Would You Mind If I Play?

 Friday, the day before the match.

Almost every single player on the soccer team was feeling restless at varying extents. Some of them were visibly agitated, unable to pay attention in class or sit still. However, two of them were exceptions.

“For this question… um, Yang Pan, please answer,” the history teacher called from his podium.

“…”

“Yang Pan!” the elderly man raised his voice.

“Zzz…” his only reply was a louder snore.

If it wasn’t for the game tomorrow, I would not have let this go! Sleeping in my class! The teacher thought begrudgingly. “Fine,” he said, “let’s switch. Zhang Jun.”

“…”

“Zhang Jun!”

“Zzz…”

There was maybe three seconds of utter silence in the class, and then….

“Zhang Jun! Yang Pan! Get up, both of you! Do you hear me?! Napping in the morning! Go stand outside the class!”

“Wow! Our teacher finally exploded!”

…

Noon, after school.

“Really?! Others are either excited or anxious. Only the two of you could actually nap in class!” Su Fei grumbled at the pair, who still looked drowsy. “Aren’t there better classes to sleep in? Both of you picked the old man’s class on purpose. I guess the two of you have lived for far too long! I could hear him shouting from all the way downstairs.”

Yang Pan released a drawn-out yawn in reply. “What has a national champion not face? It can’t be helped that we’re sleepy in the morning since we played until the late hours the night before.”

“Now that you’ve mentioned it, why were you staying over at Zhang Jun place’s last night?

“He told his mom he was scared to be alone at home, so I went over to provide company.”

“You don’t say?” Su Fei asked, feeling astonished. “How old are you again, Zhang Jun? Still scared of sleeping alone?”

“Scared, my foot!” Zhang Jun growled, “We were watching horror movies in the middle of the night, okay. I’m so done with this guy!”

The trio were still chattering when several familiar figures approached them: it was Li Yongle and his group. They stopped right in front of the trio.

“It’s you?” Zhang Jun exclaimed.

“Came here to spy on the enemy again?” Yang Pan followed-up.

Li shook his head. “No! We’ve already watched replays of your games three times.”

“That’s right! All I see now whenever I close my eyes are scenes of you guys running around and I can’t get it out of my head!” Zhang Yang joined in.

“Tut… Who would want that!” Yang Pan stuck his tongue out in retort.

Ignoring the pair’s banter, Li asked Zhang Jun, “How’s the injury?”

“Jogging isn’t a problem now.”

“Well now! I hope that I’ll see you on the field then.” And with those words, the Zhongyuan player turned and left. Zhang Yang and Zhang Lintao followed.

“Huh! This again! He doesn’t even care what others have to say and leave’s as soon he’s finished! Jogging isn’t a problem doesn’t mean I’m fit for a match! That imbecile!”

“Have you met him before?” Yang Pan asked. “Why does he keep insisting on defeating you?”

“Who the hell knows! I’ve never even met the guy.”

“‘There’s no storm without waves. You must have provoked him before this; you simply don’t remember. Maybe you stole his girl or ate at his family’s restaurant without paying….”

“His family has a restaurant?”

“Just saying”

“You are such a trivial person…”

…

Liang Ke did not have any special arrangements for the last training session for the game; instead, he told everyone to sit in a circle on the field.

“Zhang Jun’s injury is still not 100% healed. I won’t risk you on the field,” the coach told him.

He nodded.

“In tomorrow’s game, Su Li will partner with Liu Lei; you two have to stop Zhongyuan’s captain, Zhao Defeng. Don’t underestimate him when you see his 166 cm stature. Diminutive people have always flourished on attacking midfield positions. Yang Pan, you can fire as many long shots as you like this game!”

“No problem!” Yang answered with a fearsome flash in his eyes.

“That’s all for tactics.” Liang Ke pointed at the cheerleading team. “As all of you can see, we even have cheerleaders now. Nobody cared about us before and the only ones who watched us were the other teams’ cheerleaders. There’s no guessing how everyone here feels about that. Maybe there are those who think that it’s fine however we play, right? But from tomorrow onwards, everyone will have to do their best! Don’t break the hearts of our supporters!”

“Yes!” everyone answered.

“Ah… It’s been four years since I came to this school,” Liang Ke sighed as he gazed at the setting sun, which loomed between buildings. He looked as if he had more to say, but he merely waved the squad members behind him away. “Dismissed!”

…

“It’s the first time coach was so emotional!” Su Fei said; the scene where Liang Ke lingered under the setting sun remained in her mind. “Do you guys know what he was thinking when he sighed?”

“Who knows! Maybe the stuff that’s happened throughout his four years here,” Yang Pan answered noncommittally.

“I actually think that fate is very unfair,” Zhang Jun suddenly said profoundly.

“Why?” the other two asked.

“Liang Ke is a good coach, he is very capable – but Shu Guang just hasn’t been the place for him to unleash his talents. If he had gone to Zhongyuan or any other school, he would have flourished. I think his sigh was him moaning about his misfortune in the last four years.” Looking at the sunset, Zhang Jun sighed as well.

“Does that mean, this year, fate is going to be unfair too?” Yang Pan asked him.

“How should I know. It all depends on tomorrow’s game. If we win, fate is fair; if we don’t, it’s not.”

“Hey! Don’t make one game sound so significant!”

“Come what may, tomorrow depends on you!” Zhang Jun patted Yang Pan on the back as Yang smiled.

“It won’t run away as long as I’m here!”

…

The next day…