"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
After a brief moment of silence, the gymnasium erupted into thunderous laughter, loud enough to shake the ceiling.
"Brother… Brother!"
Haruko turned away, covering her face in embarrassment.
"Big idiot."
Kaede Rukawa, standing in the distance, rolled his eyes with a sigh.
"Y-You bastard!!!"
Akagi quickly yanked his pants up, his face crimson with rage as he turned toward Sakuragi with a murderous glare.
"S-Sorry! I didn't mean to! It was an accident!"
Even Sakuragi, for all his antics, knew some things were unforgivable. Exposing someone—especially the captain of the basketball team—in front of a crowd? That was a direct hit to a man's pride.
"Do you think this is a street fight? You don't pull your opponent's pants down in basketball!!"
With a thud, Akagi knocked Sakuragi on the forehead, more out of frustration than anger, though he clearly wanted to teach the red-haired fool a lesson. But first, the game had to finish.
"Hmph! Get up! We're finishing this game now!"
Still fuming, Akagi adjusted his uniform, picked up the ball, and returned to position.
"Sheesh... that was close…"
Sakuragi stood up, rubbing his head with a grimace.
"I thought for sure the gorilla was going to beat me to a pulp…"
Suddenly, an idea sparked in his mind. "Wait… a fight?"
Like a lightning bolt through his brain, Sakuragi remembered something Oliver once told him on the baseball field during training.
> "What do you do when you're facing someone taller, stronger, and more experienced than you?"
> "You don't focus just on their movement—watch their eyes."
> "Their body might fake left or right, but their eyes will tell the truth."
Sakuragi had looked confused at the time.
> "Eyes?"
> "Exactly," Oliver explained. "It's like a fight. In a fight, you can often tell a person's next move by watching their eyes. It's the same in basketball."
"And if you're up against a real master whose eyes give nothing away..."
"...Then you shut down every possibility before they can even make a move!"
Back on the court, Sakuragi took a deep breath. His wild energy calmed, and his expression sharpened with focus.
"Oh?"
Akagi, now dribbling steadily, noticed the change in Sakuragi's demeanor.
"You're finally taking this seriously?" he smirked. "Too bad it's too late!!"
He lowered his stance and began dribbling faster, shifting left and right to find an opening.
"What the—?!"
Sakuragi moved like lightning, suddenly appearing right in front of him. It was as if he'd teleported.
"Whoa! That red-haired guy is fast!!"
The crowd buzzed with excitement.
Akagi clenched his jaw and tried again to shake him off, but Sakuragi wouldn't budge. He was clinging to Akagi like a shadow.
"Fine! I'll just shoot it!"
Though shooting wasn't his forte, Akagi decided it was his only option now. Even if he missed, he could recover with a rebound.
He jumped high, aiming toward the basket.
But Sakuragi was in trouble. He couldn't predict Akagi's shot path—high arc, backboard, left or right?
He couldn't read it.
> "If you can't see the route..."
"...then block them all!"
"Hehehehehehe!!"
Sakuragi sprang into action, jumping vertically, then instantly shifting and leaping to the left, then the right. He moved so fast, he left afterimages in the air, forming a living wall around Akagi.
"What the hell!?"
Akagi was stunned. It felt like he was surrounded by five Sakuragis!
"This… this is Sakuragi's 'Hum Defense'!!"
Mito shouted from the sidelines, eyes wide with excitement.
"He practiced this move during our holiday training! Only someone like Sakuragi, with absurd stamina and explosive strength, could pull this off!!"
For the first time in the match, Akagi hesitated. Everywhere he looked—above, to the sides—he saw Sakuragi blocking the way.
"Bang!!"
Sakuragi's palm smacked the ball clean out of Akagi's hands!
He stole it.
"Sakuragi Hanamichi just stole the ball from the basketball team captain!!"
The crowd erupted into chaos.
"Yes!! Go, red-haired underclassman!!"
Even Kaede Rukawa, leaning casually in the back, stood a little straighter.
"Hahahahaha! Now it's my turn!"
Sakuragi burst past the three-point line, ball in hand, grinning ear to ear.
He charged toward the basket like a train and launched himself into the air.
"Let this genius finish it with a slam dunk!!"
"Not so fast!!"
Akagi jumped to intercept, arms wide, fully covering the hoop.
"I won't let you score even one point!!"
Sakuragi gritted his teeth. "I don't care!! Move!!"
"Bang!!"
Sakuragi's dunk collided directly with Akagi's block—but this time, Sakuragi wasn't just jumping.
He poured every ounce of strength into his arms and core.
He overpowered Akagi.
"Get out of my way!!"
With a roar, Sakuragi shoved the ball downward—and Akagi with it.
"BOOOOM!!!"
The basket shook violently as Sakuragi slammed the ball in. Akagi fell to the ground with a loud thud.
"OOOOOOOHHHHHHH!! HE SCORED!!"
The gymnasium exploded in cheers.
"Unbelievable! That dunk… it wasn't just powerful—it blew the captain away!"
Kaede Rukawa smirked, then turned to leave. "Hmph… Not bad."
"Captain!! Are you okay!?"
The team rushed to Akagi's side.
Meanwhile, Sakuragi landed with a proud grin, bouncing on his toes with excitement.
He sprinted toward Haruko.
"Haruko-chan!! Did you see that!?"
"Y-Yes! I saw it. And… I'm sorry, Sakuragi-kun. For what I said on the rooftop. I misjudged you."
"Hahahaha! It's okay, it's okay! I already forgot about it!"
From the sidelines, Oliver and the others exchanged blank stares.
"…He definitely didn't forget."
"It's all thanks to Haruko-chan that I pulled that off!!"
"HEY!!"
Haruko flinched in surprise. Mito and Oliver rushed over.
"Wait, Hanamichi! Don't say that!! That 'gorilla' is actually—"
"Oh, Yohei! You guys saw it, right? My amazing slam dunk?"
Sakuragi beamed, completely ignoring the warning signs.
"That gorilla captain didn't stand a chance! I crushed him!"
"Haruko-chan, from now on, just watch me! I'm the real genius!!"
Before he could finish gloating, a giant hand grabbed the back of his collar.
"Wha—Gorilla?! What now?!"
Akagi loomed behind him, face like thunder.
He walked past the stunned Sakuragi and stood before Haruko.
"Haruko, is this idiot… the one you mentioned?"
"Yes, brother. This is Sakuragi Hanamichi."
Sakuragi froze.
"B-Brother!?"
He turned pale.
"You mean… You're her brother!?"
Everything hit him all at once: the rooftop misunderstanding, the basketball match, calling him a gorilla a hundred times.
He collapsed on the spot.
"I'm dead…"
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