It was not by virtue of Sendoh’s specious status as the Kanagawa Playboy that Jin found himself bound to adhere to anything he said with regard to romance, but rather because he was of unwholesomely gullible disposition, and knew that the knowledge he had about anything apart from shooting three-pointers was hardly adequate to help him survive in the big, bad world out there. So he would follow any piece of advice without even thinking twice, since in his vocabulary, ‘advice’ was more or less the same as ‘order’. Not that he had any qualms about spending a happy dinner-date with Ayako in some nameless café, in some remote corner of the city. Sendoh advised him to pursue the same.
“For now, at least.” he added.
Jin, being the extra-cautious, overly jumpy boob that he was, was quick to catch the tone of pessimism in the way Sendoh said “For now, at least.”
“What do you mean—For now, at least?” Jin asked.
Sendoh cleared his throat. “Uh, well, obviously we can’t overlook the obstacles, right?”
“Obstacles?” Jin said nervously. He wasn’t exactly crazy about obstacles. That he had the ability to overcome almost any obstacle in a game of basketball was probably as famous as his unrelenting accuracy at shooting three-pointers itself. However, he was a sucker when it came to real-life obstacles and almost always depended on his pal Kiyota to—whether knowingly or unknowingly—get rid of them for him.
“Yeah, there are some... potential difficulties.” Sendoh said, but laughed it off airily when he noticed the dramatic change in Jin’s facial expression—from rapture to dread—that happened in less than a second. “They’re nothing that great, really. You don’t have to worry much about them. I’m sure they won’t make themselves shown this soon.”
“What obstacles?” Jin persisted.
“Some minor ups and downs, here and there,” Sendoh said, “but nothing that can’t be foreseen.”
“What obstacles?”
“You idiot,” Kiyota said, “Sendoh’s obviously talking about Ryota Miyagi!”
A sharp intake of breath from Jin.
“Sendoh!” he said accusingly; “You ass, you never told me about Miyagi!”
“He’s not much of a threat.” Sendoh said airily.
“Easy for you to say, seeing as you haven’t ever faced him off on court, where he is scary as heck!” Jin said bitterly.
“Well, neither have you.”
“True. But that’s beside the point. What I’m saying is that although he’s a midget, underestimating his physical strength and ferocity would be like jumping head-first into a pool of bubbling magma because it only looked like hot water to you.”
“You’re exaggerating. Sure, Miyagi’s a lot of a stuff packed into a rather small place, but he lacks the gray matter.”
“Gray matter really isn’t gonna help you much if a ferocious man-eating tiger is just ten feet away from the unarmed you.” Jin said coolly.
“Sure it would,” Sendoh said; “Climbing up the nearest tree would substantially reduce the distance between me and the Doorway to Hell. And thinking up something like that in a moment of intense panic really requires as substantial an amount of gray matter.”
“But obviously the tiger, with its incredible speed and physical strength, would beat your neurons and gobble you up anyway.”
“Now, why would anyone even let a man-eating beast get so close to him in the first place? Since I have gray matter stuffed into my upper floor in heaps, I would be sure to make myself scarce from any place where man-eaters are known to prowl.”
“But supposing you really had to—”
“That’s enough!” Kiyota bellowed. “You’re driving me crazy here! We’re talking about Miyagi, for goodness’ sake!”
“He’s right,” Sendoh said; “Why are you changing the subject, Jin?”
“Me? Me changing the subject? Well excuse me, Your Spiky-Haired Grace, but I’ve come so close to changing the subject as Sakuragi’s shot to the basket!”
“Glad we got that over with, because Sakuragi’s performance in the Nationals was just mind-blowing.”
“I didn’t mean that, Sendoh, and you know it. I’m talking about the old Sakuragi!”
“That’s enough! Again!” Kiyota bellowed, his hair hanging loose over his face in tangled bunches as he stood steadfastly in between the two taller players, panting like a carnivore. “You two are just so annoyingly immature!”
Jin snorted. “Look who’s talking.”
“Hey! If I had my eye set on a babe I wouldn’t hesitate for a mo if I wanted to ask her out.”
“Too bad you’ve never gone out with anybody before. I would have supposed it was just your incredible focus on your studies and sport, but after seeing you on your knees and begging that girl to go out with you just for your teammates to think you were cool, nah!”
“She was blackmailing me!” Kiyota protested.
“Oh sure,” Jin said, rolling his eyes; “’Cause a person with a brain like yours is even capable of possessing anything that could be used against him.”
“Guys, guys,” Sendoh intervened, “be a little more focused here, okay? Kiyota, stay out of this for some time. Jin, you really should be cooperating since your future happiness depends on this.”
“Right.” both said simultaneously.
“Excellent!” Sendoh said; “So this is what we’ll do...”
“I’m a little teapot, short and stout! This is my handle, this is my spout! When I get all steamed up... hum de dum de dum... hm, hm, hm...!” sang Takamiya, a friend of Sakuragi, as he skipped home gaily after having finished watching the Shohoku team’s practice for that evening. He was accompanied by the rest of the Sakuragi Guntai, including Sakuragi himself.
“Takamiya,” said Ohkusu, “do us all a favor and stop singing.”
“Yeah,” agreed Yohei; “You can’t sing to save your life.”
“Not to mention your blubber.” Sakuragi muttered.
“Hey!” Takamiya said, affronted. “That’s not fair! I don’t see any of you ever show the guts to sing!”
“That’s ‘cause we know we can’t. We save the world from unwanted damage.” said Noma.
“Besides,” said Sakuragi, “Why should a genius like myself waste my time singing?”
Their argument became more and more heated and casualties were only prevented because of Ayako’s timely appearance.
“Ayako!” Sakuragi exclaimed; “What are you doing here?”
“I was... I had some stuff to do.”
“But don’t you live somewhere else?”
“I said I had some stuff to do!” Ayako snapped.
“What kind of stuff.”
“None of your business!”
“If you wanna shop, this is the wrong place to come. All you can find here is stupid old Kainan and its stupid old students.”
“Like I said: mind your own business!”
Ayako brushed past Sakuragi and marched away in the direction of Kainan.
“What’s up with her today, Hanamichi?” asked Noma, staring after her.
“Ah, probably got angry because Ryota declared his feelings to her.”
“He did?!”
“Now that you mention it, I seriously doubt that shorty’s capable of doing it. I mean, you gotta have courage and genius like mine to tell someone how you feel about them.”
“Then how come we haven’t seen you asking Haruko out on a date yet?” Yohei countered.
Hanamichi laughed loudly. “Yohei, you’re so daft! It’s because it’s not the right time yet, you moron!”
“Sure.”
“Anyway, Ayako-san is probably just fixing up a date with Kainan for a match or something.” Sakuragi said, and none of them touched the topic again.
Unbeknownst to them, however, what Ayako-san was fixing up wasn’t just a date for a match...
“For now, at least.” he added.
Jin, being the extra-cautious, overly jumpy boob that he was, was quick to catch the tone of pessimism in the way Sendoh said “For now, at least.”
“What do you mean—For now, at least?” Jin asked.
Sendoh cleared his throat. “Uh, well, obviously we can’t overlook the obstacles, right?”
“Obstacles?” Jin said nervously. He wasn’t exactly crazy about obstacles. That he had the ability to overcome almost any obstacle in a game of basketball was probably as famous as his unrelenting accuracy at shooting three-pointers itself. However, he was a sucker when it came to real-life obstacles and almost always depended on his pal Kiyota to—whether knowingly or unknowingly—get rid of them for him.
“Yeah, there are some... potential difficulties.” Sendoh said, but laughed it off airily when he noticed the dramatic change in Jin’s facial expression—from rapture to dread—that happened in less than a second. “They’re nothing that great, really. You don’t have to worry much about them. I’m sure they won’t make themselves shown this soon.”
“What obstacles?” Jin persisted.
“Some minor ups and downs, here and there,” Sendoh said, “but nothing that can’t be foreseen.”
“What obstacles?”
“You idiot,” Kiyota said, “Sendoh’s obviously talking about Ryota Miyagi!”
A sharp intake of breath from Jin.
“Sendoh!” he said accusingly; “You ass, you never told me about Miyagi!”
“He’s not much of a threat.” Sendoh said airily.
“Easy for you to say, seeing as you haven’t ever faced him off on court, where he is scary as heck!” Jin said bitterly.
“Well, neither have you.”
“True. But that’s beside the point. What I’m saying is that although he’s a midget, underestimating his physical strength and ferocity would be like jumping head-first into a pool of bubbling magma because it only looked like hot water to you.”
“You’re exaggerating. Sure, Miyagi’s a lot of a stuff packed into a rather small place, but he lacks the gray matter.”
“Gray matter really isn’t gonna help you much if a ferocious man-eating tiger is just ten feet away from the unarmed you.” Jin said coolly.
“Sure it would,” Sendoh said; “Climbing up the nearest tree would substantially reduce the distance between me and the Doorway to Hell. And thinking up something like that in a moment of intense panic really requires as substantial an amount of gray matter.”
“But obviously the tiger, with its incredible speed and physical strength, would beat your neurons and gobble you up anyway.”
“Now, why would anyone even let a man-eating beast get so close to him in the first place? Since I have gray matter stuffed into my upper floor in heaps, I would be sure to make myself scarce from any place where man-eaters are known to prowl.”
“But supposing you really had to—”
“That’s enough!” Kiyota bellowed. “You’re driving me crazy here! We’re talking about Miyagi, for goodness’ sake!”
“He’s right,” Sendoh said; “Why are you changing the subject, Jin?”
“Me? Me changing the subject? Well excuse me, Your Spiky-Haired Grace, but I’ve come so close to changing the subject as Sakuragi’s shot to the basket!”
“Glad we got that over with, because Sakuragi’s performance in the Nationals was just mind-blowing.”
“I didn’t mean that, Sendoh, and you know it. I’m talking about the old Sakuragi!”
“That’s enough! Again!” Kiyota bellowed, his hair hanging loose over his face in tangled bunches as he stood steadfastly in between the two taller players, panting like a carnivore. “You two are just so annoyingly immature!”
Jin snorted. “Look who’s talking.”
“Hey! If I had my eye set on a babe I wouldn’t hesitate for a mo if I wanted to ask her out.”
“Too bad you’ve never gone out with anybody before. I would have supposed it was just your incredible focus on your studies and sport, but after seeing you on your knees and begging that girl to go out with you just for your teammates to think you were cool, nah!”
“She was blackmailing me!” Kiyota protested.
“Oh sure,” Jin said, rolling his eyes; “’Cause a person with a brain like yours is even capable of possessing anything that could be used against him.”
“Guys, guys,” Sendoh intervened, “be a little more focused here, okay? Kiyota, stay out of this for some time. Jin, you really should be cooperating since your future happiness depends on this.”
“Right.” both said simultaneously.
“Excellent!” Sendoh said; “So this is what we’ll do...”
“I’m a little teapot, short and stout! This is my handle, this is my spout! When I get all steamed up... hum de dum de dum... hm, hm, hm...!” sang Takamiya, a friend of Sakuragi, as he skipped home gaily after having finished watching the Shohoku team’s practice for that evening. He was accompanied by the rest of the Sakuragi Guntai, including Sakuragi himself.
“Takamiya,” said Ohkusu, “do us all a favor and stop singing.”
“Yeah,” agreed Yohei; “You can’t sing to save your life.”
“Not to mention your blubber.” Sakuragi muttered.
“Hey!” Takamiya said, affronted. “That’s not fair! I don’t see any of you ever show the guts to sing!”
“That’s ‘cause we know we can’t. We save the world from unwanted damage.” said Noma.
“Besides,” said Sakuragi, “Why should a genius like myself waste my time singing?”
Their argument became more and more heated and casualties were only prevented because of Ayako’s timely appearance.
“Ayako!” Sakuragi exclaimed; “What are you doing here?”
“I was... I had some stuff to do.”
“But don’t you live somewhere else?”
“I said I had some stuff to do!” Ayako snapped.
“What kind of stuff.”
“None of your business!”
“If you wanna shop, this is the wrong place to come. All you can find here is stupid old Kainan and its stupid old students.”
“Like I said: mind your own business!”
Ayako brushed past Sakuragi and marched away in the direction of Kainan.
“What’s up with her today, Hanamichi?” asked Noma, staring after her.
“Ah, probably got angry because Ryota declared his feelings to her.”
“He did?!”
“Now that you mention it, I seriously doubt that shorty’s capable of doing it. I mean, you gotta have courage and genius like mine to tell someone how you feel about them.”
“Then how come we haven’t seen you asking Haruko out on a date yet?” Yohei countered.
Hanamichi laughed loudly. “Yohei, you’re so daft! It’s because it’s not the right time yet, you moron!”
“Sure.”
“Anyway, Ayako-san is probably just fixing up a date with Kainan for a match or something.” Sakuragi said, and none of them touched the topic again.
Unbeknownst to them, however, what Ayako-san was fixing up wasn’t just a date for a match...
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