The acrid smell of antiseptic and the heavy silence of the room were the first things Li Ye noticed when he opened his eyes. His head throbbed as if a mad metronome was pounding against his temples. Had he passed out at the office after yet another all-nighter?
He sat up with difficulty, but what he saw made him jump. He wasn't in a modern hospital, but in a school infirmary with yellowed walls. A wooden sign read: Oki Junior High School Infirmary.
Oki Junior High School?, he thought, perplexed. There's no such school in my district.
Suddenly, the door slid open with a crash. A young nurse in a white coat rushed toward him, her face etched with worry.
"Ueno-kun! Are you finally awake? Are you feeling better?" "
Li Ye scanned the room, searching for this "Ueno." He was alone. He pointed at himself, his voice hesitant. "You… you're talking to me? Am I Ueno?"
The nurse paused, scrutinizing him with a mixture of surprise and pity. Had he been hit too hard by the ball? She placed a cool hand on his forehead. "I'll never understand what your new coach, is thinking… Putting you through such inhumane training when you have to face Teikō Junior High tomorrow! He knows the Generation of Miracles is unbeatable."
Li Ye's pupils narrowed. Teikō Junior High? The Generation of Miracles? The names echoed like relics from a fictional world he knew intimately.
"Wait…" he stammered in Japanese—a language he hadn't mastered ten minutes earlier. "Are you talking about Teikō? The team that won two consecutive national championships?"
The nurse gave him a light tap on the forehead. "Show some respect for your elders, Ueno-kun! Yes, that's the Teikō. You're playing them tomorrow in the first round of the preliminaries. You're really having a run of bad luck. Now get some rest."
After she left, Li Ye—now Ueno Juri—remained frozen, staring at the ceiling. There was no longer any doubt: he had been transported to the world of Kuroko's Basketball. A world where sports were no longer just a discipline, but a system of almost supernatural power.
Memories of the body's original owner flooded back. Ueno Juri was the captain of the Oki Junior High basketball team. A passionate but limited player, whose team had just fallen apart. Upon learning they would face the monsters of Teikō in the first round, all his teammates had resigned, terrified by the prospect of suffering the public humiliation the Miracles were known for.
Ueno rubbed his temples. At that time, the Generation of Miracles might not have yet reached its peak, but their arrogance and contempt for their opponents were already devastating. To be born in the same era as these geniuses was a curse for any ordinary athlete: one became nothing more than a stepping stone for their rise.
Yet, a new light ignited in his eyes. If he had truly become Ueno Juri in this world of miracles, he wouldn't just stare at the ceiling. Tomorrow, facing Akashi, Aomine and the others, the "captain of Oki" would show them that destiny could be plundered.