Mitsui sat in the cafe, eating his lunch as he watched the people passing by on the streets. He has taken a trip to his ex-neighbourhood to buy a particular textbook that he couldn't find near his new home and feeling hungry after his excursion he decided to stop by at Danny's for a bite to eat. As he was finishing up his fries he spotted a familiar person walking alone at the opposite side of the street.

"Kogure..."
Grabbing his newly-bought textbook, he quickly walked out of the cafe to catch up to the spectacled-boy.

Since the last two days, Kogure was unable to sleep and his mind was all messed up by the recent events. Not being able to concentrate on his homework and unable to put do the house chores allocated to him properly, the 3rd year decided to get out of the house for a walk to think.

Slowly passing by the pachinko arcade he didn't hear a voice calling out his name amidst the clanging sound of pachinko machine knobs and metal balls until a hand stopped him by gripping him on the shoulder. Turning around he was surpised to see that it was Sakuragi Hanamichi.

Less than a minute later, Mitsui was seen running along the sidewalk where he thought Kogure would have walked by when he nearly collided with a high-school boy coming out of the pachinko arcade along the street.

"Sorry..." mumbled the boy with slicked back hair.

Then a fat boy with glasses poked his head out of the arcade's doors and asked the first boy, "Hey, Youhei! What are you doing out there?"

"Hanamichi's gone! That baka didn't tell us where he's gone to!" answered the first boy in an annoyed manner.

As he was recalling that this Hanamichi that the boy was searching for was the self-proclaimed tensai, Sakuragi Hanamichi, rookie no.10 from Shohoku, he realised with dismay and surprise that he has lost Kogure. The boy was nowhere in sight.



****

The two boys sat on a bench overlooking the river, both not yet speaking their mind.

Sakuragi looked at the sky and was the first to speak, "The clouds are grey. I wonder if it'll rain tonight..."

"Hana-kun..."

"You can tell him," said Sakuragi without turning to face Kogure, "... tell him yes."

Kogure looked at the redhead in shock.

"Kaede told me once that his brother has the patience to wait for the good thing. Mitsui-san... he has the guts to ask you to be his. I guess that's love for ya... . That's ok, you can say yes to him..."

"Hana-kun..."

"Ja," said the redhead still not looking at Kogure before he walked away and out of Kogure's life and all the senior can do was watch him leave in stunned silence.

And then the sky rained. Rained as the day Mitsui left Shohoku and him for Ryonan.

Kogure's head dropped in misery, This is Kami's punishment for me... . Hana-kun...



****

In a basketball court in another part of the neighbourhood, Sakuragi was standing in the rain watching at the hoop half a court away from him. Clenching the ball in his hand he began dribbling it to the basket. To his agitation, his mind kept replaying the scenes of him and Kogure, laughing, touching, talking, smiling... and finally of him leaving Kogure to let the boy pursue what the he thought the senior wanted. With a mighty jump and a roar, he flew into the air with ease albeit the weight brought down by his wet clothes, and dunked the ball with such ferocity that the wooden headboard holding the metal hoop nearly cracked.
Sakuragi landed on his feet gracefully but his heart still felt as if someone has wrenched it out of his body and placed it back there with shards of glass. He stared at the ball near his feet, the rain still falling furiously onto the earth. Suddenly he fell to his knees taking deep gulps of air when he felt his heart constrict and within moments he was pounding the court's concrete floor with his fist, swearing in a broken voice, "K'so... K'so... K'SO!!"



****

Back near the river, Kogure had not left his spot since Sakuragi left him. The tree near the bench didn't provide enough protection from the rain, but still the spectacled-boy refused to budge as if his body was frozen up. With his head still down and the rain drops wetting his face, no one would know if the boy was crying or not.

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