The Distance Between Us
By saurabh
Romance · Sports
After being expelled from his previous badminton club for refusing to follow strategy, gifted but stubborn player Kaito Shinohara transfers to Seiran High, a school whose badminton team is on the verge of being shut down after years of failure.
The team has only one hope left: Aoi Mizushima, a former national junior champion whose playing career ended after a devastating knee injury. Though she can no longer step onto the court, she has become an exceptional student coach, capable of reading matches with uncanny precision.
Kaito rejects her guidance, believing badminton should be played with instinct, not calculations. Aoi refuses to coach someone who ignores his teammates.
Their constant clashes threaten the team's final chance to qualify for the prefectural championship.
But as victories, defeats, and quiet moments after practice slowly erase the distance between them, they begin creating a style of badminton that belongs to neither instinct nor strategy—but to trust.
The tournament may decide who reaches the finals.
Their hearts will decide what comes afterward.