Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

Kai immediately held onto his chest to calm its beating.

He felt breathless, so he looked away from the two of them. Then, from his vision, he saw Sir Dao walking around in an all-red tight-fitting outfit.

Kai saw his minuscule bulge and his heart immediately slowed down

He quickly looked away from the terror teacher and settled his gaze on the ground instead.

Then, Kai sighed in relief when he felt the funny feeling in his chest finally disappear.

He massaged the area and shook his head.

"Goodness, what was that?" he muttered.

"I'm too young to have a cardiac problem."

Just then, his thoughts were interrupted when he felt someone tap his shoulder.

Kai looked up and saw Bao looking at him with a weary expression.

Kai raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Bao nodded. "I didn't realize that organizing a booth that involves all the year levels would be so difficult."

Kai smirked in amusement.

Bao, who jokingly suggested the cross-dressing booth, was immediately assigned to organize everything.

It was a good thing for the class since Bao was a very organized lad. However, it had taken a toll on the studious boy as he was forced to lead all of the preparations.

Haobin, their class president, believed that they should have done a cafe or a 'normal' booth like the other sections instead, so he didn't help as much.

"But the grade incentive would be worth it, right?" Kai asked.

Bao sighed before nodding in defeat.

"I guess," he muttered. "I said it as a joke at first, but I think a lot of people are interested in the event. We might actually have the chance to win this one."

Kai nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, even the basketball team wants to watch."

Bao finally smiled, feeling satisfied with himself.

"That's good," he muttered.

"Let's get going then. The stage is already set up, but we need to move some of the props to the stage and prepare the seats. We need someone to carry the heavy objects, so I decided to call you."

Kai nodded and waved at his teammates before following Bao to their booth.

"Haobin better not claim those incentives if he's not going to cooperate," Bao muttered, feeling annoyed once again when he saw their class president playing on his phone in the corner.

Kai shook his head in amusement as he watched Bao instruct his classmates on what to do next.

It felt like yesterday when Bao couldn't even recite in class without stuttering. Now, it seemed like he was getting more confident in his skin.

Kai was happy to see that.

As they arrived at their booth, Kai couldn't help but feel amazed.

In fact, he didn't even know if it could be called a booth! It felt like an entire spectacle or a tourist attraction.

The stage was similar to that of a low-budget fashion show, and it was adorned with white curtains and flowers, courtesy of the girls in their classroom.

They also took a huge space in the garden, but it seemed like the others didn't mind since most sections were only doing cat-inspired no-seating cafes and carnival games.

"Stop standing there and help," Kai heard someone say from behind his back.

He turned around and saw Zeren, who was already wearing their team jersey, carrying the chairs to be sat on by the audience.

Kai shook his head and grabbed some of the chairs from the side before arranging them in a row.

Meanwhile, the other boys helped with the decorations and with setting up the lights and the sound system.

Kai and Zeren were busy arranging the last rows of chairs when Bao called them for a meeting in their classroom.

Kai and Zeren turned to each other in confusion but nonetheless followed Bao to their classroom.

As they arrived, the two saw a sparkly dress hung on the blackboard ledge.

Zeren couldn't help but exclaim as soon as he saw the dress.

"Wow!" he exclaimed. "Did you guys make this?"

Bao nodded, biting his lip and pacing back and forth in front of the board.

Kai also nodded in acknowledgment since it seemed like his classmates had actually poured their everything into this event.

Despite it being a ridiculous concept, a lot of them spent sleepless nights just for its preparations.

The dress was a sparkly red gown that clung to the contours of the body.

It was on the larger side since it would be worn by Rambo, who surprisingly volunteered to be their participant after their theme was decided.

Along with that, there was a huge black hat adorned with feathers and a pair of sleek black leather gloves to match the outfit.

Zeren continued to look at it in awe.

"If we placed this amount of effort into our studies, then we wouldn't be called the dumbest classroom in our year," he muttered.

Just then, the other students started arriving, wondering why they were having a meeting when the event was going to take place in less than an hour.

"What's this all about?" Yumi, their class vice president and the host of the upcoming show, asked.

Haobin also arrived, yet Bao was too worried to even be annoyed at his existence.

"We have a problem," Bao finally said after what felt like a million years. Read new chapters at empire

Yumi and the others frowned in confusion.

"A problem?" Yumi asked. "But everything's going according to plan. We even finished setting up the stage before our planned schedule."

"The preparations are going smoothly," Bao said, finally stopping his pacing as he remained still in front of the teacher's table.

"The problem is with our participant," he revealed.

"Rambo?" Zeren asked. "What happened to him?"

Bao scratched the back of his head.

"Well, he was excited this morning since he hadn't tried the outfit just yet. So, he wanted to come early to try it on."

"However, it's already nearing the competition, and he still hasn't arrived!"

"Goodness," Yumi muttered. "Does anyone know what happened to Rambo and where he is?"

They looked at each other in confusion, and then, one of Rambo's friends raised his hand when he suddenly received a text.

"Rambo just texted," he exclaimed.

"What did he say?" Bao asked, walking to where he was to read the text out loud.

"Can't come. Peeing blood. I think balls are broken...."

Bao squinted to focus on the next words. Meanwhile, the others couldn't help but find his text strange.

"Balls not recovered from dodgeball attack."

"Now in hospital with mom. TTYL."

"P.S. I want the dress after the event."Nôv(el)B\\jnn

The class was silent for a few moments before Zeren decided to break it, only able to utter one word.

"...what?"