Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

As Kai made his way to the basketball court, some of his classmates, whom he met along the way, tried to greet him. The stunt he pulled in the classroom a while ago definitely created a good impact, and it seemed like some of them even wanted to befriend him.

However, due to his disbelief that his classmates were actually acknowledging his presence, he wasn't able to greet them back, making them believe that Kai was still as cold as ever.

Feeling a little bit regretful, he arrived at the basketball court, where he saw the players already getting dressed in their respective uniforms.

Kai passed by the second-string team, not missing the opportunity to wave at them. They all enthusiastically waved back before telling Kai to quickly make his way to the first-string team.

As he arrived at the first-string team's circle, he saw Jinping looking at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

Zeren, too, turned to him in surprise. "Shouldn't you be there?" he asked, pointing to the second-string team's direction.

Kai looked around for Yuze and saw the hesitant look on his face.

'Ah, he must not have told anyone yet,' Kai thought.

"This is going to be interesting," he muttered.

"Gather around," Yuze said, making the players line up according to their numbers.

Fortunately, Kai, with the number 16, was situated at the very end, making it easier for him to assume his position.

"As you all know, Shang has just gotten back from the hospital and is still recovering from his leg injury," Yuze started off.

"He suffered an ACL torn and will need a total of twelve months to fully recuperate," he revealed, making the players exclaim in shock.

Kai looked around and saw that all of the members except for Yuze, Kun, and Lina were surprised by the sudden revelation.

"An ACL torn?" Jet asked in surprise. "He told me he had a knee sprain!"

Kun chuckled in amusement. "And you believed him? He would have been here if it was just a knee sprain."

Jet pursed his lips as he nervously looked at their captain.

"What are we going to do now then?" Jet asked.

"Shang and I have already talked, and he has made his decision. From this day forward, he will no longer be a part of the basketball team. Therefore, we will only proceed with twelve members starting today."

"What? Shang's quitting?"

"What the heck? He's one of the starting players."

"What are we going to do now without him?"

"He's a defensive pillar on the court. Without him, the team will crumble."

The players voiced their concerns, obviously disappointed that one of their key players wouldn't be able to join them on the court anymore.

However, Jinping was more focused on Yuze's last statement.

"Twelve?" he asked. "With Shang, our total headcount is twelve. Now that he's gone, how could we still have twelve members?"

"That's right," Yuze said. "I have another announcement for all of you today."

Kai felt his heart race inside his chest, awaiting the moment that he was going to be announced as a first-string player of the team.

"Since we lost one of our defensive pillars, I decided to recruit one member from the second-string team to fill the void of Shang's presence on the court," Yuze said.

With his utterance, the other players all turned to Kai, who had already prepared his pose for when they finally glanced his way.

Kai's gaze was focused on the front, and he had his arms crossed in front of his chest. A small smirk arose from his lips with the thought of looking cool at the moment.

"Hey, your butt crack is eating your jersey shorts," Jet suddenly said, shattering all of his fantasies.

Kai clicked his tongue and quickly tugged on the material before facing his new teammates.

Then, he bowed his head in respect, not being able to hide the small smile on his face. However, because he wasn't too used to smiling, it came out like a smirk instead, making Jinping shake his head.

"Kai's going to be the one to replace Shang?" Jet asked. "Oh, we're doomed. He's going to be bouncing basketballs on other people's heads now."

Kai clicked his tongue. "That was a one-time thing!"

Yuze chuckled as he went next to Kai. Chapter Explore:

"It was a hard decision to make, but Lina was the one who insisted we take Kai in."

Zeren snapped his gaze to Lina, seemingly betrayed.

"Babe," he whined, earning him a slap on the back of the head from Lina.

"I also thought hard about it. Kai has been training by himself after the first-string team's official practices, and I see a major improvement in his skills."

Kai perked up; however, Lina quickly popped his bubble with her next words.

"He's still not at the level of Shang, and he'll probably take a long way to get there. However, I believe that he's the defensive member our team needs. I think we can all agree that Kai was great at his rebounds during the game with the Feng Foxes. We can't always have Yuze under the rim, so he's a great substitute."

The others murmured in agreement. However, Zeren and Jinping were still hesitant to accept Kai into their team. For them, other first-year students deserved it more than him.

"All he has is his height and his body," Jinping muttered.

"What was that?" Lina asked.

Jinping sighed. "I can also replace Shang and become the Power Forward, though. That's my main position when I was in my lower years."

"Well, as of now, I'm not seeing a lot of power in you," Lina deadpanned, making Jinping purse his lips.

"Anyway, the decision is already final. So, let's all welcome Kai to our team!"

The court was filled with cheers, courtesy of the second-string members who were listening on the bench.

Kai looked down at the ground and smiled to himself.

It was official.

He was now a part of the first-string team.

He thought he was going to make it here right away, but he didn't regret being accepted into the second-string team during his first month. For him, it was an essential part of his journey that made his passion for basketball burn even brighter.

Lina clapped, capturing their attention once more.

"However, those are not the main announcements that we have for today," she smiled, walking to the covered whiteboard that had been sitting on the corner of the room since earlier.

"Kun, reveal it, please," Lina said.

Kun nodded and went to the board, removing the white cloth that covered it.

"Now, we have to talk about something more important," she excitedly began.

"The Winter Cup!"