It is six o’clock in a morning of early July. Rukawa rides his bike to the basketball court next to the park. He expects to see Sakuragi there this morning because he accepted the challenge offered by Sakuragi the night before.
As usual, Rukawa dozes off while he is still on the road. Perhaps he is just uncompassionate, but he does not perceive anything from his surroundings unless when he is on the basketball court. Obstacles are on his way to the practice and he can care less. A huge blockage is now in front of him and he just runs over it. What is different about this blockage is that there is a girl behind it, wheezing with asthmatic symptoms. When she sees him flying over the top of her head in a bike, she faints right on that instant. The front wheel is caught by a rock when it lands. Rukawa falls with the bike.
He shakes his head a little to
make sure that he is all right. When
he tries to look for his Walkman, he finds it next to a fainted girl behind the
blockage. She is pale and out of
consciousness. Rukawa knows that
saving her would be troubled, but he decides to send this girl to the hospital
immediately. He straps her on his
back and takes off on his bike.
----
Haruko is on her way to the basketball court too. She has secretly observed Rukawa for a while. She has been hoping that she could get a chance to talk to him alone. But when she sees him practicing with all his concentration every morning, she would not want to break his nice rhythm. Where will be the end of her waiting, she wonders. She just wants to talk with him. It would be sufficed even if the conversation were as short as one minute.
The shadow of Rukawa is suddenly in sight. He is coming towards Haruko and going in the direction of the hospital. Haruko first blushes, then she ponders why is Rukawa going to the hospital. She keeps worrying if he is okay as she follows him to the Emergency Room. The first thing she sees, when she arrives, is a tall, pale girl lying on a gurney with the company of Rukawa. Haruko is relieved that Rukawa is okay, but she also panics about his relationship with this girl.
The gurney rolls out from one of
the curtains half an hour later. The
color of the girl’s cheeks is normal now.
She is wearing a breathing tube and sleeps soundly.
Rukawa comes out and sees Haruko, who is looking at the girl with
worries. He takes a glance at her,
and then leaves the hospital with his bike.
Haruko tries to go after him, but he is nowhere in sight. So she asks the nurse about what is the name of that girl and
which room is she being sent to. The
name of that tall girl is Hasegawa Tsuki, and she has been sent to Room 713.
----
Tsuki opens her eyes. She can breathe much better now. She obviously doesn’t remember how she was ended up in a hospital. The last thing she remembered seeing before she fainted is a flying fox on a bike. The nurse comes in to take out the breathing tube from Tsuki’s throat and tells her that her aunt is coming to the hospital. Tsuki is feeling bitter and angry with herself.