Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

Five boys went out of the office, appearing to just have finished their registration for the Winter Cup. Along with them was an old man who kept looking at Lina with a weird expression.

Kai noticed this and subtly moved in front of her to cover her from the group of men.

"Do we just need to drop this off?" Kai asked, ignoring the question of one of the players.

Lina nodded. "Yeah, we just need to hand them some papers and sign an assent. After that, we can go."

"Are you ignoring us?" the same person asked. Kai looked back at them and saw his nameplate on the right side of his chest.

'Chuyi.'

Kai once again didn't respond. It was more because he didn't really know what to say.

However, the 'dolphins' took his silence personally and began scrutinizing Kai's appearance.

They looked him up and down, their eyes landing on his worn-out shoes. They suppressed their laughter when they saw that it was almost tearing at the seams.

"Is this a new player of yours, Lina?" Chuyi asked.

Lina pursed her lips before responding.

"Yes," she said. "He accompanied me to register our team today."

"Aww, where's the fun in that?" Chuyi asked. "Last time, you went on your own, so we had some time to talk."

Lina shifted uncomfortably in her spot before going behind Kai once again. Chuyi was about to approach Lina when Kai blocked his way.

"Woah," Chuyi said, raising both hands in fake surrender.

"I see that you've recruited a tall player this time," Chuyi chuckled. "However, I heard from my friend, Peng Yang from the Feng Foxes, that Yuze's the only decent player this year, too."

"Peng Yang?" Kai asked.

"That's no surprise then. The two of you seem to have similar personalities," he added.

"Right?" Chuyi asked. "Aren't we both handsome too?"

"Yup," Kai answered, feeding the players' ego.

"Handsome and rotten," he quickly added, making Chuyi's smile drop.

Chuyi looked at him in disbelief. "What the heck did you just say?"

It appeared like these dolphins weren't afraid to get physical, so Kai stepped back in fear of getting punched in the face.

Fortunately, their coach stepped forward and placed his arm on Chuyi's chest.

"You do not want to create any trouble here, kid. Do you want us to get banned from the Winter Cup?"

Chuyi's jaw clenched as he stepped back.

"Let's go," the coach said, leading his players out of the room. However, before they left through the door, the coach didn't pass the chance to wink at Lina, causing the girl to squirm in discomfort.

Once they were out, Lina sighed in frustration.

"Ugh, I hate them," she groaned. "I thought I wouldn't run into them again, but here they are. That old man is still very creepy, too."

"Did they bother you last year, too?" Kai asked.

Lina nodded as she looked down at the ground.

"I was a very enthusiastic first-year student last year. I was adamant about becoming Shizi High's manager, so I did my best to earn the players' trust. In the end, I did a lot of errands for them. Don't get me wrong. It wasn't because they compelled me to do it. I just thought it would be nice to do these things to them while they were busy training for the games."

"So, I went on my own here last year," she continued. "I didn't expect to run into such an imbecile team, though. They asked what I was doing with a team like Shizi and even invited me to become their manager."

"Anyway, it wasn't a fun time. Thankfully, the Yin Yang team arrived before they could pester me further," she said, her eyes brightening with the mention of the top-performing school.

"These dolphins," Kai started off.

"Oh, don't even think about them," Lina said.

"They're from Daxue High, a school near ours. Their facilities are definitely bigger, and they consistently place within the top ten each year. However, I believe their trash-talking skills are a hundred times better than their basketball skills."

"If only they could invest so much time into training, then they might actually make it into the top five each year. However, with their crappy attitudes, it's only fair that they don't make it too far."

"The dolphins, huh?" Kai muttered.

"Dolphins are supposed to be the smartest animal in the world, aside from humans, of course—but I actually think they're pretty evil. The same is true with these dolphins. Rumor has it that they don't play dirty on the court but off the court instead," Lina added.

Kai frowned in confusion. "Is that so?"

"Hmm," Lina hummed. "These are only rumors, though."

"Aside from my interactions with them, the dolphins haven't really pestered our team. However, these rumors arose when they were competing for the tenth spot in the league. They were against a formidable opponent, yet somehow, their opponent's most talented player was kicked out of the team for violence just a day before their game.

Somehow, this happened twice with the dolphins—the other one dated years ago."

"That's strange," Kai muttered.

"I know," Lina said. "So, it's better if we are careful around those guys. Let's just hope that we don't end up playing with their team this season."

Kai nodded in agreement. With that, the two of them finally decided to register their team for the Winter Cup. Fortunately, the process was quite quick since Lina had already prepared everything.

Then, when everything was done, Lina was handed a certificate or a permit of some sort that signified the team's official participation in the Winter Cup.

Kai and Lina left the office with giddy looks on their faces.

"It's official!" Lina exclaimed as soon as they were outside.

"The tournament season is fast approaching! This year will definitely be different for us," she said with a hopeful tone.

Lina knew that she had said the exact same words last year, but things didn't work out.

However, she still wanted to be optimistic about this year's tournaments.

"Are you excited?" she asked, looking like an excited little cat as she tapped Kai's shoulder.

Kai chuckled in amusement before nodding.

Lina froze once she saw the genuine smile on Kai's face.

"What?" he asked when he felt her stare.

She shook her head and stepped a little further away from Kai.

"Nothing," she said, clearing her throat.

'He looked pretty cute just now,' she thought. However, she quickly pushed the thought away, focusing on something more important.

"Winter Cup, here we come!"

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