Slam Dunk: Sakuragi learned from Kawamura Eiki's experience

The next morning, Yohei Mito walked into the first-grade classroom with his schoolbag, glanced habitually at the seat by the window, and then stopped in his tracks.

He tilted his head, squinted his eyes, and slowly opened his mouth.

In the window seat, Sakuragi Hanamichi was leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed, his expression as arrogant as ever.

But his signature red pompadour was gone, replaced by a clean-cut buzz cut with red stubble clinging to his scalp. In the morning light, the red stubble shone with a fuzzy sheen.

"Pfft." Yohei couldn't help but chuckle.

He walked over to Sakuragi, circled him halfway around, looking at him from the front, side, and back of the head, laughing so hard his whole body was shaking: "Wait... Hanamichi, were you ordained as a monk? Which temple are you staying at?"

A vein bulged on Sakuragi's forehead: "Yohei, are you looking for death?!"

During lunch break, a line formed outside Sakuragi's classroom.

Takamiya Nozomi's round body blocked the classroom doorway, his chubby hand outstretched to stop the people behind him, his fleshy face jiggling with laughter: "Line up, line up! Want to visit? Fifty yen per person! No credit!"

Yuji Oonan and Chuichiro Noma stood beside him, one in charge of collecting money and the other in charge of maintaining order, constantly shouting out:

"Don't miss out! The biggest hero of Shohoku's victory over Hainan, the red-haired monk who dunked over Maki Shinichi—no, I mean the red-haired genius! His brand new look is revealed for the first time!"

There were quite a few students visiting, craning their necks to peek into the classrooms, and the corridors were bustling with activity.

"You three idiots!!" A furious roar exploded from the classroom.

Sakuragi Hanamichi kicked the chair away, his red buzz cut bouncing off the seat like a lit cannonball, and rushed to the door in three steps.

The students who had been queuing to watch scattered like birds and beasts.

Takamiya turned to run, but his size meant he was two orders of magnitude slower than Sakuragi. A large hand reached out from behind and grabbed him by the back of his collar.

"You're here for a visit, huh? You're charging an entrance fee, huh? You're a red-haired monk, aren't you?"

Thump. Gao Gong clutched his head and squatted down on the ground, a visible bump rising on his forehead.

Da Nan and Noma took off running, but Sakuragi caught up with them in a few steps. There were two more muffled thuds, and three more guys squatted in a row in the corridor, covering their heads.

Sakuragi clapped his hands, but before he could declare victory, a voice came from the other end of the corridor.

"Flower arrangement..." Yuri Yanai appeared at the top of the stairs carrying a cloth bag, her school uniform skirt swaying slightly above her knees.

Seeing Takamiya and the other two with their heads covered, and then noticing Sakuragi's agitated expression, she immediately understood what had happened. "What did you guys do to you again?"

She walked up to Sakuragi, stood on tiptoe, and reached out her hand. Not to take his arm, but to touch the top of his head.

She ran her fingers back and forth across the short, red stubble of hair, the stubble prickling her palms, feeling both prickly and soft.

Yanai's eyes lit up: "Hmm... It feels nice and prickly. Kawaii..."

Sakuragi's face flushed red instantly; the furious beast from before had transformed into a large, red-haired dog being patted on the head.

Yanai touched it a couple more times before withdrawing her hand and stuffing the cloth bag into Sakuragi's arms: "Here!"

Sakuragi took the lunchbox, and the moment he opened the lid after returning to his seat, a delicious aroma wafted out.

The fried pork cutlet was plentiful, cut thick and even, and its golden breadcrumb crust glistened in the midday sun.

Next to it were three tempura shrimp, their tails neatly curled up. There were also octopus sausages, tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled omelet), and spinach sprinkled with sesame seeds. The rice was drizzled with curry sauce and served in a separate small box.

Takamiya Nozomi, clutching the bump on his forehead, leaned closer. The moment he saw the bento box, he froze.

Da Nan and Noma came over from the left and right, and the three of them stared wide-eyed.

"It's not fair!" Takamiya wailed. "Why does Ikebana get a love-filled bento box every day?!"

"Exactly!" Da Nan exclaimed, his face filled with envy, jealousy, and resentment.

Sakuragi picked up his chopsticks, took a piece of pork chop, slowly circled it in front of the three of them, and then stuffed it into his mouth.

The crisp crackling sound of the fried batter between your teeth reveals tender, juicy meat inside.

He chewed while tilting his chin up, his eyes narrowing into slits: "Do you know what this is called? This is called fate. Who told you not to have a girlfriend as virtuous as Yanai..."

Takamiya, Okusu, Noma, and Yohei all looked at Yanai at the same time.

The same image flashed through their minds simultaneously: Mitsui Hisashi being kicked away in the basketball court.

Another scene came to mind: yesterday during the game against Hainan, this girl was on the bench trying to rush onto the field to beat up Maki Shinichi, but Ayako held her back tightly.

Virtuous and capable... perhaps.

The basketball court after school. When Sakuragi pushed open the door and walked in, the court was silent for a full second.

"Hahahaha! Sakuragi, what's wrong with you! Did you get struck by lightning?!" Miyagi laughed so hard he squatted down and slapped the floor.

Mitsui clutched his stomach, wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth: "Wait... what exactly happened to you yesterday? Did Yanai cut your hair? Did she think your hair was too hard to wipe and just shaved it all off?"

"What do you know!" Sakuragi said, hands on his hips. "That's called looking clean! That's what an athlete looks like! He'll look even cooler in the newspapers during the national tournament... Yuri said so!"

The laughter grew even louder.

A soft hand reached out from the side and gently patted Sakuragi's head.

Coach Anzai walked over at some point, his chubby fingers touching the layer of red stubble, his chin jiggling: "Hehehe...not bad, Sakuragi-kun."

This caused Sakuragi to turn his head away and pinch Coach Anzai's stomach, saying, "Old man, don't touch me like that. This genius's head isn't for just anyone to touch."

Akagi Takenori's gaze lingered on Sakuragi's buzz cut for several seconds, a barely perceptible smile playing on his lips as he suppressed a laugh as he said, "Hmm! Not bad. You're finally starting to look like an athlete."

Seeing Akagi trying so hard to suppress his laughter, Sakuragi didn't believe him at all.

A week passed quickly with training and classes.

Saturday, June 26, 1992. The second match of the Shohoku semifinals, against Takezato.

The stands of the county stadium were packed. Everyone knew how weak Takezato was... The team that was beaten 116-63 by Ryonan was not even in the same league as Shohoku, who had defeated Hainan.

At the start of the match, Coach Anzai put Akagi on the bench. Akagi opened his mouth as if to say something, but Anzai simply patted him on the shoulder and said two words: "Recover from your injury."

In the first half, Coach Anzai fielded a lineup with Rukawa and Miyagi leading the substitutes. Rukawa's offense was unstoppable. Miyagi pushed the pace at lightning speed, feeding Kakuta and Shiozaki with fast breaks, resulting in career-high scores for both.

At the end of the first half, the score had widened to more than thirty points.

In the second half, Anzai changed his lineup. Sakuragi Hanamichi played center, Mitsui Hisashi played shooting guard, and he brought on Yasuda, Kuwata, and Kogure Kiminobu.

Sakuragi grabbed more offensive rebounds under the basket than he scored himself, including putbacks, second-chance points, and long passes to initiate fast breaks after grabbing defensive rebounds...

Mitsui received the ball on the perimeter and shot immediately, sinking five three-pointers in the second half.

Wuli's center was so badly blocked by Sakuragi that he was questioning his life choices, while Wuli's coach stood on the sidelines with his hands on his head.

Is this the Shohoku team that defeated Hainan? They're incredibly strong...

The final buzzer sounded. Shohoku defeated Buri 121-65, a 56-point victory.

Buri's team breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't that they didn't care about winning or losing; after being crushed for a full forty minutes, the feeling when the whistle blew wasn't the pain of defeat, but rather a sense of relief.

Finally, I no longer have to face that red-haired rebounding monster, no longer have to be chased and beaten by that fast-break machine, and no longer have to watch the scoreboard numbers rise every two minutes.

Takenori Akagi stood up from the bench, looked at his celebrating teammates, and then looked up at the scoreboard... 121 to 65, Shohoku wins.

With the victory in Buri and two wins, the dream of reaching the national tournament has essentially been realized.

With Shohoku and Takezato leaving the court, Ryonan and Kainan, who had been waiting on the sidelines, took to the court, and the second game was about to begin.