Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

It was a sunny afternoon on a Thursday, and the basketball team had just finished with their after-class training. Yuze pursed his lips in frustration as he looked at his teammates lying on the floor. 

"Those are dirty," Yuze said, grimacing as he imagined the germs that clung to their skin. 

"Ah, who cares. Shang's mouth is dirtier than this, and I've never seen him complain. Let us rest for a while, captain," Jet whined. 

Yuze gave Kun a knowing look, and before the captain could utter a single word, Kun was already in action.

"Alright, get up. We need to talk about something important," he said, kicking the members' butts to get them to move. 

A collective groan was heard in the court as they made their way to the benches. Yuze looked at his members one by one, smiling to himself when he realized how far they had come. 

It seemed like yesterday when they were the same applicants who wanted to play on the same court, yet now, they were the ones screening for new players to join their team. 

"Lina," Yuze said, gesturing to their manager. 

Lina smiled and opened her laptop, showing the pretty presentation she had made for the players. 

The players couldn't help but chuckle as they looked at the colorful display. It was adorned with sparkles, pink flowers, and rainbow-colored basketballs. 

"Why is it so colorful?" Shang asked. 

Lina glared at the tall player, causing him to quickly zip his mouth shut. 

"Anyway," Lina smiled, going back to her usual bubbly self. "This afternoon, we're going to be discussing the new members to be accepted into our team." 

Lina looked around the room and did a quick head count. 

"As you all know, we are lacking in numbers for the registration for the Winter Cup, so this is our chance to fill up those gaps and recruit new teammates that could potentially lead to better results this year," she continued. 

"Let's start with the first set of applicants who played yesterday," Lina said, clicking on the next slide to show the faces of these players.

The players turned silent for a moment, recalling the applicants' performances. 

"I don't think anyone stood out in this set," Yuze said right off the bat. 

"They were pretty nice, though," Kun said. "One of them even gave me a pack of candy." 

"They were bribing you," Yuze deadpanned. 

Kun pursed his lips. "It didn't seem like that," he muttered, bringing out the lychee candy the applicant gave him yesterday and popping one inside his mouth. 

"This guy," Lina said, hovering the pointer at one of the applicants. "Lucas? I think he was the best on the set. His height isn't too bad as well, so we might be able to train him further." 

Yuze nodded in agreement. "However, I think we could all agree that he isn't ready yet." 

The other players nodded, not able to refute their captain's words. 

"Let's move on to the second set then," Lina said, presenting the next slide. 

The players nodded in approval as soon as their faces were shown. 

"This set of applicants did the best," Shang automatically said. "I had the hardest time when I was playing with them."

"That's true," Jet agreed. "These two, in particular, were the most annoying to guard," he said, pointing at Jinping and Zeren. 

Kun chuckled as Lina's face became sour when the players started praising Zeren. 

"What's wrong, manager?" Kun asked. "Don't you agree with us? Zeren did the best in this set, didn't he?" 

Lina sighed before clicking her tongue. If Zeren hadn't been so annoying, then she would have appreciated his talent more. However, in the end, she couldn't deny the first-year student's talent. 

"I guess," she muttered. 

"How's his potential?" Yuze asked. 

"I researched about him….," Lina started off but stopped when he saw the teasing expressions on the other players' faces. 

She sighed and narrowed her eyes at them. "Do you want me to continue or not?" 

Yuze only had to throw them a look, and the players all behaved. 

"As I was saying, he's been playing since he was in Elementary school. It seemed like he's pretty well-known in the middle school league, too. He's definitely not the best player in the league, but I think he's at sixty percent of his potential." 

"Sixty percent?" Shang exclaimed. "Dang, that was more than mine." 

"And how about this guy?" Kun asked, pointing at Jinping. "I think I've seen him playing once before, too. But if I recall, it was from a smaller school." 

"Sunshine Arts," Jet said, causing the other players to turn to him in surprise. 

"You know about this guy?" Shang asked, surprised. 

"My brother plays, too, and he went against this guy. I watched the game they competed in." 

"How was he?" Yuze asked. 

"Not bad," Jet said. "Definitely not good, though. I also feel like he's somewhat rebellious." 

"What do you expect?" Shang chuckled. "Students from Sunshine Arts have always been scary. I remember being deathly afraid of them when I was younger." 

"You? Afraid of people? You were taller than the average high schooler when you were in middle school," Jet retorted. 

"Can we please go back to talking about this guy please?" Lina sighed impatiently.

"Right," Jet nervously chuckled. "Well, like I said, he has experience playing before. However, it's with Sunshine Arts. Those guys have been known for playing dirty ever since. He didn't do anything weird during the game, but there was an aura of pride surrounding him." 

Yuze hummed ambiguously. 

"However, we also can't deny that he performed the best after Zeren," Kun chimed, and the other members nodded in agreement. 

"Anyway, when can we go?" Jet excitedly bounced his leg. "My mom's making potato croquettes, and I don't want to miss out." 

"We're almost done," Lina said, presenting the next slide.

"We only have the third set of applicants left."