Chapter II. Rukawa's best friend
Might as well say that Coach Taoka finds a new recruit his name? Tagokeshi Kamya. Best friend of Sendoh's competition Rukawa. At first glance, he would be 192 cm tall as tall as Sendoh and by the looks of him he is as cocky as Rukawa. He had a blonde spiky hair, a physique of what you would call a basketball man. He came from the school where Rukawa went and he was also jealous of him being the captain of their team in junior high and all. He was quiet about that. He had a blank face too and is pretty silent most of the time. He and Rukawa were alike.
Sendoh, naïve of himself, greeted the fellow like he would with his team members. "Hey, what's your name and what position do you play?"
"Tagokeshi Kamya, 192 cm so, I play any position." From the moment Coach Taoka laid eyes on him, he said that he'd be the perfect replacement for Uozumi.
"Hm. Arrogant." Sendoh muttered.
"Sendoh he came from Rukawa's school. You'd better take care of him!" ordered the bossy Taoka.
"Fukuda, test his skills," said Sendoh as his first command as team captain.
"Yes. Come on arrogant bastard. Come get me."
"Is Rukawa here? I want to beat him." persisted Tagokeshi
"No. Hey, you know him?" Sendoh asked.
"Of course. My best friend but now I came here because I wanted revenge from him."
"Another case." Sendoh mumbled.
"What? You think my skills are poor?! Come on! I Challenge you legendary Sendoh."
"Woah! This is so cool. I have to buy a new notebook for his records." Hikoichi yelled happily.
"What? Hey you! You must be tested by me! You are as arrogant as that Rukawa." swayed Fukuda.
"Okay, no minor player is going to beat me."
Coach Taoka simply amazes himself with the new recruit. He thinks to himself, "Watch out Shohoku we will have our revenge. Now with Tagokeshi on our side not only Rukawa will be distracted but beaten completely, not only by Sendoh, but by Fukuda and Tagokeshi. Nyahaha"
One on one game by Fukuda and Tagokeshi goes on. Sendoh's admires the persistence of this new comer as he amazingly stuns Fukuda with a fade-away shot, since, few players can perfect that technique. Score now, 2-0 Tagokeshi leading. Fukuda was so angry that he fouled so Tagokeshi takes a penalty shot. Tagokeshi trying to show-off to Sendoh doesn't look at the ring and made the shot in. First to score 10 is the winner. Fukuda was dazed and perplexed but this ignited his spirit. He scored a 3 point shot now making a tie.
Tagokeshi being conceited beat Fukuda leading two points. Hikoichi was astonished that Tagokeshi a first year have beaten Fukuda. So Hikoichi gathered his strength and introduced himself to Tagokeshi.
"My name is Hikoichi Aida nice to meet you."
"Hi."
"You were so cool! Didn't you say you know Rukawa?"
"Yes. He was our captain. He WAS my best friend."
"Best friend? How come was?"
"That bastard stole my girlfriend causing the end of our friendship. I swore from that day on I'm going to beat him!"
"Woah! Really? That's why you joined Ryonan? Say, how tall are you?"
"192 cm"
"So tall…as tall as Sendoh-san." admiring and wishing he was tall too.
"I'm going to beat him too. That Sendoh."
"So cool!" the bubbly Hikoichi jotted in his old notebook trying to find space for him to write some more details.
Practice game for the Ryonan players. The team was divided in two. Teams were: Sendoh with the newbies and Fukuda, Uekesa, Koshino with two other members in the team. Coach Taoka was dazzled by the fact that now Sendoh can work hand in hand with Tagokeshi and Fukuda.
"Your time has come now Shohoku. We will beat you. Coach Anzai, I have outdone myself this time." thought Coach Taoka
"This is revenge Rukawa. I'm going to beat you." Tagokeshi garbled.
"Really. These people, what are they thinking?" Sendoh, asked himself.
"Darn that red head made a fool out of me. Watch out Sakuragi" Fukuda uttered.
Their looks fumed the poorly spirited newbies of Ryonan. The practice goes on. With Sendoh and Tagokeshi leading the team, they won leading 12 points. Fukuda now was jealous of this new guy because Coach Taoka favores him more. Sparks were created every time their eyes met.
"This will cause another trouble for Ryonan with these two goons fooling around." Sendoh compared Sakuragi to Fukuda and Tagokeshi to Rukawa. He just laughed at himself.
"Sendoh?! What are you doing?! Concentrate!"
"Sigh… I just wish…" Sendoh uttered to silence.
Night has befallen upon the streets of Kanagawa. Practices are over for every team. No one is as hard working as Rukawa who would even stay late in another court just to fulfill his practice. There, as Tagokeshi passed by the area were Rukawa would practice, they're eyes convened. Rukawa surprised ran outside and looked who it was. Tagokeshi stopped walking and saw Rukawa.
"Tago…"
"Rukawa you… I'm going to beat you!"
"What? Huh?" Rukawa wondered. Tagokeshi ran as fast as he could. Now, Rukawa's head is full of thoughts of his old best friend, wearing basketball uniform.
I wonder where he goes to school now. What did I do to make him mad at me? I just thought it was a joke when he said that we're not friends anymore…
Sakuragi saw what happened and ran after Tagokeshi. What did that wily fox do? Who was this guy I'm running after?
He caught up with Tagokeshi.
"Ma-te!"
"Nani?"
"Who are you? And why did you run away from that wily fox Rukawa?"
