Back at the end of June, Machida Zelvia looked firmly on course to pull off one of football's great miracles.
In their maiden top-flight campaign, Zelvia sat five points clear in the J1 League and loomed as the unlikeliest of champions in arguably Asian football's strongest domestic competition.
They had effectively led all comers for most of the season, including defending champions Vissel Kobe and perennial contenders Yokohama F. Marinos and Kashima Antlers.
As of Sunday, they are no longer the front-runners.
On the back of a resounding 6-2 win over Marinos, which extended their run of form to eight wins and a draw in their past nine league outings, Sanfrecce Hiroshima are the new leaders.
Their position at the summit may only be by virtue of goal difference at the moment, with both teams tied on 59 points, but -- with seven games remaining in the season -- it is Sanfrecce rather than Zelvia who are firming as title favourites.
Vissel should not be discounted as they sit just a point behind the leading duo, and even Kashima might still feel they have a chance with a game in hand that could see them move just six points off the pace in the event of a win.
Yet, it is remarkable how Sanfrecce have almost effortlessly chipped away at what was once a 12-point deficit which saw them sit as low as fifth -- especially after having to deal with what looked a costly mid-season departure.
In the first half of the campaign, Sanfrecce's fortunes were heavily influenced by Yuki Ohashi, whose 11-goal haul from 22 appearances would earn him a big move to Championship outfit Blackburn Rovers -- where he has continued on from where he left off with five goals in his first eight outings in Europe.
Somehow, since the departure of their former prolific marksman, they have gone from an average of 1.8 goals per league game to 2.6.
While not exactly a like-for-like replacement given he plays in a slightly withdrawn role, the acquisition of Tolgay Arslan proved a masterstroke with the former Hamburg and Udinese star already Sanfrecce's current top scorer with seven goals in as many games since moving to Japan.
The positional successor to Ohashi is a more recent signing who also arrives with equally-impressive credentials -- Portugal international Gonçalo Paciência, who has tasted top-level league and continental success in the past with Porto and Eintracht Frankfurt respectively.
Paciência's start to life at Edion Peace Wing Hiroshima has been more steady rather than spectacular, especially compared to Arslan, but he has opened both his account in J1 and the AFC Champions League Two.
The signing of Paciência also means Sanfrecce boast even more depth now, with Douglas Vieira an alternative for the sole striker berth while they could even afford to have Pieros Sotiriou coming on as an impact substitute in the weekend's emphatic win over Marinos.
And it is not just in the final third where Sanfrecce look formidable, even if their 61 goals scored so far in the J1 League campaign is 11 more than the next best in Vissel.
They are a settled outfit at the back with goalkeeper Keisuke Osako and experienced centre-backs Hayato Araki and Sho Sasaki the mainstays, which means that even a fellow stalwart like Tsukasa Shiotani -- an AFC Asian Cup runner-up with Japan in 2019 -- has had to take his turn on the bench at times.
In Shunki Higashi, they boast one of the competition's most-consistent wide players over the past couple of seasons who -- at 24 -- must be gunning for a move to Europe soon, while it helps that, down the other flank, Naoto Arai has impressively chipped in with six goals -- including a remarkable hat-trick from right-wingback in a 5-0 rout of Kyoto Sanga back in May.
With quality contributors all over the park, it is perhaps no surprise that Sanfrecce have not-so-slowly but surely forced their way into the title reckoning.
They are, of course, no strangers to success with three previous J1 League crowns to their name although the last time they went all the way in 2015.
It may not be quite the same miracle as a Zelvia title triumph but, for the remaining seven games of the campaign, Sanfrecce will only be focused on writing their own fairy-tale ending to 2024.
Starting with this Saturday's game -- against Zelvia.