After defeating Yōsen High, Seirin is interviewed for Basketball Monthly. After the interview Kagami heads outside to visit with his old friend, Tatsuya Himuro, and Alex, but instead of being able to resolve their differences he runs into one Shōgo Haizaki of Fukuda Sōgō Academy. He is trying to flirt with Alex, making Kagami mad, but before Kagami can act Kise arrives on the scene and reveals that Haizaki was a starter on the Generation of Miracles team before he arrived

Kise and Haizaki face each other head-to-head for the right to advance to face Seirin. At first it seems that Kise and Haizaki have the same copy ability as Haizaki is able to start duplicating Kise's teammates moves. However once Kaizaki has duplicated a move, the original user seems to be unable to use it

Haizaki's skill is not copying a move he's seen once, but to "pillage" it. Kaijo starts to be cornered as each player's signature plays are sealed away. Even Kise, who has a variety of moves thanks to his Copy skill, starts to run out of stock moves as the game progresses

The final four of Winter Cup has finally been decided: Rakuzan, Shutoku, Seirin, and Kaijo. However, on the day of the semi-finals, Kuroko and Kagami both realized their basketball shoes were broken and hurriedly get on their way to buy new shoes. However, Kagami can't find shoes in his size! Thanks to Kuroko's suggestion, they seek advice from Momoi, and her reply is that he should use Aomine's shoes, as they both have the same shoe size

As the second half of the match between Shutoku and Rakuzan starts, Akashi uses his eye, it is revealed that Akashi was the one who found Kuroko's talent by using his eye on him, which meant that the eye can see potential of people, but it is said that in matches the eye is completely different, it predicts the future movement of the other players, thus nullifying both offence and defense of the other team

Facing Akashi's Emperor Eye, which sees the future movements of the opponents, Shutoku looks like they had no hand to play. But the will to fight once again lights up within the eyes of the team members, and they face Rakuzan with the spirit of "unyielding tenacity"! Thanks to Midorima and Takao's trick play, they try to close the gap in one strong run, but to answer that, Akashi scores in his own goal to the shock of everyone around him. Against Shutoku, who bares their teeth without giving up until the very end, Akashi throws out words that show no mercy

After the match Rakuzan vs.Shutoku, Rakuzan wins with the score of 86 - 70 against Shutoku. For the Shutoku team, it is a very huge defeat that even Takao and Midorima cried after the game

The battle between Seirin and Kaijo finally begins. Seirin tries to secure their victory by striking first, but Kise unexpectedly begins using his Perfect Copy at the start of the game, demonstrating his overwhelming strength

The Seirin-Kaijo game was white-hot due to the battle between their ace players. With the defense and offense reversed now, Seirin goes on the offensive. As the last one to awaken, and one with potential comparable to the Generation of Miracles, Kagami was on his way to unleashing that latent talent

Kise's injury becomes worse. His coach orders him to step down the court for a while and rest until the last two minutes of the last quarter wherein he could use his Perfect Copy. Kagami's talents give way to Seirin having a 15-point gap in the lead with four minutes left in the game

Kise recovers and manages to fill the 15-point gap. Kaijo becomes the lead with a score of 78-77. Seirin becomes restless and their moves become stiff as Kise's fast recovery and Kaijo's persistence to win makes the crowds cheer, putting Seirin under pressure

Kuroko finally finds a way to stop Kise, and Seirin wins with a deciding shot made by Kuroko. The episode ends with Kuroko telling a story about his past

Kuroko is first placed into Teiko's third string basketball team. However, after practicing everyday after school with Aomine, Akashi realised Kuroko talent as the "Phantom 6th Man." During a game between the third and second string, Kuroko proved himself and was upgraded to first string

Nijimura gives the captain position to Akashi because his father is sick. Akashi now becomes captain. The Teiko coach comes back

The old coach advises to Aomine to keep playing basketball until he can find a worthy opponent. Teiko wins the National finals. The old coach collapses and the young one takes over coaching the team

Kuroko get's knocked unconscious in the game before the grand final, in which Teiko is set to play against Kuroko's friend, Shige's team. Kuroko regains consciousness, and since he cannot play in the game, asks Akashi to make Teiko play their best. Teiko, bored by scoring quotas, decide to play a new game

Seirin prepare mentally for the grand final match of the Winter Cup. Kagami and Tatsuya finally properly reconcile. The teams from previous matches, including the teams of the Generation of Miracles come to watch the grand final

Kagami dangerously continues using up his stamina in the zone, Riko swaps Kuroko for Mitobe so that Kagami can focus on offence. Akashi pairs up against Kagami and Akashi takes control of the game until Mitobe's defense breaks the flow. Kagami exits the zone, and Kuroko re-enters the game

Kuroko observes Mayuzumi's play from the sidelines. Seirin subs in first-year Furihata to lure Rakuzan, but he quickly gets fatigued after facing Akashi. Fukuda, a first-year, takes his place

Rakuzan vs. Seirin enters the third quarter. Seirin, not giving up, entrusts their scorers Hyuga and Kagami with all their hope

Izuki manages to interfere with Rakuzan's Kitari Hayama's five-finger-dribble offense, by predicting future moves and coordinating with Kuroko and Kagami. Kagami remains in the zone. Koganei faces Reo, and although Koganei doesn't manage to defeat him, Hyuga comes to understand how to beat Reo's three specialty shots (Heaven, Earth, Void)

Hyuga rejoins the match in fourth quarter and scores the first three, flourishing under the pressure and having worked out how to tell the difference between Mibuchi Reo's three shots, and the secret of "Void". Despite Kiyoshi's knee injury bothering him, he pushes back against his opponent Eikichi Nebuya. Akashi relieves control of the ball against Kagami who is going even deeper in the zone

Faced by Akashi's huge zone of defence, Kagami despairs, having reached the bottom of the zone, but seeing no way to open the "door". Kuroko suggests they give up relying solely on Kagami for now, and offers to take some of the burden. By watching and predicting Kagami's movement, Kuroko becomes Kagami's "eye" and is able to intercept Akashi

Akashi starts supporting the team by setting up perfect opportunities which also boosts their morale. The watching members of the Generation of Miracles recognise Akashi's old self. Seirin still manage to score, but Akashi enters the zone again and Akashi's support draws out his team members' potentials, making them enter an imperfect version of the zone, possible because they are members of the "Uncrowned Kings"

With 40 seconds left in the game, Rakuzan is in the lead, 105-98. Kagami scores with 27 seconds left. With 17 seconds left, Izuki is the only one not fired up, deliberately trying to keep calm and use his head to catch Rakuzan off-guard