Shohoku, Reunite!

"Sakuragi~~~!"

Three men suddenly burst in through the door, wailing as they threw themselves onto Sakuragi's bed! It was as if something terribly tragic had happened, and they were even sobbing convulsively.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! What's wrong with you guys? It's just an injury! What are you doing? You're acting like you'll never see me again! Get off, you're crushing me!" Sakuragi said helplessly.

"Ahh~~! Sakuragi, and you're still lying at a time like this! Look how sick you are, even your hair has turned yellow!!!"

The three of them continued crying and sniffling.

"If you idiots don't stop, I'm treating you to my iron head technique and making you remember how it felt back then!" Sakuragi was about to unleash his ultimate move.

"Ah!! Run!!" Hearing that Sakuragi was about to use his finisher, they scrambled off the bed.

"You guys wouldn't happen to be..." Haruko seemed to recognize them.

"That's right! I'm the chubby, round-faced, slightly thick-lipped Takamiya Nozomi! I'm the mature-looking Noma Tadaichiro with the sexy beard! I'm Ohkusu Yuji, whose hair is even blonder than Sakuragi's and who is better-looking than him! We are the embodiments of justice, the representatives of true friendship between men—the Sakuragi Gang!" The three struck matching poses after introducing themselves.

"Here we go again~~~" Sakuragi said impatiently.

"Wait... huh? Where's Mito Yohei?" Sakuragi counted their numbers and realized one was missing!

"Sakuragi!! Can't you pay attention to the three of us for once??" Their carefully arranged pose instantly fell apart, and all three collapsed to the floor.

"Yohei should be pretty busy right now," Takamiya said with a sigh.

"Did that guy fall in love?" Sakuragi suddenly leaned close to Takamiya's ear and spoke softly.

"No!" Takamiya answered firmly.

"Then... he isn't still doing all kinds of odd jobs, is he?" Sakuragi asked in confusion.

"No. Oh, right, Sakuragi, didn't you go to the draft? You didn't see Yohei there?" Takamiya's words only confused Sakuragi further.

"The draft??? Yohei went as security? Or a cameraman? Or..." Sakuragi could not think of what else Yohei could have been doing at the draft.

"Neither! I seriously wonder whether you even attended the draft! Yohei entered the draft too, and he got selected!" Takamiya's words stunned Sakuragi.

"The draft?? Yohei??? What the hell is going on!!!!" Sakuragi was completely lost.

"After you got injured following the National Tournament and went to the United States, Yohei became bored every day. After finishing his jobs, he started playing basketball at school. Who would've thought that kid had basketball instincts almost as good as yours, Sakuragi? He didn't have your incredible jumping ability, but he had an extremely accurate three-point shot. Later, when he heard professional players could make a lot of money, he trained even harder. Yohei entered the draft last year, but no team picked him. So he trained intensely for another whole year, and finally, in this year's draft, the Sendai Wanderers selected him with the sixth pick!" Takamiya recounted everything to Sakuragi.

"Damn it, Yohei kept this from me. We talked on the phone several times, and he never mentioned it!" Sakuragi said angrily.

"Yohei made us keep it secret. He was afraid you'd rush back to Japan after finding out," Takamiya explained.

"That guy... now that I think about it, when they announced the sixth pick, I think I... Hahaha, no wonder, no wonder!" Sakuragi finally remembered.

"Sakuragi, what were you muttering about just now?" Ohkusu seemed to have heard him.

"Nothing, nothing... Hahaha, I never thought Yohei had talent for basketball too! Hahaha!" Sakuragi laughed foolishly.

While Sakuragi was happily chatting in the hospital with Akagi, the Sakuragi Gang, and the others, Rukawa Kaede had finished his showdown with Sakuragi. Together with team owner Mr. Takayama and Kawaguchi, who had arrived from the hospital afterward, he headed for the Jaguars' home city—Kobe! Thousands upon thousands of fans were already waiting there for the arrival of the team's top pick.

Kobe, a port city in western Japan with a population of 150,000. Basketball had not always been everything in this city, but the team's progress in recent years, along with the arrival of top pick Rukawa Kaede, had filled the place with the spirit of basketball.

A refreshing breeze swept through Kobe in June. At two in the afternoon, Rukawa Kaede's flight arrived at Kobe Airport on schedule. A huge crowd of fans waited anxiously in the terminal for him to appear. Before long, Rukawa Kaede and his group emerged, and the scene instantly erupted! The cheers and screams were so deafening that they seemed ready to blow the roof off the terminal. Kobe Airport had prepared in advance, mobilizing roughly police officers to maintain order. Rukawa Kaede's group did not accept any media interviews. They moved forward quietly and slowly through a passage forcibly cleared by the police, truly as if a superstar king had arrived!

After leaving the terminal, Rukawa Kaede and the others boarded the Jaguars' team bus. Fans surrounded the vehicle and shouted, "Rukawa! Rukawa! Our love for you knows no bounds! Jaguars! Jaguars! The pride in our hearts!~~~" Their unified chant echoed through the airport. The bus slowly drove away, but the fans were unwilling to leave for a long time, continuing to shout their resounding slogans.

"Rukawa, this is the first time I've ever seen so many people waiting to welcome someone off a plane. Looks like you're really popular in Kobe!" Kawaguchi sat beside Rukawa Kaede and asked with great interest.

"It's alright." Perhaps exhausted from the journey, Rukawa Kaede was nowhere near as enthusiastic as Kawaguchi.

"I'm sleepy. Wake me when we get there," Rukawa Kaede added.

"Fine, this guy..." Kawaguchi's enthusiasm was doused by Rukawa Kaede's indifference.

Rukawa Kaede really was sleepy. Leaning against his seat, he occasionally began to snore. It made sense—he had just gone through such an intense showdown with Sakuragi that morning, then immediately boarded a plane for Kobe.

"This kid sleeps soundly," Kawaguchi said as he looked at the sleeping Rukawa Kaede.

Soon, you'll see your old friends again. After years of effort, the plan to reunite Shohoku is finally about to come true! I've waited for this day for who knows how long! As Kawaguchi thought about his long-held plan finally coming to fruition, tears involuntarily appeared on his face.

After more than an hour of travel, Rukawa Kaede and his group finally arrived at the Jaguars' home arena—the Water Pump Center.

Water pumps were one of the symbols of Kobe as a port city. Almost everything at sea had a place for water pumps, and when the pumps started running, it meant the whole system had begun operating, much like on a basketball court. It was a relatively old arena, built in 1986, and had been standing for years. Fortunately, it had undergone frequent renovations in recent years, and the arena as a whole met competition standards. It could seat 1 people. The Jaguars did not usually train here, but at a practice facility not far from the arena. During the offseason and whenever there were no games, the players and coaches trained there. It also had a gym, rehabilitation center, dining center, and more... it was essentially the Jaguars' headquarters.

So why had the bus gone to the arena instead of the practice facility? Because Kawaguchi wanted Rukawa Kaede to meet the old acquaintances he had mentioned!

"Kawaguchi, take Rukawa Kaede around and let him familiarize himself with the arena first. I still have a meeting to attend. You handle the rest," team owner Mr. Takayama told Kawaguchi as soon as he got off the bus.

"Got it, sir. Leave it to me." After Kawaguchi spoke, Mr. Takayama got into a sedan and drove away.

After arriving at the arena, Rukawa Kaede and the others first went to the team locker room. It was not only a place to change uniforms, but also where they held pregame preparation meetings and postgame review meetings. It even had a medical room, dining area, and everything else they needed.

"Rukawa Kaede, look who's here!" Kawaguchi's words startled Rukawa Kaede, who was still looking around and familiarizing himself with the arena.

"Mitsui... Miyagi... what are you two doing here??" Rukawa Kaede paused for a moment, but still recognized them.

"Hey, kid, we got here before you. By seniority, you're the rookie here!" Mitsui said first.

"Yeah, and you were late on your very first day reporting in!" Miyagi immediately added.

"Fine, I was late!" With that, Rukawa Kaede, Mitsui, and Miyagi stepped forward and embraced one another. Though the three had represented Shohoku for only one school year, the friendship they had built was incredibly deep.

It turned out that Mitsui and Miyagi were both Jaguars players. The team had drafted them two years ago and last year, respectively.

"Once Sakuragi recovers from his injury and returns, Shohoku's Five Tigers will finally be together again!!" Seeing the three embrace, Kawaguchi said emotionally.

"Hm? Could it be..." Rukawa Kaede seemed to understand something after hearing Kawaguchi's words.

"Yes, that person is..." Kawaguchi trailed off, his gaze returning to the hospital.

"Oh, right, brother, you still haven't told him about that," Haruko reminded her brother.

"Oh, right. Sakuragi, from now on, we'll be teammates again. Once you've fully recovered, I'll take you back to the team to report in," Akagi said seriously.

"Teammates with the gorilla... report in..." Sakuragi had probably received too much new information all at once and could not process it immediately. He froze there again.