The game ended.
Shūtoku had demolished their opponent without any suspense.
The Seirin players weren't particularly surprised—they'd grown accustomed to watching the Generation of Miracles and Yuuto brutalize their competition.
In today's high school basketball landscape, unless those elite talents were facing each other, nobody expected competitive games. Forget about winning—if any team could even give Seihō or the other powerhouses a real challenge, maybe lose by single digits, fans would consider it a pleasant surprise.
But Alex was different.
She was still reeling from shock.
A talent like that was rare even on a global scale.
Full-court three-pointers with such a soft shooting touch—it defied all logic.
After the game, the group decided to grab some food nearby.
They still had a game to play in the afternoon.
"Could I borrow Taiga for a bit?" Alex grabbed her student by the collar, ready to drag him away.
Through her conversations with the Seirin players, she'd learned about the Generation of Miracles.
Apparently, there were several more prodigies whose talent rivaled that Midorima Shintaro kid.
This was completely beyond her expectations.
At this rate, her two students might actually get eliminated before they could face each other.
"Don't worry, we'll be back before the afternoon game."
With that, she led Kagami toward a nearby court.
...
Before long, they arrived at a park with a basketball court.
"What's going on, Alex?"
"I made a mistake, Taiga. I didn't realize the Generation of Miracles you mentioned would be this strong."
"They really are monsters. You've already taken down one of them, and barring any surprises, you'll definitely qualify."
"But if you run into any of the others after that, it's hard to say—especially Yōsen."
Her expression was grave.
Although she hadn't witnessed the Generation of Miracles' center firsthand, she knew exactly how strong her other student, Himuro Tatsuya, had become.
He'd already surpassed her—he was on the same level as the Generation of Miracles.
"For the Winter Cup ahead, and so you can face Tatsuya in competition, I'm going to teach you my ultimate technique."
She produced a basketball from somewhere and demonstrated it for Kagami.
"The Meteor Jam?!" Kagami blurted out the moment he saw it.
"You know it?" Now it was Alex's turn to be surprised.
She had two signature moves: the Mirage Shot and the Meteor Jam. These were her trump cards during her playing days.
"Yeah. That's Yuuto's move. The Mirage Shot too." He'd actually suspected as much ever since Himuro had used the Mirage Shot.
Yuuto's Meteor Jam and Mirage Shot were probably self-taught from watching Alex's old game footage.
"Another member of the Generation of Miracles?"
"No."
Kagami shook his head.
"He's stronger than the Generation of Miracles. He defeated them a year ago, and this summer he claimed the national championship."
When he mentioned Yuuto, Kagami's expression visibly changed.
That change told Alex everything—the person who'd demolished her student was this guy named Yuuto.
"Is he that strong?"
"Unreasonably strong." Kagami's tone was iron-clad. "He's the person I want to defeat most. Because if we can't beat Yuuto, we can never win!"
Had it really come to this?
Alex hadn't anticipated this.
One Midorima had already shaken her to her core. How strong must this Yuuto be to have defeated the entire Generation of Miracles?
"Does he have a game today?"
"No. As the Inter-High champions, Seihō is a specially invited team. They'll enter the Winter Cup main tournament directly."
"But there are lots of his game recordings and highlights online."
"Really? I want to see what kind of player this genius is who's gotten you so rattled."
The two headed to a nearby internet café.
A quick search easily pulled up Seihō's game footage.
Throughout the viewing, Alex didn't say a word.
Kagami sat beside her, occasionally explaining what was happening on screen.
Alex was absolutely mind-blown.
Demon Mode, Tyranno Berserker, No-Motion Passes, Specialization, and most shocking of all—his evolution speed.
"A player like this actually exists."
Seeing all this, she couldn't blame her carefully trained student for losing so badly.
"This kid... his talent is world-class."
"Huh?"
"What I mean is, if you want to make him your rival, you need to train even harder."
Maybe even hard work wouldn't be enough.
"Let's begin, Taiga. Even if you master this, there's no guarantee you can beat him. But if you do nothing, at your current level, you won't stand a chance."
She no longer dared to claim that her two students would definitely face each other.
From what she'd seen of Seihō's matches, the talent those players displayed was frighteningly high.
...
Meanwhile.
Back at Seihō, the team continued their daily practice under Yuuto's supervision.
They hadn't bothered watching any more Winter Cup qualifiers.
They figured Shūtoku and Seirin would definitely claim the final two spots.
And they were right.
Shūtoku easily swept two consecutive wins to lock up a qualifying spot.
Seirin had a rougher path, getting ambushed by Kirisaki Daiichi in a brutal match.
But in the end, Seirin also secured two wins.
As a result, the final game was meaningless.
Both Shūtoku and Seirin, with 2 wins each, qualified together.
And with that—
The Winter Cup regional qualifiers were complete.
The three teams representing Tokyo were: the King of the North, Seihō; the King of the East, Shūtoku; and Seirin, who had upset the tyrant Tōō.
Before the Winter Cup officially began, there was a bracket drawing ceremony.
Yuuto attended as Seihō's captain.
At the drawing, he also ran into Akashi.
He felt it was somewhat unfortunate.
At the Inter-High, Shūtoku and Midorima had been absent.
At the Winter Cup, Tōō and Aomine had been eliminated.
There was always someone missing. It wasn't complete—both tournaments had their regrets. Neither was perfect.
"The competition in the Tokyo region is too intense."
"But only such a brutal battlefield can forge true strength."
Akashi had a premonition.
Once their generation graduated and moved on to university, the Tokyo region's high school basketball would far surpass every other region.
This wasn't baseless speculation. To survive in such a ruthless environment, you had to constantly improve.
Just look at the LCK in later years—year after year, dominating worlds.
"But that's a matter for the future."
Akashi didn't chat with Yuuto for long.
Both took their bracket results and quickly returned to their basketball clubs to make final preparations.
...
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