Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

Compared to his usual scowl, Yuze was actually smiling. His fangirls in the audience saw this, and they started cheering his name.

With that, he covered his lips with his palm and kept to himself at the corner of the bench.

Then, he looked down at his hands, which were red and sweaty from playing so hard since the first quarter.

It had been a while since he felt this kind of emotion. The cheers of the audience echoed in his mind, and he wanted to hear them again in their subsequent games.

There was a slight ache in his ankle, but it wasn't enough to overshadow the happiness that he was feeling.

Just then, he felt someone's presence beside him, so he lifted his head and was met with Kun.

His eyes were red, and it seemed like he had just come back from crying, but Yuze didn't have it within his heart to tease his friend.

"You worked hard," Kun suddenly said, causing a small smile to appear on Yuze's lips.

"You too," Yuze said, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"I really didn't expect it at all," Kun opened up. "How can we beat the Xing Stars all of a sudden? We couldn't even play with them before."

Yuze continued to smile as he observed his teammates.

"Don't tell him that I've said this," Yuze said, his eyes focused on one person.

Kun nodded and mirrored Yuze's body language.

"I think it's because of that guy," Yuze said, nodding his head in Kai's direction.

He awkwardly stood in the middle of all the celebrations, making Yuze chuckle in amusement. It was hard to believe that he was the guy who was rumored to have beaten multiple students when he was younger.

Kun turned to him and raised one eyebrow in surprise.

"By how harsh you are to him, one could conclude that you don't like him that much."

"Am I harsh to him?" Yuze asked.

Kun enthusiastically nodded. "Much more than all the other players in our team. It even seems like your head is always heated whenever he's around."

Yuze shook his head. "That's because he's so stubborn. In fact, all of the other players are stubborn. He's just the most stubborn one out of you all."

Kun chuckled in amusement.

"To the average Joe, it might seem like that. However, I've practically known you since we were in diapers. I know that you're harsher to him compared to the others because you see a lot of potential in him."

Yuze pursed his lips and eventually nodded.

"When Lina said he was unreadable, I first thought it was a bad thing."

"However, it might be a positive thing after all."

Meanwhile, as his teammates continued to celebrate, even hugging each other and jumping around in excitement, Kai didn't know what to do.

There was immense happiness in his heart, but he didn't know how to express it with his words or his body. Well, he had always been pretty awkward since he suppressed his emotions whenever a good or bad situation happened, so this was pretty new to him.

However, at that moment, he felt even more awkward when Lina suddenly approached him.

She had just finished prancing around with Zeren and Jet when she arrived in front of Kai.

Then, without any hesitation, she suddenly wrapped her arms around Kai, ignoring his sweaty body.

Kai's eyes widened, and he immediately stiffened as he felt Lina's warm body against his.

He thought it couldn't get any worse, but Lina suddenly spun around with him, so he had no choice but to wrap his arms around her, too, so she wouldn't get out of balance.

Zeren, who was elated since he got to hold Lina's hand just a while back, froze when he saw Kai hugging her at the side.

His phone fell from his hands, and he became as stiff as a frozen tuna fish while watching Kai and Lina spinning around.

"Dang," Jet muttered. "The two of them look like protagonists in a youth drama. Kai looks a bit appalling, though, but Lina can definitely take the role."

That made Zeren feel even worse, and he found himself getting dizzy.

Meanwhile, Lina, who was lost in the high of her happiness, was suddenly hit with reality when she felt Kai's stiff muscles against her skin.

Her cheeks immediately reddened, and she started patting Kai's arms.

Kai noticed what she was doing and gently let her down.

Their eyes met for a second before their cheeks reddened in embarrassment.

Lina bit her lip as she closed her eyes.

"What was I thinking?" she whispered.

Meanwhile, Kai cleared his throat to ease the awkward situation.

"Umm, you look happy," he remarked.

Lina finally had the courage to face him, although her cheeks were still red, and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah," she said, smiling at the ground. "Words cannot explain how happy I am right now. I just feel like everything's so surreal. Who would have thought that we would be able to win against the Xing Stars today?"

Kai mirrored Lina's smile as the awkwardness began to dissipate between the two.

"Yeah," he muttered. "Who would have thought?"

The two of them continued smiling at each other, appearing lost in their own worlds, when Kai felt another pair of arms wrap around his side.

His eyes widened once again as Eva's scent hit his nose.

Lina's eyes also widened in surprise at the sight of the cute, pretty first-year student clinging onto Kai like a koala.

"Eva," Kai said, clearing his throat and subtly moving to the side so she could stop holding onto him.

However, she held onto him for dear life, her chest even pressing against his biceps.

Kai looked down for a moment but quickly looked up before shaking his head.

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"You did so good!" Eva complimented, still not letting go of him.

"Everybody was doubting you for a moment, but you proved all of them wrong! Now, it seems like they're going to come and watch your next game."

"That's great," Kai awkwardly said since he couldn't concentrate with Eva being so close to him.

"I'm also going to be going, pookiebear! I actually don't like basketball all that much, but if you're playing, then you bet that I'll be watching," she smiled.

Zeren, who was still in a frozen state, now had a companion.

Jet tried to comfort him, but when he saw that Jinping was in a similar state, he sighed in defeat.

Then, Jet turned to Kai once again and shook his head before slowly clapping.

"I admire this guy, really," he muttered before focusing his attention on the two broken-hearted first-year students once more.

He went in between them and placed his arms over their stiff shoulders.

"You'll get over it," he said.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om