Slam Dunk: Sakuragi learned from Kawamura Eiki's experience

The night breeze blew in from the alley entrance, carrying the damp heat unique to the end of May.

Yuri Yanai stood under the streetlight, waving goodbye to her friend. Her friend's figure disappeared around the corner. She turned around, her heels clicking crisply on the sidewalk.

The streetlights cast a long shadow of her, making her 1.72-meter height and long legs appear as if she were walking on stilts.

She put her hands in her coat pockets and walked toward where her driver had parked.

The white light from the convenience store shone from dozens of meters ahead, drawing a bright square on the night street. There were hardly any people on the road at this hour; occasionally a car would pass by, its headlights sweeping across the street before everything returned to silence.

As she approached the alleyway next to the convenience store, she heard footsteps.

The sound of shoes scraping against the ground came from the side, with a deliberately slow rhythm.

She glanced around and saw several figures filing out of the alley, blocking the road in front of her.

Yanai Yuri stopped.

There are five in total.

She was wearing a junior high school uniform with an excessively short skirt, and her hair was dyed in various colors, including brown, blonde, and a section with pink highlights.

The makeup on her face was heavy and crude, making her look like she was wearing a mask under the streetlights.

The one in the lead had a lollipop in his mouth, arms crossed, and tilted his head to look her up and down, his gaze sweeping from her face to her legs and back again.

"Wow, you're pretty tall," the one with the lollipop said, his voice high-pitched and thin, like fingernails scratching a blackboard.

The other four people spread out and slowly surrounded her.

Yuri Yanai sighed inwardly.

It's this again.

She knew all too well what was going on.

In Japan, a country where the average height is relatively short, a girl who is 1.72 meters tall stands out like a crane among chickens. Being too conspicuous in a crowd will attract attention, a lesson she has long understood.

These delinquent girls disliked her, probably for no particular reason. They just "didn't like the tall girl," that's all.

She subtly shrugged, took a half-step back, and displayed a perfectly timed expression of panic on her face. Her eyes widened, her lips parted slightly, and her chin tightened slightly.

His acting was solid, but his inner world was as calm as a stagnant pool.

Five.

She quickly assessed the situation. The one on the left was standing loosely, with all his weight on one leg; he'd fall over with a push. The one on the right had his hands in his pockets; if a fight broke out, he wouldn't even have time to pull them out.

The guy directly opposite, the one with the lollipop in his mouth, is probably the leader. He's striking the most pose, but his heels are too high off the ground, making him unbalanced.

She can fight.

As the leader of a delinquent gang at Hongye Junior High School, she wasn't just a figurehead. Her father hired a private trainer who taught her proper self-defense, not just street thrashing. In a real fight, these five wouldn't be enough for her.

But you will also get hurt.

She glanced down at her hands; her nails were freshly done, a light nude color, gleaming warmly under the streetlights. She didn't want to break them.

Her gaze swept across the street to a spot about a hundred meters away. A black Mercedes was parked on the side of the road, and her driver, Yamada, should be sitting in the driver's seat waiting for her.

It's a bit far.

She could hear a shout, but it would take time for them to rush over. In that short time, her face would be scratched raw.

Not cost-effective.

She quickly went through the options in her mind: should she run, shout, or strike first?

Just as she was making her plans.

"Squeak—"

The door to the convenience store next door was pushed open.

The wind chimes on the door tinkled once.

Everyone's eyes turned to that direction at the same time.

A man walked out of the door.

The first thing that catches the eye is his height. He's incredibly tall. He's wearing a white T-shirt, revealing two strong arms, and he's carrying a cardboard box with the convenience store logo printed on it.

Then comes the hair.

The red wasn't the dull, dark red; it was a bright, flamboyant red, like a burning flame. Her hair was combed upwards, piled high in a pompadour, which looked particularly dazzling under the incandescent lights of the night.

That physique, that hair, that aura as he walked out of the door...

The five delinquent girls were stunned for a moment.

The hand that was holding the lollipop unconsciously lowered itself, and the lollipop slipped out of its mouth, almost falling to the ground. The other four people simultaneously took a small step back.

Yuri Yanai was also taken aback.

She's seen tall people before; there's a burly man over 1.9 meters tall in her father's company's security team.

But on a street like this at night, the sudden appearance of such a tall boy with such striking hair color is indeed visually impactful.

His face was half-hidden by the cardboard box, but the part that was visible had sharp features, a strong jawline, and high brow bones. He looked young, probably around fifteen or sixteen years old, similar to myself.

A thought suddenly flashed through her mind, a thought that she found very interesting.

Her gaze darted back and forth between the group of delinquent girls and the red-haired boy, a slight upturn of her lips appearing for a moment before she quickly suppressed it, reverting to her panicked expression.

Then, Yuri Yanai lunged at the boy, moving with a speed that belied her "frightened and fragile girl." She rushed to him in three strides and grabbed his arm.

She wrapped her arms tightly around his right arm, pressed her whole body against him, turned her body slightly to the side, and buried her face next to his shoulder.

Then she looked up at him with her eyes, which shone brightly under the light, her voice soft yet urgent, with just the right amount of trembling…

"Honey! You're finally out!"

As she spoke, she gestured with her chin towards the five delinquent girls.

"They...they want to bully me!"

Her tone carried a sense of grievance and fear, but the degree of her expression was just right...not exaggerated, so as not to seem fake.

But it was clear enough that the five people on the other side could hear every word.

The cardboard box wobbled.

Sakuragi Hanamichi had just come out of the convenience store, carrying a box of milk and bread that was about to expire, which the store owner had given him as a gift.

Before he could figure out what was going on, several girls in middle school uniforms with brightly colored hair were standing at the door, surrounding a tall girl.

As he was wondering, "What's going on?", the tall girl rushed towards him.

Then his arm was grabbed.

A soft touch came from his arm, clearly imprinted on his skin through the thin fabric of his T-shirt.

The softness wasn't something you leaned against; it was the kind of softness that made you sink in slightly after you touched it, warm and cozy with body heat.

The air smelled of shampoo. Not the cheap kind, but a very faint scent, like the fragrance of crushed flower petals, mixed with the dampness of the night streets and the smell of air conditioning in a convenience store.

He lowered his head.

A face was looking up at him.

It was very close, about twenty centimeters apart.

The light shone on her face from the side, illuminating her clear features. Her eyes were large, her eyelashes were long, and her pupils were a light brown color in the light, like hot cocoa in winter.

He had a high nose bridge and slightly pursed lips.

Her skin was very white, but not in an unhealthy way; it was a soft, delicate white, like tofu, with a hint of pink.

Super cute.

It's not "somewhat cute" or "quite cute".

It's super cute.

That string in his mind...

"Snap." It broke.

Honey.

She called him darling.

A super cute girl hugged his arm and called him "darling".

Sakuragi Hanamichi's brain completely shut down at that moment.

His mouth was slightly open, but he couldn't utter a single word. His eyes were fixed on that face, his pupils dilated several sizes, and he was frozen in place as if under a spell.

The wind blew in from the alley entrance, ruffling the collar of his T-shirt, but it couldn't move his completely petrified face.

The five delinquent girls stood there, looking at each other, their expressions changing from "surrounding someone" to "what's going on?"

The guy with the lollipop frowned, looking the red-haired hunk and the "frightened little white rabbit" in his arms up and down.

She felt that something was wrong.

But I can't quite put my finger on it right now.

The streetlights cast the shadows of several people on the ground, overlapping each other. The convenience store light shone through the door, drawing a bright trapezoid on the ground.

The wind chime swayed gently against the door frame, then rang out with another crisp sound.

The streets were quiet for a moment at night.

The group of delinquent girls looked at each other in bewilderment.

Honey?

Is this red-haired monster the woman's boyfriend?

The girl in the lead looked at Sakuragi's physique, then at the five people on her side, and the scales in her mind swayed violently.

To fight or not to fight? If they fight, all five of them combined probably wouldn't be enough to withstand one punch from him. If they don't fight, where will their pride be?

Her expression shifted several times before she finally gritted her teeth, pointed at Yanai Yuuri, and uttered a harsh threat: "Consider yourself lucky today. Don't let us run into you again!"

After saying that, he turned and left.

The other delinquent girls scattered in a row, their leather shoes clicking on the ground, disappearing at the other end of the alley in a few seconds.

The alleyway fell silent.

Sakuragi was still standing there, with someone hanging on his arm.

He slowly lowered his head, looking at the girl still clinging to his arm.

"Um..." he began, his voice a little dry, "Who are you?"

Yuri Yanai raised her head, and the "pitiful" expression on her face was gone, replaced by a half-smile.

She didn't let go.

"Thank you so much," she said, her eyes crinkling into crescent moons. "You came at just the right time."

Sakuragi blinked.