452 Chapter 452: Medal of Honor…never mind (1/2)

”Wait, give me a second…”

A holographic screen had just been projected from Sacha's phone, and he pulled up along the sidewalk to take the call. Before he swiped at the green button on the screen, he turned to look directly at the screen, where the readers and viewers were residing, just beyond the fourth wall.

”Remember, everyone,” he declared. ”Never talk on the phone and drive at the same time. Your safety is paramount, and doing so will cause danger to other drivers and pedestrians on the road. If you want to take a call because you think it is urgent, make sure you pull up and stop by the side of the road, not converse and drive at the same time.”

”The only exception is if you're wearing earphones,” I muttered, and he nodded.

”Earphones, or speaker. As long as you keep both hands on the steering wheel and your eyes on the road.”

”All right, safety advertisement is over.” Adrian clapped his hands. ”Can we get back to the actual story and can you just answer that call, Dad?”

”Sure thing. Give me a second.” Sacha raised the phone to his ear after swiping it. ”Yeah?”

I watched as he conversed, nodding unconsciously with the occasional ”hmm” and ”okay” and ”I understand.” There was one time where he actually glanced at me, and said, ”Yeah, he's with me right now.” Obviously the other party knew I was taking a ride in his car.

It didn't take long before he hung up. Placing his hands on the steering wheele, he turned to the three of us and grinned.

”Sorry, kids, but there has been a change in plans. We're not heading straight back home. We're going to the stadium.”

”Eh?” Melina looked puzzled, and Sacha focused on her.

”Yeah, that was your dad. He says to bring you guys straight to the stadium first. If you don't mind, that is.”

”Ah, no. That's fine.”

”All right then!” Sacha wasted no time nudging his car back out into the road and zooming off into the distance. ”Let's go!”

”Why are we heading to the stadium?” Adrian wondered out loud.

Sacha grinned and tilted his head in my direction. ”We have an awards ceremony to attend. Richard, you were participating in the national high school tournament before you ran off on that mission of yours, weren't you?”

”That's right.” I blinked. ”Eh? The awards ceremony is today?”

”Yeah. The finals had just ended. Pendragon Academy emerged the victor and successfully defended the championship today. They just finished their team match a few minutes ago. Duke Fergus Franklin has requested that I bring you guys to the stadium immediately. Besides, he wants to see his daughter as well, and since he's at the stadium…”

We understood. Of course Fergus Franklin would want to see his daughter as quickly as possible, and it was much faster to bring her straight to him while he was in the stadium than it was for her to wait for him to return home. Also, the Duke probably want his daughter to watch the awards ceremony with him, though the reason was unfathomable to me. Not that it was any of my business.

”Did my team win their third place match?”

”Eh? You don't know?” Sacha raised an eyebrow skeptically when I raised the question. ”Didn't they tell you?”

”Oh, they probably tried to, but I was out of range…” I hastily fumbled with my smartphone and saw the number of messages and emails that I had received while I was away. I tapped the text message from Harrison and beamed when I saw the contents.

”They won.”

Even without me, Jing Tian Academy team still won. They secured third place, narrowly beating out Vermillion Academy. It was a tough fight, but Bu Fan actually managed to defeat Lilith Porter (though he took quite the beating himself) and we managed to overrun them in the team match. Bu Fan couldn't participate in the team match, but obviously Harrison never intended to select him for that. The guy was too much of a lone wolf to cooperate with others…though, he could cooperate and team up with other people if he had to. I guess he would probably wait until university or something, and when he needed votes or when his friend was insulted before he fought in a team and won big.

By then he would have awakened the summoning and shadow element too…

”Yes!” I pumped my fist into the air, much to Adrian's bemusement and Sacha's amusement. Melina smiled as well, infected by my delight. ”They won! We got third place!”

I wasn't sure how to feel, though. Clearly they won without me, which meant that they didn't need me to win. It felt a little lonely, but I guess it was worth it. The team was what mattered, not the individual. I was happy for everyone, and I couldn't wait to see them. They must be just as overjoyed as I was. Hell, I was on the verge of screaming at the top of my lungs, but obviously I couldn't do that or I would cause trouble to Sacha and the kids.

So I suppressed my exuberance for now and contented myself with a gigantic, silly grin on my face. My fists were clenched, and I honestly wanted to punch the air again, but jerking about too violently inside a car wasn't a good idea, so I controlled myself, consoling myself that I would have plenty of opportunity to celebrate once I reached the location where my friends were.

The stadium wasn't too far away, about a fifteen minutes drive away, and we were there before too long. Fortunately, there was a huge parkling lot, and even though it seemed full, Sacha managed to locate a single open lot.

”Phew.”

Slotting nearly into the lot, he switched off the engine and nodded at us. The moment the vibrations were down, we were pushing the doors open and alighting from the car. I glanced around the parking lot for a moment. It was really packed to the brim, and we were really lucky to have found this spot or we would be driving in circles for quite a while.

”We should hurry!” Sacha was herding us toward the main facility. ”They're waiting for you!”

”Huh?” I realized that he was looking in my direction. ”Why are they waiting for me?”

”Are you kidding?!” Sacha was practically chuckling. ”Because you're part of the Jing Tian Academy team, and they want to receive the medals together with you! You've been such a pivotal member in their team, and you've helped them reach so far in the tournament…they didn't think it was fair that they would be receiving the medals without you among them! Everyone recognizes your contribution to their progress!”