"Is everyone here?" The rollcall of my basketball coach, Mr. Iossi, echoed down the hall. As he did attendance, my teammates and I anxiously waited for the time to get on the plane. We were going on a tour in Japan, starting in Tokyo, to go sightseeing and have fun; our reward for being the tournament champions.

Soon we were on the plane and in the air. As I knew it was going to be a long flight, I went to sleep. A while later, Amari Owens, our power forward, woke me up. Amari was of African descent, with messy black hair.

"Yo my guy, wake up. We're here," he shook me as he told me to wake up.

"Ugh, how long was I out?" I groaned out. He didn't know.

Mr. Iossi turned towards us and told us to be quiet. We were getting off the plane when I realized that Nick wasn't here. "Mr. Iossi, Nick isn't here!"

He sighed and turned towards another kid, Kevin, and said, "Miller, go get True please."

As we walked around Tokyo we saw a basketball court and decided to play ball for a while. While we were playing a group came up to us and asked us if they could join. They wore basketball jerseys indicating their school name: Rakuzan High. Their team leader: Seijuro (I didn't know his first name) was astonishingly short for a high schooler. Actually, they were all relatively short, their tallest stood at an average 6'3.

We were all a bit miffed at them for interrupting our game, but in the end we decided to let them join.

Tip-off was scary as hell for me. A bit of a backstory is needed to tell you why. I'm the center, but not because of my height. Sure, I was taller than average, but on the basketball team were plenty of kids who stood two or three inches higher than me. Nick True stood at an incredible 5'11. I received the position because of my previous experience of a center at a previous school, and my jumping power. I also was a lot more agile than other centers.

Tip-off was scary as I was much shorter than the opposing player, and he was most likely a lot stronger than me as he was a high schooler. But I was confident enough to go forward with the tip-off. We didn't get to becoming champions by being cowards. It went a lot more smoother than I had anticipated. When the ball was released up to the air. I got off my foot much faster than the opposing center. I reached the ball first, but instead of throwing the ball to a teammate, I grabbed it.

"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!" he yelled.

"Ah, my ears, but I'm afraid you're wrong about that." I faked towards the right, and dribbled towards the left. He lost his balance but didn't quite fall, so I decided to finish him off. I turned my body parallel to his and dribbled the ball between our legs, and spun around him and continued to dribble towards the basket. Needless to say, he promptly fell down.

A player who I learned his name was Reo Mibuchi, stood in my way. My legs tensed as if I were going to jump, but it was just a fake, after all, I was still dribbling. Reo leapt to block me, but I never jumped. He looked down in horror at my smirking face. As he fell, I jumped and forced the dunk down. The score board beeped; 2-0.

"Chichiro!" Seijuro passed to a gray haired kid the height of me. Our basketball team employed a man-on-man defense as our usual defense tactic. It also just so happened that Amari was the player who defended Chichiro Amari defended him too well. Soon Chichiro Mayuzumi was trapped in a corner with nowhere to go. Soon, he'd either have to shoot it, or he'd have to throw it out. In an act of desperation he tried to bounce it against Amari's leg. Amari was expecting it and jumped over the ball. The ball went out.

Our point guard, Logan Massie, checked the ball in and passed it to our shooting guard, Kevin Miller. Kevin was wide open so he took a chance. The player guarding him realized too late. Kevin released the ball, and it went flawlessly in the basket. 5-0.

"What is this? We are one of the top schools in the country. How is this possible?"

"Oh really now, I have a feeling you were bluffing this entire time. No disrespect however," Nick said.

"Where are you from?" The yellow haired kid asked.

We replied in unison, "America."

"America!, Can you believe it, that they're from America!?" The other team started whispering among themselves excitedly. "So are you the Teiko of your country?" Seijuro asked me curiously.

Confusedly, I asked, "Teiko… What is that?"

Their mouths gaped in astonishment for several seconds. "Akashi, they don't know what Teiko is." Akashi shushed them, "Quiet. We shall inform them now."

Akashi Seijuro began his story. "A couple of years ago, several students and I attended Teiko Academy. Our basketball team there was one of the strongest teams in the history of Japan. We were so strong, we became known as the Generation of Miracles. We were so strong, we had no relative equal, or a close second. We crushed our opponents so easily, that it became boring for us to play basketball." He took a deep breath, and continued to ask the question.

"So are you, the Teiko of America?"