Chapter V. Haruko finds out about Sendoh's girl

Sendoh passing along licking his lemons even have fans inside Shohoku's walls making Fukuda jealous. Ryonan entered the gymnasium of the Kanagawa No. 2 representative in the Nationals. Shohoku. Sendoh grinning and waving some more to his fans noticed Rukawa was staring at him. Tagokeshi was staring at Rukawa but he wasn't aware.

Rukawa noticed a head popping out of Ryonan's team the thought of Uozumi came but he retired. Who can this be? A strange blond spiky hair? Almost as tall Sendoh….Kaede thought.

Sakuragi being conceited and all that showed-off and called himself a genius a thousand times which made the Rukawa fans inevitable to glare at him. He laughed maniacally and glared back to the Rukawa fans.

"Tensai, Sakuragi Hanamichi"

"Yo Sakuragi-kun! Have you met our Tagokeshi he's sworn to beat you and Rukawa that's for sure." said Hikoichi.

"Sure. Sure Hikoichi nobody can beat the genius!" said Sakuragi laughing and scheming at himself.

"Sakuragi It's a pleasure to be here again." said Sendoh politedly.

"Humph! Sendoh..I'm going to beat you." said Sakuragi as he folded his arms.

"Come on!" Sendoh motioned his pointer finger in a 'come and get me' manner.

"Oh! Isn't that Tagokeshi?! Tagokeshi!" called Sakuragi who ignored Sendoh's challenge.

"Sakuragi…Rukawa. Baka." complained Tagokeshi.

"Right! Are you ready to be beaten by Shohoku?! Nyahaha with the help of the genius we will win easily." said Sakuragi as he pointed his thumb to himself.

"What? I'm here for Rukawa Kaede." Tagokeshi said confused.

"Move over dowaho." Rukawa said unpleasantly.

"Rukawa. We meet again. I'm not the friend whom you used to know. I'll be Ryonan's ace in no time and I…I'm going to beat you!"

"Tagokeshi?" Rukawa said.

"You sly fox!" exclaimed Tagokeshi which made the Rukawa fans even angrier. Tagokeshi almost lost his patience and was about to hit Rukawa and Sendoh stopped him.

"Sendoh."

"Sendoh."

"Let's bring this to the court! Come on Tagokeshi." replied Sendoh.

Attracting more audience in the gym Shohoku and Ryonan started the practice match with a bang! Sendoh and Akagi team captain of their respective teams were astonishing on how their leadership works. Ryonan got the jump ball and headed for a swift attack.

Caoch Taoka always wonders why Sendoh has a great speed and agility in side the court but likes to do slow-paced things outside. It seemed as if he's talking to someone. Sendoh is mysterious yet, so predictable at times.

Rukawa tries his best to defend against Sendoh. Sendoh doing his cool moves again wins the heart of some Shohoku students. Sendoh led Fukuda to shoot his famous mid air dunks and succeeded. Score now, 2-0. Ryonan leading the game. Sakuragi still hasn't showed his prowess and Tagokeshi was staggered by how Sendoh works his way through the court. He knew then he was going to beat Rukawa. Sendoh passed the ball to Tagokeshi who was free and shot a 3 pointer and made it in! Sakuragi more depressed than ever tries to steal the ball away from Sendoh but never made it. The whole court laughed at him.

"Hahaha! Sakuragi is doing his antics again." said Takamiya while he and his gang was laughing their butts off.

"That's Sendoh he's dealing with," said a student.

"Sendoh really lives up to his name," commented Youhei.

"Buck up Shohoku!" Haruko cheered.

A mysterious girl wearing long sleeved white jacket appeared and everybody was staring at her like she looked like an angel! She had a chocolate colored hair, fair skinned and has a perfect body for her age. Boys would drool all over her and asked her how young she was, she was only 15 years old. She was there cheering for Sendoh.

"Sendoh-san! Ike! Ike! Rukawa can never beat you!" she cheers as loud as she could.

"Nani? A Sendoh-fan!? Oi move over sweet cheeks!" Rukawa's fans shrieked.

"She looks like an angel. Looks so helpless." Haruko nudged over to her two bestfriends.

"Stupid Rukawa fans they can never beat my Sendoh!" the girl said while holding her hips.

"Hey onisama..excuse me..you can seat with us if you like.." Haruko was pleased to invite her to seat with them.

"Thanks. At least there are some polite people here in Shohoku."

"I'm Haruko Akagi. Sometimes they can get so annoying."

"Hey. My name is Salae Nimawan. But you can call me Lae. It's my first day at Ryonan but I heard they were having a practice match so I followed." Lae introduced herself.

"So that doesn't mean it was your 'actual first day'" Haruko was perplexed.

"Teehee. Guess not. Go Sendoh! Rukawa is not worth your prowess!"

"Nani?! Sendoh?! My, what a fan." Haruko replied.

"Fan?! Oh no..dear no..Sendoh, is my child hood friend, I've come back here from Tokyo."

"Grr. This girl is making me angry!" Haruko was already breathing steam from her nostrils.

"Can't we concentrate more about the game Miss Akagi?" asked Lae.

Haruko getting more impatient by the second concentrated on the game. Rukawa's got the ball.

"Rukawa, pass, pass!" Sakuragi demanded.

"Come on Rukawa take me on!"

"Tagokeshi…"

"What are you doing Rukawa?! Concentrate on the game!" exclaimed Ayako while hitting Yasuda with her large fan.

"Rukawa! Stop making Ayako worry… Aya-chan!" Miyagi blushed.

Sendoh's got hold of the ball from Rukawa. The battle is on. Sendoh being more experienced and better than Rukawa is dunked the ball inside the basket making Rukawa foul for the first time and Sakuragi furious. Sendoh took the shot. Score now: 34-26 and still Ryonan is leading. It's almost the end of the first half.

"Sendoh-kun! You can do it!" cheered Lae.

"Uh…" Sendoh recognized the voice but wasn't familiar to the face so he just licked lemons. He scratched his head trying to recall things.