Chapter 22

"I shouldn’t have hoped too much. If I didn’t do that, I wouldn’t be this disappointed now. If I didn’t expect earlier, I wouldn’t be this down now.

I tried convincing myself that everything's okay. Remember what Oxem said? This is my dream. It has nothing to do with my studies, so I shouldn’t be afraid. But those words from mom earlier just covered that up.

She doesn’t want a half-baked result, let alone a failing outcome. We lost to CSER. There’s no retaking it. I’m still a loser. I’ll surely be punished when she finds out. And she might find out soon.

“Hey.” Yeshua and Oxem approached me immediately after the game. They both looked concerned. Even though Yeshua was exhausted, she managed to check on me.

Actually, we’re all exhausted. We gave our all. I almost stumbled chasing the ball earlier. But all that was a waste of effort. We didn’t even manage to take the lead. That’s how strong the opponent is. Or this is how weak our team is.

“I’m okay,” I convinced them. “I just need some