Still The Same Old Thing

Kai sat by the bench, dejected, while the other second-string players cheered for Yuze. He had just landed a dunk and smoothly landed on the court. 

He couldn't believe he was still doing the same old thing—watching the players from the sideline as they played to their hearts' extent. 

Even though his mood wasn't great, Kai still took the time to observe Yuze's playing style. He had never seen Yuze play before, and he was pleasantly surprised. The captain definitely deserved his title since he was the best player among everyone in the court. 

Kun, too, wasn't bad at all. However, it seemed like he wouldn't be entirely comfortable playing on the court if Yuze wasn't the one making the play. As far as Kai knew, Kun was also a third-year student like Yuze, so he must have stuck to that bubble. 

Jinping and Zeren were doing relatively well even though it was their first time training with the old players. Zeren was undoubtedly better than Jinping, but Kai could also tell Jinping's experience through the way he moved. 

Shang and Jet, the two best players during the tryout game, didn't stand out as much now that Yuze and Kun were on the court. 

"You must be curious, huh?" Sunny asked, nudging Kai's shoulder. 

Kai silently nodded, his eyes still on Yuze.

"How come such a good player like him didn't get recruited in bigger schools?" Kai couldn't help but ask. 

Sunny sighed, leaning against the chair. However, it was a bench, so he nearly fell down to the ground if it weren't for Kai's help. Kai placed his hand on Sunny's back and supported his weight. 

"Woah, you have fast reflexes," Sunny remarked. 

Kai shook his head in amusement. "Care to answer my question?" 

"Right," Sunny said, fixing his posture.

"It's not like Yuze hasn't been recruited by bigger schools before. Actually, he's been recruited plenty of times—almost all schools in Jillin wanted him when he was a first-year. He was a famous player when he was in junior secondary school." 

"He went to Yin Yang High," Sunny added. 

Kai paused for a moment. "Yin Yang High," he whispered, finding the name of the school familiar. 

Then, he finally realized where he had heard of the school before. 

It was the school that represented Jillin in the Interhigh Nationals. 

"But he chose Shizi High?" Kai asked, confused.

Sunny clicked his tongue. "Are you underestimating our precious school?" 

"No," Kai quickly denied. "With so many options before him, it just makes you wonder."

"You didn't hear this from me," Sunny said, gesturing for Kai to come closer. 

"But he chose this school because—" 

Dylan hit the back of Sunny's head before he could even finish his statement, causing the latter to plant a kiss on Kai's cheek. 

Kai froze as he held onto the wet patch on his cheek.

Sunny's eyes widened when he saw the displeased expression on Kai's face. 

"Don't punch me!" Sunny exclaimed, shielding his face with both of his arms. 

Kai was still frozen. He couldn't believe his first kiss on the cheek came from a guy! He pursed his lips and dejectedly looked down to the ground as his fantasies of a first kiss were now shattered. 

 "Stop yapping about the captain's business to the newbies!" Dylan reprimanded Sunny. "You already know that Yuze's not comfortable talking about it." 

Sunny massaged the back of his head. "He was just curious," he muttered under his breath. 

"You better not tell them anything," Dylan warned, causing Sunny to nod in defeat. 

Their practice continued while the second-string players merely observed them. After two hours, it finally ended with Kai feeling disappointed that he didn't even get to play for a second.

"Stand up! The captain is about to announce something," Dylan said, almost forcing the second-string players to join their meeting.

"Boss! We're here," Dylan said as soon as they joined their circle. He seemed extremely loyal to the captain based on how he treated him. 

Jinping glanced at Kai and smirked. His expression showed how happy he was to be at a higher level than Kai. 

"This won't be long," Yuze said. "I'm just going to be distributing the jerseys. I got them done during the weekend, and we're going to be wearing them on our first practice game." 

"You've already booked us a practice game?" Kun excitedly asked. The other members, too, appeared excited for the upcoming game. 

Kai was also intrigued, disappointment filling his heart since he knew he wouldn't be able to play in the game. 

"Yeah," Yuze smirked. "With Feng Arts High." 

"Really?" Kun exclaimed. "You got them to play with us?" 

"Didn't they end up second in last year's Interhigh Preliminaries?" Zeren asked. "They fell short with only a couple of points." 

"Yes," Yuze responded. "So, make sure to train well so we can show them that we're worthy opponents. It's still three weeks away, so just prepare yourselves." 

The first-string players excitedly nodded. 

"Kun, the jerseys," Yuze said. 

Kun quickly retrieved the large tote bag behind the bench and passed them one by one to Yuze.

"Shang," he threw the number '09' jersey to him. 

"Jet, catch!" 

Jet caught the jersey with the number '11' on it. 

Meanwhile, Zeren got the number '08' while Jinping got the number of '12.' 

Yuze was number '04' while Kun was number '05.' 

Kai's hand itched as he anticipated to get a hold of his very own jersey. It seemed like numbers 4-12 had been chosen, so Kai was elated to get a larger number. 

That only meant that his upgrade would also be larger! 

However, after Jinping received his jersey, it seemed like there wasn't any left inside the bag. 

Kai frowned in confusion and nudged Dylan's shoulder. 

"Where's our jersey?" he muttered. 

Dylan turned to him, equally confused. 

"What do you mean? You're wearing it right now," Dylan pointed out. 

"This is a random jersey, though," Kai argued. 

"Well, yeah," Dylan said in an obvious tone. 

"We don't really get an official jersey!"