He Has A Fan?

The buzzer sounded and the Stars won against the Orschitz Bulls. The final score was: Stars – 98 and Bulls – 94. The Stars secured a spot in regionals where they will be facing against six other teams to claim the spot of Eastern Regional Champions and the right to play in the nationals.

“Max? Yo, Max!” nudged Jerry.

Daniel snapped out of his stupor. “Y-Yes?” he responded back with an awkward smile.

“Are you okay, Max? You’ve been like that the entire game,” said Jack worriedly.

“Um, yeah, I’m fine,” Daniel reassured them with an unconvincing laugh. Ever since his talk with Nazmith and reading that note from the same night, Daniel’s head became a constant mess. He was overcome with anxiety, depression, anger, doubt, and a whole host of other negative feelings. They slowly ate away at his confidence and negatively impacted his skills when out on the court. His constant drifting into space and lack of awareness on the court really worried his teammates and made them question their chances at winning. As a result, during their game against the Bulls, Daniel only played a quarter of the minutes he normally played.

The team finished up their celebrations at the local pub and returned back to their home court. Since the game was played in the afternoon, there was still plenty of time before sunset. The team, with the understanding that they will need to train even harder than ever in order to prepare themselves for regionals, quickly settled into practice as soon as they arrived.

Daniel, meanwhile, sat down on the bench with his eyes focused on the floor. ‘I died and was reincarnated into a new world so that I can finally live out my dream. But in the end, the god actually chose me to execute his plan to save this world from evil. In this world where sports determine the winner in everything, I am tasked with using it to defeat evil. As a result, I was reincarnated as a professional athlete and must compete in a league that itself is the very battle that I must participate in to free this world.’ He let out a heavy groan. ‘This god had me playing to his tune ever since the beginning,’ he growled.

“Wow, what a scary face you got there,” said Kody with a laugh. He sat down next to Daniel. “Say, Max, are you sure that you’re alright? You’ve been out of it so bad that I thought maybe you were sick.”

“There’s just…a lot on my mind right now,” Daniel told him.

“Is it about regionals? Don’t worry about it! Of course I want to get to nationals, but if we can’t win the regionals this year, there’s always next year,” reassured Kody with a smile.

“We can’t!” objected Daniel. He didn’t know why he said it, but those words came out of his mouth as if they were the only natural response. “We need to get to nationals so that we can beat the Astariv King Devils! Then we can finally become the best team in the league and finally change the world!” he told the Stormer. Daniel wasn’t sure if he said it because of what Nazmith told him or if those words were remnants of Max Power’s memories from within him, but he meant each and every word of it.

“Max,” breathed Kody with a nostalgic expression in his eyes. “I really thought that you might’ve forgotten about our promise due to your amnesia.”

“Oh!—Um, well, luckily I didn’t,” said Daniel with a little laugh. “Amnesia is a truly strange thing, isn’t it, heh heh.”

“Max, there’s someone who wants to meet you,” called Lira.

Daniel got up and walked over to the gym’s entrance where a good-looking young man about a year younger than him was waiting for him. “Ah, Max Power!” excitedly yelped the young man. “It’s such an honor to meet you outside a game! Do you remember me?” he yapped.

“Um….” Daniel slowly shook his head with an awkward smile. Nope, he didn’t recognize the young man at all.

“I guess we really only met that one time in a game,” said the young man with a laugh. “I really wanted to get your autograph after the game, but that loss really affected our team hard so I did my best to not add any fuel to the fire. But that autograph though….” He added the last part in a soft voice with a pout like a kid questioning whether or not he did the right thing in the end. “I’m Sven Colt, Igniter for the Hael Halestorm,” introduced the young man.

“The Halestorm?” muttered Daniel to himself. Suddenly, he remembered: soft blonde hair like the down off a duck’s back, piercing grey eyes of a wolf, a lean physique with defined musculature. “You’re the ‘Meteor Shot’ rookie!” realized Daniel.

“Ding-ding!” confirmed Sven.

“So, what is it that you wanted to see me for?” Daniel asked him straight.

“I finally get to meet my idol and the first thing he wants to get down to is business?” gasped Sven in surprise. “If this is how you treat your fans, I don’t know how you’ll be able to grow your fanbase in the future! Except for the occasional weirdo who enjoys such treatment, fans expect their idol to treat them with the most basic of etiquette and respect! The least you could do is praise me for being a fan even if you do not mean it. It is enough for a fan to have some kind of interaction with their idol so that they can hold onto it as a treasured memory.”

‘This dude is a giant ham,’ thought Daniel to himself with a raised eyebrow. “Alright, alright, what do you want me to do to make up for it?” asked Daniel begrudgingly.

Sven quickly brought out a pen and paper and said, “Please give me your autograph!” His eyes sparkled brightly as he said it and a little bit of drool was pooling in the left corner of his lips.

“Okay,” said Daniel slowly as he reached for the pen and paper. He handed back the signed paper and Sven took his prize with the most humblest of bows.

“Ah, I finally got it!” sighed Sven satisfyingly. He let out a series of creepy chuckles that weirded Daniel out before tucking the autograph back into his shirt. “Anyway, the other reason I’m here is to congratulate you on advancing to the regionals,” said the Igniter normally. “But I’ve heard through the grapevine that the first opponent you’re facing is the top team in the entire region—the Vyneer Ravens. Talk about an unlucky draw. Everyone expects the Ravens to advance to the nationals as they have done in the past decade. Of course, I am a big fan of Max Power and, by extension, the Siraco Stars, so I will always be rooting for you to win. And judging by how you guys managed to make it to the regionals, it’s not out of the question for you to advance further, despite the odds stacked up against you. In other words, you’re this year’s dark horse.”

Daniel wasn’t at all surprised by the words coming out of Sven’s mouth. It was all within expectations. “So? Is that all you came here to tell me?” he asked Sven. Sven smiled and proceeded to present an interesting proposition.

The next day, Daniel and Kody met up with Sven in the neighboring city of Jazora. The three of them made their way to an open court, but only after Sven received an autograph from Kody, and sat in the stands among a rather large audience. The trio wore hats and masks to disguise themselves from the public. Meanwhile, everyone in the audience had their eyes glued to the court below. Five people entered from both sides of the court. The left court players wore purple solid-color shirts in contrast to the more randomly dressed right court players. A middle-aged man approached the center of the court with a ball.

According to Sven, this game was a pick-up game organized beforehand by the Vyneer Ravens. The team was known for a very unique rule that set them apart from other teams within the league: the players were encouraged to participate in pick-up games against all kinds of players to improve their skills. This means that players from other teams can take advantage of this rule to investigate their opponent beforehand; though the randomness of the players playing each pick-up game still allows for the Ravens to keep their opponents from figuring out their plans as a whole.

Daniel kept a particularly close eye on the purple-clad players—the Vyneer Ravens. Based on what Sven told him, only two of their starting players were participating in this game: Finn Shore, the starting Streamer, and Zach Dome, the starting Stormer. The game began and the Vyneer Ravens took possession of the ball. Just as expected of them, they scored a basket within the first two seconds of the game; the crowd went wild. The opposing team of casual players weren’t too bad themselves, but the current fifteen point gap between them and the Ravens was well within expectations.

As Daniel watched the game, he couldn’t help but feel a little anxious every time the ball fell into the hands of the Ravens’ Stormer. He didn’t know why, but his instincts were telling him that that player was trouble. The skills that the Stormer was displaying wasn’t that different than Kody’s, but his repertoire was more varied and executed with more finesse. But the way the Stormer was constantly handed the ball to score, and the offensive magic he utilized to do it, sent a chill down Daniel’s spine. Some of those magic skills frightened Daniel because of his unfamiliarity with them.

Daniel didn’t want to do it, but his curiosity got the best of him and his instincts overrode any ethical reasoning he had left, and he used the power that was granted to him by Nazmith. A screen popped up right next to the Stormer and Daniel let out a loud gasp.

“What is it?” Kody asked him.

“N-N-Nothing!” quickly reassured Daniel. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing: the Stormer possessed enough magic skills to become an SSR character in those gacha RPG mobile games! There’s not doubt about it—he must be the Vyneer Raven’s ace player.

The game ended with the Ravens’ victory.

‘This is the team we’re playing a week from now,’ said Daniel to himself.