Haha, sorry about the confusion– the sentence you’re referring to was poorly written by me (consequence of me answering Asks after I’ve been drinking). “Fun fact: Dan, Neil, and Riko are the only three in the entire book who have been here since day 1 and still have their original name.” If I could reword this tidbit sober, I’d rearrange it to where the emphasis is supposed to be: “The only three who’ve been here since the beginning and still have their original names are Dan, Neil, and Riko.” Not much better, hm.

Basically they’re not the only ones who’ve been around this long but they’re the only ones who haven’t been renamed. Bringing the team to an America university from its original setting at a Japanese high school meant aging everyone up and changing almost everyone’s names.

Riko’s never been a Fox; he started out as a member of a rival team. The original six Foxes were Dan, Neil, and the Japanese versions of Matt, Andrew, Aaron, and Kevin. Seth was there, but only in passing–he showed up to a game high as a kite and got grievously injured. Had to leave the team, and Neil ended up getting his spot. Nicky’s been around since the beginning, too, though he was just a friend of the 6-man team. He didn’t want Neil to join the team because they were an inclusive lot and Nicky didn’t want to lose Neil to them. He was also more than a little jealous when Kevin and Neil started flirting.