As the ball was thrown up in the air, both Henry and David jumped with their hands outstretched to get the ball. But Henry was taller than David which was why he got the ball, and he ran towards the basket at full speed. Shībài zhě watched from the side. He wanted to help David win somehow, but he knew that the only way for David to move forward was through his effort. Henry was better than David in almost every way. He was fast, strong, and even had skill in playing Basketball. David on the other hand would spend most of his time chasing after Henry to get the ball. Henry kept on scoring only 2 points or 3 points the entire time. He would even dunk on David with a flourish to further taunt him. The crowd cheered for Henry on each and every one of his scores. Once the score was 7-0, David asked for halftime.

Henry went over to his cheering crowd with his arms open to be congratulated, while David went to the quiet corner where Shībài zhě was standing who was the only one cheering David on the entire game.

“That was worse than expected.” Shībài zhě said.

“Could have been worse,” David said as he drank water. He had spent the entire time running after Henry. “Besides, I’m still warming up.”

“What?” Shībài zhě said very surprisedly. “And do you think that you can beat him after you warm up?”

“Yup,” David answered. “Because, against my brother, I had an 80%-win rate.”

Shībài zhě just stood there and watched David go back towards Henry to finish the match. The ball was thrown into the air to start the new round. Only Henry jumped up while David only bent down as far as his knees would take him. It seemed that Henry would get the ball again but, in a flash, David jumped higher than Henry, and got the ball. There was no cheering as David took the ball, ran towards the basket, and did a dunk with such ferocity that the entire pole shook to the ground.

“2 points,” David said as he looked back at Henry. At this, the entire crowd erupted into cheering. This was unexpected to them and therefore, more fun. Henry, on the other hand, was filled with anger. David walked past him, with no emotion on his face as he waited for Henry to get the ball. Shībài zhě looked more than just impressed. He kept cheering David on as more and more people started joining in when they saw how David was turning the table on Henry. David wasn’t able to stop Henry completely but was also able to score many points, including three-pointer shots, until the score was 13-13. After seeing the score, Henry asked for a time-out.

At this time, the crowd was divided. Half of them were cheering David while the other half was cheering Henry. Only Shībài zhě noticed a group of students who were watching from behind the basketball court. They weren’t cheering anyone and only one of them seemed to be excited by the match.

David just drank water and didn’t talk with Shībài zhě. He also understood not to interrupt David during his streak. But Shībài zhě was happier now than he was the entire day. Henry got back to the court and David also got up to finish this game once and for all. The ball was thrown into the air one last time. Both Henry and David jumped at the same time, and at that time Henry kicked David in the shins, but David completely ignored the pain as he grabbed the ball and ran as fast as he could. This completely broke Henry as he completely ignored the game, rushed at David, and tried to punch him in the face. But Shībài zhě was much faster than Henry. He had pushed David downwards to dodge the punch. David turned around and saw Henry, who seemed to have gone mad from losing. He had lost his usual mischievous grin and was now looking at David through gritted teeth.

“Seems like you hurt his ego. By a lot.” Shībài zhě said as he looked at David. “The only way that you can get out of this is if you fight him because running away won’t do you any good.”

“Who said I’m going to run,” David said. At that moment, Shībài zhě saw the anger in David’s eyes as well. Then he looked up at Henry and said, “This is the last day, you will push me around.”

David raised his fists. His posture was wrong, and he wasn’t strong enough to fight Henry either as Shībài zhě saw his stance. He was an out-boxer. His height and his hands were quite long which won’t allow David a single chance to attack him. David made the first move by charging at him. This was a huge mistake. David was hit before he could even get close. He tried again and again and again. Each time the result was the same.

“It’s over,” Henry screamed as he went in to finish him.

But David was ready. As soon as Henry got closer, David bent down and hit a vein in his leg. Henry screamed in pain as he lifted his foot. David took his chance. He tackled Henry. As soon as he did that, he started punching him in the face as hard as he could and as quickly as he could. Before he could deliver the final blow, Henry punched back and pushed David off. Shībài zhě saw that David was completely disoriented by the force of the final blow. As Henry moved in to finish the fight, another person came into the court. He stopped Henry’s punch by grabbing his wrist.

“I think that’s enough for now.” The person said. Once Shībài zhě saw closely, it was the boy from earlier that was with the uninterested group. He was the only one of them who was excited. He had red hair, seemed to be 6 foot 4 and unlike both Henry and David, he had large biceps which could be seen as he was wearing a tank top with a jacket tied around his waist.

“The fight was getting good, but I don’t think the other kid stood much of a chance.” He said. “Which is why I think you should postpone this fight so that at least a month so that he can get stronger.”

Shībài zhě expected Henry to burst out with a retort but he saw something on his face that he had not seen the whole day. Henry was scared. Then in a small voice, he answered, “Yes sir. Whatever you say.”

“Good boy.” The big one said. He then turned to David who was still coming to his senses. “You have one month. Get as strong as you can. Then you fight him again. I’ll make sure that no one in school bothers you during that time. Don’t even think about running away because then, you’ll have to deal with me.”

“Why are you helping me.” David finally said as he made sense of the situation.

“If you win, then I’ll tell you.”

With that, he left. Henry also left with anger, followed by his team and the rest of the school, until David was the only one left there. He finally spoke after everyone had left.

“I’m even more screwed than before right.”

“Yup.” Shībài zhě answered.