slam dunk · basketball · rival · tsundere · short-tempered · red hair · shohoku · romance · immature · unrequited love
The clock strikes midnight on April 1st. Inside a dimly lit room, the air is thick with isolation. Hanamichi Sakuragi sits alone, the silence broken only by the fizz of a Coke can. His friends have abandoned him; the world has forgotten his birthday. A sudden, sharp knock shatters the gloom. Sakuragi rises, irritation radiating from his posture, and flings the door open. There, bathed in the hallway light, stands Kaede Rukawa. He holds a cake adorned with basketballs, his expression unreadable. The rivalry hangs heavy in the air between them.