(Teiko Middle School – Two Years Before the Generation of Miracles Was Known)
Teiko Middle School's gym was not yet a battlefield.
Not yet a legend.
Not yet the birthplace of monsters.
But that morning, the air was different.
It trembled.
A pulse—soft, controlled, steady—echoed across the polished floorboards like a second heartbeat layered upon the first.
The first person to feel it was Aomine Daiki.
He stopped mid-dribble, the basketball bouncing off his foot and rolling away unnoticed.
"…What the hell?"
His instincts, the same instincts that later would make him the most naturally gifted player in Japan, flared like a warning siren. His skin prickled. His lungs tightened.
Someone was here.
Someone strong.
A light laughter drifted across the gym. Not mocking—gentle, almost airy.
Then a voice:
"Daiki, you dropped your ball."
Aomine spun.
Standing in the doorway was a boy with snow-white hair, eyes glowing like galaxies trapped in ruby glass, hands in his pockets as if he'd been watching for hours.
Kuroko Joshua.
Tetsuya's twin brother.
The brother no one had known existed.
At least… not until now.
Aomine opened his mouth to speak, but the pressure sealed the sound in his throat.
Joshua walked inside.
The pressure followed.
It wasn't killing intent.
It wasn't intimidation.
It was rhythm.
His rhythm.
The kind that made the gym itself breathe in sync with his footsteps.
Aomine gritted his teeth.
"Who the hell are you supposed to be? A ghost?"
"Sort of," Joshua replied calmly. "I'm Tetsu's brother."
"You're lying." Aomine's voice cracked.
"No way someone moves like that and stays invisible."
Joshua blinked, puzzled. "I'm not invisible. Tetsu is."
The statement was casual, but the implication shook Aomine's bones.
This boy… understood Kuroko.
More than he did.
Aomine felt something inside him tighten with jealousy—and awe.
Before he could speak again, someone else sensed it.
From across the gym, Akashi Seijuro raised his head.
His Emperor Eye had not yet awakened, but his mind was already terrifying.
Already calculating.
Already a blade.
He felt the gym's rhythm shift.
The players around him unwittingly synchronized their breathing, their pace, the tiniest twitches of their fingers…
All to one boy.
Akashi turned.
And for the first time in years, he hesitated.
Those eyes.
Those impossible galaxy-red eyes.
"Akashi-kun. It's been a while."
Joshua stepped closer.
"You know me?" Akashi asked quietly.
"Of course. Tetsu talks about you all the time."
The words pierced him deeper than they should have.
Not painful—just unexpectedly warm.
Aomine wasn't done.
He jabbed a finger toward the twin.
"You think you can just show up and act like you own the gym—!?"
He didn't finish.
Joshua wasn't there anymore.
He didn't teleport.
He didn't accelerate.
He simply moved in a way the human eye wasn't trained to perceive.
One second he was in front of the door.
The next, he was crouched beside Aomine's abandoned basketball, bouncing it lightly.
"You dropped this."
Aomine swallowed thickly.
Not fear.
Excitement.
Something hot, something primal, something that made him grin without realizing.
"Oh you're interesting."
"Thank you."
As if summoned by the tension, two more presences entered.
Kise Ryota—only a beginner then, but already a prodigy.
He paused, eyebrows rising as he saw Joshua.
"Waaah—Tetsuya-chin has a twin!? And he's cool!"
And behind him—
Midorima Shintaro pushed up his glasses, eyes narrowing.
"…Today's lucky item was a red stone. I did not expect it to stare back."
Murasakibara, tall even then, tilted his head.
"Ne… he smells like milk candy."
Joshua smiled softly.
"Kuroko Tetsuya says you're all his precious teammates. So… I want to know you too."
It was such a simple sentence.
But each of the future Miracles felt it:
A warmth.
A pull.
A gravity.
Joshua wasn't dominance.
He wasn't overwhelming strength.
He was… connection.
"Let's play," he said gently.
"As we are now. Before we become the monsters people fear."
Akashi's breath caught.
What did he just say?
---
THE FIRST GAME
They formed teams without speaking.
Aomine, Kise, and Murasakibara on one side.
Akashi, Midorima, and Joshua on the other.
Joshua didn't choose.
He didn't need to.
Both sides simply assumed he was at their center.
Aomine dribbled first.
Kise watched, excited.
Murasakibara waited to crush anything that came near him.
Aomine smirked.
"You ready, Ghost King?"
"Not really," Joshua answered. "I prefer to play as a heartbeat, not a king."
Aomine blinked.
"What does that even—"
He didn't finish.
Joshua took a single step.
Only one.
But their rhythms shifted instantly.
Kise's heartbeat aligned involuntarily with Joshua's pace.
Aomine felt his instincts pulled, like strings tugging his limbs toward synchronization.
Murasakibara's giant frame stiffened, his timing disrupted.
"Oh… oh shit," Aomine whispered.
"Stop doing that!"
"I'm not doing anything," Joshua replied, genuinely confused.
"It's just… natural."
He tapped Akashi's shoulder.
"Move left."
Akashi didn't know why, but he obeyed.
Joshua's vision widened—
And the world slowed.
Not completely.
Not supernatural.
Not Emperor Eye.
But the court… mapped itself to his mind.
Every player's micro-movement.
Every potential action.
Every rhythm.
"Shintaro-kun—shoot."
Midorima's hands moved on instinct.
He hadn't even caught the ball yet.
Joshua passed.
The ball traveled so softly, so smoothly, Midorima thought for a moment he was dreaming.
He shot.
Perfect arc.
Swish.
Silence.
Aomine exhaled shakily.
"That… that was insane."
Kise's voice cracked.
"I couldn't even copy you—your movement didn't exist!"
Murasakibara scratched his head.
"Ne… this guy is annoying…"
But Akashi?
Akashi stared at Joshua with wide, trembling eyes.
He saw it.
Not with a supernatural gaze—not yet—but with the mind of a prodigy who understood talent better than anyone.
Joshua wasn't the old king.
He wasn't a rival.
He wasn't the strongest.
Joshua was the one thing Teiko had never possessed before or since:
A Heart.
A center of gravity that made every player stronger just by existing.
Akashi felt the first crack in his soul.
The fear that someone could lead better than him.
But also the warmth.
The realization:
This boy could have saved Teiko from everything.
He didn't say anything for a long time.
Joshua tilted his head innocently.
"Akashi-kun? Are you alright?"
"I am," Akashi whispered.
His voice was barely audible.
But his next words were louder:
"Stay with us, Joshua.
Teiko needs you."
Joshua smiled.
"I know."
---
THE MOMENT THAT CHANGED FATE
Practice ended.
The boys left the gym chatting, laughing—something rare, something precious.
Only Joshua stayed behind.
He felt a presence.
A smaller one.
"Tetsu," he murmured softly.
Kuroko stepped out from behind the wall, his light-blue eyes reflecting his brother's red ones.
"Joshua-nii," Kuroko said quietly.
"You showed them your rhythm."
"Just a little."
Joshua ruffled his hair.
"I wanted them to accept you."
Kuroko blinked.
"Why?"
Joshua's answer was simple.
"You're my little brother."
Then his smile faded.
"The world is cruel to gentle souls like you.
If anyone ever tries to hurt you… even if they're Miracles… I'll erase them."
Kuroko didn't flinch.
He only stepped closer.
"…Thank you."
Joshua placed his forehead against his twin's.
"Our heartbeat is one.
Always."
And for the first time in history, the gym witnessed it:
Kuroko's misdirection faded.
Joshua's rhythm pulsed.
Twin shadows.
Twin heartbeats.
Twin monsters, hidden in innocent frames.
Together, they were something no one—not Akashi, not Aomine, not even fate—could control.
The future changed in that moment.
And Teiko didn't even know.
---
END OF CHAPTER 1