A haphazard mess of Genshin One-shots

22- Chili: ⚽

"New young upstart, Tartaglia, also known as Childe by fans and colleagues, already makes Russia's national team," the news reporter announced.

An image of a bright, smiling young man appeared on the screen. Flaming hair, perfectly fit, burning determination behind his eyes, competitiveness in every aspect of him. He wore Russia's red jersey, with white shorts. The image shows him during his first practice with the international Russian team, kicking the soccer ball so hard the fake grass of the field flies around the camera's aesthetic shot.

"During his first practice with the team, he scored five goals against the current team's second best player, and nearly beat the captain in a 1v1 deathmatch he insisted would be enjoyable. The match was unscheduled, but it seemed that the team didn't mind letting the rookie have some fun," the other announcer continued.

"Shit," Hu Tao muttered.

"I know," Xiao sighed.

"This isn't good!" Hu Tao panicked.

"We're doomed!" Keqing already gave up.

"Hey, no we're not!" Ganyu insisted. "We have a secret weapon."

"Zhongli is not a secret weapon," Xiao rolled his eyes. "He's a very well-known, popular, loved weapon."

The soccer players of China's international team continued to fret over Russia's new member.

While the countries were on relatively good terms, for years their sports teams had been rivals. During last winter olympics, the China-Russia ski-race was so intense that someone nearly died, and the game had to be cancelled. Last summer olympics, the two had tied with equal immense power in their gymnastics.

The soccer teams were no exception.

"The world cup doesn't guarantee we'll actually be playing Russia," Zhongli mentioned. "It is actually a low probability."

"Unless we both make it to finals," Hu Tao reasoned.

"This Tartaglia guy was captain of his college team and went straight to internationals immediately upon graduating," Keqing read off of her phone. "Wow. He's a fan favorite due to his aggressive behavior. This image shows how he got sixteen penalties in one game. He even broke someone's knee cap once."

"So aggressive and talented," Hu Tao dragged a hand over her face dramatically. "But we've got Sir Capitan over here, so we're better off, right?"

Hu Tao motioned to the team captain, Zhongli.

Zhongli was an interesting one. He wasn't considered old by normal standards, at the prime age of 26 years old, but by the soccer industry standards he was certainly aging. He was world-famous, and somehow never missed the ball. Of course, he can't be perfect, and he tends to be a bit slow... but he never misses a shot. And his revolutionary planning was incredible.

While Xiao was extremely popular among young people, Zhongli still remained the most famous of China out of all sports.

And if China was Russia's soccer enemy, and Childe was Russia's most popular, then the two would definitely be subject of a lot of news. Most popular of each enemy team... Zhongli should probably get to know the guy before he makes impressions, but he seemed rather violent and narcissistic according to many news articles, so this might not end well.

—

A month passed, and Zhongli's team was traveling to Germany for this year's world cup. Zhongli sighed as he watched the clouds break to allow the plane access to the lower levels of the sky. The landing strip below was lit up brightly due to the darkness of 1 am. Zhongli was jet-lagged already, and tired above everything else. Unlike his colleagues.