Chapter 1:  We're not in Kansas anymore…

                I walked into the gym.  My first year attending Ryonan High School and I was already heralded as its savior.  People called me a Tensai, a genius, at the sport of basketball.  I'd like to think so as well.  The other players on the team all looked at me as I let the door close with a loud crash.  I do like to make an entrance, especially on the first day.  My entrance, however, did not have the effect that I would have liked.

                A small grouping of the team stood together at one corner of the gym, speaking in hushed voices.  A few ignored me altogether, and resumed shooting baskets after giving me a fleeting glance.  One of them, a pleasant faced young boy, cast his eyes on me a few seconds longer than the others, but resumed shooting just the same.  However, he now appeared tense and deeper in concentration.  The last two were the most imposing figures.

                I believe that you can tell a lot about the way a person plays basketball solely by the way they carry themselves.  The way they walk, make hand gestures and even stand, all translated into how they played during a game.  And the last two players that caught my attention did so because of their behavior.  The way they moved was very distinct and I was able to effectively recognize how they'd play on the court.

                I know that sounds very presumptuous, but all things considered, it was impossible not to somehow subject these two players to such prejudice.  For example...

                The first player caught my eye initially by the virtue of his size.  He was a hulking mass, and built like a house.  Overgrown muscles adorned his bare arms, and even the uniform, which I believe was extra-large, seemed two-sizes still too small.  It appeared that he had more muscle mass in just one of his arms than I had in my whole body.  And he was tall.  He was easily a head taller than I was, despite my spiky hair.

                He played, however, with unbecoming quickness and control.  He had great big hands that he used to haul in any post entry pass that came even remotely in his direction.  Having played basketball all my life, I knew just how rare it was to find a big man with mobility and ball control.  And behind his stoic exterior, I saw in his eyes cunning and passion with which he played the game.

                The second man was much smaller in size but no less striking.  He was shorter than I was but just as solidly built.  His most notable feature, however, were his eyes.  His eyebrows were slanted at a severe angle and the twin orbs beneath them shone with intensity.  They belied an intense ferocity and passion that burned in them long ago, now replaced by an icy coldness, like a steel sword forged from the fire that burned within him.  That he was able to reign in the burning desire and focus it into a sharp concentration that threatened to pierce his opponents was remarkable in itself, but to have done so at such an early age was simply amazing.

                Nor was he given to any undue displays of his abilities.  He simply worked his way around the semi-circle, sinking shot repeatedly from every angle, seemingly unable to miss.  A small smile played on his lips as he and the larger man exchanged jokes, but other than that, he was entirely focused on each and every shot.

                My observations were interrupted by a gentle tap on my shoulder.  It was same pleasant faced boy that had been practicing before.  I turned to him and greeted him with a smile.

                "Hello, my name is Akira Sendoh."  I held out my hand and after a moment's hesitation, the shorter boy took my hand in his in a firm shake.

                "I know who you are, and so does the whole school.  I'm Hiroaki Koshino."  He released my hand shortly thereafter and continued to speak.  "The coach won't be here for a few more minutes so let me introduce the team to you."

                He gestured to the mountain of a man that had caught my attention before.  "That's Jun Uozumi.  He was a highly touted center all through out middle school.  The coach personally went to recruit him to get him to come to this school.  Last season he tore through the league at 17 points and 11 rebounds per game.  That's almost unheard of for a freshman.  He's in his second year at Ryonan now.

                "The guy standing next to him is Akenami Kato.  He's considered to be the number one point guard in the league.  They call him the Assassin.  He'll do everything a point guard is supposed to do.  He's a great passer, defender, leader and everything else, but like his nickname, he'll score sneakily and just kill you.  He only averaged 11 points a game last season, but if you looked carefully at the stats and the games, you'll find that he scored most of them in the last 5 minutes of a game.  Some scouts say that if you were to put him at shooting guard, he'll score 25 a game easily."

                Koshino took a quick breath and continued.  "Even more amazing is that while he gets 6 or 7 assists a game, he only turns the ball over once, maybe twice a game."

                I nodded slowly, taking all this in.  If both players were nearly as good as Koshino made them sound, we would not have a problem at all this season.

                Koshino continued to introduce the players.  "We don't exactly have a starting power forward, we have two swingmen.  One of them is Mato Ikegami.  He's the best defensive player on our team and has been named one of the top five defenders in our league.  The other one is Ashira Tokugami.  The other players call him the Rifleman.  Anything within half court range is fair game for him.  Legend has it that he once hit 25 shots in a row from all along the half court line.  The only problem is that he's really not that good at anything else.  But when he gets going, he can put up some serious numbers.

                "And that's really it for the starters.  I'm probably going to be backing you up at the 2 spot.  There's Toriyuki Uekusa, who'll be the second point guard.  He's supposed to be some sort of genius at making passes.  And, there's Kicchou Fukuda, who, although he only really started 2 months ago, has freakish athleticism.  I'm pretty sure that's going to be the regular rotation."

                As Koshino spoke, I noticed the enthusiasm and the easy with which he analyzed each of the players.  His analyses were concise and clear, providing a clear depiction of each of the players.  Not only was he an athlete, he was also a fan of the game, with enough knowledge to be a scout.

                I heard the door open and saw the coach walk in.  He was Coach Taoka.  Known as the best tactical coach in the game, he had a knack for developing plays that suited his team's style of play perfectly.  He was adept at making changes according to the opposition, and he was famous for revolutionizing the high school game in Japan.  That being said, he was really not much of an inspirational coach.  His critics pointed out his lack of ability in motivating his players, failing to get them to produce 100 percent every game.  Luckily, he was able to recruit players with great leadership skills in Uozumi and Kato.  This season, Ryonan was projected to make it to the All-Japan High School Finals.

                Coach Taoka proceeded to make a short speech about the goals for the team that season and how to achieve them.  He talked uncomfortably about coming together as a team, working toward a common goal, and giving a "110 Percent" every game.  While the speech itself wasn't terrible, because of the awkwardness with which it was delivered, it failed to carry the impact that coach wanted to make.

                Once we began the drills, however, Coach Taoka relaxed significantly.  He made us run the three-man-weave as a warm up.  Then we split into two lines, one shooting, the other non-shooting.  We shot lay ups, jump shots, pull up jump shots, and pump fake and drive.  Then, Coach Taoka started getting creative.

                Coach set up two equal lines, one on each ends of the court.  The line on the far baseline started with the ball.  The first person in that line had to throw the ball end to end - it couldn't, however, bounce more than once on the way - to the other line.  The recipient of the ball had to dribble the ball past the half-court line in under 5 seconds.  The defender had to stop him from getting over.  If the passer failed to make the full-court pass in just one bounce, he had to run line-drills, end to end.  If the ball handler failed to make it across the half court line, he had to run line-drills.  If the initial passer, who now was the defender, failed to make the stop, he had to run line-drills.  After the exchange, the passer now went to the receiving end and vice versa.  Coach had us do this until everyone had a chance to handle the ball twice.  Needless, almost, to say, Tokugami and Uozumi had to run suicides every single time.  I only ran once, and as for Kato; well, he didn't have to run suicides at all.

                We got a 3-minute break, and we started again.  This time, we played a full court one-on-one game.  Everyone lined up in a single file, and the first one in line became the defender.  The second player started with the ball.  First to five won the game.  The winner stayed on, the loser had to run 10 suicides.  Out of 14 players on the team I was second to last.  Tokugami had won three straight since he started, what with his long range shooting.

                It wasn't long before Tokugami had to play Kato, who stood seventh in line.  Kato was simply too quick for the flat-footed Tokugami.  The game was over quickly, the score: 5 to 1.  And Kato likewise ripped through the rest of the players; the one that had given him the most trouble was Ikegami with his long reach and uncanny defense.  That game ended 5-3.

                One more game was played and won for Kato, and he finally came to face me.  I'm pretty certain that he took no small pleasure in not having had to run the suicides.  I, likewise, had no intention of running them either.

                I got to start with the ball.  As soon as I received it, I sprinted down-court.  I'd seen Kato lock up players in the backcourt, and they lost without even getting a single shot.  To make sure that that'd not happen to me, I hauled ass over the half court line and stood at the top of the three-point arc.

                I had a few centimeters over Kato in height, and I sought to exploit that advantage as much as I could.

                Turning my back to the basket, I edged my way to the right hand corner of the key.  I kept the dribble in my right hand and put my left side against Kato and started backing him down, pressuring him back to the basket.

                When I felt that I was close enough to the basket, I picked up my dribble.  I now turned my back completely to Kato and felt his forearm against my back.  I head-faked to my left and pivoted back to my right, and brought the ball up to shoot.

                But before I could, Kato had cleaned swiped the ball from my grasp.  I grunted in frustration and turned to retrieve the ball, but in my moment of hesitation, Kato had already picked up the ball and left for the other basket.

                I'd always thought I was pretty fast when it came to running the length of the court, but I realized then that if I could be described as being fast, then there was no way to describe the speed with which Kato moved.  I had started from the three-point arc and by the time I'd reached half court, Kato was already at the opposite free-throw line.  I had no chance of even thinking about catching up to him.  He easily scored with a lay-up and glanced back at me.  He flashed a smile that was anything but friendly.

                "You're Akira Sendoh, right?"

                I gritted my teeth and tried to keep all emotion from my voice.  "Yeah, I am."

                "The famous Tensai," he continued in a bitterly mocking tone.  "You'll soon learn that that title has no meaning here.  From now on, you're just a rookie."

                I glared at him, hard.  "I'll prove you wrong, you just wait."

                Kato just scoffed and turned to walk away.  He stopped at the half court line and lowered into a defensive crouch.  "Well?  I'm waiting."

                In retrospect, Kato was right.  Regardless of who had titled me what, as soon as I had entered that Ryonan high school gym, I was nothing more than a rookie.  My reputation didn't describe who I was and what I could do.  I had to prove it all over again, this time to my teammates, and in turn, they would prove to be the toughest critics to convince.

I learned two things that day; Kato was the best basketball player that I'd ever seen before in my life and running ten suicides really is like suicide.