Kawata Mikio was incredibly disappointed in himself. That very day - supposedly the best day ever - he'd made his basketball debut, playing for the best high school team in all of Japan, Sannoh Industry Affiliated High School.

Yet, it was one day he wanted to forget.

Three-time national champions - King Sannoh - had lost against a no-name team.

In the second round of the National Championships - Sannoh's first game in the tournament, no less.

Mikio sighed, as the bench he was sitting on creaked under his massive weight.

It was a perfect summer day, the late afternoon sun blazing hot. In light of Sannoh's shocking defeat, Coach Doumoto had given the team a rare day off. They were leaving Hiroshima for home the following morning, so Mikio took the chance to explore the city before his seniors could rope him in an unofficial practice session, as they always did whenever they had the time to spare.

Mikio's performance that day was less than mediocre. And everyone had been putting their hopes on him. Of course, he'd never played an actual game before, though he'd always assumed that the intensity of Coach Doumoto's training was enough. Not to mention the extra training he did with his big brother after team practice.

Boy, was he wrong.

He was a million years away from surpassing his brother, Masashi, the best center player in all of Japan.

Masashi was a versatile player; he'd grown up playing different positions on the court, as his body changed. He started off as a guard, which suited his small stature when he first entered high school. Soon enough, he hit his growth spurt, inching higher every month, and with his new height, he was promoted to a forward. Now a senior at Sannoh, he was their fearsome center, taller and bigger than the other starters on the team. As Masashi evolved through the positions, he never lost his skills he'd acquired, so now he was a center with the skills of a forward and a guard, too. Even with his ginormous stature, he was agile, moving flawlessly without the ball, and his mid-range shots were dead accurate - rare for a center player. But again, Masashi was one of a kind. It was doubtless; Masashi was the perfect center.

Since they were brothers, everyone expected Mikio to be like Masashi.

Except that they were virtually different.

Mikio wasn't as talented as his big brother. The first time he'd ever held a basketball was just that spring, when his overprotective mother finally let him join the school team to follow in his brother's footsteps. Before that, all he ever did was watch his brother play, pulling off seemingly impossible offensive tricks that Mikio could never picture himself doing. When he finally did start playing basketball, Coach Doumoto had subjected him to the basics every single day, and he never complained. Until today, offensively, he only knew how to shoot under the rim, nothing fancy.

It was if he was resigned to be less than Masashi, always the untalented younger brother, only known for his enormous stature. It was the only advantage Mikio had, and Coach Doumoto and the other seniors on the team played it to the team's advantage.

"Don't worry too much about attacking for now. We need your body for defence." Masashi had said, in the presence of team ace Sawakita Eiji, who'd nodded in agreement. Sawakita picked up the loose ball from Mikio's rebounded shot. Masashi's voice bounced around the Sannoh gym authoritatively, as if accentuating his point.

So that was how it was - Masashi would train his little brother to post up in defence. The older Kawata sibling would attack relentlessly, and Mikio would do his very best to defend. Most of the time, Masashi would score against him, yet Mikio knew that he was learning - Coach Doumoto wanted to groom him into one of Sannoh's starters, as a replacement for his brother who would be graduating high school soon - amidst the sliver of disappointment set in his heart.

"Use your body, Mikio! Don't let anyone get under the rim!" Masashi bellowed during a training session, forcing himself to enter the key, closer to the hoop. Mikio was much larger than his brother, yet he lacked the experience, so Masashi easily inched his way under the rim.

"Sorry, brother!" Mikio had to use all of his power to stop Masashi.

His brother, the best center in Akita.

Possibly Japan.

Mikio respected his brother, and his seniors. He knew that Masashi was destined for nothing but greatness. Every night, before he closed his eyes, he imagined his brother Masashi lifting the Inter-High tournament cup with the rest of the team, like he did for the past two years. And he'd be there in the back, pasting a smile on his chubby face, just another footnote in Sannoh's journey to the top. Everyone knew that this year's team was the best - Coach Doumoto had set up a practice game with Sannoh alumni just last night, which Mikio had been absent from, but the current team had beaten their seniors soundly, fair and square. Sannoh's invincibility was unquestionable.

Except that they'd lost.

Mikio's fantasies, all of his seniors dreams - crushed by a determined gang of troublemakers from Kanagawa. And so ended his own hopes of conquering the nation with his beloved brother.

Mikio sighed again, lifting his head up to the blue, blue sky above. Masashi and Captain Fukatsu were third year students who'd retire at the end of summer. And as for their ace, Sawakita, he was moving on to greener pastures in America. It was as if the best players on the team were ominously leaving, in light of the defeat by Shohoku.

What was going to happen to the Sannoh basketball team?

What was going to happen to the Shohoku basketball team?

Akagi Haruko sighed. She walked along the well-worn park trail, hoping that the greenery around her would clear her mind.

That very morning, she'd witnessed the best basketball game in her life: Shohoku against Sannoh.

Shohoku, the team her brother Takenori had led, were the underdogs, ever since the matchup was announced. Yet, they'd emerged victorious in the daunting task of facing King Sannoh in the second round of the Inter-High.

Another step closer to conquering the nation…

Even so, the victory came at an expensive cost.

All the starting players had been too tired to celebrate their win against reigning champions Sannoh. It had taken all of their might - but their path to the championship was clearer now that the kings had been dethroned. Both guards, Miyagi Ryota and Mitsui Hisashi were getting treated for dehydration, in addition to fatigue; they'd been pushed to their limits in the forty-minute game, especially for former MVP Mitsui. He was even getting his knee checked, after quietly telling their manager Ayako about the niggling pain.

Team captain Akagi Takenori was draining fluids, chugging bottle after bottle of isotonic drinks the freshmen had brought him, a weary look on his features. Even the super rookie, Rukawa Kaede, had collapsed from exhaustion once the buzzer rang, and he was now enjoying some well-deserved sleep.

In short, four of the starting members had taken worse for the wear.

Things couldn't get even more worse, but it did.

Power forward Sakuragi Hanamichi had picked up a back injury in the game, trying to save a rogue ball to keep it in play. He had ended up landing awkwardly in the press area, though pushed himself to play until the finishing seconds even after Coach Anzai had briefly substituted him out. But in the end, the pain had been so excruciating that the iron-bodied Sakuragi had to be stretchered off-court for imminent medical attention.

Sakuragi's plays had been priceless in the game against Sannoh, in fact, it was his best performance yet…

But team manager Ayako had mentioned that Sakuragi's injury concerned a player's life - an injury so dangerous that the boisterous redhead might not play basketball anymore.

Haruko's eyebrows knotted into a worry, thinking about her best friend. She was the one who'd discovered his raw talent, and persuaded him to join the basketball club.

Sakuragi Hanamichi, former juvenile delinquent, had become a priceless asset of the Shohoku basketball team, even if the four other starters wouldn't admit that out loud.

Haruko, being optimistic as she always had been, knew that there was a ray of hope in keeping her brother's dream alive. The late afternoon breeze whispered in her ears, as three little words popped into her mind.

Conquer the nation…

The third round was looming ahead. Of course, the games were going to get tougher. Shohoku could survive without Sakuragi, like they did against Takezato High in the Kanagawa district finals. They had a valuable sixth man in their senior, Kogure Kiminobu, who could play in the forward position alongside Rukawa.

And judging from today's performance against Sannoh, Shohoku had nowhere to go but up.

Miyagi's broad basketball vision orchestrated Shohoku's plays, cleverly using their strengths against their opponents' weaknesses. Mitsui had his dead accurate three-point shots, and Rukawa had transformed his style of play right on court that morning against Sannoh, discovering the magic of passing the ball. And Haruko's older brother Takenori, was Shohoku's embodied spirit, the glue that held the five mismatches together. His attack and defence were equally frightening - after all, his signature moves, the Gorilla Dunk and the Flyswatter, were crowd-pleasers.

Haruko looked up to the sky in deep thought, watching a flock of birds soaring in the sky. She respected her brother - his determination and hard work had gotten him and his teammates this far into the Nationals. He'd been weighed down by weak teammates in his first two years of high school - back then, Shohoku was a minnow even in Kanagawa, never making it far even in the regional tournament. But now, Takenori was in his third and final year - his last chance - and he'd been gifted with talented teammates in the form of troublemakers: Mitsui, Miyagi, Rukawa and Sakuragi.

Haruko knew that her brother was thankful for his teammates, though he never said it out loud. A tiny smile carved onto her lips.

Her brother, the best center in Kanagawa.

Possibly Japan.

All doubts aside, they still had a chance to conquer the nation. Like a phoenix, rising from the embers. Burning bright, held together by the same dream to become national champions.

Because in Shohoku, all of them were strong.

Author's Note: Okay, so Mikio and Haruko don't actually meet in person. But what would that be like? Any thoughts?