If the vast interdependent knowledge of the Enternetz can be trusted, she and Hinata attend the same school, which would provide a linkage there (now that she's not pretending to be a guy to get into Gedo High, which I'm still not sure isn't the Japanese making a joke out of the pronunciation of "ghetto", given the other characters from there)

That said, if Gryph thought Sakura's immediate circle of friends was crazy, I can't imagine what he'd make of Akira's. Yurika's a bit standout(and makes Juri's hair look relatively normal), and Zaki's just waiting to bring about a back-reference to Sakura's snark about the Baroness being a dominatrix.

Though I have this chapter mostly to thank for being aware of Rival Schools at all (I was a SNES/Genesis player back in the era it initially came out), but I'll have to see if I can track down some of the discs. Good over-the-top Capcom fighters are always fun to acquire.