#ryonan

Hi guys, I apologize for such a long hiatus haha. My focus has mostly been on university (I graduate next year and I am not sure if I have a future in this doomed economy...) but my mind often goes back to Sendoh HAHHAHA. For being a side character in a series that has ended almost thirty years ago, he is quite enigmatic. The way he was written makes him feel like someone you may encounter in your day to day life. I feel like almost everyone has encountered a Sendoh in their life; the type of person that leaves you baffled in amazement, yet you never get to truly know the type of life they live. Either because they put up a polite distance or because you were so focused on idealizing them that you never truly got to know them as a person.

Even despite reading the series numerous times and having written many analyses about Sendoh, he remains a character shrouded in many mysteries.

Last year I had coincidentally encountered a man that was acquainted with Inoue and I looked for his account on Linkedin a while back to see if I could ask him more about the SD cast, but unfortunately, his account was deleted.

However, there is another really interesting detail about Sendoh I had forgotten to include in the post with the other special facts about him. When I asked if Inoue had a future occupation for Sendoh, I was told something very interesting: While Sendoh goes on to "do many things as an adult, but one of his biggest dreams is to open a cafe by the seaside" AND THIS IS JUST SO HIM???? It suits him so well, especially as the type of person who likes to observe others and the world around him.

Mito Yohei

Christmas movie at the movies

Buys you a super cute and simple Christmas gift, like a necklace or hair clip/band

Saved money to buy you the best popcorn combo of the night;

Would totally use the cold weather to stay really close to you;

Would give you his coat/jacket at your first shiver;

Looks at you a lot of times during the movie to watch your reactions. A warm smile always light up his face while he watches you;

Uses the causal arm strech technique to put his arm around your shoulders, but uses it theatrically to make you laugh;

Takes you to eat after the movie to talk and laugh;

Sendoh Akira

Probably in a warm and quiet place: small restaurant, at his house or at the movies;

If its at home, he asks his mother to make a very delicious dinner for you because he's not that good at cooking and he wants it to be perfect;

Buys you a Christmas plush;

Talking by the fireplace;

Maybe a Christmas movie at the TV or VHS with a lot of cuddling;

Can fall asleep during if you two watch something;

Maki Shinichi

Wants it to be fancy, but mostly cozy;

So he does it at his mansion house or ina fancy restaurant where he can book the whole thing a special room for you two;

Everything is minutely planned. The place is all decorated with classic Christmas decoration and there's a beautiful fireplace;

He buys you a super fancy piece of clothing;

Dinner made by a chef that is an old friend of his family;

There's a lot of talking. He caress your hand with his thumb while he listens to you;

He won't ever admit but he personally asks to put a mistletoe somewhere on the room to have an oppoturnity to kiss you;

Fujima Kenji

THE FANCIEST CHRISTMAS OF YOUR LIFE™

He's capable of organizing A WHOLE CHRISTMAS BALL only for you;

He pays everything, even your clothes, acessories, hairstyling and makeup;

Uses it as an opportunity to present you to THE WHOLE SOCIETY his family and friends as his girlfriend;

You two have a separated table to eat and talk together;

He takes you to a slow dance and you fell like you're a Disney Princess;

For which Slam Dunk boy I should write next?

Masterlist

(A "Slam Dunk" fanfic. "Slam Dunk" is by Inoue Takehiko)

The Kanagawa team, which comprised of 15 members, was able to reach the Top 8 spot during the autumn games. Takato-sensei took the lead as the head coach, with Taoka-sensei as the assistant coach. During the first match against Toyotama (again), it was all of Shohoku who fought against them. Akagi was called in to play despite preparing for university, but because he was no longer captain, he could play freely. Toyotama was less rougher than they were during the Interhigh, but they still relied on their run-and-gun offensive style, hoping that Shohoku would fail this time. There was no one as calm as Yasuda (although Jin was calm, but he could not play point guard), so Miyagi (being the current Shohoku team captain) did his best to calm down and not make a fuss out of the other team's rudeness. Also, it was what Takato-sensei pointed out to him during the team practices. And yet, Shohoku emerged victorious.

During the next series of games, the team was mixed up, and in the third game against Aiwa, it was Kainan pushing them towards the floor, like they did during the Interhigh. During the second to the last game, Ryota played point guard, Jin as shooting guard, Rukawa as small forward, Sendoh as the power forward (though Sakuragi was throwing a fit here because he wanted to play), and Takasago as the center (with Akagi subbing in since Uozumi left days before to really concentrate on taking over the family business). That game was against the Osaka team, and they still won despite the prowess of Tsuchiya Atsushi on court. They faced a team from Hiroshima, with Maki as PG, Mitsui as SG, Fukuda as SF, Hanagata as PF, and Akagi as center. But it was the last game, and they lost to the Hiroshima team.

Takato-sensei was a bit thankful for Fujima sometimes giving in his input during the games when he was not playing, and the two coaches realized that Fujima really had the potential to be a coach. The Shoyo team captain was indeed intelligent beyond his years, so the old coaches were wondering what in the world he was doing in high school when he could have probably built some time machine. But that was not how Fujima saw it. He saw it as an opportunity to learn more about Takato-sensei's style of coaching so he could apply it to Shoyo for the Winter Invitational in order to beat Kainan and be the prefectural representative. He had the face of an angel, but he was a cunning young man.

Takato-sensei did not know that at all, but still, he was satisfied with the performance of the team. Good thing for them though, he said, that during the most difficult battles, Akagi did not need to be subbed in by Sakuragi, who had just recuperated from his back injury. Or if Akagi did need a sub during that time and Sakuragi still wasn't fit for the hardest battles, he could have placed Takasago instead. So after the games, the old coaches, this time, with Anzai-sensei, treated all players for a lavish dinner.

The Kanagawa team also noted that Sannoh lost to another prefecture during their third game.

"It was such a pity we were not able to play against them," Taoka-sensei said to the other coaches. "That would have been fun."

"Our team would still have welcomed playing against them despite Sawakita no longer in their team. Ho-ho-ho," Anzai-sensei replied amiably.

"Why? Where is Sawakita?" Takato-sensei asked.

"He went to America," Taoka-sensei filled in for him.

****

The coaches went to Anzai-sensei's house because Anzai-sensei's wife invited them over days before. Meanwhile, the students decided when they would get together. Mitsui invited everyone to his house since his parents were on a business trip for two weeks.

"But we don't know where you live, Mitsui-san," Muto said.

"We'll meet at the half-court, then," the man on fire replied.

So, that Friday afternoon, the guys met at the half-court as planned. Jin and Fukuda, who usually weren't into these things, came because the naive them were promised they would be playing Jenga blocks. Kogure also came because Mitsui invited him, and Uozumi also came because Sendoh, Maki, and Akagi "forced" him to.

When they reached Mitsui's house, they found out that the Mitsui household had cans of beer in the fridge. Everyone knew no one among them was of legal age to drink, but it was like an unspoken secret that probably everyone of them had already tasted liquor. Mitsui said that is parents were occasional drinkers, but they kept beer so they would not have to go out often to buy. But he was appalled when Sakuragi and Miyagi, who were late, came with a bunch of bananas.

"What's with the bananas?" he asked the redhead.

"There's Boss Saru, and Gori, and Takasago, and then there's Wild Monkey," Sakuragi enumerated.

Kiyota and Takasago where about to flip because of the insinuation, but Maki said he would be eating those bananas too for his daily potassium allowance. When Sakuragi and Miyagi brought the bananas to the kitchen, Mitsui said to Kogure that Sakuragi should eat those bananas since Kiyota dubbed him as the Red Monkey. And turning to Rukawa, he asked if foxes eat bananas too.

But Rukawa shrugged and pointed at Fujima, as if telling Mitsui to ask the intelligent guy if foxes do eat bananas.

****

Indeed, there were groups already formed by the time the guys settled down.

The guys in the living room indulged in beer and snacks. Jin's group consisted of him, Muto, Kogure, Fukuda, and Hanagata, who were all competitive in building a Jenga block tower. Mitsui offered them beer, but it was the soft-spoken Kogure who excitedly took the cans so he can get wasted as much as he liked. Fukuda glared at Mitsui and said he didn't drink because he did not want to lose his discipline.

"Aw, don't be a killjoy, man," Mitsui said to Fukuda.

But Fukuda only glared even more. Mitsui thought that, as a former gang leader, he had seen every scary opponent imaginable, but no one was as scary as Fukuda, who was insistent with his own sense of decency. So, he left Fukuda alone. Meanwhile, the cute Jin was laughing and insulting Hanagata's techniques now that he was drunk, and the others (except for Muto) playing Jenga with him were stunned because Jin had always been nice. Muto sighed, saying he already knew about this because he had played with Jin for a long time. He also shared that when drunk, Jin often praised himself for being handsome.

"I didn't know that Jin-jin could drink," Fukuda said to Muto. "He's only 16 years old."

"You thought the guys here are all good guys like you?" Muto pointed out. "I started drinking secretly when I was fourteen."

While they were building Jenga towers, Fujima was sitting idly on the sofa, legs crossed, and watching the whole state of affairs. Mitsui offered him beer, and the Shoyo captain took it. But Fujima was lightweight, so by the time he finished one can, he started giggling and went straight to Hanagata, who had his turn to put in a block on the highest point of the Jenga building. As Fujima opened his arms to hug his vice captain, his left hand accidentally toppled the blocks, making Fukuda and Jin irritated at him. But most of the people who were in the living room were stunned with what they witnessed next: Fujima hugged Hanagata and planted a kiss on his cheeks, before falling to Hanagata's lap to sleep.

"Whoa, that was unexpected," Muto said to Hanagata.

"Does Fujima-san like you?" Kogure and Mitsui asked simultaneously.

Hanagata, who was also a bit tipsy, just shrugged off their question and insisted on building the Jenga tower again.

****

Rukawa saw the can that Fujima emptied earlier and tried to take a swig, but it was empty. He was on the floor, looking for more cans to drink up. He saw that Miyagi recently abandoned a can and grabbed it, thankful that there was still some contents for him to drink. He had just finished two cans of beer as well when Sendoh told him to get up and dance with him. But the kitsune only crawled away, looking for a room. He found an open door, took a peak to find it dark, and went in. He settled by the door to lie down and sleep.

"He's so odd," Sendoh said to himself when he watched Rukawa close the door.

"Hey, have some more," Mitsui invited him with a can in hand.

"Mitchi! Me too!"

"Me too!" Miyagi and Kiyota told the host.

"You two monkeys," Mitsui addressed Kiyota and Sakuragi. "Should you not both be in the kitchen?"

"Eh? Why would we be in the kitchen?" Kiyota asked the Shohoku shooting guard.

"Because you are monkeys," Mitsui said to him.

But Sakuragi and Kiyota fought over the can of beer that Mitsui was supposed to give to Sendoh, but chibi Miyagi grabbed the beer from them.

"As the draconian captain of Shohoku, I have the privilege to own this can of beer!"

"Yareyare," Sendoh smiled as he shook his head. "Do you have more cans of beer, Mitsui-san?"

"You bet!" Mitsui excited said as he went to the kitchen.

By the time he emerged, he brought in more cans of beer for Sendoh, Kiyota, and Sakuragi.

"Don't you have vitamins to take for your back pain, Red Monkey?"

"My vitamins are only during the morning," Sakuragi shot back. "So I can drink beer as much as I--," and he burped heavily because of the previously ingested beer.

Soon, Mitsui, Miyagi, Sakuragi, Kiyota, and Sendoh danced like crazy on the floor, with Kiyota accidentally kicking Kogure on the back. And once again, the Jenga building was toppled because the former Shohoku vice captain lurched towards it, making Jin and Muto groan in frustration. They had to rebuild the tower.

"Sorry Kogure-san, hyak-hyak-hyak," Kiyota laughed.

Kogure stood up, and with an unsteady gait, walked towards Kiyota, and started to raise a fist against him. Mitsui, sensing that his friend was already too drunk, told Kiyota not to kick everyone unnecessarily and dragged Kogure to his room. The host left the rest of his friends to continue their frenzied dancing.

Meanwhile, Fujima woke up, sat beside Hanagata, and took Kogure's place in playing Jenga block-building with Muto's group.

****

"I didn't know Kogure is this heavy," Mitsui muttered to himself as he helped the former vice captain to his room. "And since when did he learn to pick a fight? I was the one who slapped him before."

As they both entered the room, the two of them tumbled to the floor because Mitsui's foot hit someone else's. As they did, Kogure's glasses fell off, and Mitsui cursed at that someone blocking their way.

"Megane-kun, I'll find your glasses later."

He stood up and helped Kogure to his feet and helped him to his bed. When Kogure was settled in comfortably, Mitsui searched for his friend's glasses and placed it on his study table.

"Now, who's that culprit for making me fall on the floor?"

Mitsui walked towards the other guy sprawled on the floor. As the door was ajar, the light from outside revealed Rukawa's face. So, Rukawa had crawled inside Mitsui's room to sleep.

"Tsh! This kitsune is a headache," he said as he kicked the small forward lightly on the shin.

As Rukawa only snored and did not move, Mitsui went out of his room silently, closed the door, and joined Sendoh, Miyagi, and the two monkeys who were already dancing.

****

Maki, Akagi, Uozumi, and Takasago were busy peeling the bananas and asking one another what recipe went well with bananas. Takasago also asked Uozumi if bananas can be used in sushi, but he earned a glare from the sushi chef.

"While the others are having a drunken spree, let's have a banana-eating competition," Maki announced.

"Why is Sakuragi bringing lots of bananas? He is insulting me," Akagi said, his face distorting into a gorilla.

And from the living room, they could hear Jin shouting that he was worldwide handsome, and laughed with a laughter that sounded like the windshield wiper. They could hear Miyagi disagreeing, saying that Jin had never been handsome.

"Sigh, let's just eat all these bananas," Takasago said.

"Can we pair bananas with beer?" Uozumi asked, his face distorting into an ape.

"I'd love to. Mitsui has lots of beer in the fridge. But we need to eat all these bananas," Maki said wearily. "Matter occupies space and has mass, you know?"

"Let's bring the culprit here and make him join us in eating all these bananas," Akagi suggested.

So Maki got up and found Sakuragi and Kiyota already too drunk and laughing like fools. Sendoh and Miyagi protested when Maki took the two smaller monkeys by the collars of their shirts to bring them to the kitchen.

"Maki-san! Why are you carrying me like this?" protested Kiyota before burping loudly.

"This redhead monkey calls me an old man, but I have to be with the other primates just to eat bananas. And you," emphasizing the two of them, "Are also primates who should eat the bananas with us."

Sakuragi only grinned widely, not minding that Maki was bringing him to the kitchen. Once the Kainan captain reached the kitchen, the other "primates" laughed at the sorry state of the two young monkeys.

"The redhead calls us monkeys, but look at who's the monkey instead," Uozumi sneered.

"What are the others doing?" Akagi asked.

"Making a mess," Maki replied. "Sendoh just took off his shirt and whirled it around in drunken euphoria. And he has no abs."

"What's with the 'no abs' comment?" Takasago asked the captain.

"You know that I have abs," Maki reminded his vice captain.

From the kitchen, the others could already hear Mitsui and Miyagi rapping and singing, and another voice that sounded like Fukuda telling them to shut up.

"Fukuda does not know how to chill," Uozumi said as he helped Maki let the two younger monkeys sit with them.

"Oi, Boss Saru," Sakuragi drawled as he looked at Uozumi. "Why should we eat bananas with you? I bought them all just for the three of you."

Takasago frowned at the insinuation again. Maki knuckled Sakuragi on the head for insulting his vice captain.

"Now!" Akagi bellowed like a gorilla at the two freshmen. "You two should eat bananas with us!"

"Where's Rukawa?" Uozumi suddenly asked.

"Probably asleep somewhere," Akagi said. "That kid can sleep anytime and anywhere."

"Do foxes eat bananas?" Sakuragi drawled.

"The heck would I know?" Akagi shot back at him. "As someone who calls his team mate a 'fox,' you should have an idea if foxes eat bananas too."

"Who is the fox?" Maki asked innocently.

"That Rukawa!" Sakuragi growled.

"He is a fox?" Kiyota asked in his drunken state.

"Yes," Akagi said. "Sakuragi gives names to everyone who interests or annoys him."

Maki took his place beside his vice captain and started distributing the bananas on the plates that Uozumi had placed on the table. And because it seemed like there were more than six bananas per plate, Sakuragi complained why there were lots of bananas for him to eat.

"It's your fault. You bought all of these," Akagi informed him. "So be ready to suffer with us and eat these bananas!"

The six of them started eating the bananas, but Kiyota and Sakuragi treated it like a competition. They also tried to grab the plates from Maki and his vice captain.

And coincidentally, Fukuda entered the kitchen, looking for something to drink.

"Care to eat bananas with us, Fukusuke?" Sakuragi asked.

Fukuda frowned. "No thanks. I am here to drink water, not to be the caretaker of a zoo."

The rest of the guys in the kitchen glared at him for insinuating that they were all primates in the zoo. As the guy who didn't care, Fukuda continued drinking water, then left the used glass on the sink before going back to the living room to continue playing Jenga with the others.

"Damn that Fukusuke did not even wash the glass," Sakuragi murmured.

"I guess we can drink Mitsui's beer since there are only a few bananas for us," Maki said in anticipation.

Soon, Sakuragi and Kiyota stole the plates from the other people with them in the kitchen. They competed as to who could eat the most number of bananas. Each monkey really wanted to outdo the other monkey.

Maki was happy that he was able to eat at least one banana for his potassium allowance for the day. Meanwhile, Takasago, Akagi, and Uozumi were silently happy that they did not get to finish eating the bananas that Sakuragi bought. They were free from being associated with primates for the time being.

The only sad thing that the seniors realized was that there was no more beer in the fridge when Uozumi checked. They just have to rely on the snacks inside the fridge instead.

As the two warring freshmen where eating bananas, Muto came in the kitchen to drink water. He saw the two forwards competing against the most number of bananas.

"If I were to put up a business," he started as he grabbed a new glass. "I will not want to open up a zoo. It must be tiring!"

Akagi growled at him, his face distorted into a gorilla again, "Are you insinuating that I am a gorilla?"

"Well, I'm talking about those two," Muto said about Kiyota and Sakuragi.

After Muto left, Kiyota coughed because he choked on a banana. Maki had to hit him on the back so he could breathe properly.

"Nyahahahah!!!! I won, Wild Monkey!"

"But you still have banana on your plate!"

"It's your plate!" Sakuragi said, though he switched his plate with Kiyota.

"He cheated!" Uozumi told Kiyota.

"Grr!!! Boss Saru!"

Sakuragi was forced to take the plate from Kiyota and finish the banana. It was Kiyota who won the banana-eating competition.

"Let's not do this again," Takasago said after seeing his teammate choking on a banana.

"If we gather again like this and Sakuragi brings in more bananas, we have to let him eat all of it," Akagi suggested.

"Agree," all the seniors remarked.

"Gori!" Sakuragi cried in protest.

****

The first thing that made Mitsui wake up in the morning was Kogure's scream.

He immediately got up and realized that he had crawled on his bed and settled next to the wall so that Kogure would be at the edge of the bed. He thought Kogure fell off, but he didn't expect the thing that made Kogure upset.

"What's wrong? Did you suddenly realized you needed to be home last night?"

Kogure turned around, and Mitsui saw a flush on the other man's cheeks.

"What do you mean? You invited me, remember?" Kogure asked in panic. "What happened is, these are not my glasses! By the way, why am I here? Whose room is this?"

"My room," Mitsui said. When he noticed the blush on Kogure's face again, he rejoined. "I brought you here because you almost picked a fight with Kiyota for kicking you."

"Arghh, darn that wild monkey," Kogure muttered. "No wonder my back seemed sore."

Kogure stumbled off the bed, and stumbled again because Rukawa was still sleeping soundly on the floor. Mitsui watched as the former vice captain went out of the room to look for his glasses. He sat there on bed for a while, clutching his head. He had drunk a lot, and his parents would kill him if they knew their son drank a lot of beer with his friends when they were not of legal age.

"Uh, what can cure a hangover?" he asked himself.

Despite the earlier commotion, Rukawa was still sound asleep.

****

Kogure saw a lot of people lying on the floor of the Mitsui household's living room. The Jenga blocks were all over the table. Jin was snoring loudly while sitting down by the corner. Muto was lying on his side, snoring as well. Hanagata and Fujima were lying side by side, kicking each other's legs. Miyagi, Sakuragi, Kiyota, and Sendoh were on the floor, arms and legs tangled like disorganized cables. He also saw Akagi, Maki, and Takasago lying on the floor like cats who were contented because their owner is nice.

"Ugh, where are my gla--" he asked himself when he saw his glasses on top of some of the Jenga blocks.

He took off the glasses he was wearing and remembered that he and Hanagata switched glasses last night for fun. He put the glasses on top of the blocks and retrieved his. And that was when he realized that there were sounds of utensils from the kitchen, and a savory aroma as well.

He followed the source of the amazing morning surprise to the kitchen and saw Uozumi and Fukuda cooking breakfast.

"Ohayou," Fukuda greeted the former vice captain glumly and casually.

"You awake now, Kogure-san?" Uozumi asked Kogure.

Kogure was astounded by the number of dishes that the two had prepared. There was already rice, side dishes, eggs, sausages, miso soup, and broiled fish.

"Mitsui is loaded," Uozumi remarked happily. "You have no idea how I felt last night when I saw that the fridge has lots of ingredients for cooking."

"And because we both did not drink, we decided to wake up early to cook breakfast for everyone," Fukuda said.

"Ah, arigatou, minnasan," Kogure remarked shyly. "Though I should not be the one saying this because I am not the host."

"You all were rowdy last night," Uozumi said. "And you guys from the living room hoarded all the beer, while we here in the kitchen had to peel all the bananas and wonder how we could finish all of it since Sakuragi bought a lot of bananas for us who he deemed as primates."

"Uh, sorry about that," a voice piped up behind Kogure.

It was Mitsui. He was apologetic that there was not enough beer to satiate even the seniors in the kitchen and had to deal with all the bananas. But when he saw the breakfast that the two Ryonan players made, he gaped.

"Breakfast made by the sushi chef Uozumi?" Mitsui asked as he fell to the floor to give him a bow. "I am so honored!"

"Stop that," Uozumi said. "It's just me."

"You all better clean the house and wash the dishes, hmph!" Fukuda said icily.

Mitsui frowned. How dare this ugly guy boss him around in his own parents' house!

****

Breakfast was merry. The dining table could not accommodate everyone, but they made the most of what was there. The ones who took the VIP seats in the kitchen were Maki, Akagi, Uozumi, Takasago, Fukuda, since he helped cook, and Mitsui, since he was the host.

The others, meanwhile, were in the living room, eating. They temporarily kicked away all the cans on the floor to make way for them. Muto and Hanagata were busy talking about more Jenga block-building strategies. Fujima was poking Rukawa's face to make him wake up and eat before Sendoh shook the sleeping kitsune's shoulders violently. Jin, Miyagi, and Kogure discussed some basketball strategies, while Kiyota and Sakuragi continued their bickering from last night.

After breakfast, Uozumi and Fukuda lounged at the comfortable veranda of the Mitsui household. Maki, Akagi, and Takasago, and Muto took charge of cleaning the kitchen and washing the dishes. Rukawa offered to clean Mitsui's bedroom, while the rest were tasked to clean the entire living room and get rid of all the cans of beer. Mitsui told Kogure he had to bow to his parents when they get home and admit that he and his friends drank all the beer from the fridge.

"Let's not do this anymore," Fujima muttered.

"What do you mean?" Jin, who was back to his nice boy aura, asked.

"Being drunk? Or kissing Hanagata-san on the cheeks?" Miyagi teased.

The revelation felt like cold water splashed on Fujima's cheeks. Hanagata saw that his captain was blushing extremely hard upon hearing it, and he knew that when Fujima got angry, he would usually be sarcastic. And it would be difficult to decipher if he was really angry because he still smiled.

"Being drunk, of course!" the Shoyo captain complained. He was too embarrassed, and he did not smile. But he did not notice the smile on his vice captain's face.

"After this, let's all go home and sleep," Kiyota suggested. "I don't want to do anything today."

For the first time, Sakuragi agreed with him. Miyagi suggested that they can bond again tomorrow at the half-court and play ball, but only Sendoh declined, stating that Koshino invited him for an event. Fujima deemed it was good to have all the guys gathered to have fun after the autumn games because they would be rivals again for those who would take part of the Winter Invitational.

"I suggest that we do this often," Miyagi suggested. "We are bound by the love of one sport."

"I agree!!!!" Sakuragi replied. "Nyahahahaha!!!!"

"But you will be preparing for the university entrance exams, ne, Kogure-san?" Jin asked.

"Yes, but it would not hurt to bond with you guys," Megane-kun said. "It was fun."

****

Maki and Akagi decided to take out the trash bags filled with beer, cringing that those who knew they were high schoolers might recognize them and chide them for breaking the law. But when they went out to take out the trash, a young child asked them to help him also put in the trash bag in the big trash box. However, Akagi and Maki wanted to cry out loud because the child called them as "Oji-san." Another neighbor of the Mitsuis saw them and greeted them merrily, saying how proud their wives must have been to have diligent husbands. Akagi wanted to explode, but Maki only greeted him politely. Both of them wanted to cry because people seemed to think they were too old for their age when they're only both seventeen years old.

When they went back to the house, they told Uozumi what happened by the trash bin, and Uozumi cried. He too, had been called "Oji-san" by a customer because of how he looked. Fukuda's suggestion did not help the three either. The Ryonan power forward suggested that the three of them can go and buy the beer to replace the ones that everyone else drank last night. With that, Uozumi knuckled Fukuda's head for the first time.

"How unfair!" Akagi shouted, his face distorted into a gorilla again. "Why should we buy when we never got to drink a single drop?"

Maki and Uozumi agreed.

****

Once the house was clean, everyone started bidding each other goodbye. As they started leaving the Mitsui house, the guys talked in animated voices because they had a lot of fun. Mitsui stood by the doorpost, arms crossed. He let out a smile on his face. Once he will enter university, if ever he did, he will miss everyone.

The rest of them (except for Uozumi and those who did not drink) slept the whole morning. But while Uozumi went to work for his father, Akagi and Kogure went back to studying for their college entrance exams. As it was a nice Saturday, that afternoon, the others who met each other randomly at the streets hung out together. Rukawa and Sendoh continued playing ball, while Jin and Fukuda went to a local temple. Miyagi joined Sakuragi and his gundan. Maki and Takasago went to a local fair with Kiyota, while Muto went to do groceries for his mother and met Mitsui at the same place. Hanagata hung out by himself by the beach, watching local boys playing basketball. Meanwhile, Fujima was busy jotting down everything he had learned so far from Takato-sensei, formulating a fool-proof plan that would topple Kainan, Ryonan, and Shohoku in the winter games.

The next day, most of the guys who were there at the party met at the half court. Akagi and Kogure still did not arrive because of their preparation for the university exams. Muto and Takasago did not arrive because they were tired. Jin and Fukuda also did not arrive because they met with their middle school friends who were also scouted by different sports teams in Kanagawa. And as usual, Uozumi could not go because he was working. So, Miyagi, Mitsui, Sakuragi, and Rukawa arrived first. Maki, Fujima, and Hanagata arrived later as they met each other at a convenience store. Kiyota came running, thinking he was late for the fun. Sakuragi laughed at the wild monkey, who retaliated with a round of insults for the red monkey. They started playing ball when Maki appeased the two freshmen. In the middle of the game, Sendoh came with Koshino, for they escaped early the event which the two attended.

"Konnichiwa, Koshino-san," Miyagi greeted the other sophomore.

"Konnichiwa," Koshino greeted back. "This is my first time hanging out with you guys."

"The basketball world here in Kanagawa is small," Maki told the sophomore. "You should hang out and be friends even if you will all be rivals on court."

"That's right," Hanagata told the younger friends.

"I'm glad you are able to make it, Sendoh," Mitsui said.

"Yeah. Koshino invited me to their family event because he introduced me to his cousin," Sendoh said before he acknowledged Rukawa with a nod.

Rukawa only nodded back.

"Bahh, family events are mostly boring," Koshino muttered. "The elders always asked us whether we have lovers. I introduced my cousin to Sendoh so that they will stop asking my cousin if she has a boyfriend."

"I learned that she likes me," Sendoh said bashfully as he rubbed his nape. He knew many girls liked him, but he didn't have a close encounter with one who actually liked him.

"Lucky you," Maki replied. "I wish a girl would ask me too."

"Jaa, now that we are all here, shall we continue?" Miyagi asked.

"That we shall! And I shall show everyone the power of the tensai. Nyahahahahah!!!!" Sakuragi bragged again.

"Do-ahou," came Rukawa's remark.

"Shadap, Red Monkey!" came Kiyota.

"Nandato??" Sakuragi screamed.

The other friends did not pull the three freshmen apart as they started quarreling again. The rest played ball as planned. It was rowdy, but they had fun.

Not only were monkeys animals who ate bananas. Monkeys were also the guys who made fools of themselves and didn't give a damn. In fact, there were lots of monkeys in Kanagawa. In basketball teams, the guys could become the silly monkeys both off-court and on-court. The guys made the most out of this day because tomorrow, they'll go back to being rivals.