After the basketball team's evening practice.
Hanamichi Sakuragi turned down Nozomi Takamiya and the others' invitation to play pachinko.
But to him.
The basketball hoop in this seaside park was the center of his world.
He came to this secluded court alone, carrying a basketball.
"Thump... thump... thump..."
The basketball struck the cracked concrete.
Hanamichi Sakuragi stood near the free-throw line, his expression more serious than ever.
He recalled the shooting form Miss Haruko had taught him.
Bend the knees, raise the ball, aim, release.
"Hee-yah!"
With a loud shout, he hurled the ball toward the hoop with all his strength.
The basketball wobbled into the side of the rim.
It bounced far away.
"Damn it!"
Sakuragi pounded his own head in frustration.
"Why can't a genius like me get it in?!"
He retrieved the ball and tried shooting again and again.
The results were much the same.
The basketball either hit the backboard or missed everything.
Even occasionally touching the rim counted as a decent attempt.
Sakuragi's irritation rose sharply with each failure.
"Why won't it go in?!"
"Stupid basketball!"
He bared his teeth at the basketball in anger.
Just then, a slender figure appeared silently outside the wire fence at the edge of the park.
It was Kawamoto Kazuki.
He had just finished hauling goods at the fish market, and the salty, fishy smell still clung to him.
He was about to head to his next part-time job when the sound of basketball coming from the park caught his attention.
Seeing that he still had plenty of time, he couldn't help stopping.
He watched the court silently through the wire fence.
He discovered that it was his class's so-called genius, Hanamichi Sakuragi, practicing shots.
With just one look.
Kawamoto had already spotted all of Sakuragi's problems.
Disconnected power generation, stiff hand position, poorly coordinated strength...
More importantly, there was a fundamental problem with the placement of his feet.
He had no intention of saying anything and simply watched Sakuragi.
He watched him take one clumsy yet persistent shot after another.
At last, Sakuragi completely deflated and sat on the ground, panting toward the sky.
He muttered words like "damn it" and "bastard."
Seeing that Sakuragi had stopped shooting.
Kawamoto Kazuki prepared to walk away indifferently, as usual.
A beginner's practice like this was meaningless in his eyes.
It was merely entertainment, watching someone play.
He had already wasted too much time.
Just as he was about to turn and leave.
At that moment, for some reason, Sakuragi suddenly turned his head.
Their eyes met.
Kazuki Yamamoto discovered, to his surprise.
What filled Hanamichi Sakuragi's eyes was not dejection.
But a steadfast, blazing light.
That light stopped Kawamoto Kazuki in his tracks as he was about to leave.
He stood there, lips pressed together, thinking for a few seconds.
Finally, he stepped forward and made his way onto the court.
His shadow stretched in the setting sun, completely covering Hanamichi Sakuragi as he sat on the ground.
Sakuragi kept staring at Kawamoto until Kawamoto stopped in front of him.
Annoyance at being interrupted immediately appeared on his face.
"Oh, it's you, whatever-ki. Get lost! Don't interrupt this genius's special training!"
Kawamoto Kazuki ignored him.
He bent down and picked up the basketball from the ground with his left hand.
His tone was utterly flat.
"Forgive my bluntness, but it seems you had nothing to do with basketball before."
"Bastard! What did you say?!"
Sakuragi sprang up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
"Did you only start playing basketball in high school?"
"Was it because you loved it?"
Kawamoto's voice was quiet, yet it made Sakuragi inexplicably choke up.
At the mention of this, a goofy smile instantly bloomed across Sakuragi's face.
He puffed out his chest and shouted.
"Of course it was for Miss Haruko!"
"I'm going to win Miss Haruko's heart with the coolest dunk!"
The moment he finished speaking.
In an instant, the air seemed to freeze.
The placid air around Kawamoto Kazuki abruptly shattered.
An almost tangible fury surged out of him.
Those eyes, always half-lidded, now opened fully.
What churned within them was disappointment!
It was anger!
And, more than that, the chilling severity of someone whose sacred domain had been desecrated!
His outstretched finger nearly jabbed Sakuragi's nose.
"Bastard!"
"What! Did! You! Say?!"
"You dare sully basketball with such a frivolous reason?!"
"What do you think basketball is?!"
"A tool for you to show off in front of girls?!"
"You couldn't be more wrong!"
Before his words had faded, Kawamoto's left hand began dribbling the basketball.
Simple bounces.
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
Every time the basketball struck the ground, the impact sounded enough to throw a heartbeat out of rhythm!
"Listen carefully, idiot!"
He roared, looking toward the hoop a short distance away.
"Basketball-"
Thump!
"Is a brutal competition where even pouring out all your sweat and blood may not bring victory!"
"Basketball-"
Thump!
"Is an oath to carry your teammates' trust and expectations, and never give up, even in the final second!"
"Basketball-"
Thump!
"Is the iron will to remain standing on the court, even with shattered bones and torn muscles, as long as the final whistle hasn't blown!"
"Basketball-"
Thump!
"Is the sky you stake everything to challenge!"
"And now-!"
With Kawamoto's earth-shattering roar.
Kawamoto Kazuki's figure seemed to become a bolt of lightning tearing through time and space!
He moved!
There was no long run-up, only three steps!
As his first step landed, even the ground seemed to tremble.
"I'll let you experience it with your own eyes!"
As he took his second step, waves of air seemed to churn.
On his third step, he launched himself from the free-throw line.
"What real basketball is!!!"
In that instant, time seemed to stretch endlessly!
Hanamichi Sakuragi's pupils abruptly shrank to pinpoints!
Before his eyes, Kawamoto Kazuki's figure seemed to break free of gravity's restraints.
Like an eagle spreading its wings, he soared upward!
His body stretched to its fullest in midair.
His left arm rose high.
The arc of his swing carried devastating power.
He drove the basketball fiercely toward the hoop.
And slammed it down!
A dunk!
It was a dunk!
No, that didn't seem to be a dunk!
It was judgment upon him for desecrating basketball!
"BOOM!!!!!!!!!!"
An unprecedented crash seemed to shake the heavens!
The entire basketball stand let out a violent groan, on the verge of falling apart.
The basketball in Kawamoto's hand seemed to have been imbued with boundless power.
It blasted through the net!
Slammed into the ground!
And flew straight onto the distant beach.
The whole world seemed to fall silent.
Kawamoto Kazuki landed effortlessly.
He didn't even glance at the basketball stand, which was still shaking wildly as though it might collapse at any moment.
He turned his head slightly, his icy gaze sweeping over Hanamichi Sakuragi, who stood frozen like a clay statue.
"Don't ever let me hear you insult basketball with a reason that pointless again."
"Damn it!"
"Why does someone like you have free time to play basketball?!"
"While I..."
He left his words unfinished, sighed, then turned and walked away.
Only deathly silence remained on the court.
Hanamichi Sakuragi stood blankly in place.
His mind held nothing but Kazuki Yamamoto's devastating dunk.
And those roars, every word piercing his heart.
It echoed over and over in the depths of his soul.
Even Sakuragi himself did not know.
A seed called reverence and love...
By Kazuki Yamamoto's miraculous dunk from the free-throw line just moments before...
Along with that deafening declaration of faith...
Had been forcefully...
Branded forever into the deepest recesses of his heart!