Tendou returned. Riko accepted the juice and snapped a pretty photo with her phone.
"You're one of those people who play with their food now?"
"I just wanted to record the first gift Tendou-kun ever gave me."
Tendou was speechless.
He felt a bit guilty—after all this time with Riko, he hadn't given her a single gift.
"What are you thinking about?"
"I want to do everything."
Everything here felt both familiar and new to Riko. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel※fire.net
The kind of things normal girls experience early on, she was only now getting to enjoy.
"Then let's hit the whole amusement park," Tendou said, adjusting his sunglasses and charging ahead.
"Okay," Riko replied immediately, blushing as she quietly hooked her pinky with Tendou's large hand.
Feeling her tremble, he gripped her hand tighter.
Riko smiled joyfully again.
"Stop grinning like an idiot, it's lowering your IQ."
Normally she would've snapped back, but not now—her status had changed.
Back at school, everyone was staring at them differently—there was thick gossip in the air.
During break, Riko was surrounded by curious girls.
Such was the price of dating Teikō's biggest star.
Tendou didn't talk much with his classmates—especially not with kids. So they went after Riko instead.
Riko, surprisingly, quite enjoyed the attention. It gave her a sense of validation.
Afternoon, Basketball Club
As soon as they walked in, Aomine was glaring fiercely at Tendou.
Then he shouted, "Come duel me, you traitor!"
"Women over basketball?!"
Tendou rolled his eyes and changed into his practice uniform.
"Alright then. Time to beat this single dog senseless."
"My heart belongs to basketball!"
"And yet you're still single. Your skills won't save you from that."
They started their usual one-on-one match.
Over time, Tendou had undergone considerable growth—his stats had skyrocketed.
Strength, speed, stamina, and mentality—all over 90.
His technical attributes averaged around 93, nearly maxed out.
Still, his duels with Aomine remained intense.
Since entering his second year at Teikō, Aomine had "unsealed" himself.
His stats had exploded, living up to being the first of the Generation of Miracles to awaken.
But even so, he still couldn't beat Tendou.
Shirogane Kōzō was impressed by how fast everyone was progressing.
Just one break, and last year's rookies had all reached new levels.
Tendou and Aomine were the standouts, but Murasakibara, Midorima, and Akashi had also improved steadily.
The only ones not showing much growth were Haizaki and Kuroko.
"Dammit. Next time, I'm going to beat you," Aomine grumbled, helping Tendou wash his socks for a week as punishment for losing by a single point—again.
He had recently awakened his "Wild Instinct," and his offense was now on par with Tendou's.
"Stop acting like a kid. You lose and you shout 'meet me after school' like it's middle school."
"Aomine's always been like that,"
"Yeah, ever since we were kids—he'd keep playing against stronger opponents, even if he lost over and over."
Momoi, who had known Aomine since childhood, smiled fondly.
Even back then, he'd challenge older kids at parks, happy just to get better.
He could play basketball all day. Lose, rest, and play again.
He always shouted "next time I'll beat you!"
Just like now—he had just lost in a one-on-one, and was already shouting "rematch!" during practice.
But as he lunged at Tendou again, he got blocked hard.
The ball ricocheted toward the gym entrance—smacking someone in the head.
Aomine rushed over. "Crap, sorry! Are you okay?"
Kise Ryōta rubbed his head, stunned by his own terrible luck.
He had just ditched another club—he'd tried them all.
Soccer, baseball, swimming, badminton, ping pong…
Every time, with just a bit of effort, he became the best.
Then got bored. Because he had no rivals.
He looked at Aomine, who barely apologized before jumping back into a match with Tendou.
Kise muttered, "...Basketball, huh. I've never played that before."
"I hear Teikō's basketball team is really strong?"
Suddenly, Kise was interested.
He had a natural talent even stronger than Haizaki's—
What others had to learn through endless practice, Kise could replicate after seeing it once.
Haizaki is Cut-Paste.
Kise brushed himself off and applied to join the basketball team that same day.
He planned to challenge Aomine—it seemed like he'd finally found someone fun to play with.
When he showed up the next day, reality hit him hard.
Aomine and the others trained over there.
He was stuck over here.
Since Teikō's championship win, basketball club enrollment had surged—nearly triple digits now.
Aside from the untouchable fifteen-man first string, the second and third strings were overflowing.
Kise wanted to fight Aomine…
but he couldn't even get close enough to see him.