The crisp clicks of the shutter came one after another. Her gaze was so focused that the figure in her lens seemed to be the only thing left in the world. Even the movement of her fingertips as she pressed the button carried an almost reverent seriousness.
Her reason for coming had never had anything to do with the game.
Had she not heard that Chi Tong would be there to watch, she would never have shown up.
By now, the video camera's memory card was already filled with close-ups of Chi Tong.
His profile as he calmly watched the court, his expression when he occasionally spoke with Sendo, even the tiny movements of his fingers lightly tapping the railing-she captured each shot with precision, finding just the right angle and light.
As for the fierce clash between Shohoku and Hakata Commercial High School on the court, it was nothing more than a blurry backdrop to her. She barely spared a thought for the changing score.
Her eyes and heart were fixed solely on the figure she had come all this way to see. A short distance away, Mukai Yayo was in an entirely different state.
She kept adjusting the angle of her camera. Her shutter clicked just as frequently, but her lens covered every crucial corner of the court.
At times, she aimed at the players battling fiercely for possession; at others, she turned toward the stands. Occasionally, she swept her lens over the scoreboard to capture the moment the score changed.
As a local reporter from Kanagawa, she had always paid particular attention to Shohoku, the team that had fought its way through the prefectural tournament to reach the national tournament for the first time.
She knew what this game meant to Shohoku, and she understood that every