Shirogane Kōzō had been feeling a little thinner lately.
His hair was falling out more than usual too.
He knew the reason—he'd been staying up later and later these days.
He had no choice.
The basketball team this year had way too many monsters.
The level of talent that kids like Tendou were showing was honestly beyond anything he'd expected.
After the recent round of group games, one thing was clear:
The original starting lineup couldn't hold a candle to these first-years anymore.
It was only a matter of time before the new generation took over.
In fact, Shirogane Kōzō was starting to think that if the first-years kept up this level of performance through the qualifying rounds, by the time Teikō made it to the national finals—
The starting five might have to be completely rebuilt.
To fully unlock their potential, he was spending every night digging through film, drawing up new systems and playbooks, trying to craft a tactical framework worthy of these kids' talents.
Back when the team only had Nijimura Shūzō, things had been a lot easier.
All Shirogane had to do was run some high-post pick-and-rolls, station shooters in the corners and wings to space the floor, and let Nijimura run the show.
That had been Teikō's bread-and-butter last year.
But now?
It was a whole different ball game.
They had too many guys who could initiate offense.
Aside from Midorima and Murasakibara, Tendou, Akashi, Aomine, and Nijimura all had elite ball-handling and playmaking skills.
To put it bluntly—one basketball simply wasn't enough for Teikō anymore.
If Tendou were just a defensive stopper, he'd be easy to slot in—play him like Murasakibara.
But the problem was—
He could score too.
And not just score—he had Midorima's consistency, and Aomine's explosiveness.
Shirogane could've made him a defensive specialist.
But that wasn't his style.
He hadn't forgotten his true purpose:
To develop the next generation of elite players.
So no matter what, he would not limit Tendou to a role.
He would train him to be dominant on both ends.
Junior high to high school was the most crucial stage for a player to define their identity.
If you pigeonholed someone into a "glue guy" role now, that might be all they ever became.
"I'll have to stagger the rotation."
After some deliberation, he decided to temporarily move Akashi to the bench.
Let him lead the second unit and develop his leadership skills.
It wasn't ideal, but what else could he do?
Nijimura was the team captain—he couldn't have his captain coming off the bench.
So instead, he'd sacrifice the most overlapping skillset, Akashi's, and make full use of the scoring trio: Tendou, Midorima, and Aomine.
This way, Teikō would always have at least one elite decision-maker on the floor.
"But to get the most out of Akashi, I need to pair him with a pure scorer... Aomine or Midorima would both work."
Man, it's hard being this rich in talent.
The more he built lineups, the more Shirogane Kōzō wanted to laugh.
Other coaches had straights and pairs.
Maybe a three-of-a-kind if they were lucky.
Teikō?
Four 2s and a damn Joker.
You can't lose! You just can't!
Nijimura Shūzō.
Tendou Kageyoshi.
Akashi Seijūrō.
Aomine Daiki.
Midorima Shintarō.
Murasakibara Atsushi.
That's a six-star team if there ever was one.
Can you believe it?
Guys who were Teikō starters last year…
are now stuck playing bench minutes.
But Shirogane's moment of bliss didn't last long.
Knock knock knock.
Just as he was sketching up another new tactic, someone knocked at his office door.
It was his assistant coach.
And he brought with him what he called a "double blessing."
"Coach Shirogane, I think you need to come see this."
"What happened?"
"A new kid just joined the team."
A kid?
Shirogane put down his clipboard and followed his assistant to the gym.
And there, he saw—
A slouching, smug-looking brat who was currently wrecking his second-string players.
"What's this? That's all you got?"
The guy in question was—
Haizaki Shōgo.
He'd made up his mind earlier that day to come deal with Tendou, so here he was, showing up at basketball practice in the afternoon.
At this point, his hair was still a messy silvery-white mop.
A few earrings. A punk through and through.
The one crumpled on the court before him was Yūta Yamanaka—
The very same guy who'd gotten smacked around by Tendou when he first joined the team.
Yamanaka had been one of Teikō's better bench players.
But right now, he was on his knees, face frozen in terror.
Around them, the gym was filled with stunned silence.
Because what they'd just witnessed—
In the span of ten minutes, no matter what move Yamanaka made, Haizaki copied it instantly.
That kind of freakish mimicry blew everyone's minds.
But even more disturbing was what came next—
After Haizaki used Yamanaka's own move against him…
Yamanaka couldn't use it anymore.
Every time he tried, he'd either miss, fumble, or flat-out airball.
It was like—
His skillset had been stolen.
"What... what did you do to me?" Yamanaka asked, trembling.
"Huh?" Haizaki looked down, casually flicked his hair, then chuckled.
"Don't worry. I just temporarily borrowed your abilities, that's all—senpai."
...
『Bruh, ANOTHER one?!』
『Is Teikō a freaking spiritual hotspot or something?! Why are there so many freaks here?!』
『Wait… he just watched the move and stole it?!』
『Even Salt isn't this salty!』
The chat exploded.
The Generation of Miracles hadn't even awakened yet, and already Haizaki's ability looked like a full-blown superpower.
Watch. Learn. Steal.
You understand it, and your opponent doesn't anymore?
『Yo this is nuts. The show's taking a weird turn!』
『This guy's clearly a transfer from Prince of Tennis or something.』
『Wrong anime, man. But yeah, definitely our first real villain, right?』
Haizaki didn't care about chat. He scanned the gym with indifference.
"I heard you got smoked by Tendou during your entry trial, right?"
"So where's Tendou now?"
You came for me?
Tendou brushed a hand through his snowy white hair.
He was pretty damn sure he'd never even met Haizaki before.
"Looking to start something?"
Tendou wasn't about to hide.
He'd been called out by name.
What was he going to do, run away?
"You're Tendou?"
Haizaki instantly recognized him.
Well, duh—this guy was just too good-looking.
And he had that aura—
The kind of smug, straight-A, star-athlete energy that made Haizaki's skin crawl.
Haizaki had always hated that type.
If they were outside school, he'd have swung on him already.
No reason needed.
That's just how he rolled.
"Name's Haizaki Shōgo, and I—"
"Yeah, yeah, I know what you want." Tendou cut him off with a lazy wave.
"You wanna challenge me to a match, right?"
"So you can go back and brag to your buddies,
'Hey, I played one-on-one with Teikō's top dog—future model star Tendou Kageyoshi.'"
"But what about me?" Tendou raised an eyebrow.
"What the hell do I get out of it?
Say I beat you—what am I gonna tell people?
'Hey, I crushed some dude named Haizaki Shōgo.'
Who the hell even knows who you are?"
The entire gym went dead silent.
Even Coach Shirogane was dumbfounded.
"This little punk... Where the hell does he get all this sass?!"
Meanwhile, the comment section had officially lost it.
No need to flood with random words—
The phrase that got spammed the most?
『HOLY SH*T.』
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