Elsewhere...
After Seirin defeated Kaijō, the entire team was riding high.
They were brimming with ambition for the upcoming Winter Cup.
They had hope now.
The Generation of Miracles weren't unbeatable — today, Kuroko and Kagami had proven that.
As long as those two were there, Seirin had a real shot at competing with Tōō, Shūtoku, and even Kirisaki Daiichi — maybe even taking the national championship.
"This year... we might really achieve that goal."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. First, we need to make it through the prelims."
"Either way, this is a strong start. If we don't dream big now, when will we?"
Hyūga, Izuki, and the other upperclassmen were full of fire.
This victory had done wonders for their confidence.
Meanwhile, Tendou had watched the entire game on his virtual screen, expressionless.
After hanging up on Momoi, he turned off the screen and headed out to grab food.
Over the following days, Kirisaki Daiichi arranged two more practice matches.
But each time, the opposing team benched their starters by halftime.
Not because the players were scared — but because the coaches were terrified of Kirisaki Daiichi's notorious tactics.
Everyone remembered what happened in last year's nationals.
Those elbows, those flying kicks — who the hell could survive that?
The only reason they even agreed to practice games was Tendou's presence.
Coaches wanted to see for themselves what the leader of the Generation of Miracles was like.
But after seeing it firsthand, they were even more terrified.
Kirisaki's defense might be savage, but it was brutally effective — allowing Tendou to focus entirely on offense.
In both matches, Tendou only played half the game — and still dropped 37 and 32 points, respectively.
That's over 30 points per half.
His scoring efficiency was absurd.
And across three straight games, Kirisaki had scored over 100 points each time.
Last year, their average was only 90.2 — they were never known for offense.
But with Tendou on board, their firepower had jumped two full levels.
He didn't just score — he made his teammates better, too.
The whole team had already adapted to Tendou's presence.
They knew how to play around him.
Time flew by. As every team buckled down for the qualifiers, the Winter Cup Prelims finally arrived in mid-May.
Maybe it was because of the Generation of Miracles — but this year's tournament was attracting far more attention than usual.
Even the opening ceremony was packed.
At 9 AM, Tendou led the Kirisaki Daiichi delinquents through the tunnel in their brand-new uniforms.
Tendou hated the original team colors, which were too "country" for his taste.
So he switched it up — black with green accents, styled similar to the Celtics' future kit.
Kirisaki's game was up first that day.
The organizers knew exactly what the crowd wanted — they served up the new "dish" right away.
Kirisaki Daiichi, Shūtoku, and Tōō Academy were all playing today.
But to everyone's surprise — Tendou wasn't starting.
He sat on the bench, acting as a temporary coach, directing the team from the sidelines.
The crowd, visibly disappointed, watched as the game began — with little fanfare.
"That guy... he's the captain of the Generation of Miracles?"
"Yeah."
Up in the stands, Seirin was in attendance.
They were feeling pretty cocky lately — on the surface, they talked about "focusing on prelims first," but in their hearts, they only had eyes for the big three: Tōō, Shūtoku, and Kirisaki.
They were especially curious — just how did Tendou Kageyoshi, the so-called "Demon Star of Teikō," compare to Kise Ryōta?
But the game started, and he just sat there like some aloof tactician.
"Is he not going to play?"
"Looks like it. Unless..."
"Unless Kirisaki runs into trouble."
They were all here.
Tendou opened his virtual screen — and sure enough, the broadcast camera was focused on him.
Fans were flooding the stream with comments like "Husband!" and "My king!"
He turned his head, eyes scanning the stadium — and locked onto Seirin's section.
He gave Kuroko a simple nod — a silent hello.
"Whoa! That awareness is crazy!"
"There are over twenty thousand people here — and he spotted us in seconds?!"
Dangerous.
Even without playing, they could feel Tendou's abnormal presence.
Kagami, watching Tendou with his sunglasses and cocky swagger, couldn't help but ask:
"Hey, Kuroko… in middle school, are you sure Kise never beat him? Not even once?"
After their match against Kaijō, they were all impressed by Kise's strength.
Surely he had won at least once?
"Not even once," Kuroko replied, his expression complex.
"Strictly speaking, Tendou-kun has never lost."
Even now, after months apart, Tendou was just as confident, just as calm.
"He's... the strongest."
Everyone fell silent.
For Kuroko to say something like that — they couldn't even imagine how strong Tendou must be.
Now they just hoped Kirisaki's opponent would push him into action — so they could see what the leader of the Generation of Miracles was really like.
But nope.
Right from the tip-off, Kirisaki Daiichi was on fire.
They lost the opening jump — but immediately stole back possession.
The opposing team's ace was a third-year small forward, weighing 80kg — just 5kg shy of Aomine's weight.
In this level of competition, that kind of size mattered.
If he had decent athleticism, he'd be close to a national-level forward.
He blew past Furuhashi Kōjirō with ease.
Furuhashi wasn't light either — at 73kg — but he still got bumped out of position.
Even so, he gritted his teeth, grabbed the opponent's jersey, and used it to spin back into position.
Then — the trap closed.
Kirisaki's bad boys swarmed him, forcing a panicked pass.
Hanamiya, lurking on the wing, read it like a book — sprinted in, intercepted, and sent it down the court.
Yamazaki Hiroshi finished the fast break with a clean layup.
First bucket of the game.
"Hey… that guy totally grabbed the jersey, right?"
"Yeah. That's just Kirisaki Daiichi's style."
Seirin's players grimaced.
It brought back plenty of bad memories — last year, they'd been wrecked by exactly this kind of dirty play.
"Still… their defense is crazy aggressive."
"If you want to beat them, you've gotta be just as tough."