Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

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"Tomorrow is the opening of the Interhigh Preliminaries, right?" Grandma Bingbing asked as Kai sat at the small dining table.

"Yeah," Kai said.

"How's training going?" she asked.

Kai sighed and shoveled some food into his mouth.

"I haven't played for the past week," he said.

Grandma Bingbing smiled. "That's good," she said. "Lina is doing a good job keeping you in check."

Kai shook his head in amusement.

"By the way, are you going tomorrow?" he asked.

Grandma Bingbing clicked her tongue. "Of course not," she said, causing Kai's shoulders to drop in disappointment.

"Do you think work ever stops for this old woman? You won't be here in the morning, so I'll deliver these onions myself."

"It wouldn't hurt for you to take one day off," Kai muttered.

"That would be the case if you didn't get hospitalized," she said, poking his temple.

Kai sighed and continued eating.

The old woman shook her head.

"I'll come and watch in one of your games someday," she smiled, patting his head.

"You're going to make it to the big league, right?"

Kai squared his shoulders. "Of course," he confidently said. "But you're only going to watch my games in the big league?"

"You'll feel it pass in no time," she said.

Kai nodded, just agreeing with his Grandma.

With that, they continued their meal.

As they finished, however, Grandma's gaze lingered longer on Kai.

Kai looked up from his phone with a frown.

"What is it?" he asked.

The old woman leaned closer to him and held onto his hair.

Kai froze as Grandma Bingbing narrowed her eyes at him.

"I have a feeling that this is the reason why you got hit by a car," she remarked.

Kai's eyes widened in surprise, causing Grandma Bingbing to narrow her eyes further.

"I see," she muttered.

Then, she went to the kitchen and started rummaging through the utensils.

"What are you doing, Grandma?" Kai asked, fearing for his life.

"Found it," Grandma exclaimed before walking back to the kitchen.

There, she heavily placed the large scissors on the table, making Kai nearly jump out of his seat.

"I'm going to cut your hair," she smiled—a creepy smile that couldn't be trusted.

Kai scratched the back of his head.

"Well, I have been thinking of getting it cut on the weekends," he said. "So, I think I should just wait until then."

"No can do!" Grandma Bingbing exclaimed. "You won't be able to play well with that long-ass hair."

Kai chuckled nervously. "But would it be okay?" he asked. "Do you even know how to properly cut hair?"

Grandma smirked as she picked up the scissors and started snipping away Kai's hair.

"I told you—cutting onions is not my only talent. I'm talented in cutting a lot of things."

Somehow, that made Kai even more nervous. His grandma was relentless with the scissors, snipping away like there wasn't a tomorrow.

"Yeah, this is a good choice," his Grandma continued speaking while Kai kept silent.

"I feel like it's been a while since I've seen your face, too."

"You know, when you were born, I was thinking whether you were adopted."

"Your dad wasn't really good-looking, but he wasn't awful to look at, too. Your mom, on the other hand, was very pretty. Sometimes, I think how my son had bagged her."

"But then again, she left him, so I think the world is fair."

"What was I saying again? Ah, right! When you were a baby, you didn't look anything like your parents. You look like a ginger-flavored chewed-up bubblegum," she chuckled, making Kai frown.

"When I first saw you, I almost asked the doctor to shove you back inside your mom's birth canal."

Kai pursed his lips as his feelings continued being obliterated.

Meanwhile, she continued cutting; however, as she had completely cut Kai's bangs, she stopped.

Kai frowned when he didn't feel his Grandma cutting anymore.

"What's...happening?" he asked, looking up at his Grandma with bright eyes.

She was looking at him with wide eyes, making Kai wonder if he had done something wrong.

"Oh goodness, do I have to get a buzz-cut now?" he asked.

Then, his Grandma smiled as she snapped out of her daze.

"I think you actually look like your mom now."

***

Jilin City was louder than ever.

At the center of the city, almost all of the citizens have gathered for the most awaited sports tournament of the year.

The Interhigh Preliminaries.

Booths covered the area, and young and old people alike walked around with food in their hands while wearing the color of the school they were supporting.

The tickets have been sold out, with scalpers even repricing them for double the price.

As the cheers increased inside the venue, the other people scrambled to go to their respective seats.

The teams were in their waiting rooms, and much to their surprise, the Shizi Dogs were actually in a bigger room this time.

"I mean, it's not as big as the Knights or the Foxes, but dang, it feels good to get some decent treatment," Jet said, sitting on the seat that was designated for the coach.

Coach Muchen shook his head and looked around.

"Where's Kai?" He asked.

Yuze sighed as he stretched his legs.

"He's going to come," Yuze said.

"Are you sure?" Coach Muchen nervously asked.

Kun nodded. "He just tends to be pretty late in these kinds of things. I hope he comes before the opening, though. That way, Yuze will let him play in the first quarter."

Meanwhile, a tall young man frantically ran toward the large gymnasium.

"Grandma didn't wake me up again," he muttered.

It seemed like sleeping with shorter hair was more comfortable as Kai slept in and didn't hear his alarm.

As a result, he missed the early bus and had to take a bus that stopped around ten minutes away from the court.

So, he ran to be able to make it.

Fortunately, his leg didn't hurt anymore, so he could run without any problem.

He was about to go in but stopped when he realized something.

The merch of his opponent!

He knew he should have gone in, but 15 XP was still 15 XP!

With that, he walked to the booths of the different teams and saw that most of them were already gone.

Even Lina wasn't there anymore.

Fortunately, it seemed like Fei and Grace still hadn't left, so Kai quickly went to their booth.

They were fixing their bags, so Kai cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Can I buy a Max Zhou bubblehead?" he asked.

Fei sighed and turned around.

"We're sold—"

She couldn't finish her sentence when she saw the boy in front of her.

Holy crap!

Who was this fine man?