My Mr. Mermaid

Untitled Part 42

Chapter 42 by ryuxenji

When Tang Yi-Bai met Coach Brown, the coach told him, "Tang, you can race against Bayard this afternoon. I'll be cheering for you."

Tang Yi-Bai nodded calmly, "Okay. Thank you."

Coach Brown had never hidden his fondness for Tang Yi-Bai. Right then, seeing how subdued Tang Yi-Bai was, Coach Brown was a little confused. From his interactions with Tang Yi-Bai these past few days, Coach Brown felt that the young man had a very healthy mindset. Tang Yi-Bai would never become discouraged at his opponent's strength.

Perhaps because there was very little in the way of entertainment for the athletes, Tang Yi-Bai and Bayard's friendly match stirred up the majority of the club. Many people came to spectate. The ladies were split into two groups — one cheering on Bayard, while the other was on Tang Yi-Bai's side. Based solely on personal best times, Bayard had the advantage, but this lead was less than 0.1 seconds so it was not indicative of anything. Furthermore, men from the East just had that sense of mystery about them. The ladies liked him, and even Coach Brown liked him... Taking all these miscellaneous things that had nothing to do with racing itself into account, Tang Yi-Bai's support rating actually managed to match that of Bayard's.

Qi Rui-Feng was leading a group of people in yelling Tang Yi-Bai's name: "Tang Yi-Bai! Tang Yi-Bai! Tang Yi-Bai!"

Only his bro of many years Tang Yi-Bai could stir his majesty Qi Rui-Feng to personally come and be a cheerleader. The girls around him shouted along with him, very quickly picking up Tang Yi-Bai's full name. Later on, many of them would realise that the first Chinese phrase they learned was not 'hello' or 'thank you', but was instead 'Tang Yi-Bai'.

Tang Yi-Bai stood on the starting block, looking down at the rippling surface of the water. He took in a few deep breaths, gathering up his jumbled thoughts. Well, it's time to race. Even though this was an inconsequential race.

As soon as the starting gun sounded, the two swimmers dove into the water with astonishing alacrity. Upon entering the water, Tang Yi-Bai did not feel the usual tension of competition nor was his heart pounding with excitement. His emotions were rather chaotic — he was unable to focus no matter how he tried.

Coach Brown stood beside Qi Rui-Feng. He shook his head and sighed, saying to Qi Rui-Feng, "Tang's not in good form. His start should have been faster than Bayard's."

Qi Rui-Feng: "???"

Coach Brown: "..."

The two of them stared at each other helplessly for a long moment. In the end, Qi Rui-Feng smiled politely at Coach Brown with a nod, and then he turned back and continued to shout, "Tang Yi-Bai! Tang Yi-Bai! Tang Yi-Bai!"

Coach Brown: =.=

The national team had actually hired a local translator for Qi Rui-Feng and the others, but the translator was not present right then. Coach Brown had been hoping to analyze the situation with the world champion Qi Rui-Feng, but now he had no choice but to nurse his thoughts in solitude.

Coach Brown's premonition was not wrong. Tang Yi-Bai was off his game. In the end, Bayard won the race with a large lead, clocking in a time of 47.82 seconds, almost rewriting his own personal best time this year. In contrast, Tang Yi-Bai finished at 48.30 seconds, which was a rather large disparity from his usual performance at present.

Qi Rui-Feng pulled him out of the water.

Back on land, Tang Yi-Bai wiped his face. His expression was rather troubled. Bayard walked over. As the winner, he was gleeful to see Tang Yi-Bai's troubled expression. He was just about to openly taunt the other when Tang Yi-Bai stretched his right hand out at Bayard.