Haruko Akagi attended Fourth Middle School, while Kaede Rukawa attended Tomioka Middle School. The two schools were very close to each other, so their basketball teams often played friendly matches.
At that time, Haruko Akagi was a member of the school basketball team, and she would go to watch every game.
Rukawa Kaede left a very deep impression on her. Three people were able to defend against Rukawa Kaede, but they couldn't stop him. In the end, Rukawa Kaede scored with a dunk.
That scene still frequently appears in her mind; it was truly shocking!
And Rukawa Kaede is so tall, so handsome, so cool...
He's absolutely a god-like figure!
Haruko Akagi's heart would flutter whenever she thought of Kaede Rukawa.
Most importantly, Rukawa Kaede rejected invitations from other schools and chose to study at Shohoku. He will definitely join Shohoku's basketball team in the future, which will help them reach the national championship.
Therefore, Haruko Akagi had a particularly good impression of Kaede Rukawa!
Or rather, it's actually Haruko Akagi who has a crush on Kaede Rukawa.
But to her utter surprise, she witnessed Rukawa Kaede fighting with delinquents on the rooftop!
Wasn't Sakuragi Hanamichi supposed to be fighting with some delinquents?
How did it turn into Rukawa Kaede?
Seeing that Haruko Akagi was too shocked to speak, Sakuragi Hanamichi was secretly delighted; this was exactly the effect he wanted!
I'm going to shatter the perfect image of Rukawa Kaede in your heart, bit by bit!
I want to become the male god in your heart, step by step!
You, Haruko Akagi, can only be my woman, Hanamichi Sakuragi's woman!
"Haruko, what brings you here?"
Sakuragi Hanamichi pretended not to know anything and put his hand directly on Akagi Haruko's shoulder.
Normally, Haruko Akagi would definitely dodge immediately to prevent Hanamichi Sakuragi from putting his hand on her shoulder.
But at this moment, when Haruko Akagi felt a warm, large hand on her shoulder, a sense of security inexplicably welled up in her heart.
"Yuuji, what's wrong with you? Why did you tell Haruko about this?"
Sakuragi Hanamichi then looked at Oonami Yuji behind him and shouted at him loudly.
At that moment, Haruko Akagi asked timidly, "Sakuragi, what exactly happened here? What's going on?"
Sakuragi Hanamichi smiled as he looked at Rukawa Kaede and Horita Tokuo and the others who were lying on the ground, and said, "To be honest, I don't know what happened either. The group of people lying on the ground are third-year students. They rushed into the classroom today and asked me to come to the roof. I didn't do anything wrong, but they treated me like this. So Yohei and the others couldn't stand it and wanted to stand up for me, so we came."
Mito Yohei noticed Sakuragi Hanamichi's gaze and quickly chimed in, "That's right, this has nothing to do with Sakuragi. It's just a third-year student causing trouble. We brothers saw that Sakuragi Hanamichi had made up his mind to join the basketball team, so we planned to help him deal with this. But he insisted on coming with us."
Nozomi Takamiya and Chuichiro Noma chimed in, "That's right! Now that our good brother Hanamichi Sakuragi has found his direction in life, chosen to join the basketball team, and wants to help the team reach the national tournament, then we will absolutely not allow anyone to interfere with him!"
Oonan Yuji hurriedly added, "That's right, but Sakuragi Hanamichi insisted on coming with us, so I went to ask you, Akagi-kun, to persuade him not to get involved in this."
The brothers of Sakuragi's army showed great loyalty and righteousness!
Seeing that the time was right, Sakuragi Hanamichi said loudly, "They came for me, how could I let my brother take the blame for me? So I definitely have to come along! But as soon as I opened the door, I saw this classmate knock down all those troublemakers."
At this moment, Sakuragi Hanamichi looked at Rukawa Kaede and politely said, "Thank you for your help, classmate. May I ask your name?"
However, Rukawa Kaede did not respond.
Haruko Akagi asked in surprise, "Huh? You don't know him? He's Rukawa Kaede!"
"What? He's the basketball prodigy Rukawa Kaede you mentioned, Haruko? Oh, I see!" Sakuragi Hanamichi feigned sudden realization. "Rukawa Kaede, I'm Sakuragi Hanamichi, and I'll be joining the Shohoku basketball team soon. Please take care of me from now on!"
Rukawa Kaede still hasn't responded.
However, Sakuragi Hanamichi didn't feel embarrassed at all, nor did he take it seriously. He said to Akagi Haruko, "Haruko, since Rukawa Kaede has already solved the problem for me, let's go back first."
But Haruko Akagi stood there, hesitant.
"Haruko, what's wrong?" Sakuragi Hanamichi asked, puzzled.
Haruko Akagi said hesitantly, "Basketball team members can't fight with others, otherwise they'll be suspended, which will affect Shohoku's basketball team's ranking in the competition."
Sakuragi Hanamichi feigned surprise and asked, "You mean, Rukawa Kaede won't be able to join the basketball team because of this?"
"No, no! He will definitely be able to join the basketball team, but after joining the team, he absolutely cannot get into fights anymore, otherwise he will be suspended. I heard that there was a senior who was suspended for a long time because he got into a fight."
Clearly, Rukawa's fight has begun to worry Haruko Akagi.
Haruko Akagi then looked at Kaede Rukawa and said seriously, "Rukawa-kun, after you join the basketball team, you absolutely cannot fight with anyone anymore! Can you promise me that?"
Rukawa, bleeding from his head, didn't reply. Instead, he slowly walked towards the stairwell. When he reached Sakuragi Hanamichi and Akagi Haruko, he coldly said:
"idiot."
They disappeared into the stairwell.
This sudden scene was unexpected by everyone, and it seemed as if time had frozen for several seconds.
Did he just say 'bye-bye'?
"What bullshit 'bye-bye,' he's saying 'idiot.'"
“I heard it clearly, it was ‘idiot’.”
"I just don't know if they're talking about Sakuragi Hanamichi or Akagi Haruko."
"Can't you speak properly?! You're obviously talking about Sakuragi Hanamichi! How could you possibly be calling Akagi an idiot?"
"Wait a minute! I feel like he was looking directly at Akagi when he said that!"
The brothers of Sakuragi's army whispered and discussed among themselves, and all of these words fell into the ears of Sakuragi Hanamichi and Akagi Haruko.
Haruko Akagi was so ashamed that she covered her face!
Sakuragi Hanamichi was secretly overjoyed. He had finally made it this far. Rukawa Kaede was indeed a very good basketball player, and he really did plan to be good friends and teammates with him in the future. But that didn't stop him from establishing the image of a delinquent in Akagi Haruko's mind!
Rukawa Kaede is a loner who doesn't like talking to people and has no interest in women. His mind is filled with nothing but sleeping and playing basketball!
I'm going to make good use of this!
Sakuragi Hanamichi shouted, "What nonsense are you talking about! I think Rukawa Kaede is the idiot! Haruko was trying so hard to persuade him to turn over a new leaf, and this is his attitude? Huh? Get out, get out, all of you get out of here!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi was scolding his brothers, but when Akagi Haruko wasn't looking, he secretly gave them meaningful glances.
The brothers understood immediately and quickly chimed in, "Oh, right, right, Hanamichi is right. Sorry, Akagi-kun, we'll be going now."
Seeing that his brothers had all left, Sakuragi Hanamichi comforted her, "Haruko, don't listen to their nonsense. Rukawa Kaede was definitely cursing at me, not you."
Yes, the word "idiot" is now definitively proven!
After saying that, Sakuragi Hanamichi awkwardly scratched the back of his head and gave a silly smile, trying to ease the awkward atmosphere.
But Haruko Akagi was starting to lose her composure.
Tears welled up in her eyes, she bit her lip, and clenched her small fists tightly.
"Sakuragi, am I really that stupid?"
"Um, Haruko, why would you ask that?"
With a "whoosh".
Haruko Akagi burst into tears and ran downstairs without looking back.
"Haruko, Haruko."
Sakuragi Hanamichi only called out twice symbolically, and did not choose to chase after Akagi Haruko.
Watching Haruko Akagi's retreating figure, Hanamichi Sakuragi murmured to himself:
"Although I felt a little bad seeing how aggrieved you looked just now, Haruko."
"But, in order for you to have a man as talented as me, I have no choice but to use such drastic measures to help you!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com