The ground emptied slowly.
Banners were folded.Chairs stacked.The pitch, once contested, returned to silence.
Rudra stayed until the very end.
Not because he was lost.
Because he was organizing.
Season End Isn't an Ending
Back home, the kit was unpacked carefully.
Shoes aired.Gloves dried.Bat wiped clean and placed back in its corner.
Each action felt deliberate—like closing accounts after a long financial year.
That night, he didn't replay matches.
He opened the panel.
Not emotionally.
Professionally.
SYSTEM SNAPSHOT — END OF U-16 TOURNAMENT (AGE: 12)
Overall Level: 03 — ApprenticeOverall EXP: 3,146 / 5,000
BODY STATUS
Strength: Lv 02 (18 / 100 EXP)
Stamina:Lv 04 (19 / 100 EXP)
Reflex: Lv 05 (18 / 100 EXP)
Flexibility: Lv 01 (81 / 100 EXP)
Note: Body adapts slowly. Sustainability confirmed.
MENTAL STATUS
Focus: Lv 06 (95 / 100 EXP)
Memory: Lv 07 (09 / 100 EXP)
Emotional Control:Lv 06 (0 / 100 EXP)
Decision Speed: Lv 04 (57 / 100 EXP)
Note: Pressure environments accelerate mental growth.
SKILLS (PERMANENT)
Batting Timing: Lv 01 (55 / 100 EXP)
Shot Selection: Lv 01 (36 / 100 EXP)
Hand–Eye Coordination: Lv 02 (14 / 100 EXP)
Fielding: Lv 01 (71 / 100 EXP)
Running: Lv 01 (34 / 100 EXP)
Balance: Lv 01 (12 / 100 EXP)
SPECIAL
Static Vision: Lv 01 (45 / 100 EXP)
Pressure Acclimatization:Passive Trait — Active
Rudra exhaled slowly.
No exaggeration.
No miracles.
Just a clean, truthful baseline.
The Quiet Reward
The real reward came two days later.
Coach Prakash called him aside after school.
"No promises," the coach said. "But district academy trials are coming."
Rudra nodded.
Expectation would've been premature.
Interest was enough.
That night, his father spoke while watching the news.
"You didn't win," he said.
Rudra waited.
"But you didn't shrink either."
That was the reward.
Resolve
Lying in bed, Rudra stared at the ceiling fan spinning lazily.
He wasn't chasing trophies.
He wasn't chasing praise.
He was chasing inevitability.
The kind that came when preparation stacked so highthat results had no choice but to follow.
Tomorrow, he would run again.
Slow.Correct.Uncelebrated.
Because next season, he wouldn't be watching finals.
He would be measured in them.
And somewhere, silently,the system waited to count.