Chapter One: The Last Light

“Are you always this charming?” “Only during office hours.” This time everyone laughed, and even Coach Xu’s mouth twitched. For the remaining hour, Jianxia dismantled their system. Xiaoman would drift inside as bait. Su Wanxing would hug the touchline without demanding the ball. Chen Sui would watch the Blue Whales captain’s left foot. The players listened with varying degrees of skepticism. Only captain Qiao Ran said nothing. She juggled alone at the edge of the light, her black ponytail brushing her shoulder blades. Jianxia recognized her. Three years ago, after Donglan’s semifinal defeat, Qiao Ran had stepped between Jianxia and a swarm of reporters and pushed away a microphone nearly touching her face. They had never spoken.