[Slam Dunk / Sendoh and Rukawa] The Most Distant Star Yet

"The people you miss are like stars in the sky. The darker the night, the brighter they shine. Sendoh, which star do you miss?"

On October 16, 2017, scientists from several countries held simultaneous press conferences to announce the first observation of two neutron stars colliding and merging in the universe.

That year, Sendoh was forty-one. He turned off the lights and lay on his back on the cold teak floor of his Manhattan penthouse, listening over and over to a recording about 58 seconds long through his bass headphones. It was the low hum produced by a pair of neutron stars as they spiraled around each other at ever-increasing frequencies before merging, a greeting from 130 million light-years away.

He closed his eyes and saw seventeen-year-old Rukawa again.

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