Kenji Sato has never been the worst. But he has never been the best either. He lives in the space between effort and expectation — close enough to excellence to see it, yet always just far enough to miss it. At school, his name sits near the top of the rankings, but never above Ryu Kazama, the student everyone admires. At home, his parents don’t yell or scold. They simply compare. Numbers are placed beside other numbers. Eighty-seven beside ninety-six. Effort beside perfection. One Become Pro