Seirin had lost.
Lost spectacularly, massacred by Kirisaki Daiichi by 61 points in a single game!
After the game, each of them was breathing heavily, no longer showing their previous fighting spirit, all hanging their heads.
Compared to last time, this defeat was even more damaging to their confidence.
The Seirin players felt they definitely couldn't emerge from the shadow of defeat in a short time—even when they went to bed at night and pulled back their covers, they'd probably see Tendou's shadow.
Yet they had truly given everything they had.
"Thank you for the game!"
"Thank you for the game!"
During the lineup, the emotions of both teams' players were written on their faces.
One side composed and confident, the other dejected and dispirited.
As captain, Hyuga Junpei took the initiative to approach Kirisaki Daiichi to congratulate them.
"Congratulations, you won."
"Well played."
Tendou extended his hand to shake with him, not holding it for long.
He didn't kick them while they were down, even though he enjoyed messing with opponents' mentality during games.
But that was during the game—a means to achieve his purpose. Now that the outcome was decided, there was no need to do unnecessary things.
"Tendou-kun..."
"You don't need to tell me what you're planning to do."
Tendou hadn't sought out Kuroko, but Kuroko approached him proactively.
He didn't know what kind of heaven-defying lines his opponent would come up with, but it would probably be something like "I won't give up, I'll stick to my basketball."
He simply didn't give Kuroko the chance, cutting him off before he could speak.
"Just do what you like."
"Later!"
Tendou waved his hand and left with Kirisaki Daiichi's bad boys.
The real-world audience was completely speechless.
At this moment, it looked exactly like a conclusion scene where the protagonist should say some inspiring words.
Just like when they first lost to Touou, Kuroko had said similar things to Aomine.
But Tendou—he directly interrupted the casting.
Still trying to save face? I'll directly interrupt your casting!
Tendou: Want to look cool? Not a chance—only I can look cool in this world!
'Is this guy reading the script ahead of time? Why is his technique so polished?'
'Wait, did Seirin really lose?'
'What else?'
'This development is wrong! They gave Seirin so many power-ups and they still lost?'
'Holy crap, his plot armor is too thick!'
'Even survived the script kill—Tendou is truly an unreasonable monster!'
'Maybe it's because of high popularity poll rankings?'
From Kuroko's Basketball's original broadcast to now in the third season, Tendou's popularity had remained consistently high.
In the several official polls conducted, Tendou only ranked behind Kuroko in the first and second polls—all other times, he held the top spot.
The audience suspected that perhaps Tendou's high popularity was what allowed Kirisaki Daiichi to maintain victory.
This was a victory for their bullet comment teachers!
Little did they know, the officials were already at their wit's end.
This wasn't their plan at all.
In their arrangement, Kirisaki Daiichi was supposed to lose to Seirin, then Tendou would be influenced by Kuroko like the other Generation of Miracles members, find basketball's truth, and together walk toward a Happy End.
But what happened?
Seirin was actually eliminated, and the script went completely off the rails!
They had made countless calls to the production team, receiving feedback that they were equally frustrated.
The production was clearly not like this originally—they didn't know why the script changed after broadcast.
Seeing that this would be difficult to conclude, they held an emergency meeting.
After deliberation, they decided to add another game for the Generation of Miracles.
They had given up hope of defeating Kirisaki Daiichi—Tendou was like a runaway character, completely beyond control.
This was a paranormal event!
Yet they couldn't tell the outside world—people would think they were treating them like fools.
Since the protagonist team couldn't win, they could only join.
They decided to merge the Black-Fire duo and the Generation of Miracles into one team.
The opponent was quickly set—a team from America called Jabberwock!
Naturally, Tendou had no knowledge of real-world affairs.
After the game, he was found by Kubo Jun for a brief post-game interview.
"Congratulations, Tendou-kun. After the national tournament, you've once again reached the semifinals in the Winter Cup. How do you feel right now?"
"Winning always feels good, of course."
"How do you evaluate today's opponent, Team Seirin?"
"A very incredible team. They've only been established for 2 years, growing from an unknown team to one that can compete with national powerhouses. They deserve respect. Fortunately, we managed to win."
The long speech before was mostly fluff—the key was the last sentence.
They're strong, but we're better.
Kubo Jun thought this kid was really clever.
While he appeared to be praising Seirin, he was actually indirectly praising himself, because ultimately they had won the game—no matter how strong Seirin was, they weren't stronger than him.
But fans wouldn't think that deeply. After all, he was just a teenager—what bad intentions could he have?
They'd take it as him being modest and gracious, instantly elevating his character.
"What are your expectations for this year's Winter Cup? Are these results within your expectations?"
"Of course. Our goal is to complete the double championship of both the national tournament and Winter Cup. You know, I'm good at winning championships. I've been like this since Teiko—I've won every championship I could get my hands on, and the future will be no exception."
Incredible!
This kid's smooth talk was really something—who knew who taught him.
Kubo Jun quickly jotted this down, already thinking of tomorrow's headline.
"Tendou's Greatest Characteristic: He's Good at Winning Championships"
Compared to Tendou's high spirits, Seirin on the other side appeared lifeless.
As Tendou said, Seirin was a very young team.
The team's creation was just a few first-year enthusiasts, and even their coach was a second-year high school girl.
So in the fans' eyes, Seirin achieving such results was already quite outstanding.
In the national tournament, there were hardly any teams that could compete with powerhouses after just two years of establishment.
Moreover, Seirin was now one of Tokyo's signature teams alongside Kirisaki Daiichi, Tōō, and Shutoku.
Therefore, even though they lost the game, fans were still quite curious about them.
Aida Riko and others shared their team-building philosophy and declared they would continue working hard next year—their goal remained the national championship, and this wouldn't change.