Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

"Next week, I'll be setting up a new training regimen for all of us," Lina excitedly said.

"I'll take your strengths and weaknesses into mind and come up with individualized drills."

"Then, we'll also have practice games once or twice a week!"

"Ooh! We can also watch the next games to see how the others play. We can learn from them, too," she chimed.

Jinping clicked his tongue. "I don't want to watch any other games anymore. That should have been us."

Lina shook his head. "What did I tell you a while ago? I'm not allowing you to grieve any further! It's a shame that we lost, but don't you want to watch who's going to win the Winter Cup?"

"I'm pretty curious," Kun said.

"Whatever you want, Lina," Zeren dreamily said, already excited to go to their house.

"After the league ends, I can set up practice games with other schools too," she continued to excitedly plan their off-season training.

"Then, we can go on a winter training camp. They haven't released the winners of the Cultural Festival just yet, but I have high hopes! We can use the prize money to go somewhere nice," she said.

Kun scratched the back of his head as they continued walking.

"I think we're forgetting one important aspect, though."

The players all turned to Kun.

"Coach Jin," he said, causing all of them to groan.

Yuze clicked his tongue. "I don't even want to hear his name right now."

"Me too," Jinping said. "My body hurts in all the wrong places because of him."

"Yo?" Jet looked at him with wide eyes.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Jinping clicked his tongue. "It's because his training regimen sucks, you idiot!"

Zeren shrugged. "I just want Lina to coach us."

Lina shook her head. "I can't be a manager and a coach at the same time. We still need to have some adult guidance if we want to do our best."

"I don't want that nasty man to be our coach, though," Kun said. "He smells like ass."

"Yo?" Jet exclaimed. "How do you know what ass smells like?"

Kun clicked his tongue and put him in a chokehold. "Shut up! I just don't like that guy, alright?"

"Well, me too," Jet squeezed out despite the lack of air in his lungs.

"Anyway," Kai said. "We should have a new coach soon."

They all stopped walking and looked at Kai with raised eyebrows.

"What do you mean by that?" Lin asked.

Kai shook his head. "Nothing. Let's see until the end of the week."

After more walking and bickering, they finally arrived in front of Lina's house.

Kai was talking to Jet about the upcoming games and their predictions when reality suddenly hit him.

He was in front of Lina's house...

...and inside the house was her father—which was none other than Officer Huang.

Kai cursed under his breath and came up with a way to hide himself.

However, it was too late.

The gate creaked open, and Officer Huang emerged. He had a smile on his face—very contrary to the time that Kai saw him in the police station.

Kai quickly went behind Jet. However, that wasn't a wise choice since Jet was the shortest player among all of them.

As Officer Huang looked at Lina's friends, his smile widened with every greeting.

"Yuze, it's been a while."

"You've gotten taller, Kun!"

"Oh, it's Zeren, right? I heard of you from your dad," Officer Huang smiled.

Zeren fixed his collar and bowed deeply at Lina's father.

"It's nice to meet you, father," he seriously said.

Officer Huang laughed out loud. "Well, aren't you a joker?"

Then, he turned to Jinping. "You seem like a proper young man."

Then, it finally got to them.

Officer Huang smiled when he saw Jet, having been familiar with the second-year player.

However, when he saw the towering guy behind him, he couldn't help but frown.

"Kai?" he asked.

Lina's eyes widened as soon as her dad said Kai's name.

"You know each other?" Lina asked.

Kai scratched the back of his head as he stepped away from Jet.

"Nice to meet you, sir," he said, bowing in respect.

However, even with his greeting, Officer Huang didn't smile.

"What are you doing here?" he asked after Kai had bowed.

"Umm," Kai said, unable to find the right words.

Then, Officer Huang looked at his get-up and shook his head.

"You're a player for Shizi High?" he exclaimed in disbelief.

Lina clicked her tongue. "He was the guy that I told you about, Dad," she said in an embarrassed tone.

"What?" Officer Huang loudly said, surprising the players.

"The guy who supposedly helped you with bullies and the one you invited to our house but didn't show up?"

"Wait, what?" Kai asked, unfamiliar with the invitation.

Lina covered her dad's mouth and glared at him.

"Why are you acting so strange?" she asked. "They're all my friends. Jinping, Zeren, and Kai are new players on the team."

Officer Huang gently removed her hand from his mouth and shook his head.

Then, he pointed to Kai. "I don't want him in the house," he deadpanned.

Kai's eyes widened, and so did Lina's.

"What?" she exclaimed. "But he's already here!"

"Make him go home," Officer Huang chimed.

"No," Lina stubbornly said. "You're not even telling the reason why you don't want him here. It's not like you've met him before!"

"Oh, I have," Officer Huang chuckled. "I've seen him plenty of times in the police station."

Lina froze as soon as her dad said those words. Kai, on the other hand, looked down at the ground.

Well, to be fair—it wasn't really him who was in the police station!

It was the real Kai Guo.

He was much kinder and sweeter now!

Zeren stood next to Officer Huang. "Do you want me to escort him out for you, Father?" he asked, almost acting as a butler to the Huangs.

"Yes, plea—"

"No," Lina stubbornly said, walking to where Kai was and wrapping her arms around his.

Kai's eyes widened while Officer Huang's narrowed.

He zeroed in on his daughter's arms around a guy's toned ones, and he felt something painfully tugging at his heart.

His little girl was with a troublemaker!

"We're going in and having dinner," Lina stubbornly said. "You're going to join us, right?" she asked, looking up at Kai with hopeful eyes.

Honestly, Kai wanted to go home.

However, seeing Lina's eyes softened his heart.

"Let's...go," he said.

With his statement, he felt a deathly glare burning the side of his face.

He turned to the side and saw Officer Huang looking at him with profound suspicion.

Kai gulped.

This wasn't going to end well, huh?