Change [ A Slam Dunk Fanfiction ]

Chapter 2

Hana's POV

Long story short, my brokenhearted brother made trouble with the basketball team and was now getting his butt kicked in the gymnasium by the captain.

I don't like it when my brother is getting laughed at and be made a fool but at times, such as this, I couldn't blame them. This all happened in the first place because Michi did something stupid.

Again.

"They're totally on different levels.", I heard Noma-kun say.

Everyone who was watching had their jaw dropped in surprise as the captain, who was called Akagi Takenori, was dunking one ball after the other. He already scored 8 out of the 10 that was agreed by them both.

I then saw the girl from earlier, Haruko-san, suddenly appear through the gymnasium door. She seemed about of breath which showed that she ran to get here. I wasn't that far up from where they were so I could hear what they were talking about.

It surprised me that Haruko-san was actually Akagi-san's little sister. I thought about it when I first heard the captain's name as they had the same last names but quickly disregarded it by how different they looked like from each other. And judging by how Michi was still getting his ass kicked by said guy, he didn't know either.

Interesting.

Turning my attention back towards the court, I saw Akagi-san teasing Michi since no matter how hard he tried to, he couldn't steal the ball from the former's grasp. As Akagi-san was running towards the hoop, Michi was running after him with all his might but unfortunately he slipped.

It would've been good if it ended like that but no.

Just as my brother was falling down the floor, his hand shot up and grabbed the captain's pants, pulling it down with him.

My face grew red as Akagi-san's pants fell off, showing his backside. I immediately turned the other way but bumped into a wall. A rather, soft and warm wall.

Looking up, I took a step back as I saw that it was the guy that my brother was fighting earlier in the rooftop.

Rukawa-san, was it?

I looked at him with furrowed eyebrows and scoffed before going on my way.

"Tomato.."

I heard him mutter but when I looked back, he acted like he didn't say anything and continued watching the spectacle below called "Sakuragi Hanamichi making a fool of himself in front of the entire school".

Maybe he didn't really say anything and I was just imagining it?

Frankly, whatever it was, I didn't care.

~

As classes came to an end, I went to the comfort room to fix my hair. The girls from earlier thought that it would be a good idea to put a chewed gum on my hair and then claim it as an accident. I wet my hair, trying hard to remove it but it just got stickier. As I was looking at myself in the mirror, I instantly understood why they treated me that way. If I were them, I would've made fun of me too.

Probably.

When I was in middle school, I was bullied because of my looks. My plump figure and acne covered face were always their main targets when spouting insults. I lost confidence in my body after that and started wearing oversized clothing in an attempt to feel even a little bit comfortable with going outside.

Second was my red hair, which was natural so I couldn't really do anything about it. They couldn't tease me about it anyways because my brother had the same hair color. Teasing me about it meant teasing him too, and we all knew where that would take them.

This was the reason why I didn't have any friends during middle school.

Well, I didn't want to make friends with stupid people like them anyway.

Of course as my brother, Michi defended me most of the time from my bullies but being the immature and childish middle schoolers that they were, that didn't stop them. The teachers regarded my brother as a delinquent so the excuse of him defending me when he got into fights weren't at all believable. Even if it was the truth.

What could I say?

He was the best brother I could ever ask for.

Thankfully, as our middle school years were coming to an end, my bullies started treating me as if I was invisible which made life in school a bit more tolerable. I finished middle school with no troubles because of that.

Months before starting our new highschool like in Shohoku High, I decided that I wanted to change. I asked Michi for help to lose weight, in hopes of changing my life.

And being the best brother there was, of course he helped; although it wasn't the most enjoyable experience.

~

The next morning, Mom told me Michi left in a hurry an hour earlier than I did and so I walked to school alone. It was weird and a new feeling to me.

I always had him with me when I go to places but it felt different when I was alone.

It was scarier than usual.

It was an uncomfortable feeling for me as I walked alongside people I didn't know.

I clutched my bag closer and lowered my head, as I tried my best to sink further behind my massive frizzy hair. This was one of the reasons I grew my hair out this long because it was handy when trying to hide.

A couple days more passed and Michi still wasn't going with me to school. I found out from asking his friends that he was trying his best to convince the basketball captain to let him join the club.

When I learnt that, I realized that I shouldn't depend on Michi all the time.

We were growing older and he wouldn't be able to be there for me all the time because he has his own life to live.

And I thought that it was time for me to live mine.

As soon as I got home, I asked our mom if she could help me with something. When I told her what it was, her eyes lit up as if she was like a kid who got their favorite toy on Christmas day.

When we arrived at the salon, I sighed as Mom was getting giddier by the second. She was more excited than I was, and I was the one who's about to get her hair chopped.

I knew I was the one who asked for this but I couldn't help but feel nervous. Getting rid of most of my hair felt like a big step. It might not mean much for others but my hair was one of the few things that gave me comfort whenever I wanted to disappear then.

"Oh my gosh my darling, isn't it just exciting!", my mom tugged on my arm and started jumping up and down like a little kid, "Now the world will see how beautiful you are!"

Seriously, isn't she supposed to be the older one?

Well... here we go.