Twisted Destiny

Prologue

As a kid, I never seem to care about the sport. If any adults will ask me what kind of sport I like, I will say that I don't have any particular interest in the sport. Who cares about the sport as long as it's fun to play, right? Well, it's a simple philosophy and I live by that rule. Kids in this neighborhood love baseball so this is what me and my bestie, Hideki played all the time.

Even until I'm in the first grade, I still can't find any sport that I consider fun to play. Baseball is fun, but I feel like there must be more fun sports to play besides baseball. Teachers in this school find it impressive with the fact that I'm tall even among the first graders. One thing I know for sure is, I'm not the only one who is tall in the first grade. Hideki is tall too. In fact, he's taller than me.

I remember that one of the teachers said to us that we can play basketball when we grow up because of our height. Hideki and I are happy with the compliment but for me, any sport is the same no matter how different it is. Well, I was wrong until I saw a basketball match for the first time. I stumbled into the basketball match on TV when I was flipping the channels. By the way, I learned that habit from dad. Whenever he's around, he likes to flip the channels when he's bored.

I have never played basketball in my entire life and neither any of the kids here. Seeing the basketball match for the first time was the reason that got me to keep on watching. Like I said, I never care about the sport, but I can't stop watching the basketball game until it ends.

Even my sister, Haruka who was still small at that time watched the game with me. The game was between Minagawa Academy from Kanagawa prefecture and another high school from Tokyo. I didn't care about the other school because I was so drawn to one of the players from Minagawa Academy, Takizawa Hayashima.

I could never forget how amazing he was during that game. He was also the one who inspired me to play basketball. Ever since then, I've decided to start playing basketball and go to the same high school as Takizawa Hayashima. Of course, he won't be there by the time I enter the high school, but hey, it's amazing to be in the same school as he is.

The next day, both Hideki and I can't stop talking about the basketball match. None of the kids in the first grade was watching the game so they have no idea what we were talking about. "Let's play basketball together. Since none of the kids here want to play basketball, we'll play basketball with just the two of us," I suggest this to Hideki. Hideki nods, agreeing to play basketball and that's the start of our effort to become a basketball player.

Too bad that none of the people here has played basketball, so there's no one who can teach us on how to play it. But still, it doesn't stop us from learning everything about playing basketball. Mom suggests us to go to the bookstore to find any books that can teach us about basketball. Sure, it's not a good idea to learn by the book, but it's better than not having any guidance at all.

Hideki and I play basketball like this until we're in the third grade. At this point, we won't consider ourselves great, but we do admit that our skills are only average. If we're in the basketball team, we're better off as a bench-warmer because we're not good enough to be in the starting team.

That's the time we get to know a new kid from Tokyo, Akira Hirakawa. He's just moving from Tokyo and he'll be going to the same grade school with us. His parents are currently working in the States so he's currently staying with his grandparents. Akira knows a lot about basketball because he played basketball a lot while he was still living in Tokyo.

He's glad to know that he can still play basketball even after moving to Kawasaki. He thought that none of the kids here was playing basketball, so he would feel lonely to play basketball all by himself. Well, he's lucky that he bumps into us since we're the only kids in this neighborhood who plays basketball.