Soft sunlight streamed through the windows of Class 1-7.
It made the dust drifting through the air stand out sharply.
For the students, the brief stretch before morning classes was a hopeful start to a new day.
But for Kawamoto Kazuki...
It was merely another morning spent fighting his heavy eyelids.
He had been lucky yesterday and landed a night shift at that out-of-the-way convenience store.
Although he could lean against the counter and rest when there were no customers.
That sort of rest could, at most, ease his physical exhaustion.
It could do nothing to soothe his taut nerves.
Kawamoto Kazuki sat in the very back row by the classroom windows.
It was a corner that people easily overlooked.
His forehead rested against the cool desktop.
His arms were crossed beneath his chin.
He looked utterly drained.
Years of working part-time had taught him a valuable lesson.
Only during those precious fifteen-minute breaks between classes.
Could his drowsy brain get a little breathing room.
Although school had only started a few days ago.
In the eyes of his classmates.
Kawamoto Kazuki was a complete oddball.
He was handsome, with a sharply defined face beneath neat, short black hair.
His high nose bridge and deep-set eyes looked as though they had been carefully sculpted.
But his gaze was detached, without much warmth when he looked at people.
His thin lips were habitually pressed together, lending his exceptional good looks an unapproachable chill.
He was also tall and powerfully built, even a few centimeters taller than his classmate Hanamichi Sakuragi, who had just joined the basketball team.
Yet he did not play basketball or enjoy any sports.
He did not talk to people or join clubs, was always hurrying somewhere, and spent every break asleep.
Even during class, he still looked as though he could never get enough sleep.
Yet he was surprisingly good at his studies.
Every time, he could answer his teachers' questions accurately and in detail, regardless of the subject.
Some of those questions even went beyond the first-year high school curriculum.
"Hey! Did you guys see that dunk I, the genius Hanamichi Sakuragi, just made?"
A shout brimming with boundless energy rang out from a distance, instantly shattering the sleepy atmosphere before morning classes.
The red-haired Hanamichi Sakuragi charged into the classroom like a blazing flame.
Yohei Mito, Nozomi Takamiya, and the others followed behind him.
"We saw, we saw. You nearly slammed it onto the gorilla's head."
"A genius's dunk really is something else!"
Nozomi Takamiya rubbed his stomach and teased him with a grin.
"Bastard! That was an accident! It's all that gorilla's fault for refusing to let me dunk!"
Sakuragi planted his hands on his hips, his booming voice drawing glances from several classmates.
He began gesturing as though nobody else were there.
"Just you wait! Before long, I, the genius Sakuragi, will be the ace of the Shohoku Basketball Team!"
"We'll sweep Kainan and Ryonan and conquer the nationals!"
Sakuragi's noisy shouting battered their eardrums.
Kawamoto Kazuki, slumped over his desk, furrowed his brow almost imperceptibly.
But he did not move, maintaining his sleeping posture.
Only if someone watched closely enough.
Would they notice his head shift slightly toward Sakuragi.
"Ace? You absolute idiot."
An icy voice came from the classroom doorway.
It was accompanied by a burst of girls' screams.
Their unrestrained voices were feverish.
"Rukawa!"
"It's Kaede Rukawa!"
"He's so handsome!"
Kaede Rukawa stopped, yet did not stop.
He did not even glance at the girls.
He simply walked away.
Sakuragi's fury flared instantly.
"You damn fox! What did you say?! Come take me on if you've got the guts!"
Sakuragi instantly bristled and was about to charge out, but Yohei and the others scrambled to hold him back.
"Kaede Rukawa... I heard he's amazing at basketball. He was already a super rookie back in middle school."
Some girls discussed him quietly,
Their voices full of admiration.
"Yeah, he's handsome and great at basketball. He's practically perfect. I love him so much!"
"Hmph! What super rookie? Next to the genius Sakuragi, they're all trash!"
Sakuragi shouted defiantly.
Slumped over his desk, Kawamoto heard every word of their conversation.
Kaede Rukawa... super rookie...
Hanamichi Sakuragi... genius...
The Shohoku Basketball Team...
An exceedingly faint thought cast a tiny ripple across the still lake of his heart.
Was Shohoku's basketball team really that good...?
He still did not raise his head, as though nothing around him had anything to do with him.
The first class that afternoon was PE.
During free activity time, most students gathered to chat or do some light exercise.
Kawamoto Kazuki asked the PE teacher to excuse him, saying he felt unwell.
Rather than return to the classroom to rest, he found himself walking toward the basketball gym.
Before he even approached.
The thudding of basketballs against the floor...
The sharp squeaking of sneakers against the wooden flooring...
The basketball players' shouts...
Drifted out from inside the gym.
To him, those sounds were as alluring as a siren's song.
He headed straight for the gym's open doors.
A small group of girls had gathered at the entrance.
They peered excitedly inside, cheering from time to time.
All their praise was for Kaede Rukawa.
Beside those girls stood a girl with a gentle air.
She was not as fervent as the others.
Her eyes held sincere concern and appreciation.
She was Haruko Akagi, the younger sister of basketball captain Takenori Akagi.
Haruko immediately noticed Kawamoto Kazuki when he stopped at the entrance.
The boy was very tall, even a little taller than Kaede Rukawa and Sakuragi.
His school uniform could not conceal his sturdy, upright frame.
He stood there quietly, looking into the gym.
The clean lines of his profile were surprisingly handsome.
Out of curiosity and a trace of fondness, Haruko hesitated before approaching him.
"Um... hello."
Haruko tilted her head up, her voice gentle.
Kawamoto Kazuki seemed to pause in surprise before slowly turning his head.
His eyes held a hint of aloofness at being disturbed.
"Hello."
His reply was brief and flat.
"You're... really tall."
Haruko gave him a friendly smile, trying to make the conversation feel more natural.
"Are you here to watch the basketball team practice?"
"Do you like basketball too?"
The question made Kawamoto pause for a moment.
Like it?
It was far more than that.
It was the only light that kept him moving forward.
But at that moment.
He could only forcefully suppress those surging feelings.
He shook his head and lowered his eyes, hiding any emotion that might show through.
"No, I was just passing by and taking a look."
He paused, then added, "I don't know how to play basketball at all."
"Oh, I see..."
Haruko was a little surprised, but did not doubt him. She merely thought this tall boy seemed somewhat introverted and reserved.
Just as Kawamoto finished speaking, the practice inside seemed to move into an offense-and-defense drill.
A figure cut into the paint like an arrow,
Taking off, driving past, rising into the air!
It was Kaede Rukawa!
With a practiced sense of rhythm, his movements fluid and graceful, he faced the player defending him.
With just a simple shoulder fake, he easily shook off his opponent.
Then he flicked his wrist gently.
The basketball dropped through the net.
His movements were clean and crisp.
"Wow! Kaede Rukawa is so cool!"
"Kaede Rukawa, I love you!"
Even Haruko was momentarily captivated by Kaede Rukawa.
Kawamoto's gaze changed.
His earlier exhaustion vanished.
A sharp light suddenly burst from his eyes!
It was the instinctive reaction of an apex predator spotting prey.
It was the focus of a chess player facing an opponent's intricate setup.
It was proof that his basketball instincts had been ignited in an instant!
Yet that sharp light was like a meteor streaking across the night sky, brilliant but fleeting.
It lasted only an instant before swiftly dimming and going out.
His brain raced, instantly completing its analysis of what had just happened.
[Kaede Rukawa has solid fundamentals, a standard opening stride, excellent jump height, a stable posture in the air, and soft wrist control. The range and timing of his fake... are passable.]
[That's what a super rookie can do?]
[Nothing special.]
[He doesn't even qualify to make me shoot with my left hand...]
That lightning-fast assessment was neither envy nor contempt.
It was scrutiny born of his own formidable ability.
A trace of disappointment showed on Kawamoto Kazuki's face.
He remembered reality.
He remembered his work schedule.
He remembered his mother's exhausted face.
At that moment, the world inside the basketball gym was dazzling, but it was forbidden territory he could not enter.
It was as much about the helplessness of life.
As it was about his disappointment in Kaede Rukawa's performance.
He withdrew his gaze and did not look inside the gym again.
From the other end of the court came Hanamichi Sakuragi's loud cries.
He seemed to be practicing basic dribbling.
But the ball hit his feet several times.
"Sorry, I'll be leaving now."
He spoke quietly to Haruko beside him.
Without waiting for her reply, he turned and walked briskly away.
His retreating figure looked all the lonelier in the afternoon sunlight.
Haruko blinked as she watched him walk away.
She felt a little puzzled.
For an instant just now, she seemed to have sensed something from this boy who claimed he could not play basketball at all.
An unmistakably unusual aura...
It was the same sense of pressure she felt when watching top NBA stars play on television.
Was it her imagination?
She shook her head, finding the thought laughable.
She turned her gaze back inside the gym.
Kawamoto Kazuki, meanwhile, threw himself back into the currents of life.
Once again, he buried that dream called basketball deep within himself.