Kaijo vs. Fukuda Sogo — Game Day
Spectator stands
"Wow… the atmosphere's really something today."
Kagami glanced around, surprised at how packed the stadium was — there wasn't a single empty seat in sight.
"Well, can't blame them. Kaijo was the Interhigh champion, after all."
Hyuga handed a bottle of water to Riko as he followed up on Kagami's comment.
Today, the entirety of Seirin had come to watch Kaijo's first Winter Cup game.
"Kise must have gotten even stronger."
Kuroko's voice was quiet as always, barely audible from his corner seat.
Kagami immediately twitched at the sound of that, a tick mark popping on his forehead.
"Hmph. Whatever. I'm taking all of them down anyway."
Ever since unlocking the Zone against Aomine, Kagami had been riding a wave of confidence. Even though Seirin narrowly lost to Too by a single point, Kagami now felt like he could take on any member of the Generation of Miracles.
"Huh? Wait a sec—isn't that someone from Rakuzan?"
Thanks to his Eagle Eye, Izuki had already spotted Akashi in the crowd. Despite his small stature, Akashi's presence and aura made him hard to miss.
"Not just him... they're all here."
Riko bit her thumb, a bead of sweat running down her face. She pointed toward the crowd, and the rest of Seirin followed her gaze.
Shutoku, Too, Rakuzan, Yosen… and of course, themselves. All of the generation of miracles teams were present.
"Interesting… so they've all come to scout Kaijo, huh?"
A tall, kind-looking guy chuckled from within Seirin's group. His gentle face made his warm personality easy to read. It was none other than Seirin's former ace, now back as the starting center— one of the Uncrowned Kings, Teppei Kiyoshi. After a summer of recovery, he had finally returned.
"To think Kaijo's championship run last year had this much influence — it's got all these monsters crawling out of the woodwork."
Their conversation was cut off by a sudden roar from the crowd.
"Huh? What's going on?"
Kagami was a beat slow to catch on, but Kuroko calmly grabbed his face and turned it toward the court.
Kaijo had entered.
As last year's national champions stepped onto the court, it was no surprise the crowd went wild.
Kasamatsu led the team with a steely expression, with Kobori and Hayakawa flanking him like bodyguards. The Kaijo bench players followed, fired up and loud as ever.
If any bench squad in Japan was known for their unshakable energy, it was Kaijo's — and that tradition had been started by none other than Kota himself.
At the rear of the group, Kota and Kise walked side by side, hands in their pockets, matching pace perfectly.
As soon as the two entered the stadium, the crowd went insane. Wave after wave of cheers crashed through the stands — it was enough to make your ears ring.
Kota's eyes sparkled.
He hadn't experienced this kind of stage during the Interhigh. Back then, he was still green. But now? Now he stood here as the championship point guard.
He pulled his hands from his pockets and raised them up like a pop star, waving to the crowd from below.
The stadium exploded with even more energy, and Kota's lips curled into a grin.
"This… this is what basketball means to me."
From the stands, Aomine winced and clutched his ears.
"Seriously? That guy's this popular now?"
Beside him, Momoi was also holding her ears. She had to shout to be heard:
"Well, Kaijo did win the Interhigh! And Kota hit the game-winning free throws against Rakuzan! Of course he's popular!"
Aomine pouted.
"Hmph. I won three championships back in Teiko and never got cheers like this…"
"Tch. I'm jealous as hell…"
He clenched his teeth and silently vowed:
"I'll crush Kaijo this year and brag about it to Kota for three days straight!"
...
"Alright, show-off! How long do you plan on flirting with the audience?"
Kasamatsu stormed over, a vein bulging on his forehead, and smacked Kota on the head with a classic karate chop.
Then, spotting Kise still standing silently at the back of the formation, Kasamatsu elbowed him in the stomach.
"And what's with that stiff face?! Why aren't you interacting with the crowd?"
Kota and Kise: "…"
"He's been like that ever since watching the opponent's game tape last night. Also, ow, captain—you hit way too hard…"
Kota casually slung an arm around Kise's neck and leaned in with a grin.
"So, what's up, genius? Did you spot someone interesting?"
Last night, the whole Kaijo squad had gathered to review footage of Fukuda Sogo. And naturally, they had seen Haizaki.
Kise's reaction had been priceless — Kota had noticed every twitch of his face.
Of course he knew the reason—but teasing Kise was just too fun.
Kise rubbed his nose awkwardly.
"Yeah… guess you could say that."
His gaze drifted to the other side of the court, where Fukuda Sogo was warming up.
But compared to Kaijo's deafening entrance, Fukuda's presence felt like a light breeze. Sure, they were known in certain circles — but their energy couldn't compare.
"Huh? He's not out yet?"
Kise raised a hand to his forehead, scanning the court like he was looking for someone.
Still waving to the crowd, Kota tapped his chin.
"Wait a sec… in the original, wasn't there a scene around this time where Haizaki beats up Himuro?"
Right. Because Kaijo knocked Too out of the top three, the matchups had changed. Seirin hadn't faced Yosen yet, and the whole "brotherly betrayal" between Kagami and Himuro hadn't happened. That also meant Alex, their foreign coach, would probably show up soon.
…And if Kota remembered correctly, Haizaki had also harassed Alex, picked a fight with Himuro, and got his ass kicked by Kise in the process.
"Ah—there it is."
Kota looked around and realized that Kise, who was just doing a warm-up dunk moments ago, had vanished.
"Eh, whatever. At least he's not the one getting beat up this time."
Kota turned back to the crowd with a smile.
"Oh! Miss Masako!"
It was easy to spot Murasakibara thanks to his height, and just next to him, as expected—Araki.
Kota excitedly waved her way. Araki nodded back with her usual cold expression — not that Kota expected anything more.
Under Kasamatsu's threatening gaze, Kota finally wrapped up his fanservice and joined the team for warm-ups.
Winter Cup – Top 16 Match
Kaijo vs. Fukuda Sogo
It was finally about to begin.