My Name Is Actually

A hospital in Tokyo, Japan.

"I didn't die? But where is this? Is this? I've been reborn, and I was just born?"

When Bai Yang opened his eyes, he found a white ceiling before him, and upon seeing his own hands, he confirmed the fact that he had been reborn.

He fell into a daze, but a wave of immense drowsiness soon struck, interrupting his confusion.

In his hazy state, he heard some sounds; he knew it was Japanese, though before—or rather, in his past life—he had only known a little.

Although he had enjoyed Japanese anime in his past life, that didn't mean he could understand it completely, but fortunately, he caught a few words he recognized.

Sounds like "namae akila, Sendou Akira." After that, he knew nothing more.

Bai Yang's childhood was spent mostly in sleep.

After the doctors gave repeated assurances, his parents stopped worrying, assuming he was just naturally sleepy and would grow out of it.

However, he himself was unaware that while he had lacked any physical talent for sports in his past life—

He could even say that as a child, he ran slower than the slowest girl in his class—he possessed high static talent, both in sports and academics.

He had advantages like an active mind and strong analytical skills, and in terms of sports, he possessed talents like a keen sense of timing and Dynamic Vision.

It was just that he had never realized how he differed from others.

These were functions of the brain, so they had carried over.

In particular, he loved to think; he would constantly analyze anything that interested him, even spending the time before falling asleep in thought, which led to his brain being fully developed and his thinking ability constantly improving.

This time, upon rebirth, his brain clearly couldn't contain such active thoughts, so his mind was actively developing his current brain, which was why he was so lethargic.

It wasn't until a month later that he had some time to remain awake, by which point he had fully accepted reality.

"I remember hearing something when I was just born in this life...

Namae, akila, Sendou Akira. If 'namae' means name, then 'akila, Sendou Akira' must be my name. I'm not sure about the pronunciation.

Akila, akila, Akira?

Akira, that should be my given name. So my name is Sendou Akira? Isn't that the pronunciation of Sendou Akira? Is my name Sendou Akira? Is this for real?!"

"So, did I transmigrate into the world of Slam Dunk? Or is it just a coincidence that we share a name? Or did I get the pronunciation wrong?"

Lost in these thoughts, Bai Yang, who had received the name Sendou upon his rebirth, was once again defeated by exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep.

This was just a small interlude; not long after, the slightly more energetic little Sendou realized he was not in the world of Slam Dunk, but that it was merely a coincidence of names.

Perhaps his father was a fan of Sendou Akira.

The reason was that, at a few months old, Sendou saw the date on the television. The plot of Slam Dunk took place in 1994; if he were the Sendou from the manga, he couldn't have been born in the 90s.

Due to his brain issues, Sendou learned very quickly, and his speed in learning to speak far exceeded that of an ordinary person, leading his family to treat him as a little genius. As he grew, he learned that his father was a very busy man.

Although he didn't know what he was busy with and he was rarely home, he gathered from the decorations in the house that his father liked soccer. But that had nothing to do with him.

When Sendou first started elementary school, he received his first birthday gift: a soccer ball. However, anyone could see that Sendou lacked the curiosity for new things that other children had. (An adult wouldn't have that kind of curiosity, for heaven's sake!)

Although his father was a soccer fan, he wasn't the type of soccer fanatic who would force his son to learn the sport. Life just went on in this lukewarm fashion.

The first chapter simply explains the protagonist's situation; the official plot begins in the second chapter.