Golden Age 18: ‘To You Who’ll Touch Stars!! Blaze Afar!! Surpass Summits!! Homeward bound!! A Nostalgic Call for Cricket Kings!!’ (Part 1)

"Lee-Min Ho…" called a gentle voice. His light, sleek, violet hairs reached his neck while dull white eyes traced the surroundings arbitrary.

Guiding him from his arm. "Hm?" Lee-Min Ho asked. His long silver hairs shining vibrantly tied into a French braid with two hairs strands travelling behind his ears.

"When will we reach? Haris and others might be worried." he asked.

"We are already there Liam . A little further from here and we will step inside the stadium." Lee-Min Ho informed increasing his pace, "Moreover, Haris told us to take it slow and there was no need to rush."

Liam furrowed his brows looking aside, "I know… however, I don't want to pull you and others behind because of me."

Lee-Min Ho smiled, "Do you realize how many times you've said that?"

Liam nodded, "I do."

"Tell me then?" Lee-Min Ho teased.

"More than fifty I guess…?" Liam replied confused himself.

"Pfft! Haha!" Lee Min Ho laughed loud, "Even you know it now. Come on~ stop worrying too much. Everything's going to be alright." he assured.

Liam silent, blinked his dull eyes looking ahead into the darkness. 

___

"But how can that be? Did any player had an ability to steal sight?" Isa asked puzzled.

"No, from our research no player we faced up until now had an ability near to stealing sight or stealing anything else." Diego told, "We even searched thoroughly through the records afterwards however, nothing came out. Our research boards are quite efficient and advance. They won't make a mistake when it comes to a player's well-being."

"But how can someone's sight vanish so abruptly…" Senri pondered.

"Or could it be… that it happened somewhere outside the match?" Xavier assumed.

The highschoolers looked at him.

"Exactly, Xavier's right. If nothing corresponds as a suspect from the players, something must've happened to him outside your normal routine. Do you remember anything? Poseidon added.

"No…" Amir and Luo Wang tried to remember.

"Liam was always with us. He went wherever we went. Since, he isn't the picky type he would listen to everyone and if something like that would've happened he would've surely told us." Ali informed. 

Alan narrowing his brows pondered grave. "Stealing senses…" he thought troubled. His eyes suddenly widening sweat revealed his forehead, he gulped, "No way…"

Interrupting his thoughts, another voice barged in, "Captain! Everyone! We are here!"

Alan instantly pivoted around to find Lee-Min Ho waving his head and heading over assisting Liam. Alan, tracing their sights immediately ran as the rest followed behind. Standing right before the two of them he looked up at Liam who glanced right and left alerted by slight changes and noises.

Lee-Min Ho gasped astonished about to call Alan's name as Alan kept his finger on his lips depicting him to stop. Lee-Min Ho glancing at Liam nodded. Alan gulped, at one side fear took over him as his wild assumptions met the worse possible outcome his mind could even think off and at the other side hope flickered however, too faint. As if touched... it would break into millions of pieces. "Liam…" he whispered ever so lightly. 

Liam astonished by the light yet a very familiar voice blinked before him stuttering, "Al-an?"

Leaving Lee Min Ho's arm, he outstretched his hands cautiously. Alan grasped them smiling, "Yes, it's me. It's been a long while hasn't it?" Clasping his hands tightly Liam exclaimed excited looking aside, "It's really you! It's really Alan, Lee-Min Ho."

"Yeah, he is." Lee-Min Ho concurred.

"Liam is as excited as a child." Daniel remarked ruffling his hairs.

"Still he's right to get excited. We saw him after four years. The last time we saw him was, when he would only come to my arm's height, now he's at my shoulder." Ibrahim recalled.

Alan smiled remembering, "Yeah, I was short back then."

"You are still short." Maaz measured his height as Alan glared.

"Haha!" Aigou playfully bumped his shoulder beside Elias and Orion. 

Kenzo staring at Alan remained silent. "He has an entire different world surrounding him." Ezekiel whispered.

"You're right. Just like we are surrounded by each other. He too has his own circle." Helios concurred.

"But after spending all this time with him… I don't know… I feel kind of envious…" Adam scatched his hairs confused.

"Why?" Cassiel asked.

"Maybe because of his personality? You know, if he wants he can stand beside us and if he wants he can stand beside them. It's as if the whole world revolves around him." Adam confessed.

Xavier's lips curving into a caring smile he ruffled his hairs, "Some people are just like that."

"He is way too much like that." Farran added annoyed.

"So it was him who lost his sight?" Nidou asked.

"Yes, Liam Andante . He started losing his sight after the quarter finals. And from that moment he hasn't recovered then even once. He didn't even sense a flicker of light." Mir informed.

Seles stood up heading over to LIam. 

Settling Liam down on the audiences seat, all highschoolers surrounded him. Aigou and Noah, stood behind him while Zachariah and Haruf, sat on both his sides. Alan standing beside Adam wondered, "Is my hunch really true…? What if the one who really stole his sight was…?"

"Anxious?" Cassiel instantly interrupted. 

Alan glancing at him nodded, "Of course I am. They all are my best friends. I went through thick and thin with them. Something this big happened, and here I didn't even know how or who did it."

"I know how troubling that feels." Poseidon agreed.

"Moreover, it's not that I regret not knowing it or getting to know it late. The most infuriating thing is…" Alan squinted his gaze.

"You can't do anything about it." Xavier added.

Alan exhaled, "You are right?" "Now... it makes me wonder, are you all oracles?" he asked playfully.

"Haha!" Heber and Ezekiel laughed.

"Yes, we are!" Adam tugged his shoulder.

"But it doesn't matter if you do anything about it or not. You being here, beside him is already a great support is what I feel." Seraph encouraged.

"I guess so... " Alan agreed. 

Rauf crossing his arms turned to Liam, "Liam."

Liam slightly nervous looked left and right, "Senior Cap-tain Ra-uf...?"

Sensing his confusion and worry Rauf exhaled, "Don't worry and calm down first."

Liam nodded anxiously fidgeting his crossed fingers. "I…" he uttered however Rauf interrupted, "It's alright. Don't say anything." he walked over, "I already know everything. Just calm down and don't panic. As for your sight…" he crouched before him.

Kenzo, Evan, Helios, Haris, Ibrahim, Adam, Seraph and Xavier including Alan traced his actions surprised.

"I'll ask you something. Will you tell me?" Rauf asked. For a moment, his intimidating façade wavered, replaced by a genuine look of care. Reading Liam's dull white eyes he furrowed his gaze.

Liam nodded, "I will…"

"Wha…?" Mikael rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

"Is that really Rauf the devil?!" Feng whispered in Xavier's ear stunned.

"God knows! He seriously changed out of nowhere!" Azazel replied in Kenzo's ear who stared response less.

"When did you first started feeling as if you are losing your sight?" Rauf asked.

Liam looked at the ground below, "Before the start of the quarterfinals. In the pavilion room I sensed as if things had started to look blurry around me however, I tended to ignore that and later on in the second innings of the match, I couldn't see a single thing. As if someone had put a blindfold on my eyes."

"Did you see anything after that?" Rauf questioned.

"No, nothing at all." Liam replied.

"Do you think someone used a skill on you and deliberately tried to harm you?" Rauf continued.

"I don't think so… unlike Daniel, Maaz, Israfil and Captain Haris I didn't make enemies of anyone." Liam replied proud of himself at the end.

Nagi and Orion glanced at Haris who scratched his hairs, biting his tongue, unable to retort. "Who could expect that coming from the leader as well?" Elias commented shaking his head, speechless.

"Did you meet someone new to you somewhere alone?" Rauf asked.

Hearing him Liam pondered for a while, "Meet someone new to me somewhere alone…?" he shook his head, "I didn't went out alone from the boarding house since Sri Lanka was unfamiliar to me. And if I even went out, most of the time I was with Amir, Lee-Min Ho and Captain Haris. However, I did went to balling practice alone at night because of my ability but I didn't met anyone over there as well. The practice grounds would usually be empty by that time." Liam replied.

"Nonetheless, he was still alone…" Alan thought. "Did you went to practice the night before the quarter finals?" he asked heading over and crouching beside Rauf.

"Yes, I did. It was a tough match next day so I had to prepare." Liam replied, "And if I try to remember… I came back late too since I was helping someone find his phone the time I was returning back to dormitory but everything was fine when I came back. I didn't feel anything."

Helping someone find his phone…?" Alan thought.

"Yeah, I remember Liam telling me about that. He was asking if there was a device invented to find phones using IMEI number." Amir remembered. "

That was everything that happened." Liam told.

Rauf pondering for a while stood up. Patting his arm lightly he assured, "Take a rest from now on Liam and don't over exert yourself …"