Rise

The day of redemption had arrived. It was Friday. Tonight, High School 13 would face off against Shanghai International for the first time since the incident. Ouyang still had flashbacks of what happened last year, as did Yang Fan and the others involved. But this year was different. They’d upgraded several key positions, most notably mid and ad-carry. On top of that, they now had a real coach. They were nothing like the team that participated in the tournament last year, and they were eager to show how far they’d come. Tonight would be the night of Shanghai International’s demise!

The Semifinals of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament on Friday were only the start of a weekend packed with action. As early as the next day were the Finals. The trophy that Ouyang wanted so badly was up for grabs. They just had to get there and take it. And then, later on that very same day, were the Grand Finals for the League of Legends World Championships! They would get to watch the best teams in the world, featuring the best players in the world, face off against each other in an epic best of 5 series! It promised to be an exciting weekend full of League of Legends and fans everywhere were counting down the hours and minutes until the action would start.

News of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament buzzed through the hallways of High School 13. Their school had made it to the Semifinals and it looked like they could go the distance! Everyone was suddenly a League of Legends fan and expert. And they were all looking forward to supporting their team! It was just unfortunate that the governing body of the school didn’t share in this enthusiasm. Ren Rou had asked for their help in advertising for the event. The principal had responded through Mr. Zhou. He was impressed with the team’s performance, he said. He also claimed that he wanted to help the team. But, only if they made it to the Finals. There was just one small problem with that. The Finals were on Saturday, a day after the Semifinals. There was no school on Saturday. So the esports team wasn’t going to get any help. Fortunately, word of mouth was a powerful tool and the news eventually made its way around the whole school.

The classroom that was most excited about the tournament was Senior Class 7. This was because most of the team members were in this class. Six to be exact, including Ren Rou. They were currently enjoying their break together in the back of the classroom, chatting about the upcoming series against Shanghai International.

“Just this morning there were like at least 10 people who came to ask me about the tournament!” Ouyang said, just about jumping from his chair in excitement. “Can you guys imagine it already? There’s going to be hundreds of people from our school coming to cheer us on tonight! It’s going to be epic!” Official source is Nov3lFɪre.ɴet

Yang Fan adjusted his glasses and said, “Everybody’s looking really excited about our Semifinals match. Then again, we’ve never gotten this far before. That really helps build up the hype. I also think there’ll be a lot of people coming to cheer us on tonight.”

“They’ll come to watch us win! And then tomorrow we’re getting the trophy!” Lin Feng shouted, grinning. Then a thick, heavy book landed on his head. “OW! What the…” He painfully rubbed his head, glaring at An Xin.

An Xin put the book back down on her desk, ignoring Lin Feng’s pitiful glare as though he didn’t exist. She then turned to the others and smiled, sweet and innocent. “Of course we’re going to win. But it won’t be easy. We have to really go for it. We need that want-to-win mentality. Shanghai International is a strong team. Don’t relax. Don’t get sloppy. Stick to the plan and win.”

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