Japan.
"Whoa, this is where we're staying for the next few weeks? It's huge!"
Ryota Kise looked around like he had never seen anything like it before, marveling nonstop.
Taiga Kagami was no different. Looking at the surrounding forest and the villa on the mountain, he could not help but sigh in admiration.
"Didn't expect Coach to rent a place this big."
Riko Aida raised her chin proudly.
"Who do you think I am? The owner knows my dad. He's busy these months, so he lent it to us as a training camp."
"But don't touch anything inside. If you break something, we can't afford it."
Kagami waved it off.
"Yeah, yeah, got it."
Tatsuya Himuro looked around and smiled gently.
"It's really nice. Right, Taiga?"
At this point, Himuro had already begun the transfer process. His next school would be Seirin High School.
After reuniting with his brother, Kagami was clearly in a great mood.
"Yeah. Let's train hard from here on out, then take down Kirisaki Daiichi together!"
His eyes burned with determination.
Himuro only smiled bitterly.
Defeat Kirisaki Daiichi. That would be extremely difficult.
He had been there before. He knew exactly what kind of monsters they were.
Still, he said nothing. A goal was necessary to keep moving forward.
At that moment, a lazy voice drifted over.
"Beat Miyamoto? Didn't expect to hear a joke in the middle of summer. By the way, are you sure this training camp plan even works?"
Daiki Aomine looked indifferent, a hint of doubt in his eyes.
Ryo Sakurai spoke carefully from the side.
"Aomine, maybe you shouldn't say that."
Kagami frowned and turned.
"Aomine!"
Himuro quickly pulled him back.
"Taiga."
Kagami held himself in check.
Riko Aida smiled sweetly.
"Aomine, you'll find out soon enough."
The Seirin and Kaijō players instantly felt a chill.
They knew exactly what that smile meant.
Kise even gave Aomine a look of sympathy.
Aomine noticed, but did not care.
"Fine. Let's start training then. If it doesn't work for me, I'm leaving."
"I'm not wasting my time."
With that, he walked into the villa.
Riko Aida's smile twitched slightly, barely holding back her anger.
The mood turned tense.
Seirin had not sparked any excitement in Aomine like in the original story. Deep down, he did not really acknowledge them.
If Miyamoto had not called him, he would not even be here.
In his eyes, aside from Miyamoto, no one really mattered.
Not even Seijuro Akashi.
...
All schools were now training, preparing for the upcoming Winter Cup.
Meanwhile, Kōsei Shōta and Tokima's father Miyamoto Hiroshi were also busy with something behind the scenes.
Time passed.
The members of Kirisaki Daiichi finally understood what kind of monster Victor really was.
In just two days, the determination on their faces was gone. All that remained was suffering.
Forget everything else. Victor's trash talk alone during training was enough to wear them down.
At least Hanamiya only talked trash during games.
Victor talked the moment he saw you.
Even if you were in the bathroom, he would walk in and say,
"What's wrong? Can't do it? Your stream doesn't even go as far as mine."
Or,
"What's up, little guy? Just finished training and already worn out?"
If he ran into you while eating.
If you ate a lot.
"Eating that much? You a pig?"
If you ate very little.
"Oh, trying to be elegant?"
If you ate just right.
"Oh, very planned. Want me to bring a scale so you can measure it?"
If the nutritionist handed out food.
"My grandma eats faster than you lot."
Trash talk anytime, anywhere. It gave everyone a headache.
Hanamiya finally understood why Nash Gold was immune to his trash talk.
In this kind of environment, who would not become immune?
And it was not just the trash talk.
The training itself was brutal.
Everyone had personalized one on one training plans. Every day they trained until they collapsed.
After that, they were carried off by the nutrition team for recovery massages.
They did not even have the strength to walk.
Complete physical and mental exhaustion.
From the second day onward, Nash Gold never saw that determined look on Hanamiya again.
...
Back in Japan.
The joint training camp of Seirin, Tōō, and Kaijō was not much easier.
At first, Riko Aida's plan did not do much for Aomine.
His usual training volume was already high, so this was nothing to him.
He even planned to leave, which made Riko Aida furious.
So she called in outside help.
His dad.
A professional. He immediately recorded Aomine's data and stayed up overnight to design a training plan.
After that...
Aomine got worked into the ground.
Of course, his strength improved rapidly.
Aomine said nothing after that. He just followed the plan every day.
Painful, but satisfying.
Seeing that Aomine's workload was several times theirs, Kagami and Kise realized the gap.
So...
They started pushing harder.
Himuro saw this and followed suit.
Soon, it turned into everyone competing with each other across all three schools.
"Taking a break today?"
"Yeah, been training too much. Gonna rest."
"Same, I'm resting too."
At night.
"Weren't you resting? What are those dumbbells for?"
"Oh, these? I use them to scrub my back in the shower. What about you? What's that weighted sandbag for?"
"This? I use it to hold my feet in place when I go to the bathroom."
"Nice."
...