Seeing this, Shogo Haizaki immediately shouted,
"Hey! You bastards! You didn't even call out to me!"
After yelling, Shogo Haizaki ran over as well, ready to take shelter from the rain.
Taiga Kagami panicked the moment he saw it and reached out, trying to stop Shogo Haizaki.
"Hey! The game isn't over yet!"
But Shogo Haizaki had no intention of giving him the time of day and immediately snapped back,
"Screw off. It's raining. If you want to play, go play by yourself."
Taiga Kagami was stunned by the sudden burst of profanity and, for a moment, had no idea what to do.
Tatsuya Himuro stepped forward, patted Taiga Kagami on the shoulder, and said,
"Let's go, Kagami. You'll catch a cold if you stand out here too long."
With that, Tatsuya Himuro pulled Taiga Kagami toward a nearby building.
As they walked, Tatsuya Himuro turned his head and glanced at the Kirisaki Daiichi players.
'They've become... somewhat different.'
That was right. The feeling Makoto Hanamiya and Shogo Haizaki gave Tatsuya Himuro now was completely different from before.
As for Murasakibara, he was still the same...
Over on Kirisaki Daiichi's side.
Murasakibara looked up at the rain, which was falling harder and harder, and said unhappily,
"Ugh, now we can't eat."
Makoto Hanamiya replied helplessly,
"Now we can only wait for the rain to stop before going to eat."
The moment Murasakibara heard they had to wait for the rain to stop, he nearly cracked on the spot.
"B-but... I'm hungry."
Since other people could not be relied on, he would rely on someone else!
So Murasakibara directly pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Miyamoto Tokima.
The call connected quickly, and Miyamoto Tokima's voice came through.
"What's wrong, Murasakibaracchi?"
Murasakibara pitifully explained their current situation to Miyamoto Tokima in simple terms.
On the other end, Miyamoto Tokima, who was still cuddling with Satsuki Momoi in the movie theater, was also dumbfounded.
They went out to play street basketball and got themselves stranded???
Satsuki Momoi noticed Miyamoto Tokima's expression change and asked in confusion,
"What's wrong, Tokima?"
Miyamoto Tokima stroked Satsuki Momoi's head and explained,
"It's nothing. Murasakibaracchi and the others are stuck."
"I'll just ask Senpai Nijimura to go pick them up later."
Seeing that, Satsuki Momoi nodded and quietly leaned against Miyamoto Tokima's shoulder as they watched the movie.
Meanwhile, Shuzo Nijimura was dumbfounded.
Shuzo Nijimura put down the game console in his hands and helplessly picked up his clothes to get dressed.
Seeing this, Shuzo Nijimura's father asked,
"Shuzo, you're still going out when it's raining?"
Shuzo Nijimura replied helplessly,
"Yeah. A few of my adopted sons urgently need their adoptive father to help them escape their predicament."
Seeing that, Shuzo Nijimura's father said nothing more.
Before long, Shuzo Nijimura arrived at the scene.
After handing out raincoats and umbrellas to everyone, he followed them off to eat.
...
Time flowed like water, and the days slipped away.
The Winter Cup soon arrived.
For some reason, this Winter Cup was a little different.
First were the two teams that had directly advanced to the National Tournament.
Kirisaki Daiichi and Shutoku High School.
Because those two teams had been the champion and runner-up of the Summer Cup, they directly advanced to the National Tournament for the Winter Cup.
In other words, Kirisaki Daiichi and Shutoku High School did not need to participate in the preliminaries.
The other six spots would be decided through the preliminaries between the other high schools.
It was precisely because of this rule that more schools began taking part in the Winter Cup.
The preliminaries also became much livelier.
Over at Kaijō, the team was going through their usual training.
Yukio Kasamatsu waved his hand and shouted,
"Defense!"
Several substitutes immediately closed in to defend.
But who was Ryota Kise? He was Ryota Kise!
Ryota Kise dribbled effortlessly, slipping past them one after another and leaving them completely behind.
Then he finished the attack with a powerful dunk.
After training ended, Ryota Kise handed Yukio Kasamatsu a bottle of water.
Yukio Kasamatsu replied politely,
"Thanks."
Ding.
Suddenly, Ryota Kise's phone rang.
Yukio Kasamatsu teased,
"Someone who can still message you at a time like this must be a girl, right? You really are popular with women."
Ryota Kise scratched his head sheepishly, took out his phone, and checked the message.
Then... he froze...
Yukio Kasamatsu turned his head in confusion, only to see Ryota Kise suddenly cry out,
"Kasamatsu-senpai! What kind of decent person does this?! I sent him a message cheering him on for his match, and he replied, 'Go die'!!!"
Yukio Kasamatsu was dumbfounded too.
That... really was a genius reply!
...
The preliminary matchups were soon released.
Miyamoto Tokima was not particularly interested in the other schools.
The only ones he cared about were the schools with [The Generation of Miracles].
During the preliminaries, Miyamoto Tokima went to watch a few matches.
The first was Seirin's match.
It was against the school from the original story whose main player loved his little sister.
In the original story, they had performed decently at the start, but now...
They were blown out by Seirin in a single quarter.
After watching the match, Miyamoto Tokima could not help feeling a little emotional.
As expected of the destined protagonist from the original story.
His growth speed could only be described as monstrous.
Of course, Miyamoto Tokima was not panicking.
In the following days, Miyamoto Tokima also went to watch matches from other schools.
Tōō High School won their matches by huge margins even without Daiki Aomine playing.
Rakuzan High School was the same. Seijuro Akashi did not even come to the venue, yet they still won by a huge margin.
Other famous schools such as Kaijō and Yōsen also swept through their opponents.
In the end, the list of teams entering the National Tournament was finalized.
They were Kirisaki Daiichi, Rakuzan High School, Shutoku High School, Kaijō High School, Tōō High School, Seirin High School, Yosen High School, Seihō High School, and Fukuda Sōgō.
"Hey, hey, hey, wait. Why are there nine schools? Normally, shouldn't there only be eight?"
Shogo Haizaki looked at the report Satsuki Momoi had taken out and asked in surprise.
The others were also somewhat puzzled.
Satsuki Momoi patiently explained,
"Normally, there are indeed only eight, but this time, something unexpected happened."
Shogo Haizaki and the others looked at her in confusion, waiting for her to continue.
Satsuki Momoi went on,
"Because in the final match, Seihō and Fukuda Sōgō ended in a tie."
"And since Japan currently doesn't have overtime, they both entered the National Tournament together."
Shogo Haizaki asked again,
"Then won't that mess up the match arrangements?"
Satsuki Momoi tilted her head and smiled, as if she was not worried about that at all.
She turned around, took the bag from Miyamoto Tokima's hand, and pulled something out of it.
...
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