, his back facing Kogure.

"Hiroko is sleeping, isn't she, Sendoh?" asked Kogure and smiled. "I hope I didn't wake her up…"

Sendoh turned and Kogure's smile faded. Sendoh's eyes were red and his face was stained with tears. This was first time Kogure ever saw Sendoh cried.

"… Hiroko is sleeping, isn't she?" asked Kogure as Sakuragi arrived behind him breathlessly.

Sendoh shook his head. "She has left, Kogure." he said quietly.

Kogure and Sakuragi were still. The rest of the Shohoku team arrived.

Kogure shook his head. "She hasn't."

"She has." said Sendoh.

"She promised me that she would recover."

"Kogure…" started Sendoh.

"She broke her promise!" yelled Kogure.

Haruko covered her mouth in shock when she realised what Kogure had meant. The boys were stunned.

"She promised…" said Kogure and he rushed to Hiroko's body. "Hiroko… stop playing and wake up, I have fulfilled my promise, you can't just break yours…"

Remembering about his father's death, Sakuragi wiped away his tears and found Haruko crying. Without thinking, he pulled her close and let her cried on his shoulder. Ayako was crying on Miyagi's shoulder. Miyagi was too stunned to notice. Akagi sniffled. Mitsui didn't move, but tears had rolled down his cheeks silently. Sendoh buried his face in his hands.

"Hiroko, I told you that we would go to the amusement park again, you can't just…" said Kogure and he wept.

He gave Hiroko a kiss before he pressed his face gently against hers with his eyes closed.

As usual, while everyone was expressing their sorrow, Rukawa had no expression on his face. He watched as Kogure hugged his girlfriend, but then, even he went as far as looked away and sighed.