The match wasn't officially over yet, but based on the points, even if Rowan's team loses all their remaining matches, they'll still be in first place. That's why the commentators already popped the champagne for them in advance.
Still, the remaining opponents gave it their all. First place may be locked in, but the rankings below were still shifting.
Depending on whether Rowan's team wins or loses in the rest of their matches, it could indirectly affect the outcomes for other teams.
But Rowan's team doesn't need to worry about any of that anymore. They even rotated people, subbing Rowan and the others out.
Since the results were already set in stone, the remaining time on the field was essentially just garbage time. Letting the rest of the team get some match experience was completely reasonable.
At this moment, Jia Qiong was on the phone reporting the results to the president, while Old Liu and Li Han stood up together and walked toward the contestants' entrance.
"Teacher Liu, you can just stay here and rest. I'll go."
"Eh? What are you saying? I'm the one who brought the Varsity Team together. They've just won the championship, how could I not go and welcome them?"
Yeah, there's no rush to report this matter. The result will be sent back eventually. Even if there are accolades to hand out, that can wait until they're back.
But Rowan is still here.
Was the championship won because of great leadership?
Not really. It's simply because Meowscarada can fight. Put it another way, so long as Rowan keeps competing, next year's championship will still be theirs.
That's the real source of official achievement. If Rowan decides not to compete next year, what could anyone do about it?
Will it be a fleeting one-time crown, a renowned triple crown, or an unbelievable five-time crown? That all depends on Rowan.
According to the Academy Cup rules, although anyone holding a few Badges can participate, those who've already won a regional conference can't compete in the Academy Cup again.
It's like sending Bolt at his peak to compete in the Junior Cup; no one else would stand a chance.
Playing around in the Baby Cup is nothing compared to making a name in a regional conference. Under normal circumstances, it'll come down to what kind of benefits the university can offer. Most likely, Rowan will eventually become an honorary alumnus or some kind of coach, allowing the university to continue benefiting from him.
But that's all for the future. At least for the time being, Rowan is still the team's undisputed ace. Everyone else is just along for the ride, and that includes the coaches.
"Bang! Bang!"
At some point, Old Liu had gotten two paper poppers ready and held a simple welcome ceremony.
"Welcome, our MVP! I'll handle the grad school stuff for you. Once we're back, just pick a major. But remember, our graduate school recommendation doesn't guarantee graduation. You'll still need to work hard."
"Aw, Teacher Liu, you're overthinking it. With Brother Rowan's situation, there's no way the university would make things difficult for him. If his resume ends up looking bad, they won't know how to put him up on the alumni wall later."
The two bantered back and forth as they brought Rowan back to the rest area. But just then, someone from the judges' area suddenly dashed over.
"You're Student Rowan, right? I'll call you that for now.
I'm Iono! A Gym Leader, and an influencer who loves posting videos and spreading dreams!"
Right after Rowan's team locked in their victory, Iono found an excuse to pause her own livestream and came straight over to their rest area.
"I know you, Miss Iono. 'Ello, 'ello, hola, ciao and bonjour!'"
"Oh wow, your 'Iono-ese' is pretty smooth! Didn't expect you to be this experienced. No need to be so formal, just call me by name. That way I won't have to call you 'student' either.
You students here are older than most of the academy kids where I come from."
"So... what do you want?"
"It's not a big deal. I just wanted to confirm, this livestream channel belongs to you, right?"
Iono held up her phone to Rowan. The homepage still showed the message: 'Streamer has gone to participate in a competition..'
"It's mine."
"Yes! Finally found you. As an uploader, don't you check your DMs? I had to come all the way to Illumina just to find you!" [TN: Uploader can also mean content creator.]
"There aren't even ten active viewers in my stream, so I've long since made peace with it and stopped caring."
"That's nice. A streamer who shows their face is usually super busy. I kind of envy how you can live such a slow-paced and relaxed life."
"..."
For some reason, Rowan felt like she was humble-bragging right to his face, but under Iono's prompting, he still opened his DMs to take a look.
"I went viral... When did that happen?"
"You really don't know? Your Meowscarada pulled off a brilliant full-health tower dive. Let me find it for you... Speaking of which, since you even understand 'Iono-ese,' you probably already know my streaming style, right?
Lately, the whole focus of my stream has been finding Meowscarada's Trainer. Wanna do a joint stream with me? I do have a teeny tiny bit of influence, and I can send some traffic your way~"
Iono made her intentions clear. After all, her base was in Paldea, so instead of ambushing him out of nowhere, she politely discussed it with Rowan first.
"What do you want to stream?"
"That's a secret~ But don't worry, it's super simple. If you're in, I'll come find you after the awards ceremony."
Iono's stream style has always leaned toward spontaneity. She doesn't want to arrange scripts for effect, thereby breaking her own style, so she acted mysteriously.
Even though Rowan didn't plan on making streaming a serious gig, with someone like Iono backing it, there might still be some value left over.
After the awards would be free time. Thinking it over, Rowan agreed to Iono's invitation. After she left, he brought his phone over to Nekomi.
"When did you play this?"
"Meow~ (That day when you went to the bathroom)"
Rowan thought for a bit, and after struggling for a moment, he vaguely remembered something.
"So it wasn't that the opponent sucked, it's just that you're better..."
"Meow?"
"Nekomi, to be honest, I'm stuck on the promotion match. Do you mind helping me out?"
"Meow? (What do I have to do?)"
"You take over and play the promotion match for me."
"Meow?!"
Nekomi seemed confused by her Trainer's request, then raised both her hands in front of Rowan. She didn't say anything else, but her meaning was clear.
Are you sure you want a cat, with only three fingers on each hand, to play your promotion match for you?
"Just give it a try. I think you're better than me anyway. You can make up for fewer fingers with faster reflexes."
Nekomi hadn't expected that, on top of being the ace and substitute coach, she'd also end up becoming a gaming stand-in.
In the end, Nekomi shook her head, seemingly a little exasperated, but still agreed to the request.
"Brother Rowan! Quit chatting, it's time for the award and photo!"
As the final match came to a close, the Pangoro Academy Cup was officially over, but this journey was only just beginning...
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