Chapter 91: Sunday Morning
Sunlight crept through the thin curtains of the small academy apartment, nudging Amani Hamadi from a heavy, dreamless sleep. He blinked awake slowly, the events of the night before rushing back in hazy fragments: the red blur of the Galgenwaard pitch, a deafening roar as the ball hit the net, teammates’ arms thrown around him, his own laugh of pure astonishment.
Was that all real? For a moment, he simply lay there in bed, staring at the ceiling. His body ached in new places – a satisfying dull soreness from a real Eredivisie match – but inside, he felt almost weightless. He remembered how free he’d felt on the pitch, how all the nerves had melted away once the ball was at his feet.
He had played without pressure, just as he’d been guided. The System’s gentle mission from last night echoed in his mind: Enjoy the moment. And he had enjoyed it, every second. A soft grin tugged at his lips as he recalled sprinting down the flank, the thump of his heart loud in his ears, yet no fear – only joy.
He rolled onto his side and reached for his phone on the nightstand. Almost immediately the screen lit up with a cascade of notifications. Missed calls, text messages, new followers and comments – it was as if the whole world had discovered his number and handles overnight. Amani’s eyes widened. How did they all get my contact?
There were messages from former school friends in Malindi ("We saw the video, congrats!"), cousins and aunties he hadn’t heard from in years, even in his previous life, and teammates from various youth squads. Dozens of WhatsApp chats, Instagram tags, and an endless scroll of Twitter mentions flashed before him.
He sat up, heart starting to pound with a different kind of adrenaline. This attention was unreal. Just yesterday morning, he’d been a nobody outside the academy; now everyone seemed to know his name.
Amidst the flood of notifications, one alert glowed differently. Amani blinked at the screen, momentarily confused. In a subtle grey overlay at the top of the display, a message appeared not from any app he recognized, but from the System itself, gentle and celebratory. It read:
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