Slam Dunk: Sakuragi learned from Kawamura Eiki's experience

On Monday morning, the moment Sakuragi Hanamichi stepped into the school gate, he sensed that something was wrong.

All eyes were on him like spotlights, shining all the way from the school gate to the teaching building.

Several younger girls passed by him, slowing their pace, huddling together and whispering, their eyes secretly glancing in his direction.

He heard the words "that redhead," "yesterday's game," and "dunk" leaking from their whispers.

Sakuragi's lips unconsciously curled into a smile. He straightened his back even more, raised his chin slightly, and took large, steady steps, like a peacock spreading its tail feathers to survey its territory.

The same was true in the corridor. In the past, when he walked through the corridor, the students next to him would automatically make way for him, because he was a red-haired delinquent and a master of fighting.

He still let him win today, but his eyes were different. Several boys even nodded at him and said, "You were really good in yesterday's game." Their voices were low, with a hint of probing and nervousness, as if they were unsure whether talking to Sakuragi would get them beaten up.

Sakuragi paused for a moment, then grinned. "Of course!" he replied confidently, raising his chin even higher.

When I opened the classroom door, most of the students from Class 3 had already arrived.

The classroom fell silent for a moment the instant Sakuragi stepped in, and several boys peered out from behind their textbooks.

One of them mustered up the courage to speak up: "Sakuragi, you dunked a lot in yesterday's game, right? I heard it from the people in the next class."

Another person chimed in, "Was that alley-oop real? They said you jumped from the free-throw line?"

Sakuragi put his schoolbag on the table, turned around, and put his hands on his hips.

"That one at the free throw line was exaggerated," Sakuragi said, his tone carrying a hint of "I'm being modest but I'm actually showing off," "but the one he dunked over two people was real."

The boys exchanged knowing glances.

On the other side of the classroom, several girls huddled together, their eyes peering through the gaps between the desks towards Sakuragi.

In the past, when they looked at Sakuragi, their eyes seemed to say, "Don't come near me."

Today was different. I was curious, observing, and there was a sense of novelty in thinking, "So this delinquent can play basketball too."

One of the short-haired girls whispered, "He looks pretty cool when he dunks," her voice very low, but Sakuragi's ears were sharper than radar at times like this.

His face flushed slightly, but the smile on his lips widened even more.

He sat down, stuffed his backpack into the desk, put his hands behind his head, propped up the two legs of the chair, leaned against the wall, squinted, and wore an expression that said, "I'm a celebrity now."

Sunlight streamed in through the window, falling on his red hair, making him look like a big cat that had just eaten and was sunbathing.

Before the chair had even rocked twice, four familiar figures surged over to the side.

The Sakuragi Army surrounded them from four directions, moving with the speed of a rehearsal. Takamiya peeked out from the left, Oonan from the right, Noma from behind, and Yohei leisurely pulled out the chair in front of him and sat down backwards.

The four men had identical expressions: their eyes were slightly narrowed, their eyebrows were raised, and their faces seemed to say: "Confess honestly."

Takamiya fired the first shot, the sound loud and rapid, like a barrage of bullets:

"Hanamichi! Tell me the truth! How did you and that Yanai meet?!"

Such a lovely girl, and you actually kept it from us! It's unforgivable!

He braced his hands on the Sakuragi desk, pressing his entire weight onto it, causing the desk to slide forward half an inch with a creak.

Da Nan followed from the right, his tone exaggerated with a sense of heartbreak: "Exactly! Aren't we brothers? If we're brothers, confess and you'll be treated leniently! Resist and you'll be punished severely!"

Noma leaned over from behind, rested his chin on Sakuragi's shoulder, and delivered the final blow:

"And she even came specifically to watch your match and cheer you on. Do you know how awkward it was for us sitting next to her? She ignored us and just stared at you."

The three of them spoke one after another, like three chickens huddled around a pot of food, nodding their heads and their voices overlapping.

Sakuragi's mouth stretched into a wide grin. So wide that Takamiya felt his face was about to split open.

But he wouldn't say anything, his eyes narrowed to slits, his expression saying, "I know you want to know, but I won't tell you, or you'll be anxious to death."

"Say it already!" Takamiya said impatiently.

"I won't say." Sakuragi lowered the two legs of the chair, leaned forward, crossed his arms in front of his chest, and looked smug.

"That's not loyal enough!" Da Nan slammed his hand on the table.

"That's so disloyal!" Noma slapped him on the shoulder.

The sound of the three people slamming their fists on the table rose and fell, like drumming.

Yohei remained silent. He sat backwards in the chair in front of Sakuragi, his arms folded over the back of the chair, his chin resting on his arms, watching the farce with a smile.

Once the three people's voices had finally quieted down a bit, he slowly opened his mouth, his tone not harsh, but his words were incisive.

Have you confessed your feelings yet?

Sakuragi's smile froze.

Yangping hit him where it hurt, and he moved his lips twice, but said nothing.

The classroom was quiet for about two seconds. In those two short seconds, Takamiya, Oonan, and Noma switched from being "noisy" to "instantly understanding".

"Oh..." Takamiya drawled out the sound, making a three-fold detour in the "oh".

"You haven't confessed yet..." Da Nan's voice trailed off, carrying a sense of sudden realization.

"No wonder..." Noma broke down the three words "no wonder" and read them out one by one, as if he were counting pearls.

The three people exchanged glances, their expressions shifting from "interrogation" to "discovering a new world."

Just as Takamiya was about to say something more, the school bell rang suddenly, and the teacher walked into the classroom.

Yohei stood up, and the three of them, including Takamiya Nozomi, scattered and rushed back to their seats.

Sakuragi breathed a sigh of relief, but his expression hadn't completely returned to normal; the sunlight shone on his slightly flushed face.

The class ended, and it was break time.

Yohei came over again. This time he was alone.

Takamiya and the other two huddled together at the other end of the classroom, peering this way, but Yohei silenced them with a single look... Don't come any closer.

The three of them obediently pulled their heads back.

Yohei sat down next to Sakuragi. This time, he wasn't as playful as before, and his tone was less teasing and more serious.

"Sakuragi," he asked, "what are your feelings towards Yanai?"

Sakuragi was catching up on sleep at the table... He worked late at the convenience store last night and got up early again today.

Hearing Yohei's voice, he looked up, his eyes still a little blurry, but when he heard the name "Yanagi," he perked up.

He thought for a moment, then said something that surprised Yohei.

"It's different from before."

"What's different?"

"It's just..." Sakuragi frowned, as if searching for a word he hadn't yet learned.

"Back then, I just thought those girls were pretty. They had pretty hair, pretty faces, and pretty smiles. So I went and confessed my feelings to them. Getting rejected wasn't a big deal, it was just a little embarrassing."

"But... Yanai is different."

Yohei didn't say anything, he just waited.

"Seeing her makes me happy." When Sakuragi said this, his voice was a little lower than usual, and his speech was a little slower, as if he were talking about something very precious and afraid that he would break it if he spoke too fast.

"I can't really explain why. I'm just happy. Her smile can make me happy all day. When she comes to watch my matches, I feel like I have tons of energy."

He raised his head and looked at Yohei with a serious expression, the kind of solemn look that said, "I've thought about this for a long time."

"I confessed before because I wanted to. But Yanai..." He thought for a moment, "I don't want to do that kind of thing to her."

"What kind of thing?"

"It's not right to just rush up to someone and say 'I like you, please go out with me,' and then get rejected and that's it."

Sakuragi shook his head, his red hair swaying slightly. "She's different. I don't want to mess this up."

Yohei looked into Sakuragi's eyes. Those eyes, when they looked at people, were either nonchalant, menacing, or grinning foolishly like a chrysanthemum.

But at that moment, there was something in those eyes that he had never seen before.

Seriously!

Yohei's heart skipped a beat.

It’s over.

This guy is really in deep this time.

It's not the kind of fleeting infatuation where you "think this girl is pretty and confess to her today." It's the kind of liking that comes from deep within your bones, uncontrollable, something you can't even explain, but your body is more honest than your mind...

Yohei has known Sakuragi for so many years and has witnessed him confess his love thirty-four times and be rejected thirty-four times.

He knew what the outcome would be each time, because those confessions contained no "heart," only "impulse."

Sometimes the members of Sakuragi's gang would encourage him, and sometimes they would bet on how many minutes he could last, but no one ever took it seriously.

But this time is different.

Yohei knew it the moment he first saw Yuri Yanai.

The girl's gaze wasn't that of a pursued person's shyness, nor that of someone being approached; it was a calm expression of "I'm looking at something I find very interesting."

The way she looked at Sakuragi was like she was looking at a big, fluffy dog... the kind that wags its tail and would pounce on you if you teased it. She found him amusing.

Yohei meets Yuri Yanai, the leader of a delinquent girl group at Momiji Junior High School and the eldest daughter of the Yanai family.

Seeing these two identities in one person, Yohei knew this girl was no ordinary person. She was the kind of "extraordinary" that Sakuragi couldn't handle.

Unfortunately, Sakuragi is a stubborn idiot.

Yohei sighed inwardly.

He looked at Sakuragi's face, which lit up when Yanai was mentioned, his bright eyes, and his lips that he couldn't suppress.

He wanted to say something, to remind him, to tell him, "You might not be able to handle that girl." But the words stuck in his throat.

How so?

Is it true that "Yanagi is the leader of a delinquent organization at Momiji Junior High School"?

Sakuragi would probably reply with, "Is she really good at fighting?"

Saying, "Yanai is the eldest daughter of the Yanai family, you two are not from the same world"?

Sakuragi would probably reply with, "What world? Isn't there only one Earth?"

And most importantly... Sakuragi is so happy right now.

Yohei has known Sakuragi for so many years. He has seen Sakuragi laugh wildly after winning a fight, seen him pout as if he didn't care after being rejected by a girl, and seen his profile when he sits alone on the rooftop in a daze.

But I've never seen his face light up when someone's name is mentioned.

Yohei opened his mouth, then closed it again. He chewed on the words that were about to come out, swallowed them back, and said something else.

"Alright," he said, his tone returning to its usual lazy tone, "then good luck."

Sakuragi grinned, a silly but genuine smile.

Yohei stood up, turned around, and walked back to his seat.

He was still troubled.

But some things are better left unsaid. Some people will never turn back, even after hitting a brick wall.