Confession

On Tuesday, wherever Wu Yufei went around the school, he could always feel gazes coming 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] around school from the day he enrolled until yesterday, then after yesterday's interview was published in Miuradai's campus news, Wu Yufei's reputation had been upgraded to [widely renowned].

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

Of course, it was impossible for suddenly becoming famous to bring no trouble at all.

For example, he had merely wanted to invite Junko to lunch, but there were too many people watching him nearby. Not wanting to make 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 he already had 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 even gone to the News Department specifically to protest to Senior Takei. However, the school paper had already been published, and the information had spread throughout the school. Even if he wanted it changed, there was no longer any chance.

All Wu Yufei could do was resign himself to it and hope Junko would not misunderstand.

That afternoon, it was time for basketball team practice.

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

"The Prefectural Tournament bracket is out!"

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

All the players who had been practicing immediately put down what they were doing and gathered around the coach, asking about their group.

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

"Our Miuradai group isn't bad this time. We're in Group D, and the top seed is Takezato High School!"

Coach Harada directly gave them the answer they most wanted to know.

"Takezato? Great!"

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

Coach Harada wore an equally excited expression, but his reasons were 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 have known much about it, but as a coach, he understood very clearly that Takezato had made the Final Four last year largely because of several third-year students.

This year, all the key players who had taken 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 of those three teams were all still around this year, while Takezato alone had lost every one of its aces.

Being drawn into Takezato's group this time made Coach Harada feel that even heaven was helping Miuradai!

"Hm?"

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

"Yufei, do you have any thoughts?"

Coach Harada asked in confusion.

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

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

"Nothing. I just think it's a little regrettable. I originally wanted to knock Kainan out in the group stage. That way, the League Finals would definitely be easier."

Huh?!!

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

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

Even Captain Murasame, who had always aimed to get revenge on Kainan, had only thought about first reaching the League Finals, then doing everything possible to defeat Kainan in the league stage 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 the nation, then Kainan was an opponent they had to overcome.

Now that his coordination with his teammates was becoming more and more seamless, he was confident he could lead them in a head-on clash with Kainan.

"It's good to have that kind of confidence, but since the groups have already been decided, our goal for now should still be making the League Finals. Our first game is on May 19, against Ohkita High School. They're a team that gets eliminated in the first round year after year, so there's nothing to fear. Just play with the tactics we know."

"Yes!!"

"Continue training!"

At eight that night, after Wu Yufei finished his daily tasks early, 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 attack yet at Junko.

He felt that the time was ripe!

That weekend, in front of the station.

Wu Yufei arrived early and waited for the person he was meeting on a date today.

Although there was still a full half hour before their agreed time, Wu Yufei could not wait and came early anyway.

Even now, he vividly remembered how cute Junko had looked three days ago, blushing and at a loss when he invited her out.

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

Since it was a day off, Junko was not wearing Miuradai's uniform today, but had changed into her own clothes.

The light blue dress perfectly highlighted Junko's youthful beauty, while her two slender, fair legs beneath the hem were almost dazzling.

Although Junko was only 160 centimeters tall and not especially tall, her proportions were excellent, making her legs appear very 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 surprise.

She had thought she had arrived early enough, since she was twenty minutes ahead of time, 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 known throughout the entire school.

While she was still dazed, Junko admired her mother even more. After all, her mother had been the first to notice that Wu Yufei liked her.

Since it was a date, and he was the one who had invited the girl, Wu Yufei had naturally done a great deal of preparation beforehand.

He took Naito Junko to the most bustling shopping street nearby. They strolled around, shopped, sampled all kinds of snacks, then watched a romance movie that only couples would see. The entire process 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. But when he finally finished waiting through the long line and returned with two drinks, he discovered that Junko had been surrounded by several men with ill intentions!

"Hey, little sister, isn't it boring to be alone? Why don't your big brothers take 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 here with a friend, and he'll be back soon!"

Junko decisively rejected the blond creep's proposal.

But the creep 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. Your big brothers can take both of you out to have fun!"

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

"Seriously, has public safety in Japan become this worrying? Last time it was robbers, and now it's punks?"

Feeling Wu Yufei's grip gradually tighten, the creep cried out in pain, then turned around with his two companions to look at Wu Yufei.

"Who the hell are you?!"

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

"I'm the friend she mentioned. Sorry, I'm not the cute girl you were hoping for."

As he spoke, Wu Yufei tightened his grip again.

"Ah, that hurts, hurts, hurts!! Let go! Let go!!"

The blond man was already flailing about in pain.

Seeing their buddy being bullied like that, the two punks beside him made 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 directly lifted the blond man off the ground by his head.

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

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

Thud...

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

The small commotion had drawn 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 disappeared into the crowd with his two companions.

"Are you okay?"

Wu Yufei stepped forward and comforted the slightly frightened Junko, his voice 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, didn't Yufei-kun come back in time and protect me?"

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

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

"Yeah."

The little 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!"