SYNOPSIS

Yu Okazaki aims to win the Olympic gold medal in marathon. To that end--to attract attention--he enters a university known for its sports program and joins the track and field club there. The university has made a name for itself in the prominent Tokyo-Hakone Round-Trip College Ekiden, aka Hakone Ekiden, a major relay race that many college athletes aspire to participate in. Yu's father, a former track-and-field athlete himself, had also participated, as an ace runner, in this race back when he was in college. But to this day he remains bitter about the event, having dropped out of the race halfway through. So he tries to live out his own dream vicariously through his son, dedicating his life to coaching him, helping him improve his form and coming up with new training drills.

Yu, who only sees the track and field club as a temporary way station on his journey to the Olympics, refrains from having friendly exchanges with his teammates, and even mocks them, seeing that their performance is inferior to his. In effect, he’s a loner within the team, but remains unperturbed, staying silently focused on his training.

Yu’s older brother, who was aspiring to become a physician, is run over by a train and dies. It remains unclear, however, whether it was an accident or suicide. The mother, who used to dote on the older brother, suffers a mental breakdown and begins to claim that Yu was genetically modified and born in vitro to predispose him to become a long-distance track and field runner. Yu refuses to believe such an outlandish story outright, no less from someone whose state of mind is in question. So he turns to his father for the truth, but his father denies the story, laughing it off. Yu still has his doubts, though, unable to take his father at his word. In fact, Yu's faith in his father, which had been absolute until now, begins to waver.

Achieving stellar results at the preliminary tournament, Yu gets qualified to participate in the next Hakone Ekiden. But when he learns that a doping inspection involving a DNA test will be carried out, Yu hesitates.

After much agonizing, Yu decides to withdraw from the next race. Dismayed university officials, intending to censure and humiliate Yu for his decision, and for the sake of publicity, order Yu to play wingman to Iwamoto, his same-aged substitute. Yu consequently accompanies Iwamoto in his training, and the more time he spends with him, Yu finds his desire to run again growing strong. But Yu wonders whether this renewed drive is genuine or whether it’s fake--whether it’s only his tinkered genes talking. While spending more and more time in training with Iwamoto--a talentless yet single-mindedly focused athlete madly in love with running--Yu's feelings undergo a sea change.

On the day of the tournament, Iwamoto is chosen to enter the race. Before he knows it, Yu finds himself rooting for Iwamoto as passionately as he could. And then it hits him: it's not his genes, but his heart telling him to take up running again. No longer afraid, Yu takes the DNA test. As a result, however, the inspectors discover proof of his genetically engineered origin and disqualify him. Yu leaves the world of competitive running and travels to America to study sports science.

Upon returning to Japan after finishing his studies, Yu establishes the Colt Club, a training institute for cultivating track-and-field athletes. At the press conference held to announce the launch of the institute, Yu makes it known that he was born an anomaly, genetically engineered to excel as a long-distance runner.

While this news makes headlines, it’s met with derision for the most part, and many athletes resign from the club. On the other hand, many of his former track-and-field teammates from his college days--those very same individuals whom he used to taunt and mock--visit Yu's office to offer their encouragement. Yu finds his spirits lifting despite the loss he has suffered. He now believes, after all, that whatever remains in his life is genuine and true. He is proud of the decision he has made, along with his chosen way of life.

Circulation figures (Japan)
17,000 tankobon (standalone book) copies, 20,000 bunkobon (small-format paperback) copies. Also published in Korea.

Other titles published overseas
Boys Be: Korea, Thailand
Kencho no Hoshi (Star of the Prefectural Office): Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong

Visual adaptations
Kencho no Hoshi (Star of the Prefectural Office): Adapted for film
Ren’ai Kentei (Love Quotient): Adapted for TV dramatization

Comic book adaptation
Kencho no Hoshi (Star of the Prefectural Office)