Description
A bestseller in Japan—a beautiful story about shared self-discovery and friendship involving an unlikely group of students who decide to defy the odds and pursue a seemingly impossible goal together.
“A testament to the power of friendship, resilience, and the beauty of pushing beyond one’s limits.”—Library Journal
After shoplifting some bread one chilly night, former high school track-and- field star Kakeru Kurahara runs through the city streets. Though he has grown disillusioned with the sport, he feels as if he could run forever. His reverie is broken by a mysterious boy on a bike: Haiji Kiyose, a fellow runner and student at Kakeru’s university.
Impressed by Kakeru’s agility, Kiyose persuades Kakeru to move into Chikusei-so, a run-down dormitory where he lives with eight other boys, including identical twins Jota and Joji, honor student Shindo, detail-oriented Yuki, trivia junkie King, Tanzanian international student Musa, nicotine-loving Nico, and manga otaku Prince.
After Kakeru joins the group, Kiyose reveals his grand plan: to assemble a ten-man team of runners to compete in the Hakone Ekiden, a legendary college marathon relay race. Despite their reservations and lack of conditioning, over the course of the next ten months, this ragtag team will put aside their differences to pursue an elusive dream—and gain much more than they ever expected.