Chapter 12: Daiei Gakuen
Hanayuki looked at the small notebook in her hands. Yanada Kiyoyuki. First-year student in Daiei Gakuen. Given more training and experience, he should be a very good player in the future, but right now, he's a tad little behind oniichan, which is not too bad for us, in a sense.
"What are you looking at, Yuki-san?" Ichiro asked, leaning towards her to take a peek. His eyes widened at what he saw. "These are information on each and every player of Daiei Gakuen. How did you get those? And how come you didn't tell us about it?"
"I just got them yesterday, Ichiro," Hanayuki explained.
She watched in amusement as Ichiro and Haruko went gaga over the notebook and the information inside. She turned her attention back to the game, where Sakuragi was currently holding the ball and trying to keep it out of reach of the Daiei Gakuen's players.
10 minutes had passed since the game started. Shohoku had sent out Miyagi, Sakuragi, Rukawa, Tendo and Mikage as their starting 5, while Daiei Gakuen, the opposing team had sent in Tsuchiya Jun (captain and small forward), Kishino Yukimasa (power forward), Tsujitani Kouji (point guard), Yanada Kiyoyuki (center) and Tanaka Hideyuki (shooting guard). The score was 38-36, Shohoku leading by 2 points.
(A/n: Does anybody recognise these names? Give you a hint, they have something to do with Slam Dunk. Think about it!)
"Pass it out, sempai!" Tendo shouted to Sakuragi, and received the ball. He bounce-passed the ball to Mikage, who was behind the three-pointer line. He jumped and shot, and the ball went in beautifully.
Daiei Gakuen's ball, Tsuchiya caught it, and was immediately guarded by Rukawa. With a quick spin, Tsuchiya eluded Rukawa and passed the ball to Kishino, who did a fake and drove past Tendo towards the basket. Sakuragi jumped up to stop him, but Kishino passed the ball to Yanada, who then dunked.
Shohoku's ball, Mikage threw the ball at Sakuragi, who quickly did a long pass to Miyagi at the other side of the court. Miyagi prepared to shoot, and Tsujitani moved to block him, but it was a fake, and Miyagi passed to Rukawa, who had already jumped up and shot as soon as he caught the ball. It went in, and the score was 43-38.
"Not bad," Tsuchiya commented, as he jogged past Rukawa.
Rukawa narrowed his eyes at Daiei's captain, who was smiling at him. Not bad? Is that all you can say, not bad? I'll show you 'not bad'.
He caught the ball that was thrown to him by Miyagi, who had stolen the ball from Tsujitani earlier. He dribbled the ball slowly behind him, facing Tsuchiya, when all of a sudden, he charged forward, forcing his way through. Tsuchiya held his ground, and Rukawa would have been called for a foul, had he not change tactic at the last minute and back-passed to Mikage, who was behind him.
Mikage jumped up to shoot, and didn't see Tanaka, who was behind him and jumped up to smack the ball away. The ball was about to fly into the hands of Kishino, when Tendo interrupted the ball and sent it flying in another direction, this time into Sakuragi's hands.
With a roar, Sakuragi charged towards the basket, getting ready to dunk, but when Yanada reached the basket, he realised that Sakuragi had stopped moving forward and was jumping up to shoot. Without anybody marking him, Sakuragi scored easily, bringing the score to 45-38.
He grinned smugly at Yanada, who smiled. "You've improved a lot from the last time I saw you."
Sakuragi smirked. "Oh? So you have seen this Tensai in action before? It won't be of any use, though, because I'm still going to beat you."
Another 10 minutes later, the first-half of the game ended with the score of 55-50.
---
In the locker room...
Hanayuki approached Rukawa, who was sitting in a corner, drinking from his bottle. "Kaede."
He looked up at her, and she sat down beside him. "So how did you find Tsuchiya Jun?"
Rukawa shrugged, before taking another gulp of water.
"You know, I don't think he's fully shown his abilities yet. I want you to be extra careful around him later in the second-half, ok?" said Hanayuki.
Rukawa nodded his head. "I will."
Hanayuki smiled, and continued, "You did a great job so far. Now if only you and oniichan had worked together from the start, I think Tsuchiya would have displayed his true abilities already."
Rukawa shrugged again, and for the rest of the halftime break, they shared a stretch of companionable silence, until it was time to enter the court again.
---
In the audience stand...
"So far so good," said Kogure. He turned to Mitsui, who was sitting beside him. "Don't you think?"
"Yeah. They played pretty well," Mitsui answered.
"Daiei Gakuen was among the top 8 teams last year. They shouldn't be easy to handle, but it seems that those guys have everything under control," commented Akagi.
"They now hold the title of the best team in Kanagawa. Of course they have things under control," said Kogure. He looked around the audience stand. "Plus, with so many people cheering for them, it's hard not to have things under control."
"That's one of the advantages when you're the home team. Heh, too bad last year's National Championships weren't held here in Kanagawa like this year," said Mitsui.
"Where's Fujima, by the way?" asked Akagi.
"He's watching Ryonan's game. Sendoh was complaining that nobody was going to cheer for him, so Fujima decided to shut his mouth and be there. I think he took Aoi-chan with him too," said Mitsui.
---
At the other stadium in another area of Kanagawa...
"Aki-touchan!!! Ganbatte!!!" Aoi-chan shouted at the top of her lungs.
It was practically drowned out by the cheers of the other older and bigger spectators, but you don't hear a 3-year-old screaming your name everyday, which was why Sendoh managed to pick it up from amongst all the noise.
He couldn't turn to look at her, but he smiled to himself, and his opponent, who was guarding him, gulped.
---
Back in the first stadium...
The tip-off was won by Sakuragi, but instead of landing in the hands of a Shohoku player, it went to Tsuchiya. Without wasting time, he charged towards Shohoku's basket, eluding Tendo in the process and scoring the first two points for his team in the second-half.
From then on, the Daiei Gakuen team played like they had never played before. Somehow, in the eyes of the audience, they became much faster, more skilful, and much stronger than they had been in the first-half, especially the captain, Tsuchiya.
Rukawa found that Tsuchiya was becoming increasingly hard to handle. Not to mention increasingly irritating, thought Rukawa, as he watched Tsuchiya carefully, the latter dribbling the ball and moving forward slowly. As if that is not enough, he's reminding me of that baka Sendoh!
Indeed, Tsuchiya's playing style was not unlike Sendoh's. His beautiful passes, his uncanny ability to find an available team-mate anytime anywhere; even though Tsuchiya wasn't the point guard of his team, he could easily fit into that role whenever it suited him, just like Sendoh.
In just 5 minutes, the whole situation had reversed itself, with Daiei Gakuen in the lead by 6 points. The Shohoku bench began to panic.
"How can this be? I mean, how come their playing seems to have improved so much?" Yasuda asked frantically.
"They didn't. This is how they really are," Hanayuki answered.
"What do you mean, Yuki-san?" asked Ichiro.
"This is how Daiei Gakuen really is. They are not as weak as they seem to be. They just took longer to warm up, that's all," Hanayuki explained.
"It doesn't matter. We will win no matter what," said Haruko, confidently. Ichiro nodded his head in agreement.
On the court, Tsuchiya scored another 2 points for his team, making the score 55-63.
"Kuso! How come this is happening?" Sakuragi cursed under his breath.
"Do'aho."
Sakuragi whipped his head around to see Rukawa standing behind him.
"Nani yo, kitsune?"
"It is time."
"Time for what? Oi, kitsune! Time for- oh..." Sakuragi's eyes glinted almost maliciously. "You're right, kitsune. It is time."
"Do'aho."
Sakuragi was too busy laughing to bother to rebut. "Nyahahahaha! It is time for this Tensai to show his true skills! Nyahahahaha!"
Shohoku's offense, and Miyagi was having the ball. Seeing that Sakuragi was unmarked, he passed to him, only to have the ball interrupted by Yanada, who was about to pass to Tsuchiya, when to his horror and amazement, Sakuragi appeared out of nowhere and interrupted the ball.
The redhead swiftly passed to Rukawa, who was already at the front of the court, along with the others. Tsuchiya was also at the front of the court, ready to stop Rukawa from advancing any further, but before he could even try stealing the ball, Rukawa back-passed to Sakuragi and got past Tsuchiya. Once he was out in the open, he received the ball again from Sakuragi and jumped up to shoot. The ball went in, and the score became 55-63.
Daiei Gakuen's offense, Tsuchiya passed to Tsujitani, who took advantage of Miyagi's rather short stature and threw the ball above the latter's head to Kishino. Kishino raced down the court, with Tendo hot in pursuit. Stopping before the three-pointer line, Kishino faked a shot, but Tendo saw through it and knocked the ball out of his hands.
Rukawa ran after the ball and caught it before it went out of bounds. When he turned around, he found himself trapped by Tsuchiya and Tanaka. In an attempt to break free, he did a crossover-dribble, distracting the two Daiei Gakuen players and passed the ball out.
Mikage received the ball and was instantly on the go for a fast break. He was about to shoot when Yanada appeared in front him, making a swipe at the ball. Mikage got the ball out of his reach just in time and threw it to Sakuragi, who jumped up, caught the ball in one hand, and dunked.
"Yosh!" he shouted, pumping his fist into the air.
"Sakuragi-kun really is unstoppable!" Haruko said excitedly.
"And Rukawa-san too," Ichiro added, as Rukawa stole the ball from Tsuchiya and raced down the court, followed closely by Sakuragi.
"Together, they're the Powerful Duo of Shohoku," said Ayako.
"Hohoho!"
Meanwhile, Sakuragi was facing Yanada, who was having the ball.
"Hey, redhead," Yanada called to Sakuragi.
Sakuragi narrowed his eyes. "What?"
"I'm definitely going to score this time. You can count on that."
Smirking, Sakuragi replied, "Yeah, over my dead body."
Yanada smirked back, and in a flash, drove past Sakuragi. He jumped up to shoot, and Sakuragi jumped up as well, but it was a fake, and Yanada drove past Sakuragi again. This time, he charged towards the basket, only to stop when Sakuragi caught up with him, and made a move to shoot. Once more, Sakuragi jumped up to stop him, but just like before, it was a fake.
"Chikusho!!!" Sakuragi shouted furiously.
I told you I'm definitely going to score this time, Yanada thought, as he jumped up the second time to shoot.
"I said, over my dead body!!!" yelled Sakuragi at the top of his lungs.
As the ball left Yanada's hands, Sakuragi leaped up for the third time and managed to graze the ball a little with the tip of his fingers. Landing on the ground, he quickly ran towards the basket, ready to catch the rebound.
And caught it he did, beating 2 other Daiei Gakuen players to the ball. He passed the ball to a waiting Rukawa, who immediately jumped into action, running down the court for a fast break. Needless to say, Tsuchiya was there to try and stop him.
I will not lose to Sendoh, and I certainly will not lose to you!
With that thought in his mind, he forcefully forced his way past Tsuchiya, barely managing to keep from fouling, jumped up, and passed it to Sakuragi behind him, who jumped up to shoot. The score was 59-63.
As Tsuchiya and Yanada watched in mixed awe and fury, Sakuragi and Rukawa exchanged a high-five, much to the surprise of those who knew them and were watching the game.
"We're going to win this, kitsune," said Sakuragi, panting slightly.
"Do'aho. That's a given," Rukawa replied, glancing at the scoreboard.
Daiei Gakuen's ball, Kishino passed to Tsujitani, who was immediately marked by Miyagi. Unable to get past him, Tsujitani threw the ball above his head to Tsuchiya, who was being guarded tightly by Rukawa himself.
Undaunted, he took his time, slowly dribbling the ball while trying to find a hole in Rukawa's defense.
"Tsuchiya!" Tanaka shouted to his team-mate, gesturing for the ball to be passed to him.
Turning a fraction, Tsuchiya made a show of passing to Tanaka and passed to Kishino instead, who was unmarked. Kishino quickly raced down the court with the ball, followed by his other team-mates and the Shohoku players.
Before he could reach the basket, however, Sakuragi and Miyagi were already back to defend, rendering the Daiei Gakuen player shocked and at lost of what to do. Taking advantage of his momentary confusion, Tendo stole the ball from him and raced back to the other side of the court.
When Tanaka tried to stop him, he bounce-passed the ball to Mikage, who was already getting ready behind the three-point shot. The ball left his hands in one swift movement and landed in the basket. Shohoku was now just 1 point behind Daiei Gakuen, and there were 10 minutes left in the game.
Daiei Gakuen then requested for a timeout, and the players from both teams took the opportunity to take a breather.
"Nice work, oniichan," Hanayuki complimented, giving him a high-five.
"Nyahahahaha! Of course, Hana-chan. Of course."
She turned to Rukawa. "And you too Kaede."
"Hn."
Hanayuki smiled at his lack of response. Still the same old Kaede, but at least he's warming up to oniichan. And Kenji and Aki too. And they him.
Rukawa noticed her staring at him. "What?" he asked.
Hanayuki shook her head. "Nothing."
Rukawa raised an eyebrow.
"Just thinking about Aki and his game," said Hanayuki.
As expected, Rukawa frowned at her answer.
"What?" she asked innocently, fighting back the urge to laugh.
Rukawa narrowed his eyes. "You're trying not to laugh."
Hanayuki blinked at him, still trying not to laugh. "Whatever do you mean by that Kaede?"
Rukawa didn't say anything. When timeout was over, he stood up, but instead of heading onto the court, he approached Hanayuki and gave her a quick peck on the forehead.
"We'll go see him after this," he said in a barely audible voice, before entering the court.
Hanayuki was a little taken aback by his actions, but broke into a soft smile nevertheless.
The game resumed, and Daiei Gakuen put up a big fight. However, Rukawa and Sakuragi didn't back down either, and Shohoku continued their scoring streak. It wasn't long before the gap between the scores grew wider and wider until Daiei Gakuen was lagging behind by 7 points.
Having lost so many points to Shohoku in a stretch, Daiei Gakuen was thrown into utter confusion and began to fluster, and hard as they try to catch up, they just couldn't handle the powerful duo of Shohoku that was Sakuragi and Rukawa.
In the end, they lost the game to Shohoku with the score of 81-76.
---
"Hey Kenji."
Fujima looked up to see Hanayuki smiling at him.
"Okaachan!" Aoi-chan squealed in delight and stretched out her arms, wanting to be carried, which Hanayuki did, sitting down quickly after that so as not to block the audience behind her from watching the game.
"So how's the game so far?" she asked.
Fujima nodded his head to acknowledge the people coming up behind her; Rukawa, Sakuragi, Miyagi, Ayako and the rest of the team. Mitsui, Kogure and Akagi also came.
"Not bad. Things are going fairly well for Ryonan," said Fujima.
"That's great," Hanayuki exclaimed. She looked down at Aoi-chan. "Have you been cheering hard for your Aki-touchan, Aoi-chan?"
The little girl nodded her head vigorously. "Yes I have."
Fujima laughed. "I won't be surprised if she has a sore throat tomorrow morning."
"Hmm... then we'll just have to make sure she drinks lots of water after this," said Hanayuki, stroking Aoi-chan's hair. She turned her attention to the game taking place on the court below.
"Aki-touchan!!! Ganbatte!!!" Aoi-chan shouted, and Fujima laughed again.
"She's been shouting that same thing over and over again since the game started. It would be impossible for Sendoh not to pick her out from amongst all the cheering," he said.
"Really? Well then, let's see if he can pick mine." Hanayuki placed Aoi-chan on Rukawa's lap, before taking a deep breath and placed a hand on each side of her mouth. "Aki!!! Ganbatte yo!!!"
---
Down on the court...
Sendoh's ears pricked up at the sound of Hanayuki's voice. She's here!
Still tied up in the game, he did a quick fake and got past his opponent, charging towards the basket before getting past yet another opponent and did a lay-up shot.
The crowd started cheering again, and Sendoh took the opportunity to look up at the audience stand, scanning the crowd for Hanayuki. It wasn't hard, since he found Sakuragi fairly easily, and he knew that the redhead would be sitting somewhere near Hanayuki, if not next to.
Hanayuki saw him looking up at them and fluttered her fingers in a little wave. Then she gave him a thumbs-up, while Aoi-chan waved at him enthusiastically. Fujima also gave him a thumbs-up. Rukawa merely nodded his head, while Sakuragi showed him his fist, indicating that if Sendoh didn't win this game, the older boy was going to get it from him.
After all, the opponent was Toyotama, and if Shohoku can handle them, Ryonan shouldn't have a problem either.
"Man, I'm so glad that I don't have to see the idiotic face of Itakura Daijirou again this year," Miyagi said hotly.
"It doesn't matter Ryota. If you see him this year, you'll just have to beat him again," said Ayako.
"Ah, hai, Aya-chan!"
"Maa, at least Minami's not around anymore," said Kogure.
"So what if he's here? This Tensai will still beat him. Of course, kitsune will have to be more careful, lest he gets another black eye from him," Sakuragi added cheekily, before laughing loudly.
Hanayuki frowned when she remembered what had happened the year before during their game with Toyotama. She glanced at Rukawa, who was also looking at her, and gave him a small smile.
"You know, I have to agree with Kogure-san on that," she said, looking at Sakuragi. "Kenji told me that the last time Shoyo played against Toyotama, he too was knocked out by Minami. Only difference is he was knocked out permanently, causing them to lose the game. Isn't that right, Kenji?"
"That's right. I really felt like killing the guy after the game," said Fujima.
"That's terrible," Haruko exclaimed.
"Good thing Rukawa here could still play," said Ayako, patting her nonchalant-looking junior on the back.
"Che. Big deal, Ayako-san. If it had been this Tensai who was hit, I could have continued playing straightaway," bragged Sakuragi.
"Do'aho."
"Anyway, I'm just glad that he's not around anymore," Hanayuki interrupted, before a full-scale argument, or worse, a full-scale fight, broke out between the two sophomores.
They continued watching the game, until 15 minutes later, the final whistle blew, and Ryonan won the game with the score of 98-92.
---
"Aki-touchan!" Aoi-chan ran up to Sendoh, who laughed and crouched down with his arms outstretched. However, before Aoi-chan could reach him, Rukawa scooped her up, much to the chagrin of Sendoh.
"Rukawa, what do you think you're doing?" Sendoh demanded.
Rukawa looked at him nonchalantly. "You're covered in sweat."
"So?"
"So I won't let you hug Aoi-chan and make her dirty too."
Sendoh opened his mouth to protest, but nothing came out.
"Alright, that's enough," said Hanayuki, stepping in and taking Aoi-chan from Rukawa.
"Good job, Sendoh," said Fujima, patting the latter on the shoulder.
Sendoh took his eyes off Rukawa for a moment to look at Fujima and gave him a big smile. "Thanks."
"Aren't you going to join your team-mates? I think they're getting ready to leave," Miyagi pointed out.
"They are?" Sendoh whipped his head around to have a look. "Oh, they are."
"So aren't you going too?" asked Ayako.
"That would depend on whether Aoi-chan wants me to go. Do you Aoi-chan?" Sendoh asked the girl, who quickly shook her head.
Sendoh beamed happily, but the smile froze on his face when Sakuragi pointed to something behind him and said, "Aoi-chan may not want you to go, but I know someone who does, and he's standing right there and glaring at all of us."
Bracing himself, Sendoh turned around slowly to find Taoka-sensei giving him the ultimate I-Am-Going-To-Kill-You look. Despite the distance between them, he could feel the enormous amount of heat emanating from the middle-aged man's body. Even if he couldn't feel it, he wouldn't have missed the steam rising from Taoka-sensei's head.
"Okay I had better get going." He planted a kiss on Aoi-chan's forehead before bounding off in a hurry. "I'll see you later Aoi-chan!"
"Bye-bye, Aki-touchan!" Aoi-chan cried.
Hanayuki adjusted her hold on Aoi-chan and waved. "Ki o tsukete, Aki." (Translation: Take care of yourself, Aki.)
Aki waved back, almost banging into the wall in the process, since he wasn't looking where he was going. Then, smiling sheepishly and rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, he joined his team-mates and left the stadium.
As soon as he was gone from their sight, Fujima turned to Hanayuki and said, "How about I send you and Aoi-chan home now, Yuki? Or do you have anywhere else to go?"
"Well..." Hanayuki hesitated for a while.
"Ne, okaachan, I want to go to the playground," Aoi-chan piped up.
Hanayuki looked at her and then at Fujima, who shrugged. "It's your call."
After a brief moment of contemplation, Hanayuki sighed and smiled at Aoi-chan. "Ok. Let's go to the playground."
"Yay!!!"
"I'll drive us there then. What about you guys?" Fujima asked the others, mainly Sakuragi and Rukawa.
"We'll be heading back to school and practise," said Miyagi, Ayako nodding her head beside him. "All of us," he emphasised, looking sideways at Sakuragi and Rukawa.
"What are you looking at Ryochin?" Sakuragi demanded.
"He's obviously looking at you, do'aho," Rukawa said.
"And you, kitsune. Or are those kitsune eyes of yours blind?" Sakuragi retorted.
"Ahem."
Both of them looked at Hanayuki, who gave them each a pointed look. "Train well. I'll see you guys tomorrow." To Aoi-chan, she said, "Aoi-chan, say your goodbyes."
"Goodbye, Hana-jiichan. Goodbye Kaede-touchan. Goodbye oniichans and onnechans."
"Goodbye Aoi-chan. Be a good girl and listen to your okaachan, alright?" said Sakuragi.
"Aoi-chan is always a good girl," the little girl said, prompting everyone to laugh.
"Alright, let's go," said Fujima. "The car's outside."
---
Outside the stadium, in a black limousine parked across the street...
"Sir, that's them over there."
"Hmm... yes that's her alright. I see she has that little girl of hers with her. And what's this? Who's the guy with light brown hair?"
"I don't know sir, but he looks familiar."
"Yes, he does. In fact, I think I've seen him before."
"What do we do now, sir?"
"Well, I'm very curious to know what the son of one of Kanagawa's business tycoons is doing with that girl. I guess we'll have to follow them to find out, don't you think?"
"Yes sir."
---
Author's notes: Slump, slump, slump. I'm so dead. I mean, I'll be leaving my home country soon to study somewhere else. I'll probably start getting busy, and I haven't prepared the next few chapters yet. Not even a draft. Argh!!! Dang!!! Thank you to deathsoul-shinigami and kiku for reviewing. Thanks to the others for reading.