Chapter 53: Haruko's Secret (I)
The Kobe Jaguars opened the new season with nearly half of the first quarter of the home game against the Nagoya Ninjas.
The Jaguar team relied on the strong performance of Rukawa Kaede to score 10 points in a row at the beginning, and also played a wave of 10:0 climax.
There are also people on the ninja team's side who stepped up in time, but this person is not the master of the field - Ishii Nobu, nor is it the "helmet man" - Takano Thunder, but the rookie who is playing the first game of his career - Rihei Takeuchi!
Takeuchi seized the opportunity, made a decisive shot, hit three three-pointers in a row, chased the score back in an instant, and forced Coach Oki to call a timeout!
"Mitsui, Takeuchi has to take strict care of this, there are too many easy three-point shots, let's change our tactics on the offensive end, Sakuragi, you always shout that there are too few scenes on the offensive end, and the rest of this half of the quarter, focus on you, don't let me down!!"
Coach Oki laid out the tactics during the timeout, and Sakuragi was very excited after saying it!!
"Coach!! you can figure out one thing, pointing to Rukawa Kaede can't win the ball, you have to rely on the performance of this genius, don't worry, coach, I want to let those guys know that I am a genius rebounding king and a genius scoring king!
Before he scored, Sakuragi became arrogant, and it's no wonder that Sakuragi has always been like this.
Take a pause and come back and see how Sakuragi is doing.
This time Rukawa Kaede was strictly guarded, and it was difficult to receive the ball, Miyagi saw this and handed the ball to Sakuragi, who was standing at the three-point line, and Sakuragi, who was standing at the three-point line, faced Takano again to see what Sakuragi would do this time.
"Helmet man, I'm going to give you a three-pointer in return!" Sakuragi told Takano of his intentions.
"Okay, then I'll wait to grab the rebound!"
Takano also seemed to believe in Sakuragi's projection ability, and said disdainfully.
"Carelessness will make you lose badly!"
As soon as Sakuragi's voice fell, he pulled up a three-point jump shot directly on the spot!
"This guy is really cast!!"
Takano really didn't expect Sakuragi to shoot a three-pointer, thinking that Sakuragi's words before were just distracting himself!
"Rebounding!!" Minami's first coach also felt that Sakuragi's three-point shooting would not be reliable for the first time.
"The guy who looks down on people with dog eyes!" Sakuragi looked at the coach of the ninja team with contempt, and looked at the ball,,,
"Brush!" watched the ball hollow into the pocket!
"I'm sorry, Helmet Man, you can't seem to grab this rebound!"
Sakuragi provoked Takano.
Takano's face is pale, this duel between the two, Sakuragi wins!
Sakuragi also scored his first goal of the season, which is also an incredible three-point shot, Sakuragi's offensive means are not single, but three-point shots are indeed not conventional weapons!
"Pretty, Sakuragi, haha!"
Miyagi blossomed, as if he had heard a joke.
"It's not unusual for Sakuragi to score three points, he has such ability, it's just that in the team, there are other tasks that he has to do, but Sakuragi's three-point will become our regular weapon sooner or later!!"
Coach Ohki analyzed.
"I want everyone to know that the Jaguar team, there is not only a champion Rukawa Kaede, but also a Sakuragi Hanamichi who is tied with the champion!!"
Scoring this three-pointer gave Sakuragi a lot of confidence, and he also secretly encouraged himself in his heart!
Sakuragi responds with a three-pointer.
Team Ninja Attack.
"Rookie, your score is fixed at 9 points today!" Mitsui stimulated Takeuchi with words, which stimulated the rookie's heart a lot, and it was easy to lose his mind, and he didn't know what Takeuchi's mental quality was.
“,,,,“
Takeuchi responded in a silent way, which is quite similar to Rukawa Kaede, or it may be the common nature of a cold-blooded killer on this kind of court, and he is silent.
After the pause, the Jaguar team's defense really improved, not only did Takeuchi not receive the ball, but even Ishii had a hard time getting rid of Miyagi's defense, and the ninja team didn't expect the pressure of the defense to be so great, and Ishii had no choice but to do it alone.
"Wow!"
The whistle blew in 24 seconds, and although Ishii threw the ball, he got a three-no-stick ball!
The Jaguars' pressing defense paid off, and the ball allowed Ishii to barely shoot, and the Ninjas' offensive routine didn't come out.
Jaguar team attack.
Sakuragi, who had received permission from the coach, was very energetic and took the ball again to prepare to single Takano, but this time Sakuragi was near the baseline and closer to the basket!
"Blow you up, Helmet Man!!"
Sakuragi didn't dribble, but watched Takano let out Sakuragi's signature cruel words.
After saying that, Sakuragi lowered his center of gravity and dribbled with his right hand to make a breakthrough Takano, Sakuragi's impact was very strong, and Takano had to turn all his body sideways to withstand Sakuragi's breakthrough, when Sakuragi just took a step, he took the ball with both hands and turned around, turning clockwise to the basket with his left foot as the axis. Takano is completely out of position, to be precise, it should be that Takano can't find Sakuragi in his sight.
Sakuragi, who turned around, was already unstoppable, jumping directly and splitting with both hands! his hands were still dragging the basket and unwilling to leave, how Sakuragi wished that time would be frozen at this moment, and the eyes of the audience, including the TV, and possibly from Haruko, were all focused on Sakuragi.
"Oh~!! beautiful!!beautiful!!No. 6 Sakuragi Hanamichi once again singled Takano successfully, and the hands that turned around were violently buckled, all in one go!"
"This kid, although he always likes to talk big, but he really plays hard, come on, Sakuragi!!"
Both the commentator and Coach Oki are full of praise for Sakuragi.
However, the ninja team's offense is slightly weak, which may be the reason for the first game of the season, several outside pitchers are not in shape, the only rookie Takeuchi who has some crosshairs on the outside is still strictly guarded by Mitsui, and it is difficult to catch the ball, and the Jaguar team is playing more and more smoothly, more flowers, Rukawa Kaede has also found his form, and continuous breakthroughs and outside hits one after another.
At halftime, at 58:39, the Jaguars had a 19-point lead.
In the second half, the ninja team still couldn't find a crosshair, and Takano on the inside line was also overwhelmed by Sakuragi's momentum, and the team could only rely on Ishii's personal ability to support it, and the score difference was getting bigger and bigger!
"Wow!!"
The final whistle blew, and the score was finally fixed at 112:90, and the Jaguar team got off to a good start to the new season, which was a bit of an unexpected big victory over the ninjas.
"Hey, Da Nan, didn't you just get off to a good start! Didn't you just see this day's genius slam dunk! As for it!!! I just called when I went back to the locker room!"
Sakuragi just returned to the locker room when he received a call from Da Nan, and after connecting the phone, Sakuragi started talking without waiting for Da Nan to say it first.
"No, Sakuragi!!"
"Huh??What's going on!!" It seems that Sakuragi is self-inflicted this time, maybe Danan didn't watch the game at all.
"I saw Haruko,,,,"
"Hey,,, I thought something was going on, why didn't I see Haruko !!!,,, where did I see Haruko!!"
Danu's words Sakuragi didn't react immediately the first time, and he didn't hear it until he spoke again.
"Actually, Sakuragi, I don't want to tell you about it, but since I saw it, I really shouldn't hide it from you!"
"You say, Danan. “
From Da Nan's words, Sakuragi felt a little uneasy.
"I was just visiting the Mt. Fuji area, and I saw a girl who looked like Haruko queuing up to buy ice cream, and, ,,,."
Danan's last words stopped talking.
"And what,,,, I'm going to die, Da Nan!!"
"And, and there's a boy next to him!!"
"Da Nan, what about a boy, it's nothing more than queuing!!"
"But the two of them are holding hands!! The action is very ambiguous!!
"What !!!!!!"
Sakuragi reacted quickly this time, perhaps instinctively as a man, and the loud voice made everyone's eyes in the locker room focus on Sakuragi.
"Sakura,,Wood,,Don't get too excited, maybe I read it wrong, maybe ,,,Hey!!Hey!!Sakuragi!!"
Without waiting for Da Nan to explain otherwise, Sakuragi had already hung up the phone.
"Hang up! Sakuragi, this guy won't do anything,,, I really regret telling him."
Danan muttered to himself, worried about Sakuragi.
"Sakuragi, what's wrong with you,,,"
Miyagi looked at the sakura with bulging muscles.
Sakuragi didn't answer Miyagi, picked up the phone and dialed the number, could it be ,,,,
"Hey, Haruko, what are you doing!"
Sakuragi really hit Haruko, controlling the anger in his heart, and said in a calm tone.
"Wow!! Sakuragi is actually calling Haruko!!"
"Oh my God, are the two of them!!"
Mitsui and Miyagi gossip.
"Uh-huh,,, what's wrong, Sakuragi, suddenly asked about this!?"
Haruko's tone was a little hesitant and did not answer directly.
"It's okay, just ask casually, I haven't been in touch for a long time, ask what you're doing!!"
Although Sakuragi's tone was still normal, the hand holding the phone was shaking all the time, and it was all cold.
"What the hell is wrong with this ,,, Sakuragi,,," Seeing Sakuragi like this, Miyagi was a little scared.
"Ah, haha, I didn't do anything, I just went out for a walk and came back, and now I'm sorting out some work materials in the dormitory, what about you, Sakuragi, it's been okay lately!!"
"Toot, toot, toot, toot,,,,,"