In the world of competitive table tennis, an unspoken rule dictates that to reach the highest level, a player must start training by the age of six. This premise is challenged when Takeshima Naoki, a former member of the Japanese national team, goes searching for a raw talent that can shatter this established common sense. His search leads him to a junior high school student named Fukado En, a boy who initially picked up a paddle not out of ambition, but as a way to forge human connections and escape loneliness. Seeing the potential in En's straightforward and unadulterated passion for the sport, Takeshima begins to coach him, setting the stage for a dramatic underdog story that aims to drive a wedge into the rigid traditions of the table tennis world.

The main characters include the mentor Takeshima Naoki, a former national team player looking for a prodigy, and the protagonist Fukado En, a lonely middle schooler whose natural talent and pure love for the game are discovered late by elite standards. A central rival and benchmark for success is Arakawa Hayato, a young player hailed as the treasure of Japanese table tennis whose skill represents the pinnacle of the sport's conventional system. The setting primarily revolves around the competitive landscape of Japanese junior and high school table tennis, training facilities, and major tournament venues.

The narrative arc begins with Takeshima discovering Fukado En and quickly escalates as En finds himself facing the national prodigy Arakawa Hayato. Following this initial confrontation, a major story arc follows En as he attempts to join the prestigious Shoutakidai Fuzoku High School, a powerhouse in the high school table tennis circuit. During the entrance examination, he partners with a teammate named Suzu Mizu Chitose and faces a formidable fellow applicant, Mikoshiba Kiyoharu, whose physical prowess initially overwhelms En before a counterattack begins. The exams culminate in a highly anticipated rematch between En and Arakawa Hayato, where En desperately tries to convey his feelings and prove his own brand of table tennis. Following the entrance exams, the story explores the players' post-graduation choices, introducing a new character, Matthis, who plays in the German Bundesliga and proposes a sudden team entry test, expanding the scope of the competition beyond Japan.