Looking at the unfamiliar surroundings and smelling the strong scent of alcohol in the air, Li Ye couldn't help but wonder if he had slept himself stupid. Rubbing his slightly aching head, Li Ye sat up on the bed. Had he worked so much overtime last night that he had passed out? And then been sent to the hospital by some kind-hearted person? He subconsciously scanned the room, only to realize that he was actually in a school infirmary, not a hospital. On one side of the wall, there was a sign that read:
Ōki Junior High Infirmary.
"Ōki Junior High ? Did City A even have a school like that?"
Just as Li Ye was still confused, a series of hurried footsteps came from outside the door. A young woman in a white coat hurried in, her face full of concern as she walked up to him.
"Ueno-kun, you're awake? Are you feeling any better?"
Looking at the nurse in front of him, Li Ye instinctively glanced around the room.
"Ueno-kun?"
There was only one person in the room. Could she be talking about him? Pointing at himself, Li Ye asked hesitantly, "Ueno-kun... do you mean me?"
The nurse looked at Li Ye's confused expression and was slightly surprised. Had he trained himself stupid? Worried, she stepped closer and placed a hand on his forehead, complaining as she spoke,
"I really don't know why the new coach pushes you all so hard. Doesn't he know that Teikō Junior High has the Generation of Miracles? There's no way you can beat them! Look at this: he's fine himself, but he's worked you kids until you're collapsing one by one."
As she spoke, the nurse continued checking Li Ye's condition. At this moment, Li Ye's eyes were wide open, staring fixedly at the nurse who was still grumbling. She was clearly speaking Japanese, and somehow, he understood everything. More importantly, it felt like Japanese was now his own language.
"Teikō Junior High? The Generation of Miracles? Isn't this the world of Kuroko no Basket?"
Li Ye took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, then asked to confirm, "The Teikō Middle School you mentioned... is it the one with the Generation of Miracles?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the nurse lightly knocked him on the forehead. She looked a little annoyed as she said,
"When you talk to a senior, you're supposed to use honorifics, got it? Yes, and you're playing Teikō Middle School tomorrow. I really don't know whether you're unlucky or what. Anyway, get some good rest."
After checking his pupils and confirming there was nothing wrong, she stood up and left.
Rubbing the spot where he'd been tapped, Li Ye was now one hundred percent certain. He had transmigrated into the world of Kuroko no Basket, a world where people played basketball and casually pulled out superpower-like cheats. And tomorrow, he was apparently going to play against the strongest middle school team: the Generation of Miracles. Was this a joke? In the anime, the Generation of Miracles had effortlessly achieved a three-year middle school championship streak. And he was in some no-name middle school that probably didn't even get screen time. They weren't on the same level at all.
Lying back weakly on the infirmary bed, just as he was about to recall the plot of Kuroko no Basket, Li Ye suddenly felt a flood of unfamiliar yet familiar memories surge into his mind.
Ueno Juri.
That was the name of this body. A middle school student at Ōki Junior High and also the captain of the school's basketball team.
Whether by good luck or bad, during the preliminary draw two days ago, their coach had hit the jackpot. A direct hit. They had drawn Teikō. Logically speaking, a national champion like Teikō should have advanced straight to the semifinals, but since this was middle school, they still had to start from the preliminaries. Once it reached high school, there would be special treatment.
The moment they found out that their first match was against Teikō, the team's morale completely collapsed. Aside from the original owner of this body, the rest of the basketball team had practically given up. Some of them had even quit the team altogether. It wasn't that they didn't want to try; the gap in strength was simply too great. And whenever the Generation of Miracles played seriously toward the end of a match, they would often humiliate their opponents. For middle school students like them, that kind of humiliation was something they didn't want to face at all.
Rubbing his throbbing forehead, Ueno Juri felt like his head was about to explode. The Generation of Miracles at this point weren't at their absolute peak yet, but they were still in a phase he really didn't want to encounter. Because during this period, the Generation of Miracles had almost no sense of respect. With the exception of the protagonist, Kuroko, most of them played basketball with a "just for fun" attitude. In the final minutes, they would even leave the court outright, throwing nothing but humiliation at their opponents.
"The Generation of Miracles, huh? Once-in-a-decade geniuses, and there are six of them."
Staring blankly at the ceiling, Ueno felt like this was a doomed opening: getting brutally crushed by the protagonist's team right from the start. Maybe he should just take a sick leave and lie low. There was no need to go looking for excitement by challenging the protagonist group. Sure, he wanted to punch Teikō and kick the Generation of Miracles, but he didn't have that kind of ability. Playing basketball against a group of cheat-level protagonists? That was just asking for trouble.
...
The next day, a white bus slowly drove out of Ōki. Looking at the dejected atmosphere among the players, Coach Ueshin felt conflicted, powerless, and full of guilt. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, he remained silent. The Generation of Miracles... the Generation of Miracles that crushed middle school teams nationwide, leaving them gasping for air. Their strength needed no explanation.
Sitting at the back of the bus, Ueno quietly watched the scenery pass by outside the window, lost in thought. In the end, he still decided to play the match. Even if the outcome was defeat, he wanted to see it for himself: to see just how strong the protagonist team that dominated an entire era really was. He had watched the anime in his previous life, but he also wanted to experience it firsthand.
Just as Ueno was spacing out, a teammate beside him gently tugged at his sleeve and asked worriedly,
"Captain, are you really okay?" Hearing this, Ueno turned to him, shook his head slightly, and smiled.
"Don't worry. I'm fine now."
Seeing that Ueno was alright, the teammate finally let out a sigh of relief. After all, the strongest player on their team was their captain. Lowering his head again, the teammate spoke in a low, complicated voice,
"If I were the captain, I wouldn't have come. Playing against them... it's really..." He trailed off into silence.
Ueno didn't quite know how to comfort him. To be honest, being born in the same era as the Generation of Miracles was undoubtedly tragic. Because in the end, everyone would only remember them. No matter how hard you tried, you would merely become another stepping stone beneath their feet. But at the same time, it was also fortunate, because you were witnessing an era of miracles.