75 Eve of the Match
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Eastern Zeta University.
Within the staffs' office of their Arena Facility, the figure of Rex could be seen diligently noting down and inputting various types of information into the computer at his desk.
He was alone in the office with the rest of his colleagues' desks already emptied this late in the day.
Due to the school's current lack of management personnel in their Arena scouting team, the middle-aged Assistant Head Coach of the Eastern Zeta Silverbacks was currently fulfilling his duty as a substitute scout today too.
*tap* *tap* *tap*
As Rex's fingers were tapping away at the keyboard in front of his desk monitor, suddenly the door to the office was opened by a figure standing in the hallway.
*click* *swing*
Following the sounds of the door opening, a somewhat soft yet firm voice of a woman could then be heard from behind.
"...You know, the substitute isn't the one who's supposed to be working overtime, right?" The voice noted as she raised one of her arms to point at the clock on the wall.
The time was currently showing early evening at the office.
"Head." Hearing the voice from the woman behind him, Rex didn't turn his head but simply nodded with a polite attitude before replying,
"It's not a problem. I'm just about finished with compiling all the information on the regionals' opponents into one file anyhow."
"Oh..."
The woman speaking to Rex right now was actually far younger than him in terms of her appearance. She was probably only slightly older than Reyner, the youngest Head Coach of Magnolia Thorns.
Just through the way the old Assistant Head Coach had called her just then, if there're anyone else present in the room at the moment, they could probably have already guessed the identity of the arriving persona as well.
Yes, she was exactly the Head Coach of the current Eastern Zeta's Arena Team, the Silverbacks.
*tsk*
At this moment, the adult-looking woman, Miss Melissa Fuller, had suddenly clicked her tongue with a hint of annoyance wholly visible on her face.
"You shouldn't even need to do this sort of stuff in the first place. It's all because this damn public school is too incompetent in even the simplest of matter such as hiring required personnel. Now it's even taking up your time with this scouting nonsense..."
At those highly critical comment made by the Head Coach, Rex could only express himself with a gentle wry smile in response.
As always, the woman in front of him was never too afraid to express her dissatisfaction in others, even towards her own direct superior at work.
"Do they think Eastern Zeta's Arena team is still the same as they were 6-7 years ago. We're now one of the powerhouses of Zeta City for Christ's sake--"
"--It's still not that bad, coach." Rex suddenly shook his head in reply before the Head Coach could finish her words.
"They needed a more experienced staff to take up the leading post for a while. It's clear that they think that I'm the one who's the most qualified amongst the current staff members, it's quite flattering really."
"And plus--" He then added,
"Going around watching various players and matches are fun in its own way. I should know, especially after watching both Ravenville's and Verdante's practice matches separately..." Rex looked up as if trying to remember the details of those matches in memory. He then said...
"It's not just us, you know?" Rex continued,
"Both Verdante and Ravenville, in fact, the standard of the entire college Arena scene is rising steeply every year."
"..." Listening to the seemingly always mild-mannered colleague in front of her, Melissa Fuller didn't continue her barrage of complaints any longer and only turned silent for a while.
"Either way." She then spoke,
"I've gotten words from the Headmaster that the lack of scouting personnel will soon be fixed, you won't be working this office for much longer." The Head Coach continued to walk closer towards Rex.
"I see."
"...I need you managing the team with me on the field, old man."
Listening to such unrestrained compliment from the 'girl', Rex could only chuckle slightly with his wrinkled facade before saying, "Hoho, I highly doubt that my presence is much needed for the current you."
"That's where you're wrong, anyway--" Clearly feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the chummy atmosphere, the Head Coach quickly changed the subject,
"Speaking of those other two schools, their match is finally tomorrow..."
"Yes it is."
"You're our scout, at least for now, what do you think of the two's power for this season?"
"Hmm..." Rex put his hand on his chin and thought for a bit,
"Well in terms of offensive damage output, Ravenville is completely outgunned. After all--"
"--Ah, yeah yeah, Verdante's returning super rookie from the military right? Got that report from you weeks ago." Miss Fuller scratched the back of her head. She had cared more than she would like to admit regarding this matter.
'In any case, Sam Lee is clearly a threat." She thought in her mind.
"Right, compared to him, Ravenville's line-up of outstanding Fielders consists of the highly technical type Young brothers, and potential-wise, probably the sophomore Derrick Wallace who's not well-known for his damage output either."
"Hm." Melissa nodded.
"There's Baron, of course, his [Air Pistol] will always be an indisputable source of threat, but then again, he's a Guard who'll rarely move out of the defensive zones except for certain specific type of plays that'll require him to move up front with his Disabler on." Rex continued his analysis while thinking that he wouldn't put it past Lark to have such tactics in his playbook.
"--But Verdante have both Sam Lee and their Captain, both of which are offensive damage dealing type of Fielders with huge amount of potentials to go pro."
"You're saying that Verdante is stronger?" The Head Coach eventually asked to clarify,
"In this aspect, yeah. But we all know Ravenville doesn't pride themselves for either their offense or defense. The Ruined City Block is the perfect sandbox for them."
"...Then what about compared to us?"
"..."
"Are you that worried about Verdante's super rookie?" Rex directly got to the heart of the matter. The old man had known the Head Coach well enough to grasp what she's thinking at all times.
"Should I be?"
"Hoho, you need to trust in our Favourite Starseed Solver more Miss Fuller. Wasn't him getting contacted by those 3 different pro teams a while back proof enough that we have our own golden egg in our hands." Rex put on a smile that combined both the gentleness and the undeniable confidence in his tone.
No longer conversing after that, before long, Rex too finally finished his primary task and turned down his computer before following the Head Coach out of their office.
At that time, the shine of the artificial sun of Northern Sector had already been entirely replaced by the light of countless stars in the projected night sky.
Nobody knew if the fact that the Eastern Zeta's Head Coach never asked about their comparison with the Illusions was because she was not feeling threatened at all by their existence, or simply because they would also go against Verdante first before fighting Ravenville a little later in week 10 of the tournament.
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Soon, Tuesday arrived.
September the 2nd of the year 218 marked the day for the long awaited match between the Ravenville Illusions and the Verdante Windrider!
On this day, unlike their match against the Western Zeta Armadillos, even early in the morning, Ravenville's campus roads were already filled with many unfamiliar faces, both from the people of other colleges, and also the many other college Arena enthusiasts.
After all, it was the match day between 2 of the 3 powerhouses of Zeta City!
Some of the players that the people are going to watch today would most likely become a new rising star in one of the 21 pro teams within just a few short years!
Such a fact was also one of the most important appeals for the people who love watching college Arena.
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Just like the previous week and the week before that, during the match day like today, all the regulars of Ravenville had already applied for a full-day leave long beforehand to ensure that their schedules for the entire weeks of the regionals would run smoothly without any interference.
As student athletes, this sort of events were after all, one of their obligations to the school for attending here with their athletic scholarships.
But for today's match, all the members of the Illusions had known as well that they were not the only ones that had requested permissions for a full-day leave from classes.
For this event, both the university's cheerleading club that's supposed to cheer for the team, and the journalism club that both printed and posted many of the school's official news had also received permission for their members to 'participate' in the festivities!
Unfortunately, such boon was not extended for the normal 1st year students of the Sport Science major.
Unlike their seniors, the freshmen of Ravenville University had no control over their shcedules for their first semester.
Only starting from the second semester onward could they arrange their required and optional classes however they like to better fit their activities and lifestyle.
"Aaargh... Our first semester's schedule is crazy! What kind of major have afternoon classes for 5 days of the week in their first year!" In one classroom, Wilson complained anxiously while waiting for the bell to ring on his first class of the day this morning.
"Calm down, will you." To his side, Ella finally couldn't stand the noises any longer and hit her high school friend in the head with a thick book.
*Thwack*
"Aw!" Wilson gave a soft shout while rubbing his head, feeling more annoyed than hurt,
"Come on, El. Don't tell me you don't want to watch the game? Aren't you wondering whether Irvine's going to start again this time, we've only seen him in that first match."
"What are you talking about? Of course I'm going to watch." At his question, Ella simply replied matter-of-factly.
"Eh!? But... We've already gotten a reprimand and additional assignments because we skipped the last 3 times..."
During the Illusions' matches against the Armadillos, Pirates, and Tycoons, both Wilson and Ella had always skipped their afternoon classes each time because just like today, they were all held on the second day of the week.
But during their third time skipping, their strict professor had quickly found them out and given them a warning along with many additional assignments through his teaching assistant after noticing the two's consistent absence these past few weeks.
That warning against their final grades was the only thing that had prevented Wilson from thinking of impulsively skipping to watch the match today as well.
But unexpectedly, unlike usual, this quiet friend of his seemed to be truly unperturbed by that fact and had decided to skip again?
"You're absolutely right Wilson, which is why," Hearing his concern, Ella had suddenly turned her whole body towards the guy who's seating by her side and clapped both his shoulders tight.
"?"
"You're going to help me explain to the professor that I've fallen ill today and couldn't attend should there be any roll call during class!"
"...Haa!?" Wilson looked stupefied at Ella's straightforward idea, "--You think the teacher's going to buy it? That kind of stupid reason..."
"Of course he will!" Ella looked slightly offended at Wilson's skepticism towards her plan,
"The last three time, both of us always skipped together, this time you're going to stay here obediently." She smiled brightly at her own explanation.
'...This girl's lost it.' Wilson could see that her eyes already seemed to say that she's not going to miss today's match for any reasons,
*sigh*
"Look... Let's just assume that I AM willing to stay here alone to cover for you, which is NOT the case! You still--"
'!!'
Wilson was just about to retort to Ella's plan at this moment, but then, at this moment he suddenly caught sight of a familiarly coloured jerseys worn by a group of people walking far across from his classroom window.
'That's--!'
He could only see this scene because his classroom building, specifically the class that he was currently in, had windows that faced the direction of the campus' main entrance gate.
And crossing past that gate right now, was a group of people wearing two shades of green and cyan coloured jerseys over their clothes.
"...?" Ella who only looked towards her classmate's direction all this while, still showed a confused look at Wilson's sudden stop mid-sentence and asked, "You alright?"
"They've arrived here so early..."
"Hm?" Noticing that the guy had ignored her, Ella eventually turned towards the same line of sight as Wilson and finally saw the same scene. "!!"
"That's--"
"--Verdante Windrider, they're here."
