In the debate world, there are five unspoken rules. The first four are trivial; simple social laws that every sane person would understand.
But the last one. Now that's something.
Rule Number Five: Never, ever, under any circumstances, date your d...
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today's theme: i'm back :)
----- Arc Two: Commencement -----
"I swear, these headlines get more and more dramatic every time." Seungmin dangled his feet off the auditorium stage.
"It's been like, a goddamn month." He held his phone up. "Who even cares anymore? We all know you guys are good, and we can see the results for ourselves. Nobody needs an entire article depicting it each time."
Changbin pushed him off of the stage, taking his spot. "We're used to it because we see them like seven hours a day. Everyone else? Not so much, probably."
Minho shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "It's been three years since they saw my face. Three tournaments is hardly going to settle them down."
A month had passed since Minho's return and the reveal of his partnership with Jisung, and the debate world was still in massive frenzy. They had smoothly championed Tokyo, beating out Vernon and Lei in the finals—who had laughed about it to Jumin over dinner later—and had proceeded to also grab first place at two more tournaments in the few weeks that followed.
It was expected, of course. But it still didn't make it any less shocking, especially with the hiatus that preceded it. When someone took so long to come back to debate, you would generally think that they had become rusty, skills unpolished from years of neglect.
But Minho had been the exact opposite: there wasn't a single aspect of his profile that was missing, and he had swooped in and claimed back the spot of the king like not a single day had gone by. Combined with the talent of his new partner, there were, so to say, quite a few things to talk about among the masses.
So yes, the debate world was still in chaos.
It was well into December, and winter break was coming around the corner—at the end of this week, in fact, with Christmas in ten days. There wouldn't be any tournaments until mid-January, which gave the team a well deserved break and some time to dally around.
Today was the last practice before break, which also meant it was the last practice of the year—and according to the Academy's debate team tradition, it was the annual team party.
Seungmin relocated himself back on the stage. "This extends far beyond you, Minho. We're all under the spotlight now, and it's fucking weird."
"I kinda like it," Jeongin said. He opened a box of cookies, placing it down on one of the pullout tables they had assembled for the potluck.
"It's like, pretty cool. I got so many followers on social media, and if you search up my name, you'll actually get pictures of me."
"That's the worst part. I want my identity private, thank you very much."
"You say that, but you let Hyunjin post pictures of you all over his page. And he's on a public account with like...three thousand followers. Probably more now that we're out here."
