Li Ye stared at his unfamiliar surroundings. The air reeked of antiseptic. Had he slept himself stupid?
Rubbing his aching head, he sat up on the cot. Had he really worked himself unconscious last night?
And then—some good Samaritan had dragged him to a hospital?
He instinctively scanned the room. No—this wasn't a hospital at all.
It was a school infirmary.
A plaque on the wall read: Damu Middle School Infirmary.
Damu Middle School?
Since when did Beijjing have a school by that name?
Before the thought could settle, hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor. A pretty nurse in a white coat rushed in, concern written all over her face.
"Ueno-kun, you're awake! Are you feeling better?"
Li Ye glanced around. Ueno-kun?
There was no one else in the room. Was she talking to him?
He pointed at himself, baffled. "Are you… calling me Ueno?"
The nurse blinked, startled. Had the training drills fried the boy's brain?
She stepped closer, pressed a hand to his forehead, and scolded him gently. "Honestly, what does Coach Shane think he's doing, pushing you kids this hard? Doesn't he know Teiko Middle School has the Generation of Miracles? You can't possibly beat them."
"Look at you—he's fine, but you're collapsing one after another."
As she fussed, she gave him another quick checkup.
Li Ye's eyes widened. He stared at the grumbling nurse.
She was speaking Japanese.
And worse—he understood every word.
Even worse, he was replying in Japanese without thinking.
Teiko Middle School?
The Generation of Miracles?
This was the world of Kuroko's Basketball.
He forced himself to calm down, took a steadying breath, and asked, "The Teiko you mentioned… is that the Teiko with the Generation of Miracles?"
The nurse flicked his forehead. "When you talk to a senior, use proper honorifics, got it?"
"Yes, well, you're facing them tomorrow. Tough luck. Now rest up."
She checked his pupils one last time, found nothing wrong, and left.
Rubbing the spot she'd flicked, Li Ye no longer had any doubts.
He had transmigrated.
Into the world of Kuroko's Basketball.
A universe where basketball came bundled with super-powered cheats.
And tomorrow, his team would face the middle school monsters known as the Generation of Miracles.
It had to be a joke.
In the anime, the Miracles had breezed through a three-peat championship.
His no-name squad wasn't even a footnote.
Exhausted, he lay back on the cot—and unfamiliar memories surged into his mind.
Ueno Juri. That was the name of this body.
A student at Damu Middle School.
And captain of its basketball team.
Two days earlier, fortune—or doom—had struck during the preliminary draw.
One pull.
They'd drawn Teiko.
In theory, the reigning national champions should have started in the semifinals, but middle school rules forced every team to go through preliminaries.
High schools gave powerhouses a bye. Middle schools didn't.
The moment the draw was announced, the rest of Damu's roster crumbled.
Some even quit the club outright.
The gap was simply too vast.
Worse still, the Miracles loved humiliating their opponents.
No teenager wanted to endure that kind of public disgrace.
Ueno kneaded his throbbing temples.
The Miracles weren't yet at their peak, but this was already the version he dreaded most—arrogant, merciless, and utterly disrespectful.
Except for Kuroko, they treated basketball like a joke, even walking off mid-game just to mock their opponents.
"The Generation of Miracles—six once-in-a-decade geniuses."
Staring at the ceiling, Ueno accepted that his debut would be a curb-stomping delivered by the main cast.
Why not just call in sick? No rule said he had to volunteer as target practice.
Sure, he dreamed of punching Teiko in the face and drop-kicking the Miracles.
But he didn't have cheat codes.
Facing a squad of protagonists who bent reality itself? That was pure self-torture.
The next morning.
A white team bus rolled slowly out of Damu Middle School.
Coach Shane watched his silent players, a knot of guilt tightening in his chest.
He opened his mouth, found nothing to say, and closed it again.
The Generation of Miracles.
The name alone crushed every middle school team in the nation.
From the back seat, Ueno gazed out the window, lost in thought.
In the end, he'd chosen to play.
Defeat was inevitable—but he wanted to see.
He wanted to feel just how overwhelming the team that defined an era truly was.
Watching them on screen was one thing. Facing them in the flesh was another.
A teammate tugged on his sleeve. "Captain… are you sure you're okay?"
Ueno turned and gave a faint smile. "I'm fine now. Don't worry."
The boy exhaled in relief. Ueno Juri was their best player.
Then he muttered, "If I were captain, I'd have stayed home. Playing them is just…"
His voice trailed off.
Ueno had no words to comfort him.
To be born in the same era as the Miracles was a tragedy—no matter how hard you worked, history would only remember their brilliance.
Yet it was also a kind of fortune.
Because—
You would witness a miracle.