Chapter 7. The Sports Event

The sports event was tomorrow. Is it normal to feel nervous for a sports event even though you're going to be hidden the whole way through? Well I guess it's gonna be fine.

The best part is that I'm going to be with Hu Tao the whole way through!! 

Hu Tao seemed quite excited for that too. We had today to rehearse as the mascot. It was really hard to see through the translucent eyes under the darn huge bushy golden eyebrows of his. Well, a lot of Chinese dragons have those sort of bushy eyebrows I guess. Hu Tao had her own problem too. The tail and the body seemed to have been stuck together as separate pieces, which was not what we had expected as everything else was in one piece. The tail had to be stuck a little lower to help with the waving while we were walking around, and that gave Hu Tao great discomfort, not to mention the bits of golden hair of the dragon sticking in from the outside, itching the both of us. But other than the quality of the mascot costume, everything else went fine. Chongyun, Xingqiu, and the rest of the class got themselves ready for the event. Venti asked if we could use our elemental skills, which we haven't used in a long time since there haven't been any hilichurl or slime issues around Liyue and Monstadt. Mr. Diluc didn't recommend it, but we all took on a vote and basically we all chose to use our elemental skills, to which Mr. Diluc reluctantly agreed to. 

I don't think Hu Tao and I are going to use it much because we're going to be under a fat dragon for three and a half hours. Amber and Bennett were chosen to light the torches that were on a neat row in front of all the seats for the school staff. We figured we could get the Hydro wielders to be lookouts, in case anything catches on fire. As for the Cryo wielders (Chongyun was the only one in the class)... they didn't really have much to do, but I suggested if we could use some special effects. I tried to include everyone in the class. Things were going perfectly, we practiced and practiced. And before we knew it, there were civilians of Mondstadt and Liyue sitting accordingly, cheering their heads off, screaming for their own side. Venti, Amber and Bennett had a hard time seeing their old schoolmates march onto the field, under the rays of sunlight, as they proudly showed themselves.

Hu Tao and I sat in the changing rooms watching from the gaps of the blankets covering the the open tent. 

"How are we supposed to win against them?" I asked worryingly as our opponents continued to wave at their side.

"I'm sure our class can do it,"Hu Tao said reassuringly,"besides, we have our own things to worry about. Like where the dragon costume is."

"What?" I said in confusion. I spun around to see the dragon costume gone. Staring at the empty corner by the entrance where the costume would have been, I looked around that area to see if the dragon costume was anywhere to be found.

"Eh... Yanfei-" Hu Tao tugged on my sleeve. I turned and fixed my eyes on where she was looking. A pair of students were sneaking into their own changing rooms - with the dragon costume!

"Darn those jerks!" I grunted, clenching my teeth in anger.

"Should we sneak in after them?" Hu Tao suggested.

"For the rage of the Adepti yes!" I grabbed Hu Tao's hand and we rushed out of the tent. 

Sneaking under the wooden stands holding the rows of seats the audience were sitting on, we made it to the other side. Who knew there were such jerks in Mondstadt... I thought with a groan of annoyance. Hu Tao and I slunk into their tent, to find a group of six students gathered around the costume. They seemed to be discussing something, so we sat in our hiding spot and listened...

"Okay, we've got the costume, now what?" one of the boys turned to another one next to him. Both of them, I immediately realised, were the ones who stole our costume. 

"Just wait and see. They shouldn't be able to play the mascot when their costume's with us..." the biggest, who seemed to be the leader, said with a smirk painted across his face. This is just so unfair! I wanted so badly to leap out of my hiding spot and punch him straight where his hideous smirk is, but Hu Tao held me back, seeming to know what I was thinking.

"What now?" I whispered to Hu Tao as the group continued chattering.

"I don't know, maybe we try and confront them?  They're just students after all, just like us, right?" Hu Tao shrugged.

"Wouldn't that be a little reckless? Instead, maybe we should-"

"Hey!" I heard a shout from behind us, we turned around and saw the six students staring at us, looking as though they were prepared to fight,"what are you two doing here? This room is access to the students of Mondstadt only!"

"Well our room is accessed to the students of Liyue only! And two of you snuck in there," I snapped at them,"we have come to take our costumes back."

"Sorry, but Mondstadt will be the one winning this year." the biggest said as they readied their elements.

"I guess they are picking a fight?..." Hu Tao whimpered from behind.

"Come on, you're not like this," I turned to her,"are you, Tao Tao?"

Upon hearing her nickname, Hu Tao's eyes widened and nodded with a smile. We both readied our elements; the leader was about to charge an attack when a blue-haired guy came in.

"What's going on?" he demanded. We immediately settled our elements and stood up straight. This man had a visible eye, sharp and slanted, periwinkle with long eyelashes with a diamond-shaped pupil. He has navy-blue hair with streaks of lighter blue, accompanied by a long lock of hair that rests over his left shoulder, cascading down to his waist. His bangs are trimmed in a lengthy fringe that covers the right side of his face and almost hides a plain black eyepatch.  His clothes are fitting for a Cavalry Captain, albeit a flamboyant one. He wears a white-collared, cleavage-revealing blouse with forearm-length sleeves that have dark blue folded cuffs. Above that, he wears a light blue vest or jacket, and a cape adorned with a fur collar. He wears dark, tight-fitted trousers and knee-length boots. For accessories, he wears fingerless gloves with spikes on the wrists and marked with the same diamond shape as his eyes. He also wears a rope which may be meant for a scabbard to carry his sword. He has a single earring on his left ear, which has some kind of blue gem on a metal frame shaped like a teardrop with a spike at the bottom. The same gems are found hanging off of two straps at his ankles. His outfit has many more small details, such as a blue band around his forearms to keep his cuffs folded, a chain across his chest that seems to be attached to the ends of his collars, and unexplained straps, belts, or bands. I observed the little details on him; I think I've seen him before... and I think Mr. Diluc has mentioned him, but he never really said much... what was his name again...?

"S-sorry, Mr. Kaeya..." the leader bowed down low, along with the others, as he apologised. 

"Just because a pair of students from our opponent's school entered our tent doesn't mean you should use your elements! They are only to be used when necessary!" Mr. Kaeya said in a tone we all greatly disliked. 

"HU TAO! YANFEI-" we heard calls from behind us as two figures entered through the gap we entered through. Chongyun and Xingqiu's faces popped from behind a table.

"O-oh... sorry um, Chongyun... we should go..." Xingqiu said in a low voice, seeing the situation we were in.

"How did you know we were here?" I asked.

"Chongyun froze the grass to reveal your footsteps." Xingqiu grinned proudly. Chongyun chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Stop with this gibberish, tell me why are you here?"

"Look, Mr. Kaeya, they stole our mascot costume! So we had to get it back..."

"You should've let the staff handle this!" Mr. Kaeya groaned. "Now everything is a mess..."

What? What did he mean 'a mess'? Won't the problem be solved if we just simply take our costume back to our changing rooms?

"Kaeya!" a deep voice the four of us had no trouble noticing was heard from behind the tent folds.

Mr. Diluc marched in, halting by the tent entrance with folded arms.

"Oh, Diluc," Kaeya sighed lazily,"didn't expect to see you here."

"Can someone explain to me what's going on?" Mr. Diluc thundered, giving Kaeya a death glare,"other than him."

"Mr. Diluc, these group of boys stole our mascot costume from us, they-"

"Because we were saving you!" the leader interrupted.

"What do you mean, saving us? How are you even saving us from-" but I was interrupted by the leader.

"The Hidden Ritual, for Barbatos' sake!" the leader snapped impatiently.

"Hey, hey, what's going on here?" we heard a voice from outside. We stared as Venti strolled in angry that he had been unnecessarily included. Forgot to mention that only me, Hu Tao, Chongyun, Xingqiu, Amber, Xiao, Albedo, Aether, Lumine and Mr. Diluc know that Venti is actually Barbatos. 

"Venti?" the leader gasped in surprise.

"Mr. Diluc, please get this over and done with, the audience's starting to lose their patience-" Mr. Kaeya began.

"Tell them to wait a little longer, while I deal with these group of children." Mr. Diluc interrupted as he stiffly walked over towards us. We gulped, bracing for the punishment he'd give us when Venti cut into his way, with his lyre in his hand.

"May I interest you in a tune instead?" he asked with a wrecked smile. The position he was in at the moment really made him look awkward.

"Please, Venti," Mr. Diluc groaned with a smug look on his face,"please don't tell me you-"

Venti started to play his famous song, Soldier, Poet, King:

There will come a soldier, who carries a mighty sword

He will tear you city down

Oh lei, oh lai, oh lord

Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lord

He will tear your city down

Oh lei, oh lai, oh lord-

"Venti, stop playing, I'm begging for the love of Barbatos-"

"Why thank you." Venti beamed as he bowed down low before Mr. Diluc, who was starting to lose his temper.

I signalled Hu Tao, Chongyun and Xingqiu to head back to our changing rooms as Venti continued to stall, leaving the two teachers annoyed and the six students staring shocked at their old schoolmate.

"Well that was fun." Hu Tao giggled as we finally reached our tent.

"That was really something. We've gotta thank Venti later."

"Thank Barbatos!" I sighed as I flopped onto one of the benches. I lay still there, the light above me was making me sleepy. Before I closed my eyes fully, I saw a blur figure leaning over me. I widened my eyes a bit to see Hu Tao smiling as she stared down at me.

"Oh, hey there Tao Tao." I smiled sheepishly.

"Hehe! Hello, Yan Yan!" Hu Tao giggled. I smirked and pulled her in for a kiss.

Chongyun and Xingqiu were left standing there watching Hu Tao leaning over me as I held her face, kissing her passionately. Chongyun sighed as he watched with envy. Xingqiu noticed by the corner of his eye and smirked. He pulled Chongyun in and kissed him just as passionately. We finally broke apart to see the two boys kiss, and smiled at each other.

"Okay, everything's been cleared!" a cheery voice sounded from outside the tent as Venti strolled in, looking more relaxed than ever. "It's your turn now, the costume is outside."

"Thanks, Venti. Really!" us four all said together as Venti smiled with a,"Ehe!"

Under the dragon, we walked out into the field. The mascot from Mondstadt was an Anemo slime. The student inside groaned uncomfortably as he waddled out in the massively inflated slime costume.

"That slime looks like my pet ghost, unfortunately..." Hu Tao sighed. She was never so fond of slimes. I wasn't so fond of slimes either, but after all that is a fake slime. 

We cheered and watched our classmates go all sporty, making the way out costume jumped look weird and dumb. I only jumped when Hu Tao landed, and Hu Tao jumped when I landed.  But we still had fun cheering on like we didn't care how absurd the dragon looked on the outside. Mr. Diluc and Mr. Kaeya looked suspicious for some reason, though. Something must have happened when Venti was stalling time. I couldn't help but wonder how the students of Mondstadt were trying to save us.

I AM SO SORRY MY BRAIN HAS BEEN DEAD RECENTLY, BUT I SHALL PUSH ON!! 😀😀😀