Moichi Taoka's Obsession (I)

I grew another centimeter last year. I'll definitely grow more this year!

She spoke tough, but inside she felt utterly miserable, as if ten thousand alpacas were stampeding through her heart.

What on earth had this guy been eating these past two years to grow so much taller? Damn it!

Seeing Xiangtian Yanyi's face flushed red from holding it in, Okawa Teruo could not help laughing. He quickly changed the subject. "Right, Yanyi, didn't Ryonan make the National Tournament today too?"

"I heard the qualifiers in Osaka were fiercely contested."

At the mention of Ryonan, Xiangtian Yanyi instantly seemed to have been injected with adrenaline, and her frustration over her height vanished without a trace.

She abruptly straightened her back, held her head high, and puffed out her chest. Her face was full of pride, and she could not suppress the smugness in her voice.

"Of course! Not only did our Ryonan make the National Tournament, we qualified as the number one team in the Kanagawa preliminaries!"

"And do you know what else?"

"We defeated Hainan—the Hainan University Affiliated High School that had ruled Kanagawa for sixteen years!"

"Is Ryonan the Ryonan High School from Kanagawa?"

A somewhat disdainful voice suddenly sounded beside them, interrupting Xiangtian Yanyi and Okawa Teruo's conversation.

They turned toward the voice and saw a boy approaching in the same uniform as Okawa Teruo. A curled braid hung behind his head, and he held a dog-eared basketball magazine in his hand, his gaze openly scrutinizing them.

He walked straight up to Xiangtian Yanyi, opened the magazine, and handed it to her. Pointing at the article near the bottom of the cover, he said, "There's a basketball report on Kanagawa here. Is the Ryonan you were talking about the one written about here?"

Xiangtian Yanyi lowered her