DISCLAIMER : Following the word itself "fanfiction", I do not own anything in this fiction and credits belong to the rightful creators of the manga: Inoue Takehiko, the publisher, the broadcasting company of the anime and etc.

6 pm, the street lamps started to light up as the sky slowly darkened into a midnight blue.

"Chuuuuusu!"

The gym door slid open revealing two unfamiliar feminine figures.

"Hmm?" Ayako looked back whilst supervising the team having a face-off match between the 1st year members versus the 2nd and 3rd year members merged team.

"Araa!" She exclaimed in surprise. "Naomi-chan, Mika-chan!" running towards them.

"Hey!" The one named Naomi greeted back, waving a hand.

"How's the team going?" Ayako turned to the one named Mika, then turning back to that one named Naomi, "Still looking good in blonde! Youre getting taller! hahaha"

That foreigner. Naomi Sterling. 2nd year Class 3. Standing 170cm, weighing 50 kg. Half Japanese, Half American. Have been classmates with Ayako last school year, and was one of the pioneer members of Shohoku Girl's Basketball Club, that only commenced to open last school year, and have conquered the Nationals together with her team, gaining the National MVP award.

"I hate you..." Naomi teasingly sulked. "You shouldve joined the team with Haruko-chan too... pffft. You couldve had the chance this year, but you guys chose THIS..."

"You can't simply get over it huh? Ms. M-V-P!? HAHAHAHAHA" Ayako taunted her pinching her on the waists.

"HEEEEEY!" Naomi protested. "I knew it! You were here because of Miya-"

"You're NOT gonna say that!" Ayako blurted out interrupting Naomi in which the three of them ended up in an unlady-like, loud-mouthed laughter.

"Ah, speaking of MVP..." Naomi stopped laughing, changing the topic. "I stumbled upon a goofball this morning. And my teammates called him an MVP. Guess what happened?"

"Wait, which one are you talking about?" Mika asked puzzled, like she had no idea.

"You were LATE this morning remember, Vice Captain?" Naomi addressed sarcastically.

"Don't tell me you meant Maki-san of Kainan?" Ayako befuddled, raising a brow. "He's DEFINITELY NOT a goofball."

"Or Mitsui-san?" Mika added.

"Neither... The one I'm talking about looks... sorta unfamiliar." Naomi continued. "I haven't seen him anywhere before... his name is... what was that again?.. Sa-... sa- I forgot. Doesn't matter..."

"SAAA-KURAGI HANAMICHI - The genius sportsman!" Hanamichi blundered out from the behind butting himself in the conversation. "Gudee-booning~ Goajusu! Wazzzaaa-ppu!" He then followed it with an impish wink speaking in a lousy, incomprehensible english-meets-japanese accent.

"Why, good evening Mr. Genius!" Naomi winked as well, greeting Hanamichi back in english, with full enthusiasm as she had been always amazed by this self proclaimed genius' ludicrous antics.

"Definitely a goofball but NO MVP!" WHAAACCCK!

Ayako, out of nowhere, whacked Hanamichi once again with her giant fan in the head, frantically throwing an arm, pointing to the court. "BACK TO YOUR POST!"

"That's the 25th hit for today, Ayako-san... (snivels)" Hanamichi then whimpered like a loser dog, staggering back to the court.

"What a moron... getting his ass on someone else's conversation..." Ayako rolled her eyes. "Where were we again?"

"Inside the gym... haha" Both replied playfully.

"Very funny..."

"Ah!" Mika then cut the convo off, remembering something. "I FORGOT TO TELL YOU SOMETHING NAOMI!"

"Yeah?"

"I have someone I wanted to introduce to you! I'll be meeting this childhood friend of mine I've always been talking about to you, this 7 in the evening at Danny's!"

"You mean your childhood crush?" Naomi narrowed her grey-eyes on Mika. "I gotta see him! And see to myself if he really was as cute as how you used to describe him... pffft"

"And without inviting me?" Ayako with hands on her waists raised a brow.

"Ahh, well, you can come with us, of course haha. But you already have met or have seen him somewhere before, I think?"

"So tomorrow's gonna be, Shoyo... right?" Masashi asked before sipping on his bowl of noodles, along with the whole team who sat around a long table, bountiful of all sorts of food, having an early dinner.

"Yeah... another team dethroned by Shohoku..." Minoru in response to Masashi's question added.

"Sensei, aren't we gonna watch a vid of their matches yet?" Ichinokura asked. "We're gonna start off early tomorrow..."

"Nope. This way we would be able to test our skills better without preparation..." Doumoto-sensei done on his dinner, sat while he watched his team eat like a pack of wolves, preparing themselves for a match against Shoyo tomorrow.

"I've heard they're all about defense right? They're all like around 190cm above except for their Point Guard..." Nobe suggested.

"You still had the advantage against their Center-Forward. You had nothing to worry about him." Doumoto-sensei in response to Nobe's suggestion. "We can still use Mikio against them, While you Fukatsu, still had the advantage against Fujima by that little difference in your height. Be careful though, he has quite a wide shooting range..."

"Copied... yo..."

"Their center of offense is their Point Guard, so most likely, they would rely on his Fast Breaks to score. We would go all-out on Offense and try to create a 30-point to 40-point lead on the last 5 minutes, so Sawakita..." Doumoto-sensei addressed to Sawakita who was seemingly lost in his thoughts... "We're relying on you on that one..."

"Hm?"

"I said, don't screw up tomorrow and maintain your focus..." Doumoto-sensei rephrased the previously delivered instruction.

"I repeat, we all know these series of matches we are having are just Practice Games. But you all know better than to underestimate your oponent and not to get too lenient..."

"We aren't gonna lose again ever"

7 pm. Rehearsals has just ended. Sakuragi and his trusty "friends" are on their way to Pachinko, planning to reward himself with some enjoyment in compensation of the whole-day's work.

"Ahhh... I'm starvin'..." Hanamichi groaned, while he walked along the quiet, night street together with Yohei and the rest of the group, all of them on their way back to their respective homes. "I've been practicing all day and that stupid Gori, and his underling, the Lady Gori Ayako-san won't stop hitting me...!"

"Aren't you supposed to be excited because gramps will soon give you a Training Program on 3-pointers?" Yohei tried to cheer him up.

"I still kinda have a bad feeling on that one..." Takamiya on the other hand opposed, rubbing his double-chins.

"Its entirely the opposite! It means, he would hire us again and that's a DEFINITELY a good news for us!" Ookusu gleefully asserted.

"YES YES! More money, More funny videos!" Noma seconded.

"GGGGRRRRR AND YOU CALL YOURSELVES MY FRIENDS!?" Hanamichi came dashing after them like a raging fireball, chasing them like a hungry shark lunging on a fresh piece of meat. "COMBACK'ERE YOU WORTHLESS PIECES OF SHIT!"

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

Just before they could go for a sharp turn to a nearby left corner, they were brought to a halt, resulting to a screech then bumping to each other upon seeing someone they actually knew...

"Ah! Hoketsu-kun!" Hanamichi hollered, throwing an arm up in the air waving it to that bunch of familiar walking figures. Fujima, and the starters of Shoyo. "Long time no see!"

In which, they looked back at him to greet him back. "Hey! Long time no see too." Fujima replied in a plain corteous manner.

"A- A- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Hanamichi scream in horror.

In a few months he haven't see this team, a lot have changed, and seeing Fujima, the fabulous and the feminine one, with facial hair is a totally unlikely and shocking sight. Along with the rest like Nagano and Takano with shaved brows, Hasegawa going bald and Hanagata wearing weird shaped glasses, definitely scared the shit out of Hanamichi and the rest of the gang.
"W-WHAT HAPPENED TO... WH- WHY?- H-HOW?!"

"We have just finished today's rehearsals. How's your back? I've heard you got injured? Congratulations anyway, even belated. Doing a spectacular job beating up Sannoh..." Fujima asked disregarding Hanamichi's questions.

"Y-yeah... thanks?" Hanamichi, inadvertently uttered, still staring at Fujima's beard and the rest of the atrocity on Shoyo's 'new look'.

"Just so you know, tomorrow will be our Practice Match with Sannoh. Aren't you greeting us good luck?" Hanagata added.

"Y-yeah... well... good luck?" Hanamichi, still under state-of-shock can only find a little words to say while the team in green started rolling after bidding the still dazed Hanamichi goodbye.

"What... the... fuck?!"

END OF CHAPTER 3

Notes :

*Danny's is this restaurant shown in some episodes in the anime, and some chapters in the manga too
*I'm still confused about Ichinokura's year level. I am thinking he's about second year or something.
*Hoketsu-kun means "sub guy" which Hanamichi calls Fujima both in Manga and Anime.
*again, the grammar. pardon me. R.I.P. Grammar...