The game had ended.
Kubo Jun couldn't hold himself back any longer and rushed into Teikō's locker room, determined to get a one-on-one interview with Tendou Kageyoshi.
A 40+10+10+10 quadruple-double.
That kind of monster stat line was guaranteed front-page material for the Youth Sports Weekly.
"That was without a doubt a brilliant solo performance. Facing Musashi's tough defense, you delivered a historic quadruple-double—how are you feeling right now? What motivated you to play so well?"
"Winning wasn't my achievement alone. We just wanted to win more than Musashi did—that's why we played the way we did."
Kubo Jun smiled at that.
The more he listened to this humble kid, the more he liked him.
High-profile performance, low-profile attitude.
This kind of guy was solid.
"Then, with the round-robin coming up, what are your expectations for this year's nationals?"
"It's still too early to talk about that—we haven't even cleared group stage yet. But I believe in our team. If we stay united, we can absolutely win the national championship."
"And not just one. Not just two."
Not one or two?
Damn, just say you're planning to dominate all three years of junior high already.
Kubo had just started thinking Tendou was modest—
And now here he was again, sounding cocky as hell.
Not that Kubo minded.
He actually liked this kid even more now.
...
And in the comment stream…
『Damn, he's throwing shade at my boy Bron!』
『Tell me I'm wrong—could LeBron win without forming a superteam?』
『With Wade and Bosh on your team, my grandma could drop dimes too.』
『Your grandma getting back-to-back Finals MVPs too?!』
As expected, the chat exploded in chaos.
Tendou the flamethrower had done it again.
He smiled smugly and shut the stream off.
Honestly, he really did like LeBron—
But he had many idols.
Today he'd roast Bron.
Tomorrow he'd jab at Kobe.
Later, he'd tease Durant, Curry...
It's all just for fun.
...
The next day.
Sure enough, Tendou Kageyoshi landed the front page of Youth Sports Weekly.
Yeah, it wasn't as popular as pro-level sports papers, but for a junior high athlete, headlining the sports page was a huge deal.
Especially in Japan, where soccer and baseball always dominated the youth sports scene.
For a basketball player to break through that noise?
That was nuts.
And just a day later, Tendou helped Teikō win again.
This time he stole the ball 14 times, and straight-up made an opposing first-year cry.
No, really cry.
The kid was uglier than Sakuragi after losing to Hainan.
—
Meanwhile, the latest episode of the anime dropped.
The story picked up where it left off.
As Tendou had expected, this ep gave Kuroko plenty of training scenes.
Viewers followed his journey as he mastered his misdirection technique.
Just as he was getting the hang of it, the nationals began.
...
Bottles, a livestreamer and content creator with over a million followers, had been paying attention to this series lately.
Basketball anime was a small niche—
Even after all these years, there weren't many truly memorable sports series.
Basketball had Slam Dunk.
Soccer had Captain Tsubasa.
Volleyball had Haikyuu!!.
Baseball had Major.
Tennis had Prince of Tennis.
Yeah, each sport had a representative title—but beyond those?
Nothing really stood out.
So when a new basketball anime came along, Bottles was all in.
Now, he was streaming live with his audience, watching the newest episode together.
He laughed along with the viewers as Teikō ran wild on screen.
Especially when Amanai Riko roasted Kuroko as usual—he cracked up with a big "auntie laugh."
"Of course he can do whatever he wants—there's five Kuroko Tetsuyas on the court!"
"...Tach—Amanai-san, I didn't even do anything…"
『LOL』
『Another classic Amanai takedown!』
『She's totally crushing on Tendou. Can't stand anyone liking him, can't stand anyone hating him.』
『How can you not like Tendou? He's handsome, his game is clean, and he's got a good personality.』
『Where do you see good personality? Aomine's been washing his socks for a month straight!』
『DEAD 😂』
Bottles laughed along with the chat.
At the moment, Kuroko was still in the "training arc,"
So the main focus remained on Tendou.
Partly because his roasts were hilarious,
Partly because his chemistry with Amanai Riko was currently the show's main ship.
Sure, Aomine and Momoi were childhood friends—
But their interactions weren't nearly as entertaining.
The production team kept giving Tendou and Riko more and more screen time.
Even watching TV together at home made it into the broadcast.
Then the story followed Kuroko's POV to the Teikō vs. Musashi match.
Viewers saw Murasakibara get knocked out with two early fouls, and for a second, it looked like Teikō might be in trouble.
But then Tendou stepped up with his "Cleave" move and wiped the floor with Musashi—
Ending the game with a quadruple-double.
When people saw the final stat sheet, they were stunned.
"Wait, isn't Tendou the one with the main character script??"
"He's a first-year in middle school and drops a massive quadruple-double in a key match?? Who's even gonna be their rival after this?"
"I'm starting to feel like Kuroko's true enemies… are his own teammates."
Bottles caught onto something that didn't sit right.
The production team had made Tendou too powerful—
To the point where it was hard to imagine Teikō losing at all.
Given the title was Kiseki no Sedai (Generation of Miracles).
Maybe this series wasn't like Slam Dunk, where we follow the underdog's gritty rise through the tournament.
Maybe this wasn't a hero's journey.
Maybe it was a villain origin story.
『You're reading too much into it, Bottles. I can't picture Tendou turning evil.』
『Chill, we're still in group stages. The real bosses probably haven't shown up yet.』
『Yeah, Slam Dunk only had one real group stage game, remember? The rest were one-sided beatdowns.』
『Stop overthinking it. Not all twin-tails are tsundere either. Could just be subverting expectations.』
『Name one twin-tail character who isn't tsundere then?』
『Bro… why are you like this?』
Bottles watched the chat spiral into nonsense and quietly fell into thought.
This show had been flirting with anti-tropes from the very beginning.
What if the creators really did go down that road?
Build up a fan-favorite like Tendou, make him the golden boy…
And then turn him heel?
That kind of twist would blow people's minds.
But the real question was…
How do you turn someone like Tendou evil?
Bottles was dying to see what came next.
---
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