Spring

Spring was a wonderful season.

All things revived, and the weather grew warmer.

Spring was also the season when countless animals went into heat. Male and female alike freely released their pheromones in hopes of attracting the opposite sex.

"So, does little Junko... have a boyfriend?"

Seeing that Naito Tetsuya seemed stunned, Wu Yufei repeated his question.

"You... could it be..."

Naito Tetsuya was utterly shocked. In his eyes, someone like Wu Yufei should have been the sort of person who would give up even a wife for basketball.

After all, every morning, before everyone else had even gotten out of bed, Wu Yufei was already practicing in the basketball gym. Every evening, after all his teammates had gone home, Wu Yufei was still there practicing.

If he were not still a student, Wu Yufei would probably have clung to that round ball all day without letting go.

And a basketball maniac like that was actually interested in girls?!

That was the first thing that shocked Naito Tetsuya.

The second was that the girl who had caught this basketball maniac's interest was actually his own little sister, Naito Tetsuya's little sister?!

Though he was immensely shocked, Naito Tetsuya calmed down after a few seconds.

Once he had calmed down, Naito looked Wu Yufei up and down, from head to toe, then from toe back up to head.

Emmm... This guy looks decent enough, and his personality isn't bad either. He gets plenty of attention from female students at school, but from what I know of him, he isn't the type to two-time people. If it's him, then Junko...

Naito Tetsuya was now certain that Wu Yufei had feelings for his sister. So, from the perspective of an older brother, he was assessing whether this suitor was good enough for her.

High school romance was not something shameful in Japan. Everyone considered it a natural experience to have at that age.

So although Naito Tetsuya was shocked, he did not become hostile toward his sister's suitor like some obsessive siscon. On the contrary, he would be more than happy to see his sister date someone he knew, approved of, and considered decent. At least that would be far better than letting his sister get deceived by some guy whose background he knew nothing about.

Even parents in Japan were quite open-minded about their children dating in high school. They did not, like the vast majority of Chinese parents, crudely slap high school romance with the label of "puppy love" and guard against it as if it were a flood or a beast, terrified that it would lead their children astray.

This generation of Japanese parents had grown up in an environment where the country strongly encouraged young people to marry and have children early. You could see it from Japan's legal marriage age.

In Japan, men could marry once they turned eighteen, while women could marry even earlier, at sixteen.

What did eighteen mean? You had just entered university. What did sixteen mean? You had not even finished high school.

So in Japan, plenty of people married at eighteen, had children at twenty, held grandchildren just after turning forty, had four generations living under one roof in their sixties, and were practically treated as ancestors by the time they reached their eighties. No one found it strange in the slightest.

That was what you called the general environment.

Ahem, all right, that was getting a little off topic.

So Naito spent a full dozen or so seconds observing Wu Yufei, pulling out everything he knew about him and analyzing it to see whether this guy was suitable for dating his sister Junko.

"So does little Junko have a boyfriend or not? Give me a straight answer!"

Though it had only been a dozen short seconds, that brief silence had been agonizing for Wu Yufei. So he asked the most crucial question for the third time.

"As far as I know, no. She was pretty introverted in middle school, after all."

"I see~~"

After getting the answer he most wanted from Naito Tetsuya, Wu Yufei breathed a sigh of relief.

He had originally been worried that such a cute girl surely would not lack admirers. If she already had a boyfriend, that would have been troublesome.

But now that Junko was still single, Wu Yufei had no need for any reservations. He just had to launch a bold offensive!

"What, are you really planning to pursue my sister?"

Seeing the undisguised eagerness on Wu Yufei's face, Naito asked.

"Of course!"

Wu Yufei answered firmly.

What was wrong with boldly pursuing the person he liked? Wu Yufei did not think it was anything embarrassing, so he gave Naito Tetsuya an unequivocal answer.

Then Wu Yufei narrowed his eyes again and looked at Naito Tetsuya with ill intent.

"Tetsu... bro~~"

The next moment, Wu Yufei imitated Junko's tone and called Naito Tetsuya "Tetsu bro."

"Uwah!!"

In an instant, Naito Tetsuya felt goosebumps rise all over his body. He immediately dodged away from Wu Yufei, looking at him as if he were a pervert.

"What are you trying to do?! That's disgusting! Don't ever call me that again!"

"Since she's your sister, you should know some of little Junko's preferences, right, Tetsu?"

Wu Yufei also felt that what he had just done had indeed been a little disgusting. He gave two light coughs to ease the awkwardness, then hurriedly fired off a string of questions.

"Of course I know those things, but I don't want to tell you!"

"Why?!"

"Because you disgusted me so badly just now!"

"Don't say that, Senior Naito. You know what kind of person I am—I'm absolutely reliable! Besides, look at how many assists I gave you in these past few games. Help me out with an assist this time too!"

"Cut it out! If you want to pursue Junko, do it with your own ability. I won't stop you. But don't even think about getting assists from me!"

Naito Tetsuya righteously refused Wu Yufei, then prepared to leave.

"Don't be so stingy~! How about this! In every game from now on, whether it's an intrasquad game, a friendly, the prefectural tournament, or even the national tournament, as long as I'm on the court, I guarantee you'll be my first passing option. I'll feed you the ball like crazy and help you score! I'll make you the number one center in the prefecture... no, the entire country! And if there's ever a girl you want to pursue, I'll do everything I can to help you too. The only condition is that you tell me what Junko likes to do!"

Wu Yufei put an arm around Murasame Kengo's shoulders again and offered a rather tempting deal.

"..."

Hearing Wu Yufei's offer, Murasame Kengo fell into thought.

"An average of no fewer than thirty points per game!!"

After thinking for several seconds, Murasame Kengo named his price.

"...Deal!!"

After hesitating for a moment, Wu Yufei finally agreed readily.

As long as there was room to negotiate, anything could be discussed! As for whether Wu Yufei would fulfill those promises after winning Junko over, that depended first on Wu Yufei's mood and second on Naito Tetsuya's own ability.

Not wanting to make Junko wait outside the café for too long, Wu Yufei and Naito arranged a time and place to meet secretly tomorrow and exchange information. Then they walked out of the café.

"You took so long! Yufei, Tetsu bro!"

"Ahahaha, sorry, sorry. It was something important and urgent, so we talked a little longer."

Wu Yufei laughed it off, then said goodbye to the siblings before turning toward his apartment.

"What were you two talking about? Was it really that important?"

Naito Junko turned to look at her older brother and asked curiously.

"Well, sort of."

Naito Tetsuya did not give a clear answer.

After all, he had just sold out his little sister in exchange for becoming the number one center in the country.