"Huh? What did you say?"
"N-Nothing!" Sakuragi hurriedly cleared his throat, desperately trying to save face.
"But…"
Haruko's tone shifted, and her voice filled with concern.
"Tomorrow, you'll be playing against Sannoh High. I heard they're an invincible team of champions. Even my brother seems wary of them."
"Don't panic!"
"Sannoh? At best, they're just a giant experience pack waiting to be farmed!"
"Just watch me make them question their entire existence tomorrow!"
"Haruko, you'd better get ready to scream your lungs out for me from the stands!"
Sakuragi pounded his chest so hard it boomed, his face radiating arrogance.
"Okay! I believe in you, Sakuragi! Good luck!"
After hanging up, Sakuragi covered his face and twisted around on the spot like a wriggling worm, giggling like an idiot.
The receptionist glanced at him as though he were mentally challenged, then silently took two steps backward.
With both hands in his pockets, Sakuragi swaggered toward the entrance with the confidence of a man who didn't give a damn about anyone else's opinion.
"Tch. Sannoh High? Who the hell do they think they are?"
He curled his lip, mentally roasting his teammates one by one.
"Gorilla's probably chewing on banana peels to calm his nerves right now."
"Pops has probably stopped even jiggling his double chin. He's definitely worrying about how to lose tomorrow without looking too pathetic."
"And that damn fox… He's probably hiding under his blanket, trembling like a scaredy-cat!"
"Out of the whole team, only this genius… and my lazy-ass master are as steady as rocks!"
Just as he was congratulating himself, something caught the corner of his eye.
A familiar figure stood outside the hotel.
His forehead was wrapped in thick gauze, and he wore a floral shirt.
It was Minami Tsuyoshi!
Sakuragi immediately ducked behind one of the lobby's load-bearing pillars and began observing him in secret.
"That shady bastard from Toyotama?"
"Showing up in the middle of the night to deliver himself into our hands?"
Sakuragi rubbed his chin.
"Did he take today's defeat so badly that he's come back to finish the job with some good old-fashioned violence?"
Ding!
The door opened.
With his left eye covered in gauze and both hands in his pockets, Rukawa Kaede walked coolly outside without sparing his surroundings a glance.
"Oho?"
Sakuragi poked half his head out from behind the pillar, his curiosity burning like wildfire.
"Well, well, well! Two blind guys sneaking off into the bushes in the middle of the night?"
"This is gonna be good!"
Rubbing his hands together excitedly, Sakuragi grinned.
"Damn fox, this genius is getting front-row seats to watch you get beaten up!"
He followed them outside on tiptoe.
The landscaping around the hotel was quiet and still.
Like some clumsy, red-haired gorilla, Sakuragi somehow managed to cram his entire body into a clump of holly bushes. The leaves poked straight into his nostrils.
Rukawa stopped a few steps away from Minami and stared at him, apparently committed to the principle of not making a move until the other guy did.
The air seemed to freeze.
"Go on! Hurry up and kick him in the nuts with some underhanded trick!"
Hidden behind the bushes, Sakuragi tried desperately to provoke them, almost wishing he could jump in and do it himself.
Then, in the very next second, the scene took a completely unexpected turn.
Minami brought his feet together and bowed deeply to Rukawa at a perfect ninety-degree angle.
"I'm sorry…"
Minami's voice was low and trembling.
CRASH!
Sakuragi's jaw practically hit the ground. He toppled headfirst into the bushes, sending leaves and branches flying.
"What the hell?!"
"Isn't that supposed to be my line?!"
Scrambling back to his feet, Sakuragi's internal alarm bells began ringing furiously.
"No! This has to be a trap! That shady bastard is definitely setting up a combo attack!"
He stared intently at Minami's trouser pockets, imagining all sorts of deadly hidden weapons tucked inside.
At that moment, Minami straightened up, took out a small white plastic bottle, and held it out to Rukawa.
"Here. This is for you."
His expression was sincere.
"I've been using this since I was a kid. It should help your injury heal faster."
Behind the bushes, Sakuragi's face lit up with delight. The corners of his mouth nearly reached his ears.
"Case closed! It's definitely poison!"
"Once a shady bastard, always a shady bastard!"
"And he's not even trying to hide it!"
"Damn fox, you're about to get sent straight to the afterlife!"
Rukawa stared at the bottle without saying anything.
Minami scratched his cheek and explained awkwardly, "My family… runs a pharmacy. This is a special medicine we make ourselves."
Sakuragi clutched his bald head in anguish.
"What the actual hell?! His family runs a pharmacy?!"
"Even a three-year-old wouldn't believe that excuse!"
But to his utter disbelief, Rukawa simply reached out and took the bottle.
"Thanks."
His voice remained cool and detached, though there was noticeably less suspicion in it.
Minami froze for a moment, clearly surprised that things had gone so smoothly. Then he let out a long sigh of relief.
Behind the bushes, Sakuragi was already shaking with laughter.
"He fell for it!"
"This fox just gave the guy a free win!"
"Tomorrow, this genius is going to carry the entire game!"
After handing over the medicine, Minami seemed to relax considerably.
He looked deeply at Rukawa, and when he spoke again, his tone suddenly carried an almost fateful intensity.
"Rukawa Kaede, you have to become the best player in the country."
Rukawa tightened his grip on the medicine bottle. His right eye burned with fierce fighting spirit.
"Yeah."
No unnecessary words. Just absolute confidence.
Minami drew a deep breath. The terrifying figure who had sent him flying with a Bajiquan strike earlier that day flashed through his mind.
"Tomorrow's opponents, Sannoh High… They're monsters from another dimension."
Minami's voice tightened.
"Maybe… only you and that guy, Juro, have a chance of beating Sawakita."
"He's the best player in the country."
"Only you two have a chance."
The night breeze swept past.
Minami's words gradually faded into the hot summer air.
Inside the bushes, Sakuragi Hanamichi gritted his teeth.
He squeezed the holly leaves in his hands so hard that green sap oozed between his fingers.
"Sawakita? The best player in the country?"
Sakuragi silently mouthed the words, grinding his back teeth together.
What the hell is so special about that damn fox?!
And what about that lazy-ass master of mine who does nothing but sleep all day?
Why are those two the only ones with a chance of winning?!
Sakuragi's imagination had already gone completely off the rails.
In his mind, he began picturing the decisive moment of tomorrow's game.
Rukawa would get crossed over so badly by that Sawakita guy that he'd question his entire existence, while Makino Juro would be exhausted and panting like a dog.
And then there would be him—the genius Sakuragi Hanamichi!
Descending from the heavens like a god, he would unleash a monstrous block that blotted out the sky, sending Sawakita flying along with the ball!
Then, amid the earth-shaking cheers of ten thousand spectators…
With Haruko screaming his name, stars practically bursting from her eyes…
He would complete a buzzer-beating dunk that turned the entire game around!
He'd absolutely crush it!
"Hmph! What's so impressive about that?!"
Sakuragi snorted in displeasure and pulled a branch that had become tangled in his waistband.
"With this genius on the court, who the hell has the right to call themselves the best in the country?!"
"Just watch me rip that so-called Sannoh apart by the roots tomorrow!"
He brushed the dirt off his floral shirt and hunched over, sneaking through the shadows along the landscaped path like a gorilla committing a burglary.
There was no way he was going back inside now, not when he'd have to face Rukawa's obnoxious face again.
After rounding a wall lined with rose bushes, the view suddenly opened up.
Under the lamppost beside the artificial lake stood two familiar figures.
The girl wore a baseball cap backward and habitually toyed with a folding fan in her hand.
The boy had both hands in his pockets, his trademark curly hair swaying gently in the night breeze.
It was Ayako and Miyagi, out for a walk.
"Huh?"
Sakuragi sucked in a sharp breath and clamped both hands over his mouth, terrified that even the slightest gasp of excitement might escape him.
He slid behind a massive decorative rock formation, his gossip radar beeping like crazy.
In the middle of the night!
One guy and one girl, alone together!
Don't tell me that little bastard Miyagi has secretly gotten himself a girlfriend without telling this genius?!
"Unforgivable!"
"We agreed to stay single together, but you went behind my back and secretly held hands?!"
Sakuragi poked half his head out, ready to leap out at any moment and shout, "Caught you red-handed!"
But when he finally got a clear look at what was happening in the distance, his legs suddenly stiffened.
Something was wrong.
There were no pink hearts floating in the air. No playful teasing or flirtatious banter.
Under the streetlight, Miyagi's back looked unusually heavy.
Almost hunched over.
END OF CHAPTER
The King Of Slacking Off - MrBehringer's Secret
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