This is a sponsored chapter, thank you R3pTiLe HuntZz!
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"Anyone against it?"
Who would dare oppose you now?
Even our captain got used as a chair by you.
"If no one speaks, I'll take that as agreement. Be there for club activities after school."
With the welcoming ceremony delivered, Tendou stood up and walked out of the gym, leaving the dazed Hanamiya and the others behind.
Of course, he didn't think it'd be this easy to make Hanamiya and his goons behave. There'd be plenty of "fun" ahead.
Sure enough, when afternoon club activities rolled around, Hanamiya was already scheming.
This year, over 20 people applied to join the basketball team.
Not much compared to Teikō, but still a decent number.
Kirisaki Daiichi had seven first-year classes, about 30–40 students each. That meant around 280 students total, half of whom were girls—so the boys' basketball team could only recruit from roughly 140.
Considering Kirisaki's chaotic club scene—Light Music Club, Chatting Club, Sleeping Club, etc.—recruiting 20+ boys was already impressive.
As the new first-years gathered, they were shocked to find out that the team captain wasn't Uncrowned King Hanamiya Makoto—but someone even more intimidating.
"Who's that…?"
"Tendou Kageyoshi?!"
"The Demon Star of Teikō? The captain of the Generation of Miracles?!"
"He's a first-year like us, right? How is he the captain?"
"Did Hanamiya-senpai voluntarily step down or something?"
"Must be. It's Tendou-sama we're talking about!"
Step down, my ass!
If I could beat him, I wouldn't have gone from captain to vice!
Hanamiya was already itching to stir things up.
Tendou followed in Shirogane Kōzō's footsteps—no boring physical evaluations, just settle everything on the court.
The basketball club's expensive equipment basically became useless.
The new recruits were hyped.
Originally, they didn't expect much. Sure, the team had decent strength, but they weren't nationally dominant.
But on their very first day, they met the leader of the Generation of Miracles—in the flesh.
Even more handsome than in his photos!
That was the power of Tendou now. Just standing there made everyone dream of winning the national championship. Naturally, they gave their all during the tryouts.
However—
Hanamiya immediately decided to crash the party.
He volunteered to join the match, and with just one glance from him, guys like Seto Kentarō knew exactly what to do.
What followed was a massacre.
The first-years got absolutely wrecked by the club regulars, especially Hanamiya and his cheap shots.
"Senpai, what are you doing?! Aren't we teammates?"
"Heh~ Who said we're teammates? Right now, we're opponents."
Hanamiya smiled "brightly," clearly enjoying himself.
Especially when he saw the crushed expressions on the rookies' faces.
That was the real fun for him—hurting people. Basketball was just the excuse.
The other tryout teams suffered just as badly, elbowed left and right.
Many first-years were already thinking of quitting for their own safety.
Tendou watched it all silently—and then stepped onto the court.
"Next group."
The nervous rookies stepped up despite trembling legs.
Right away, Tendou showed them a completely different style from Hanamiya.
Smack—!
He won the tip-off with a jump that soared past national-level height.
Upon receiving the pass, he burst forward—his agility was unbelievable—and breezed past the defense to slam it home.
Landing, he turned and addressed the rookies:
"Don't space out on defense. Your opponent won't go easy on you just because you're scared. Only courage lets you make great plays."
"Y-Yes sir!"
The player he called out stood at attention.
The others glanced at each other in amazement.
This was nothing like Hanamiya's thuggish playstyle.
Every move of Tendou's was clean, elegant—so clean it felt pure, so sharp it felt noble.
A lotus blooming from the mud, untainted.
If they hadn't experienced Hanamiya's brand of "teaching" first, they might've taken Tendou's grace for granted. But now, it stood in stark contrast.
Tendou-sama is divine!
Next possession, Tendou drew a triple-team and dished to an open teammate for an easy score.
"Nice timing on the cut. Keep it up."
"Y-Yes!"
Getting praised felt like being blessed by the emperor himself.
The other rookies were fired up, desperate to show their worth and earn Tendou's praise.
Time passed. The tryouts ended.
When the rookies regrouped, none wanted to quit anymore—in fact, they looked more determined than ever.
"You all did well. But there's still a lot to improve. Don't get complacent. Patch up those weaknesses."
"As for the upperclassmen's behavior—don't complain. The court is a battlefield. Step back once, and your opponent will keep pressing forward."
"Be aggressive. Play with a warrior's mindset. Make the enemy fear you. That's what real defense is about."
"And everything is for one purpose—victory, and winning the national championship."
Tendou stood before them, arms crossed, solemn as he delivered this speech.
The rookies lit up with understanding.
"So that's what it's about... our senpai were just instilling us with iron resolve!"
"Defense wins championships. My favorite team, the Celtics, was known for their defense too!"
"Yosh! I'll train hard! Gotta be like our senpai!"
With Tendou's words ringing in their ears, they dove into training with new purpose.
Just a simple phrase—"National Champions"—was enough to get them fired up.
...
Meanwhile, Hanamiya's face was pitch black.
This was not how he envisioned things going.
Those punks should've run home crying after getting elbowed—not excitedly training like zealots.
Seto Kentarō and the others just looked embarrassed.
Facing the rookies' admiration made them… feel kinda guilty.
They weren't trying to "instill grit"—they were just helping Hanamiya sabotage Tendou's plans.
Yet somehow, Tendou made them look like heroes.
"Yare yare…"
Even Seto, with his supposed 160 IQ, scratched his head in awkward shame.