Akagi, Haruko

赤木晴子

Haruko is Takenori's younger sister and Sakuragi's love interest. Sweet and possessing a captivating personality, Haruko is always present to cheer on the players, particularly her brother Takenori (who is extremely protective of her and taught her the basics of basketball) and Sakuragi, whom she regards as her best friend. Haruko frequently attends matches alongside Sakuragi's teammates and her two best friends, Fujii and Matsui. Like most girls at Shohoku High, she is infatuated with Kaede, although he never reciprocates her feelings. Later in the anime, she acknowledges that he will not love her in the way she desires and attempts to move on from her crush, though she is not successful.
Haruko was responsible for discovering Sakuragi's athletic talent after watching him attempt to dunk a ball at her request; she was impressed by the height of his jump and deemed him capable enough to join the team. Hanamichi always listens to Haruko because of his deep affection for her. They have gone on some dates (which Sakuragi considers unofficial) and have occasionally trained together.
Despite her emotional denseness and sweetness, Haruko is a fairly good student (she assisted Akagi in tutoring Sakuragi and the other three starters when they had to retake certain exams) and is not afraid to stand up for others when necessary. She confronted Sakuragi when she mistakenly believed he had attacked Rukawa, and she also defended him numerous times from Kaede's most rabid fangirls (one of whom even knocked her to the ground in the anime series).