Who is [First Name] [Last Name]? Strangers would say that she was the Captain of both the Teiko Junior Girls Basketball Club and Chisako Private High Girl's Basketball Club. A prodigy in her own right, though confined to the small world of female ba...
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In the light of the evening hours leading up to the Interhigh match between Seirin High and Touou Academy, the visual impact of your basketball team's black and gold jerseys had reduced to nothing.
One would think that the colour combination would herald perceptions of royalty, power, or grandeur, but the most attention you all were afforded was some cursory glances. The type of glances that you will get from one stranger to another — meaningless and forgettable. And maybe that was their impression towards you, your teammates, and your coach, who were standing next to you.
To them, you were the same — the average Joe. People who chased after the light that the Generation of Miracles cast, hoping to experience some of their glimmers, even if you couldn't truly make it your own.
After all, you were queuing up in the same, long line waiting to buy tickets for the match to take place in half an hour.
As disappointing and grossly inaccurate the citizen's perception of your group was, you knew such was a reality that you had to face every day. Their inability to recognise your team's jersey wasn't because its black colour was blending in with the darkening sky, but more so due to the shadow that the men's side of basketball had cast on the female division of high school basketball.
The gender disparity had always been present, but it was initially subtle. However, with the development of the Generation of Miracles four years ago, the gap had widened into a pit that no female team had been able to cross.
Histories decorated with trophies became mere trifles in their brilliance, and it had been the same for your school. In the end, victory bears no meaning if no one witnesses them.
Your school, Chisako Private Academy, was one of those that had been forgotten.
The school of black and gold, who prided themselves in creating sportswomen and sportsmen from the ground up. According to their flyers, 'the black [of their uniform] represents the efforts that one must go to build up the required skills' while the 'gold represented one's ability to reach towards the sun after consistent discipline'.
Much like their well-thought-out description, Chisako aimed to not only allow their students to become top athletes in their respective sports but also to find opportunities after retirement. The school offered different streams for students from their first year, ranging from management, coaching and healthcare.
All in all, your school was noble. But to you, what their description meant was that you had to be willing to use any resource and method possible to achieve recognition.
You knew that most would not interpret it like that, but you were not above using underhanded and dirty tactics, even if you would receive some scorn. Beggars can't be choosers, and if you wanted to bring attention from Japan to the girl's division of basketball, and specifically, your team, you were quite willing to use any tactic at your disposal, even if it was to the detriment of anyone else outside of your group.
