"Kudo, have some water."
A girl's voice suddenly came from behind Ryota Kudo. He turned around and saw Mari Kawai, the girl wearing purple lipstick.
She held an opened bottle of water, and her face was flushed. She looked terribly shy.
This was completely at odds with Mari Kawai's earlier forceful, assertive demeanor. Strangest of all, Ryota Kudo felt he was hallucinating.
He actually saw two pink hearts in Mari Kawai's eyes. This was far too surreal.
Still, Ryota Kudo did not turn down Mari Kawai's kindness. He took the water from her hand and had a small sip.
"Thank you, Kawai."
Not far away, someone had been watching Ryota Kudo the entire time: Eri Fujisawa, who also had her sights on him.
A woman's sixth sense told Eri Fujisawa that this girl bringing him water definitely had designs on Ryota Kudo.
Eri Fujisawa was a straightforward girl. Whenever she had an idea, she acted on it.
Without any hesitation, Eri Fujisawa walked straight over to Ryota Kudo and asked with a sneer.
"Is that water really so delicious? Has Shohoku gotten so poor that you need outsiders to bring you water?
Ayako, what are you doing as the team manager? Don't you know you can't let athletes drink things from unknown sources?!"
"You!" Ayako Inoue's brows drew even tighter. This woman is so annoying. Now she's finding fault with me.
Still, Eri Fujisawa was not wrong. On professional teams, players were not allowed to casually drink water handed to them by others.
Mari Kawai was even more displeased as she glared at Eri Fujisawa. "Who are you? I'm from Shohoku High School's News Department. I'm no outsider."
"Anyone who isn't in the basketball club is an outsider. Am I right, Ayako?"
Eri Fujisawa did not back down at all.