On the day of the qualifying round.
Tokyo Ariake Tennis Forest Park, Outer Court No. 3.
The stands aren't large, only able to hold a few hundred people, but they were packed to capacity today.
Su Miaoyin, Lin Lin, and Zhao Xiaoman sat in the third row. It was the first time for all three of them to watch a tennis match live, and everything seemed new and exciting.
Su Miaoyin looked around and suddenly paused.
There were many people holding Chinese banners in the stands.
Some signs read " Cheng Che!", others read " Che Baby will win!", and a few small national flags swayed in the crowd.
She heard some people in the audience speaking Chinese, with clear Capital City accents, and Sichuan and Chongqing dialects with their own intonations, and a few girls chatting in Cantonese.
"Why are there so many Chinese people?" Lin Lin asked softly.
" Wilson posted the qualifier viewing link online before," Zhao Xiaoman said, taking out her phone to scroll through the links. "They might be international students, or they might have flown in specifically for this purpose."
Su Miaoyin didn't speak. She looked at the girls holding banners, their faces flushed red and their eyes shining brightly.
She suddenly remembered the posts she had seen in the supertopic, the nicknames " Che Baby," and the girls who took the high-speed train to Spring City just to catch a glimpse of him.
She looked down at herself; she was wearing a light green cardigan, her hair was down, and she was sitting quietly in the stands.
Compared to the girls holding banners, she didn't seem to have enough "fans."
But she knew that her reason for being there was different from theirs.
Meanwhile, in a live broadcast room on a domestic video platform, the commentators were giving a pre-match introduction.
"Welcome to the live broadcast of the Tokyo Tennis Open rounds, everyone. Today's match on Court 3 is a highly anticipated one, featuring China player Cheng Che against Japan player Nakamura Takuma."
" Nakamura Takuma, 25 years old, ranked 267th in the world. A native Japan player, he has a solid baseline game and excels in long rallies..."
The scene cuts to the stadium entrance.
Nakamura Takuma emerged from the passageway, dressed in a dark blue tracksuit, and raised his right hand to wave towards the stands.
The Japan audience erupted in cheers. He looked very pleased, his chin slightly raised, his gait relaxed, as if he were walking on his own coronation ceremony.
Yan Ruanning sat in the backstage dressing room of the National Day Gala rehearsal, with a jacket draped over her lap and her phone propped up on the makeup table in front of her.
She looked at Nakamura Takuma's expression on the screen and pursed her lips.
The live chat started flooded with comments.
[Why does this little Japanese soldier raise his hand like an emperor ascending the throne?]
[He probably doesn't know who's on the other end, does he?]
[ Cheng Che: Are you sure you want to raise your hand in front of me?]
[Waiting to be proven wrong.]
However, a few comments also appeared, with sarcastic or mocking tones.
Tennis is a strong suit for Japan players. Although Nakamura is ranked over 200th, he's a professional player. Cheng Che, who plays in junior tournaments, might not necessarily win.
Don't be too confident; Japan tennis is far superior to ours.
[ Nakamura has a crushing Cheng Che over Cheng Che, who is a self-taught fighter.]
These comments immediately caused an uproar in the comment section.
[Get out, you Japanophiles!]
Which side are you from?
I don't know how high the level of Japan tennis is, but Cheng Che has won the national Champion. What have you, Nakamura, won?
[Waiting for Cheng Che to slap you all in the face.]
Yan Ruanning watched the chaotic barrage of comments, her lips twitched, but she didn't laugh.
She moved her phone a little closer to her.
The scene suddenly fell silent.
Nakamura Takuma has already positioned himself behind the baseline and is stretching.
The Japan spectators in the stands fell silent, and all eyes were focused on the exit of the players' tunnel.
They were waiting, waiting for the China athlete to come out.
silence.
Deliberate silence.
The commentator also noticed something unusual. "The atmosphere in the stadium seems a bit delicate. We can see that Cheng Che hasn't even entered the arena yet, and the stands are already very quiet. It might be the Japan audience's respect for their home player, or perhaps..."
He didn't finish his sentence.
Because Cheng Che walked out of the passage.
The shadow at the entrance of the passage was first cut off by a pair of long legs.
He was wearing a white sports vest, dark gray shorts, and black and white tennis shoes.
He had a black tennis bag slung over his shoulder, and a Blade V10 racket in his right hand, his fingers resting on the neck of the racket, his posture relaxed.
He stepped into the sunlight.
[ The Sapiosexual Boy ] gave his eyes and brows an extra layer of clear, intellectual charm under the sunlight.
[ Stars Surrounding the Moon ] all the light around him was diverted away.
The aura of Champion hung heavy over the entire stadium.
[ Camera Language ] The angle at which he looked up was exactly the most photogenic angle.
[ Star of the Court ] put him into match mode as soon as he entered the arena.
The " Sunny Boy " vibe of [ Boy of Many Styles ] gives him a perfectly curved smile.
His Tolerance Makes Greatness make him pleasing to the eye wherever he goes.
Then, he smiled.
But this sudden movement struck the Japan spectators in the stands, who had been prepared to remain silent, as if they had been hit by something.
The female audience member was the first to react.
Several of Nakamura Takuma's female fans had been holding up support signs with " Nakamura " written on them, and their arms were getting tired from holding them up.
But the moment Cheng Che walked in, their hands froze in mid-air.
A Japan girl with a ponytail stared wide-eyed as her support sign slipped from her hand and fell to her feet.
Another girl in a white coat next to her poked her with her finger, her voice trembling:
"So handsome... This Xia Country player is just too handsome..."
"I'm sorry, Nakamura- kun..." the girl with the ponytail murmured to herself, "I think... I need to find someone else to support..."
Then someone shouted in Chinese.
It was broken, with a distinct Japan accent, but everyone could understand it.
"Cheng--Che--!"
After that shout, it was as if a floodgate had been opened in the stands.
First came a few scattered screams from girls, then more voices joined in—men, women, old, and young, regardless of whose voices they had originally come to support.
The cheers from the crowd grew louder and louder.
The Xia Country audience members who were holding up Chinese banners were initially worried about a lack of audience, but now they were all smiles and held their banners up even higher.
Su Miaoyin sat in the stands, watching this scene, and a feeling she couldn't quite describe welled up inside her.
She had seen Cheng Che surrounded by onlookers many times, at school, on the street, and in the music club.
But this was the first time, on an international stage, on the opponent's home turf, that he had turned the entire field upside down with a power she couldn't comprehend at all.
She turned her head and glanced at Lin Lin and Zhao Xiaoman.
The two of them stood with their mouths agape and their eyes wide open, forgetting to even unscrew the water bottles in their hands.
"How... how did he do that?" Zhao Xiaoman asked.
Su Miaoyin shook her head.
She didn't know either.
But the corners of her mouth were turned up, very high.
In the domestic live stream chat, the comments section was buzzing.
[Hahahaha, this is the Incubus!]
All those Japan girls have betrayed us!
[ Nakamura Takuma: Who am I? Where am I? Where are my fans?]
Where are those pro-Japanese individuals who just said Cheng Che couldn't win? Come out and show yourselves!
[Don't you think he's contradicting himself? He's already contradicted himself before he's even started!]
[My heart goes Nakamura for three seconds. He prepared for a month, only to find his home turf was gone.]
[This is truly a case of dimensional reduction, my friends.]
Yan Ruanning looked at the boy on the screen, standing on the court and surrounded by cheers from the entire stadium.
Her eyes were bright, and she tapped her fingers lightly on the edge of her phone.
She looked down at the ginkgo leaf pendant around her neck and smiled slightly.
On the sidelines, Qin Lie's previously tense expression had completely relaxed.
He stood next to the players' rest area, hands in his pockets, watching the spectacle in the stands, and shook his head helplessly.
"That kid," he muttered, "Is like this everywhere he goes."
Cheng Che stood behind the baseline and began his final warm-up exercises.
He glanced around the stands, his gaze lingering briefly on the third row.
Su Miaoyin sat there and waved to him.
He saw it and nodded slightly.
Then he turned around to face Nakamura Takuma on the other side of the net.
Nakamura Takuma stood there, his expression complex.
His right hand was still in the gesture of raising it to greet the audience, but now that gesture looked a little awkward.
His fans were chanting someone else's name; his home ground had become someone else's home ground.
He took a deep breath, patted his racket, and suppressed his emotions.
The referee signaled for them to prepare.
Cheng Che tossed the ball up and served an ace to the inside corner!
The ball slammed into the service area at an incredibly fast speed!
"Fifteen to zero!"