Yamato's infatuation doesn't feel like a plot device, it feels like actual stupidity, the kind where a person ruins themselves chasing someone who has every reason to reject him. The show trusts you to live in that confusion rather than resolve it, which means you're stuck in his head experiencing the exact humiliation of wanting someone who doesn't want you back. Suzuka doesn't soften because the story needs her to; she stays difficult because that's what makes his pursuit real instead of romantic.

Yamato Akitsuki leaves the Hiroshima countryside for Tokyo to start high school. Instead of paying rent, he helps his aunt and cousin run their bathhouse and the girls-only dormitory beside it, where he also lives. On the way there he sees a high jumper training at a school track and is captivated. She turns out to be Suzuka Asahina, a much-scouted track and field athlete who lives in the dorm, lives next door to him and attends his new school, Aoba High. A perfectionist, Suzuka is put off by his clumsy, easygoing ways. Set on winning her over, Yamato joins the track team after finding he has a knack for sprinting. Between teammates, classmates and the heavy-drinking college students in the dorm, he pushes himself to become a better athlete and a better match for her. The mix is drama, romance and sports.