20demayo Chapter 285: Deep Under the Covers
Chapter 285: Deep Under the Covers
The following day, somewhere else, the lights were shining for another night of greatness.The Volt-Tech Arena was completely packed. More than five thousand people were crammed in the concrete stands, the smell of greasy burgers, dense vapor, and the heavy bass of the speakers filling the air. Tonight, the headline matchup shown on the giant electronic screen pitted Blacklist against the Red Serpents from the Rust-Belt district.
Down near the front rows, a group of teenage girls were leaning over the safety rails, waving plastic light sticks and talking loudly over the music.
"Oh my god, I am literally only here to see Blaze!" one of them squealed, checking her phone. "Did you see his highlight reel from last week? His game is insane. I just want to see him dunk once in real life!"
A few rows behind them, sitting quietly in the middle of the crowded benches, Rain was watching the empty court with a blank expression. He looked entirely out of place in his oversized hoodie, his frail, thin frame making him look more like a regular student than the pass monster who had just demolished the Dust Dogs twenty-four hours ago. The teams were still back in the tunnels, finishing their final preparations, but the crowd was already buzzing.
"Hey, toothpick! Move over!"
A heavy hand slammed down on Rain’s shoulder, shoving him aside as a tall, muscular Afro-American guy dropped heavily into the plastic seat next to him.
Snow, the star player of the Juggernauts, another favorite for the crown.
He was wearing an expensive, unzipped leather jacket, his long legs stretched out wide as he let out a loud, bored groan, and right behind him, Chloe, a blonde girl with a distinct accent, slid into the seat on Rain’s other side, clutching a digital notepad to her chest.
She was from the Upperworld, working as the assistant manager for the Juggernauts, but she spent enough time around their underground training facilities to know exactly how the street circuit worked.
"I still don’t get why I am here," Snow grumbled, crossing his arms and glaring at the hardwood below. "You dragged me all the way to this dump just to watch a mid-tier regular match? I could be sleeping right now."
"Shut your mouth, Snow," Chloe whispered sharply, leaning past Rain to give him a hard look. "You know exactly why we are here. Rain wanted to see our future opponents, and I needed to gather some actual data on this bracket."
Snow let out a dry smirk, leaning back.
"Right. Rain wanted to watch. Or maybe you just needed a stupid excuse to spend the afternoon glued to his sleeve, and you forced me to come along as an excuse..."
Chloe’s proper demeanor cracked for a fraction of a second as she quickly slapped Snow’s arm to silence him, her cheeks getting a little red.
"Just shut up and look at the floorboards!"
Rain did not even turn his head to look at their bickering. He simply pointed his chin toward the center circle, his voice flat and calm.
"Since you’re here, let’s just enjoy the game. They are starting the presentation soon."
They sat together, their eyes tracking the giant neon display above as the name NASH BLAZE flashed in bright crimson letters, the announcer’s voice booming through the arena.
"I actually saw the updates coming through our network this morning," Chloe said, her fingers tapping against her pad. "This guy will probably interest both of you, he went completely viral after a spectacular match. People are talking about him like he is some kind of savior for the sport."
Snow scoffed, blowing a bored breath through his teeth.
"Are you kidding me? All this massive noise for just one good game? The underground fans are so desperate for a star they will hype up any regular street bum who hits three shots in a row."
"I have been tracking his calendar since that match," Rain said quietly, his eyes focused on the empty player tunnel where the starters would soon emerge. "And as someone who loves old-school basketball, I really like his style. He doesn’t use the regular street gimmicks nor dirty tricks. His placement is completely clean. He is very strong, and his endurance is heavy. And the most interesting part is that he just appeared on the circuit this year."
Chloe smiled, nudging Rain’s elbow playfully.
"Wow. High praise coming from you, Rain. I heard he was also very good with his assists. He sounds almost like you."
"No," Rain said immediately, his face completely serious as he denied the comparison without a single blink. "The comparison is not even possible. He is undoubtedly lightyears ahead of me. In fact, when you look at his profile on the hardwood... he is much closer to the likes of Snow."
Snow stopped looking bored. He raised an eyebrow, turning his heavy gaze toward Rain.
"Oh yeah? You think this guy is as strong as me?"
Rain paused for a few long seconds, remembering the footage of the way Nash palmed the ball with a single hand, checking his grip during pre-game routines.
"No," Rain said flatly.
Snow shrugged his shoulders, leaning back with a confident smirk, while Chloe let out a soft sigh of pure relief, thinking Rain meant Nash was weaker. But before they could even relax...
"Blaze is much stronger," Rain added.
Both Snow and Chloe froze, turning to stare at Rain in total surprise.
"What do you mean, stronger?" Snow gritted his teeth, his arrogant composure instantly cracking.
"What Nash does with the ball is a complete masterclass," Rain explained. "The precision of his shoots, his passes, his acceleration and deceleration... his raw power under the rim, his vision of the floor... all these elements combined make him the ultimate weapon in Breakball. He has not played enough matches for me to gauge his maximum limit, but looking at his performance from the Raptors match where he played the entire forty-eight minutes without a single drop in efficiency... he has all the qualities to be the best player on this circuit very soon."
Chloe and Snow kept staring down toward the player entrance, their faces completely focused now.
"He has your speed," Rain continued, his eyes fixed on Snow. "He has a great vision of the game, much like Seth. He has the pure, crushing power of a monster like Jason under the rim. And his pass precision is actually superior to mine. He can play absolutely every single position on the timber, and he never needs a sub. He is simply spectacular to watch..."
Rain paused, as the arena lights began to dim for the team introductions.
"But he has one single flaw."
Meanwhile, away from the loud, flashing lights of the arena floor, Nash stood against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared blankly at the floorboards, looking deep in thought.
The muffled rumble of the five thousand fans upstairs felt like it was pressing down on his chest from the bottom of the ocean.
He had been so close. Just twenty-four hours ago, he was a single signature away from pulling the Baby-Boom out of the meat grinder. One day away from heaven.
Now, the whole shadow play had burned to ash, and the girls he actually cared about were stuck rotting on a corporate bench under Hector’s thumb.
He felt completely paralyzed, his mind spinning through parameters that had no clean exit.
Then, his pocket vibrated. Nash pulled out his phone. The screen cast a pale white light over his face, displaying an incoming line he did not expect to see tonight.
[ AIKO ]
Nash stared at the name for a second, his finger hovering before he swiped the screen and pressed the receiver to his ear.
"You are a complete idiot, Nash," Aiko’s voice came through the line, her tone instantly hitting that familiar, sharp register. She was trying to sound angry, but her breath was shallow, and her voice trembled slightly, giving away the hot tears she was hiding under her duvet.
"Do you have any idea how much I hated you after that match? That witch told us you berated us. I thought... I thought you just watched us get demolished by Seth and decided we were too much of a garbage investment to waste your time on. I thought you abandoned us."
Nash let out a low, slow breath, leaning his heavy shoulder against the concrete wall. The familiar, stubborn huff of his cute, tsundere rival instantly made the suffocating weight in his chest feel a little lighter.
"Abandon you?" Nash murmured. "Nice try, Aiko. But you bums are way too loud to ignore. I was ready to pay ten million credits cash to buy your contracts under the table. I was literally a finger away from freeing your whole roster before the boards blew up."
"Tch... ten million?" Aiko stammered on the other end. He could practically hear her twisting her blanket in her hands. "Nobody asked you to spend that kind of money on us anyway! I am supposed to be your rival, remember? I was working my ass off on the timber so you would finally look at me and validate my game! I didn’t need a wealthy prince to come down and play the savior!"
"Well, your prince got his legs cut at the ankles, so you don’t have to worry about that," Nash teased. "But seriously, how is the pride? I saw the face-plant against Seth."
"Shut up!" Aiko cried out, her face turning bright red under her covers as she clamped her hand over her mouth for a second to hide her voice. "It was awful, Nash... he completely destroyed my ankles on that crossover. The whole network is laughing at me. I have never felt so humiliated in my entire life."
"Seth is a monster, Aiko. If I was out there in your position last night, I would have lost that half-court set too," Nash said flatly. He tapped his fingers against his pocket. "But that was just the first big match. It is only the beginning. There is going to be a sequel to this, I promise you. You are going to get your revenge on his hardwood.
"Aiko was silent for a few long seconds, calming her breathing. The warmth in his promise completely melted the icy terror she had been carrying since the match.
"You... you promise?"
"I don’t make loose promises to shrimps," Nash chuckled quietly.
"Who are you calling a shrimp, you giant dummy?!" Aiko barked back, her usual spark returning full force. But then, her tone softened.
"But Nash... do you actually have a new plan for us? Because... well, the global statement from the PR team was pretty clear. Apex is completely locking down our image. They are never going to let us sign with Blacklist now."
Nash stared blankly at the dark end of the hallway.
"I am looking at the parameters right now, Aiko. But with Hector holding the leash, the legal lines are blocked. I am still trying to figure out what hole I can find in their layout."
"Wait," Aiko said as she sat up under her duvet. "I might have something. It is just a rumor I misinterpreted in a meeting, so you have to take it with a grain of salt, but... it looks like the higher-ups are planning to transfer the Baby-Boom roster under a different head than Monique."
Nash raised an eyebrow.
"A different head? What do you mean?"
"Monique was screaming at her assistants about the public backlash," Aiko explained, trying to remember the exact wording. "She told us we were lucky and that our transfer to the massage parlors was postponed for now. But then she muttered something before she slammed her office door. She said... we are Reiss’s problem now."
Nash froze dead in his tracks. The air in the concrete hallway went completely freezing as the name traveled through the line and locked into his brain.
"Reiss..." Nash murmured to himself. "... Harlan Reiss?"