Miyamoto frowned slightly when he heard that, but he was still willing to give Tatsuya Himuro a chance.
After all, in the original story, Tatsuya Himuro had been a regretful figure. He worked hard enough, yet his strength had stagnated because of that damned issue of talent.
"Give me a reason to let you join."
Tatsuya Himuro's expression shifted. His gaze turned firm, and he spoke with unwavering resolve:
"I want to become stronger!"
Miyamoto's dark eyes met Tatsuya Himuro's.
In those eyes, Miyamoto saw a single emotion—longing.
Seeing Tatsuya Himuro like this, Miyamoto finally decided to give him a chance.
A chance to grow stronger.
(Don't call the protagonist a babysitter or anything. Raising a genius and building your own core lineup—what's wrong with that?)
(In the future, these guys will all be working for the protagonist… ahem, serving the protagonist!)
"Alright. Take care of the transfer procedures yourself. Once you're here, everything follows my rules."
Tatsuya Himuro's face lit up, and he nodded quickly.
"Yes!"
With that, Miyamoto turned and walked ahead.
Tatsuya Himuro remained where he was, watching the backs of Miyamoto and the others.
"Tatsuya, what are you standing around for? Hurry up."
Atsushi Murasakibara's slow, absent-minded voice drifted over from the front.
Tatsuya Himuro looked at Atsushi Murasakibara in disbelief, then pointed at himself hesitantly.
"I… can I follow?"
Atsushi Murasakibara blinked, confused.
"Didn't Tokima-chin say you're one of us now? Shouldn't you be coming along?"
"But I haven't…"
Tatsuya Himuro started to say more, then suddenly came to his senses.
That's right. He was already planning to transfer over—why was he still talking like an outsider?
And when Atsushi Murasakibara invited him just now, Miyamoto hadn't said anything to stop it. That meant he agreed.
Realizing this, Tatsuya Himuro stopped overthinking. With a faint smile, he followed after them.
......
Tatsuya Himuro returned to Kirisaki Daiichi with Miyamoto and the others.
The moment he stepped into Kirisaki Daiichi's basketball club, he was stunned.
The gym was packed with advanced basketball and training equipment.
Compared to Yosen High School's facilities, the difference was obvious.
It was like comparing a palace to a simple house.
Tatsuya Himuro stared blankly at the players training on the court with state-of-the-art equipment, momentarily dazed.
Even in the United States, he had never seen a training environment like this—let alone in Japan.
Moreover, every single player at Kirisaki Daiichi was training intensely. Not one of them was slacking off.
He turned to glance at Miyamoto, emotion stirring in his chest.
'So that's how it is. Maybe only someone like you could make Atsushi willingly follow you.'
Tatsuya Himuro felt a sense of relief.
In his mind, with facilities this advanced at Kirisaki Daiichi, Miyamoto had to be the most hardworking of them all. Only someone with both talent and relentless effort could stand above the Generation of Miracles.
Sure enough, all successful people combine talent with hard work.
Miyamoto led everyone to an empty court.
This was the practice court for Kirisaki Daiichi's official players. What Tatsuya Himuro had seen earlier was only the training ground for the reserves.
Once they arrived, Miyamoto spoke:
"First, let's welcome our new members—Atsushi Murasakibara and Tatsuya Himuro!"
The official players of Kirisaki Daiichi applauded.
Tatsuya Himuro nodded somewhat awkwardly and greeted everyone.
Atsushi Murasakibara also gave a sluggish self-introduction.
After the brief introductions, Miyamoto continued.
"Since we have new members joining, they'll have to go through our tradition."
"Himuro, you can skip it for now. You haven't officially transferred yet. Once you've completed the transfer and formally become one of us, you can go through the tradition then."
A bad feeling immediately crept over Tatsuya Himuro. He quickly asked,
"Excuse me, may I ask what this tradition is?"
He was a little uneasy, worried it might be something… questionable.
Miyamoto smiled faintly.
"Our tradition is simple. Every newcomer has to play a one-on-one match with the veterans."
"Oh, and to add—one match with each of them. You can rest in between, but you won't get playing time until you've finished them all."
Tatsuya Himuro swallowed.
What? Play everyone one-on-one? If I were strong enough to beat all of them, why would I even come here?
Noticing his reaction, Miyamoto explained further:
"Maybe I wasn't clear. First, I'm not included. Second, the result doesn't matter—win or lose."
"But you must give it everything you've got. Even if you know you'll lose, you still fight with your full strength."
"If you're just planning to go through the motions, then Kirisaki Daiichi isn't for you."
Tatsuya Himuro let out a quiet breath of relief.
As long as it wasn't about beating everyone, that was manageable. If he had to defeat them all, he might never see the court.
After finishing his explanation, Miyamoto stopped talking and started arranging the matches.
"Alright, let's begin. Murasakibara, pick someone."
Atsushi Murasakibara scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed.
"Tokima-chin, can I just play one?"
"No."
"Oh."
.......
In the end, Atsushi Murasakibara decided to start with the weaker opponents to conserve his stamina.
First up was Kazuya Hara, one of Kirisaki Daiichi's original starters—the bubblegum-blowing, perpetually squinting boy.
Unsurprisingly, Atsushi Murasakibara barely used any strength. With a couple of casual plays, he quickly scored five points and won.
Makoto Hanamiya and Kentaro Seto's expressions shifted slightly, tinged with something like emotion.
They probably hadn't expected that the kid they used to toy with back in middle school had now grown into someone so overwhelmingly strong.
After defeating Kazuya Hara, Atsushi Murasakibara went on to beat the other substitutes as well—Kojiro Furuhashi and Hiroshi Yamazaki.
Next, he chose to face Kentaro Seto in a one-on-one.
He had thought it would be an easy match, but he hadn't expected Kentaro Seto's steals to be so precise—completely different from how he was in middle school.
Several times, just as Atsushi Murasakibara turned for a dunk, the ball was slapped away cleanly by Kentaro Seto.
Murasakibara dropped his earlier carelessness and quickly put Kentaro Seto away.
Next…
Makoto Hanamiya.
......
...
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