Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 882 Another Saint Guard?
After listening to Xino's experience, everyone was immersed in this ups and downs and legendary past, and no one spoke to break the silence. When the young lady Mistian stood on the podium and listened to the cheers and applause from the entire city of Sumiyya, did she think that many years later, her daughter would repeat this experience to prove that what is passed down is not only blood, but also some kind of innate persistence?
However, in these two stories, apart from their sudden emergence and stunning wins, there seems to be another similarity.

"Whether it was Ms. Mistyan 20 years ago or Ms. Xinuo two years ago, although they won the championship, they didn't seem to continue on this path." Ling'er's question brought Leila and everyone back to reality: "Is there any hidden story behind this?"

Yes, why?

Everyone looked at Leila, hoping to get a reasonable explanation from her.

As a good friend of Xino and the only person who knows about this past, Leila hesitated for a moment, but finally spoke up: "Ms. Mistyan's situation is not complicated. In an interview with the media, she once admitted that she only participated in the competition out of interest and did not intend to turn her interest into her career. And after she won the championship, she was soon pursued by Xino's father, Mr. Leonard. The two quickly fell in love and held their wedding in the Williard Church. After the marriage, although the Gustaf family did not restrict her freedom, Ms. Mistyan still felt that family life was more important to her, so she put down her racket and retired from the tennis world."

"As for Shino——"

She paused, and even though she had said it, she still seemed a little hesitant: "She decided to put down the racket because of Claire."

Claire?
Isn't that her teammate when Xino won the championship? She was also her good friend in college. Ling Ge and others didn't know how close they were, but if they didn't have a very deep relationship, Xino, who was determined to keep a low profile, wouldn't have accepted her invitation to participate in the college championship? And Leila just said that the two of them had a tacit understanding on the court, it was like they had telepathy.

Could it be that outside the arena, there are hidden secrets that no one knows about?

Alice's eyes widened suddenly, and Linger knew what she was thinking. It was nothing more than a classic plot in some cheesy novels, where close friends turned against each other due to interests, love or other messy factors, and finally parted ways. However, the young man thought it was not necessarily the case, because he could hardly imagine Xinuo betraying others, and he could not imagine that with her personality, she would actually have a sincere heart-to-heart with a person who was not what she seemed.

If betrayal isn't the only thing that brings a person down and causes them to lose their minds, then there is only one other reason - and that is death.

"After the college championship, many clubs offered their services to Claire and Shino. Of course, Shino did not accept them. She was just like her mother, Ms. Mistyan. She participated in the competition just out of interest and never considered becoming a professional player. But Claire was very happy because her biggest dream in life was to embark on a professional career. She once told us that only by standing on the court could she feel alive. Participating in the college championship is to take the first step towards this dream."

Leila said that she still remembers it vividly. Although she was just an unknown player in the club at that time and could not compete with popular players like Xino and Claire, she would never forget the cheerful, enthusiastic and confident expressions on their faces when they discussed their dreams: "Xino knew Claire's dream and encouraged her to pursue it. In order to help Claire realize her dream, she even changed her previous low-key style and took the initiative to sign up for the competition. So after learning about this, she was very happy for Claire. I still remember that on the day when Claire decided to sign a contract with the club, she invited everyone in the club to the Azure Arc Restaurant for dinner to celebrate for her."

As we all know, besides physical disability, lung disease is almost the biggest blow to an athlete, because no matter what kind of sports, you need a healthy lung to support it. People with low lung capacity will be out of breath even when running, so how can we ask them to do more intense sports? It can be said that lung disease is almost equivalent to death in the medical records of athletes - even if it is not death in the physical sense, it is at least death in the spiritual sense.

At this point, Leila's voice became extremely low, and a trace of sadness appeared between her eyebrows. "Just half a month after the competition, when Claire was busy applying for leave of absence and preparing to report to the club... she suddenly felt chest tightness, shortness of breath, and began to cough and even vomit blood. She even fainted during training. Afterwards, she was sent to the central hospital, and was diagnosed with a serious lung disease."

Leila's next words confirmed the young man's thoughts, but the reasons she gave were more serious.

"At the time, we all thought Claire would have a bright future. She could go further and further on the road of her dreams until she engraved her name on one championship trophy after another. She had such talent and worked hard - but sometimes, life is always full of surprises."

A young girl with a bright future collapsed on the hospital bed and never opened her eyes again.

"Wait a minute!" Ling'er's face changed slightly, and for the first time he interrupted Leila's story: "Are you talking about lung disease?"

But the problem is that this kind of serious lung disease cannot have no signs, and half a month before the onset of the disease, Claire and Xinuo participated in the college championship and won the championship. Could it be that she stepped onto the court with a seriously injured body?
"Yes, lung disease." Leila knew what Linger was thinking. She gave the young man a bitter smile. "She was so active on the court. She didn't look injured at all, right? So we were as surprised as you were, Mr. Linger. We never thought she would fight so hard for her dream. Moreover, when she got sick, it was almost a terminal illness. Even with the best doctors and the most expensive drugs, we couldn't save her life in the end."

The atmosphere in the pavilion was silent for a moment. Only Leila's voice could be heard as she continued to narrate: "Claire... was a very strong person. I still think so. From the onset of her illness to her worsening, and finally her death, less than a week had passed. It must have been painful to receive treatment, right? And not being able to continue to pursue her dream was an unbearable blow to her. But she didn't complain. On the contrary, she comforted us and told us not to be too sad... If I were in her shoes, I would definitely not be as strong as she is."

Leila shook her head, feeling down. "At that time, Xino was very depressed because of her illness, and she also blamed herself. She seemed to take all the responsibility on herself, thinking that it was because of her that Claire's condition worsened to this extent. I even heard her say more than once that it would be better if she had not accepted Claire's invitation."

Everyone was silent. With Xinuo's personality, it was natural for her to have such thoughts. For her, the championship trophy she won after trying her best was probably no longer dazzling, but evidence of her crime of pushing her friend to a dead end. It was hard to imagine that after going through that, she could still maintain such an optimistic and cheerful attitude.

"But Claire didn't think so." Leila said, "In the last moments of her life, Claire didn't want to meet us. She said she didn't want her friends to see her in such an embarrassing state. But she only met with Xino. That day, the two talked for a long time in the ward. We don't know what they talked about, but we only know that when Xino left the room, a smile reappeared on his face, although it was a very forced smile with tears and bitterness. Later, we attended Claire's funeral, and at Xino's suggestion, we buried the championship trophy with her, hoping that she can continue to pursue her dreams even in another world."

"After the funeral, Xinuo returned to her former self. She was optimistic, cheerful, motivated, humble and polite. She was a perfect girl in every way. But she never stepped onto the court again, never picked up a racket, and never mentioned anything about tennis. Not long after, she asked her teacher for leave of absence. On the surface, it was because of family reasons, but I always felt that it was related to Claire's matter. On her last day at school, she came to the club to say goodbye to us and hoped that the president would remove her from the list of members because she felt that she would never have the chance to come back here. But the president rejected her request and insisted on keeping her name on the list. Since she was only taking a leave of absence instead of dropping out, the school also retained her student status."

"In the past two years, whether it's me, the president, other members of the club, teachers or professors, we have always hoped that she would come back one day, but as time goes by, she is still so persistent. We all know that we can't change her mind, so even if we occasionally visit her at Chardolly Manor, we dare not bring up this topic. As long as Xinuo is still the optimistic and cheerful Xinuo before, it is the best news for us."

After finishing this lengthy story, Leila raised her head and smiled at Ling Ge and the others: "To be honest, when I saw Xinuo appear at the registration point for the tournament, I thought it was an illusion. If she really walked out of the shadow of the past and was willing to pick up the racket again, we would all be happy for her. But even if it's not the case, it's good too. At least she doesn't avoid mentioning anything about the wind flower ball like before. I think this is more or less a change. Thank you."

Finally, she thanked everyone, her tone full of sincerity and genuineness. Everyone knew why she thanked them, but their mood became even heavier. Saint Xia Liya shook her head and said, "It has nothing to do with us. Xinuo walked out of this shadow on her own, because just like you said - she is a strong girl."

After saying this, the blue-haired girl pursed her lips slightly. At this moment, what came to her mind was the scene that night when Xino said to her with a melancholy and guilty expression, "I'm actually very afraid of death." But what she was afraid of was not her own death, but the feeling of other people dying in front of her and she was powerless to do anything.

It turned out that she was not only afraid, but also had experienced it herself, or rather, it was because she had experienced it that she was afraid.

The girl sighed silently in her heart.

The atmosphere in the pavilion was silent for a while. Leila didn't want the guests to be immersed in the stories of the past like herself. She was about to change the topic to other things. At this time, a familiar voice suddenly came from not far away: "Leila, and everyone, I have completed the registration."

Everyone subconsciously raised their heads and saw the girl with wine-red eyes walking towards the pavilion with a bright smile. The snow-white ponytail behind her head swayed, almost touching the thriving grass on the green ground. Her smile was so dazzling under the midsummer sun that everyone was stunned for a moment.

"What's the matter? Why are you all just standing here in a daze?"

Xinuo herself was not very self-conscious. After she entered the pavilion, she made a joke, then handed Alice her amateur certificate (fake) and a copper round sign, and said, "This is your group and competition number. Let me see, P-1120, which means the 1120th contestant in Group P. I remember that a large group has a maximum of 3000 people. They will be divided into small groups according to the schedule and results. This is only the first round. If you want to stand out from these people and participate in the next round of competition, you must work hard, Alice."

After she finished speaking, she looked at Leila again: "As for Leila, I don't need to worry about her. For you, being eliminated is just an expected result. Your real goal should still be to get a place in the main competition. You can even try to get a place in the top 32 or top 16."

“No, no way!” Leila had been keeping her head down, her face flushed. Just now she felt embarrassed to face Shino because she had exposed her past, but now she felt a little shy because of her praise: “I’m not as strong as you, Shino. As long as I can get a place in the finals, I’ve already achieved my goal!”

"Don't say that, Leila." Xino smiled and stretched out his head to rub Leila's head. "You have to believe that you are very capable. After all, you are the champion of the Four Schools Union Cup. Not only in Sumia City, but also in the entire Saint-Denis Province, you are the first among college students!"

"Well, that competition...is not big, so it doesn't count..."

Leila stammered and rubbed her head against Shino's palm, a cat-like satisfied expression gradually appearing on her face.

"..." Alice looked at Xino, then at Leila, and suddenly felt that this scene was strangely familiar. She asked suspiciously, "Is there a club called the Saint Maiden Guard in your Sumiya University?"

"Eh!?"

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)