Haruko Akagi

Haruko is Takenori's younger sister and Sakuragi's love interest. Sweet and with a captivating personality, Haruko is always around to cheer on the players, especially her brother Takenori (who is extremely protective of her and taught her the basics of basketball) and Sakuragi, whom she considers as her best friend. Haruko often appears at matches together with Sakuragi's cohorts and her two best friends, Fujii and Matsui. She, like most girls in Shohoku High, only has eyes for Kaede, although he never reciprocates her feelings and, later in the anime, she acknowledges that he won't love her the way she wants him to and tries to let go of her crush, however not successful.