24 The Golden Generation

We won!

We're going to the finals!

Amidst the deafening cheers from the crowd, the Hundred Blossoms players at the side rushed onto the stage, surrounding the two core players of their team.

They were the victors of the battle that had just ended. 

They were the ones who had earned victory in the second round of the playoffs.

Team Hundred Blossoms, the black horse of last season, now with a more mature and reliable attitude, had charged through two rounds of this year's playoffs and slaughtered their way into the finals. Their hands had already lightly brushed against that proof of highest glory, the championship trophy.

Excitement, elation.

But this wasn't the end yet; things weren't finished yet.

With the lesson they'd learned from last season's failure, Hundred Blossoms' excitement and celebration was fairly short-lived. It wasn't long before the cluster of people onstage had already calmed down.