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 am.
"Urrrrghhh" Sawakita, still in pajamas with a towel hanging around his neck, groaned while staggering his way to the bathroom, "I said, give me 5 minutes more... why are you all so mean to me?" He mumbled with his eyes half open, upon reaching the sink, smearing some toothgel on the toothbrush before nonchalantly putting it in his mouth srcubbing his teeth. The rest of them lining up against the sink too, doing their own thing, shaving, washing face, etc., looked closely at his every move.
"WHAT!?" He called out on them for making him uncomfortable by their awkward stares. "What did I do again ya'll staring at me like all that?!"
"You liar..." Masashi before going back to his thing, drying his face with a towel muttered.
"Where have you been last night yo?" Fukatsu, whilst shaving followed.
"I- I told you guys! I went out to buy some stuff!" He stammered. "I came back! Why is it such a big deal for you guys?"
They all continued staring at him blankly, without a word, stopping whatever they were doing for the moment.
"WAIT A SECOND! You guys have been spying on me!" He blurted out, pointing his finger at them all.
"It was an order. As if we had a choice!" Nobe explained. "We don't even care enough to spy on you!"
"If you needed to see your girlfriend, why didn't you just ask sensei for a permission? He would understand!" Minoru lastly suggested.
"WHAT!? GIRLFRIEND?!" Sawakita yelled out with strong objection.
"Huh? What are they talking about?" Mikio however, 100% unaware of things asked Ichinokura who gave him a shrug as a reply, as he himself didn't know either because the rest of the time the seniors were out in the cold to find Sawakita, they were already sound asleep.
"Yeah... so that's it..." Sawakita, finally giving an end to the doubts and intrigue, explained to them everything while they all sat around the long table, eating once again a bountiful breakfast in preparation for this morning's match.
"You should've told me, you lil brat..." Doumoto-sensei just shook his head before sipping on his coffee. "It's normal to attend to personal affairs as long as..."
"I REPEAT, SHE'S JUST A FRIEND! GEEEEZ!" Sawakita strongly protested, not even letting his coach to finish his words.
"Alright, a 'FRIEND' then...at the moment..." They were all grinning at him, taunting him maliciously.
"I can't believe you guys... Go get some lives" He just rolled his eyes giving up, proceeding on his bowl of rice.
"Boys, we had to leave at 7, remember that..." Doumoto-sensei scolded.
"Hai..."
"Haaa..." The rest of the Gundan let out a deep sigh, upon reaching the mezzanine balcony just above the court, overlooking the rehearsing teams below on each of their sides of the court before the match starts.
10 minutes left.
"Haha! Looks like we're the first one to arrive from our school..." Yohei said while looking around, finding some unfamiliar faces who apparently came to watch as well.
"Compared to our school gym, this one looked pretty neat... a private school indeed..." Noma wandered his eyes upon every corner, amused about the said gym's splendid built.
"It may also mean we were too early... I still feel sleepy... thanks to you Hanamichi!" Takamiya scoffed, addressing sarcasm to Hanamichi.
"Yeah!" Ookusu strongly agreed nodding. "Like, Why the hell do we have to tag along with you when this isn't even your match, Hanamichi?" Ookusu turning to the absent-minded Hanamichi who had his eyes glued down the court.
"I can't believe it! I really thought he was hairless..." Hanamichi mumbled, who still can't get over about Shoyo's new look, specially Fujima.
"SAKURAGI-KUN! YOHEI-TACHI!" From behind a familiar voice wailed catching their attention.
"Haruko-chan!" The four of them waved back, wherein they were set-aside by Hanamichi dashing up-front who were previously in a blank mood, now back to being hyper. "YO! HARUKO-CHAN!" He shook her hands, in extreme bliss seeing his 'love-of-his-life' coincidentally at an unexpected moment.
"I'm surprised to see you here! Sensei didn't inform you guys about this Practice Match..." She said in delight to see the gang around.
"NYAHAHAHA! You talk like you don't know me! I'm a genius after all!"
KABLAAAMMM!
Then a huge throbbing lump emerged from Hanamichi's head... "Don't you dare hold her with your filthy hands, moron..." Akagi, along with Haruko, who came to watch as well.
"G-Gorrriii!" Hanamichi whilst cupping the lump in his head mumbled.
"What a ruckus... so early in the morning..." Another familiar voice.
"We're in someone else's territory after all... Ya'll need to keep your cool for fuck's sake..." And another.
"MIT-CHI! RYO-CHIIIIIN!" Hanamichi wailed. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL DOING HERE!"
"It's more like a question we had for you, dumbass!" Mitsui countered.
"NO NO NO! Oyaji didn't inform you guys about this! I'm very sure he didn't! The credits suppose to go to me! NOT TO YOU GUYS!" Hanamichi continued blabbering turning around to everyone.
"That's cuz you left early last night, you twerp." Ayako cut in.
"Sensei came back giving us a follow-up instruction.. sorry though not to be able to inform you, Sakuragi-kun." Kogure with a sheepish smile apologized.
"AYAKO-SAN! MEGANE-KUN TOO! B-b-b-BUUUTTT!"
"How did you know about this anyway, Hanamichi?" Miyagi asked anyways out of curiosity. "We all tried to find you last night to inform you, but wasn't able to."
"BECAUSE I AM A-"
"We met them on our way to Pachinko last night haha." Yohei however answered for Hanamichi interrupting him.
"BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! LAST-FIVE-MINUTES!" The loud, shrill sound of the student-referee's whistle echoed around the gym.
"ASSEMBLE!"
Doumoto-sensei's calling voice alerted the whole team, all of them gathering together to hear their coach's final instructions a few minutes before the match starts. They are all ready, finally wearing each of their respective jerseys
"I've got nothing much to instruct to you guys as we have already discussed everything last night. I must still remind all of you though, that this team, even if you guys haven't faced them yet during the time being you have been here, is not a small-fry team and therefore you should not go easy on them."
"We know that sir... yo..."
"They are all desperate to win too, just like us, to bring ourselves back to our respective thrones. That only means, they all intend to beat us down by any means, especially in front of the team who dethroned both of us. Both... HAVING ONLY ONE GOAL."
"OU!" Flaming with determination they shouted out in unison.
"Fukatsu, as planned, we all know Fujima would definitely be into the game at ince by the first half, so you know what to do." He then addressed to Fukatsu before turning to the rest... "We would stop them from scoring in the first half, focusing into defense. Nobe, Masashi, Ichinokura. You guys do your thing."
"Hai!"
"For the second half, we would go all-out on Offense, subbing out Ichinokura for Minoru. As most of them have already used up their energy during the first half, leaving them exhausted during the second half would definitely give us more room to score, making sure we would at least give it a 30-40 point difference. Sawakita!... You know what to do...!"
Addressing it to Sawakita, everyone expecting a response from him.
"Sawakita!?" Once again Doumoto-sensei called out upon noticing...
.
HE'S NOT ACTUALLY AROUND!
"SAWAKITAAAA!"
"What a coincidence... of all the places, seeing you again here..." Sawakita, with a smug yet innocent grin in his face, greeted.
"So, did you even become the #1 in Japan yet?" Sawakita continued, addressing it in a challenging tone... "Rukawa?"
Stood by the post in an alley around the secluded back area of the gym, right in front of Sawakita, was Rukawa.
"You're only good at bullshitting... telling everyone you're going to America and all that..." Rukawa struck him back with sarcasm.
"I see you're not happy about it haha... Aren't you happy yet about being chosen to take part on that All-Japan Junior Camp?"
END OF CHAPTER 6