Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

"Don't lose hope!" Jet exclaimed as he helped Lina up the ground. The girl appeared absent-minded as she sat on the bench.

Shang scratched the back of his head, feeling confused. "You complained the most a while ago, though," he muttered.

"We just need to have the most sales within the league, right?" Jet asked, ignoring Shang's remark. "We can sell Yuze's body pictures! I bet his fans would flock to us like flies!"

Yuze slapped the back of Jet's head.

"We're not going to do that," he said. "However, we do need to take our public image more seriously. It would be nice to have more supporters so our morale could get boosted during the game."

"Hmm," Lina hummed. "I've also been thinking about that. Aside from winning the bet, I believe we need that kind of support from our schoolmates. It sucks that we still have the same budget for the club this year, so we really need the merch sales to increase our resources."

Just then, Jinping came, so Dylan quickly played the music once more.

Jinping stood at the center of the court, looking confused.

"Pose for us!" Jet exclaimed.

Jinping, despite acting like he didn't want to do it, started posing like he was someone from a bodybuilding competition.

The boys burst into laughter as Jinping confidentially moved with the music.

"You should have posed like that!" Kun said, patting Kai's back, making the latter shake his head.

Just then, Lina realized that there was something different with Jinping.

"Wait, did he get a haircut?" she asked.

The others also noticed that Jinping looked slightly different, and they realized that he, indeed, had a new haircut!

As soon as he was finished posing, Jinping went to his teammates, where he was met with teases.

"Eyy, Jinping's ready for the new season!" Shang exclaimed.

"You look good," Jet complimented.

"I know," Jinping said, making Jet click his tongue.

"I take it back," he muttered.

Meanwhile, Renren gazed back and forth at Jinping and Kai and found himself with a great idea!

"I thought of something," Renren exclaimed, causing their attention to shift toward him.

"What if Kai gets a haircut, too?" he asked.

The team was silent for a moment before Jet's giggles broke through. After that, the others also started laughing, confusing Renren.

"A haircut wouldn't magically transform Kai into a handsome man!" Shang said.

Jet nodded in agreement. "Besides, I'm afraid I'd get too intimidated if Kai gets a haircut. There are moments when I see his eyes through his hair, and it always gives me the shivers—always."

"That's true!" Jinping exclaimed, even though he didn't even know the context of the conversation.

"There was one time when we were in junior secondary school when a bunch of guys saw Kai's face. I didn't witness it myself, but I heard that they were frozen, almost traumatized," he chimed.

Kai clicked his tongue. "You guys are being overdramatic."

"Besides," Yuze said. "Kai is known for his long hair that covers most of his face."

"Hmm," Andy hummed in agreement. "And I quite like how relatable he is. If I have such a scary face, I would also want to cover it most of the time."

Kai sighed. "I hate you, guys."

Still, they decided to ignore him.

"Alright," Lina said in defeat. "I guess I'll look for other strategies to make Kai popular in the future."

***

Kai felt more tired than usual after their training.

They didn't even have a practice game and just did their usual drills, so Kai attributed it to the fact that he was constantly being roasted during their practice.

"I really hate you, guys," Kai said. "I'm going to leave the team."

"Aww," Shang exclaimed. "Are you going to join little old me?"

Yuze chuckled in amusement. "We're just telling the truth. It's hard to push you to be the center of the team."

"Yes, dude," Jet said. "But that's okay! You can't have it all. You can't be good at basketball and also have handsome looks. It's a cheat code. It should never happen!"

"Just look at Yuze and Max! Although they're handsome to an extent, there's still something wrong with their face, which makes them feel attainable."

Yuze frowned. "Did you just insult me?"

Jet smiled sheepishly before continuing.

"So, don't feel so bad about it, alright? You're quite charming as you are! You even have some girls coming after you, right?" Your next chapter is on empire

"Right!" Bao exclaimed, suddenly joining their conversation.

Lina froze as soon as she heard those words.

"There had been two girls who approached him since the start of the semester!" Bao proudly said.

"See?" Jet said, almost in a comforting tone. "That's two more than what Shang ever had."

Shang glared at his team while the others chuckled. Meanwhile, Lina couldn't even find it within herself to smile.

"Well, were they pretty?" Jet asked.

Kai sighed in frustration. "I'm not going to answer that."

"Hey, it's alright!" Jet reassured. "Let me give you a piece of advice."

"Like you're qualified to do so," Shang muttered.

"Guys like us shouldn't expect too much from the people who like us! Besides, pretty girls who look unreal are definitely way out of our leagues. They would never like guys like us, so we should be satisfied with what we have."

Just then, the doors opened, capturing their attention.

The light entered the court...literally—because right before them was none other than Suzy Mei, arguably the prettiest girl in the entire school.

Bao gasped loudly while the second-year players didn't know what to do.

The second string almost didn't believe their eyes.

"S—Suzy?" Jet muttered, appearing like he had seen a ghost.

"What is a cheerleader doing in here?" Shang whispered.

Yuze, too, was a bit shocked since the cheerleading team had not shown any interest in the basketball team for the longest time.

Suzy wandered her eyes around, frowning before her gaze became fixed in Kai's direction.

Then, a small smile appeared on her face.

"Kai Guo," she said, making the others hold their breaths.

"Meet me outside."