Chapter 1: Beginning a New Game

Three weeks later…

"Sakuragi, pass! Pass! Pass!" Mitsui Hisashi shouted at the tall freshman with dashing red hair running behind him. Sakuragi passed the ball to Mitsui at the right time. Mitsui faked to the left to elude Super Rookie Rukawa Kaede then threw the ball from the outside. He scored three points for his team.

"Yosh! Mitsui-sempai!" Ayako shouted praising her senior. The brown-eyed girl with long curly brown hair to match was the team manager of the Shohoku Basketball Club. Her job was to mark the improvements made by the team members of the club. "All right, guys! Half time break!"

Most of the team members, especially the benchwarmers, hurried outside to drink from the water fountain or splash water on their burning faces. Kogure Kiminobu, the vice-captain of the team, went to Ayako to discuss some matter about the team, especially about Sakuragi Hanamichi's progress. Akagi Takenori, the captain of the team, along with Miyagi Ryota and Rukawa Kaede, stayed on the court for extra practice.

Mitsui Hisashi, on the other hand went to sit in a corner to rest for a while. His stamina wasn't like what it used to be when he played junior high basketball and when he earned the title MVP. Besides, he has his left knee to think about. A wave of nostalgia hit him as he remembered all that had happened in the past two years.

He injured his knee in a game and he couldn't play for a while, missing out the start of the basketball season. Anger and resentment took over his whole being. He was looking forward to taking Shohoku High School, an unknown school to the national championships and because of his injury, his dreams shattered. Or so, he thought. His anger and resentment got the better of him and for the following years, he became a delinquent, a gangster. Wasting precious years when he could've just woken up and come back to basketball.

It took a man whom he admired and respected most to wake him up from his nightmare. The man who is the sole reason why he is in Shohoku High School. The man who told him never to give up.

He looked from across where he was sitting and saw a Santa Claus-like man talking to Ayako.

Domo, Anzai-sensei…Domo Arigatou…

"Hey! Can't you watch where you're going!" a boy with thick-rimmed glasses called to a red-haired girl running so fast that she bumped into to him.

The girl turned towards the guy behind her. "Sumimasen!" she called out, running backwards.

"Harumph!" the boy grunted waving his hand at the girl.

The girl just smiled apologetically before turning around and continued running in the direction of the school gym.

I wonder how oni-chan is doing, Sakuragi Keiko thought smiling to herself inwardly remembering her twin brother Hanamichi who was in the basketball club, trying his hardest to be a sportsman and at the same time trying his hardest to impress the girl of his dreams.

It was three long weeks since she's been to the gym to watch and support her brother practice. A lot has happened during the three weeks including three days of being in the hospital, a week of recuperating at home and a week and a half of catching up on the schoolwork she's missed.

She can vividly remember why she was in the hospital in the first place. Two girls came and attacked her and even though she defended herself nicely and knocked out the girls, she didn't have the great stamina her brother has and collapsed. Not to mention that she was attacked with a knife by one of the girls.

It was a good thing that Hana-kun was passing that way and he's a very responsible brother…, Keiko thought fondly of her brother. Hanamichi told her how he had found her lying on the dark alley. He hurriedly brought her to the hospital and called their mother.

Three days after before she was discharged, she found out that it's not that bad. Her body's just badly beaten up and she needs to rest to heal the bruises on her whole body. The cut on her arm was not that deep, unfortunately, it will cause a scar that will be forever etched in her arm.

The first days at home were spent in a blur. She took the doctor's advice and slept all the time to heal the wounds in her body. From time to time, her mom and her brother asked her who her attackers were but she could give them no answer. She could not bring to tell them who they were. She needs to find out first who that mysterious guy, Mitsui was, who was constantly appearing in her dreams at night. Thus, she's the only one who knows that she wasn't defeated as others thought she was. In fact, it was the other way around.

Mitsui… When I find you… she thought grimly to herself. She didn't know if Mitsui's in the same school as she was but she has a feeling that he does since the girls who attacked her are his friends. She doesn't even know what she will do when she finds him, all she knows right now is that she has to find him.

The good thing that came out the attack was that her brother and his friends treated her with utmost care. If Hanamichi needed to practice late at night and she can't wait for him and because she has to go home as soon as possible the moment school lets out, one of the Sakuragi Gundan will find time to walk her home. After all, no one would dare attack her if they see her with one of the most notorious guys in school.

Keiko smiled at the thought as she remembered how good her brother and the Sakuragi Gundan have been to her ever since the attack. They've stopped treating her as only "Sakuragi's sister" instead they came to know her as the "Gundan's sister".

Sounds of balls swooshing down the net can already be heard. Panting and trying to catch her breath, Keiko leaned on the door's frame. Her eyes searched the gym for a certain guy with hair as red as hers. Seeing the person she was looking for, she waved grinning and called out in a soft voice, "Onichan!"