Her Captain, The Gamemaster

Once Is Chance

'...you're joining my team,'

I stare at her for a solid second before walking up to her, in a calm manner, confused and possibly angry?

'What makes you think,' I begin a low whisper. 'That I'll join your team?'

She looked taken aback but not scared at all.

'Well, it is your choice after all. I just thought that it would be crazy to not accept the offer, y'know?' she explained in Chinese.

'I don't plan on going to high school at the main branch, much less, your high school. I'm not just going to any high school that offers me a place,'

The Jeon girl looked shocked. 'You thought you were coming to my school?'

I raise an eyebrow at these words and she began to laugh.

'It would be great if you came to my school but I wasn't talking about this team. I was talking about China. China's team,'

I froze at these words. 'You're on China's team?'

She let out a grin. 'Yeah. I may be Korean but I was born and raised in Shenzhen my whole life,'

'You're only a first-year in high school though,'

She let out an awkward laugh. 'I don't play games that much because of school but I have a spot on the team,'

'Regular?'

'Not yet but I hope I will soon,'

'Position?'

'Left,'

I take in this information. I don't usually take interest in my opponents or famous players but at the sound of the word 'China', I felt like I've just stretched for the first time in 10 years and my energy levels sky-rocketed.

'What were you saying about me on China's team?'

'I heard that Coach Lang had her eye on you for a while and she wouldn't have come today if she wasn't going to give you an offer. Didn't you know about it?'

'Well I did but I thought it was a joke,'

She looked at me with a 'bruh' on her face.

'I overheard your name once last year and I searched you up. You're really good. I was shocked that you're my junior. I probably wouldn't have made it into the national team last month if it weren't for you,'

'How so?'

She smiled as we both sat down on the bleachers, ignoring her team who walked away somewhere.

'I loved volleyball but no one could compete or team with me. Like they didn't even run for the ball and just gave up every point. That's not how I wanted to lose or win,'

I know that feeling way too well.

'But then I saw you play. There wasn't a single ball you couldn't get up perfectly and you could pick up every spike no matter how difficult it is. I fell in love,'

Really.

The song playing in my earbuds ends as we continue our conversation and it begins to play 'Meteor Rain' (流星雨) by F4.

'I quickly became a fan so when I heard that a representative school from China was gonna come to verse you, I immediately volunteered my school and fought for the job,'

That's nice, I guess.

'I really hope you join the team,' she says. 'We would be great friends,'