There was still a little over thirty minutes until the ga started, so the players were conditioning themselves. anwhile, the crowd went and bought their snacks from the stands just right outside, preparing for the ga with food as ammunition.
On the Juren Champions' bench, Chaoxing was practically bouncing with excitent, stretching his arms overhead and rolling his shoulders with his face split in a grin.
Chaoxing's teammates laughed, nudging him as he went through his exaggerated warm-up routine.
"Relax, captain," one of them said with a smirk. "The ga hasn't even started."
Chaoxing just shrugged. "Hey, I might get to play all four quarters today! I've been waiting to face off with Kai for months."
His eyes showed that he was serious—which was unlike his character. He was an advocate of proper rest, but he wanted to play longer for Kai today!
He cast a look over toward the Shizi Dogs' side, where Kai was talking with his teammates.
Jimmy, seated beside him, didn't seem to share his enthusiasm.
Instead, he was scanning the crowd, his gaze flitting from one end of the stands to the other. He was clearly looking for soone—Kimmy, in particular.
"Where is she?" he muttered. "Why isn't she answering my texts?"
Chaoxing snapped his fingers in front of Jimmy's face, pulling him back to reality. "Hey, Jimmy! Earth to Jimmy. What are you doing?"
Jimmy blinked, then shook his head, trying to focus. "Nothing, just… got distracted." However, even then, Chaoxing could tell that there was sothing bothering him.
Chaoxing raised an eyebrow, wanting to press him for the details, but then Jimmy's phone buzzed in his pocket.
He glanced down, saw the ssage, and froze.
It was from his dad, and it was only three words:
"Make us proud."
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a mont.
It has started again—that weird feeling inside his chest.
anwhile, Chaoxing's attention drifted over to Jian. He was excited to see even a sliver of excitent on his face. He had been nonchalant all throughout the season, except for a few monts—however, even then, it was nothing significant.
But as he glanced at Jian's face, Chaoxing's enthusiasm faltered.
Jian's expression was as unreadable as ever—calm, stoic, and almost detached.
"How do you feel?" Chaoxing asked, hoping for a spark of shared excitent. It had been three years since they'd been on the sa team, and he had yet to see it. He ca close once—when he first faced with Zheng in the finals. However, that was it.
It was never sustained.
Jian rely shrugged, eyes fixed on the court with that sa unshakeable calmness. "It's another ga. We'll win, of course."
Chaoxing bit back a sigh. "Sure, whatever you say," he muttered.
On the Shizi Dogs' bench, the atmosphere was pretty different. For the Juren Champions, this was their third ti in the finals. For them, it was the first.
Coach Muchen stood in front of them, his hands resting on his hips.
Yuze stood beside him despite his injury, standing tall with his family gathered just right behind their bench—sitting at the nearest bleachers.
Coach Guanyu looked as if he wanted to interject and throw in so advice, but Yuze shot him a glare sharp enough to silence him on the spot.
Coach Guanyu raised his hands in mock surrender, zipping his lips shut, much to the quiet amusent of the team. His wife laughed at him.
Kun smiled at the scene. It seed like they were really okay now.
Coach Muchen took a deep breath, his gaze settling on each player in turn. "I'm going to be honest with you guys—this isn't going to be easy. Almost everyone out there believes we can't do it. They think we're the underdogs, the team that's lucky just to be here. Even the numbers prove it."
Jet scoffed, leaning back and crossing his arms. "Can't say I bla them. I an, I don't even know if I believe it."
A few chuckles rippled through the team, but Muchen didn't smile.
"Right now, though, what other people believe doesn't matter. We had been underestimated plenty of tis before already. What matters is what you believe, what you're willing to put on the line for this ga, what you're willing to fight for."
Yuze leaned forward, catching each of their gazes. The tone of his voice was similar to when Kai had just entered Shizi High, and the basketball team was trying to enjoin new students.
"Look, I know what you're all feeling right now. You're nervous, maybe even a little scared. And that's okay. I'm nervous too," he admitted, his hand on his chest. "But nerves an we're alive, that this matters to us. We've waited for so long."
The team grew quiet, listening intently as Yuze continued. "We've made it this far, not because we're lucky, but because we're a team. Every single one of you has fought for this, sweated for this, sacrificed for this. And if we go out there and give everything we've got, then no matter the outco, we're already winners."
A sense of pride and unity filled the bench as Yuze's words sank in.
"Long live, Yuze!" Andy exclaid.
"We'll make you proud, bro," Renren said with a smile.
Jinping pursed his lips. "We're going to win. Don't worry."
Yuze smirked and nudged Jinping's shoulder. "Make sure to pass to Kai, okay?"
Jinping scoffed and turned to the side. "I always pass to him," he muttered with a small smile.
Kun saluted at their team captain. "I''ll rember every advice of yours, Yuze!"
Jet nudged Kai, grinning. "See that? Our captain's still got it."
Kai chuckled, nodding. "Yeah, he does."
But then he noticed sothing, his brows furrowing as he looked around.
There was soone missing.
"Hey, where's Lina?"
They looked around the bench, surprised not to see their usual pep-talker with them.
Kai's frown deepened when none of his teammates answered.
"Yeah, where is she?" Kun asked with a frown. "She would hate to miss our pep-talk."
"Well, it's already done," Jinping said matter-of-factly.
"I think she went to the restroom," Jet said. "But she's been there for a while. She must have gotten a stomach flu."
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