Rukawa had watched the game footage of the three matches Shohoku played in the national tournament so many times he could practically recite every detail.
Making a habitual post-game review was a good habit he had kept up ever since he started playing basketball.
Reviewing the footage gave Rukawa his own insights into why Shohoku had fallen just short of victory in the national tournament. As for the path future Shohoku teams should take, he was still young and couldn't quite figure it out.
Especially now that their nearly two-meter-tall center Takenori Akagi had been replaced by Kakuda, who stood under 1.9 meters—how could their team possibly win games like that?
As a small forward, his own position would presumably remain unchanged in the future.
He carefully studied the playing style of Sannoh and Sawakita's small forwards, setting higher technical demands for himself.
Yet it still didn't seem enough. The biggest lesson the Sannoh match taught Rukawa was that basketball was not a one-man sport. That final-moment coordination with the Big Idiot, while the game-winning play, felt like sheer coincidence no matter how many times he reviewed the footage.
If faced with a similar situation again, would he still dare to pass the ball with peace of mind?
Absolutely not! How could anyone ever have peace of mind trusting that Big Idiot?!
When Sakuragi was taken away by the ambulance, Rukawa's mind had gone completely blank.
In all his years of growing up and playing basketball, that had been the most brilliant pass he had ever thrown.
Yet the person who caught that ball had just been hauled away like that, and might never return to the court.
This reality dealt Rukawa a massive blow.
Because the match against Aiwa was the very next day, he couldn't leave; he needed to quickly recover his stamina and focus his mind. Yet Rukawa, who had always been able to tune out all distractions, found himself completely unable to do so.
Maybe he was just too tired. That was what Rukawa thought.
It wasn't until two hours later, when Miyagi received a phone call from Ayako at the hospital telling everyone that Sakuragi was fine and would be able to play again as long as he completed his rehabilitation, that Rukawa suddenly calmed down.
He wasn't actually surprised by the loss to Aiwa.
Because while studying the opponents' footage before the match, he had already gained a fairly clear understanding of Aiwa's strength.
In truth, Rukawa was not someone given to selling himself short, but his understanding of his teammates far exceeded what the team realized.
Everyone thought Rukawa Kaede was simply a lone wolf obsessed with improving his own skills, caring nothing about the people and things around him.
He certainly didn't care about irrelevant things; he only cared about the fields he wanted to care about—for instance, anything involving basketball.
With Sakuragi sidelined, the blow to their interior defense was quite obvious. There was simply no way Mitsui's stamina could recover overnight, drastically reducing their outside shooting firepower.
These two shortcomings would not change regardless of anyone's personal will, so Rukawa had set his strategy before the match: give it everything, leave no regrets.
Yet when he followed behind the rest of the team and caught a distant glimpse of the Big Idiot lying face down on the bed, unable to move, he suddenly felt full of regret.
Rukawa felt inexplicably angry. He had a sudden urge to walk right up, yank the Big Idiot out of that hospital bed, and beat him up.
Why are you lying here? Why weren't you at today's game? Didn't you say you were going to conquer the nation? Was all that just talk?
Rukawa cursed Sakuragi thoroughly in his mind, then turned and walked away.
The team stayed at the inn for two nights after the Aiwa match and were heading back on the third day.
During this time, most people had made several trips to the hospital. Rukawa refused to go; seeing the Big Idiot looking so fragile, weak, and battered just made him angry.
Right before their departure, Coach Anzai told everyone, "Sakuragi-kun cannot be moved just yet, so he will be staying at this hospital for another week."
Hearing this, Rukawa snapped his head up.
That Big Idiot, left behind in Hiroshima all by himself?
Rukawa's behavioral habit was to just go ahead and do whatever he wanted to do, never wasting time wondering why.
So, shortly after the thought of going to the hospital popped into his head, he was already on a bus. As for the consequences of leaving the team without a word, Rukawa didn't consider them at all.
And as for another far more important question, he was even less in the mood to ponder it:
Namely: Why on earth was he going to the hospital to see this Big Idiot?
Although Rukawa acted on impulse, he did keep one thing in mind—the departure time of the train back to Kanagawa and how long it would take him to get from the hospital to the train station.
He figured he could just pop in for a quick look, rush right over to the station, and definitely make it in time.
Only, the amount of time he lingered far exceeded his own expectations.
The Big Idiot's hospital room was completely empty, without a single visitor, save for a massive figure of a patient lying face down on the bed.
Because his body was so long, the Big Idiot's feet were actually hanging off the end of the mattress.
Also because of his great height, the hospital gown looked comically short on his limbs.
Ever since he first laid eyes on this guy up on the rooftop, he had always been loud, fiery, and full of bluster. This was the first time Rukawa had ever seen Sakuragi looking so weak and shattered.
The feeling was completely unfamiliar.
If not for that shock of fiery red hair, Rukawa would have thought this was a total stranger.
He stood at the ajar door of the hospital room for quite a while before suddenly hearing groans coming from the quiet room.
The sound was full of pain and helplessness.
Rukawa suddenly remembered how the previous evening, the upperclassmen had mentioned that the Big Idiot refused to take painkillers and was simply gritting his teeth and enduring it, and that he would likely be in agony these next few days.
At the time, Rukawa had heard it in passing, but didn't take it to heart.
Now, standing right here and hearing this person endure such pain, Rukawa finally felt it with real clarity.
Big Idiot, it hurts a lot, doesn't it?
Rukawa's heart tightened. As for why it tightened, he refused to dwell on it.
Through the crack in the door, Rukawa saw Sakuragi lying face down on the bed, his hands clenched into tight fists on either side of his head.
His sharp eyesight allowed Rukawa to clearly see that Sakuragi's whole body was trembling, and he could even see beads of sweat seeping out across his head, neck, and arms.
Was it really hurting this much?
Rukawa glanced around the room and spotted a neat stack of towels sitting on the small table beside the hospital bed.
Without overthinking it, he stepped lightly forward, picked up a towel, and gently wiped away the sweat visible on Sakuragi's body, little by little.
Sakuragi remained lying face down on the bed without turning his head.
Once the sweat on his body was wiped away, he seemed to grow a bit more comfortable. Still lying face down, he mumbled in a muffled voice, "Yohei, you're back?"
Hearing this, Rukawa froze.
Who did the Big Idiot think he was? Oh, probably one of those guys who always hung around the Big Idiot and were pretty good at fighting?
Seeing that Sakuragi had calmed down and soon settled into deep, steady breathing as if he had fallen asleep, Rukawa lingered no longer and left the hospital.
Oh no, time was getting tight. He wondered if he'd still be able to catch the train.
In the end, he did catch it, but Rukawa also got chewed out royally by Ayako. This was the first time since joining the Shohoku Team that he had been scolded this severely.
Still, he didn't care too much.
The Big Idiot didn't seem to be in as much agony anymore; he should recover pretty quickly, right?
If Ayako knew that while she was furious and yelling at him, this kid had actually been zoning out thinking about such things, she would definitely give him no end of trouble.
The news that Sakuragi had returned to Kanagawa and entered a rehabilitation center was broken to everyone by Captain Akagi's younger sister.
Ah, right, he wasn't Captain Akagi anymore; just yesterday, he had officially announced his retirement from the team, and senior Miyagi had taken over as captain.
This was well within expectations.
After hearing this in passing, Rukawa began pondering whether he should take a trip to the rehabilitation center.
When he arrived at the rehabilitation center carrying a small stack of his treasured basketball magazines—the visitation gift he had racked his brain to come up with—and went to register at the nurse's station, he spotted the names of Miyagi and Mitsui.
He held the pen, pausing without writing further.
After a moment's thought, Rukawa told the nurse, "I'm not going inside. I just want to take a quick look from the doorway and leave. Do I have to sign in?"
The sincere and polite Rukawa completely failed to consider another possibility: given his face, no explanation was necessary at all. No matter what he said, the nurse would have agreed.
Standing at the doorway, Rukawa could clearly hear the voices inside. It wasn't because the rehabilitation center had poor soundproofing, but rather because that Big Idiot's voice simply possessed tremendous penetrating power.
"Hahahaha, look at that—without me, this genius, you guys just can't cut it. That fox is acting all high and mighty all the time, but didn't he still get beaten by that Star of Aichi? Let's see if he tones down his attitude from now on."
"Hanamichi, who is this Star of Aichi?" That was Miyagi's voice.
"It's that ace from Aiwa, what's his name again... Oh right, Moroboshi Dai. The old geezer took us to Aichi once before, and even though we didn't get to watch this ace play, he seemed to have a pretty big reputation."
"I didn't expect Sakuragi to know quite a bit." That was Mitsui's voice speaking now.
"Well of course! I'm none other than Sakuragi Hanamichi, the genius!"
Rukawa didn't listen for long. Before leaving, he placed the magazines he had brought down at the nurse's station and asked the nurse to please help put them in Sakuragi's room whenever Sakuragi was out of bed.
The starry-eyed nurse naturally agreed without missing a beat.
On his bicycle ride back, Rukawa suddenly remembered something: My relationship with the Big Idiot has always been terrible, so why on earth did I bring him magazines?
This question troubled him for the duration of two red lights, but after that, it didn't trouble him anymore.
Because that was simply Rukawa's personality: couldn't figure something out? Then stop thinking about it. He'd rather spend that energy going to practice.
Thus, in the days that followed, Rukawa visited the rehabilitation center several times. Whenever the thought crossed his mind, he set off immediately, without a trace of hesitation. Of course, he never went empty-handed, bringing along a few magazines every single time. He didn't even consider whether Sakuragi would actually read them or understand them; he simply poured all his focus into sending them to the rehabilitation center.
Soon, aside from a few treasured issues, Rukawa had practically moved his entire collection of basketball magazines from his room over to Sakuragi.
As for why he kept sending magazines in the first place, that was a story that started when he returned to Kanagawa and paid another visit to Coach Anzai.