Rise

The host of the Semifinals announced the individual players of High School 13 and Shanghai International as they made their way up the stage. Lin Feng was enjoying the cheering crowd, waving to them and laughing. The rest of his team was a little bit more nervous, focused on their rivals on the other side of the stage. Those rivals, the players from Shanghai International, weren’t smiling or laughing. They were calm, aloof. High School 13 wasn’t their opponent. There was no reason to get excited for this series. They would blitzkrieg their way to the Finals.

High School 13 was a fairly average school. Their clubs never made it far in the big tournaments, regardless of the sport. The recent achievements by the esports club were an exception. That made it so much more remarkable. The students had been talking about it all week, and a large number of them had come to cheer their team on. They wanted to be that 6th member of the team and give their club that extra boost of motivation by cheering as loudly as they could.

“High School 13! High School 13! It’s all skill! No luck! Skill!” “We’re going to the Finals! We’re going to the Finals!” “I love you, Lin Feng!” “Tang Bingyao is the best ad-carry! Liu Zhengjie is a noob!” “We’re the best! Rock on, Ouyang!” “Show those guys from Shanghai International who’s Boss!”

The students from High School 13 kept cheering at the top of their lungs, uncaring of the looks and glances from the people in the crowd. They didn’t care what others thought about them. They were here to support their team, and supporting them was exactly what they would do! In stark contrast, the students from Shanghai International were much more reserved. They believed that their team was far superior to High School 13. There was no need to cheer, or show their support. Their team would win. They were just here to watch it happen. And in that frame of mind, the cheers from High School 13’s students were more than a little annoying.

“What is wrong with those idiots? Can’t they shut up?” “I don’t know, man. Fucking country bumpkins.” “So excited over making it to the Semifinals. I’d almost feel bad for them…” “Haha. Can you imagine? Losing to them? What a joke!” “Right? You know, if they win, I’ll eat my shoe!” “Haha! How did these idiots even make it to the Semifinals? Did they get an easy draw or something?” “It’s all luck. They’ve got the easy opponent in every round. I’m thinking it might be rigged.” “None of that matters. Now we have an easy way to the Finals.”

✹

The players from Shanghai High School found their seats in the special viewing area right below the stage. They sat down and watched High School 13 and Shanghai International get ready for the match. The ad-carry turned to his teammates sitting next to him and said, “Shanghai International is winning this one, right?”

“Probably, yeah…” the Jungler said. Then he thought of something and added, “So that’s another repeat of last year. It’s gonna be us versus them in the Finals again… Kinda boring to be honest.” He relaxed back in his chair, putting his feet up on the railing in front of him.

“Does it really matter?” the Toplaner asked. He shook his head and grinned, apathetic about the outcome. “We’re going to win regardless of who we play against. Neither team has anything on us.”