Hideaki Takahashi

Kinji Kugimiya and his wife, Sumie, live in a small rural town. One day, their only daughter, Kiho, who has been living in Tokyo, returns home for the first time in a long while. Shy and reserved, Kinji struggles to express his feelings and cannot bring himself to interact naturally with his daughter. Kiho, in turn, finds herself constantly snapping at her blunt and awkward father. One day, Sumie begins complaining of stomach pain. Worried, Kinji asks his old classmate, Dr. Tadokoro, to examine her. The diagnosis reveals that Sumie has stomach cancer.

Kohei Yamamura, a second-year high school student, has trouble fitting in and gets along poorly with his classmates. With the school sports festival approaching, everyone is caught up in the excitement, but Kohei keeps to himself, pretending to sleep at his desk while listening to the radio. Concerned about his constant clashes with Takahashi, the class clown, class representative Katada repeatedly tries to look out for Kohei. To Kohei, however, the attention is nothing but a nuisance. One day, Kohei has a chance encounter with Kakimoto, a homeless man.

When the intimidating Rintaro meets the open-minded Kaoruko, the unlikely duo grows closer. The issue? Their neighboring high schools hate each other.

In a world where kings are ranked, a kindly little hearing-impaired prince sets off on a journey to become a powerful king, despite all odds.

Get ready for a new collection of stories from Ranking of Kings!