Kanagawa Prefecture, Kainan High School, basketball gym.
This was the reigning champion of Kanagawa for seventeen consecutive years, a sacred ground in the hearts of every high school basketball player.
Yet at this moment, the atmosphere within this holy ground was somewhat grave.
During a break in training, the players gathered in small groups, all passing around the same issue of Weekly Basketball.
"What kind of joke is this?! Who does this guy think he is, talking to Maki like that?!" Nobunaga Kiyota was the first to leap up. Pointing at Shirakawa's photo in the magazine, his face flushed red with anger. "What White-Haired Demon? He's just a white-haired monkey who doesn't know his place!"
"Nobunaga, keep it down." Soichiro Jin's voice was as gentle as ever, but as he adjusted his glasses, a trace of barely perceptible sharpness flashed through his eyes.
"But, Jin! Look at what he wrote—'Shinichi Maki's throne is nothing more than a toy chair'! That's an outright provocation!" Nobunaga Kiyota was still furious.
"So what are you planning to do? Rush over to Shohoku and pick a fight with him?" A voice as steady as a mountain rang out.
The speaker was Kainan's captain, the man known as the Emperor—Shinichi Maki.
He merely stood there without even looking at Nobunaga, yet his naturally imposing presence instantly silenced Nobunaga Kiyota, who had been bristling like an enraged monkey.
"Maki..." Nobunaga lowered his head nervously.
Shinichi Maki ignored him and took the magazine from Soichiro Jin, flipping to Shirakawa's interview.
His gaze fell upon Shirakawa's calm, confident photograph.
The boy in the photo had white hair and black eyes, so handsome he looked less like a basketball player and more like an idol star straight out of a manga. Yet beneath those seemingly tranquil eyes lay a