Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

Kai pursed his lips as he placed the ball between his arm and lateral torso.

"I\'ve been practicing my dribbling since Tuesday," Kai said. "When can I play a real game with you, guys?"

"Yeah, you\'ve been dribbling for three days, yet you still suck at it," Yuze said. "Besides, our focus for this training regimen is on the starting players of the team. With how you\'re looking right now, you can\'t even play in the official games."

Kai sighed and begrudgingly went to the other side of the court, where Jinping was already practicing his dribbling skills.

Kai dribbled the ball to the ground, definitely finding some difficulty in maneuvering it. In his past body, he wasn\'t that good at dribbling either. However, he found it much easier to dribble back then because of his short stature.

Now that his limbs were longer and were more inclined to blocks and rebounds, he felt pretty awkward maneuvering the ball.

Jinping chuckled when he saw Kai struggling.

"You really suck," he deadpanned. "It\'s a wonder why you got into this team in the first place."

Kai shook his head and attempted to dribble the ball under his leg. However, things took an unfortunate turn when the ball bounced on his literal balls.

"Oof," Kai said, unable to take the pain. He hovered over and held onto his abdomen while massaging the small of his back.

Jinping laughed loudly as he continued observing Kai, not even bothering to help him.

"It\'s a wonder why Eva likes a loser like you," Jinping said.

Kai swallowed the pain and stood, still massaging his back because he could still feel the tingly, painful sensation traveling up his body.

"Well, she also liked you at one point," Kai said. "Maybe she\'s just into losers."

Jinping\'s face reddened.

"Shut up," Jinping said. "She told me I was the coolest guy she knew."

"Maybe she didn\'t know a lot of guys back then," Kai continued to tease him.

Jinping was about to throw the ball at Kai\'s face when Yuze suddenly called his name.

"Jinping!" Yuze said, causing the two of them to turn to their captain.

"We\'re going to have a 5v5," he said. "Join Jet\'s team."

Jinping smirked at Kai before jogging to the other side of the court.

"Kai," Jinping also called, causing him to smirk. Was he finally going to play?

"Move over to the back," Yuze instructed. "We\'re going to play full court."

Kai\'s shoulders slumped in disappointment while Jinping and Zeren mocked him with teasing stares.

He pursed his lips and begrudgingly went to the back of the court. It also didn\'t help that the second-string members weren\'t here. After winning fourth place in \'League of the Legends: Battle of the Handsome Balls,\' they decided to register in more small leagues.

In the end, they were able to compromise with the school to have them train in the open court for two hours on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

The game started, and Kai couldn\'t help but feel envious as he watched them play. It had been a while since he felt the thrill of the game, and he wanted to join in. Kun was at the scorer\'s table along with Lina while the ten other players engaged in a friendly game.

As usual, Yuze stood out among all of the players. Truly, he was the only person on the team who could compete with other top players in top schools.

Nonetheless, Kai also saw improvements in the other players\' skills. After Shang officially departed from the team, Jet started working harder, which allowed him to play to his maximum potential.

Meanwhile, Zeren, despite being a bad student, was growing to be a good player. As much as Kai hated to admit it, Zeren was probably the third most talented player in their team despite only being a third-year student.

Jinping, on the other hand, has improved his dribbling skills too. It seemed like Yuze\'s training turned out well.

"Must be nice," Kai muttered, feeling a surge of adrenaline coursing through his veins.

Before he knew it, he unconsciously dribbled the ball very aggressively as he thought of ways he could train with the team.

It was true that he had a mini court in his house, courtesy to the second-string team, but their backyard consisted of gravel, which made it harder for him to practice his dribbling skills.

As he continued to think, the sound of his dribbling increasingly became louder. Lina, who was focused on the game, couldn\'t help but feel distracted when she heard the booming sound of dribbling coming from the remote part of the court.

"What is he doing?" she asked, causing Kun to look in Kai\'s direction too.

His eyes widened in surprise when he saw the ball bouncing on the ground with extreme resistance, making it appear like Kai was downright slamming the ball onto the ground.

However, even then, Kai didn\'t look fazed at all.

"Kai!" Lina called when he saw that he was increasingly becoming more aggressive. However, Kai was still preoccupied with his thoughts.

The players also stopped playing since the sound became too distracting.

Yuze frowned in confusion as he watched Kai effortlessly dribble the ball. Granted, it was just a basic dribble. However, it didn\'t appear as awkward as before.

However, that particular thought quickly went out the window when he saw the state of the ball in Kai\'s hands.

Zeren tilted his head in confusion. "Is the ball flat right now?" he asked.

The other players also took a closer look and found out that, indeed, the ball had lost quite a lot of air.

"How is it still bouncing, though?" Lina asked.

Kun shook his head. "That takes a lot of strength."

Meanwhile, Kai, who was now busy thinking of the Winter Cup, dribbled the ball stronger than usual.

Then, before he knew it, a popping sound resounded in the court, snapping him out of his thoughts.

His eyes widened when he saw the flat basketball on the ground, appearing useless.

Then, he lifted his head, only to see the other players looking at him with wide eyes.

Kai awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"Oops?"