Kiyoshi just grinned, a real cheeky, almost-evil grin. “Dude, maybe it is a gamble, Ahsan. But sometimes you gotta roll the dice to get the big prize, you know? Plus,” he leaned in closer, dropping his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “can you even imagine the look on Motijheel’s faces when they realize they’re not up against the same old, predictable Banani High? It’s gonna be epic.”

  Ahsan couldn’t help but crack up. “Alright, alright, Captain Obvious,” he chuckled, pyfully shoving Kiyoshi’s shoulder. “You sold me on the chaos theory. Let’s just hope this ‘unpredictable’ thing doesn’t backfire and we end up looking like total clowns. But yeah, okay, I’m kinda hyped to see what happens now.”

  Meanwhile, the trio of Arshad, Sajid, and Chandan were in their own little huddle, low-key roasting James in hushed voices.

  “‘Unpredictable’,” Arshad snorted, doing a dramatic eye roll and mimicking James’s chill voice. “Dude thinks he’s some kinda basketball whisperer or something. Like he’s gonna pull out a hidden ball technique straight out of anime.”

  “No way, maybe he is though!” Chandan whispered back, eyes wide like he’d just had a major epiphany. “Did you see how quiet he is? That’s always the quiet ones, man. He’s probably secretly a basketball prodigy plotting to take over the entire league… starting with Motijheel!” He nudged Sajid with his elbow, “Imagine, dude, world domination… through hoops!”

  Sajid just scoffed, rolling his eyes so hard it was almost theatrical. “World domination? Chill out, dude. We’re talking about a practice match against Motijheel, not, like, taking over the pnet one dunk at a time. It’s Tuesday afternoon basketball, not the freaking NBA Finals.”

  “Yeah, okay, okay, I get it,” Chandan mumbled, slightly defted but still clinging to his wild theories. “But still, though… you gotta admit, there’s something about him, right? Like he’s got some hidden power-up or a cheat code we don’t know about. Maybe he’s been secretly training with Shaolin monks or something.”

  Arshad snickered, bumping Sajid with his fist. “Nah, bro. His secret weapon is probably just peak awkward silence. Motijheel will be so thrown off by him just standing there looking all mysterious and quiet, they’ll be like, ‘Nope, too weird,’ and just walk off the court. Game over. Banani High wins by… silence.”

  They all cracked up, the whole ‘Motijheel is gonna destroy us’ anxiety kinda fading away for a sec thanks to their James-roasting session. But even though they were joking around, you could tell something had shifted. Like, they were actually kinda intrigued now. What was James gonna do? Was this "unpredictable" thing for real? Could he actually help them not get completely demolished by Motijheel? Guess they were about to find out.

  Suddenly, the Motijheel game wasn't just this terrifying thing looming over them. It was turning into, like, a weird science experiment. A test to see if they could actually learn to be…unhinged? To ditch their same old predictable pys and just go wild. And right in the middle of it all was James, Mr. Mysterious New Guy, ready to drop his own brand of basketball weirdness on Banani High. It was gonna be a trip, that's for sure. Maybe even… a chaotic trip. Insert mischievous emoji here.