As night came, Liam pulled the door of his residence open, completely disappointed and drained. "I'm home," he said as he took off his shoes and sighed.
"Welcome back, Liam. Come on, join us for dinner," said an old lady.
"Yes, I'm coming, Grandma," said Liam as he followed behind her to the dining room. Liam then sat at the table and started eating. "Can I have another bowl of rice, please, Grandma?" he asked with a full mouth.
"Wow, you must really be hungry, my boy. Let me get another bowl," said his grandma as she went to the kitchen.
"So, kid, how was training? Are you getting any faster? I can't wait to watch you sprint," said a middle-aged man excitedly.
Liam hesitated for a moment, then said, "I was wondering, Uncle..." His voice was heavy.
"What is it? Speak to me," said his uncle as he opened and drank alcohol.
"Do you think that doing track was the right thing for me? My coach said that I'm way too tall and I can't even break the eleven-second barrier. Recently, I've been getting slower every time I run."
"Don't worry about it, Liam, my nephew. Every athlete goes through this phase at least once in their life. You can't let this make you question yourself. What you can do is work harder," said his uncle as he gulped down the rest of his drink.
"It's frustrating to give your all and yet still get no results. Plus, track is getting real boring and lonely," said Liam.
"What are you trying to imply?" asked Liam's uncle in a serious tone.
"Maybe I'm not cut out for track."
"That's a good one, Liam. You almost had me," said his uncle after laughing intensely.
"After talking with my friend earlier, I realized that team sports are more my style. He plays basketball, and he has a lot of fun doing it. I, too, have a lot of fun when I play basketball."
"Basketball? As in the sport where you dribble a ball and shoot it into a hoop? That's a kid's game! Who would ever want to play a sport that's so stupid?" said his uncle as he used a lighter to ignite his cigarette.
"That's it!" said Liam as he got up and slammed his hands on the table angrily. "Disrespect me, my coach, or any other sport as you please, but never make a mockery of Hayato's passion! I will not sit down and listen to you make a mockery of the sport when you know nothing about it. And for your information, I was considering joining the basketball team."
"Lower your voice when you speak to me. I'm surprised you even considered joining that stupid sport. You get zero opportunities, but you'll have plenty of opportunities in track. Isn't it your passion to run? Giving up what you've worked so hard for is just flat-out stupid. Basketball is such a stupid game, isn't it?" asked his uncle.
"How can I get any opportunity at all if I can't even run a hundred meters in eleven seconds flat? I didn't join track because I wanted to—I did it to impress you! I wanted you to be proud of me!" said Liam.
"What?"
"I'm going to my room. Goodnight," said Liam as he went to his room and shut the door behind him.
"To think that all this time, Liam was in track just to impress me. I thought that it was his passion. Well, what do you know," said his uncle as he continued smoking.
"That is the first time that boy has expressed his feelings to us since he came to Japan. Looks like all the stress finally built up. He always listened to what you said without a second thought, but now he's grown. I'll go ahead and talk to him, and you, my son, should have noticed this without him telling you. He looks to you as a father figure in his life, so it's time for you to step up to the occasion," said Liam's grandma as she left the dining room.
His grandma then knocked on his door with a worried look on her face. "Liam, can I come in?"
Liam, who heard this, opened the door, allowing her to enter his room.
"Listen, kid, and listen well. You should do what you love and what you want to do. It's your choice and not anyone else's, so don't listen to my idiot of a son. I mean, he almost got you and himself killed in the UK by getting mixed up with the British Mafia. He's such a dumbass."
"You're right, Grandma. I've decided what I want to do. Thank you," said Liam as he smiled.
"That's good. Be sure to shower before bed because you smell terrible. I don't want to die before my time," said his grandma as she covered her nose.
"That was harsh," said Liam as he laid down on his bed.
"It's been four years now since I came to Japan, huh? I was born and raised in England. My father was a businessman, and he was constantly investing in stocks and other innovations, but he was borrowing from killers and gangs to invest in his business. His ventures failed, and he lost everything. He was in debt to the British Mafia and didn't have the money to pay them, so they killed him. After mourning my father's death, I was sent to Mexico to live with my uncle. However, the Mafia caught on to my movement, and two months after I had settled in, they launched an assault on my uncle and me. We somehow managed to escape with our lives.
"We then moved to Japan to live with my grandma to get as far away from the Mafia's grasp as possible. As you can guess, my grandmother is Japanese, and my grandfather was British. My uncle had a dream of becoming a track athlete, but he never went pro, so he forced his dreams on me, and I did not refuse.
"As you can imagine, starting school in Japan was hard. I was way bigger than the children my age, and I was of a different race, which made everyone wary of me. Then there was the difference in our language—I didn't know any Japanese. It was quite lonely. Then I met Hayato. He was the first person who spoke to me, and he taught me the game of basketball and how fun it was," said Liam as he smiled brightly.
"Good morning, everyone," said Hayato as he stretched.
"Oh, good morning, Hayato. Looks like we're all here," said Yukio.
"I'm so sleepy. I feel like crap right now," said Noboru as he yawned with bags under his eyes.
"Alright, everyone, let's get started on our morning training. Come on, Shino, you have to get back on defense faster than that," said Nanaho.
"Yes, I'll do better next time," said Shino.
"Hayato, you are too relaxed. You know that your defender is not a threat, but I want you to treat him as if he is," advised Nanaho.
"Okay, I will," said Hayato as he crossed over and got by Shino, passing the ball to Tetsuo, who faked a three-pointer, causing Yukio to jump. He then drove to the rim and scored a layup on Takahiro.
"Nice one, Tetsuo," said Hayato as he patted him on the back.
"He really took note of what I said. He's constantly improving. This time we'll have a shot at the inter-high. I just know it," said Nanaho as she smiled excitedly.
Liam, who was at the door of the gym, knocked, catching everyone's attention.
"It's that foreign student, Liam Ainsworth. What is he doing here?" Yukio said to himself.
"Liam?" said Hayato to himself. "What brought you here?"
"I came here to join the basketball team," said Liam with certainty in his eyes.
"No way... Are you serious?" asked Yukio, shocked.
"So that means we have seven players now," said Takahiro.
"But what about track? I thought that you loved running. Why are you giving it up?" asked Hayato.
"I'm sorry about that, Hayato, but track wasn't my passion. I only did it so that someone else could be happy."
"I see. I'm so glad you decided to join, Liam. You'll be a big help to us," said Hayato.
"I joined the basketball team because it had what track doesn't—teammates. Teammates who share the same passion as you and are willing to sacrifice it all to win. I also wanted to repay you for that day in junior high. You helped me, and now I'll help you win," said Liam.
"I see. Well, let's do our best, Liam," said Hayato as he smiled.
"Yes," replied Liam.
"This is great! We have seven players now. I can't wait for the tournament to start. We definitely stand a higher chance of going to the inter-high now. Yukio looks so happy. I'm glad," said Nanaho to herself.