Spring season

Luck wasn't entirely on their side that day. Thankfully, the one chosen, for the match where every member will be one of each team in the league, was Huobai—the most extroverted one of them. 

He was in a team with Lion from Sapphire Gaming, 463 from Asta Espoorts, Iehends from Dogs of Netherworld, YOLO from Claw Esports, and EnD from Acon Gaming.

Shan had almost no idea who they were, what their team play, or even their champs, because CE, AG were newbies, team AE was from Macau and team DON was from Taiwan. The only player he knew from Huobai's team was Lion because SG was from Hong Kong too and they already met in the Chinese League last year.

The opposite team consisted of Kaira from Solari, Macau based team, Weiyoung from WuJi Gaming, Nami from Thunder Tiger Esports and Solo from Tang Eng Gaming, all new teams, and then there was H0ng from Mirage Macau Esports, and Zheyuan from Poisonous Blades.

The first game was easy: run a relay race through the forest and hit the training dummy, then run back to your teammates. Huobai was somewhere in the middle. The slowest was Kaira, heavy guardian, on the other hand, the fastest was Nami, assassin and he won the point for his team. Nothing unusual. 

The next game, though, was funny. They divided the arena as a pitch for dodge ball and that was basically what they played. But they were dodging each other's abilities. You couldn't cross the line and only use long-range ones. Huobai was the best and won for his team. So now it was one to one, and the audience loved it. 

"Let's see which team will be the winner. The winners get to design their emoji in chat." Shan knew that was something that everyone wanted. Everyone except Huobai, who had enough emojis. The only one he used was :), and that was it. So this reward was no reward at all. 

The last game was made on an island in the middle of the ocean. The team could use everything they could and push their opponents to the water. If they died or got into the water, the player was out and the last one remaining was the winner.

If Shan had to be honest, it was fun. He found himself shouting with the crowd and enjoying something out of the ordinary. 

He was even laughing at one point when Lion as a brawler, lifted YOLO and threw him against Solo, thankfully had no way to dodge it and couldn't change directions mid-air like Lion, the assassin, could. In the end, it was Huobai's team who was celebrating. 

"Now, the part of the evening everyone was waiting for. The fan raffle. Two of you lucky participants, who bought tickets and the cheering kit from the official shop, followed us on social networks, and proved it, will be chosen to play up on the stage with five players of your choosing. Two games, 6v6, in the arena!" The MC was doing a good job. Except it was 5v5 and only if one died the sixth substitute could join in. As the normal game went during the season.

"The first successful fan is…" There was a moment of silence when the MC picked up the ball from the ruffle bowl. He opened it and rolled out the paper.

"LIGHT, Wang Zixuan!" he shouted and immediately a man sprung out from the audience. He was jumping up and down and waving his hands while running to the stage.

"Hello, Light, are you excited?" Shan's eyebrows shot up at the awkward and embarrassing question, but let it go and just sighed. He saw the members of Poisonous Blades on the screen, including Jiun. 

His summer therapy bore fruits because yes Shan felt uncomfortable seeing him, but he wasn't shivering. He didn't want to puke his guts out. He was at least a bit okay.

"Now we need our other team, captain." Shan prayed that no one would pick him and he could just comfortably sit through it in the uncomfortable folding chair they had.

"Cheung Ahna, BearCute!" Shan winced when the MC's voice pitched too high and went out of tune. Shan still had it in him. He could still hear whether something sounded good or not. He still could tune instruments. It was a pity he would never touch it again.

"Let's play rock paper scissors and see who will pick first," Mc said, and it made Shan perk up a bit just to be sure he wasn't called. The guy won. He picked Heung from PB and Heaven from AG first. Shan could see his strategy of having two guardians to guard him and the rest of the team. It was the lady's turn now to pick two members, too.

"Have you thought it through?" She nodded and looked in Shan's way.

"Doom and SIG," she said. Yitian tensed and Shan breathed out. Thankfully, she didn't pick him. The guy picked Force from SG and LXW from SL. Now Shan didn't know what they played but he would personally pick assassin and swordmaster, but that may only be him. 

"Shock," she said and Shan got a lot calmer. Asta Esports, not Zhu long anymore.

"HNYG!" she added, and he had to keep his face straight because the camera had zoomed in on him, as he was getting up and going to the stage. Nobody would notice his inner disgust and displeasure at going up, and even being up there.

"Now, it's time to pick substitutes," MC looked at the guy who picked XHS from SG. Shan looked at their combination and hoped for some supporting role, such as a guardian, a dancer, a healer, or at least a brawler. They had a swordmaster, a gunner, an assassin, and a magician, and Shan didn't know what the fan was playing but they were all attack type. But they could still do nothing against those two tanks.

"Rilla from Asta Gaming," she said, with a hint of shyness in her voice. Out of nowhere, it made sense. All beside him were quite handsome men. He had no idea why he was chosen, but others had nothing to do with team composition. They were all handsome. 

Shan wanted to cry. And somehow, even though he tried, it must have peeked through his poker face because Yitian leaned closer to him. 

"We don't have to win. It's just for fun. Let's make it unforgettable for her." Chao nodded without even looking at them. The player from AG nodded, too. So Shan sighed and nodded too. Even though for him everything when he was playing this game was to win.

"Let's make it unforgettable for her," he mumbled to himself and followed others behind the tables. Maybe it would even be unforgettable for him.