[Net King] Pilgrim

Machida knew that it was two days after Echizen Ryoma won the championship.

At that time, her condition was much better than before. She got rid of distracting thoughts that had nothing to do with the repertoire, and still concentrated on rehearsing, trying to solve the previous problems.

Fortunately, Chloe and her companions were very patient. When Machida remembered what Chloe had said to her at the beginning, it was affirmative and encouraging words, "I can hear strong will and power from your voice and acting, and that's the main reason why we picked you."

Her intonation has gradually improved compared to before, but her performance is still unstable when it comes to details, and the crux is that when she runs and jumps a lot, she speaks fast and is easy to make mistakes.

In response to this, Machida gritted his teeth and got up early every day to go out for a run.

Practicing while running is like a warm-up before rehearsal.

After doing this kind of practice for a week, she gradually discovered that between the accuracy of treble and English, there are some points that do not require too much effort to produce a voice. Coupled with an appropriate intonation, it will be transformed into two forces to support the pitch.

And when she tried to balance these two forces during rehearsals, the error rate dropped significantly.

But... In addition to rehearsing, she has to run every day. The more she exercises, the more she eats. She can only find a way to control her diet...

But fortunately, the biggest obstacle was solved. Machida was really relieved, but he didn't slack off. He rehearsed round after round with everyone every day.

There are two independent arias for her, which appear in different plots and situations, and she will also participate in group arias.With a lot of voices on stage, plus more real voices in musical singing, and less real and fake mixed voices, she had to reduce her speaking to decompress her voice at the end of the practice.

But fortunately, her hard work paid off. With practice day after day, the part of her aria that was prone to mistakes at first has stabilized now, and her character creation and dance will not be affected by fear of making mistakes.

Sometimes Machida even feels like he is rehearsing at school. In fact, there is not much difference. Stages, works, and roles are not distinguished by size or high or low.

When she was finally determined to play Heather, she found that besides being full of joy and wanting to work hard, she was also extraordinarily peaceful.

During this time, the production team and the theater stepped up their publicity efforts.

Because the production team had a small-scale representative work before, and the publicity was in place, this original musical "Sunrise" with anti-racism and environmental protection themes quickly gained a certain amount of attention on the Internet.

But on the other hand, because the performers are all newcomers, compared with the plays released at the same time, there are fewer promotional points for the main creators, so the attention is limited to some fans of the show, and there is not a wide range.

Machida took the time to call Echizen Ryoma. After the championship match, he had been preparing for Wimbledon. He said that he had won a wild card, and she was busy rehearsing, so the two did not contact a few times.

Moreover, because she didn't want to talk recently, she switched to sending text messages instead of making phone calls. Some people understand, but there is also a lot of resentment in her words. Can't even hear the sound...

"You're finally willing to talk to me?"

The word 'finally' is really dissatisfying enough.

Machida held back a smile and said, "I'm feeling very sad too, okay. I have to hold back from calling you when I miss you. Those text messages are the proof."

She admitted that she was thinking about him.

Echizen Ryoma raised the corner of his mouth on the phone, "I saw your promotional photos on ins."

Machida was surprised, "...you have ins?!"

"Well, I used it in middle school, but I haven't sent anything, and I haven't done any certification."

"..." While she was on the phone, she looked through the account he mentioned, and found that it was indeed empty, and even the name was chosen casually.

...he dived too deep.

"I checked the show time." His voice was a little low. "During the Wimbledon season, I may not be able to watch it."

"...It's okay." Machida said softly as he leaned against the window in the corridor of the theater, "I still want to watch your game, but time doesn't allow it."

Echizen Ryoma was sitting on the rest chair in the training ground, holding a water glass in his hand, "The coach promised to give me a few days off after Wimbledon. After your performance is over, let's go on a date." His eyes softened unconsciously, "In London, or wherever you want."

"Okay." She said with a smile, "I can go anywhere, as long as I'm with you."

The Wimbledon Open coincides with the rainy season in London. It has been raining heavily in recent days, and the temperature has dropped accordingly. The game time has also been delayed due to the rain.

When the sports news reported that Ryoma Echizen had reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, Kazuya Machida entered the final rehearsal of the musical.

It is unavoidably nervous to perform on stage for the first time, but the benefits of group cooperation are also particularly prominent. After getting along for nearly two months, everyone has somewhat understood it. Joking in leisure time and encouraging each other before going on stage is the norm.

Especially Erica, who is humorous and witty. Machida Ichida has also seen it in the class, and it is even more so after getting along with her at such a close distance, and unconsciously relaxes the physical and mental pressure.

As the release date approaches, everyone is busy doing various checks to make sure that everything related to the show, such as costumes and props, will not go wrong.

On the evening before the screening, the last round of inspection work was almost completed. Machida sat on the stage and had to go to bed early tonight. While re-tying her messy hair, she planned the evening schedule in her head.

At this time, I heard several companions beside me discussing something in astonishment.

She froze for a moment because "Ryoma Echizen" was in the words they were talking about.

Just wondering, Erica who was not far away suddenly rushed to her side and showed her the phone, "You're Ryoma Echizen's fan, aren't you? He's in trouble!"

Machida's mind was blank for a moment, and he hurriedly looked at the screen. The current affairs news page reported——

In the Wimbledon semi-finals that ended this afternoon, the player Angus was investigated by the police for allegedly manipulating the results of the match. His opponent and winner of the match, Echizen Ryoma, cooperated with the investigation. The final will be suspended or postponed...

Machida suddenly felt the blood flow backwards all over his body, and anxiously read the news again from beginning to end.

There are no pictures in the news, so we can't see the situation at that time, but this is an official and authoritative report. It is a big matter, and it will not be released without factual basis.

She hurriedly went to get her mobile phone, almost fell when she got up, and ignored Erica's concern and inquiries, and rushed out of the rehearsal hall with her mobile phone in her hand.

Running to the corridor, she hurriedly called Echizen Ryoma.

The wait for the connection seemed to be a century long, the windows in the corridor were wide open, and the air-conditioning was blowing in. She looked out at the gloomy clouds and drizzle, wondering how he could compete in such bad weather.

There was no answer on the other end until there was a "transfer to voicemail" voice.

All the entities in Machida realized what it meant to be "burning with anxiety", hung up the phone, held the cold body in his hand, found Kaibin's number from the phone book, and dialed it.

After a while, the phone was picked up.

"Kaibin, Ryoma..." Machida said anxiously without thinking, but there was some noise on the other end, followed by Kebin's voice.

The first sentence was to apologize to her, saying that it took so long to answer the phone, he thought it was a reporter.

Kebin clutched the phone receiver and walked to the corner, explaining to her, "We are at the police station, and Ryoma is taking notes..." He looked around and continued in a low voice, "Don't worry, Ryoma was not involved Come on, this is the police asking about the game..."

Kebin told the story on the other end of the phone, and Machida finally understood what happened.

……

After the start of the semi-finals, Echizen Ryoma and his opponent Angus won the first two rounds respectively.The game seemed to be going on normally, but in the middle of the third game, Coach Sherwood and Kebin standing on the sidelines felt something was wrong—the opponent always made some inexplicable mistakes with simple balls when attacking, and they still couldn't win the game point, and it is well known that Angus is one of the players who are evenly matched with Echizen Ryoma, and he has no signs of physical discomfort.

It is not ruled out that it is the opponent's strategy, but overall it is still somewhat abnormal.

Echizen Ryoma naturally noticed it too, and when he won the third game, amidst the mixed cheers and disappointment in the arena, he stood on the field and looked directly at the opponent, and said in a cold tone, "Canyouplayseriously?"

Angus looked completely frustrated at losing, but his attitude was a little perfunctory, "IdideverythingIcould."

Echizen Ryoma looked at him calmly for a moment, said "Obviously not", then turned and went to the sidelines to rest.

In the fourth inning, Angus did catch up, but there were still a few simple balls that lost points in the middle. Even his coach shouted: "Run! August!"

The score was stalemate until the end of the game. While the audience held their breath, Angus hit an accidental out-of-bounds ball, thus losing the entire game.

Winning and losing seems normal, but there is one thing that makes people doubt the authenticity of this game——

From the betting data of the gaming company, it was found that there were more than a dozen accounts in a certain area making large bets in the game, and the betting amount was as high as one million pounds.Although both participating players are players with both strength and popularity, such a high betting amount is still suspicious, forcing the gaming company to close the betting window, seal the game urgently, and immediately report the matter to the ITF (International Tennis Federation) ), and then jointly investigated with the police.

It is estimated that it will take some time to find out, but the process of obtaining evidence is not as difficult as imagined, especially after the police received a secret document containing a tape, the content of which pointed directly at the fact that Angus was involved in shady transactions, and There are conclusive evidence in the handed-in mobile phone, computer, bank card and other information, and some actions in the replay video of the game are also quite obvious...

Kebin said that the original indignation had slowed down in the end, and he sighed, "It's unexpected that this happened, but it's not surprising, Ryoma and I, we have all encountered those unclean things before, and we can only cleanse ourselves , remembering that I didn’t plan to join the career network at the beginning, there are also these reasons..."

Maybe he felt that the words were a bit off, so he hurriedly returned to the topic, "It seems that there are still some details to be confirmed in the follow-up, and we have to wait for the official report, but it is true that Longma has not done anything, so don't worry too much..."

After hanging up the phone, Machida slipped his arm holding the phone to his side, slowly squatted down, and then let out a deep breath, resting his palm on his forehead.

There is only lingering fear left.

Of course she believes in Echizen Ryoma, he will never tarnish her dream, but she is still worried that he will be implicated, his reputation, efforts, achievements, and even the next competition...

More importantly, he has a pure heart for tennis.

The corridor was empty, she leaned against the cool wall and opened her phone.

There are already related videos of the semi-finals on the Internet. He paused and clicked on one of the video clips.

The title above the video, marked "The Moment of Victory," looks especially ironic now.

When the screams resounded across the stadium, Machida stared closely at Echizen Ryoma's figure. In the close-up of the camera, there was no joy on his face, and he shook hands with the other party with a faint expression and slightly lowered eyes.

She felt anxious for a moment, he must have noticed that the opponent did not take the game seriously and did not respect him, such a victory is meaningless at all.

There are already many new remarks in the comment area. After the news exposed the facts, Angus was sprayed into a sieve by netizens, especially the audience, who felt that they were completely deceived.

But there are still some comments that are very eye-catching, and the official details have not yet been announced. Some extreme fans of Angus brought the flames of war to Echizen Ryoma, and believed that he had something to do with this matter. Fans of both sides quarreled in the comment area.

As soon as Machida clenched the phone tightly, he felt mixed emotions and his eyes swelled.

Walking back to the rehearsal hall, Erica hurriedly asked her if she was okay. Machida didn't even have the strength to force a smile, so he nodded and told her not to worry.

Erica only thought that she was in a bad mood as a fan, and said nothing more after a few words of comfort.

When the preparations for the theater were finished, Machida returned to his residence overnight, his mind still full of the report, and he sat on pins and needles before going to the balcony to breathe.

At seven o'clock, the rain has stopped, the temperature is low, and the humid air with an earthy smell blows in.

She took her phone and checked Facebook again, but there was no follow-up update.

Worried, the phone in his hand vibrated suddenly.

Machida's fingers trembled, and he quickly answered.

"Yi." A clear voice came from the other end.

She hurriedly asked, "Have you gone back?"

"Just out of the police station, on the way back."

"Where are you, I'll find you..."

"I'm fine, don't come over impulsively..." The noise in the car was extremely low, Echizen Ryoma closed his eyes, and threw his back into the seat back.

He thought that she must be restless when she saw the news. The coach in the driver's seat and Kebin were still discussing the arrangements in a low voice. He only had time to talk to her in the car, "You concentrate on preparing for tomorrow's performance, don't worry about it." Because of this distraction... I can handle it, don't worry."

Machida's nose felt sore for a moment, knowing that he was afraid of affecting her.

Taking a deep breath, she regained her sanity, "... Well, you don't have to worry about me, I'm fine." He doesn't have much energy to take care of her now, and all she can do is to do well with what is in front of her.

She paused, and said from the bottom of her heart, "Ryoma, I believe in you."

I believe that the clean boy she loves will not violate her own heart, nor will she try to gain fame.