The basketball thrown by Sakuragi's formidable arm strength flew straight toward Rukawa.
Unfortunately, his accuracy was truly abysmal, and the angle was way too high. Rukawa stood completely motionless as the ball sailed right over the top of his head and smashed into the backboard.
The backboard gave off a deafening "bang," as if it were being forcefully dismantled, and then hummed and vibrated for a good long while before finally falling silent.
Rukawa didn't hear the sound of the ball hitting the ground. Finding this somewhat strange, he turned his head and saw that the basketball was wedged firmly between the rim and the backboard, unable to drop down.
The startled spectators burst into uproarious laughter, especially the Sakuragi Legion, who were clutching their stomachs with mirth. "Hahahahaha, Hanamichi, did you time-warp back to when you first started playing basketball?"
Sakuragi's face flushed alternately red and white as he glared fiercely at the Sakuragi Legion. "What's so funny?! I'll just go get it down."
"Hahahahaha, how are you going to reach it? There are no ladders, no poles here..."
Before they could even finish speaking, everyone watched as Sakuragi Hanamichi sprinted rapidly toward the basket. Just as he reached the under-basket area, his feet sprang into the air as if fitted with invisible springs, his head nearly clearing the upper rim.
With a flick of his hand, he hooked the wedged basketball down.
The ball dropped to the floor and bounced twice before Sakuragi's feet touched the ground.
The entire court fell dead silent.
Even a complete layman, someone who knew nothing whatsoever about basketball, could recognize the immense value of Sakuragi's jump. Both the takeoff height and the hang time in the air had far exceeded the limits of human imagination.
Sakuragi himself was completely oblivious to this, still stuck in the timeframe of Rukawa's earlier retort. "Stinking Fox, don't you go getting smug! Just you wait—once this genius catches up to you, you'll be picking your teeth up off the floor!"
Only then did Sakuragi notice that something felt slightly off about his surroundings. He glanced all around, then lowered his voice to ask Rukawa, who stood nearest to him, "Hey! Fox, what happened? Why is it suddenly so quiet?"
Rukawa didn't speak. Instead, Haruko Akagi came trotting over with a pitter-patter of footsteps, her eyes full of worry as she looked Sakuragi up and down. "Sakuragi-kun, you—you jumped so high, do you feel any discomfort anywhere? The coach said you aren't allowed to do such strenuous movements right now. Is your back okay?"
Sakuragi carefully checked his condition. "I'm fine! I don't feel a thing. Relax, relax, the doctor said I'm already healed up. I'm good."
At that moment, the crowd finally erupted. "Oh my god! How high did he just jump? That is insane!"
"I've never seen anyone jump that high before in my life! Sakuragi-kun is incredible!"
The clamor of the roaring crowd made Sakuragi's nose swell with pride, almost as if it were growing longer.
Miyagi walked over and gave Sakuragi a solid thump on the chest. "You punk, you almost scared the life out of me."
During the ensuing scrimmage, Miyagi refused by all means to let Sakuragi participate, leaving him with no choice but to practice his fundamentals on the sidelines with a dejected and aggrieved expression.
Haruko comforted him, saying, "Sakuragi-kun, your jumping height just now was even greater than before. I really didn't misjudge you. Still, it's probably best if you avoid overly strenuous exercise for now. Listen to the coach—you can't go wrong with that."
Sakuragi pouted. "Miss Haruko, it was so hard for me to win over some supporters, and now I'm stuck doing basics in the corner again. It's so embarrassing!"
Haruko patted him on the shoulder and said with a bright smile, "You have plenty of supporters, Sakuragi-kun, so don't sell yourself short."
After club activities ended, the first-years finished cleaning up the court, but Sakuragi didn't leave.
Aside from the initial warm-up and a very brief passing drill, Sakuragi hadn't done any strenuous exercise, leaving him with a surplus of pent-up energy and nowhere to spend it.
So, seeing that everyone else had left, he grabbed a ball and began practicing mid-range jumpers.
Sakuragi had learned the jump shot so recently that muscle memory hadn't even had time to form before his training was forced to an interruption—and such a long interruption at that. This meant that now, when he picked up the ball, it took him ages to recall the proper form and key points.
He tried shooting a couple of times, but the shots were either way too far or way too short, resulting in complete airballs.
Though somewhat vexed, Sakuragi trotted off to retrieve the ball anyway.
Just as he picked it up, he heard the familiar sound of a swish right behind him as a ball passed cleanly through the net.
Sakuragi whipped his head around. At the opposite basket, Rukawa was actually shooting hoops as well.
Sakuragi stood clutching the ball, motionless, simply watching Rukawa.
Rukawa didn't cast a single glance in his direction, acting as if he were the only person on the entire court, practicing his shots with intense focus.
Only, he was shooting from outside the three-point line.
Just as Sakuragi had seen yesterday, Rukawa really could shoot three-pointers now.
Of course, since he'd probably only just started learning, his accuracy was poor, making only about three out of ten attempts—compared to Mitsui, he was absolute beginner.
Sakuragi quietly watched Rukawa shoot, observing his leg and hand positioning. After watching for a little while, he turned back around to resume his own practice.
Combining the form he had just observed in Rukawa with his own past shooting instincts, Sakuragi replayed the mechanics in his mind, set his stance, distributed his power appropriately between his hands and feet, and chanted silently to himself: *The left hand is merely supporting.*
Sakuragi held his posture, making micro-adjustments as power flowed through his body with his breath. To an outside observer, he looked as motionless as a statue.
After maintaining this for quite a while, Sakuragi finally released the ball. It traced a gorgeous arc through the air toward the hoop.
The ball didn't swish cleanly through the net; instead, it clipped the rim, bounced up, and then rolled in.
The shot went in, but Sakuragi didn't look particularly happy. He picked up the ball and lowered his head, reviewing where his shooting form had needed adjustment.
Once he had figured it out, he shot again.
By the time night fell, Sakuragi had racked up a decent number of clean swishes. He didn't feel physically tired, but sweat was on the verge of dripping into his eyes.
He put the ball down and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, which only made it worse since the back of his hand was already soaked with sweat.
Fine then, looks like that's it for today.
As he walked, Sakuragi lifted the hem of his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face.
Before leaving the gymnasium, he glanced back at the other half of the court where Rukawa was practicing three-pointers. As it happened, Rukawa had just finished picking up his ball, straightened up, and was looking right at Sakuragi.
The two of them locked eyes across the half-court in silence for a moment before Sakuragi turned and left.
While Sakuragi was changing clothes in the locker room, Rukawa walked in.
Neither of them spoke, each silently focusing on dealing with the contents of his own locker.
As Sakuragi walked out of the school grounds with his backpack on, he heard Rukawa call out to him from behind.
To be fair, Rukawa had only grunted, "Hey." But there was no one else around.
Still, Sakuragi knew that even if there had been other people around, that "hey" could only have been meant for him.
"What do you want?" Sakuragi asked, somewhat displeased. "Look here, Fox, why do you keep following me?"
Rukawa was straddling a bicycle, one leg propped on the ground. If the bike had been large enough, the posture would have looked remarkably cool.
Unfortunately, this pink women's bicycle cut Rukawa's inherent coolness in half, and then in half again, making him look somewhat comical instead.
"Big Idiot, who's following you?"
"If you're not following me, then why did I stay to practice, and you practiced? I finished and left, you left, and now you're trailing behind me on the exact same route. What on earth are you up to?!"
Compared to Sakuragi's bristling fur, Rukawa remained as calm as if the person being yelled at wasn't him.
Having finished his outburst, Sakuragi shoved both hands into his pants pockets and turned to continue walking.
Rukawa didn't speak, but judging by the sound of bicycle tires rolling against the pavement, he kept pace just a few steps behind Sakuragi.
Unable to take it any longer, Sakuragi spun around with the intent to yell at him again, but Rukawa spoke up first: "Big Idiot, where can I get dinner?"
If not for the fact that he knew Rukawa Kaede was a person who never joked around with anyone, Sakuragi would surely have collapsed with laughter by now.
Instead of laughing, Sakuragi was utterly dumbfounded: "Fox, what did you say?"
"Where are some places to eat dinner?"
Sakuragi was so shocked he actually stammered a little: "There... there are tons of places! Failing that, you can always get oden at a convenience store."
Rukawa said with a serious expression, "I ate that yesterday. It wasn't good."
Sakuragi exhaled heavily to calm his nerves. "Isn't there a ramen shop or something near your house?"
"I went there before. It wasn't good."
A vein throbbed on Sakuragi's forehead, but Rukawa didn't look like he was messing with him at all—he genuinely wanted to know where to find dinner.
With no other choice, Sakuragi realized his urge to blow his top was unjustified, so he accepted his fate. "Fine then. I happen to be going to eat anyway, I'll take you along."
Leading the way, Sakuragi headed toward his favorite ramen shop. Along the way, he muttered to himself: *I'm not being nice enough to take the stinking Fox out to eat; I just happen to be going for ramen myself, and he's merely tagging along behind.*
However, they hadn't gone more than a couple of steps when Sakuragi started up again: "Hey! Why are you riding your bike so fast?!"
Rukawa stopped the bike, turned his head, and said expressionlessly, "Can't keep up?"
Sakuragi practically leaped into the air. "Is this a matter of whether I can keep up or not?! Why on earth are you tagging along to dinner with me, yet I'm the one forced to chase after your bike?"
Rukawa thought about it and decided that made sense, so he dismounted and pushed the bicycle instead.
After walking a few paces, Sakuragi threw a fit again: "Hey! Do you always walk this slow? I'm practically starving to death!"
Rukawa said earnestly, "You can't walk fast while pushing a bike."
So what now? The two of them stood staring at each other in mutual exasperation.
In the end, they decided it was still faster to ride, but Rukawa would have to give Sakuragi a ride on the back.
Climbing onto the back of Rukawa's bicycle was a struggle for Sakuragi, but he was far too hollowed out with hunger to care about such details anymore. He lifted his leg and straddled the rear.
Women's bicycles were already built low to the ground, and the back seat was even lower. Sakuragi didn't even know where to put his legs, making for an extremely miserable seating arrangement.
"Listen here, Fox, if you dare fall asleep while riding and dump me on my head, I swear I'll beat you to a pulp!"
"If you're not walking, shut your mouth. You're too loud!"
"Who are you calling loud?! If you hadn't been dragging your feet, I'd already be eating ramen by now."
At that exact moment, as if coordinated by a prior agreement, both of their stomachs let out a loud, rumbling *grrr~~~~~~*.
"Right turn, right turn! Do you even know how to ride a bike? Go right!"
"Big Idiot, stop shifting around, the bike's getting wobbly!"
"That's only because your riding skills are trash."
"We're hitting a downhill slope, hold on tight."
"What? Why are you going so fast?! Hold on to what?!"
"Big Idiot, downhills are supposed to be fast! If you don't hold on and fall off, I'm not responsible!"
Sakuragi suspected Rukawa's brakes had failed entirely as the bike hurtled down the slope like a madman. In a panic, he reached out and grabbed whatever was closest, clutching it for dear life.
"Damn it! Big Idiot, stop pulling on my backpack strap, you're going to choke me to death!"
"Stinking Fox, who told you to ride so fast?!"
Amidst the frantic chaos, the two of them finally made it safely to the ramen shop.