Confession

On Tuesday, wherever Wu Yufei went around the school, he could always feel gazes coming at him from all directions.

Wu Yufei had expected this. From the moment he agreed to Senior Takei's exclusive interview, he had known this would happen.

But Wu Yufei did not dislike being the center of so much attention. On the contrary, he enjoyed it.

If he had merely been [somewhat well-known] at school from the time he enrolled until yesterday, then after yesterday's interview was published in Miuradai's campus news today, Wu Yufei's reputation at school had risen to [famous far and wide].

Many students who had never cared about basketball before now knew there was someone named Wu Yufei at school.

Of course, it was impossible for such sudden fame not to bring some trouble.

For example, he had only wanted to invite Junko to lunch, but there were too many people watching him. To avoid making Junko uncomfortable, Wu Yufei had no choice but to give up.

During the interview, Senior Takei had once again asked whether Wu Yufei was single. His answer had been the same as before: he was currently single, but there was already someone he liked.

Yet what appeared in the campus news was a highly suggestive line: "Yufei-kun is still single right now!!"

Wu Yufei had specifically gone to the News Department to protest to the senior girl. However, the school paper had already been published, and the information had spread throughout the school. There was no chance to make changes even if he wanted to.

All Wu Yufei could do was feel helpless and hope Junko would not misunderstand because of it.

That afternoon was basketball practice.

The fans who had followed Wu Yufei around all day finally settled down, since they all had their own club activities to attend.

"The Prefectural Tournament bracket is out!"

An hour after practice began, Coach Harada, who had been missing for most of the day, appeared before everyone with a document in hand and brought some extremely exciting news.

All the players who had been practicing immediately stopped what they were doing and gathered around the coach to ask about their group.

Coach Harada posted the bracket on the wall and let the players look at it themselves.

"This time, Miuradai has a pretty good draw. We're in Group D, and the number one seed in our group is Takezato High School!"

Coach Harada immediately gave the answer the players cared about most.

"Takezato? That's great!"

Captain Murasame Kengo exclaimed excitedly. He still remembered how Takezato had rejected their request for a practice game.

Coach Harada wore an equally excited expression, but his reason for being excited was different from Murasame Kengo's.

Coach Harada was happy because he knew that among the four group seeds, Takezato was the weakest this year!

The players might not know much and did not understand, but as a coach, he knew very well that more than half of Takezato's achievement in reaching the Final Four last year had been due to several third-year students.

This year, all the key players who had led Takezato to the Final Four had graduated. Without question, Takezato had become the team among last year's Final Four whose strength had suffered the greatest loss.

Kainan still had A Maki, Shoyo still had Fujima, and Ryonan still had Sendoh and Uozumi. The ace players from those three teams were all still around this year. Only Takezato had lost every one of its aces, with not a single one remaining.

Drawing the group Takezato was in made Coach Harada feel that even heaven was helping Miuradai!

"Hm?"

However, when Coach Harada swept his gaze over the players before him, he noticed that one person did not look particularly happy.

"Yufei, do you have any thoughts?"

Coach Harada asked in confusion.

That was right. The one who did not look very excited was Wu Yufei.

Hearing the coach's question, Wu Yufei merely shrugged.

"Nothing. I just think it's a little regrettable. I actually wanted to take out Kainan in the group stage. That way, the round-robin Finals would definitely be easier."

Huh?!!

The instant Wu Yufei finished speaking, everyone stared at him in astonishment.

Take down Kainan in the group stage?? In the entire Miuradai Basketball Team, Wu Yufei was probably the only one who would dare say something like that.

Even Captain Murasame, who had always aimed to avenge himself on Kainan, only planned to first reach the round-robin Finals, then give his all to defeat Kainan there and advance to the National Tournament.

At least that goal was relatively more realistic.

But Wu Yufei ignored everyone's stares. In his view, if their goal was to dominate Japan, then Kainan was an opponent they had to overcome.

Now that he and his teammates were becoming increasingly coordinated, he was confident he could lead them into a head-on clash with Kainan.

"It's good to have that kind of confidence, but since the groups are already decided, let's focus on reaching the round-robin Finals first. Our first game is on May 19th. Our opponent is Ohkita High School, a team that gets eliminated in the first round year after year. There's nothing to fear. Just play using the tactics we know best."

"Yes!!"

"Continue practice!"

At eight that evening, after Wu Yufei finished his daily tasks ahead of schedule, he took the initiative to find Naito Junko.

"Little Junko, are you free this weekend?"

"Eh?"

Hearing Wu Yufei's question, Junko froze for a moment before nodding.

"Great! Then let's go on a date this weekend!"

Wu Yufei launched his fiercest offensive yet at Junko.

He felt the time was ripe!

That weekend, in front of the station.

Wu Yufei arrived early and waited for the person he was going on a date with that day.

Although there was still a full half hour before the time they had agreed on, Wu Yufei could not wait and came early.

Even now, he vividly remembered the adorable way Junko had blushed and become flustered when he invited her on a date three days ago.

Ten minutes later, the girl who had been on his mind finally appeared in Wu Yufei's sight.

It was a day off, so Junko was not wearing Miuradai's school uniform. She had changed into her own casual clothes.

The light blue dress looked wonderful on Junko, fully bringing out her youthful beauty. Her two slender, long legs beneath the skirt were so fair they were dazzling.

Although Junko was only 160 centimeters tall and not especially tall, her body proportions were quite good, making her legs appear especially long.

"Eh?! Yufei-kun, you're already here? Sorry for making you wait so long."

They noticed each other almost at the same time, and Junko asked with a surprised expression.

She had thought she had arrived early enough, since she was twenty minutes ahead of schedule, but she had not expected him to arrive even earlier.

"No, I just got here too."

Wu Yufei replied with a smile.

"Let's go!"

"Y-Yeah."

It was obvious that Junko was still very shy. After all, this was the first time a boy had actively invited her on a date, and he was also the basketball star everyone at school knew about.

While feeling dazed, Junko admired her mother even more. After all, her mother had been the first to realize that Wu Yufei liked her.

Since it was a date, and he had been the one to invite the girl, Wu Yufei had naturally made extensive preparations beforehand.

He took Naito Junko to the busiest shopping street nearby. They strolled around, shopped, sampled all kinds of delicious snacks, and then watched a romance movie that only couples would see. Everything went as smoothly as Wu Yufei had planned.

The only minor incident happened after the movie ended.

Wu Yufei went to buy drinks and had Junko wait nearby. Yet when he finally finished waiting in the long line and returned with two drinks, he discovered that Junko had been surrounded by several men with ill intentions!

"Little miss, isn't it boring being alone? How about big brother takes you somewhere more fun!"

The leader, a sleazy-looking man with dyed blond hair and a nose ring, struck up a conversation with Junko.

"No, thank you! I'm with a friend, and he'll be back soon!"

Junko decisively rejected the sleazy blond man's suggestion.

However, the sleazy man did not care. Instead, he and his two companions moved even closer to Junko.

"Oh? Is your friend another cute girl like you? Even better! Big brother can take both of you out to have fun!"

Wu Yufei silently set the milk tea and iced water in his hands aside, then strode forward and grabbed the sleazy man by the head.

"Seriously, has public safety in Japan gotten this bad? Last time it was a robber, and this time it's punks?"

Feeling Wu Yufei gradually increase his grip, the sleazy man cried out in pain. He and his two companions turned to look at Wu Yufei.

"Who the hell are you!"

As he listened to the punks' questioning, a vicious glint gradually appeared in Wu Yufei's eyes.

"I'm the companion she mentioned. Sorry to disappoint you—I'm not the cute girl you were hoping for."

As he spoke, Wu Yufei tightened his grip again.

"Ah! It hurts, it hurts!! Let go! Let go!!"

The blond man was already flailing around in pain.

Seeing their buddy being bullied like this, the other two punks moved to swing at Wu Yufei. However, Wu Yufei nimbly dodged the green-haired man's punch and the purple-haired man's kick, then tightened his grip and lifted the blond man off the ground by his head.

"It hurts, it hurts!! Don't, don't! I was wrong, I was wrong!! Please let me go!"

Only after hearing the blond man's pleading did Wu Yufei release him.

Thud...

The blond man fell straight to the ground, and his two companions immediately rushed forward to help him up.

The small disturbance also drew the attention of many nearby people, and the crowd of onlookers gradually grew.

"Tch, let's go!"

Knowing they had run into someone they could not afford to provoke tonight, the blond man immediately fled into the crowd with his two companions.

"Are you okay?"

Wu Yufei walked over and comforted the somewhat frightened Junko, his tone full of self-reproach.

"It's all my fault. I didn't expect the line to take so long. I should have brought you with me."

"I'm fine. Besides, Yufei-kun, didn't you come back in time to protect me?"

Junko slowly recovered from her fear and began comforting Wu Yufei, whose face was filled with guilt.

"Didn't you say there's a fireworks festival at the beach tonight? Let's go! I can't wait anymore!"

"Yeah."

The small incident did not affect the growing warmth between them. Beneath the brilliant fireworks by the sea, Wu Yufei finally confessed to Junko.

"Junko, I like you. Be my girlfriend!"

"...Yeah! Please take care of me from now on!"