Chapter XIII. Where's Sendoh and Sakuragi?!

The sun was almost up, roosters cocking to the early morn. Dews have formed among leaves and pretty petals of certain flowers. It was murky and cold. Lae's alarm went ringing at 5 am in the morning. She was supposed to do an early morning jogging when she fell back asleep after the alarm went off. She was still smiling as regards to last night. "Sendoh-kun…" She blushes as she goes back to her snooze.

Sendoh was kissing his pillow. Still sleeping soundly, he had a delusion that he was kissing Lae. The sound of the coo coo clock at 7 am in the break of day fraught the pants out of him. In his dream, Coach Taoka had scolded him for kissing during practice. Sendoh fell down from his cradle. BOOM! The sound of his floor reverberated around the house making his mother worry.

"Sendoh dear, are you okay? It's implausible for you to be awake this time." His mother yelled on the façade of their staircase. She was about to go up when Sendoh heard her footsteps.

"I'm okay mom! I just fell along my bed." He yelled back.

"Be careful next time sweetie, or else Lae will be worried for you. Oh and I might forgot to tell you, I've notice you acting strangely last night." Sendoh's mom had a vision of his son. He was eating dinner and not even looking at her. After dinner, he watched late night drama programs. His head was nowhere to be found. He was smiling to himself.

"Stupid alarm. Waking me up at this time of hour. I would like to trance again…good night world..." Sendoh started snoring instantly.

Subsequent to a few more hours, Lae woke up at around 7 am. She forgot that they haven't got a referee and a scorer at some point. A light bulb lit on her head, she directly called up the trusty Hikoichi.

"Good morning. Can I speak to Hikoichi? It's Lae, his classmate." said Lae curiously. She wondered who was speaking in the other line.

"Ah! Lae-san…girl friend of Sendoh…I envy you!" said a high pitched voice. Probably Hikoichi's sister…Sendoh's girl friend? That Hikoichi, I wonder what he has been up to. Lae flushed in embarrassment.

"Iie. Sumimasen, am I disturbing him?"

"Oh no, I'm Yayoi Aida, his sister. So, tell me what's it like to be his girl friend? Don't you know every girl envy that? Come on, don't deny it." I've got to check this.

Perhaps Hikoichi inherited this sneakiness from her sister. Yayoi's eyes widened, ears cleaned so that she can clearly hear what Lae has to say.

"Miss, I'm not Sendoh's girl friend. Can I speak with Hikoichi please? I've got a basketball game to catch up to." Lae insisted. She was almost irritated by the way Yayoi interrogated her.

"Basketball game? Forgive me for being rude. You're so lucky. I'll call him." Lae heard a terrible scream from Yayoi that made Hikoichi scamper to the telephone. "Hikoichi!!"

"Ohaiio. This is Hikochi."

"Good morning Hikoichi. I'm sorry to bother you so early…but I need your help." Lae pleaded.

"Lae-san is this you? Iie, it's nothing. I was just rewriting my notes for the winter trials." Hikoichi was glad. "How can I help you? It's a big pleasure," said Hikoichi in his high squeaky voice.

"Thanks so much. You know I have an upcoming game later at 9 and I forgot to invite a referee and a scorer!" Lae was almost filling up her eyes with tears. "Please, you're the only one who could help me."

"That's no problem Lae-san. I'll find two people for you, there's always Uozumi and Ikegami."

"Iie Hikoichi! I promised Haruko people that's neither taking sides."

"Oh okay. That's easy, it's already 7:30 am, what are you up to?"

"Oh my gosh! It's already late…I gotta go Hikoichi. I'm entrusting everything to you. Bye. Thanks." Lae hung up.

"Bye. Ja na, good luck."

She took a shower. The steam from her bathroom formed mist in her room.

"Haaah…that was good, now to ring up Sendoh." She was about to dial Sendoh's number when she heard her team mates outside. She rushed down and took an apple from the table.

"Bye mom!" She pecked a kiss on her mom who was preparing pancakes.

"Lae where are you going? Why isn't Sendoh picking you up?"

"He's possibly still drooling right now. Wish me luck!" She ran out the front door.

"Okay good luck honey! Eat that apple." Her mom was confused that her daughter was earlier to wake up than her husband. She resumed her cooking.

"Yosh!" Lae smelled the beautiful roses that outlined a pathway outside the front lawn. She was ready to meet with her team mates. She was wearing a long black shirt, layered with green sleeveless and white shorts. She wore a black tennis with streaks of purple on the heels. The rubber shoes were similar to Sendoh's. They were all wearing matching shirts. "Mina! It's time, we're all proud to be Ryonan players. Let's show Shohoku what our players are made of."

"Is Sendoh coming?" asked Yuki. Lae shrugged her shoulders, thinking if Sendoh will go to her game or not, because of their little 'incident' last night.

"Then who's going to coach us? I know! Koshino will." Yuki blushed secretly and got her mobile, ready to call her dear Koshino, which Lae doesn't know about.

"Koshino?!" All of their team mates shrieked in shock.

"Yuki, I thought you don't like basketball jocks? You sly fox you…" teased Lae.

"I'll tell you the juicy details later!" Yuki was thrilled. All of them were incited by the good news of Yuki.

"Don't skip any part…okay? After we win the game!" pleaded Lae.


"Yosh mina! Let's go now." Haruko led her team mates and she bid good bye to her brother. "Bye nii-chan."

"Win this for the glory of Shohoku."

"Your brother seems to be very proud of you…" remarked Fuji. Haruko and her team mates were wearing yellow shirts and purple shorts. They were ready to face Lae and her group.

Both teams arrived at the same time. The court near the harbor is between a red and yellow roofed house. Hikoichi was there waiting for Lae and Haruko.

"What a tall girl! Haruko what were you thinking?!" asked Fuji.

"You're acting more like Sakuragi...really!" exclaimed Matsui.

"Mou...stop it you guys... Your teasing doesn't help you know," said Haruko pleading to stop their criticism.

"Hello Lae-san! I've brought you what I've promised…"

"That's so cool…who did you bring? Thanks."

Lae and Haruko were astounded to see Maki and Fujima playing together in the court.

"Nani?" Both team captains chorused.

"Kenji Fujima of Shoyo?" yelled Lae.

"Shinichi Maki of Kainan?" exclaimed Haruko.

"Why? Is something wrong? Lae-san you said to pick people who are neither from your sides…then…I picked them." Hikoichi was pleased with himself.

Both troupes were so shocked that they opened their mouths in awe.

"Maki-san, Fujima-san," Hikochi called. "Lae-san, this is Maki-san and Fujima-san. I know Miss Akagi has known them already."

"Nice to meet you both!" This is so cool. Kanagawa's top player Shinichi Maki and Kenji Fujima are here! "I'm Salae Nimawan. First year Class 3."

"She and Sendoh are child hood friends…" explained Hikoichi.

"Ah, the pleasure is mine Miss Nimawan." Maki looked at the fair skinned pretty girl and kissed her hands. She's pretty and cute too. So tall...I wonder how tall she is? That's Sendoh is really something.

"Iie, please call me Lae," she insisted.

"Lae…that sure does ring a bell. Anyways, miss beautiful, I'm Fujima. Hikoichi here has invited me to be the scorer for your game." Kawaii-zo…Very tall..only as tall as me! I so envy that Sendoh! Pedophile. Looking for younger girls…shame on Sendoh.

"I'm so delighted that both Top Players of Kanagawa are here."

"Sendoh is a top player too," said Maki.

"Yes, I know Maki-san."

"So, where's the tike anyhow?" asked Fujima.

"Umm…I don't exactly know…maybe still sleeping." Lae blushed and turned around.

"It's almost time, why don't you guys warm up?" Hikoichi said as he found a page for him to write about the details on this game.

"Yosh! Let's do this gang." For the love of Sendoh, I'm going to win this.

"Mina-let's do our best!" Rukawa-kun this is for you. Haruko blushed.

Haruko and Lae led their teams to warm up. Slowly, people came to watch their game. News spread easily when they heard that Maki and Fujima are going to be officials of the game. Girls were screaming from the outside and inside of the barbed wired court.

"Grr! I hate this…" Lae was furious.

"Hmph. Looks like Rukawa's not the only one." Haruko glared back at the sreaming girls.

"Where is Sendoh?!" wondered Lae.

"Where is Rukawa?! I need him. This is for him." Haruko was disgruntled.

"We're about to start this game…in 10 minutes," yelled Maki.