Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

"Sir!" Kai exclaimed as soon as he saw the newcomer.

Jinping's eyes also widened in surprise, not expecting one of his teachers to appear on the court while they were training.

The others, especially those from the higher years, were confused as to who the man was.

"Who's that?" Jet asked, not being able to control the volume of his voice.

Andy turned to him and clicked his tongue.

"I swear, you're so embarrassing," he exclaimed.

The man chuckled as he went closer to the team.

"It's alright," he said. "I don't expect the older students to recognize me."

"So, let me introduce myself," he started off.

"My name is Muchen. I teach the first-year students Math, and I am also Kai's homeroom teacher," he smiled.

"Outside of the court, you can refer to me as 'Sir Muchen.' However, while we're here, you can refer to me as 'coach.'"

The players were all surprised, not knowing how to process the information.

Were they really going to be a normal team now?

Yuze frowned, not believing the situation. After everything that had happened with Coach Jin, he found it hard to trust the adults who wanted to coach their team.

However, Sir Muchen cleared his intentions right away.

"Now, it must be surprising to have me here in the middle of the academic year. Honestly, I have no idea how to coach a team since I don't even have any experience with playing basketball."

The players skeptically gazed at each other.

However, a small smile made its way to Kai's face.

He had spent a decent time with Sir Muchen as a student, and he could say that he was one of the better teachers out there.

So, he wasn't mad about the situation at all.

"However, I am a very big fan of basketball," Sir Muchen continued. "I have spent countless times watching it on television and in real life. In fact, I have been to all of your games. However, I stayed in the back since I just wanted to observe at that time."

"It still doesn't make sense why you would want to coach our team, sir," Yuze said, caution heard in his voice.

Muchen smiled. "I understand," he said. "It would be hard for me to trust a new coach after what happened with Coach Jin, too."

"However, my intentions are pure...and I also didn't have a choice," he muttered, making the players unable to hear his latter statement.

Being the newest male teacher, he was tasked to become the coach of the basketball team by the principal of the school. It had some extra pay, which was definitely not a lot, but it wasn't the reason why he took it.

Muchen just overheard Sir Dao telling the other teachers that the basketball team was not going to achieve anything in the upcoming leagues because they didn't have a coach.

The other teachers, especially the older ones, cold-heartedly agreed.

With that, Muchen felt like he wanted to help the boys become the best version of themselves.

And, in that way, he felt like he was going to prove himself too.

Being a young teacher surrounded by veterans meant that he had a lot to prove, too.

"I have also been observing your team," he continued. "And I see immense potential in all of you. So, allow me to work with your manager so we can work our way up to the finals!"

The players were silent for a moment, making Sir Muchen a little bit embarrassed.

However, Kai eased the tension by patting his back.

Sir Muchen was surprised when he felt the strong force. However, he held it in since he didn't want to appear weaker than a 16-year-old.

"Sir Muchen is a great man," Kai said, causing the other players to relax a bit.

They had now come to trust Kai ever since he brought Andy and Renren to the team.

"That works for me," Lina smiled, not feeling any weird vibes from Sir Muchen.

"Let's work together from now on, coach!" she happily said.

"Yeah, welcome to the team, coach," Jet chimed.

"Glad to have you here, coach!" Jinping added.

Yuze nodded and bowed his head respectfully. "Let's have a great season, coach."

Muchen knew that he originally took the role as their coach because he didn't have a choice. However, hearing the young students refer to him as their coach made his heart swell with pride.

With that, he smiled.

"Glad to be here."

They all smiled at each other, welcoming yet another beginning.

"So," Coach Muchen cleared his throat. "What were you guys doing?"

Lina smiled as she answered.

"We just finished our drills. Now, we're preparing for a practice game."

Sir Muchen nodded.

"It's already quite late," he said. "And you guys look like you're very tired."

"So, why don't we call it a day for now so I could treat you guys to some pizza?"

"Yes!" Jet immediately celebrated.

Shang, despite only watching them practice, also exclaimed in relief.

Lina sheepishly smiled. She was the reason why the boys were tired in the first place, so she also agreed.

Kai felt quite disappointed since he wanted to show off his upgraded skills in the practice game.

They hadn't played a game after his major upgrade, so he was quite excited.

However, knowing that having a new coach was a rarity, he agreed to Coach Muchen's invitation.

"I'm down."

***

The boys were gathered at a round table in a pizza parlor, and they started shouting their orders as soon as the waiter attended to them.

"I'll have one large pepperoni! I can eat the whole pizza by myself."

"I'll have the meat lovers one."

"Hawaiian for me!"

"One creamy spinach, please."

"Give me two of those," Kai said, feeling even hungrier after the scent of bread and cheese hit his nose.

Meanwhile, Muchen pursed his lips as he looked at the huge children surrounding him.

'Maybe this was a bad idea,' he thought, already regretting his decision.

'My wallet is going to be drained with how much they eat!'

However, seeing the happy looks on their faces made Muchen disregard his feelings of regret.

Instead, he decided to break out some good news as they waited for their order to come.

"I have actually received this role since last week," Muchen started off, capturing their attention. "So, I have been preparing really well."

"It took a while, but I finally found a team who we could play with before the Interhigh Preliminaries starts!"

The boys turned to each other in surprise.

"Well, who's the lucky team?" Kun asked. "We tried setting up a game with the Feng Foxes, but they said that their schedule was full."

"The Xing Stars, too," Yuze chimed. "I heard they extended their training camp."

Muchen smiled enthusiastically before revealing the team.

"You're going to be playing with the Yin Yang Knights!"