Norihiro Naganuma

The emperor gives Jinshi an order: He must grant the final wish of a concubine who passed away five years ago by returning her to her homeland. In order to return her to her family, Jinshi examines the remains, only to discover that they're in pristine condition. To solve the mystery of the remains, Jinshi drags Maomao along on a journey to Binan-shu, the southern province ruled by the Bi clan. Maomao is excited to see herbs and medicines she has never seen before, but tensions are high in the area, as pirates are viciously trying to find the treasure their late leader hid away. On the day of the concubine's funeral, a huge incident occurs, triggering a chain of events that nobody could see coming.

After winning the fierce Inter High race, Sakamichi and the other Souhoku team members receive an invitation to compete in the Kumamoto Hi Province Mountain Range Race towards the end of summer. The top-tier teams from around the country compete in this race, including Souhoku's rivals Hakone Academy (which yearns to take down Souhoku), Kyoto Fushimi, and Hiroshima Kureminami - as well as Kumamoto Daiichi High School's team led by Shin Yoshimoto.

Tokyo, Winter. Despite the use of the Youth Ordinance Bill to enforce curfews for minors and regulate the use of the Internet, young people continue to fight for their own freedom through underground methods. One such group calls themselves Surat. They have decided to take on Fumito Nanahara, a man who has great influence on the political world, and basically controls Tokyo with an iron fist. While using the Internet as a weapon to discover more information about Fumito, they learn about "Tower", the secret organization behind Fumito which engages in human experimentation.

Nishiyama Hiyori is a really shy and short (only 140cm tall) 15-year-old girl, who had been hospitalized for a whole year, due to a car accident. Now that she returns to school, she wants to quickly adapt to the new surroundings. Just when she was about to introduce herself to her new classmates, a boy named Hirose Yuushin (190cm tall) walks in. He is open and always happy, quite in contrast to her shy and quiet being. Sitting next to each other and thanks to his personality, Hiyori slowly loses her shyness.