Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

"Unlock the new skill?" Kai muttered, still looking at his interface.

The time kept ticking away, but he was still stumped.

Why was it that he needed to unlock a new skill when he already had it?

It was ridiculous!

Moreover, the game with the Yin Yang Knights was due on Saturday, so he still needed to focus on training. He knew he had improved a lot, but he had never played against Max Zhou, so he needed to be in his best state.

He had arrived early for practice, so he went to the corner and decided to solve his mission once and for all.

"Skills, skills," he muttered. "What did I learn from the previous games?"

"Did my jump improve?" he quietly asked, jumping in place.

Indeed, he felt lighter on his feet, but his system didn't react.

"Perhaps, am I more flexible now?"

He squatted down and started doing some stretches. However, his joints creaked as soon as he did so, making him groan in pain.

"Okay, flexibility—I definitely need to improve that," he muttered.

Just then, the doors of the court opened, and some of the guys emerged.

Kai, on the other hand, was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't notice them coming in.

"Training—it's both a blessing and a curse," Jet said, placing his items down on the bench. "Well, it looks like Yuze and Lina aren't here yet, so we have some time to kill."

Just then, Andy jumped in surprise when he saw Kai's figure in the corner.

"Holy moly!" he exclaimed, placing his hand over his chest. "Kai's here already," he said, pointing to where he was.

The other boys turned to Kai, and it was the moment that he texted his flexibility, making them frown in confusion.

"What…is he doing?" Renren asked.

"He looks dorky as hell," Jet said. "Still looks handsome, though. So unfair."

Jinping scoffed as Kai showed different shooting poses, almost like he was in a model photoshoot.

"Let's go and tease him," he said.

Jet excitedly nodded, but Andy held them back.

"Wait," Andy said with narrowed eyes. "What if this is Kai's secret to being a good player? He comes here early to do these drills."

The boys stopped, and even though they thought that Kai looked ridiculous, they believed that Andy had come up with a plausible conclusion.

They stayed silent for a moment as Kai executed what seemed to be a ballerina twirl.

"What the heck is that?" Renren muttered.

"Maybe it's for agility?" Jinping asked. "He did do some ballerina twirls to evade Chunlei in our game with the Foxes."

Once again, they became silent as they watched Kai do ballerina twirls over and over again.

"Fuck it," Jet said, also getting into position for a ballerina twirl.

Before they knew it, the entire group of boys started copying what Kai was doing.

Jinping sighed after his fifth ballerina twirl. "I'm dizzy," he breathlessly said. "How can he do this shit?"

"Wait, guys! He's doing something else," Andy exclaimed.

The boys stopped twirling and turned to Kai once again.

Their eyes widened when they saw him in a dog position, with his knees and hands on the floor.

Then, he started rocking his body back and forth—like he was in some kind of yoga class.

The boys were hesitant for a few seconds, but they all dropped to the floor eventually.

Meanwhile, Kai wondered if he had gotten a stronger core strength, so he was trying different kinds of yoga poses.
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"My core was pretty good to begin with," he muttered. Then, he clicked his tongue. "What is this skill?"

Then, he finally stood from his spot and saw his teammates on the floor with closed eyes and satisfied smiles.

He frowned and was about to ask them what was up, but Yuze and Lina beat him to it.

"What are you guys doing?" Yuze grumbled.

The boys snapped out of their concentration and stood from the floor, looking embarrassed.

Lina's frown deepened as she observed their faces.

"Is this a new kink or something?" she asked.

Renren's eyes widened, and he quickly shook his head. "No!" he said. "I don't associate myself with these people."

Jet clicked his tongue. "You enjoyed that dog pose more than any of us," he said, nudging his shoulder.

"Ah, so you guys were doing doggy poses?" Lina asked with one eyebrow raised.

Jinping sighed in exasperation. "That's because Kai—"

"What about me?" Kai asked, capturing their attention.

He had arrived in front of them, appearing like he wasn't doing the weird rituals right at the beginning.

Jinping shook his head in frustration. "Now, we're the ones who look like weirdos," he muttered.

Meanwhile, Yuze kept his gaze on Renren, who kept shaking his wrist.

"You alright?" he asked.

Renren clicked his tongue as he looked at his right wrist. "I didn't realize that my wrists are pretty weak until that doggy pose."

The boys frowned as soon as Renren said those words.

"What?" Andy dramatically exclaimed, biting his lips in anxiousness. "You can't have a wrist injury when the game is so near!"

Renren sighed and shook his head. "It's not an injury," he deadpanned. "I was a cook before all of this, so I use my right hand to manipulate the wok. It seems like the work had strained it a bit, so I felt some pain during that doggy position."

"Can we stop calling it that, please?" Jinping muttered.

"Anyway, I'll take it easy on this wrist. I'll still train, though," he said.

Lina nodded with a concerned look in his eyes. "I'll make sure to incorporate wrist-strengthening exercises in your training, too."

Renren nodded in agreement.

"Well, it seems like the doggy position actually helped with something today," Jet smiled.

Jinping groaned in frustration. "I told you to stop calling it that!"

Yuze shook his head and went straight to business.

"Well, our last game is finally this Saturday. We can't afford to slack anymore. We might have been able to beat some of the top schools in the city, but we'll be battling against the Yin Yang Knights. The teams we've beaten have never beaten this team before."

The others listened intently.

"So, we're going to plan the game both physically and strategically. I don't want anyone to get hurt before the Nationals, so we have to be smart about this."

Once again, they nodded in agreement.

"So, let's start?" Yuze asked.

"Let's go!" Jet exclaimed.

Just then, the doors opened, revealing Kun, causing their eyebrows to raise in surprise.

"Oh, Kun!" Jinping said. "You almost missed practice. Glad you came right on time."

Andy nodded with a small smile. "I thought you were with us already."

Kun mirrored his smile. "Sorry, guys," he said. "I had something to talk with to the teacher."

"And yeah, I guess my presence isn't that noticeable anyway," he muttered, making the team unable to hear him.

Except for one person.