The sounds of students yelling, accompanied by their stomping feet and noise makers, reverberated off of the concrete walls and wooden floors within a high school's basketball gym. The score was eighty to seventy-nine, the score in favor of the away team, wearing their red and white jerseys.

On the home team, wearing that iconic gold and purple that his school was known for and the number four on his back, Jin Ikazuchi watched with wide eyes as the opposing team's point guard fired a shot behind the three-point line, attempting to end the match with eight seconds left and a four-point lead.

With sweat dripping from curly, coiled hair onto his light-brown skin, Jin, the half-American, half-Japanese star player, watched as the ball soared through the air, his brow furrowing as he prayed for the shot to miss. In Jin's own mind, what he could see was a line trailing behind the ball, one that then went through the ball and toward the basket. However, this line that told the trajectory of the shot showed that this shot attempt would not be successful. Jin's eyeballs continued to scan the rim, showing a dotted line where the ball would then land, the spot on the floor where no one else would be, glowing brightly as if a spotlight were shining down on it.

'There… the ball will land there!' Jin's inner voice spoke before Jin's body autonomously dashed straight for that spot on the court. His shoes squeaked as he took off, and a few of his fans watched him with curious eyes, wondering why he was going away from the basket instead of toward it. They couldn't see what Jin saw, no, to them, the best place to rebound the ball would be right under the basket.

And they'd be wrong.

𝑪𝑳𝑨𝑵𝑲!

The sound of leather bashing steel was heard as the opposing team's shot missed, bouncing off of the orange rim with lightning-fast speed toward the top of the key, toward Jin Ikazuchi, standing in that imaginary spotlight his brain conceived.

With both hands, Jin's skin clasping the leather ball was heard before he took off in an instant toward the other side of the court, his shoes squeaking beneath his feet. "GO IKAZUCHI!" his coach shouted his name, along with the players on the bench as Jin crossed over with his right hand to his left, dodging past an opponent right at the three-point line.

Jin's determined, wide eyes glared forward at the single person in front of him, ready to contest whatever shot Jin would take as he stood on top of the key with his arms wide. 'This is it. Four seconds left. I don't have enough time to drive to the basket, but if I pull up just before the three-point line, I'll be completely open and win the game!' Jin thought to himself as he passed half-court.

In Jin's own mind, it was as if he could see the future. He saw himself, placing both toes right behind the three-point line before stopping on a dime and firing a three to win the game by two points. However, a voice knocked him out of his trance and he saw his teammate, wearing the same gold and purple jersey, waving his arm at him and screaming his name. "Jin! I'm open!" he shouted, gaining the attention of both Jin and his defender.

'Sato? That's right, basketball is a team game. If I draw the defender toward me…' Jin drove toward his defender, approaching the three-point line and prompting his defender to step forward. 'Then Sato will be wide open!' A bounce pass, one with such speed and force it nearly left a trail of smoke behind it, shot from Jin's hands and into Sato's hands, leaving the spikey black-haired shooting guard wide open beneath the basket with one second left.

Sato then lept in the air, releasing the ball from his fingertips gently, performing a textbook layup. The buzzer then sounded, and everyone's eyes were locked onto the ball as it delicately bounced off of the backboard at what appeared to be a perfect angle. The ball then bounced off of the inside of the rim, and once again, the sounds of leather meeting metal were heard. The ball then spun around the inside of the rim, completing a full revolution until…

The ball rolled out of the basket.

Sato missed the game-winning shot.

The crowd went silent as the ball bounced off of the floor, that silence was then broken by the sound of the red and white team roaring in victory, followed by their family and fans in attendance who cheered them all. People stormed the field, grabbing their star players and hoisting them up in the air. They were going to nationals for the first time in their team's history.

Jin's team, the team wearing that iconic gold and purple, started to weep. Sato, the one who missed the shot, fell to his knees and cried in agony, blaming himself for that loss. "It's not your fault, Sato. It's okay." one of his teammates told him, getting down on one knee to comfort him.

Everyone involved with the gold and purple team had tears in their eyes, all but one young man.

Jin Ikazuchi stood in place with his arms at his sides, staring blankly in front of him with his fists clenched. Though his eyes were open as he glanced forward, the boy saw nothing but a cloud of darkness consuming everything around him.

'It's not okay. Now I, the nobody on this nobody team, will remain a nobody in the world of basketball. That's the reality of it. I'll never be like him…'

Memories of Jin's past began to play in his head, thinking of the times he would watch the Laker games that were happening across the planet. There was a special night, one where Jin was nothing more than a small child watching TV with wide eyes as Kobe Bryant had seventy-nine points against the Raptors. 'That was the moment.' Jin thought to himself, replaying the exact moment when Kobe rose up and fired a mid-range jumper to score his eighty-first point. 'That was when I wanted to be a scorer.'

Ever since seeing that game, Jin dedicated himself to learning basketball. Since Jin's father was American, Jin inherited his height, as well as his skin complexion, and was one of the very few people who looked like him where he grew up. Due to his height, Jin being a basketball player was practically a given.

He dominated as a child, however, as he got older and competition grew, his height would no longer be a determining factor, nor would it be enough to make him stand out. Though he was a commendable player, there was still something Jin lacked, something he was yet to discover within himself that would put him above the rest.

'I'll never be like him… I was foolish to think otherwise...

Olympic MVP? What a fucking joke.'

Hours later, Jin found himself in his bedroom, shutting the door behind him before throwing his sports bag on the floor. As soon as the bag hit the ground, Jin finally started to release the emotional agony that was within him. "Damn it!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, slamming his bed with both fists as he fell to his knees.

"Damn it!" His shouts somehow surpassed his previous screams as he slammed on the bed again. Like a maniac, Jin began slamming the bed over and over, his fists bouncing off of the cushions before bashing them once more.

"Damn it…" Jin whispered, calming down before sitting on the floor next to his bed. Jin looked toward his desk, spotting a letter hanging off of it. Rising to his feet, Jin approached it, spotting a sticky note on top of it with his father's handwriting. "I will be coming home late again tonight, but this letter is in your name." Jin whispered, reading the note aloud.

Jin held the letter up to his face, and upon seeing that it was from the Japanese Basketball Association, his eyes enlarged. He quickly opened it and began scanning the page as if it were going to grow wings and fly away if he didn't read it fast enough. 'I've been selected to become a certified athlete? Is this some kind of mistake?' Jin thought that perhaps the letter was meant for someone else, however, his name was clearly at the top of it.

The letter told him to appear at a specific location at ten in the morning on the very next day. And so, the next morning, Jin found himself standing in front of a theater, one where TED talks would be held, looking onward as other high school basketball players began entering the building, some of who Jin recognized. 'I guess it wasn't just me who was invited. Figures…

God, I hope there aren't a million people inside, or even worse, anyone I know.'

Keeping his head down, as if that would help hide his identity despite being one of the only half-Black students in the entirety of Japan's high school basketball league, Jin walked into the building.

It took some time for the young man to find his way, but eventually, he found himself inside an auditorium with hundreds of other high school ballers. 'I already want to go home…' Jin thought to himself. The night before, he'd already given up on basketball for good, In fact, he was looking forward to having unlimited time to game since he'd be done with sports. Though when he was on the court, this anxiety would disappear, Jin hated crowds.

Placing his hood over his head, Jin walked toward the back of the room and waited with his hands in his sweater pocket, and watched from afar. Instantly, he started to recognize people from teams he'd faced in the past or heard about online. There were kids who were far better than he was, literally top ten in Japan-level players. He wondered why someone like him, a nobody, was sent to the same place as them.

The lights in the room then shut off and a spotlight appeared at the center of the stage on the other side of the room. A man, sporting a bowl cut, began walking toward the center stage as he spoke to the boys with a cynical, sarcastic-sounding voice.

"Congratulations, diamonds in the rough. You are the three hundred high school scorers who have been chosen according to my arbitrary and biased decision-making." as the man spoke, murmurs were heard in the crowd before he finally turned his head to reveal his face.

He wore glasses, and the expression on his face was that of someone who was not sane in the slightest. Like a killer clown, he had a massive smile on his face and his eyes were so wide, they nearly were about to pop out of his skull. A shiver was sent down Jin's spine as the man on stage glared forward with the widest eye's he'd ever seen, his expression being something that one might see on a killer's face before eliminating their target. Simply by his looks alone, everyone, including Jin, knew this man was not normal.

One of the strangest things about him was his proportions. His arms, legs, and neck appeared way longer than they were supposed to be, even his fingers looked elongated.

"My name is Jinpachi Ego, the man who was once hired to make sure Japan wins the World Cup, the man who succeeded in that goal. Now, I have been tasked to make sure that Japan wins the Olympic gold medal in basketball at this upcoming Summer Olympics."